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Corporation. Digital file copy-
right by Cornell University
Library 1992.LIFE AND DEATH
OF
WILLIAM BEDELL.! V/
i
A TRUE RELATION OF
THE LIFE AND DEATH
THE RIGHT REVEREND FATHER IN GOD
WILLIAM BEDELL,
LORD BISHOP OF KILMORE IN IRELAND.
EDITED FROM A MS. IN THE BODLEIAN LIBRARY, OXFORD,
AND AMPLIFIED WITH GENEALOGICAL AND HISTORIOAL CHArTERS,
OOMPILED FROM ORIGINAL SOURCES,
BY
THE REPRESENTATIVE OF THE BISHOP’S MOTHER’s FAMILY OF ELLISTON,
THOMAS WHARTON JONES, F.R.S.
M.DCCC.LXXII.WESTMINSTER:
PRINTED BY J. B. NICHOLS AND SONS,
25, PARLIAMENT STREET.
[NEW SERIES, IV.]COUNCIL OF THE CAMDEN SOCIETY
FOK THE YEAR 1871-72.
President,
SIR WILLIAM TITE, C.B., M.P., F.R.S., Y.P.S.A.
WILLIAM CHAPPELL, ESQ. F.S.A , Treasurer.
WILLIAM DURRANT COOPER, ESQ. F.S.A-
F. W. COSENS, ESQ.
JOHN FORSTER, ESQ. D.C.L.
SAMUEL RAWSON GARDINER, ESQ.
ALFRED KINGSTON, ESQ.
SIR JOHN MACLEAN, F.S.A.
SIR FREDERIC MADDEN, F.R.S.
FREDERIC OUVRY, ESQ. Treas. S.A.
EDWARD RIMBAULT, LL.D.
EYELYN PHILIP SHIRLEY, ESQ. M.A. F.S.A.
WILLIAM JOHN THOMS, ESQ. F.S.A., Secretary.
THE YERY REY. THE DEAN OF WESTMINSTER, F.S.A
SIR THOMAS E. WINNINGTON, RART.
SIR ALBERT W. WOODS, Garter, F.S.A.The Council of the Camden Society desire it to be under-
stood that they are not answerable for any opinions or observa-
tions that may appear in the Society’s publications ; the Editors
of the several Works being alone responsible for the same.PREFACE AND DEDICATION.
The true Eelation of the Life and Death of Bishop Bedell, of
Kilmore, here printed, is contained in Volume cclxxviii. of the
Tanner Collection of MS S. in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. The
Manuscript was formerly in the possession of Archbishop Sancroft,
and bears marks of his Grace’s révision. How it came into the
Archbishop’s hands appears from the following correspondence :—
De. William Palliser to Captain Ambrose Bedell.*
Trinity College, Dublin,
Oct. 5,1680.
Sir,
The great motive of my writing to you is the great honour I bear to your most
worthy Father’s memory, and that I hope will make it more kindly received. It
seems the présent Archbishop of Canterbury was of the same College with your
Father in Cambridge, and most highly esteems him an eminent Ornament of the
Place ; and therefore designs as soon as may be to print whatever he can procure of
your Father’s in writing. Some excellent letters of your Father's while he was
Chaplain to the Ambassador at Yenice f I hâve sent over, and am now sending
a large discourse of your Father’s against one Alabaster, a Papist,{ and a very
* Tanner MS. xxxvii. 147, Bodleian Library.
f These appear to be the letters from Venice to Mr. Adam Newton, mentioned
and quoted from in Supplementary Chapter iii. pages 103-4.
J In the Archiépiscopal Library at Lambeth there is a MS. (Codex 772), entitled
“ A Defence of the Answer to Mr. Alabaster’s four Demands against a Treatise
entituled * The Catholic’s Keply upon Bedel’s (afterwards Bishop of Kilmore)
Answer to Mr. Alabaster’s four Demands.’ ” This is perhaps the Discourse here re-
ferred to. Alabaster was a pervert, but returned afterwards to the Church of
England.VI
PREFACE AND DEDICATION.
leamed Sermon he preached here in Christchurch * when he was Bishop. But pos-
sibly, Sir, you may help me to many other excellent Pièces of his. If you can, I
am confident you will not be so so much wanting in your duty to his memory as to
deny me a transcript of tbem. The term is now near, and I believe you may safely
send them to me, and I do faithfully promise you that after I hâve transcribed them,
which Ishall do immédiately upon thereceipt of them, I will be careful to restore them
unto you. You see I am very bold with you, but the zeal I hâve that Bishop Bedell’s
name and work may be better known to the world causeth this boldness, and I hope
will excuse it too. The remarkable passages of your Father’s life and the circum-
stances of his death I desire to be very particularly informed in, that the most ex-
cellent Archbishop may be able to give your Father his due character in the account
that he intends of his life to be printed before his works.f Your answer is de-
sired by the first convenience, that I may be sure you hâve received my letter; and
if you contribute what you can towards the satisfying this just request of mine you
will much oblige, Sir,
Your reall friend and servant,
Wm. Palliser.J
For Captain Bedell, to be left at Mr. Frenches
house in Bal-Turbet, Ulster.
Indorsed:—To Capt. Ambr. Bedel at Camhill
in ye county of Cavan.
To be left at ye Post Office in Dublin, and thence
directed to ye Post Office in Bell-Turbut (a great
market toun).
* Before the Lord Deputy and Parliament in 1634, on the text, “ Corne out of her
my people,” Révélation xviii. 4. This sermon Dr. Nicholas Bernard has printed
in his “ Certain Discourses,” &c. (Chapter VII. p. 147,) and tells us that he heard
it preached.
f Archbishop Sancroft never carried out his intention of publishing the Life and
Works of Bishop Bedell, probably on account of being anticipated by Bumet in
1685. The political troubles in which the Archbishop became soon after involved
may hâve finally banished the subject from his mind.
{ William Palliser, D.D., wasbom in Yorkshire about 1641, but received his Uni-
versity éducation in Dublin, and became Fellow of Trinity College in 1668. Hewas
admitted to Holy Orders in 1670, appointed Professor of Divinity in Trinity College,
Dublin, in 1681, consecrated Bishop of Cloyne March 5, 1692-3, and translated to the
Archbishopric of Cashel in 1694. He died January 1, 1726-7, in the 85th year of
his âge.PREFACE AND DEDICATION.
Vil
Dr. Henry Dodwell to the Archbishop of Canterbury.* * * §
May it please ÿour Grâce,
I understand b y a late letter from Mr. Took that your Grâce has received a
parcel designed for you by Dr. Palliser. I am glad it is corne safe to your hands.
By the letter which came with it I guess it to be the Life of Bishop Bedel, written
by his son Mr. Ambrose Bedel. Dr. Palliser does further proffer to get those letters
of Bishop Bedel from Venicef anew transcribed which I had transcribed for your
Grâce’s use, but hâve since lost my copy. If your Grâce be resolved to go through
with the design of publishing the works of that excellent Prelate, your Grâce will
be pleased to let me know your pleasure concerning it. No more, but that I beg
your Grace’s Prayers and Blessing for
Your Grace’s, as in duty bound,
Henry Dodwell. î
Cookham, Sept. 16, 1682.
Capt. Ambrose Bedell to the Archbishop of Canterbury.§
The first of 9ber, 1682.
May it please your Grâce,
As in ail Gratitude I am oblidged, I retum to your Grâce my humble and hearty
Thanks for your Grace’s last fayour, of which (I bless God for it) I injoy the Bene-
fitt|| in a large measure, having my health fully restored. In obedience to your
Grace’s Command, I hâve made a search for the Life and Death of my Father, and
hâve had an account from one Mr. Palliser (in whose hands it was left to be sent
to your Grâce) that he had it transcribed and sent it to one Mr. Dodwell, to be
deliveredtoyour Grâce, who hath given a retum that he hath sent it to your Grâce.
If otherwise I humbly beg that your Grâce will be pleased to let me know, and I
shall not fail to send it over with ail expédition; and what else your Grâce shall
* Tanner MS. xxxv. 94, Bodleian Library.
f See Snpplementary Chapter ni. p. 104.
J Dr. Henry Dodwell, boni of English parents in Dublin in October 1641, was
admitted of Trinity College in 1656, and obtained a Fellowship in 1662. This he
resigned in 1666. He did not enter into Holy Orders, but in 1688 was elected Cam-
denian Professor of History in the University of Oxford; refusing, however, to take
the oaths to William and Mary, he was deprived three years after. He died at
Shottisbrooke, June 7,1711.
§ Tanner MS. xxxv. 121, Bodleian Library.
|| The explanation of the allusion here made by Captain Ambrose Bedell to his
health will be found in Snpplementary Chapter XVIII. p. 226.PREFACE AND DEDICATION.
viii
impose I shall esteem it both my honour and happiness to obey, as I am realv, may
it please your Grâce,
Your Grace’s most Obleadged and most humble Servt.
Dr. Henry Dodwell in his letter to Archbishop Sancroft, it is
seen, speaks of Captain Ambrose Bedell as the author of the work
before us. This, bowever, appears to hâve been a mere inference
on the part of Dr. Dodwell, from the fact that it was Captain Am-
brose Bedell from whom the manuscript was obtained for transcrip-
tion. It was not Captain Ambrose Bedell, but his eldest brother
the Rev. William Bedell, Vicar of Kinawley, in the Diocese of Kil-
more, from 1634 until the Rébellion in 1641, and afterwards Rector
of Rattlesden in Suffolk from 1644 till his death in 1670, who was,
there is every reason to believe, the author of the u Relation of the
Life and Death ” of the Bishop their father.
In William Bedell’s letter to his Godfather, Dr. Samuel Warde,
given in Supplementary Chapter XIX. may be recognised the quiet,
subdued, and scholarly style which characterises the “ Relation” under
notice. Amongst other things, the expression in the letter, “ had
courteous usage, in comparison of what other Englishmen found”
(p. 230), may be instanced as very similar^to one which occurs in the
Relation, viz. “ the courtesyof the Irish, which (in comparison to what
others met withall) was very much ” (p. 68). It need scarcely be ob-
served that Ambrose Bedell’s letter to Archbishop Sancroft présents
little resemblance in style either to the Relation or to his brother Wil-PREFACE AND DEDICATION.
IX
liam’s letter. Besides this, the account given of the Bishop’s incum-
bency of Horningsbearth in the “ Relation ” is evidently the composi-
tion of one who had a personal knowledge and vivid remembrance of
the occurrences he was writing about. Now, Ambrose, being only ten
years old when the family left for Ireland, could scarcely hâve had
much knowledge and remembrance of their résidence at Hornings-
hearth; whereas William, who was fifteen years of âge at the time,
must hâve had his expériences of the parish well fixed in his mind,
to say nothing of his renewed acquaintance with the place when he
came to résidé close by at Whepsted and Rattlesden.
The “Relation,” in short, is altogether such as might hâve been
expected from William, the English Rector, but scarcely from Am-
brose, the soldier and country gentleman in_Ireland.
The place where the 4‘ Relation ” was written^is not directly
mentioned, but that it was in some part of England is proved by
the foliowing passage at page 62 : “ The only considérable Town in
the whole County was Belterbert, which yet was but as one of our
ordinary Market Towns here in England.” This of itself might,
indeed, be also taken as décisive of the question of authorship be-
tween William and Ambrose, for it was William only who was
résident in England.
As to the time when the work was written. This no doubt com-
prised many of the earlier years of the Rev. William Bedell’s incum-
bency of Rattlesden, when he probably had little else to occupy his
leisure but literary composition, and when he enjoyed the advantage
of near neighbourhood to Dr. Despotine,* his father’s old Venetian
* In the eleventh Classical Presbytery of Suffolk, meeting at Bury, the name of
Mr. William Beadle of Ratlesden occurs among the Ministers, and that of Dr.
Jasper Despotine of Bury among the elders. See a 4to. Pamphlet published in
London, 1647, entitled, “ Novr. 5, 1645. The County of Sulïolke divided into 14
CAMD. SOC.	bX
PREFACE AND DEDICATION.
friend, from whom so much information was derived. Dr. Samuel
Warde, of Sydney College, Cambridge, William Bedell’s godfather,
who could hâve supplied still more information from the Bishop’s
numerous letters to him, was dead before William’s settlement at
Rattlesden. This accounts for tbe absence of any mention of Dr.
Warde or contributions from him in the text of the Relation.* The
reference at page 40 to Dr. N. Bernard’s book shows, as remarked in
the note, that the passage was written subsequently to 1659. Alto-
oether, there is reason to believe that the materials for the work
were collected and arranged. in the course of the years from 1645 to
1660, but that the Relation was not finally written off in the form
in which it now stands until after the latter date.
From the preceding correspondence it is seen that the MS. of
the Relation of the Life and Death of Bishop Bedell in the Bod-
leian Library is a transcript from one which was in the possession of
Captain Ambrose Bedell. What became of the original manuscript
does not appear. A transcript of the Bodleian MS. has been used as
copy to print our text from. In revising it for the press the spellingf
has not been interfered with, but some alteration has been made in
the employment of capital letters, and the numbering of the para-
graphs into which the text is divided has been omitted. A few
verbal alterations hâve been ventured on, such as the Author himself
Precincts for Classical Presbyteries,” &c. to be found in the British Muséum Cata-
logue under the heading of “ Suffolk.”
* Bedell’s letters to Warde, now in the Bodleian Library, Tanner MS S., it will
be found, hâve been made use of in the compilation of some of the Supplementary
Chapters.
f The spelling as it stands may not, however, be exactly the same as it was in the
original.PREFACE AND DEDICATION.
XI
no doubt would hâve made in correcting the press, and explanatory
footnotes hâve been added here and there.
Whilst the Relation of the Life and Death of Bishop Bedell here
printed appears to hâve been, for the most part, a sketch from
memory, the Supplementary Chapters which I hâve added com-
prise recorded facts of Bishop Bedell’s history, gathered from parish
registers ; wills ; manuscripts and books in the British Muséum ;
manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Oxford; State Papers, Venetian
and Irish, in the Public Record Office; entries at the Colleges of
Arms in London and Dublin ; a manuscript in the Diocesan Registry
of Norwich; and last, though not least, documents in the Library
of Trinity College, Dublin, and in the Archiépiscopal Library of
Armagh.
For spécial contributions I am indebted to that distinguished
ecclesiastical archæologist the Rev. William Reeves, D.D., LL.D.,
Rector of Tynan, Prebendary of Armagh, and Chaplain to His
Grâce the Archbishop of Armagh; and to William Stokes, M.D.,
D.C.L. Oxon., F.R.S , the eminent Regius Professor of Physic in
the University of Dublin.
In acknowledgment of which assistance, and of the sympathy
shown by them in the object of my Editorial labours, I beg these
gentlemen to accept the Dedication of this Volume with my best
thanks and sincerest respect.
T. WHARTON JONES.
35, George Street, Hanover Square, London.
August 1, 1871, being the three-hundredth year
since Bishop Bedell’s birth.CONTENTS
PAGE
Préfacé and Dedication ........
A True Relation of the Life and Death of the Right Reverend
Father in God, William Bedell, Lord Bishop of Kilmore in Ireland 1
Birth and Parentage	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.1,2
School éducation at Braintree...............................2
University éducation at Emmanuel College, Cambridge	.	.	3
Studies in Divinity .........	4
Entrance into Holy Orders—Preacher at St. Mary’s, Bury St.
Edmund’s ..........	5
Manner and Method of Preaching..........................5,	6
Strictness in conforming to the Doctrine and Discipline of the
Church of England	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	6,7
Held in high estimation at Bury St. Edmund’s ....	7
Appointed Chaplain to the English Embassy at Venice	.	.	8
Aequaintance with Father Paulo, the Servite .	.	.	.	8, 9
Intercourse with the Jews in Yenice ......	9
Dr. Jasper Despotine....................................10-12
Return to England, and resumption of his Ministerial employment
at Bury St. Edmund’s	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	13
Introduction of Dr. Despotine to Medical Practice at Bury St.
Edmund’s ..........	13
Mr. Bedell’s marriage	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	14
His children ..........	15
Présentation to the Rectory of Great Horningshearth .	.	.	15
Objects to pay the fees demanded for his Institution and Induction
as Simoniacal .........	16
Settlement and mode of life at Horningshearth .... 16-20
Suit for the recovery of lands belonging to the Rectory of Horn-
ingshearth ..........	21
Elected Member of Convocation for Suffblk .	.	.	.22, 23XIV
CONTENTS.
Irish
Appointed to be Provost of Trinity College, Dublin .
Sir Henry Wotton’s letter to King Charles I. in recommendation
of Mr. Bedell .......
Bedell’s Provostship .......
Made Bishop of Kilmore and Ardagh
His Consécration .......
Endeavours to reform abuses in the Episcopal jurisdiction
Opposition raised up against the Bishop’s good intentions
His suit with the Chancellor of his Diocèses
The Bishop holds his Courts in person
His Diocesan Synod ......
His efforts to restrain pluralities ....
Labours to spread the Gospel through the medium of the
Language ........
Resigns the See of Ardagh .....
Misappropriation of the Episcopal lands by his predecessors
Blamed for signing the Pétition of the Protestants of the county
of Cavan against the charges for soldiers
Persécution of Bishop Adair of Killala
Bishop Bedell extenuates the charges against Bishop Adair’s con
duct, and is blamed for so doing ....
Final issue of the Chancery Suit between Bishop Bedell and th
Chancellor of the Diocese, Mr. Alane Cooke .
Subséquent modération of Mr. Cooke’s conduct .
Bishop Bedell’s correspondence with Dr. Despotine
Building and repairing of Churches in the Diocese of Kilmore
Translation of the Old Testament into the Irish tongne
Description of the Episcopal House of Kilmore and of the country
around ........
Outbreak of the Rébellion ......
The British Protestants, stripped and driven from their homes by
the Rebels, find refuge in the Bishop’s house .
The Rebels filch away the Bishop’s cattle .
Molestation of the Bishop by the Rebels
The Bishop refuses to abandon his post
PAGE
23, 24
25
26-28
29
30
32
33
34, 35
36-40
41
43
44, 45
46, 47
48
49-51
52
53, 54
55, 56
56
23, 57-59
59,	60
60,	61
62
65
65, 66
67
67, 68
69CONTENTS.	XV
PAGE
The Rebels at last invade the Bishop’s house .	.	.	.	71
The Bishop taken prisoner and his household goods seized by the
Rebels	..........	72
Imprisonment in Loughoughter Castle .	.	.	.	.73-75
Liberated from imprisonment	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	75
Takes up his résidence in the Rev. Denis Sheridan’s house .	.	76
The Sheridan Clan .	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	76
The MS. Hebrew Bible which Bedell brought from Venice saved
by Mr. Denis Sheridan .	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	76
His Library scattered .	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	77
Divine Service in the Rev. Denis Sheridan’s house .	.	. 77, 78
The Bishop falls ill of typhus fever	.	.	.	.	.	.	78
His last moments .	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	79, 80
Death and burial ......... 80, 81
The Bishop’s Seal ......... 81, 82
SüPPLEMENTARY ChAPTERS, GeNEALOGICAL AND HlSTORICAL,
compiled from original sources.
Chapter I.
Birth and Parentage .	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	85
Chapter II.
Education and entrance into Holy Orders—College Contem-
poraries ..........	92
Chapter III.
Résidence in Venice—Sir Henry Wotton—Father Paulo	.	100
Chapter IV.
Return to England from Venice—Dr. Despotine .	.	.124
Chapter V.
Marriage—Incumbency of Horningshearth—Literary labours—
De Dominis—The Diodati Family...................128XVI
CONTENTS.
PAGE
Chàpter VI.
Removal to Ireland and Provostship of Trinity College, Dublin 142
Chapter VII.
Elévation to the Episcopate as Bishop of Kilmore and Ardagh—
Extortions of the Court Ecclesiastical—Résignation of Ardagh 147
Family bereavements	Chapter VIII. 	160 Chapter IX.
Diocesan Synod		162
Chapter X.
Efforts to spread the Gospel through the medium of the Native
language—Irish translation of the Old Testament	.	.	171
Chapter XI.
The Irish Rébellion of 1641	.	.	.	.	.	.	.	181
Last illness and Death	Chapter XII. 	189
Chapter XIII.
Bishop Bedell’s last Will and Testament .	.	.	.	.192
Funeral and Tomb .	Chapter XIV. 		195
Chapter XV.
Departure of Bishop Bedell’s Sons from the county of Cavan .	201
Chapter XVI.
The Sheridan Family
203CONTENTS.
XVII
PAGE
Chapter XVII.
The Rev. Alexander Clogie	.	.	.	.	.	.	.211
Chapter XVIII.
Captain Ambrose Bedeîl	.	.	.	.	.	.	.221
Chapter XIX.
The Rev. William Bedeîl and his Family .	.	.	.	.226
Chapter XX.
Publication of the Old Testament in the Irish Ianguage .	.	210
Appendix No. I.
Letter from Bedeîl to Sir Nathaniel Riche on the state of
Trinity College, Dublin .......	253
Appendix No. II.
Letter from Bedeîl to Sir Robert Cotton about Ricemarcus* Psalter 256
Appendix No. III.
Pedigree of the Bedeîl and Elliston Families of Essex .	.	258
Index .	.	.	.	.	.	.	,	.	.	.261
ERRATA.
Page 86, third line from the top, for “ Johanne ” read “ Johanea.”
P. 105, foot-note, fifth line from bottom, for “ by Sancroft ” read “ by
the deprived Bishops of Norwich, Peterborough, and Ely.”
P. 140, seventeenth line from the top, for “ initio ” read “ initia.”
P. 146, sixteenth line from top, for “ furthermore ” read “ furtherance,”
and after “ lines,” insert a period.
P. 175, ninth line from the top, for “to read” read “to be read.”
P. 193, foot-note, fourth line from the bottom, for “ possessed ” read
“ professed.”
CAMD. SOC.
cA true relation of the Life and Death of the Right
Reverend Pather in God William Bedell, Lord
Bishop of Kilmore, in Ireland.
Though the writing of Lives is subject to be abused both b y
author and readers, yet expérience testifieth the usefullness and
benefit of such compositions. And tho’ the Genius of the person
whose Life I write, and the Eule he seem’d to walk by ail his daies,
was Bene qui latuit, &c. yet two reasons especially seem to plead for
this that here ensues : lst, That some réparation may be made for the
hard. entertainment the world gave to this Bishop while he lived ;
and 2ndly, That his example may hâve the advantage of com-
misération (usually granted to sufierers and the dead) to commend
it the more to the imitation of others.
This eminent Servant of God, William Bedell, late Bishop of
Kilmore, in Ireland, was born in the County of Essex, in England,
in a village called Black-Notley, in the year 1571, of a stock or
family of ancient continuance in that countrey, allthough of no
great eminency for worldly greatness, his Father and Grand-father
not exceeding the stile of Yoman.* His Father and Grand-father
were both noted in their time for Love to true Religion. His
Grand-father (upon that account being forced for some years to fly
the lands,) was a man of extraordinary severity, insomuch that
* The year of William Bedell’s birth is here correctly given as 1571, but a sfcate-
ment, which I hâve omitted, as to the time of the year is erroneous. It was his
elder brother John, who was no doubt born on Michaelmas Day, seeing that he was
baptized on the 23rd of October, whereas William, who was baptized on the 14th of
Jannary, 1571-2, had most likely been born at Christmas time, possibly on Christ-
mas day. See Supplementary Chapter I.—T.W. J.
CAMD. SOC.	B2
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL,
having put forth his son to a Master, and he upon some dislike
returning home again after a day or two, he took up his said son
behind him, and carried him with his face to the horse-tail through
some Market-towns back again to his Master. This severity, or
rather Love of his, God was pleased so to bless and sanctify, that
’twas a means to settle his son’s mind, and ground him more in his
obedience to his Father and Superiors, and to doe him good as long
as he lived, for he became a gracious and very godly man.
The Bishop’s Father married a helper or yoke-fellow meet for
him, Elizabeth Elliston. These two lived together to a great âge
in Black-Notley, much esteem’d and beloved ; they were both very
charitable and mercifull ; their house was seldom without one or
two poor children, which they kept upon alms. Mrs. Elizabeth Bedell
was very famous and expert in Chirurgery, which she continually
practised upon multitudes thatflock’d toher, and still gratis, without
respect of persons, poor or rich. It hapned occasionally that some
would return like the heald Samaritan, with some token of thank-
fullness ; though this was seldom. But God did not fail to reward
them with (that which in Scriptnre is most properly call’d his
reward,) children, and the fruit of the womb, 3 sons and 4 daughters.
Of the sons, William was the second. His godly parents, in
token of their thankfullness to God, and carefull to procure both the
spiritual and temporal good of their children, with ail convenient
speed dispatch’d away to School their two elder sons, John and Wil-
liam, having the conveniency of a good School and School-Master,
not above a mile off, at a Market town called Braintry. The School -
master, Mr. Denman, was very able, and excellent in his faculty ;
but exceedingly austere, insomuch that the eldest son John, tho’ of
good parts, yet not bearing the severity of his Master, grew so out
of love with learning, that his parents were forcM to take him home.
But William, on the contrary, being of excellent natural parts, and
especially of a strong memory, had such a love to learning that no
harshness of his Master could beat him olf, but rather it soLORD BISHOP OF KILMORE, IN IRELAND.
3
heightned his diligence, that his profieiency did seem to contend
with, and even to conquer his Master’s rigour, yet with a bloody
victory: For on a time lie received such a blow from his cholerick
Master, that he was beaten off a pair of stairs, and had one
side of his head so bruis’d, that the bloud gush’d out of his ear, and
his hearing was in conséquence so impair’d, that he became in pro-
cess of' time wholly deaf on that side.
But his great profiting in short time makes amends for ail: For
in the 13th year of his âge he was sent to Cambridge, and after
strict trial admitted into Emmanuell Colledge, and, not long after
his admission, chosen Scholar of that house.* The first four years
(as himself was wont to say) he lost, only keeping pace with those of
his own âge; which seldom proves better, if so well, with such as
are sent so young to the University. But after, he fell to his study
in so good earnest, that he got the startof the rest; and theRegents
of the Colledge thought fit to choose him Fellow, as soon as ever
he was of âge sufïïcient by their Statu tes to be eligible to a Fellow-
ship.
A great Student he was, and a great proficient, as in ail kind of
learning, so especially in Divinity. He did not only tast the Liberal
Arts, or give them a short visit by the way, but thoroughly studied
them. His knowledge in the Latin and Greek was very eminent,
as well for Oratory as Poetry. In the Latin Oratory he was both
élégant and fluent, whether we respect his tongue or pen; in both
which he was very much a Ciceronian. As for Poetry (wherin he
greatly delighted), he was an imitator of Horace, rather than Ovid ;
more sharp and solid than smooth. The Greek Fathers and
Historians he read in Greek ; going to the fountain-head, and
not beholding to translations. He attained also no mean skill in
the Syriack, Arabick, and Hebrew tongues; tho’ in these (as also
in the Chaldee tongue) he better’d himself much after in his travells.
* He was admitted November 1,1584, and appears to hâve been chosen Scholar
on the 12th of March following. —T.W. J.4
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL,
He had this rare faculty, that whatsoever art or language he would
set himself to acquire, he would reduce it into a hody, or metliod of
his own contrivance : and of languages he would usually draw up a
Grammar. So far did he descend in this kind, that on the desire
of some Italian friends he compos’d an English Grammar: thereby
letting them see our language to be reducible to the bounds of art,
and not obscure and barbarous, as commonly they accounted it then
beyond the seas, but élégant and copious, and easy enough.
But to return from this digression : During his abode at Cam-
bridge (which was not fully the time allowed by the Statutes of the
House) he had gain’d the repute of an eminent scholar, and a very
grave and pious man. Much esteemed he was by Dr. Chaderton, then
Master of the Colledge; and by the famous Mr. William Perkins,*
tho’ both were Fathers in comparison of him. The latter took a very
great affection to him, and judg’d him worthy of his more intimate
acquaintance: and in answer hereof Mr. Bedell likewise bare a filial
respect to him, communicating his studies, and submitting them to
his approbation and direction.
And now we must conceive him full-pace entred into the study
of Divinity ; wherof his first essay was in the discharge of the
Office of Catechist in the Colledge. In the study of Divinity (as
being the scope of ail his other studies) *tis hard to say whether
he was a more hard student or a greater proficient. His excellent
skill in scholastical and positive Divinity was highly commended by
that miracle of ail learning, Padre Paulo the Yenetian, as we hâve
it attested by the honrble and mémorable Sr Henry Wotton in a
letter to King Charles the First of blessed memory; expressing to
bis Matie his judgement of the said Mr. Bedell and his abilities.f
Mr. Bedell being thus furnished, ’twas easy to perceive to what
course of life God had destinated and his own inclinations led him ;
* Mr. William Perkins, Fellow of Christ’s College, and Incnmbent of St.
Andrew’s Church, Cambridge, was of a Puritanical turn, and much esteemed as
a preacher. He died in 1602, aged 44.—T.W. J.
f See this letter, infra, p. 25.LORD BISHOP OF K1LMORE, IN IRELAND.
5
which was the ministry. His entrance into Holy Orders was before
he had left the University : concerning which he would complain
of the greedy gaping for money by the officers and servants of the
Bishop, without heeding so much the sufficiency or insufficiency of
the man, as of money. Yet his Orders * he esteemed nevertheless
religiously, tho’ cumbred with some faults in the men that con-
ferr’d them. His first call to the Ministerial work was to St. Ed-
mundsbury in Suffolk : where the great esteem he gain’d for his
grave, humble, and diligent discharge of that employment is yet
surviving in the mouths and memories of many. His Auditory
there was very much consisting of men of the best quality, and best
abilities of Judgement and Learning, who yet ever received ample
satisfaction in his sermons ; being such both for matter and method
as gave no occasion of slighting, but alwaies affording even to the
most knowing some farther information.
It will not be amiss here to give a description of his manner and
method of preaching, wherin then he was in a manner alone. His
prayer before sermon was not set, nor fixed allwaies to the same
form of words, but various in expressions, as the time and présent
occasions most required ; but ever in the plainest and easiest phrase
of the English tongue, according to the capacity of the weakest
understanding; so as the most unlearn’d hearer might say Amen.
Yet he never affected tedious prolixity or needless verbosity ; he
allwaies avoided light expressions, and ail words unbeseeming the
spirituality and weightiness of the duty of prayer to God. No man
less stinted in his giffc of utterance, and yet no man more carefull in
the government of his tongue.
His voice was low, his action little ; but the gravity of his aspect
very great, and the reverence of his behaviour such as was more
affecting to the hearers than the greater éloquence and more
pompous pronunciation of others. In the handling of his text no
* Mr. Bedell was ordained Priest by Dr. John Stem, Bishop Suffragan of Col-
chester, on the lOth of January, 1596-7, being at that time twenty-fiye years of
âge.—T.W. J.6
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL,
man in his time was more exact, whether in opening the cohérence,
or the words themselves. His greatest excellency was in making
plain the hardest texts of Scripture, wherin scarce any man was com-
parable to him. His way was first thoroughly to scann the force of the
words in the original languages, Hebrew, Syriack, Greek, &c. Next
he would compare other places with his text, and such words or
phrases of other texts, as were like those of his text in hand ; and to
be sure if any such were, he would ne ver, through his familiar and.
perfect acquaintance with the Scripture, miss them. By this means
’twas wonderfull how great light he brought not only to the text in
hand, but ail other texts of Scripture which he had occasion to
quote. And in no one respect is the loss of his writings more
déplorable than in this.
Though his Library was large and choice (sc. that of Mr. Perkins,*
with his own additions), yet he seldom or never used to cite any
Author or Interpréter, in his sermons: but his Expositions ever
appeared to be the results of comparing other texts, and of the force
of the Original, and of the mind of the Holy Ghost. The sence
being traced out, often was found to differ from the common inter-
prétations: According to that of an ancient author, Aliud est ad
internos recessus veritatis in Sacrâ Scripturâ pertingere ; aliud se-
cundum vulgarem opinionem définir e, vel eœplicare. And divers of
good knowledge and judgement in the Scriptures (even Divines)
would wonder, first at the unusuallness of his expositions ; se-
condly, that themselves had not seen it before, as he had rendred
it. Where others would pass over words and sentences sicco pede,
there would he discover rich springs of heavenly Doctrine most
naturally flowing from the text.
Neither yet (for ail this) was he ever the author or broacher of
any novel opinion dissonant from the Doctrine of the Church of
England ; wherof no man was either a more able maintainer, or a
more obedient observer. No, nor in the matter of Discipline was
he any Innovator; though privately, and to those of chiefest emi-
* After Mr. Perkins’ death in 1602, Mr. Bedell purchased his library.—T.W. J.LORD BISHOP OF KILMORE, IN IRELAND.
7
nency in the Church, no man ever more bewaild or opposed the
abuses therin. But the peace of the Church was that which he ever
held precious; and therefore he was tender of uttering anything that
might give occasion to turbulent spirits.
What he chiefly sought in diving into the depths çf Scripture
was to find out ail possible conviction of the Evilness of Sin, as also
to store himself and his auditors with ail possible motives to Virtue
and Holiness of Life, judging those motives and arguments the best
(not which man’s art inventeth and fixeth to a text, but) which the
Holy Ghost hath laid down in the Scripture it|self : which to dis-
cover, and then to improve upon the consciences and minds of his
hearers, he judged the duty and main business of preaching.
His doctrinal observations were commonly two or three in a ser-
mon; which he needed not much to stand upon either for proof or
illustration, having done that work before in the exposition of his
text. Finally, his uses ever were very naturally flowing from his
text, and (as he manag’d them) very moving, their force lying more in
the clearness and evidence of their ground from Scripture (especially
the text) and in the matter of them, than in the loudness or con-
tention of his voice or vehemency of his gesture.
He was able to preach (and often did) upon very little warning ;
and his manner most what wàs to préparé himself only by médita-
tion, yet allwaies writing down his Sermons after he had preach’d
them. In short, for a preacher, he was the Substance of this poor
shadow here set down.
Mr. Bedell thus furnished and call’d to the publick exercise
of the Ministry in the Town of St. Edmund’s Bury (where he suc-
ceeded Mr. Geo. Estey, one of incomparable leaming, godliness,
&Cn who died there in the flowr of his âge,) had not been long there,
’ere he had gain’d a great reverence, as well from ail that savoured
of the power of Godliness as from the Gallants, Knights, and Gentle-
men, who reverenced him for his impartial, grave, and holy
preaching and conversation, and heard him gladly. As for his
esteem among the Ministers, it will appear in due place hereafter.8
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL,
Having continued five years at Bury, he was, in 1607, chosen
and appointcd to join Sr Henry Wotton, Ambassador to tlie State
of Yenice, as Chaplain to the Embassy, which employment he wil-
lingly embrac’d, desiring to concoct his knowledge and learning
attain’d at home by the observations of travel and the expérience of
forraign countreys. This employment being publick, his engage-
ment at Bury could not detain him, especially promising at his
return to fix there. After a difficult journey (especially in his pas-
sage over the Alps)he arrivé safe at last in the City of Yenice. It
happened to be in a time of very weighty transactions between the
then Pope, Paulus Y. and that State ; which was a singular oppor-
tunity for him to be throughly acquainted with the mysteries of
Papal iniquity : for by occasion of the controversy just closed, be-
tween the Pope and the State of Venice, many corruptions and
much of the Pope’s nakedness became more publick than might well
suit with the crédit of the common cause of Popery. As King
James (of famous memory) was very inquisitive into those affaires,
so his Ambassador there found means to give his Majestie a full and
punctual account from time to time : and Protestant Princes (he
especially the most considérable) were not so coily entertain’d in
their Embassies there, as the manner of that State had beex\ in
former times.
And as the time was extraordinary, so there was also then
flourishing in Venice an extraordinary person, that Oracle of the
Christian world, Father Paulo, a Friar of the Order of the Servi, a
man of miraculous learning, prudence and integrity, as fully may
appear both by his Works, and specially by the History of his Life
and Death now published in the English tongue ; * though that
* The Life of the most Leamed Father Paul, of the Order of the Servie. Coun-
cellour of State to the most Serene Republicke of Yenice, and Authorof the History
of the Counsell of Trent. Translated ont of the Italian by a Person of Quality.
London, 1651.
From this statement it may be inferred that the MS. of the “ Relation of the Life
and Death of Bishop Bedell” before us, was written after 1651, though perhaps not
much more than ten years.—T. W. J.LORD BISHOP OF KILMORE IN IRELAND.
9
History is compos’d with more partiality to the Roman Religion
than verity, as to the persuasion and judgement of the man. This
man, besides his acquir’d and natural parts, God had enlightned with
the knowledge of his truth so farr, as to see the détestable enormities
of the Papacy, and Court of Rome, and to loath the same. So as
it cannot be doubted but God rais’d him up and fitted him for such
a season, and such a juncture of affaires. This was the man em-
ployed by the wisest State of Yenice to draw up their Letters and
Rescripts that passed between the Pope and them : Wherin, as also
in his whole deportment in that business, he hath more solidly, tho’
less bitterly, detected and confuted the fundamental corruptions of
the Papacy, then ever any Protestant Writer before his time. Thrs
eminent Instrument, tho’ hard to be seen or spoken with by men of
best quality * (some that came in a manner for little else to that
City, than out of admiration of his famé), yet with the English
Ambassador and his Chaplain had entred into a strict familiarity,
which to Mr. Bedell was a singular advantage : For by controverse
with the Father he both armed himself against the Papists with
their own weapons, and became more polite in ail his other
learning.
It might, indeed, hâve been a dangerous thing to him (then a
young man) to be in such a place ; as some others, then and since,
by travelling and converse among the Italians hâve shewed by their
sad example : But, by God’s mercy, he was better grounded in
piety and good learning than to be easily subverted. He would
often say that he could never meet with any thing among them of
that side that did not rather confirm him than shake his persuasion
of the truth of the Protestant reformed Religion.
During his abode in Italy he found opportunity of converse with
some of the learneder sort of the Jews, wherin he intended these two
purposes, the bettering himself in his skill in the Hebrew, and the
drawing some of them to the embracing of Christ. In the former
the success answered, but not so in the later, that people being
* See an instance of this in the anecdote of the Prince of Condé’s visit to Father
Paulo in 1622, in “ The Life,” ut supra, p. 152.—T. W. J.
CAMD. SOC.	C10
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL,
extraordinary stiffnecked, as the Scripture foretold us. Some
account we hâve of the reasons they alledge for themselves, in Mr.
Bedell’s letters to Mr. Wadsworth, now reprinted, together with this
présent History of his Life.*
Before we leave Italy we must not omitt his acquaintance there
contracted with Dr Jasper Despotine, a Gentleman of noble ex-
traction, who, tho’ a younger brother, yet was in a fair way of
raising himself by his eminent learning, and the great famé he had
gain’d by his singular skill and judgement in Medicine. One thing
which was a great hind’rance to his rising in his own Countrey was
his judgement in Religion, varying from that of his Ancestors, and
from the falsly called Catholick. His great learning and much
reading was to him an occasion of seeing more into the true State of
the controversy between us and the Romanists than is permitted to
ordinary Papists. The change of his judgement was not suddain,
nor without very strong endeavours to maintain and defend within
himself the Religion wherin he had been educated. But still in
process of time, and by degrees, God sent in more light into his
mind, which he was not able to avoid. The unquietness of his
mind was very great in this pendulous condition, and the greater
because ’twas a matter of life and death to discover himselfe. A
long time therefore it was before he could get clear and corne to a
resolution.
One notable passage conceming him is not to be conceaPd. It
happen’d in Venice that a Lady of great quality fell sick, and, her
sickness proving very dangerous, a consultation of Physitians was
call’d to consider of her estate, who, upon enquiry and view of the
patient, having resolved what was to be done, appointed two of
their number (of whom Dr Despotine was one) to be constantly
with the patient. But in short space neither the care nor art of the
Physitians, nor the dignity of the person, availing against Death’s
approaches, ail hope of recovery was taken away, and then spiritual
* The meaning of this appears to be that the author of this présent History of
Bishop Bedell’s Life intended, in the event of its being published, to reprint along
with it Bedell’s Letters to Wadsworth.—T. W. J.LORD BISHOP OF KILMORE IN IRELAND.
11
Physitians began to flock about ber, some Jésuites, and some of other
Orders. Dr Despotine still attending, observed diligently the de-
meanour of these religious men towards the dying Lady ; she being
now allmost senseless (for it was the last night of her life), the
Jesuites and others her Confessors abode continually at her bed’s side.
The Jésuites were very urgent with her, that she would bestow
liberally to religious uses, and namely upon tlieir own Order; al-
ledging the great reward of such good works, and the benefit of the
prayers of their Fraternity; presenting unto her a Crucifix, moving
her to call on Our Lady, the Patroness of women, and more especially
of ladies. On the other side of the bed was a Capuchin Friar, and
he (not in so many words, but more to the purpose) put the lady in
mind of the Death and merits of Jésus Christ, and exhorted her
to believe and trust in him, and committ her soûl to his mercy.
This different manner of proceeding us’d by these religious men
mov’d the Dr much ; and the more in respect of the weakness of the
patient : Wherefore in ail respectfull manner he besought the Fathers
to suffer her to départ in as much quiet as might be, she being now
incapable of farther comfort. Notwithstanding they (the Jésuites)
with their tapers and crucifixes, and their calling still to the dying
lady, left her not till her life had left her first : And then (it being
past mid.-night) the company with-drew into other rooms, the Dr
into a gallery: To whom being there (whether accidentally or on
purpose ’tis uncertein) the Capuchin Friar resorted; and so con-
sidering it was not farr from day, they agreed to abide there and
discourse. The Friar, tho’ till then unknown to the Dr, did pre-
sently fall upon discourse of the lady, and the manner of the Jésuites
addresses to her, blaming their so urging her at the point of. death
to call upon Our Lady, without once mentioning Jésus Christ ; and
asking his judgement, if he did not then think it an undiscreet and
unseasonable thing. The Dr, though his heart was full, yet durst not
vent himself to a man of that profession, and a stranger ; fearing
some désigné to draw forth his opinion and so to accuse him. And,
therefore, with ail his skill and diligence, he laboured to put off that12
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL,
discourse. But the Friar so much the more urgently press’d upon
him, giving ail assurance possible of his ingenuity and candour of
moving that discourse: Wherupon the Drcould no longer hold, but
freely spake his mind ; and the Friar and he jump’d so just in their
thoughts about that point, that from thence in their discourse they
proceeded to some farther abuses then prevailing; in the dislike
wherof their judgements did no less concurr than in the former. But
still the Dr was very jealous. On the other side, the Friar opened
himself so freely that he thank’d him most heartily for his company
and discourse, and earnestly désir’d his farther acquaintance, inviting
him in most affectionate manner to his cell, that so they might hâve
farther conférence; And so, the day being corne, they parted upon
ternis of extraordinary love and familiarity. The Dr communicated
this passage to his friends, who would by no means would advise him to
goe any more to the Friar; assuredly gathering that ail this openness
and profession of love was but a trap. Wherupon, tho* he was con-
firmed in his persuasion of the truth of the Reformed Religion, yet
his appréhensions of the dangers impending over his person and life
were no whit abated. So that still he was fàin to be upon his guard,
retiring himself into privacy as much as possible.
In which condition God’s providence brought him to the ac-
quaintance of Mr. Bedell, by whom being made acquainted fully
witli the state of Religion in England. for the more free enjoyment
of his conscience he came over to this countrey with Mr. Bedell at
his return out of Italy. The labours and studies of this Dr. and his
profund judgement in Divinity, are little known to the world, and
especially his great zeal and courage in defence of the Truth against
Popish and ail other innovations. So tender was he in the doctrinal
part of Religion that oftentimes he hath taken very great offence at
certain passages and words falling from some of our English
Preachers, neither ill-meant by them, nor ill-taken by others, only
because they seem’d to him, tho’ but by some remote conséquence,
to abett the Popish or Pelagian opi nions. It h ad been happy, if in
time ourselves had been as cautious; and if that Apostolical Canon,LORD BISHOP OF KILMORE IN IRELAND.
13
1 Tim. i. 3, had been more strictly given in charge, and better ob-
served among us.
But we must now return from this digression to Mr. Bedell.
His stay in Italy was for some years, where he gain’d much ex-
périence and knowledge both in Divinity and the Oriental tongues,
but especially in the State of Religion as it then stood in most parts
of Christendom, having a farr better advantage for this at that time
and there, than the bare reading of ecclesiastical History was able to
afford. He was also there much improv’d in point of prudence and
modération, meeting there with men, tho’ of another persuasion
from himself in many points of Religion, yet very conscientious and
unblameable in life and conversation, and no less detesting the
tyranny of the Papacy, and the gross points of Popery, than the
Protestants themselves.
Before his return he gain’d the Italian tongue, and so with his
dear friend Dr. Despotine he came safe again into England. Being
landed, he repaired with ail convenient speed to his former Charge
at St. Edmunds-Bury, where he wanted no Wellcome from his many
dear Christian friends, who could not but look upon him as a return
of their prayers ; those prayers which at his departure he publickly
crav’d in his farewell-sermon to thern on Heb. xiii. 18, 19: Pray
for us, and the rather, that I may be restored unto y ou the sooner.
Having disposed of his friend Dr. Despotine and himself for some
time, as sojourners in the house of one Mr. Nunne, he settled him-
self to his Studies and Ministerial employment, and the Dr. fell to
Practice. But a very great difficulty was in the Doctor’s way,
namely, his want of the English tongue. But his friend Mr. Bedell
would not see him suffer for this, but voluntarily took upon him to
be his interpréter at any time whensoever any patient should resort
unto him. But as entire friendship made this labour easy to Mr.
Bedell, so to the Dr. the trouble and difficulty was hereby the
rather encreased, for he was exceedingly perplex’d and griev’d to be
tlius troublesome to his friend, and thus to interrupt his studies.14
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL,
And considering his condition, being a stranger wanting language,
being unfit for humane society, and burthensom (as he accounted)
to his friend, he was at first even weary of himself, so strong was
the reciprocation of love between these two friends. Such examples
of entire friendship were ever counted mémorable and commendable,
even by the greatest persons, tho’ seldom found amongst them,
through the inconsistence of greatness and ambition with such
friendship. But between this pair this their love continued firm to
the last; some other notable passages whereof weshall hâve occasion
to touch in the sequel. In process of time difficulties grew less, and
the Dr. gaining upon the English tongue, the need of an inter-
préter began to cease. Upon which occasion these two, Mr. Bedell
first, and Dr. Despotine some years after, betook themselves seve-
rally to a stricter kind of friendship, namely, conjugal, as that
which might afford each of them an helper more meet, than they
were able to be one to another.
Mr. Bedell entred into the holy estate of Matrimony with a very
pious, grave, and every-way-accomplish’d Gentlewoman, Mrs. Leah
Maw, widow, daughter of John Bowles, Esqr, of Ersham in Nor-
folk, and late wife to Robert Maw, Esqr, Recorder of the Town of
S4 Edmund’s-Bury. There were diverse things on either side that
might seem to disswade from this match : on her side that she must
now corne down from that gallantry in which she had been main-
teined, according to the place and profession of her former husband,
and that now she must marry a Minister, a noted contemner of the
world’s pomp: on his part, that she had five small children, and
but a slender estate. But these weightier considérations (as his
piety and ability for heavenly knowledge, as also his conscientious
integrity, and again her no-less eminent endowments of nature,
éducation, and grâce, for a woman), mov’d them to consent together
in Holy Wedlock, setting aside ail secular considérations that might
disswade. And well it were if such weightier considérations did
more preponderate in marriages, and worldly respects less. By thisLORD BTSHOP OF KILMORE IN IRELAND.
15
match Mr. Bedell became now charged with the care and éducation
of 5 orphans. The eldest Nicholas Maw, by his own labour, and
the benefit of that then-famous school of Bury, he brought up to
learning, who, after being sent to Cambridge, was taken into the
spécial care of Dr. Maw, then Master of Peter-house, and by him, as
he was capable, preferr’d to be fîrst Scholar, and after Fellow of
that House, where he liv’d diverse yearsin good esteem for learning,
being both an acute and able scholar. But not fancying the study of
Divinity, to which his step-father much incited him, he fell to the
study of Physick, wherin he profited very much, and after a good
time for furnishing his mind with the Theory, he married and
settled in Practice in the City of London, where he grew in a short
space into great esteem. But God was pleas’d to call him away in
the spring of his daies and first rise of his worldly advancement.
Of the others, two departed in their childhood ; the other two were
dear to Mr. Bedell as his own, and were by him provided for over
and besides their own portions. It pleased the Lord also to bless
him with four children of his own, 3 sons and a daughter: In whose
éducation, next to Godliness, his earnest care was to make his sons
Scholars : and he would often tell them, if he knew which of them
would not be a Scholar, he would not leave him a groat.
He passM thus some 4 or 5 years more at Bury, as Preacher there.
The weakness of his voice, however, was found a great defect in so
large a Church as St. Mary*s, as himself (with no small grief) did,
from his very first setling there, apprehend. He, therefore, was
resolv’d, when God should offer an opportunity, to remove and give
way to some of more audible voice ; And God’s providence was not
wanting. For among those worthy Knights and Gentlemen, that were
lovers and honourers of Mr. Bedell, Sr Thomas Jermin more especially
did study, and wait to doe him ail good offices possible. And the
Rectory of Great Horningshearth, of his donation, falling void, Sr
Thomas freely presented Mr. Bedell to this charge. The place being
near Bury, and the congrégation there not very great, but such as
his voice might reach, he accepted the présentation ; not indeed to16
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL,
the full satisfaction of his Bury friends, tho’, the disproportion of his
voice to their great assembly being consi dered, they could say no
great matter against it. But, however, to give them ail possible
satisfaction, Mr. Bedell engaged himself to supply their Fryday
Lecture for a year or longer as they should think fit : which he per-
formed with advantage after his remove to Horningshearth.
But his first entrance upon his charge was not without some rubbs :
For, being to repair to the Bp of Norwich, Dr Jegon, for Institution,
al tho’ no scruple was made against his person or title, yet the
demands of the Bps. Officers for his Instruments were very high;
insomuch that Mr. Bedell, first to the Officers though ail in vain,
and then to the Bp. also himself, protested against the illegality of
demanding such fees; and alleadg’d it to be no less than Simony on
his part as well as theirs, if he should give them their demands.
And in conclusion the Bp. being unmoveable from the principles
of himself and his officers, alleadging that they demanded no more
than what others were usM to give in that case, Mr. Bedell profess’d
his resolution never to take a living on those terms, so unwarrantable
either by the Word of God, or ancient Canons of the Church; and so
was fain to corne away without his living. This accident did not a
little trouble both the Bp., Sr Thomas Jermin, and Mr.Bedell him-
self: The Bp. in regard to the eminency of the man, whom he had sent
home re infecta ; Sr Thomas in regard of the frustration of his good
intentions to the, people of Horningshearth ; and Mr. Bedell himself
was much troubled that it was his hap to be forc’d to this so publick
appearing against the corruptions of the Bishop, and his Officers.
And, therefore, he addressed a letter to the Bp. more fully showing
the reasons, why in conscience he durst not yield to the paying of
those illégal exactions : by which letter the Bp. was so farr mov’d
that he caus’d the Instruments of his Institution and Induction soon
after to be sent unto him : leaving it to his choice to pay what he
thought fit.
And now we are to conceive Mr. Bedell settled at Horningshearth :
where weshall consider him in a 3-fold relation: tohisown Family;LORD BISHOP OF KILMORE IN IRELAND.
17
to his Parishioners, and to his Ncighbour Ministers. In his family-
relation, his example and authority were such as to command the
reverence of ail. His children he had in very great subjection and
nurture; wherin God had given him a Helper conformable and
answerable to himself ; both of them, as in ail things, so in this
happily concurring. And tho’ oftentimes, where children of two
several companies are in one family, discords arise either between
the Children or Parents, or both; yet their impartiality and joint
care for the good of ail was such that no considérable émulation or
variance was ever found arnong the Children, nor the least différence
between the Parents.
His manner was, to rise very early (commonly at 4 winter and
summer) and so to retire presently to his study; where he would be
so fixM till Prayer-time, that if any thing (as business of the family,
or some stranger or neighbour comming to speak with him,) did
happen to call him down, he would be even angry with the mes-
senger (wife, child, or servant) of any such occasion of inter-
ruption.
For prayer he observ’d three seasons, Morning, Noon, and Eve-
ning, ne ver tedious or prolix : At noon, his manner was to read and
expound some chapter of the Bible befor prayer. His expositions
were methodical, concise, and substantial.
As his children grew up (their mother having taught them to
read English, and give an account of the heads of the Catechism,)
he took them under his own teaching; and two of his sons he thus
instructed for some years. But his other many occasions, as here-
after will appear, and his studies especially, not allowing so great a
distraction, he was fain to give that task over.
Some little récréation he used to take before dinner or supper :
which, for the most part, was planting, transplanting, grafting, and
inoculating, and sometimes digging in his garden.
In his dress he was a great lover of plaineness, both for the
matter and fashion; never changing the fashion in ail his life. His
rules were easiness for the stirring of his body and serviceableness ;
G AMD. SOC.	D18
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL,
avoiding ail vanity and superfluity. And in bis Children lie still
labouredto bave the same rules observed; wberein onely he differ’d
something from the disposition of his wife; she, accorrlin^ to ber
éducation, sex, and tbe quality of her former husband, affecting
elegancy and neatness of habit, which also she did sometimes en-
deavour to observe in her children. But his will and authority bore
the sway. Some of his friends would blâme him for this carelessness
and neglect (as they counted it). But among other grave answers
he usually gave, this was one : That in our Baptisme we had ail
avow’d to forsake the pomps and vanities of this wicked world.
When his Friends came to visit him, his entertainment was
friendly, neat, and bountifull ; But his grave deportment and savory
discourse surmounted ail, being of such influence, that it gave a law
to the company and held them (as it were) under a kind of discipline";
which that he might somewhat relax and y et not warp from his
own principles, he would retire from them to his study, with some
grave item, leaving them to enjoy themselves. If they were
Ministers or Scholars, he would tarry longer; but so as he would
be sure their discourse should be profitable.
And here it cannot be omitted what an admirable gift and grâce
God had given him in the command and ordering of his speech.
For as he was well-stored with ail kinds of knowledge ; so he was
of such sanctified wisdom, that still he would be communicating to
others : and that in such a pleasing and delightfull way, that not
the least appearance of pride or vain glory could be found in his
discourse : no place left for vanity, if he were présent ; nothing
could be heard but piety and morality ; no man présent but was
either pleased, or profited, or charmed. If any other would speak
anything savory, he would stand still and hear; yea, of the two, he
was more forward to learn than teach; to heare rather than to
speak; giving place to any tho* his inferiors by many degrees. Yea,
by an art he had, he would so observe the tempers of men, that in
discourse with them he would draw forth whatever good was in
them, suppressing any vanity by his gravity, and hiding anyLORD BIS II OP OF KILMORE IN IRELAND*
19
ignorance by liis wisdom and humility. In a word, scarce any man
in his time ever exceeded him in the Goyernment of the Tongue :
as if God had designed him for a lively and practical Edition of Mr.
Perkins’s excellent treatise of the Government of the Tongue.* And
indeed that Man of God was the man, whom Mr. Bedell did very
much propound to himself for imitation.
There is yet farther to be noted, in his domestical course of conver-
sation, his behaviour to the beggars, bedlams, and travellours that
use to corne to men’s doors. These he would not fail to examine,
mixing both wholsom instructions and severe reproofs. N or rested he
there ; but if they had any passes to travel by, he would be sure to Scan
them throughly, and finding them false or counterfeit, his way
was to send for the Constable, and after correction given according
to law, he would make them a new pass, and send them to the place
of their last settlement or birth. This made him so well known
among that sort of people, that they shun’d the Town for the most
part ; to the no small quiet and security of him and ail his
neighbours.
One principal point more is yet behind, and that is his manner of
governing his family upon the Lord’s day. Being risen himself
(most commonly the first in the house), he presently retir’d to his
study, and, while he was busied in Prayer and Méditation, his Wife
was hastening to get the Children ready, a convenient time before
the publick meeting, that ail might be in order against his comming
down to Prayer in the family. His company being assembled
together he would corne down among them, but as at ail times, so
more especially then, with his countenance compos’d to ail possible
gravity, piety, and solemnity ; indeed, the presence of that day, and
his deportment together, wrought no small effects both upon
children and servants, as to préparation for the service of God, and
so truly was he God’s Vice-gerent in his family. Before prayer
sometime he would give such admonition to his company as he
* William Perkins, Fellow of Christ’s College, Cambridge, A Direction for the
Government of the Tongue, according to God*s Word«8vo. Lond. 1593.—T. W. J.20
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL,
judged most suitable, and then falling down on his knees lie would
pray among them, which being done, ail repaired together to
Church. In the passage from bis house to the Church, which was
not very far, strict notice was taken of the gestures and behaviour
of his children, either by himself or to be sure by his consort, an
helper to him to the height in these best things. But especially
tlieir words were observ’d. And when once they were corne to the
place, then ail possible reverence and attention were expected both
from children and servants ; and of such failings as were committed
this godly couple were diligent observers and severe correctors.
Besides his sermons forenoon and afternoon, he used to catéchisé
the youth openly in the face of the congrégation, whom he in-
structed not only to answer in the words of the Catechism, but also
to answer such other material questions as miglit make them under-
stand the principles of Religion. His manner was for an half hour
clearly to expound, in order, a certein portion of the Catechism
every Lord’s-day, so as to go through it once a year. Wherein not
only were the younger sort much benefited, but even the elder and
most judicious of his auditours found a great measure of satisfaction,
and they would profess that they accounted his catechising every
whit as profitable as his preaching.
And this leads me, in the next place, to his deportment to the
people in his charge, with whom he had a very great authority, not
only by reason of his diligent preaching and holy example of life,
but especially his constant use of private admonitions and reproofs,
which, tho’ some stomack’d at, yet they durst not openly despise.
The poorest of ail he had a tender care over in this respect, whom
he used bountifully to relieve every year. The others he enter-
tained at his table once a year ail through the whole Parish, with
whom he would be very cheary, and yet in so pious and profitable
a manner that their minds and soûls were no less feasted than their
bodies, sin and vanity being allwaies thrust out of doors for
wranglers.
Having obteined so great a place in their affections, his dueLORD BISHOP OF KILMORE IN IRELAND.
21
maintenance came in with the more ease to him, and willingness as
from them. He held it as a principle of conscience earnestly to pré-
serve the rights of the Church. The édifices which belonged to
him as Hector to uphold, he was allwaies carefull to keep in good
and sufïicient repair. And his care extended herein even to posterity,
for he left behind him a Book to his Successours, giving them a clear
and exact account what dues to expect from the Parishioners, and
some light for clearing of controversies and difficulties about tithing,
that might afterward arise. His great exactness herein was the oc-
casion of a long suit between him and William Lucas, Esqr, one of
the chiefest of his Parish. The matter was this : Mr. Bedell was
given to understand that certein pièces of ground in the possession
of Mr. Lucas had formerly belonged to the Rectory of Great Horn-
ingshearth, and some then living were able to give prégnant testi-
mony in the business, while no small probabilities were easily
gatheredby view of the ground itself. Yet for his own fuller satis-
faction, by the favour of the Lord of the Mannor, he got liberty to
search the Rolls and Records belonging to the Mannor, wherein by
his great pains and sagacity he found such light into the business
as convinc’d him in his conscience that those grounds by right be-
long’d to the Church. Whereupon making his claim with ail pos-
sible respect to Mr. Lucas, expressing his own unwillingness to
spend his time in law, or to hâve any contention with so unequal a
match as he, being also his Neighbour and Parishioner, and yet
alleadging the tie of conscience urging him to maintain the right of
the Church ; he receiv’d no other return from Mr. Lucas than in
eifect a déniai of any right of the Church in those lands, and a plain
signification of his résolution not to part with them otherwise than
by course of law. The suit being commenc’d, besides the charge
and expense of time, Mr. Bedell met with grievous vexations,
because of the strange delaies and other stratagems of the lawyers.
Yet the ter ms between him and his adversary were fair, as such a
long and chargeable suit might permitt ; the lasting whereof was
ten years and upwards. In short the issue was, that after some22
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL,
arbitrations without success, it was concluded by the final award of
one man, and tlie land return’d to the Church, tho’ not tlie same in
specie, yet the same in quantity, and in a place more convenient for
the Minister.
This unhappy occasion, being thus of so long continuance, did
necessitate Mr. Bedell to some study of the law, wherein (his own
chargeable practice concurring, as also through his great abilities
for whatsoever he did undertake,) he became strangely knowing and
dexterous for a man of his calling : insomuch as, even during the
agitation of his own cause, he was so observed for his abilities, that
he was frequently chosen Commissioner, or Arbitrator, in the most
difficult controversies that happen’d in the countrey round about ;
which leads us to consider in what ter ms he stood with his
Neighbours in the Countrey, and especially the Neighbour
Ministers.
And here, not to insist upon the frequent applications of sevcral
to him for advice, and resolution in doubtsand questions in Divinity
and other Learning, nor how he was still acquainted with and
made party to most Conférences that happened between any of his
Neighbours and the Papists, nor to mention what worthy men of
the Ministry were his intimate friends and familiars; it shall be suf-
ficient only to insist upon one passage more-than-ordinarily con-
sidérable, and that was this :
While he was Rector of Great Horningshearth a Parliament was
called, at which, according to the ancient custom, a Convocation of
the Clergy also was to attend, to the making up whereof, besides
the Bishop and other Dignitaries, two Ministers were to be chosen
in the Diocess of Norwich, to represent the Clergy, one for Norfolk,
and anotlier for Suffolk. But, as it often falls out, there was much
packing and plotting and making of friends by the more ambitious
of the Clergy to be chosen for that honour, as they accounted it,
insomuch that Mr. Bedell himself was dealt with ail by letter, and
other wise, touching the disposai of his voice at the Election. But
those indirect proceedings did make such an impression upon hisLORD BISHOP OF KILMORE IN IRELAND.
23
spirit that he wholy declined the meeting appointed for tlie
Election. The ministers being met upon the day, there was great
stickling, and much opposition of some against others, till at last
Mr. Bedell himself, that was absent, and never made any means for
the employaient, was the man they pitch’d upon.* The news
whereof no sooner came to his ears but it presently affected him
with a great deal of grief and dislike, as he spared not to his friends
sadly to express to this effect, that he knew he should but loose his
time, and sit there and tell the clock, without doing any good, as
to what the présent exigencies of the Church did most require.
And indeed the issue provcd his fear too true, which before him
Bp. Andrews feared, and prayed against, in his Concio ad Clerurn,
in a Provincial Synod, where he hath these words, Synodum cele*
brare, non fuit Paulo tum (utinam verô nec nobis nunc) Xpovorpt-
fifjcrai; the holding of a synod was not to St. Paul then (I wish it
were not now to us) a wasting of time : he means when St. Paul
held the Synod at Miletus. But we hâve seen sufficient to demon-
strate Mr. Bedell’s esteem with his Brothers of the Ministry.
And now we must proceed to his removall out of England into
Ireland, to be Governour of the University and Colledge of Dublin,
from which time till the end of his daies the antient love and friend-
ship between him and Dr Despotine was mainteined, so that their
great distance both by land and sea from each other could not
hinder a continuai entercourse of letters between them; wherein
nothing of moment in either Kingdom, whether of publick concern-
aient, or touching their own personal affaires, but still they com-
municated one to another. And this is therefore here mentioned to
* The date of the élection was February 13, 1623. See Memoranda by Rev. W.
Cole, in Add. MS. 5832, in British Muséum. In Bishop Goodman’s Court of King
James I. there is, at page 325 of Volume II., a letter to Dr. Samuel Warde, Master
of Sidney College, Cambridge, dated from London April 16, 1624, in which Mr.
Bedell refers to his attendance in Convocation. The original of this letter is in the
Tanner Collection lxxiii. 425, in the Bodleian Library, Oxford.—T. W. J.24
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL,
advertise the Reader that the main ofthe ensuing narration, and in
many places the very words, are nothing but what Mr. Bedell’s
own letters to Mr. Despotine hâve furnished : ail other his writings,
which might hâve much help’d on this work, being unhappily lost,
together with his library, in that overflowing scourge of the Ré-
bellion of Ireland.*
To returne then to his remove into Ireland; we may observe a
spécial and extraordinary hand of God therein; which Mr. Bedell
himself in a letter to his friend the Dr thus expresseth : “ My
greatest encouragement is, that I hâve not put my self into this
place, but, as I hope, I may truly say I follow God. And, indeed,
not only the thing it self, but the juncture of time when it was
effected and the instruments helping it on, hâve much of God ob-
servable in them.” That a private Countrey Minister so far distant
and of so retir’d a life should be sought, for such a publick and
eminent employment; That this should be immediately upon the
détermination of his long suit and recovery of those lands of the
Church, to vindicate him from ail imputation of self-seeking, and to
take him off from ail dreggs of anger and dissention, which such a
suit might hâve in the bottom ; Finally, that two so eminent men
for Learning and Holiness, as those two famous Primates, George
Abbot, Archbp. of Canterbury, and James Usher, Archbp. of
Armagh, should be the chief instruments of his call to that place;
these circumstances cannot be denied to hâve a spécial hand of
God going along with them, and cannot but testify both the favour
of God towards him and his own great abilities. Upon the com-
mendation, therefore, of these two Archbishops, he was chosen by
the Fellows of the Colledge, and petitioned for to his Majestie ; who
was graciously pleased, upon the testimony of Sr Henry Wotton, to
assent to the Fellows’ pétition. This testimony is given in the
foliowing letter from Sir Henry to King Charles I. :—
* In the supplément hereto annexed it will be found that many of the letters from
Mr. Bedell to others of his friends hâve been preserved.—T. W. J.LORD BISHOP OF KILMORE IN IRELAND*
25
May it please yor Matie,
“ Having been informed that certain persons hâve by the good
wishes of the Archbp. of Armagh been directed hither, with a most
humble pétition to your Matie, that you will be pleased to make Mr.
Wm.Bedell(nowresidentupon asmall bénéfice in Suffolk) Governour
of your College at Dublin, for the good of that Society; and my
self being requir’d to render unto your Majestie some testimony of
the said Mr. William Bedell, who was long my chaplain at Yenice
in the time of my first employment there ; I am bound in ail con-
science and truth (so far as your Majestie will be pleased to accept
my poor judgement,) to affirm of him, that I think hardly a fitter
man for that charge could hâve been propounded unto your Majestie
in your whole Kingdom, for singular érudition and piety, conformity
to the rites of the Church, and zeal to advance the cause of God ;
wherin his travells abroad were not obscure in the time of the
excommunication of the Venetians ; For it may pleade your
Majestie to know that this is the man whom Padre Paulo took (I
may say) into his very soûl ; with whom he did communicàte the
ïnwardest thoughts of his heart ; from whom he professed to hâve
received more knowledge in ail divinity, both scholastical and
positive, than from any he had ever practiced in his daies, of which
ail the passages were well known to thé late King, your father, of
blessed memory** And so with your Majesties good favour I will
end this needless office : For the general famé of his learning, his
life, and Christian temper, and those religious labours + himself hath
* In a letter (Public Record Office) from Venice dated August 14, 1609, to King
James, Sir Henry Wotton says : “ My chaplain (whom I am bound to commend
unto your Ma**6* goodness for a person of singnlar leming and zeale) hathe trans-
lated the whole work (King James’ * Apologie ’ and ‘ Prémonition ’) into this Vulgâr
(Italian language).”—T. W. J.
f “ The Copies of Certain Letters which hâve passed between Spaine and Eng-
land in Matter of Religion.” Dedicated to the King when Prince of Wales, 1624.
“ Interdicti Veneti Historia.” A translation into Latin from the Italian of Father
Paulo. Dedicated to the King, 1626.—T. W. J.
E26
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL,
dedicated to your Majestie doe better describe him, than I am
able.
“ Your Majesties most humble and faithfull servant,
“ H. WOTTON.”
Mr. Bedell thereupon was made and sworn Provost * of the Col-
ledge of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, near Dublin, in Ireland.
This beginning of that part of his life spent in Ireland was (as we
see) favoured with the most benign aspect, not only of the best and
greatest personages among us, but of God himself, as a sweetning
and préparative for the more stormy and troublesome part of his
life that was to follow.
During his abode at the Colledge, he was often honoured with
the visits and invitations of the greatest persons about the city : As
the Archbps. of Armagh, Dublin, and Cashell ; the Lords Clane-
bois, Angier, and Dowckra ; and in a spécial manner he had the
favour of the Lord Deputy Falkland. His yearly stipend was 100u,
to which he had 20** per annum added for preaching a Lecture every
fortnight at Christ’s Church ; and this was the utmost of his
revenew.
As touching his managing of business in the Colledge ; his first
care was concerning the Statutes of the House, in which he made
some alterations, and some additions to them, and reduced them
into a more exact method : But especially he looked more diligently
to the strict observance of them, than formerly had been used. In
his alteration of the Statutes, it might manifestly appear that he
sought the good of the society, and not his own ; and ail still with
spécial reference to the good of the Church: Nothing being aimed
at either for the addition of maintenance or outward splendor to
himself or to the Fellows ; but that every Fellow should study
Dïvinity, and after 7 years’ stay should goe out into some employ
* Mr. Bedell “ was admitted and chosen by the nnanimous consent of the Fel-
lowes the xvith of August, 1627.” Register of the ühiversity.—T.W. J.LORD BISHOP OP KILMORE IN IRELAND.
27
in the Church; that the Natives of the Countrey should be exer-
cised in the reading and writing of their own language, that they
’might be the fitter to convert their countreymen the Irish; that no
Acts, Disputation, or Déclamation in any other Science or Art, save
in Divinity, should at any time be kept in the Chappell ; that the
students should allwaies weare their gowns as well in the City as in
the Colledge ; that on the Lord’s-days, the Fellows, Scholars, and ail
other the Students should goe together, and accompany the
Provost to Church, ail in their gowns: Such are some of the heads
of those additions which he made to the Statutes. The whole body
whereof he wrote out and left in the Colledge. And they bear the
name of Bedell’s Statutes to this day.
One thing among the rest is not to be forgotten. It was pro-
vided in these Statutes, that allwaies before dinner and supper in
the Hall, the Scholars of the House in their turns, every one his
week, were to read a Chapter in the Latin Bible, and then to give
thanks ; and after méat was brought in, and a little space of time
allowed, the Reader was to goe upthe Fellows’ table (where seldom
but the Provost himself was présent), and there recite some verse of
the Chapter that was read, to give occasion of savory and profitable
discourse ; which to be sure, when he was présent, was improv'd
accordingly.
He was strict in exacting the performance of Divinity Acts as
commonplacings and disputations, required by the Statute of the
Fellows, wherein himself would still take the first tum; and often-
times he would dispute at other times with an Argument or two
upon the Respondent; which sometimes produced some pretty
strong tugging between him and the Moderator (which allwaies was
the Divinity Professor, Dr. Hoile) to the great delight and profit of
the hearers.
Besides this and such like ordinary work of his place, he usM,
on the Lord’s Day, between dinner ended and church, to expound
in the Chapell some part of the Catechism ; to which exercise
diverse of the most devout persons of the City used to resort. And28
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL,
in this way of seulement his Government in thé Colledge proceeded
for some time without any manifest disturbance.
But ’twas not long ere some tempestuous winds arose to the no
small disquiet of his and the Colledge’s peace. Two particulars the
Beader may take notice of ; one was a schism among the
Fellows, arising from a National antipathy. For the Society con-
sisting partly of Brittish, and partly of Irish, it came to pass that
there were contradictions and bandyings, one side against another,
in ail their meetings and consultations : whereby business of pub-
licque concernment was hindred ; the House became divided against
it self ; the Provost was rendred suspected by one side or other, for
his modération and endeavour to keep down this contention; and
in short things grew to that height that the Yisitors were necessitated
to interpose, least the matter should hâve grown to open scandaL
This last refuge, the authority of the Yisitors, being join’d with the
wisedom and modération of the Provost, was a means for some time
to keep down this fire; but could not extinguish it.*
Another disturbance arose from the Professor, Dr Joshuah Hoile,f
a man of great learning, zeal, and piety, but over-hott. The oc-
casion was this : Mr. Bedell, in his Catechiseings and Sermons and
at other discourses, used still rather to contract the différences be-
tween Protestants and Papists, than to widen them. One thing
among the rest he had uttered his judgment in, viz*: the Church
of Borne to be a true Church : Which in effect wise men know to
mean no more, than that God hath a Church, tho’ in the Dominions
* A disturbance in the College similar to that here alluded to, appears to hâve
occurred also about the end of the year 1627, while Mr. Bedell was absent in Eng-
land arranging his affairs there preparatory to his final departure and settlement in
Ireland.—T.W. J.
f Dr. Joshua Hoyle became Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin, in 1609. He was
Professor of Diyinity in the College, and tutor to Sir James Ware. Afterwards, in
1641, he remoyed to Oxford, where he was Master of University College, and
Professor of Diyinity in the University. Dr. Joshua Hoyle’s name occurs in
the list of the Divines who met in the Assembly at Westminster. He died in
1654.—T.W. J.LORD BISHOP OF KILMORE IN IRELAND.
29
and under the tyranny of the Pope : and with ail he was still wont
to distinguish between the Church of Eome and Court of Rome.
But this much disrelished with the Professor, who being at that
time in his ordinary Divinity Lectures engaged in the confutation
of Bellarmine, and being to common-place on a time in his course,
chose the text, Revel. xviii. 4, Corne out of her my people : Whence
he took occasion too plainly to glance at the Provost with somewhat
more sharpness (being a hot and zealous man) than could be well
digested, without disparagement to his place. But the Provost con-
tented himself only with the satisfaction of a private conférence in
the Professons own chamber, immediately after the Sermon ; where
they debated the business largely together like Scholars, ail in Latin,
without any witness unless a Sizar, and partedgood friends ; and no
more was ever after heard of that matter, saving only that the
Professor afterward to some of his acquaintance gave the Provost
the commendation of a pure Ciceronian, as ever he had discoursed
with.
And having been thus employed and exercised awhile in the
College not much more than a year from his first settled résidence
in the place ; * God’s Providence called him forth into the Govern-
ment of the Church : wherein he spent the remainder of his life, and
wherein we shall find him exceedingly tossed with raany and great
troubles. His entrance and first advance to this employment was
principally by the médiation and procurement of his noble friend
and patron Sr Thomas Jermine; who moved the King’s Majestie in
his behalf and with some difficulty obteined for him the Bishopricks
of Killmore and Àrdagh, before Mr. Bedell was acquainted in the
least with any such désigné. The difficulty of effecting this was
* After his admission as Provost, August 16, 1627, Mr. Bedell retumed to Eng-
land and remained there nntil June, 1628 ; when, having settled his affairs in
England he retomed to Dublin with his family and took up his settled résidence in
the College as Provost. The patent by which he was appointed to the Bishoprics
of Kilmore and Ardagh was dated May 29,1629.—T.W. J.30	LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL,
such, that Sr Thomas was forced to engage for him to his Majestie,
as farr as a man might be responseable for another. The cause of
this difficulty, perhaps, may appear afterwards. It is not to be
omitted how little ambitious he was of any such advancement : for
before his acceptance of the Bishopricks he seriously consulted with
the Lord Archbp. of Armagh, and crav’d his ad vice about it : pro-
fessing himself so indifferent that, if his Grâce should judge it more
behovefull for the Church that he should still stay at the Colledge,
he would then some way décliné the Bishopricks. Also to his
friend Dr Despotine his expressions concerning this his preferment
speak the same : “ Thus your friend, who ne ver desir’d or dream’d
of this or any other Bishoprick (more than to be Pope of Borne) is
to hâve two Bishopricks at a clap, being insufficient for one.” But
upon the advice and encouragement of the Ld Primate he accepted
the Bishopricks.
And now the next thing was his Consécration, which he was to
receive from the most Beverend James Usher, Lord Archbp. of
Armagh, to whose Province his Bishopricks did belong. But it
happened to be at the time of the Archbishop’s triennial Visitation,
which was usually managed by the Chancellour, and Begister of
the Archbishop. And had it only been used to keep up the
dignity and preheminence of the Archbishop above the other
Bishops of his Province, or for the reformation of such Bishops as
were négligent or corrupt in their places, the matter had not been
great, but by vertue of this triennial Visitation every Bishop was
inhibited from exercising any Jurisdiction, as well the good as the
bad, ail causes were remov’d from the Bishop’s to the Archbishop’s
Court, and the Sees of Kilmore and Ardagh being now vacant, the
Archbishop’s Officers were the more active to improve their time,
and not willing to be interrupted by the coming in of the new
Bishop. Whereupon his Consécration was deferr’d a long time.*
But the new Bishop made no hast, resolving in matters of this
He was consecrated on the 13th of September, 1629.—T.W. J.LORD BISHOP OF KILMORE IN IRELAND.
31
nature (as he wrote to his friend the Dr) to follow rather than to
lead.
At his Consécration (and so after) he was to enter of necessity
into a more costly garb, both for attire and attendance, than ever
he had used, and this was no small trouble to his humble and
heavenly mind. His own wisedom prompted him to some con-
formity to the Episcopal rank, and his friends were sollicitous lest
he should render himself contemptible or lie under sinister cen-
sures, by coming too much behind other Bishops in State and
gallantry. And, therefore, he took a middle way, rising a little,
but differing very much in outward splendor from the rest of his
order. He never wore silk, only his girdlé, chimier, and tippet
were of that material. Never wore bever, castor, or demi-castor,
but allwaies felts. He used not to ride up and down the streets of
Dublin about his occasions, with his three or four men attending,
as was the common usage of the Bishops there, but allwaies walk’d
with only one man. And till the time of the Earl of Strafford (for
till then ’twas optional) he very seldom used to ride with the State
to Church on Sundaies, and when he did it was with as little State
as possible. And tho’ in this practice he did discontent some, and
suffered the gibes of the more Lordly Prelates and their followers,
y et he could not be altered. Going to visit a Bishop in plain habit,
with shoes made for ease and use (not with high Polonian heels,
&c.), “ How now, my Lord,” (said that Bishop,) “ do you weare
brogues ? ” (so the Irish call their shoes) jearing him for his plainness
and his known affection to the Irish nation. But he kept his usual
composedness, and fell presently upon that Church-business which
occasioned his visit, and so spoil’d the jeast by taking no notice of
it, and withall gave a sober check to the levity of it.
But we shall now carry the Beader along with our Bishop of
Killmore in his plain accoutrements to his Diocess, and take some
view of his carriage and entertainment there. And the first thing
observable may be his sense of those présents (as horses, fat oxen,
brawns) that came then frequently unto him, some from his Officers,32
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL,
and some from his Tennants, and sorae from Ministers of his
Diocess. These were sent so thick that they were a very great
disquieting to his mind, for his way was, either to offer money for
such as came from farr, and that might be usefull to him for his
présent necessity, or if that were refused (as allwaies it was, even
with indignation as a kind of an affront), then utterly to deny ac-
ceptance of any such présent. It is hardly crédible what dis-
content arose against him, partly for this refusing of présents, and
partly for the plainness of his habit and attendance. Some abstained
not from scoffs and scorns, thus seeking to allay their own dis-
appointment and mortification by laying loads on him whom they
found inflexible to their corrupt interests.
But notwithstanding ail such unkind wellcoms, the Bishop,
armed with integrity, patience, and holy zeal for God and the
Truth, proceeded with ail diligence to acquaint himself of the State
of his Diocess, bending his studies wholly and to the utmost of his
power that way to reform. And God’s Providence concurr’d, for he
was no sooner a little settled in his See, but multitudes of complaints
daily came in, especially against his Chancellour and those others
that under him managed the Jurisdiction. It was the more
grievous to the Bishop to meet with such complaints, for that the
cause was given by his own offlcers, and the wrongs done in his
own name. And, therefore, with ail convenient speed he appoints
a Visitation, that so he might see fully and certainly into the State
of things.
But at his Visitation, upon some free actings and impartial pro-
ceedings of his, for redress of the grievances of some complainants,
his Chancellour openly oppos’d him, for going about to alter the
course of proceedings observed in his predecessour’s time, for
intrenching upon the place and office of the Chancellour, as an
Innovator, as going about to eradicate ail the Professours of the
Civil Law, and what not ? And he found some of the Clergy that
were not asham’d to abett the Chancellour in this opposition to the
Bishop’s good intentions for reformation.LORD BISHOP OF KILMORE IN IRELAND.
33
It is strange, how high the rage of Satan and men’s malice flew
against him, at his very first stirring, tho’ but gently, for some
Reformation. One wbile they attempted to scare him with the
name of a Præmunire, but he too well understood the laws to
incurr that danger. Another while they thought to discourage
him with giving out that he was a Papist, an Arminian, a Poli-
titian, an Italian, a Neuter. . The eies of ail men were upon him,
the mouths of ail open’d against him ; he was as a wonder to many,
and was forc’d to bear their reproaches and the smitings of tlieir
tongues; there was none to stand by him, or scarse to speak a word
in his favour. His own nearest friends and relations were no small
disheartning to him, as looking upon him and his actings according
to the common vote, and help’d rather to break his heart and
courage in the cause of God than any way to support him. There
was not any worldly gain or advantage in the least to be expected,
in case he should hâve been able to attain his ends, but to be sure
he must be at great expences, both of his body, means and time, to
the divorcing him from his studies (as he complain’d to his friend
the Dr). But none of ail these things, nor any worldly con-
sidérations, could withold him from using his best endeavour to
discharge his conscience in that place God had called him to.
And therefore he begins first with his pretended Chancellour,
Mr. Alane Cook, after Dr Cook. For, having received sad com-
plaints against him (the particulars out of respect to the dead shall
now be spared), the Bishop held himself obliged to see to the
management of the Jurisdiction in his own Diocess, and having met
with so hot opposition from Mr. Cooke to his face in open Court,
for but beginning to meddle with the rectifying what he judged
amiss, he desired to see his Commission or Patent, by which he
held the place of Chancellour, signifying farther, that being he was
an officer under him, and acting in his name, he must needs there-
fore call him to account for his actings.
Mr. Cook’s Patent being shewn, was found to be only a grant of
the Chancellour’s place to him from the precedent Bishop, under
CAMD. SOC.	F34
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL,
his hand, and confirmed by the Dean and Chapter.* There were
also other just grounds of exception from the incongruence of the
syntax, a principal verb being wanting that was to govern a long
sentence of about five hundred words. Besides that, the Bishop
alleadged that it was against the Canon-law for a Bishop to hâve a
servant (as the Chancellour is) impos’d upon him by his predecessor.
These and some other defects in the instrument itself, but especially
the exorbitancies of the person, begat a long and chargeable suit
between the Bishop and his Chancellour.
The first scene hereof was the Archbishop’s Court, and there tho’
the Archbishop himself (that renowned Usher) was forward enough
to give the Bishop of Kilmore a fair hearing and an eipial sentence,
yet, alass ! he was no more at his own disposai in it than the Bishop
of* Kilmore could be in causes depending in his Court, the Arch-
bishop being alike tied up by the fullness of [Dr Synge] his
Chancellour’s power, as the Bishop was by his.
And besides, this was like to be a leading case, that, if déter-
miné for the Bishop, might hâve hazzarded to hâve been an
occasion of shortning both the power and the profit of ail Chan-
cellours, Registers, &c. and might hâve proved no small diminution
of those honours and preferments which Professours of the Civil
law propound to themselves, as the rewards of their study and
practice. Thus Mr. Cook labored to represent this case, and thus
without much adoe the business presently was resented by the
Civilians, so that ail as one contributed their uttermost for the
mainteining Mr. Cook and worsting of the Bishop, insomuch that
when according to the form of those Courts he was to retain a
Proctor, none would undertake his cause, ’till one of the meanest
they could find was assigned by the Court, and that was in this
case as if a man’s Adversary should be his Counsel or Attorney,
* The patent was not sealed with the Bishop’s great seal, though confirmed by
the Dean and Chapter. Letter from Bp. Bedell, dated August 7, 1630, to Bishop
Laud, in the Public Record Office. See Supplementary Chapter VII.—T. W. J.LORD BISHOP OF K1LMORE IN IRELAND.
35
tho’ how such a man’s cause might be likely to thrive any one may
judge.
But, notwithstanding this cold comfort, the good Bisbop thought
himself bound in conscience to do his endeavour for the regùiating
his Chancellour, and reforming the proceedings in his jurisdiction,
and, therefore, trusting his Proctor as little as he could, he applied
himself to the management of his own cause in his own person.
He missed not a Court-day, tho’ the place (being the City of
Drogheda) was thirty miles distant from his house. He drew his
Answers himself, or whatever else was to be given in in writing,
being very throughly seen in the study of the Civil Law. He
offer’d himself and earnestly desired to plead and speak in his own
cause, when occasion so required, but that would not be allowed.
The Bishop alleadged and prov’d that anciently ’twas accounted a
shame for a Bishop to hâve one speak for him : but the Civilians
did not like such old fashions ; they were resolved that their manner
of proceeding should not be altered, the Bishop must speak by his
Advocate or Proctor, for whatever else he spake signified nothing:
and so still his hopes of prevailing grew daily more desperate.
In these streights he tried some friends in England, from whom
he receiv’d only some small verbal encouragement.* The advantage
was much every way on the opposite side, yet it was thought the
surest way to remove the cause into the Prerogati ve-Court. And
there also much time was spent, and charges ran on, and the saine
forms of proceeding were repeated again, to no other purpose but
only to make the business the more publick, as being now brought
to Dublin, and that ail the good Civilians might hâve the better
opportunity to join their forces against the Bishop.
Being thus worried among them, and easily perceving what issue
he must expect, he expressed himself to his friend the Dr thus: “ I
hâve ail right on my side, but know not whether I shall find any to
* The copy of Bishop Laud’s answer to Bishop Bedell’s letter of the 7th of
August, 1630, is in the Public Record Office. See Supplément.—T. W. J.36
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL,
do me right.” Also he calPd the Law his Purgatory, and his
journeys to Dublin his returning into Purgatory ; he complain’d to
the Dr of his many troublesom tlioughts, and often bemoan’d his
own case. The Dr also and his other friends persuaded him to sit
still and not to strive against the stream. But the tie of his con-
science, and his duty to God in that place, were more than ail dis-
couragements, and, therefore, though sure to loose the day, as he
wrote to the Dr, he comforted himself with this, Post tenebras spero
lucem, et dabit Deus his quoque finem, resolving however to be
hearty, and to see the uttermost of the business, that he might be
able to say, Liberavi animam meam.
But before we proceed to relate the final issue of this suit, we
shall take breath a while, and observe some other employments of
the Bishop’s, even while this great cause was depending. For as
he laboured to rectify the mis-carriages of his pretended Chancellour
and the other Officers in managing the Jurisdiction, so himself was
active the mean time to give a better example. And, therefore,
most commonly his manner was to keep Courts himself in person.
For which purpose, as usually they had set times and places, so
whatever weather came he would be sure to be présent at the
remotest parts of both his diocesses. These journeys took him up
sometimes nigh a whole fortnight together : they were very charge-
able to him, and sometimes dangerous, by reason of the mountains,
and boggy waies, and loughs, and rivers not passable, but by boat ;
besides the intemperate rains, that fell allmost ail Summer long in
those northern parts.
But God not only preserv’d him in these his waies, but en-
courag’d him, for at the very first beginning of these journeyings to
keep Courts he was met a great way from home by the Judges of
Assizes, being upon their circuit, as the Bishop was upon his, and
though they were of no particular acquaintance with him, yet with
very great respect and civilities they congratulated his advancement
to the Bishopricks, using this speech unto him : That when his Lord-LORD BISHOP OF KILMORE IN IRELAND.
37
ship came to that Diocess it was breathing out the last spirit. The
people generally, English, Scottish, Irish, gentle, simple, Pro-
testants, Papists, wellcomM him wherever he came. He was in-
vitée! by those of best quality, Knights and Gentlemen, as he tra-
vell’d, and sometimes of necessity (the county not affording other
conveniency) he accepted such invitations. He would not refuse
the courtesies of Papists on these occasions, nor of Papist-Priests,
but sometimes hath taken up his lodging even in such men’s
houses, and very ambitious would they be of entertaining him as
their guest. But where the conveniency of Inns was to be had,
there he rather would be at his own charges.
It happened once that a meeting of the Bishop and some Ministers
was appointed to be holden at a place call’d Mannor Hamilton ; and
the Bishop having bespoken an Inn, and provision for the enter-
tainment of himself and the Ministers, a noble Knt, Sr Frederick
Hamilton, that was Lord of the Town, and dwelt near it, sent to
the Bishop to invite him to his house. The Bishop return’d him
many thanks, but withall signified that himself and the Ministers
had bespoken their entertainment, and were to consult of matters of
weight, properly concerning their spiritual function : and, therefore,
he desired to be excused for that time ; promising that, after their
business ended, they would not fail to wait upon him. Sr Frederick
not being satisfied with this, being a man of an high spirit, sends
again with more importunity, inviting not only the Bishop and his
company but ail the Ministers ; assuring them that they should hâve
freedom and privacy the best his house could afford for their con-
sultations ; only requesting earnestly that they would corne, adding
that he took it as an indignity, that his Lordship and the Ministry
should be entertain’d in that countrey any where else than at his
house ; sending also a threatning messenger to the Host of the house
for making provision for them without his advice. The Bishop and
Ministers (for some reasons of weight not here to be expressed)
judged it not very fitting to yield to the motion of the Knight at that
time; though seemingly fair and safe: and, therefore, in ail respect-38
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL,
ful'l manner desir’d liis pardon ; with promise still (for the Bishop’s
part) to give him a visit ’ere he left the countrey. Accordingly,
the next morning, their business being over, the Bishop goes
to the Knight’s house, with his Kegister, and a Minister or two, and
some servants. And, being corne thither, they found the doors ail
shutt, no person appearing. Having call’d and knock’d severall
times, ail was still silent. They knock’d and waited again so long,
till first shame and then anger possessed ail except only the Bishop.
His company earnestly.advised him to stay no longer. At last some
were spied peeping out at Windows and laughing. But the Bishop
for ail this kept his patience, so that, when his company were
allmost in a rage, and urgent upon him to be gone, and no longer
expose himself and them to scorn, yet still he resolved to stay a
while longer, and smilingly told them, ’twas but an humour and
would soone be past and over. And accordingly, after allmost half
an hour’s waiting, Sr Frederick caused the doors to be opened, and
himself met and embrac’d the Bp. Some little expostulation there
was on both sides, for this carriage of the business; but Sr Frederick,
being a gallant-bred man, was so ingenuous as to be mov’d by the
known worth, tried wisedom, patience, and humility of the Bishop
to lay down this animosity, and to make amends for ail by a very
noble entertainment of him and his company ; and the Bishop was
abundantly satisfied in reaping the fruits of his patience.
We return again to his journeying and keeping Courts ; whereby as
he satisfied his own conscience, so he gave very great satisfaction
both to Ministers and People, tho’ to his no small charge. And
because his law-suit with his Chancellour and other law business
would not allwaies in person permitt him thus to keep his Courts ;
he therefore issued out 4 Commissions to 4 Ministers, whom he
judg’d most upright and able, authorising them to manage his juris-
diction in his absence. But at this his Chancellour stormed ex-
ceedingly ; and, though he could not keep the Bishop himself from
sitting as Judge when he pleased, yet, by his power and threat-
nings, he so farr prevailed, as that those Ministers durst not appearLORD BISHOP OF KILMORE IN IRELAND.
39
in the business, or but very coldly, if at ail. Sometimes it happened
that the Bishop and Chancellour both met, and sate in Court
together ; and then the Bishop was sure to meet with opposition and
provocation sufficient to hâve either dismaied or transported him
into passion; had not the wisedom, that is from above, both kept
and guided him.
One thing that troubled the Chancellour was that, by the Bishop’s
sitting as Judge in the Courts, he was fain to fall much short in the
gain which he was wont to make by his place. For not only his
underhand and indirect gains were in a great measure prevented, as
wanting now the conveniency of concealment ; but also those fees
which were ordinarily and punctually exacted by him, the Bishop
would still modéra te and mitigate, with respect to the poverty of
the person and the merits of the cause ; preventing hereby in some
degree the rigorous exactions of his Chancellour; and (as he ex-
pressed it to his friend the Dr) both keeping his own hands clean,
and looking to Mr. Cook’s fingers also as well as he could.
But the greatest abuse in the exercise of the Ecclesiastical Juris-
diction, and of ail other the most grievous to the good Bishop, was
the frequent prostitution of that solemn and dreadfull Sentence of
Excommunication, which with them (as it were) was become nothing
else but an engine to open men’s purses ; with this the Chancellour,
yea and even the very Apparitors, were used to force in their fees and
exactions; especially from the Irish, the poorest of ail not excepted.
The Chancellour, tho’ but one man and a meer lay-man, when he
saw his time, would decree men excommunicated, and presently the
Ministers were commanded to denounce them as such in their
Churches, twenty in a parish at once. This command must pass
in the Bishop’s name, and yet without his consent or so much as
knowledge; and being thus denounced, tho’ Papists (as comonly
they were) whose Religion excommunicates them from our worship
and assemblies, the next business was by a Writt, De Excom-
municato capiendo, to apprehend them and clap them up in the
goale; where somtimes they were famished ; or to avoid being taken40
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL,
forc’d to fly to woods and mountains, to turn kerns and live by
robbery.
The Bishop with ail his might laboured for redress of this : and
by moderating the charges of the Court, and other his exemplary
tenderness and compassion towards the poor natives, in a great
measure prevented it: tho* wholly to refor m it (as the laws then
stood) it was impossible for one Bishop to doe. But, lest he should
hereby seem to favour offenders, he us’d, when any were to be sen-
tencM, by instructions and grave admonitions to set their sins before
them, with the evil and danger of the same, and to allure them by
ail meekness and gentleness to repentance ; imposing only such
moderate fees on them as they might be able to pay in a com-
petent time, without writs or excommunications.
These his proceedings rendred him still more odious to that sort
of men, whose maintenance arose out of the Courts; but won him
an extraordinary love and respect with the Irish and ail that at any
time came under the lash of the Court. And his often riding about
these occasions was much conducible to his health. For tho’ while
he lived in England he had been much afflicted with the stone and
gravell descending down from the kidneys, yet in Ireland by this
continuai motion he was in a manner cur’d of his affliction.
The Reverd Dr Bernard, some time Dean of Kilmore, in his
character given of this good Bishop in print,* hath most truly re-
presented him, both as to his keeping Courts and Visitations, as also
to ail other particulaTS touch’d by him in that brief account.
Visitations he ever transacted in his own person, and preach’d
himself for the most part : and that in a way which was home-
searching against sin and pressingly urgent as to matter of practice
and reformation; being set off by the extraordinary gravity and
heavenliness of his presence and conversation. He never would put
up one farthing of the procurations, but spent that money upon the
* This was written subsequently to 1659, the date of the publication of Dr.
N. Beraard’s book, “ Certain Discourses, &c.”—T. W. J.LORD BISHOP OF KILMORE IN IRELAND.
41
Ministers for their enterteinment, and the poor. Also in the keeping
his Courts (as Dr Bernard hath truly noted,) he used his Brethren
of the Ministry with ail possible respect : he made them sit covered
on each side of him on the bench ; he asked their opinion in any
cause that came before him, and would not pass sentence till they
had fîrst given it. Neither was the difficulty small to persuade some
Ministers to use the liberty he gave them herein. For what through
the power of the pretended Chancellour and threatning words given
out by him, and through the ignorance of many Ministers in the
Ecclesiastical History and ancient Canons, and especially by a long
habit of servitude under the Bishop’s Officers and Servants, Ministers
were in a manner jealous of the Bishop for seeking their deliverance :
as the Israélites were of Moses and Aaron for speaking to Pharaoh
to let them go; or as one thunder-stricken, who (as the Poet speaks)
Vivit, et est vitce nescius ipse suce.
This good Bishop rested not here, but attempted also the erecting
of Diocesan Synods, in imitation of the like practice of primitive
Bishops ; which he judged himself sufficiently impowered to do, as
a Bishop in his own Diocese, both by the Word of God and the
ancient Canons. And some meetings of the Ministers and confé-
rences were holden by his appointment for this purpose ; and some
Orders and Canons were agreed upon for Reformation of his Dio-
cese. For this especially he was, however, charged by his pre-
tended Chancellour, and those of the same craft, as an innovator,
and as having incurr’d a præmunire, and intrenching upon the
King’s Prérogative. [ See Supplementary Chapter IX.~\
Such high imputations were frequently and loudly proclaimed
against him by his and the Churclies adversaries, to deterr him and
to stifle his Godly endeavours for Reformation. But, notwith-
standing ail this, he proceeded as farr as possibly he could, and was
prepared and resolved to answer his actions in this behalf at his
uttermost perills. But the Ministers, apprehending the dangers
likely to ensue upon such an attempt, grew alltogether cold in the
business ; and the Bishop could not proceed alone to any purpose in
CAMD. SOC.	G42
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL,
this his pious undertaking: whereof complaining to his friend the
Dr, he useth this speech : It is an universal disease in bodies Eccle-
siastical, Omnes quœ sua sunt quœrunt.
Thus having seen the practice of this Bishop in matter of the
Jurisdiction Ecclesiastical, the Reader probably will not think ifc
burthensome to take his judgement also concerning the same, as
then it stood in his own words, as they are faithfully transcrib’d out
of his letters to Dr Despotine: “ The corruptions of the Jurisdiction
Ecclesiastical are such, as not only not Law, but not so much as
Equity is kept; or if law, the new Décrétal Law, not the ancient
Canons of the Church ; not the Canon of Canons, the Holy
Scriptura.” And, in another of his letters to the Dr, writing con-
cerning some proceedings by the Lords Justices, then in Ireland,
against Friars and Popish Priests and Jésuites, he observes: “The
thing most to be wished were some good reformation in Church-
matters : But (he adds) I believe, rather nothing will be done, than
any thing much better,d.,,
Touching some innovations in matter of Ceremony introduc’d into
England about anno 1636 (of which the Dr had written to him), he
return’d this ; I am not glad of it ; Vino qui veteri utuntur, sapientes
puto. And so for his own particular in his own Diocese, he requir’d
conformity only unto that, which was then by law established, and
no more. \_See Supplementary Chapter IX.']
The Cathédral Church wanted endowment for the maintenance
of Prebends, Treasurer, Chanter, Yicars choral, Vergers, and other
Officers and Ornaments belonging to the State and magnificence of
a Cathédral. There was only a Dean and Archdeacon ; but without
any revenue, save only the profits of such Church livings whereof
they were Incumbents : and consequently the Chapter in the Diocese ‘
of Kilmore was only a Convention of the several Ministers, so many
of them as could corne together upon occasion ; any benefic’d man
having his place and vote in the Chapter.LORD BISHOP OF KILMORE IN IRELAND.
43
And hence we may fitly pass to acquaint the Reader how his
manner was, and wliat rules he observed, in the Ordination of Mi-
nistère and Collation of Livings. For which purpose 3 things must
be noted : one, that the most of the livings in that Diocesse (and
in a manner ail) were the Bishop’s, as rightfull and undoubted
Patron; and the whole power of disposing them, when any fell, was
in him ; another thing was, that ’twas then the custom in Ireland
for one Minister to enjoy 3, 4, 5, or more livings, as they were able
by friends or other waies to obtain them; Yea, not only many
Rectories, but many Viccarages were there possessed by one man ;
and, which yet may seem more strange, many Clarkships. One
man, some servant or kinsman to the Bishop, and no poor man
neither, might be Clark to 3 or 4 Parishes. Such was the State of
the Church when Bishop Bedell came first to the Diocese; a third
thing to be noted is, that most of the people in every Parish were
Popish and Irish. In several Parishes there was not one Brittish or
Protestant* save the Ministères family; and sometimes not ail his
family so neither.
Our Bishop to stay the fui 1er grouth of these disorders took this
course. First, he ceased not to admonish those Ministère that had
pluralities to be résident upon some one or other of their livings,
and to provide sufiS.cient Curâtes in the rest, and, as he could; he
improved his authority to urge them hereunto. But this came far
short of effecting that reformation that was needfull, and, therefore,
he used a more effectuai remedy, as God gave opportunity, and that
was, as any livings became void, never to bestow above one on one
man, and to require an oath of every one to be perpetually and per-
sonally résident upon his living. By this means, tho’ some were
highly displeased (the hopes of their gains being thus taken away),
yet the number of Ministère was made something the more pro-
portionable to the work.
And whereas they generally accounted those livings, where ail
or most of the people were Papists, to be sine curâ, saving only to
take care to sell tithes, our Bishop in time brought them to another44
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL,
belief, and would tell them, Tho’ the people would not hear them
preach, yet ’twas very fit they should see their good conversation,
and therefore by no means would he allow non-residency or plu-
ralities.
And to make yet a farther provision for tbe effectuai discbarge of
tbe Ministère* work, he \fras very carefull that, if possible, Ministère
migbt be placed (wbere the people were most Irish) who had skill
in tbe Irisb tongue, in prosecution of tbat Statute in tbe College
of Dublin, wherein it was provided tbat Scholars of tbe Irish nation,
for their encouragement and better fitting themselves for tbe con-
version of their own countrey-men, should be exercised in the
reading of tbe Scriptures in the Irish language, for which exercise
every such Irish Scholar had a yearly stipend of 3U, beside his
Scholarship. The Bishop very zealously prosecuted this pious
désigné in placing of Ministère, and if such men were offered to
him, or himself could find ou t such as were able to converse with
the natives and perforai Divine Offices to them in their own
language, he vrould rather preferr them to such livings than others
of greater learning and abilities that wanted the language. And to
them that would cavil or object againstthis his practice, as less pro-
pitious to learning and Englishmen, he would produce that saying
of the Apostle, 1 Cor. xiv. 19, Yet in the Church I had rather
speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I miglit
teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue.
And he would plainly tell the Ministère, such forward men as used
to ride and run for a bénéfice, that tho* they had St. PauPs gifts,
yet he could not see how they would be able to doe any good
unless they had the language of the people.
One main objection was made against these his proceedings upon
a politick or State-reason. For by laws in force in Ireland the Irish
were requir’d to learn the English language, and use English
fashions, which law this practice of the Bishop seemed directly to
cross. But his answer was, That those people had soûls which
ought not to be neglected till they would learn English. AndLORD BISHOP OF KILMORE IN IRELAND.
45
therefore, not being mov’d by any such objections, he persisted in
his course which he had begun, and applied himself for example-
sake to the study of Irish, wherein as to reading and writing he had
attain’d a good perfection, [aSee Supplementary Chapter X.~\
And as in preferring men to livings, so in conferring Holy
Orders he was very carefull. He used allwaies, with the assistance
of the Archdeacon and two or three other Ministers, to examine
openly in the Church such as were to be ordeined. He had a very
sweet and brotherly way of proceeding in his examinations, and
would press that point (among the rest) Whether the Examinant
did think himself call’d of God and moved by the Holy Ghost
to take that calling upon him. At the Ordination allwaies he
preach’d and administred the Communion himself, one of the other
Ministers assisting in the distributing of the cup. The Letters of
Orders, as also the Instrument for Institution and Induction, he
allwaies wrote and sealed with his own h and, not suffering one
farthing to be paid by any Minister, either to himself or any servant
of his, that he mîght shun ail appearance of simony, which him-
self rendred as the reason of his doing. And thus sending forth
labourers as fit as he could into the Lord’s Vineyard, he did
endeavour, what lay in him, that every parish in the Diocese might
hâve a Minister able to doe something towards the Conversion of
Soûls.
It must not here be concealed that the success was not so answer-
able to his good intentions ; for being bent upon it, to place none
but such as had the language where most of the people were Irish,
he was fain to preferr many Irish-men, who had been Popish, even
Priests and Friars, and who, either by some injury or disgrâce from
those of their religion, or through poverty and desire of preferment
(being once acquainted with the Bishop’s way and principles), were
moved to desire conférence with him, and so by degrees becoming
converts, and carrying themselves at first fairly, they were by the
Bishop preferr’d to places as they fell void, meerly out of his zeal
for the conversion of the Irish, But some of these men prov’d46
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL,
scandalous, returning again to their vomit, not by revolting to
Popery, but by breaking out into dissoluteness of life, to the great
disbonour of God, disgrâce of the Ministry, and grief of the Bishop.
Yet these evils he never so far resented (how odiously soever aggra-
vated) as to alter that good principle, that the Minister ought to be
able to speak to his flock in a tongue that they could understand.
And not only his own conscience, but ail men (even his adversaries)
bore him witness, that no secular or sinister end induced him to
take this course, but meerly to discharge his conscience the best he
could.
Before we leave this subject, one rare and remarkable passage
may fitly be remembred. The Bishop, being a great opposite to
plurality, had this objected (either by others or his own conscience
or both) : That himself gave the same bad example in holding two
Bishopricks. And, therefore, his heart was a long time set upon it,
to use ail lawfull means to quit one. In order whereunto he dealt very
earnestly with a Reverend and Learned man, Dr John Richardson,
to accept of the Bishoprick of Ardagh, which he ofler’d to resigne ;
engaging to use ail his interest in such friends as he had in England
about the Court, to procure him the grant thereof from his Majestie.
Dr Richardson had allready the best Church living in that Diocese ;
which was some means to farther the Bishop of Kilmore’s de-
signe, tho’ the Bishoprick it self was of no tempting value.
Bishop Bedell, Consulting with his friend Dr Despotine concerning
this matter, was much dissuaded by him as also by ail other his
friends, who were rnade acquainted with this his purpose. His own
words in his letter to Dr Despotine to satisfy him in the thing were
these : “ That the example of holding two Bishopricks was not
Canonical; but justifying the holding of many bénéfices by one
person; that ’twas an unreasonable thing of him to seek to reform
heapers of bénéfices, being himself faulty in having two Bishopricks :
that he was sensible of his own disability to discharge the duty of a
Bishop to two Churches, yea, even to one ; that this Bishoprick, asLORD BISHOP OF KILMORE IN IRELAND.
47
to the revenues thereof, had been most horribly injured, and there-
fore requir’d some abler man, both for purse and friends, to recover
the rights of the Church ; and such he knew Dr Richardson to be,
as having a good estate and no charge of children, and a man
deserving a far better Bishoprick.,, And whereas ’twas objected by
the Dr that by parting with one of his Bishopricks he should
shorten his means: his answer was, that still he should hâve enough
to live on, and leave his children more than was left him; and
Domini est terra, et plenitudo ejus. Thus armed against ail argu-
ments of flesh and bloud, and finding Dr Richardson not altogether
averse from the motion ; Bishop Bedell ne ver ceased, till the business
was effected to his great joy and content ; wherein he invited his
friend Dr Despotine in a letter to rejoice with him.*
And now, this great rubb being remov’d, he went on more con-
fîdently to reform those too common and rooted maladies of the
Clergy then and there, plurality of bénéfices and non-residency :
which were grown to that height in Ireland, that some would take
the liberty, tho’ possessors of several livings, to résidé at none of
them ail; some men had livings in several Diocesses; some still lay
at the catch to pick holes in the titles of other Ministère* so as,
under some pretence or other, to make their bénéfices lapse to the
King, and then they would get the broad seal, and thus, in spight
of any Bishops, possess themselves of what livings they had a mind
to.f If a Bishop should refuse to give Institution, or a Mandate
for Induction, in any such case the intruder needed no more but to
goe to the Prérogative Court, and for his money he might hâve
both. Bishop Bedell, in his Diocese, was not a little infested with
this kind of men, and omitted not to oppose them with ail his
might. And hereupon he drew on himself a great deal of trouble
* Bishop Bedell’s résignation of the See of Ardagh is dated the 28th of February,
1632-3. See Copy of the Instrument in Supplementary Chapter VU.—T. W. J.
f Mr. Murtagh King, Yicar of Templeport, who made the Irish translation of the
Old Testament, under the auspices of Bishop Bedell, was thus treated. See Sup-
plément, Chapter X.—T. W. J.48
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL,
and charge from some of the Ministry. And what by his pretended
Chancellour encouraging, and the iniquity of the times conniving
at, or (which is worse) encouraging such offenders, he could prevail
but little, but was fain to goe by the loss in ail, save only in what
is more worth than ail, the peace and comfort of a good conscience.
It would be too long to relate his troubles, occasion’d by some
necessary secular affaires, such as his just endeavours to vindicate
the rights of his Churches. That of Ardagh was scarce worth
100u per annum when he fîrst came to be Bishop, the revenue
being so grossly embezerd that he had not left him in that Diocese
where to set his foot; the very site of the Bishop’s Mansion-house
had been leased away, and it cost a long and chargeable suit e’re he
could recover it. The troubles and suits that lay upon him in right
of that Bishoprick, he used to say, were an Abyssus, or bottomless
guif.
He had also enough and more of the same in his Diocese of
Kilmore, being forc’d to sue for some of his Mensal Lands, leased
away quite contrary to law, and was held out of his right by the
potency and the subtiltie of some enemies he had to doe withall, in
most plain cases, for many years together. One very unkind suit
there happened between him and his predecessour’s widow, about
lands leased to her by her husband, at a very mean rent, and for a
longer time than by law they ought, and to the manifest injury of
the Church, and y et hardly was the business ended till just upon
the breaking out of the rébellion, and even then he was fain in a
manner even to buy his right.
It was the usual course of his Predecessours, the Bishops of
Kilmore and Ardagh, to gratify their wives, children, kindred and
servants, by granting them long leases of the lands of their Bishop-
ricks, to the manifest injury of the Church ; and the Deans and
Chapters, for favour and affection, were procured to confirai such
unlawfull acts, whereby the succeeding Bishops were rcduc’d to a
very small allowance, and the lands in long process of time inLORD BISHOP OP KILMORE IN IRELAND.
49
danger of alienation from the church, an abuse not seldom incident
to most Church lands, but strenuously oppos’d, and in some manner
rectified and prevented, by our good Bishop, who never was guilty
of doing any such unconscionable act in ail his time.
Thus hâve we seen what incessant and setled troubles, like a
constant storm, did still weatherbeat our Bishop; that grand suit
also with his Chancellour continuing ail this while over. And
besides ali other matters we shall now see how God was pleased yet
farther to exercise him with trialls of another nature, wherein the
Higher Powers fell foui upon him. Two instances only of this
nature may here be presented to the Reader, [of which one occurred
about the beginning of his Episcopate, and the other towards the
end.—T. W. J.]
The first was this. The Protestants of the County of Cavan, in his
Diocese, both Clergy and Laity, found themselves very much
aggrieved by certain heavy impositions, the manner as well as the
thing it self being grievous to them. For whereas Agents * had
been sent to his Majestie from the Protestants of this County and
the whole Province of Ulster to desire ease of the burthen of an
Army, then lying upon them very heavy : these Agents, when they
came to Court, joined and consented with other Agents at the same
time emploied by the Papists, that the summ of six score thousand
pounds should be raised and paid within a set time out of the whole
Kingdom, and this money, thus strangely impos’d, was in some
places forc’d in by those very soldiers which they had desired to be
eased of.f And in the County of Cavan a violent Papist, then Under-
* The agents were Sir Andrew Stewart and Sir Arthur Forbes, Knts. and
Baronets.—T.W.J.
f The directions from the Lords Justices and Council for levying the contri-
butions here referred to were dated the 12th of February 1632-3. See the copy of
the Pétition annexed to Bishop Bedell’s letter of the 5th of November, 1633, to the
Lord Deputy Wentworth, printed in Strafford’s Letters and Dispatches, vol. i. pp.
146-151, folio, London, 1739. See also William Prynne’s Breviate of the Life of
William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury;—Necessary Introduction to the Arch-
bishop of Canterbury, his Tryall, discovering the Practises nsed to usher Popery
into our Reaime, pp. 113, folio, London, 1644.—T. W. J.
CAMD. SOC-	H50
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL,
Sheriff, and that used much injustice and partiality against the
Protestants, was made a chief actor herein. Whereupon, they
(being very considérable in that County and Province, both for
number and quality,) join’d together to complain and seek more
redress, which they agreed first to doe by way of a Letter to the
Lords Justices that then were the Chief Governours of Ireland.
Their letter they had drawn up and concluded upon, only some of
them mov’d to hâve the Bishop’s advice about it.* Upon his sight
of their letter, which was too full of height and discontent, the
Bishop acquainted some Knights and Gentlemen that were active
in it, that he dislik’d that manner of proceeding, and somwhat he
had to doe by his best persuasions to allay their spirits. Yet their
respect to him was such that they desir’d him to draw up somthing
himself, in order to the acquainting the State with their grievances.
The Bishop accordingly draws up an humble pétition, in which
they only desire that their paiment of such imposed contributions
might not be préjudiciai to them, their posterity and successors for
time to corne, and that their Lordships would forbear any farther
imposition of any such burthen upon them untill they should
présent their humble remonstrances to his Majestie. This Pétition
the Bishop of Kilmoie, with two other Bishops, and many Knights
and Gentlemen subscrib’d, and it was presented to the Lords
Justices that then were, the Lord Viscount Loftus, Lord Chancellor
of Ireland, and Richard Lord Boyl, Earl of Cork.f
But, notwithstanding this moderating of the business by the
Bishop of Kilmore, he was specially complained of to the King for
setting his hand to this Pétition and so opposing his Majesties ser-
vice. He was accused also to the Archbishop of Canterbury for the
same. And the Lord Wentworth, then design’d Chief Governour
of Ireland (a man of great severity), was likewise informé and pre-
possessed against him.
* This was on the day after Lent Assizes, 1633. —T. W. J.
t Lord Wentworth, who had been appointed Lord Deputy, did not arrive in
Ireland and “take the sword” until July 1633.LORD BISHOP OF KILMORE IN IRELAND.
ôl
First the Archbishop falls upon him in a sharp letter.* Next
the Lord Wentworth, saying that such men that should oppose
the King’s service were unworthy to be Bishops; and farther,
the Bishop of Kilmore’s name being in among others for a Com-
missioner in a business, he caused his name to be blotted out.
The Bishop to assert his innocency takes up his défensive weapon,
his pen (in the use whereof he was inferior but to few); and first to
the Lord Archbishop, and then to the Lord Wentworth, in large
letters of his he partly excused and partly justified his action. In
that to the Lord Wentworth,+ in defence of himself he expresseth
his humble thoughts thus to his Lordship : “ That the way ought
not to be foreclosed to Subjects to hâve recourse (in humble and
dutifull sort) to his Majesties goodness, to déclaré their grievances;
this serving to evaporate their discontents, a good mean to keep
them from festring inwardly.” It was a good while after the Lord
Wentworth his landing in Ireland, before the Bishop would goe to
Dublin to wait upon him, as ail or most of the other Bishops had
done : and the reason was, because he had declar'd so much dis-
pleasure against him, as we hâve heard. And some of his friends
questioning with him, why he deferr’d so long to présent himself to
the Lord Dèputy, he answered with that of Solomon, “ If the Spirit
of the Euler rise up against thee, leave not thy place.” He rather
chose to make his way by mollifying letters and by patience ; and
so in time, by God’s blessing, this storm ceased : which as soon as
the Bishop understood, he took occasion to visit the Lord Deputy
* Dated the 14th of October, 1633, in which he said: “I was, under God, the
man that put your name to his Majesty for preferment, and, therefore, must needs
in part sufïer for any thing that shall be deemed a miscarriage in you. I never saw
your Lordship to my knowledge, nor did I ever know you but by a little tract of
yours against Wadsworth ; and were it but for that alone, I should be very sorry
you should do any thing in your place unlike it, for that is very full of judgment
and temper.” See Strafford’s Letters and Dispatches, ut supra. Archbishop Laud
here passes over in silence the share which Sir Thomas Jermyn had in Bedell’â
preferment. See above, p. 29.—T. W. J.
f Dated Kilmore, the day of our deliverance from the Popish Plot, 1633.52	LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL,
at Dublin, and was treated with due respect by himself and his
favorites, and for a while seem’d to stand rectus in Curiâ ; till
another occasion happen’d.
And this leads us to that other instance, wherein the Higher
Powers frowned upon him ; and tbat was in the case of the Bishop
of Killalagh, Archibald Adaire. The case was this : A certain
Scottish Minister, that fled out of Scotland upon occasion of the
tumults there about Episcopacy and the Common Prayer Book,*
coming into Ireland, made his case known to those in power, and
in such a way as rendred the proceedings of his countrey-men
(especially the Covenanters) ver y odious. Whereupon, being re-
garded as a man driven out of his countrey, destitute of maintenance,
and zealous of Episcopacy, he was soon preferr'd to a living, which
happen’d to be in the Bishop of Killalagh his Diocese : and going
thither to possess his living, there happened some différences between
him and the Bishop, tho’ both of the Scottish nation. Whether the
rise oftheir différence was, that the Bishop thought it his right to
hâve the bestowing of the living, and this Minister to be obtruded
wrongfully upon him ; or that this Minister carried not him-
self dutifully and submissively to the Bishop ; or whether the
matter was, that the Bishop did not sufficiently approve his flight
out of Scotland into Ireland, as perhaps having more perfect in-
telligence concerning matters there, and not taking the man’s own
word only : whatever the matter was, (which, perhaps, some yet
living do more distinctly know, than can here be related,) in summ,
being both men of high spirits, the contention grew very hot be-
tween them ; and, words arising, the Bishop let fall some speeches
that sounded too favorably towards the Covenanters in Scotland ;
withall sharply rebuking the Minister for accusing his own Nation,
and, like an unclean bird, defiling his own Best. The Minister thus
entertein’d by the Bishop, with the first opportunity complained of
him, either immediately to the Lord Deputy Wentworth or to some
that soon carried it to his ear; and that with such success, that the
In the year 1639.—T, W. J,LORD BISHOP OP KILMORE IN IRELAND.
53
Bishop was soon after summon’d into the High Commission Court,
then newly erected in Ireland, there to be proceeded against and to
answer his words.
The business upon hearing was judged so scandalous (especially
in a Bishop) that the Court came soon to sentence. The Judges
of this Court were the Lord Lieutenant, the Lord Chancellour, the
Archbishops and diverse Bishops, and other men of chiefest quality
in the Kingdom, and among others the Bishop of Kilmore. When
the day for sentence came, there was no small appearance ; the Court
was full, as well of Commissioners as of auditors and spectators;
and after the usual manner every Commissioner in a set speech
deliver’d his judgment in the présent case, beginning at the last,
and so on to the first. There were many that spake before it came
to the Bishop of Kilmore; and tho* some were more favourable or
not so severe as others, yet for the generality the Judgement of the
Court was very heavy, decreeing no less than deprivation against
the Bishop of Killalagh, besides an heavy fine to be set on his head.
When our Bishop of Kilmore came to deliver his sentence, he in-
sisted much on the tenderness and favour that still in antient times
were wont to be used in case of the accusation of any Bishop ; the
Scripture it self requiring no less. And he learnedly and largely
discussed the présent case; but so, as his judgement differ’d much
from the most of them that had spoken. And tho’ he blam’d and
aggravated the faults of the Bishop with solid gravity and without
sharpness ; yet he stood much for the most favourable censure that
might be possible, as most requisite and convenient in the présent
case ; concluding with submission of this his Judgement to the rest
of that Honourable Court.
This carriage of the business was no way pleasing; as Crossing, in
a manner, the very désigné divulg’d before the day of Sentence ;
which was, to make this Bishop an example for ail to take warning
by. But the Bishop of Kilmore had the testimony of his own con-
science for him, and such solid grounds delivered in his speech as
none would take in hand to overthrow. He had no manner of54
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDE LL,
intimacy with the Bishop that was censured, nor indeed was
capable of any ; botli because of the distance of their habitations (the
one in Connaught, the other in Ulster), and because of the National
différence, the one a Scot, the other an Englishman; which for
the most part desire to hâve as little to do the one with the other,
as may be. Neither had the Bishop of Kilmore any party to make,
nor any ready made to his hand to back him, but stood single in
this matter : and so was sufficiently check’d and chidden for his pains,
as a willful and singular man, to differ from the whole Judgement
of so honourable a Court. But the Bishop of Killalagh, that was
censured, he indeed professed a great deal of respect to the Bishop
of Kilmore from that time forth ; still calling him his Patron : but
that was a small matter to be laid in the ballance against the dis-
pleasure of the chiefest in the Kingdom. But our Bishop being a
plain man, and not ambitious of any thing but to promote God’s
glory and to keep the peace of his conscience, was the better
qualified to bear that burthen of men’s displeasure, though grievous
enough to be born.*
* Sir George Radclifïe, the intimate friend of the Earl of Strafford (in a letter
preserved in the Public Record Office, dated the 3rd of March, 1639-40), gives a
report to his Lordship who was in England at the time, of the proceedings of the
High Commission Court on passing sentence : “ The cause being hearde,” says Sir
George, “ ye sentence was y* the Bp. should be degraded by his metropolitane with
his Provintiall Clergy, by Comission under ye great Seale ; with a fine of 1000u,
imprisonment and costs. The Judges declared some of his wordes, if they had bene
found by a Jury, to hâve been high treason. The Bp. of Corke was very sharpe
against ye offence, yet leaft ye pearson to expect ye Kings mercy wlh censure or fine
as conceiying him cracked in his Braine. The Bp. of Kilmore exercised his wit
(as boyes doe in Schoole déclamations, endeavouring to maintaine a paradox), for
he commended or excused him in ail the particular charges layed against ye def*.
Ail ye rest agreed unanimously.,’
In pursuance of the sentence, Bishop Adair was deprived on the 18th of May,
1640 ; but the King, considering the Bishop to hâve been too hardly dealt with,
appointed him Bishop of Waterford and Lismore on the 13th of July, 1641, and on
the 7th of June, 1642, wrote to the Lords Justices and Lord Chancellor in Bishop
Ad air’s favour, commanding them to expunge and vacate the sentence of depri-
vation passcd against him by the High Commission Court.—T. W. J.LORD BISHOP OF KILMORE IN IRELAND.
55
It is time now to give some account of the final issue of that
tedious and chargeable suit between tbe Bishop and his Chan-
cellour : wherein he resolved to see the uttermost, notwithstanding
the unanimous engagement of ail the Civilians against him, and
those many great discouragements he met withall. Finding himself
not fairly dealt with in the Prérogative Court, he came to the last
refuge, an Appeal to the King ; * whereby ail proceedings were
stopp’d, till the King’s pleasure was known. And after some time
(according to the usual manner in such cases), a Commission issued
out under the King’s broad seal, nominating a certein number of
men of the chiefest rank, beginning with the Lord Deputy himself,
and so on to Privy Councellours, Judges, Archbishops, Bishops,
Doctors of both Laws, &c. and appointing those, or a certein number
of them, to hear and détermine the cause depending. The Bishop
had some hope at first this way to hâve obteined his purpose; which
was only to hâve liberty to appoint his own Chancellour himself ;
or else to correct the exorbitances of his pretended and obtruded
Chancellour.
The expectations of ail men were intent upon the final issue of
this cause. Some of his Judges spoke favourably, as by name Sr
George Shirley, Lord Chief Justice of the King’s-bench, who was
heard to say, that he thought it hard if a Shepherd might not hâve
liberty to drive a wolf away from his fold. But others were as
much the other way, openly declaring their judgements against the
Bishop, before ever the Delegates came to sit. Whereupon at the
first sitting he put in his exceptions against one or two, allwaies
saving the reverence due to their persons, and the reasons of his
exceptions were judged valid, so that those he excepted against
were set by. Thus after a full hearing, wherein the Lord Chan-
cellour Loftus was chief Judge, and seldom absent from the Court,
the matter in summo came to this final sentence :—That Mr. Alane
* See a letter to Archbishop Laud (in the Public Record Office), dated Dublin,
May 24, 1639; and one to Dr. Samuel Warde of Cambridge (in the Bodleian Library)
dated May 30,1639.—T. W. J.56	LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL,
Cook (after Dr. Cook) should still hold his place of Chancellour to
the Bishop of Kilmore, and that the Bishop should pay him the
sum of ÎOO1* for his costs and charges during the suit. The Bishop
was quite out of hope or rather sure to loose the day long before
the cause came to this end, and was told as much by one of his
Judges, Lancelot Lord Arch-Bishop of Dublin,* a very loving friend
of his, who was able to discern as much, by what he heard and
knew of the minds of the rest of his Delegates.
The Bishop of Kilmore had now done what lay in him according
to the understanding God had given him, he spared no lawful cost
nor pains to redress what was amiss in managing the Jurisdiction
Ecclesiastical, and, therefore, though he lost the'day, yet he kept
his conscience. That which troubled him most was to be deserted
(as he was) by the rest of his Brethren, the Bishops, who, had they
join’d in this cause, so nearly concerning them, and the well-
governing and reforming of the Church, as the Civilians did in
mainteining their worldly interest, some better issue might hâve
followed. The Bishop of Kilmore applied to himself that saying
of the Apostle, 2 Tim. iv. 16, No man stood with me, but ail
men forsook me ; I pray God that it may not be laid to their
charge.
Mr. Alane Cook, tho* now victor, yet used his victory with a
great deal of ingenuity and modération. For he never urged the
Bishop to pay the 100u costs that was imposed upon him by order
of the Court’s Delegates, nor did he at ail grow insolent upon his
success, but rather more moderate and mild than ever before, and to
avoid any farther différences between the Bishop and himself,
he put off his place to the Register, Mr. Richard Ash, a man that
entirely lov’d the Bishop, and would be guided and directed by him
in the execution of the place, so that after this the Bishop had some-
what a calmer time than before, but it was not long, for after some
two years the Nation’s peace and his Life expired, of which^more
hereafter.
Dr. Bulkeley.LORD BISHOP OF KILMORE IN IRELAND.
57
Ifc will not be amiss now to présent to the world the more free
and retired thoughts of the Bishop touching these his troubles, and
touching his own condition in his Episcopal function, as they are
set down by himself in his familiar letters to Dr Despotine. It hath
been hinted heretofore how intimate the friendship was between
these two. For as in joy and grief, in mutual freedom and open-
ness, in help and counsel, so even in reprehension they were faith-
full each to other. The Doctor did not stick often to blâme him,
for employing his time and abilities no better than in suits and
wrangling business. The Bishop’s defence for himself was in these
very words: “ God doth know how unwilling I spend my time and
pains and means in such sordid employments. But there is no
remedy, unless I would resigne my Bishopricks, which I could be
very willing to do. On the other side, I consider that I ne ver désir’d
this place, and being call’d to it by God, I must not choose mine
own work, but do that little good I can, and leave the rest to God.”
And in another letter, giving an account to the Doctor why he
would resigne one of his Bishopricks, he writes thus: “For my
part I wish I were rid, not of one only but of both, rather than
spend my life in lawing, and riding up and down, especially with so
little furtherance from some who might (I will not say ought to)
hâve afforded more favour or equity at least, than I hâve hitherto
found.” And again, speaking of the résignation of the Bishoprick
of Ardagh, his own words are : “ God doth know I would be more
willingly rid of it than eat my dinner when I am hungry, having
found nothing since I came into this calling but troubles and suits
and wranglings.” And, again, he expresseth himself thus: ” I
might be an happy man if I were rid of my Jurisdiction, and ail
the profits of both my Bishopricks, reserving méat and drink and
cloathing.” Such were the thoughts and expressions of this good
Bishop touching his calling, and the troubles that attended him
therein.
The Bishop had some friends in England of some place and
power about the Court. The most real were the Earl of Holland
CAMD. SOC.	I58
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL,
and Sr Thomas Jermin, Vice-chamberlain to the King. Doctor
Despotine still communicated the affaire of the Bishop with Sr
Thomas, and the Bishop himself wrote frequently to him. Sir
Thomas’s love and respect to him were such that he laboured to re-
move him into some Bishoprick in England, which purpose and
endeavour of his the Doctor comming to understand, could not hold
for joy, but must needs hint it in his letters to Bishop Bedell.
His friends at Court thought this an honourable way to take him
off his troubles, and render themselves capable of enjoying him,
which at so great a distance they could not do. But it was not
thought fit by the more potent at Court to hâve him over into
England. The Doctor certified the Bishop both who and why, and
nextly the Reader shall understand Bishop Bedell’s own sense of
this business.
Before he was advanc’d to the Bishopricks, there was some
médiation by letters from Sr Thomas Jermin to the Lord Deputy
Falkland, to confer the Deanery of Christchurch in Dublin upon
him, the présent Dean, Dr Barlow, being upon his advance to
the Arch-bishoprick of Tuam, and the Lord Deputy openly pro-
fess’d his purpose to do it. But when it came to the point, the
imputation of Puritanism by some at Court lost him the Deanery,
and had like to hâve put him by the Bishopricks also. And herein
his own expectation was fulfilled; “ My Lord Deputy (saith he in a
letter to the Doctor,) professeth his purpose to confer the Deanery
upon me, and signified to me lately that he had receiv’d from Sr
Thomas Jermin very effectuai letters in my commendation. I know
not what will be, but, in conclusion, I think, nothing.”
After he was Bishop, there were several endeavours by his friends
to hâve him removYl into England, of which himself writes thus :
“ Now for that which toucheth me andmy removal, God doth know
I desire it not : may I desire rather that it may not be : not but that
the love of my countrey moves me, and the society of your self and
other my friends, but because, if I be fit for any tliing, I conceive
I may do God and his Majestie better service here than I can inLORD BISHOP OF KILMORE IN IRELAND.	59
England; here, where my deafness and other defects are better
cover’d with différence of languages, and my different course
in some things pertaining to Jurisdiction is justified by the exor-
bitant courses that hâve been holden by my opposites. There I
should draw the hatred of ail men upon me, and yet do no good.”
Again, mentioning his suits with his Chancellour and others for the
rights of his Church, he thus expresseth himself: “ God knowshow
unwilling I am to spend my better time upon them : but there is
no remedy. As for that remedy you write of, mention’d by Sr
Thomas Jermin, it is worse than the disease. I hâve not failed, nor
yet shall fail to suggest to those that are in place, what I think per-
teins to the safety of the common ship, wherein we ail sail: but I
am glad the opinion of one * too vehement, or any thing else, may
bar me from that employment.,, And in another letter again, thus:
“ As for the thoughts of removing into England, let it never corne
to the mind of any of my friends ; God hath brought me hither,
and I hâve begun to lay some foundations here; which, if God
will, I shall endeavour to build upon : Hic requies mea in sœculum.”
Some would scarsely account a life of so many labours and so
many troubles to be Requies, a Best: but yet this good Bishop did,
as a good Christian should do; he did acquiesce in what portion
God had laid out for him : and yet for the rest of his life still behind
to be related, we shall find him as little at rest (according to the
common notion of the word) as before. F or besides what is allready
set down, two very great labours lay both together upon him for
diverse years together before his death, of different natures, but both
tending to the same end, which were these : The building of ail the
Churches in his Diocese; and the translating the old Testament into
the Irish tongue.
As for the building the Churches, the Reader must know ; That
when this work was first taken in hand, there were not 5 Churches
in his whole Diocese, but were ail ruin'd, so as scarsely the walls
* Archbishop Laucl ?—T. W. J.60
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL,
were left standing in some places. The reason was, that the land
had been much harass’d with war, and the people were but few
and poor in those Northern parts, and ail too backward, both Eng-
lish and Irish, to such good works as building of Churches. But
God stirred up the Spirit of his Majestie, to give Commissions by
his Yice-gerents in Ireland for the setting forward of this pious
work. And among other men of principal quality, the Bishop was
the first and chief Commissioner. This occasioned him many hard
journeys, first to view the several Churches, then to meetings of the
Commissioners at several times and places for the assessing of every
Parish, and taking accounts when the work was done. And as his
labour, so his charges were very great by reason of this business,
and, which was worst of ail, he foundvery corrupt dealing. Moneys
collected were wasted or spent, or some way converted to men’s
private uses, and the work neglected: with ail which difficulties he
so struggled and encountred, that before his death ail the Churches
were repair’d and fit for the people to meet in for God’s service,
had the people been as willing to meet in them.
That other labour of his cornes next to be considered, and that
was the translation of the Old Testament into the Irish tongue.
The Bishop judg d the Scriptures as essential to the Church as the
building of Stone-walls, and that it more properly belonged to his
care and function to open the fountains and clear the channells of
those waters of comfort for Christ’s sheep. He expected no Com-
mission from man for this undertaking, but acted by vertue of
Christ’s Commission. Nor did the mean and slight esteem which
some had of his désigné herein a whit remove him from prosecuting
the same with ail his might. He had the example of a Reverend
Prelate of that Kingdom, William Daniel, sometime Arch-bishop
of Tuam, who caused the New Testament and Common-prayer-
book to be translated into Irish and printed, out of his zeal for the
salvation of the people. And the Bishop of Kilmore thought it a
good work to add the Old Testament also.
For this purpose he enquir’d out the ablest men he could to em-LORD BISHOP OF KILMORE IN IRELAND.
61
ploy about the work ; and among diverse that he made trial of, two
especially he employed, Mr. Murtagh King and Mr. James Nangle.
Both these men, when first the Bishop came acquainted with them,
were Papists: But being Irish men, and more knowing than the
ordinary sort, they were so ingenuous and well-affected to their own
Nation and Language as to afford their help to this work. Mr.
King was the chief translator ; and the other was the reviewer and
correcter. They had their enterteinment at the Bishop’s house, as
long and as often as any comparing and reviewing work was in
hand, wherein the Bishop allwaies made one : and through the skill
he had attain’d in the Irish language, he contributed not a little to
the work. Besides these Translators he had a servant, an Irishman,
that could write exactly weli; and he writ out fair, sheet by sheet,
as they translated and corrected.
It pleased God while this work was in hand to incline the
hearts of both the Translators to the embracing of the Reformed
Religion :* God’s Spirit, and those Scriptures, and the Bishop’s
gentle and able way of reasoning, and answering their objections,
ail concurring together to the changing of their judgements. And
so in conclusion the work was finished, and fair written ready for the
press, a little before that dismal time of trouble, rebuke, and
blasphemy, wherein God calPd his faithfull Servant to himself.
Thus we hâve seen not a perfect, but true relation of the trouble-
some life of this good Bishop. What remains, is to take a view of
his end, which was every way suitable to the former progress of his
life; and, as to outward sufferings, surmounting whatsoever had
before befallen him. And herein we may observe (as in multitudes
of other the like examples, both former and later), that God’s way
* Mr. Murtagh King, according to another account (Supplementary Chapter X.),
is stated to hâve been converted some time in the preceding reign. Bishop Bedell
ordained Mr. Murtagh King Deacon on the 23rd of September, 1632, and Priest on
the 22nd of September, 1633, and collated him to the vicarage of Templeport on the
29th.—T. W. J.62
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL,
with the choicest of his servants, in tins life is, to exercise and train
them for heaven by the most eminent trialls and afflictions ; even as
the glorious Captain of our Salvation was made perfect through
sufferings. God will hâve the ablest and choicest Christians to be
the compleatest Sufferers. A. lesson legible in Capital Letters ail
along the sériés of God’s Providence ; yet learn’d by heart by very
few. But God be blessed, our good Bishop will appear to hâve
studied it to some purpose.
And here the Reader must be entreated to understand a little the
quality of the Countrey,* where the Bishop’s seat was, and what
neighbours he liv’d among. His house was situate in the County
of Cavan, in the Province of Ulster, in Ireland ; in a countrey con-
sisting alltogether of hills very steep and high ; the valleys between
being most commonly boggs and loughs : the countrey was then
meetly well planted with English ; but scatteringly here and there,
which facilitated their ruine. The only considérable Town in the
whole County was Belterbert, which yet was but as one of our ordi-
nary Market-towns here in England having only but one Church
in it. This town was 7 miles distant from the Bishop’s house. The
town of Cavan it self, being the County Town, was nearer, about
two miles distant from Kilmore; but not so big by one-half as
Belterbert. Excepting these two towns there was nothing con-
sidérable in the county. Kilmore it self was but a meer countrey
village, of good large bounds, but so thinly inhabited that no where
in the whole Parish was any Street or part of a Street to be found.
There was a competent number of English ; but the Irish were more
than five times their number, and ail of them obstinate Papists.
The Bishop’s house join’d close to the Church, being built upon
* In Additional MS. No. 4436 in the Britislr Muséum, thereis at page 314 “ A
description of Lough Erne,” written about the year 1740’by the then Yicar of
“ Killasher,” in which an interesting account of the région referred to in the text
is given. For reference to this I ara indebted to a correspondent in^-Notes and
Queries, signing himself C. S. K.—T. W. J.
f This expression shows that the writer liyed in England.—T. W. J.LORD BISHOP OF KILMORE IN IRELAND.
63
one of the highest hills in the countrey ; not near any neighbour of
any quality by a mile.
In this posture, alltogether unfit both for offence and defence, in
a manner solitary and naked, and exposed to any insolencies, our
Bishop, being then at home, was on a suddain environ’d and in-
volv’d with that horrible and ever-lamentable Rébellion. It was in
several respects an astonishing accident, not admitting any consulta-
tion or attempt for opposition against it. There was not the least
suspicion in the English of any such thing ; nor could they at first
conceive or believe the depth of the wickedness ; no, not when they
had in part felt the bitter effect thereof. And that place was so far
distant from Dublin, that no intelligence could be had: God had
cover’d them with a cloud in that day of his anger.
There wanted not some forerunning tokens of this calamity, but
they were not heeded : as the manifest height and fullness of sin in
ail ranks and sorts of men; pride, gluttony, uncleanness, deceipt,
oppression, extortion, and a supine neglect of Religion and the
Worship of God and of the eternal concernments of precious soûls;
such were general : but more particular and relating especially to
those parts wer these :
A strange multitude of ratts, in a manner overrunning the houses
and so bold as to corne in view in the day-time, and to gather the
erumbs and bones under the table ; which was a thing so much the
more remarkable because that, till a little before the Rébellion for
many years space, seldom any rat was to be seen in the countrey.
And the elder Irishwomen would say often and openly, that these
rats were a signe of war. Another very strange thing was seen
about a mile from Kilmore, not far from the house of Edmund
O’Rely, the chief Gentleman of that name, and the chief Actor in
spoiling and killing the English, and this not long neither before
the Rébellion. In a plat of ground by the high way, a strange
number of insects or worms of the length of a man’s finger, and of
a strange fashion, were observed for some weekes, and many went to
see them. They lay for the most part within the ground, which64
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL,
they had turn’d up and fill’d with their cells and caverns; so that
the whole surface of the ground where they encamp’d was wholy
bare of any green thing to be seen.
A third, the most remarkable token, was given by a mad man,
and therefore the less heeded. This distracted man was a very
accu te scholar, that had crack’d his brain with too much study, and,
being also very poor, partly out of necessity, and partly out of his
running fancy, pass’d up and down from one gentleman’s house to
another, and so got his livelyhood. Among other places of his
resort, the Bishop’s house and Munsters’ houses had their turns, tho’
the man was for nation Irish, and for Religion Popish. It seems
that which follows that he had been in company where discourses
had passed concerning that their horrid plot against the English.
His manner was to speak in Latin when he came among scholars,
and wherever he could light upon pen and ink he would be scrib-
ling upon paper or book, what came next to hand. But both in
his speaking and writing the shatterdness of his brain did appear,
for his words and sentences were for the most part inconsistent with
one another. Being entertein’d at a Minister’s house not long
before the Rébellion first brake out, he was observed to be ex-
treamly sad, contrary to his usual manner, which was rather a merry
kind of madness. In that Minister’s house, walking up and down,
and sighing, he diverse times was heard to utter these words,
Where is King Charles now ? This sentence he had up several
times, with some other odd whimsies between. Besides this he had
gotten an old Almanack, which he had ail scribled over on the one
side, and among other broken sentences there was this written, We
doubt not of France and Spain in this action. These expressions were
taken notice of, but, comming from a distracted man, for présent
were thought to signify nothing, till being put together and corn-
mented upon by the rébellion in bloudy characters* they were found
and felt to be very significant. The things that belonged to their
peace were then hid from their eyes, and it was the holy will of
God that that cup should not pass away.LORD BISHOP OF KILMORE IN IRELAND.
65
Yet the Bishop had very strange respect in such a time as that
was ; for ail the countrey round about and in a manner the whole
county was dispeopled of the English, before ever any violence was
used either to his house or his person. The manner of his beha-
viour, and the occurrences that he encountred withall in that sad
time, the Reader may please to take as followeth.
There was one and the same day set for the first rising of the
Irish ail over the nation, which was Saturday, the 23d of October,
1641. But yet even in Ulster it self, the North part of Ireland,
where the Rebells were most forward and fierce in that bloudy
action, they did not proceed in ail places with the same fury. In
the County of Cavan they carried their business at first with a kind
of hésitation ; here and there some particular bouses of the English
were spoiled, and that was ail. The chief of the Irish Gentlemen
there being of the name of the O’Relys, rather sought to persuade
the English by fair words and promises to départ the countrey, than
to fall upon them at first by plain force. The chief of those O’Relys
not dwelling far from the Bishop, came frequently to visit him at his
house ; especially Philip McMullmore O’Rely. And tho* the daily
report of cruel ties acted about in the countrey came so thick, that the
business they were in hand with could not be hidden any longer; yet
these O’Relys still gave comfortable words to the Bishop ; and for a
week orfortnigh t’s space did not so much as take away any of his cattel.
But before the first fortnight was expired, there began to corne a
great confluence of poor stripped English people to the Bishop’s
house for some shelter ; like Job’s Messengers bringing one sad
report after another without intermission. They heard, that the
Bishop was yet permitted the enjoyment of his house and goods,
and the place was near to fly unto, and thither they were glad to
retire.
The Bishop most freely entertein’d ail that came, and fill’d ail his
out-houses with those Guests, as many as could sit one by another.
Those that he knew to be of better quality, tho’ as then levelled
with the meanest, he receiv’d into his dwelling house : and thus for
CAMD. SOC.	K66
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL,
a little while those poor distress’d créatures were refreshed there.
But the Irish had an evil eye at tins goodness and charity of the
Bishop, and used ail their skill to hinder liis enterteinment of the
poor strip’d English : as first, by forewarning him not any longer to
entertein tliose enemies, and to spend provision upon them. This
message the chief of the O’Rellys sent to the Bishop ; and when
that prevailed not, he came himself and told him the same ; threat-
ning to take another course unless he would forbear. The Bishop’s
answer was, that he could not in charity but pitty and relieve those
poor distress’d Christians ; and withall earnestly besought him to
use his power for the restraining the rage of the multitude against
them. But this prevailed so little, as that rather it did exasperate
that cruel man the more. And, therefore, though some other of the
Irish Gentlemen (as Luke Dillon, Esq., and Philip McMulmore
O’Relly) labour’d to mitigate and soften hismind toward the Bishop;
yet, being chief of them ail, and Lord of that Countrey (after the
Irish account), he would go on his own way: and after manythreat-
ning speeches to the Bishop (which he still meekly answered with
some pious and religious returns), this tempter departed from him
for a season.
But in the night time he sent men to the Bishop’s out-houses
where those poor English lay, who stripp’d them over again of what
little covering they had gotten and frighted them with their drawn
skeans * to drive them away from thence. And lamentable it was
to hear the shrieks and outcries of those desolate comfortless people,
who had no remedy but to fly where they could in a dark cold night
from the rage of these persecutors. And some of them, rather than
by their stay to bring any mischeif to the Bishop, chose to committ
themselves to God’s Providence and so wander away allmost naked,
God knows whither. Others, shifting out of the way for the présent,
when they could with most privacy would return to their old
shelter; and, besides such, there came daily other new Guests: ail
* The naine of the daggers used by the Irish and also hy the Scotch Highlanders.
—T. W. J.LORD BISHOP OF KILMOUE IN 1RELAND.
67
which, while the Bishop had wherewithall, were daily provided for.
But Edmund O’Relly would no longer bear this expense of pro-
vision, which he said must be for the Mainteinance of the Souldiers.
And, therefore, in short space a course was taken that the Bishop’s
cattell, some by night and some by day, were driven ail off his
ground. They began with the Oxen and Cows; next they seized
upon the Horses both abroad and in the Stable; and lastly they took
away the Sheep out of the court-yard. Ail this in a stealing filching
way, mostly by night, as if they would seem not altogether to own
their enterprize: but afterward it was well known, that the cattel
were convey’d to Edmund O’Relly’s land and there kept.
The Bishop for ail this still relie ved many poore stripped people
in his out-houses: but it was a most grievous and daily burthen to
his heart, (as needs it must to any Christian,) that he was forcM to
hear the cries, and see the cruel sufferings of those poor and naked
people daily under his walls and Windows: the common Rascality of
the Irish still daily gathering together about the house, as ravens
about a carcass, and growing more and more insolent, especially
those few among them who had gotten any kind of arm s.
One time amongst the rest, when a company of Irish, of whom
some few had musqué ts, were rifling and tearing among those ail
most naked people ; the cry was so great and dolefull, that the good
Bishop would needs go out himself to their rescue. Those about
him judg’d it very hazardous and labour’d to disswade him. But
notwithstanding ail their persuasions he would go out, taking three
others in his company ail unarmed; only the Bishop himself had a
good long staff in his hand, handsomly carv’d and coloured, which
an Irish Gentleman had sent him as a présent some years before. As
soon as they perceived the Bishop, they left harassing the poor
English and fled about a stone’s cast: and then two or three of the
Musqueteers made a stand, and presented their musquetts right
against the Bishop’s breast. But the Bishop still went on, and
clapping his hand upon his breast, bid them shoot there rather than
offer violence to those misérable people. And God was pleas’d here-68
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL,
upon so to awe thein, that they dismounted their musquétts and
went away.
From henceforth the Bishop was more closely besieged (or rather
taken) in his own bouse; nothing without-doors being now left, nor
any freedom or safety to him or any witb him witliin, but at the
courtesy of tbe Irisli; wbich (in comparison to what others met
withall) was very much. For they suffer’d the Bishop thus to
continue, and in some measure to enjoy himself from the first begin-
ning of the Rébellion October 23d, till near upon Christmas foliow-
ing. And tho’ he was prohibited from protecting or relieving any
without the doors of his dwelling house; yet those that were within
the Ark with him, were ali this while free from violence through
God’s gracious and Allmighty protection: whose Holy name be
therefore prais’d and magnified for ever.
The Reader shall next be acquainted with some passages, that
occurred while the Bishop thus continued in his own house. As
first, that even then and there (the house joining close to the Church)
they had the comfort of God*s publick and solemn worship on the
Lord’s days : the Bishop and two or three other Ministers perform-
ing the duties of that day in reading the Scriptures, publick Praiers,
and the preaching of the Word without any considérable interrup-
tion. Then farther, they had the comfort of private prayers and
conférence between the Bishop and some Ministers, and others of
the better sort of the English, that had taken Sanctuary in the
Bishop’s house. The présent streights were excellent means to stir
tliem up, and to dispose them to a more serions and heavenly ma-
naging of those duties: neither could they want the comfort of sing-
ing Psalms and Praises unto God, even in this their sad captivity.
In ail which holy exercises the good Bishop led them on, and by
his truly heroick and chearfull deportment in this his Christian
Academy, or School of Affliction, was no small encouragement to
their sad hearts.
But as there were these encouragements ; so withall there wantedLORD BISHOP OF KILMORE IN IRELAND.
69
not discouragements able to break a well-establish’d heart. For the
Bishops well-settelled and resolved mind was doubly assaiPd ail this
wbile. First by the Irish: who tho’ they did forbear him, as we
hâve seen, yet laboured and desir’d very earnestly to hâve him go
out of the Countrey. And as they profess’d much freindship to him
so they often told him of his unsafety and danger in that place and
condition, wherein he then stood ; and offer’d him (if he pleased) to
see him and his company safely gnarded and convey’d to Dublin, or
what other place he should choose.
This they often and earnestly offer’d ; but the Bishop told them,
he could not, nor would, of his own choice, desert his place and
calling, that God had set him in : but if by force they would put
him out, he would then cast him self upon God’s Providence. And
another thing was also in the way to hinder his embracing such a
motion ; namely, the sad expérience of many who, having accepted
of Guards and Convoys from the Irish, were in their passage betraied
and stripped, and sometimes murther’d outright by those that under-
took to guard them.
But however others farM, those English that were with the Bishop
in his house had a confident persuasion that if he would hâve
accepted a convoy for Dublin, he might hâve pass’d safe, and so
hâve been a means of bringing them safely off also. And accord-
ingly they ail did in a manner continually lie at him to take a guard
of the Irish and begon. Among others, his own Children helped
(not a litle) to break his Christian courage; but ail was in vain :
he was allwaies ready to answer such as did solicite him, with some
savory and pious apothegme or other : as, that it was a shame for a
Bishop to be affraid of death ; that it was a great weakness to be
impatient in times of suffering : to which purpose he brought in a
saying, related by an ancient writer, as represented in a vision from
God unto him; Pati non vnltis ; exire non vultis ; quidfaciam vobis ?
In English thus : you are unwilling to suffer ; you are unwilling to
die ; what shall I do unto you ? And farther he would alledge,
that for his own part he was ancient, and, if God so pleased, willing70
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL,
and desirous rather to die there than in another place. And to his
children he said, that if they would go they should hâve his leave
and furtherance and blessing : but for his own part, he was resolv’d
not to stirr till he was forc’d from his place.
When they saw his resolution thus settled they ceased ; and most
of them that were thus shelter’d with him took their opportunities
(the best they could) some at one time, and some at another, and
departed to Dublin. But the difïiculties and dangers, the frights and
insolencies they suffered, and the strange and miraculous waies of
escape, which God made out for them, each man in a different
manner, would make a tragical history : yet not alltogether so ; for-
asmuch as they ail escaped with their lives,per tôt discrimina rerum;
and, like St. Paul’s fellow-passengers, some on boards and some on
broken pièces of the ship, were ail at last safely landed at Dublin.
Some weeks and allmost months thus passing, and the fury of the
Rébellion being somewhat cooled, and nothing being now left to be
taken as pillage or plunder from the English, nor in a manner any
of the English Nation left in the countrey, the Irish began to think
how they might secure what they had thus possessed themselves of.
The only work they had to do, was to take some course with the
Bishop of Kilmore who was ail this while at their mercy, and to
reduce two Castles that stood out upon their own defence. These
castles were defended by their owners, two Scottish Knights,* that
were of the Brittish, that had fled for refuge into them (with their
neighbours and tenants).
As for the Bishop, tho* ail his Cattell were taken from him, yet
his corn (whereof he had a great quantity) and ail his Substance
within aoors still remained. This booty the Irish had a long time
expected ; only, having as yet spared the Bishop, they would not
proeeed to the rifling of his house or seizing of his person with-
out some seeming-urgent provocation thereunto. And for want of
a better, they laid hold on this. Those Scottish Knights that stood
* Sir Francis Hamilton of Castle Keilagh ; and Sir James Craig of Castle
Croghan.—T. W. J.LORD BISHOP OF KILMORE IN IRELAND.
71
upon their defence, as is above related, had several times made out
small parties to bring in provision, which, how small soever, were
a very great terror to the Irisb. And at one time above ail tbe
rest, a party going out happen’d upon some persons of such quality
among the Irish, as they thought it might be some advantage to
themselves to take them as Prisoners. These Castles of the Scottish
Knights had a long time stoutly defended themselves, and as dread-
fully vex’d the Irish with but a very small company of men. But
of ail other indignities, this of taking prisoners did most trouble
them ; and the rather because one of the Prisoners was a chief man
of the O’Rellys. But being a people of a base courage, unable to
help themselves by any warlik exploit, they fell upon the unarmed
Bishop and took this occasion to seize upon his house and goods.
There was also another thing that put on the désigné ; and that
was the urgent importunity of the Popish Bishop or Anti-Bishop of
Kilmore. For the Reader must know, it was the common condicion
of ail Ireland in those daies to hâve in every Diocese two Bishops,
and in each Parish two Priests, the one Popish, the other Protestant.
The Popish Bishop claimed his House and his Church, unjustly
detein’d from him by one, in their account, an Heretick.
Therefore Edmund O’Relly, the chief man of that stock or fàmily
and Lord of the Countrey, cornes to the Bishop’s house, not as
formerly in a peaceable manner, but with countenance, company,
and language more compos’d to terror and revenge. He searched
the house for arms, and seiz’d upon those few that were; he threat-
ned and upbraided the Bishop for what the Scotts had done in
frighting the countrey and taking prisoners; and told him that both
Scotts and English should know that the Irish could take prisoners
as well as they: and without many words the said Edm. O’Relly
himself laid his hand on the Bishop’s shoulder, saying, I arrest you
in the King’s name; you are my Prisoner. The Bishop with a
chearfull countenance answer’d him to this effect : That he did not
know wherein he had offended the King’s Majestie, neither could he
believe he had the King’s Authority for what he then did; but72
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL,
however, that he should yield to the power then in his hand, withall
putting him in mind that there was a God who would judge right-
eously.
But O’Relly not standing to word it with his Prisoner, call’d for
an account of what was in the house ; especially the plate, which
was presently brought forth. It was not much; the chief was plate
belonging to the Church which the Bishop, at his own cost, had
caused to be made not long before and dedicated to the Church ;
a larg Flagon, a Chalice, and a Patin with this inscription, Eccle-
siæ Kilmorensis. This the Bishop told O’Relly was the Churches
and not his; and, therefore, desired it might not be converted to
any other use, but be cominitted to his Brother (as he call’d him)
meaning the Popish Bishop: who also had been inquisitive not only
after the plate, but ail the rest of the Bishop’s goods, which he
counted his part of the spoil and more properly belonging to himself.
The Church-plate O’Belly durst not deny him, wherein Bishop
Bedell’s desire was fullfilled; and as for the rest of the goods, there
was a contest between the Popish Bishop and O’Relly: but they
made a shift to agréé in the parting, as well as the taking. The
greatest thing that stuck with our good Bishop was his Library.
Yet some little satisfaction he had by thinking it should corne into
the hands of Scholars; for O’Relly told him, such things should be
left to the Bishop.
Bishop Bedell being thus arrested by Edmund O’Relly, had only
one night’s lodging more in his own house. For the next morning
O’Relly with very much verbal kindness and civility acquainted
him that ’twas resolv’d he must be secur’d in a Castle not far off, in
the midst of a great lough, above canon-shot from any shore, called
Loughwater Castle : and as for his moneys, he told him they would
leave him that to live on. As for his children, they might remain
somewhere in the countrey. The Bishop had two Sonns and their
Wives, partners and spectators with him in ail these troubles; and
it was to them a very hard thing to be parted from the company of
their Father, whether* in life or death: and therefore the BishopLORD BISHOP OF KILMORE IN IRELAND.
73
made it his request, that they might go along with him to tlie
Castle ; and with much ado it was at last granted.
When the time was corne that the Bishop and his company were
to be sent to the Castle, the Bishop’s own horses being taken away
long before, O’Relly was so civil as to furnish them ail with horses;
and so with a small guard conveighed them to the water-side, and
thence by boat wafted them over to the Castle, standing in the midst
of a great Lough or Lake. In the passage, the Bishop behav’d him self
with a strange measure of chearfullness, telling his sons, whom he
saw somwhat dejected, that he bless’d God for that day wherein he
was pleased to honour him so far, as to call him to suffer somthing
for his name: and said farther, he thanked God that he found him-
self as chearfull and joifull as ever he was upon his marriage-day :
but alass ! there were none so furnish’d for such a trial, as to answer
the Bishop with the like Christian fortitude, either in heart or voice:
yet it was no small comfort to ail the company to hâve such a
Champion.
Being corne into the Castle they were accommodated well. The
Governour Mr. Owen O’Relly, formerly a tenant to the Bishop and
a very civil and honest Gentleman, used the Bishop with ail possible
courtesie. The place it self was very commodious for room and
lodging; and there was also good company, Mr. Arthur Cullum and
Mr. William Castleton,* fellow prisoners with the Bishop. Neither
wanted there any provision ; for by the care of the Governour they
were furnish’d with sufficient for their money. They had free
liberty to exercise their Religion together in a chamber for them-
selves ; with very strict charge from the Governour that none should
interrupt them. And it was no small privilège, that there they
were free from the insolencies of the comrnon people : in this only
being in the condition of prisoners, that some of them for a time
were forc’d to wear iron bolts; which honour the Bishop was very
ambitious of, and desir’d that he might excuse a 11 the rest or else
bear them company in this suffering; but it was denied.
* Or Oastledyne, according to Mr. Clogie.—T. W. J.
CAMD. SOC.	L74
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL,
In this posture, our good Bishop and his fellow-prisoners kept their
Christmass, not in feasting, but in Prayer, Doctrine, Exhortation,
and Godly Conférence. Besides the private comfort of which Holy
Exercises, God was pleased to send in some comfortable news by a
strange way concerning the publick, which was thus. The English
in those parts (those few that were left), by reason of the great
distance from Dublin, were kept from ail intelligence but what the
Irish pleas’d to communicate; and that was only such as might ter-
rify them, and render their condition hopeless of any succour or
relief whatever. Ail their discourses in the audience of the English
were still of the successes of their Army : as of that sad defeat of
the 500 men, the first that took the field for the English cause and
were intended for the strengthning of Droghedagh; of their firm
union together by reason of the conjunction of the Lords of the
Pale with the rest of the Rebells, and especially the siégé of
Droghedagh and even of the taking of the city: which they so
confidently affirm’d, that they named the very day, and in their
reports divided the spoil, as the Mother of Sisera : This was the
chear the poor English had to keep Christmas.
But it happen’d that in the Castle where the Bishop was prisoner,
one night a soldier newly-come from Droghedagh was entertein’d
by some of the guards, who kept their court in the lowest rooms.
In the night late some of the guard question^ the souldier what
news there was from Droghedagh. One of the English prisoners
that understood Irish, being just over their heads, laid his ear to a
clift in the plancher, and listned to their discourse. The souldier
told them plainly that the siégé was broken up, and shew’d them
his own hands and arms ail scratch’d and rent with thorns and
briars, while he was in a hasty retreat from an assault they had
made upon the City. He told them also that the bulletts pour’d
down as thick from the walls as if one should take a fire-pan full of
coals and pour them down upon the hearth, which he acted before
them, sitting ail together at the fire. And for his own part he said
he would be hang’d before he would go forth again upon such aLORD BISHOP OF KILMORE IN IRELAtfD.
75
piece of service. He that listned soon communicated this good
news to his fellow-prisoners, whereby it pleased God to revive their
spirits not a little, but they were fain with ail diligence to keep the
matter to themselves.
After Christmas, without the Bishop’s desire or good-liking, had
it been in his choice, his removal from the Castle was effected thus.
Some spécial friends of the Bishop, Luke Dillon, Esqr., Philip
McMullmore O’Relly, Mr. Dennis Sheridon, did intercède for his
enlargement with Edmund O’Relly, that then had the chief com-
mand of the countrey, who, tho* willing to hâve that Castle, their
chief magazine, clear’d of the English prisoners, yet liked it well so
to be sought to for their enlargement. Nor was that ail, but another
solemnity must be observ’d also. For he requir’d an exchange of
those that the Scottish Knights had taken prisoners, that they
might be set at liberty in lieu of the Bishop and his company.
And accordingly persons were sent to treat with the Scotts, whose
respect to the Bishop mov’d them to consent to an exchange, which
the Bishop could not deny, knowing it to be the desire of those in
whose power he was then.
Ail being agreed, and the time concluded upon, the Bishop and
his children were set at liberty, but such a liberty as was more
dangerous than the former imprisonment. As for his own house,
that was in possession of Edmund O’Relly and the Popish Bishop,
and thither they would not suffer hitn to return. So that now he
that was wont to give entertainment to others had no place to hide
his head, but at others* courtesy. He had his choice of two places,
both not much above a mile distant from his house. One was the
house of Luke Dillon, Esqr., brother to the then Earl of Roscommon,
who very importunately invited him to abide with him till they
might hâve a safe conduct to Dublin The other was the house of
Mr. Dennis Sheridon, an Irish man, and of a family, tho* inferior to
the O’Rellys, yet numerous and potent in the countrey. This inan76
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL,
had been educated from bis childhood in the Protestant Religionr
in the house of a very Reverend and Godly Divine, Mr. Hill,
sometime Dean of Kilmore, by whom he was so well principled
that he allwaies stood firm to the Protestant Religion. The Bishop
of Kilmore took allwaies a spécial notice and liking of him, and for
his good conversation and skill in the Irish language he promoted
him to the Ministry, and conferr’d on him a Church-living ; * where
the inhabitants being ali Irish, an Englishman had been unable in
any sort to discharge that duty incumbent upon a Minister to such
a people.
This man, tho’ a Protestant and a Minister, yet being Irish, and
of a name and family powerfull in that countrey, was exempted
from that violence which then Protestants sadly suffer’d from the
Irish. To his house the Bishop made choice rather to retire ; which
indeed was a common asylum or sanctuary to as many distress’d
English as it could contein. Here the Bishop had the most loving
and best accommodacions that the house could afford. And ail the
chief of the name, Sheridons, out of their love to their kinsman and
the Bishop now sojourning with him, did often express and promise
their utmost endeavours, to the hazard of their lives, to secure them
and the house from any violence whatever.
While the Bishop liv’d here, being not above a mile from his own
house, he had a desire to hearken after his Library which he had
left there ; and, if it might be, to hâve the use of some books and
papers of his own. Wherein by Mr. Sheridon his meanshe had his
desire. For he, having some familiar acquaintance with the Popish
Bishop, had liberty to go where the books were, and so procuPd for
our Bishop his Desk, and some books and papers at several times, as
he saw his best opportunity. And among the rest ( as Dr. Bernard
in his character of Bishop Bedell hath publislied} the Bishop’s MS.
Hebrew Bible was by the care of this Mr. Sheridon preserv’d, and
brought away out of the Irish’s hands ; and is now, according to the
* The Yicarage of Killasser. See Supplementary Chapter XVI.—T. W. J.LORD BISHOP OF KILMORE IN IRELÀND.
77
Bishop’s last Will and Testament, in the Library of Emmanuel
College in Cambridge.*
As for the rest of his books, some of them were taken away by
Friars and Priests, that had frequent access to their Bishop while he
there continued. The rest were little regarded by the Irish ; and
as soon as any alarum of the approach of English forces could
reach that countrey, the Irish, after their usual manner, fled to the
mountains and woods ; not troubling themselves with such luggage
as books, but leaving them behind for booty to the English souldiers.
And thus what enemies left, friends took away ; so misérable a com-
forter is war, that those that should hâve reliev’d the forlorn and
desperate affairs of the English did but add to their affliction and
oppression. The Bishop’s books went every way but the right ;
and certain of his Sermons were preach’d in Dublin, and heard
there by some of Bishop Bedell’s near relations, that had formerly
heard them from his own mouth : some even of the Episcopal
Order were not innocent in this case ; and, ’tis more than pro-
bable, are still beholding to Bishop BedelPs papers, that ne ver
would own his righteous cause when alive and upon the stage.
But to return to the Bishop. He continued some weeks in the
house of Mr. Sheridon in some good measure of health ; and during
that time his manner was to pray in the family himself every day,
as he formerly us’d to do in his own ; and the Lord’s daies he spent
with the company that was there, in prayer and preaching of the
Word, both forenoon and afternoon, as long as health permitted.
For the manner of this Bishop was never to make use of a Chaplain
(tho* he had still one or other in his house), either to pray in his
family or to give thanks at his table ; unless in case of some young
man, that intended the Ministry, whose gifts he had a desire to take
some trial of. And as for preaching he seldom omitted a Lord’s
day, while he enjoy’d his place, and was at home, without doing
* There is no mention here of the saving of the MS. of the Irish translation of
the Old Testament also by Denis Sheridan.—T. W. J.78
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL,
some part or ail the works of that day. In this course he held on
till the last, when his Diocese was reduced to but one family.
And now the time drew near which God had destinated to put
an end to his Labours ; the manner whereof was thus. In the house
of Mr. Sheridon (being very full of English who shelter’d them-
selves there) it pleas’d God, that a grievous sickness fell among
them. It was a violent and continued feaver, commonly call’d by
the name of the Irish-ague.* It usually distracted the patient more
or less. It was very infectious, generally passing through a family
where once it seiz’d. To ancient people most commonly ’twas
mortal, and that in little space. Those of younger years that
escaped were sure to be brought very low, and to be a long time
ere they could recover their strength. Most of the English in the
house were sorely visited with this ague, and some ended their
daies; having this comfort, that they were not suffer’d to fall into
the hands of men but were taken away by the immédiate hand of a
Mercifull God.
Among others, the Bishop’s wife’s son f by a former husband was
taken sick of this ague, and being not so well accommodated as he
could hâve desir’d, (if the place aüd présent condition of things
could hâve afforded better,) the Bishop was the more sollicitous
about him and would be too often at his bed. By this means it
pleas’d God, that himself also was taken with this pestilential and
deadly ague ; which in a few daies took away his appetite and by
conséquence his strength ; so as he was scarsely able to go or stand,
but was necessitated to take to his bed. But yet before evening he
would constrain himself to rise and pray with the family; till at last
the force of the disease so far prevailed that being in Prayer his
speech failed him, and he was not able to articulate his words. And
* From the description here given it is to be inferred that the fever was malignant
typhus, which prevailed in Ireland in 1641 and subséquent years. It had nothing
in common with ague or intermittent fever, which is extremely rare in Ireland and
not contagious. See Supplementary Chapter XII. for further observations on the
nature of Bishop Bedell’s last illness.—T. W. J.
f Mr. Edward Mawe.LORD BISHOP OF KILMORE IN 1RELAND.
79
before this he complain’d, that he could neither command his mind
nor get his tongue, either to conceive or express what he intended
and desir’d.
When he was become thus weak, among others that came to
visit him, one of more principal note, that bore a great affection to
him, and }>et a zealous Papist, may deserve especially to be men-
tion’d. It was Philip McMullmore O’Relly, Brother to him that
imprisonM the Bishop. This Gentleman from the very first spake
openly against the rébellion and whoever were contrivers of it, and
in his ordinary discourses would curse them bitterly. He being
corne to see the Bishop, after some few words (which he hardly
could utter for tears) he besought the Bishop if he wanted money or
any other necessaries, to make use of any thing that he was able
to furnish him withall. To which the Bishop, rising up out of his
chair, made return thanking him for his great civility, desiring God
to requite him for the same and to restore peace to the Nation :
though hardly able to stand, he yet beyond expectation thus ex-
pressed himself without any faultring in his speech, which he had
not done for a great while before. After this he seldom spake and
butbrokenly. Being sometimes asked, How he did; his answer was
still, Well; nor did there appear by any excessive heat or groaning or
other sign that he felt any great pain. Being himself not able to
speak, others often went to prayer by his bed’s side : and he, by the
élévation of his eyes and affectionate pronouncing the word Amen,
when he never else was heard to speak, testified his concurrence in
that duty.
Drawing now near his dissolution, when his breathing was turn*d
into panting, his sons craving his blessing, he expres'd himself
thus : God bless you and bring you to Eternal Life. When they had
receiv’d his blessing and saw him hastening away, they brake forth
into tears and fell a weeping over him ; not thinking ever to hâve
heard him speak more. But on a suddain looking up, even when
death was allready in his eyes, he spake unto them thus : Be of good80
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL,
chear ; Be of good chear : whether we live or die we are the Lord?s.
And these were his last words.
Thus this good Bishop ended his daies :—A man erainent for
Godliness, Integrity, Humility, Learning, Laboriousness in his
Calling, Zeal for the Reformation of the Church, and above ail
Eminent in trials and suflferings. When he was dead, the Popish
Bishop at first would not sufifer him to be buried in the Church-
yard of Kilmore, because he was (as he accounted) an Heretick.
But O’Relly and the chief of the Irish Gentlemen overul’d the
Bishop in that, and liberty was given to bury him where himself
had appointed in his last Will and Testament.
So great an enemy he was to worldly pomp and vanity that his
very grave and burial may be a Monument hereof to posterity, con-
cerning which he appoints thus: “For this corruptible flesh I
appoint that it be committed to the ground without any funeral pomp
in the Church-yard of Kilmore, at the south corner thereof, in the
same grave or hard by the corps of my dear Wife Leah and my Son
John ; about whose coffins and mine, I do appoint that there shall
be a wall of stone raised up from the bottom and the ground raised
up to the levell of the rest of the walke by the wall on the west side
of the Church-yard, and one or more large Grave-stones laid over,
with this inscription :	Güilielmi QUONDAM Kilmorensis
Episcopi depositum.” He allwaies bore a reverend respect to
the place of God’s publick worship, and upon ail occasions was wont
to testify his dislike of burying dead bodies within those walls ; both
as savouring of pride in death and a vain affectation of worldly
pomp; and also as a kind of prophanation of that place, destinated
to a more Spiritual and Holy use. For himself, he took a sure
course to avoid it; choosing the remotest corner of the Church-
yard to be the burying place for him and his. Where according to
his own appointment his corps was interr’d.
Onely in one thing his will was not fulfill’d, because the Irish
would hâve their wills; and out of their affection to him would
needs accompany him to his grave not without some kind of pomp.LORD BISHOP OF KILMORE IN IRELAND.
81
The manner was thus : when the day appointed for his burial was
corne, the Irish in a considérable number resorted to the house;
especially those of the Sheridons, being of the same name with the
Minister in whose house he died; and some of the principal of them
wouldneeds be the Bearers. When the company had passed something
above half-way to the Church, Edmund O’Relly, that had im-
prison’d him and dispossess’d him of ail (being then résident in the
Bishop’s house joining close to the Church), came forth to meet the
corps, being accompanied with Mullmore O’Relly his son, then
Sheriff of the County, and some other Gentlemen, and attended with
a party of Musquetteers and a drum. The comming of this company
in this warlike manner was thought at first to be intended to hindei
and oppose the burial of the Bishop’s corps ; but when they met the
Beare, it prov’d no such thing. For O’Relly and those with him
applied themselves in most courteous and condoling language to the
Bishop’s sons ; speaking respectfully and honorably of the dead, and
comfortably to the living: and so commanding their drum to beat, as
the manner is when a souldier is buried, and placing the Musquet-
teers before the Corps, they thus conveighed the Bishop to his
Grave. And being corne thither, the Sheriff told the Bishop’s sons
that they might use what Prayers or what Form of Burial they
pleased; none should interrupt them. And, when ail was done, he
commanded the Musquetteers to give a volley of shot, and so the
company departed.
To close up this Narrative of the Life and Death of the Bishop
of Kilmore, and, as it were, to set his seal to it, let the Reader take
notice of the Sculpture or Engraving of his seal; conteining in it,
as it were, a prophetical synopsis of the whole course of his Life.
It was his own device, and engraven first by his own hand upon
the haft of his knife, before he could foresee what lot God had laid
out for him. The hint that he took for his conceit, as by the
inscription may be gather’d, was out of the Scripture, Isay i. 25,
And I will turn my hand upon thee, andpurely purgeaiuay tliy dross,
CAMD. SOC.	M82
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
and iake away ail thy tin. The last sentence of this verse in the
Hebrew goes thus, ^'‘73-^3 iTj'DÇI In conformity to this Scripture
with allusion to his own name, Bedeïl (or, as ’twas anciently Bedyl),
the device was this: A crucible or Fining-pot standing in flame
with this Superscription, '^3^3 'DD 3DH* Purge from me ail my Tin :
turning what the Prophet sets down as a promise to Sion, into a
Pétition to the Lord for himself to take away ail his Tin from
him. Àfter lie was made a Bishop, he caused this in a larger figure
to be sèt uponhis Episcopal Seal : possibly not thinking then, mucli
less imagining in his younger years, that God would hâve answered
his Pétition so punctually according to the literal sense, as by ex-
périence he after felt. But ’tis the Lord’s usual manner in answering
the Prayers of his people, to do it in waies least imagined by them,
but most tending to the advancement of his own Glory and their
Spiritual advantage ; as may be plainly observ’d in his dealings with
this his Faithfull Servant. Blessed for ever be his Holy Name.
Amen.
* jRaser minni col bedili. On the seal the Hebrew superscription is without
points. In the Public Record Office, there are several letters from Bishop Bedell to
Archbishop Laud, with this seal attached. From one of them, I made the drawing
for the annexed wood-cut.—T. W. J.SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTERS
GENEALOGICAL AND HISTOEICAL,
COMPILED FROM ORIGINAL SOURCES,
BY
THE REPRESENTATIVE OF THE BISHOP’S MOTHER'S FAMILY OF
ELLISTON,
THOMAS WHARTON JONES, F.R.S.CHAPTER I.
Birth and Parentage.
In some of the biographies of Bishop Bedell it is assumed as a
fact that the Bedells of Black Notley were of the same family as the
Bedells of Writtle, and a pedigree of the latter is quoted from
Morant’s History and Antiquities of the County of Essex as the
pedigree of Bishop Bedell’s family. There is, however, nothing in
MoranPs account of the Bedells of Writtle, nor in the entry of
the family in the Heralds’ Visitation Books for Essex, to show
that there was any near relationship between them and the
Bedells of Black Notley. The latter, however, may hâve been, and
most probably were, originally of the same stock as the Bedells of
Writtle, but the séparation of the two branches must hâve taken
place prior to 1550, the date from about which the Bedells of Black
Notley are to be here traced as a distinct family.*
Thomas Bedyll of Black Notley in the County of Essex, Yoman,
in his will, dated September 16, 1550 (and proved in the Com-
missary Court of the Bishop of London for parts of Essex), directs
his body to be buried in Black Notley church, and mentions his
wife Johan, his daughters Alice, Custans, Johan, and Margery,
* Bedell is sometimes pronounced with the accent on the last syllable, but in
Essex it is pronounced with the accent on the first. That this has been the usual
mode of pronunciation is shown by the frequency with which we meet the name
spelt Bedle or Beadle. As to the etymology of the name, it is likely enough to hâve
been derived from the office of a Bedell or Beadle, though it has been supposed to
hâve had a local origin. I hâve seen the name variously written Bethell. This,
therefore, suggests the idea that if not identical with Bethell, the name may still
hâve had a similar ancient British dérivation, and thus hâve been originally Ap
Edell or the like, and converted into Bedell by striking off the A of the " Ap,” and
converting the p into b, just as Bethell has been formed out of Ap Ithell86
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
and his sons John the elder, Thomas, James, and John* the
younger.
The will of a Johanne Bedell of Hatfîeld Peverell, co. Essex,
widow, was proved in the Commissary Court of the Bishop of
London for parts of Essex in 1576. It is dated April the 7th,
1573, and the first witness to it is “ John Bedell of Black Notley.”
She mentions the children of three daughters, Brokes, Wyseman,
and Rix or Cricks. This testatrix was probably Johan, the widow
of Thomas Bedyll of Black Notley.
I hâve not ascertained anything concerning the sons Thomas,
James, and John the younger.
It is the line of John the elder, the father of Bishop Bedell,
which is to be traced here.
Bishop BedelPs mother’s maiden name was Aliston, or as it is
written in the text Elliston, which was another mode of spelling
the name. She was sister of Mathew Aliston or Elliston of Castle
Hedingham, co. Essex, the Mathew Elliston senior of the entry of
the family at the Heralds’ Visitation of Essex for 1634. In the
original Book of Entries (C. 21) at the College of Arms, the name
had been first written with an A, but an E had afterwards been
written over the A.f
* It was not uncommon in the âge of the Tudors to give the same Christian name
to two of the children of a family.
f See “ The Pedigree of Alliston or Elliston of Essex and Kent, &c.” in the
Herald and Genealogist, vol. y. 1868. According to Domesday Book certain
lands in Black Notley were, in the time of Edward the Confessor, held bya freeman
named Alestan. This Alestan possessed lands in several other parishes of Essex,
but was deprived of them ail at the Conquest, except a portion in Notley and Stam-
boume. I do not know whether it was this same Alestan or another, who was a
Thane, and had large possessions in Norfolk. The name Alestan is obviously the
Saxon original of onr Aleston, Aliston, or Alyston, with or without a double 1, and
with or without a final e. As in the case of the Saxon Athelstan or Ethelstan, and
the German Adelstein or Edelstein, the initial letter was written indifferently A or
E, sometimes, also, Ae. Alestan, or Elestan, indeed appears to be merely a con-
tracted form of Athelstan, Aethelstan, or Ethelstan; for example, “ Elystan ” or
“ Ethelystan ” Glodridd, the name of the Welsh Prince who was godson of Athel-
stan the Saxon.BIRTH AND PARENTAGE.
87
John Bedell was buried at Black Notley on the lst of August,
1600 (P. R.*). His will, dated Decçmber 10, 1597, the 40tli of
Queen Elizabeth, was proved at Braintree, in the Commissary
Court of the Bishop of London for parts of Essex, on the 2nd of
September, 1600. In it he directs his body to be buried in
Black Notley church. He mentions his wife Elizabeth, his son John
the elder, his second son William, his third son John the younger,f
his eldest daughter Grâce, and his two younger daughters Eliza-
beth-Joane and Rachel. He named his son John the elder exe-
cutor, and his wife Elizabeth executrix. His “ well beloved freende,
his brot.her-in-law Mathew Alistone of Castle Hedingham,” his cosin
John Bedell of Fayrsted, his cosin Hawtrey of Langford, and his
son William, he appointed overseers of his will.
Mrs. Elizabeth Bedell survived her husband nearly twenty-three
years. She was buried at Black Notley on the 28th of March,
1624, J and her will, dated March 14, 1623-4, was proved at Brain-
tree, in the Commissary Court of the Bishop of London for parts of
Essex, on the 15th of October following. In it, she directs her
body to be buried in the parish church of Black Notley in the same
tomb or as near as may be to her dear husband John Bedell
deceased. This shows that her husband’s direction in his will that
he should be buried in Black Notley church had been carried into
effect.
The testatrix mentions her eldest son John, her second son Wil-
liam, to whom she leaves her Bible, her daughter Walford (Grâce),
her daughter Jervis (Elizabeth), and her third daughter Rachel
* I hâve myself traced the records of the Bedell Family in the Parish Register of
Black Notley, and hâve, in addition, been favoured with communications on the
subject from the Rector, the Rev. T. Overton, B.D. to whom for his obliging courtesy
my best thanks are due.
+ This is another example of répétition of the same Christian name in one
family.
J In the Parish Register her burial is entered under 1623, though properly the
year was as above mentioned.88
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
without naming her, to show whether slie was married or not,
though Eachel was then married, as will be seen below. Mrs. Bedell
makes small bequests in money to ail her grandchildren without
specifying them in particular, further than that she leaves more to
her daughter Jervis’s children than to her other grandchildren. She
leaves a ring to each of her two daughters-in-law, that is, Marable,
the wife of her eldest son John, and Leah, the wife of her second
son William, then Eector of Horningshearth, co. Suffolk. Her
eldest son, to whom she gives her silver bowle, &c., is named executor
and residuary legatee.
The family of John and Elizabeth Bedell, it is said in the text,
originally consisted of three sons and four daughters. The three
sons, but only three of the daughters, we hâve seen, were living
at the time their father made his will. The three daughters were
still living, as just indicated, in March 1623-4, the date of their
mother’s will ; but the son John the younger is not mentioned.
The Parish Eegister of Black Notley begins in the year 1570;
and the first baptism in the Bedell family recorded in it is the
foliowing :—
“ John Bedle, the son of John Bedle, was baptized the xxiij. day
of October, 1570.’*
This was John Bedell the elder, above-mentioned as one of the
executors of his father’s will and sole executor of his mother’s will;
but whether he was actually the eldest son or only eldest surviving
son is doubtful. The burial of a James Bedle, the son of John
Bedle, is recorded under the date of September 12, 1572 (P. B.).
Though there is nothing to show what was the âge of this James
Bedell, he is put down as the eldest son of John and Elizabeth
Bedell under notice, in one of numerous marginal MS. notes
regarding the Bedell family in a copy of Burnet’s Life of Bishop
Bedell, édition 1685, now in the possession of a gentleman in the
county of Monaghan, in Ireland; for extracts from which notes I am
indebted to the courtesy of the Eev. Dr. Eeeves, of Tynan, near
Armagh.BIRTH AND PARENTAGE.
89
The book in question belonged to, and has in the handwriting of
the owner the superscription, “ Thomas Bedell, in Charles Square,
Hoxton, 1721.” He was a Merchant and appears to hâve considered
himself the next heir-male of Bishop Bedell’s family, after the death
of the Bishop’s grandson Ambrose (s. p.), as we shall see more par-
ticularly below.
This Thomas Bedell, however, evidently knew nothing certain of
the parentage of the James Bedell of the entry in the burial register
of Black Notley above-mentioned. But if the James Bedell in
question was really a son of John and Elizabeth Bedell, that couple
must hâve had originally four sons instead of three as stated in the
text.
The daughter who died young was Jone, whose baptism is re-
corded under the date of August 11, 1583. (P. R.)
To recur to John Bedell the elder, who was baptized on the 23rd
of October, 1570. The following extract from the Parish Register
of Black Notley appears to be the record of his marriage :—
“JohnBedle and Marable Burtel,* widow, were married 25th
April, 161
There does not appear to hâve been any issue of this marriage.
No child of John Bedell, at least, survived him. In the Parish
Register of Black Notley, the burial of “ Marable the wife of John
Bedle” is recorded April 13, 1630. In a list of freeholders in the
county of Essex, circa 1633 (Harleian MS. 2240, in the British
Muséum), the following occurs :—
“ Notley nigra. Johes Beadell, gen. junr.”
It is just possible that this was a son, who had afterwards died.
Bishop Bedell in his will dated February 15, 1640*1, leaves his
brother John a ring, but makes no mention of any child of his,
though he leaves small legacies to the children of his three sisters.
* The parchment is here so wrinkled, and the writing so defaced and indistinct,
that it is not certain whether Burtel or Bulteel be the correct reading of the name.
CAMD. SOC.	N90
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
That John Bedell was living in 1643, appears from a letter *
written b y the Rev. William Bedell, the eldest son of the Bishop, to
Dr. Samul Warde, his father’s friend and his own godfather, from
Whipstead, under the date of June 12, 1643, in which he says, that
he rested in Essex in his fathers brother* s house after his long and
dangerous journey out of Ireland. The following is probably the
closing record of the elder brother of Bishop Bedell :—
“ 1653. John Beadell, buried October 18.” (Black Notley P. R.)
William Bedell, second son, the future Bishop of Kilmore, and
spécial subject of our history, will corne under notice below.
John Bedell the younger was the third son living in 1597, the
date of his father’s will. The following is the entry of his baptism
in the P. R. of Black Notley :—
“ John Bedle, son of John Bedle, was baptized viii January
1578.”
This John the younger, not being mentioned in his mother’s will,
had, it is to be presumed, died before March, 1623-4.
Grâce Bedell, the eldest daughter, was baptized at Black Notley
on the 3rd of September, 1576. (P. R.) She is mentioned in her
father’s will (1597) as unmarried ; but in her mother’s will (1623-4)
she is spoken of as Mrs. Walford. She was the first of the four
witnesses to her mother’s will. Her brother the Bishop in his will
says: “Item, I give to Edwin Walford and each of his sisters
Phœbe and Elizabeth to everie of them ten pounds. Item, I give
to John Walford five pounds.” Edwin, Phœbe, and Elizabeth
Walford were no doubt the children of Mrs. Grâce Walford.
Whether John Walford was her husband or another son, I hâve not
been able to determine.f
* For this letter see Chapter XIX.
f In Black Notley church there is an inscription recording a benefaction to the
parish, as follows : —
“Mary, daughter of Edwin Walford, of this parish, gent. married first to
Humphrey Neudeck, of London, Physician, and afterwards to Capt. Thomas Kitching,
dving lOth of Deeember, 1722, left to the poor of this parish £10 a year for ever.”BIRTH AND PARENTAGE.
91
Elizabeth Bedell, the second daughter, was baptized at Black
Notley on the lOth o£ June, 1581. (P. K.) She is mentioned in
her father’s will (under the name of Elizabeth Joane) as unmarried,
but her mother, in her will, speaks of her as her daughter Jervis.
Her brother the Bishop in his will mentions her children thus :
“ Item, I give to Mary Jervice ten pounds, and to William Jervice
five pounds.”
Rachel Bedell, the fourth, but third surviving, daughter, was
baptized at Black Notley on the 24th of September, 1586 (P. R.),
and was married at Black Notley to Thomas Willis on the 12th of
November, 1618. (P. R.) It has been aboyé stated that she is men-
tioned in both her father’s and mother’s wills. In her brother the
Bishop’s will, five pounds areleft to each of “ the two sonnes of my
sister Willys.”
To recur to William Bedell, the second son of John and Elizabeth
Bedell: In the Parish Register of Black Notley there is the fol-
lowing entry :—
“ 1571.
“ William Bedle, the son of John Bedle, was baptized the xiiij
day of January, 1571.”
To this there has been appended the marginal note : “ Epus de
Kilmor in Hibernia/”
In ail the published biographies of Bishop Bedell, the year of his
birth is put down as 1570. This mistake no doubt originated by
confounding William’s baptism with that of his elder brother John,
who was really born in 1570, as appears from the entry in the
Parish Register of Black Notley above quoted. According to the
mode of numbering the months of the year in présent use, William
Bedell was baptized on the 14th of January, 1572, having been
born probably in the preceding month, viz. December, 1571. In
his letter to the Roman Catholic Bishop Swiney, declining that
Prelate’s offer to corne and take up his abode with him, as a pro-
tection against the rebels, dated November 11, 1641, Bishop Bedell
himself approximately mentions his âge when lie says he is ujam92
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
pene SeptuagenariusThe entry in the Parish Eegister of Black
Notley, above quoted, shows that the Bishop at the time he wrote
this wanted only about six weeks of seventy.
In the MS. of the text it was statedthat William Bedell was born
on Michaelmas Day, but I corrected the mistake, as there can be no
doubt that it was his elder brother John who was born on that day,
seeing that he was baptized on the 23rd of October; William had
most likely been born at Christmas time, possibly on Christmas
Day. Therefore the quaint remark, which I hâve struck out, about
William’s birthday presaging hirn an antagonist against the Devil
and his Angells, on the supposition that it was Michaelmas Day, is
inapplicable. If the day of William Bedell’s birth presaged anything
of his future career, it presaged that he would be a messenger of
peace and goodwill whithersoever he went, and an intrepid soldier
of the Cross of Christ. Having been led by the providence of God
to Ireland, it was in that kingdom he executed his holy and bene-
ficent commission.
CHAPTER IL
Education and entrance into Holy Orders.—College
CoN TEMPORARIES.
William Bedell and his brother John had no great distance to
walk to school at Braintree from Black Notley Hall Farm, close by
the Church, where they lived. The dislike of John for school,
mentioned in the text, seems to hâve been the counterpart of that
so quaintly related of his father, though John was more indulgently
treated than his father was. William, at the same time thathe had
no small share of his father’s détermination and firmness, took more
* Clogie’s memoir printed from the MS. No. 6100 in the Harleian Collection,
British Muséum, and edited by Mr. W. Walker Wilkins : London, 1862. Bedell’s
words are : “ Episcopo jam pene Septuagenario, Christi causa, nulla mors acerba esse
potest, nulla non oppetenda.” P. 189.EDUCATION AND ENTRANCE INTO HOLY ORDERS.
93
after his mother, who from the glimpse we hâve of her in the text,
and in her will, appears to hâve been, like her brother Mathew
Elliston or Aliston, and his family,* a person of superior mental
endowments.
Before he had completed the thirteenth year of his âge William
Bedell was sent to Cambridge, where he was admitted Pensioner of
Emmanuel College, on the lst of November, 1584, and, on the 12th
of March foliowing, matriculated scholar, being the 19th on the list
from the foundation, including the four first scholars named in the
Charter. In 1588 he graduated B.A. and in 1592 M.A. In 1593
he was elected Fellow of his College, being 14th on the list from
the foundation, including the three first fellows named by the
founder, Sir Walter Mildmay.f
On the lOth of January, 1596-7, being then twenty-five years of
âge, Bedell was ordained Priest, and in 1599 he took the degree
of B.D.
From its foundation, Emmanuel College was distinguished for
the devotional earnestness of its members, so that it acquired a
réputation for Puritanism.
In the text (page 4) it is stated that Mr. BedelPs first essay in
practical Divinity was the discharge of the office of Catechist in the
College; and in a MS. note in the copy of Bishop Burnet’s Life
of Bedell, 1692,J in the British Muséum, it is said that whilst still
at the University, he, u in conjunction with Mr. Abdius Ashton of
* The Ellistons or Alistons were Puritans or of a Puritanical turn (that is, holders
of matters doctrinal against mere ritualism). For indications of the part—religious
and political—taken by the sons of John Aliston of Black Notley, the second son
of Mathew the brother of Mrs. Bedell, during the Commonwealth and at the Resto-
ration, see Whitelock’s Memorials, p. 226 ; Calamy’s Continuation of the Life and
Times of Richard Baxter, under Stanford Rivers in Essex, and under Horsmonden
and Sandhurst in Kent; the Rev. T. W. Davids’s Annals of Evangelical Non-
comformity in Essex; the Rev. Bryan Dale’s Annals of Coggeshall.
f Coles’ MS S. in the British Muséum, 5851.
{ This volume formerly belonged to Dr. Thomas Birch, and contains, besides
this note, written by Mr. Lewes of Margate, also some MS. notes by Dr. Birch
himself.94
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
St. John’s, Mr. Thomas Gataker of Sydney Sussex College, pre-
viously of St. John^s, and sorne others, set on foot a design of
preaching in places in the neighbourhood of Cambridge, where there
were no pastors able to teach and lead the people in the ways of
truth, peace, and life.” This, which was probably encouraged by
that “ famous and worthie Minister of Christ, Master William
Perkins,” looks like an anticipation of the movement from which
Methodism sprang, made at Oxford more than a century later by
the Brothers Wesley, James Hervey, author of the 66 Méditations,”
George Whitfield, and some others.
To complété the history of this part of Mr. Bedell’s life, it is
necessary here to say a few words of his friends and contemporaries
at Cambridge.
The Master of Emmanuel College during Bedell’s time was Dr.
Lawrence Chaderton, one of the divines to whose care the pré-
paration of the authorised version of the Bible was entrusted by
James I. In reference to his training under so excellent a master,
Bedell, in a letter to Archbishop Ussher, observes, “ The arts of
dutiful obedience, and just ruling also, in part I did for seventeen
years endeavour to learn under that good father Dr. Chaderton, in
a well-tempered Society.” Dr. Lawrence Chaderton was Fellow of
Christ’s College, and presided as Master over Emmanuel from its
foundation in 1584 until 1622, when he resigned. He died in
1640, at the âge of 103.
Samuel Warde, the intimate friend and correspondent of Bedell,
and godfather of his eldest son William, was first entered at Christ’s
College, Cambridge, and thence'was elected, in 1603, Fellow of
Emmanuel College, being 12th on the list after Mr. Bedell. On
January the 5th, 1609, Warde was appointed to the Mastership of
Sidney Sussex College. In 1620 he was made Vice-Chancellor of
the University, and in 1621 Lady Margaret’s Professor of Divinity.
Besides these University appointments, he had several prefermentsCOLLEGE CONTEMPORAINES.
95
in the Church. Though of a Puritanical turn, lie was, on the
breaking out of the Civil War, for the King againstthe Parliament.
In conséquence of this, Dr. Warde was deprived of his Mastership
and Professorship, and imprisoned, first in his own College, and
subsequently in St. John’s. Dr* Seth Ward, Fellow of Sidney
College, and afterwards Bishop of Salisbury, was not a relation of
Dr. Samuel Warde, but had been, as a student of Sidney College,
patronized by him, and in his adversity proved himself an attached
and faithful friend.*
Dr. Samuel Warde died on the 7th of September, 1643, and was
buried on the 8th, according to an extract from the Parish Kegister
of Ail Saints, Cambridge, in Cole’s MSS. in the British Muséum.
His will, dated September 3, 1643, was proved at Oxford, November
25, 1644. He directed that he should be buried in Sidney College
Chapel, and, among other bequests, he gave to Sidney College the
gold medal which was presented to him by the State of the Low
Countries, on returning from his attendance at the Synod of Dort.
This medal bears a représentation of the Members of the Synod in
Session round a table in the Kloveniers Doelen Inn. Besides his
wife and step-daughter, whom he named exécutrices, he mentions in
his will brothers and other relatives, and it is satisfactory to infer
therefrom, and from his bequests, that he did not die in so friendless
and impoverished a State as is represented by his biographers.
James Waddesworth, a fellow-student of Bedell at Emmanuel
College, graduated M.A. in 1593, and B.D. in 1600. In the latter
year he was preferred to the two rectories of Cotton and Thornham
Magna, in Suffolk,f as a double-beneficed man. He was also
chaplain in ordinary to Dr. Bedman, Bishop of Norwich. In 1605,
he went to Spain as chaplain to Sir Charles Cornwallis, the English
* Dr. Seth Ward, in his préfacé to a volume containing some of the works of Dr.
Samuel Warde, which he published in 1658, pronounces an eulogium on him, which
breathes ail the affection and dévotion of a son.
+ Davy’s MS. Collections for Suffolk, in the British Muséum, under the heads of
Cotton and Thornham, Hartismere Hundred.96
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
Ambassador. He had not been long in that country, when, having
formed an acquaintance with some English Jesuits at Yalladolid, he
began to argue confidently with them against Popery, but, in the
end, was himself perverted. On this, Waddesworth left the Am-
bassador’s house, under the pretext of paying a visit tothe University
of Salamanca, and did not return. In letters to the Earl of Salisbury,
dated from Yalladolid, August 18 and September 8 and 15, 1605,
Sir Charles Cornwallis expresses great grief at the “ unhonest and
unmannerlie revoit of his chaplaine,” and feels himself “ unhappie to
hâve brought with him one so imperfect as to become occasion of such a
scandai.”* In another letter, Sir Charles mentions that the son of Lord
Wotton f had been “ drawne by Walpoole the Jesuit to die a P apis t.”
After his perversion, Dr. Waddesworth remained in Spain, re-
ceiving a pension of 40 or 50 ducats a month from the King. Towards
the end of his life he was employed to teach English to the Infanta
Donna Maria, in anticipation of her projected marriage to Charles,
Prince of Wales. In a letter to the Duke of Buckingham, dated
Madrid, November 11, 1623, Waddesworth says : “I am sure the
Infanta proceeds very cheerfully to learn English/’ And, speaking
of himself, observes : “ Good my Lord, I do (and ever hâve done)
avow and profess myself a loyal subject and yet a Catholic.Ӕ A
few days after writing this, Dr. Waddesworth died from consumption,
it would appear, or, as his son called it, “ cough in the lungs.”
From the book written by Waddesworth’s son James, entitled :
“ The English-Spanish Pilgrime,” published by authorityin London
in 1630, it appears that Mrs. Waddesworth with her four children,
who had been left in England when her husband went to Spain,
* Sir Ralph Winwood’s Memorials of Affairs of State in the Reigns of Queen
Elizabeth and King James I. vol. ii. pp. 109, 131, 136; fol. London, 1725.
f And nephew of Sir Henry Wotton. In his letter from Valladolid, Sir Charles
Cornwallis refers to the expense he had been at in relieving young Wotton’s
pecuniary difficulties. (Winwood’s Memorials, vol. ii. p. 151.)
J The Court of King James the First, by Dr. Godfrey Goodman, Bishop of
Gloucester. Edited by John S. Brewer, M.A. Queen’s College, Oxford, from the
MSS. in the Bodleian Library. Vol. ii. p. 319.COLLEGE CONTEMPORARIES.
97
was allured in 1609 into Flanders and thence to Spain. The son
James, the author of the book just referred to, born in 1604,
received his éducation at Seville and St. Omer’s. After Dr. Waddes-
worth’s death, the pension from the King of Spain was continued
on his widow and family. The son James was nominated to a
captaincy in the Spanish service in Flanders, but, renouncing
popery, and being “ converted into his true mother’s bosome, the
Church of England,” came over to this country and published
the work above mentioned.
In a strangely-written note at page 319, vol. ii., of Goodman’s
Court of King James the First, ut supra, this son James is con-
founded with his father, or rather the two are rolled into one
monster, with the demerits of both attributed to him. The James
Waddesworth said to hâve been living in 1655 was of course the
son, the author of the “ English Spanish Pilgrime,” and, if there be
any truth in the allégations of the note, he had turned out a most
disreputable person.
Mr. Bedell was much grieved at Mr. Waddesworth’s change of
religion, and corresponded with him on the subject. After Wad-
desworth’s death Bedell published the correspondence. It is
referred to in the text (page 10) and will be noticed more par-
ticularly below. Here only may be quoted what Isaak Walton
(Life of Sir Henry Wotton) has remarked of the tone of the cor-
respondence:—“In these letters,” says he, “there seems to be a
controversie, not of Keligion only, but who should answer each
other with most love and meekness.”
Joseph Hall was a fellow student of Bedell and Waddesworth at
Emmanuel College, of which he became a Fellow, being 8th on the
list after Bedell. He graduated M.A. in 1596, B.D. in 1603, and
D.D. in 1610. He was at first Minister of Waltham Holy Cross
in Essex (a donative bénéfice). In a letter to Bedell dated from
that place May 15, 1615, Hall says that he was about to go to
France as chaplain to the English Embassy there. In 1617 he was
CAMD. SOC.	O98
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
made Dean of Worcester. In 1618 lie was one of the ministers
deputed by King James to tbe synod of Dort. The gold medal,
which, like Dr. Samuel Warde, Dr. Joseph Hall received on this
occasion, is represented in his portrait,* suspended over his breast,
and is said to be now in the possession of Emmanuel College,
Cambridge. In 1627 Dr. Hall was made Bishop of Exeter, and in
1641 was translated to the Bishopric of Norwich. On the recom-
mendation of Archbishop Laud, Bishop Hall composed his treatise
of iC Episcopacie by Divine Right asserted,” whicli he published in
1640, 4to., and dedicated to King Charles I. It is said that the work
was remodelled by Laud according to his own views and sentiments.
When the civil war broke out, Dr. Hall was removed from his
bishopric by the Parliament, and subjected to much harsh treat-
ment. The writing entitled <6Hard Measure,” and dated May 29,
1647, which he published, is a review of the proceedings of the
Long Parliament against the Church and of the sufferings of the
Bishops and Clergy.
Bishop Hall died at Higham near Norwich on the 8th of
September, 1656, in the 82nd year of his âge.
Hall, as well as Bedell, addresed Waddesworth on his change of
religion, but it was to denounce him as an apostate. Waddes-
worth returned the letter to Hall through Bedell, to whom he
wrote on the subject, saying :—
“ Worthy Sir, I was exceeding glad to perceive by your kind,
modest, and discreet letters, that you are still permanent in your
own good nature, and constant in your love to me ; not like Mr.
Joseph Hall, neither bitterly reviling nor flourishing impertinently.
Unto whom I pray you return his scoffing railing letter with these
few marginal notes. When your reply unto my plain and few
reasons corne, 1 will, for your sake, read them over ; and return you
some such short rejoinder as it shall please Almighty God to
enable me.”
* The Rev. John Jones’ Life and Times of Joseph Hall, Bishop of Norwich,
1826.COLLEGE CONTEMPORARIES.
99
Another contemporary of Bedell at Emmanuel College was his
own Cousin Joseph Aliston, who was however six years his junior.
Joseph Aliston was the fourth son of Mathew Aliston of Castle
Hedingham, co. Essex, the brother of Bedell’s mother. He was
admitted of Emmanuel College in 1595, graduated M.A, in 1602,
and B.D. in 1609. In the last-named year he became Fellow of
his college, and in 1614 was presented to the Rectory of South
Runcton, in the county of Norfolk.
In the Tanner MS. lxxiv. 8, in the Bodleian Library, there is a
writing dated Paris, April 9, 1612, by Dr. Joseph Aliston, addressed
to Dr. Samuel Warde, on the “ Idolatry of the Roman Catholic
Church; the public Solemnization of the double match between
France and Spain; and on Synods and Ministers of the Reformed
Church.” This writing is signed with Aliston’s initiais, of which
the annexed is a fac-similé :—
and is accompanied by a short note to Dr. Warde from Mr. Thomas
Lorkin.
Dr. Joseph Aliston died in 1631. By his will proved in P. C. C.
July 19, 1631, he gave injunctions to his wife to send his two sons
when old enough to a good “ Free School,” and afterwards to
Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and to maintain them there for
eight years. Besides portions, he left each of his three daughters an
English Bible.
William Sancroft, born at Withersdale in SufFolk, graduated
M.A. 1604, B.D. 1611, D.D. 1629. He was fourth on the list of
Fellows after Joseph Aliston, and in 1628, August 2, was 'elected
Master of Emmanuel College, on the death of Dr. John Preston,
the successor of Dr. Chaderton. In a letter, dated Kilmore, Feb. 2,100
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
1633-4, to Dr. Samuel Warde,* Bishop Bedell begs to be re-
membered to Dr. Chaderton and Dr. Sancroft, the only two besides
Dr. Samuel Warde he had knowledge of while he lived at Cam-
bridge—that is, the only two then at Cambridge.
Dr. Sancroft died at Bury St. Edmund’s in 1637.
The Dr. William Sancroft who was afterwards Archbishop of
Canterbury was nephew of the preceding. Of Emmanuel College,
he graduated M.A. 1641, became Fellow 1642, graduated B.D.
1648, and D.D. 1653. He was elected Master of Emmanuel
College, August 14, 1662, in room of Dr. William Dillingham.
Dr. Sancroft was successively Dean of York, Dean of St. Paul’s,
and Archbishop of Canterbury. He was one of the Seven Prelates
put on their trial by King James II.; but, after the Révolution of
1688, refusing to take the oaths to William and Mary, he was
deprived. He now retired to Fressingfield his native parish, where
he died and was buried in 1693.
Archbishop Sancroft, as shown in the préfacé, contemplated at
one time the publication of the Life and Works of Bishop Bedell.
For this purpose he obtained the MS. of the text here printed from
Capt. Ambrose Bedell, and from Mr. Clogie a copy of his narrative.
The Archbishop probably relinquished his intention on the ap-
pearance of Burnet’s “Life.”
CHAPTER III.
RESIDENCE IN VENICE.—SlR HENRY WOTTON.—FATHER
Paulo.
On the 23rd of January, 1601-2, Mr. Bedell was licensed as a
preacher in the Diocese of Norwich, having been appointed suc-
cessor 4o the Rev. George Estye (author of an Exposition of the
Creed and Ten Commandments) at St. Mary’s, Bury St. Edmund’s.
* Tanner MS. lxxi. 189, Bodleian Library.RESIDENCE IN VENICE.
101
After being five years résident at this place he received an in-
vitation to go to Venice in the capacity of cbaplain to the English
Embassy there. Sir Henry Wotton the ambassador had been, in
June 1604, accredited by King James to the Serene Republic for the
purpose of supporting the Signiory in heart and courage against
the Pope (Léo XI.) and that which they morefeared—the power of
Spain by which he was backed.
In May 1605, Camiilo Borghese was elected Pope, in succession
to Léo XL, and took the title of Paulo V. In about four months
after, a quarrel with the Republic of Venice broke out, on account
of various grievances which it was alleged the Church suffered at
the hands of the Venetians; the crowning grievance being that
the Signiory resisted the demand of the Court of Rome to deliver up
to its authority two Ecclesiastics who had been committed to
prison by the Civil Power in Venice for flagrant crimes. The
dispute at last culminated in the Interdict which the Pope issued
against Venice on the 17th of April, 1606. Nothing daunted,
however, the Signiory ordered that no regard should be paid to
the excommunication, and gave notice by a proclamation, dated
April 28, 1606, “ That whosoever hath received from Rome any
copie of a Papal Interdict published there, as well against the law
of God as against the honour of this Commonwealth, shall
presently render it unto the Councill of X, uppon payne of death.”*
At the same time the Jesuits, Theatines, and Capuchins, because
they stood up as violent partisans of the Pope against the Republic,
were expelled from the country.
Isaak Walton in his Life of Sir Henry Wotton says, that Sir
Henry, on being appointed to the Venetian Embassy, “ left England
nobly accompanied through France to Venice by gentlemen of the
best families and breeding that this Nation afforded; they were too
* Besides this, which is quoted from a letter of Sir Henry Wotton, there is, among
the Venetian State Papersin the Public Record Office, a printed reply of the Councü
of Ten to the Pope’s Interdict.102
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
many to name, but these two for following reasons may not be
omitted, Sir Albertus Morton, Lis nephew, who went his secretary,
and William Bedell, a man of choice leaming and sanctified
wisdom, who went his chaplain.” That Bedell accompanied Sir
Henry Wotton to Yenice in 1604 is however a mistake, which has
been repeated in the published biographies of Bedell ; and appeared
even in the text, but by an alteration of three or four words I hâve
corrected it. The fact is that Mr. Bedell only joined Sir Henry
Wotton at Yenice in 1607, in succession to the Rev. Nathaniel
Fletcher (son of Dr. Richard Fletcher, who was Bisliop of London
from 1594 till his death in 1596), who had returned to England in
the latter end of September 1606.*
That this was really the time when Bedell first went to Yenice
appears from several documents, which, as they illustrate our subject
in various ways, I shall here set down in abstract: 1°. In a post-
script to a letter (Venetian State Papers in the Public Record
Office) dated Venice the 23rd of February 1606-7, to the Earl of
Salisbury, Sir Henry Wotton begs his “ Lordship’s paSport and in-
couragement for one Mr. Beadle whom I shall be very glad to hâve
with me in the place of Chapelan, because I heare very singular
commendation of his good gifts and discreet behaviour. It may
therefore please yr Lo? (when he shall take the boldnesse to présent
himself before you) to sett forward also this piece of God’s
service.”t 2°. Among the Tanner MS S. in the Bodleian Library
at Oxford, there is a letter from Mr. Bedell to Dr. Samuel Warde,
referring to préparations for his journey to Venice, and begging Dr.
Warde to inquire of Mr. Fletcher, Sir Henry Wotton’s previous
chaplain, by what route he returned from Venice4 3°. In
* See a note in the handwriting of Dr. Birch on a fly-leaf of the copy of
Bumet’s Life of Bishop Bedell, 1692, in the British Muséum.
f See also the MS. note in Bumet’s Life of Bedell 1692, in the British Mnseum,
just referred to.
J It does not appear what answer Bedell received to this inquiry; nor by what
route Bedell trayelled to Venice, beyond the remark in the text that his passageRESIDENCE IN VENICE.
103
the letter which Ëedell wrote to Mr. Adam Newton, lay
Dean of Durham, and Preceptor of Henry Prince of Wales,
dated Yenice, “ New year’s day in our own stile 1607,” being
January 1, 1608, there is an indication of the date of his
arrivai in Yenice, thus :—Bedell writes as if it was his first letter
to Mr. Newton from Yenice, and that he had been already
some months in that city. He States that peace between Eome
and Yenice was concluded a few days before his arrivai, by the
révocation, on the 21sfc of April, 1607, of the interdict * which the
Pope had fulminated against Venice on the 17th of April 1606.
Then again Bedell States that the attempt to assassinate Father
Paulo was not long after the first interview he had with him. The
attempt to assassinate Paulo was made on the 5th of October, 1607,
and, as Bedell’s first interview with the Father did not take place
until after Bedell had been already some time résident in Venice, we
may conclude that the date of Bedell’s arrivai in that city was early
in the summer of 1607.
The letter last quoted from is one of a correspondence between
Mr. Bedell when in Yenice and Mr. Adam Newton.f This cor-
respondence has been published under the foliowing title : u Some
original letters of Bishop Bedell concerning the steps taken toward
a Beformation of religion at Yenice, upon occasion of the quarrel
oyer the Alps was especially difficult. Apropos of this it may here be stated that
Sir Henry Wotton, in a letter (Sir Ralph Winwood’s Memorials, ut supra, vol. ii.)
dated July 19, 1604 (from Dover on his way to Yenice), mentions that the route he
was going to take was first to Boulogne then to Amiens, and so through Lorraine
to Strasburg and thence by Augsburg. In returning to England in 1610 Sir Henry,
we shall see, came by Lombardy and France, taking Paris in his way.
* Among the Yenetian State Papers in the Public Record Office, there are two
or three copies of the printed circular, dated April 21, 1607, which the Senate sent
to the Archbishops and Bishops of the Republic, announcing the conclusion of
peace with the Pope.
f Newton was a native of Scotland, and was made Dean of Durham in 1606 by
King James, which dignity, though not in Orders, he held till 1620, when he •
resigned it, and was made a Baronet. Newton married Dorothy, daughter of Sir104
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
between that State and the Pope Paul Y. Dublin, 1742, edited
by E. Hudson.” The letters were printed from copies which had
been supplied by Bedell to Archbishop Ussher.* The originals
of the two principal letters, as received from Yenice by Mr. Adam
Newton, are contained in Yolume 90 of the Lansdowne MS S.,
Articles 54 and 66, in the British Muséum. A copy of Bedell’s
signature, traced from Letter II. which was written in the beginning
of the year 1608-9, is here given :
ÜejJl
In a letter from Yenice to Dr. Samuel Warde, “ dated St. Stephen’s
Day, inyour account,” 1607, Bedell, referring to the attempt made
to assassinate Father Paulo, says, “ I hope this accident will awake
him (Paulo) a little more, and put some more spirit in him, which
is his only want. Remember me to my cousin ” (Alistone).
Though Mr. Bedell did not arrive in Yenice until a few days
after the révocation of the Papal interdict on the 21 st of April,
1607, it is évident, from Sir Henry Wotton’s letter to the Earl of
Salisbury above quoted, that he was appointed to the Chaplaincy
some considérable time before that date, viz. when the interdict
against Venice was still in full force. When therefore Gilbert
Burnet, in his Life of Bedell, says that “ Bedell’s réputation was so
great and so well established, both in the University and in Suffolk,
John Puckering, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal in the time of Queen Elizabeth,
and dying in 1629, was succeeded by his son William, who died nnmarried, and was
succeeded by his brother Henry, who assumed the name of Puckering on inheriting
the estâtes of his uncle. Sir Henry Puckering died January 22, 1700, aged 83,
when the title became extinct.
* These MS. copies are preserved in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin.
There are copies also in the Bodleian Library. (Tanner MSS.)SIR HENRY WOTTON.
105
that at the time of the interdict he was recommended as the fittest
man to go Chaplain (to the Embassy at Yenice) in so critical a
conjuncture,” he is quite correct. But foliowing his informant Clogie
in his mistake about the date of the interdict, and the time of BedelPs
going to Yenice, he laid himself open to the attack of Dr. George
Hickes,* who, without himself possessing any particular knowledge
of the matter, took exception to Burnet’s narrative altogether, and
threw discrédit on his eulogium f of Bedell, merely because of an
error in his dates. Burnet ought certainly to hâve taken better care
to inform himself of the historical facts of the date of Sir Henry
Wotton’s Embassy to Yenice, and of the Yenetian interdict. But
he can scarcely be blamed for confounding, as Isaak Wallon and
Alexander Clogie did before him, the time when Bedell went to
Venice with that when Sir Henry Wotton himself proceeded on
his mission.
From the knowledge of the facts such as he possessed Dr. Hickes
ought to hâve seen, 1°, that Bedell had been recommended for the
Chaplaincy at Venice in so critical a conjuncture as the interdict,
and 2°, that there was some reason or other for recommending him.
That reason, as above quoted from Sir Henry Wotton’s letter, is
the reason given by Burnet. Burnet negligently repeated what he
had been told, but Dr. Hickes, affecting to argue from premises,
nevertheless shuts his eyes to the obvious conclusion.
Though by the time Bedell arrived in Yenice the dispute with
* Discourses occasioned by the funeral sermon of Bishop Burnet upon Arch-
bishop Tillotson. London, 1695. 4to. Dr. George Hickes had been Dean of Wor-
cester, but was deprived for refusing to take the oaths to William and Mary. He
was one of the two non-jurors selected by King James from the list sent him by
Dr. Sancroft (the deprived Archbishop of Canterbury) to St. Germain’s,to be made
Bishops, in order to keep up the Episcopal succession among the adhérents of the
King by Divine Right. Dr. George Hickes was accordingly consecrated titular
Bishop of Thetford by Sancroft.
f It is something amusing, if not to be regretted, that Dr. Hickes, and even others
after him, of High Church tendencies, should, ont of animosity to Burnet, hâve
endeavoured to depreciate Bedell, for surely there was nothing Avhatever in common
between Bedell and Burnet.
CAMD. SOC.
P106
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDE LL.
Rome had been compromised, the relations between the two govern-
ments continued to be far from amicable, and a sécession of the
Venetians from the Roman Catholic Church was still the hope of
some and the dread of others. Isaak Walton, in his Life of Wotton,
says, that it was at one time reported abroad that the Yenetians
were ail turned Protestants, which was believed by many, for it was
observed that the English Ambassador was often in conférence with
the Senate, and his Chaplain Mr. Bedell more often with Father
Paulo.
Father Paulo, of the Order of the Servîtes, who played so im-
portant a part in the transactions of that period between Yenice and
Rome, was one of the most learned men of his time. Bedell says, in
his letter to Mr. Adam Newton, dated January 1, 1607-8, that he
“ is holden for a myracle in ail maner of knowledge divine and
humane.” Withal, as Sir Henry Wotton said of him, “ He was
one of the humblest things that could be seen within the bounds of
humanity, the very pattern of that precept, 4 Quanto doctior, tanto
submissior.’ ” Though theology, morals, and politics constituted
the subjects of his spécial department, Paulo is said to hâve been
not only attached to physical science and anxious to promote its
progress, but to hâve been himself an active investigator and dis-
coverer. Baptista Porta acknowledged himself debtor to Paulo for
much information ; Galileo called him “Father and Master,” and
Fabricius Abaquapendente, the teacher of William Harvey, was his
friend; nay, according to his biographer Griselini,* Paulo antici-
pated the discoveries in physiology, magnetism, and algebra, which
are associated with the names of later celebrities in those sciences.
Griselini (in his preliminary address to the reader, p. xv.) says
that “ F. Paolo fu sommo Filosofo e sublime Matematico per desti-
nazione délia natura, e Giureconsulto soltanto per un caso fortuito
* Memorie Anedote spettanti alla vita ed agli studj del sommo Filosofo e Giure-
consulto F. Paolo Servita, Raccolte ed ordinate da Francesco Griselini, Veneziano,
délia célébré Accademia dell’ Istituto delle Scienze di Bologna. Ed. 2a. In
Losana, 1760. 8vo.SIR HENRY WOTTON.
107
ed accidentale.” It is no doubt true that Father Paulo manifested
a capacity by nature to becorae pre-eminent in philosophy and
science, but it is to be remembered that, how great soever the
mind’s capacity may be, knowledge in philosophy and science is not
intuitive, but that it is only by prolonged investigation that man can
find out what nature does and suffers. In putting forth the ex-
aggerated daims just mentioned in behalf of Father Paulo, there-
fore, Griselini did little honour to his memory, whereas he misre-
presents the real character of the man when he tries to ignore the
well-known fact of Paulo’s opposition to the errors of Popery, and
that leaning of his to the Beformed Faith, which procured for him
at Eome the epithet of “ Mezzo Luterano.” Sir Henry Wotton,
writing to the Earl of Salisbury from Venice on the 13th of
September, 1607, says that he sends his Lordship a very true
picture of Maestro Paulo, the Servite, taken at his request. “ It
may be some pleasure unto his Matie,” observes Sir Henry, u to be-
holde a Sound Protestant as yet in the habit of a fryar, which I
affirme unto youre LoP, not out of that vanitie (which maketh
Jésuites register every great witt in their cataloge) but upon as-
surance thereof given me by my Chaplain, who hath sounded him
in the principal poynts of our religion. By him (Mr. Bedell) I
deale with him (Paulo) for lesse observation in diverse things of
importance, and they spend upon agreement together every week
almost one half day. He (Paulo) ” continues Sir Henry, “ seemeth
as in countenance so in spirit liker to Philip Melancthon then Luther,
and peradventure a fitter instrument to overthrow the falsehood by
degrees then on a sodayne.”
In a subséquent letter, dated Venice, December 21, 1607, Sir
Henry Wotton tells the Earl of Salisbury that the picture just
referred to was lost on the way, and in sending another picture of
Padre Paulo Sir Henry remarks of it that “ his Matie shall now,
through the miscarriage of the former, receive one with the late
addition of his scarrs.”*
* Tlie scars left by the wounds inflicted on Father Paulo by the assassins.108
LIFE AND DEATII OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
Father Paulo was born in Venice, August 14, 1552, and was
baptized Peter, but he assumed the name of Paulo on entering the
order of the Servîtes, November 24, 1566. He renewed his pro-
fession May 10, 1572, and was ordained priest at the âge of twenty-
five. Francis Sarpi, the father, was a person of an unsteady dispo-
sition, and did little for his family; but his wife Isabella, née
Morelli, the mother, was a woman of great merit. Paulo seems to
liave inherited his moral and intellectual endowments from her,
whilst to the kindness and care of her brother, Fra Ambrosio
Morelli, he owed his early éducation. Under Father Giammaria
Capella, of the Order of the Servîtes, he studied philosophy and
divinity.
Father Paulo’s position as “ Chiefe Counsellour of the Signory of
Yenice in Affaires Ecclesiasticall ” gave him high rank and
influence. . Associated with him were six other Theologians, viz.—
Pietr* Antonio Ribetti, Archdeacon and Vicar-General of Yenice;
F. Bernhardo Giordano, Minor Observantine ; F. Michel’ Agnelo,
Minor Observantine ; F. Marc’ Antonio Capello, Minor Conventual ;
F. Camillo Agustiniano; F. Fulgentio, of the Order of the Servites.
These seven divines composed the protest against the validity of the
Papal Interdict, entitled:—“ Trattato dell Interdetto délia Santità di
Papa Paulo Y. Nel quale si demostra, che egli non é legitimamente
publicato,et che per moite ragioni non sonoobligatigli Ecclesiastici ail’
essecutione di esso ne possono [senza peccato Osservarlo. Yenice,
1606,” 4to. Of this a Latin translation, entitled “ Tractatus de In-
terdicto S. Pauli V. Papæ,” was published at Yenice in 1610, 8vo.*
“ Maestro Paulo and his schollar Fulgentio, Servites, both of
great learning, piety, humility, discrétion, integrity of life, and?
which is especially to be considered as to our purpose, in great
account with ail sorts and deservedly,” Bedell tells us, u desired
* This tractate, it is to be remarked, is a different work from the “ History of the
Interdict,” by Father Paulo himself, which was first published in Italian in 1624, at
Venice, aftcr Paulo’s death, and a translation of which into Latin by Bedell was
published in 1626, as will be noticed bekrw in Chapter V.FATHER PAULO.
109
much the reformation of the Church, in a word, the substance of
religion and entertained hopes that this might be accomplished if,
as was expected, the Venetian Government had broken entirely with
the Pope. Peace, however, having been brought about, as above-
mentioned, this hope was for the time dashed, thougli not destroyed.
A dread that Father Paulo might yet carry out his plans for a
Reformation led the Papal party, it was said, to encourage the
attempt that was made to assassinate him. On the evening of the
5th of October 1607, when on his way home from St. Mark’s to
his monastery, the Father was attacked by bravoes before and behind
who inflicted on him three stiletto wounds, two in the neck and
one in the face. The last entered by the right ear and passed out
between the nose and the right cheek. The stiletto was found
sticking in this wound.
Besides physicians and surgeons of the city of Venice, Fabricius
Abaquapendente and Adrian Spigelius (names still known to the
medical student), the eminent Professors of Padua, were summoned
by the Senate to attend on the wounded Father, and received in-
junctions not to quit their patient until they were assured he
was out of danger. Paulo, knowing whence the blow came,
bitterly remarked to Abaquapendente, on being shown the stiletto
which had been withdrawn from the wound in his face, that it was
the style or pen with which the “ Curia Romana ” writes its argu-
ments. This attempt on Father Paulo’s life was considered a case
of “ Majestas læsa,” as by a decree of the senate, passed some time
before, the Father was declared to be under public protection.
On Father Paulo’s recovery the Republic created Abaquapen-
dente a Chevalier, and presented him with a rich gold chain and
medal in récognition of his services.
During Paulo’s confinement, Mr. Bedell, it is said, was one of the
few permitted to visit him.
In the copy of Burnet’s Life of Bedell, édition 1685, in the
British Muséum, there are some MS. notes by Dr. Richard Farmer.*
* Master of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, from 1775 to hisdeath in 1797, aged 63.110
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
In one of them it is stated that “ Sir H. Wotton hath service and
sermons in his house after the Protestant manner, which I think
was never before permitted in Venice, that solid divine and worthy
scholar Mr. William Bedell being his preacher.” In non-accordance
with the remark here made, that service after the Protestant manner
was never before permitted in Venice, I found, among the Venetian
State Papers for 1606, in the Public Record Office, a writing by
Sir Henry Wotton, in which it is said that ambassadors may hâve
what chaplains they please, it being criminal only when they
practise against the safety of the State.
Bedell had resided in Venice some months, when Sir Henry
Wotton communicated to him plans for a Reformation of Religion
in Italy, which had been in agitation. It had been proposed, in
conjunction with Father Paulo, to increase the number of those
who had received any light of Gospel truth, and to formalise and
unité into a congrégation some part at least of that great number,
including many patrician families, which in Venice stood already
alienated in heart and tongue from Rome. In Daru’s Histoire de
la Republique de Venise (Tome iv. p. 237, note, 4th édition, Paris,
1853), we read : “ At one time, remarked Father Paulo to Mr. J. B.
Linckh, an agent of the Elector Palatine, we did not regard the
English as Christians. But, since they hâve kept an ambassador
here, we hâve quite another opinion of their religion.,, We also
read that “ Signor Pessenti, an advocate, told Linckh that there
was in Venice a secret Society of more than one thousand persons
disposed to secede from Rome, and that this number was increasing,
three hundred patrician families being among them ; that this
society was directed by Paulo and Fulgentio the Servîtes. Linckh,
having asked the English Ambassador if this was true, received a
confirmation of it, and was conducted by him to visit Paulo and
Fulgentio. ”
“ The chiefe meanes,” says Bedell, “ y* was to be used heere,” in
carrying out the proposed plans, “ was the intended comming of
Mr. Jhon Diodati ” to Venice. This gentleman was a native ofFATHER PAULO.
111
Geneva, but of Italian extraction (his parents having been Pro-
testant refugees from Lucca), and author of the well-known Pro-
testant translation of the Bible into Italian. Diodati arrived in
Yenice in September, 1608, “in oompanie of a gentleman of
Geneva, his cousin, and another, his nephew, both young men, and
a French gentleman sent from Monsieur Plessis,* from Samurr,
called Monsieur De Luques.”
Conséquent on Diodati’s arrivai, there were meetings and con-
férences on the subject in hand, in which Father Paulo took an
active part. There already existed in Italian “ a short summe of ye
Scriptures, stamped in Yenice in the yeare 1567 with ye licence of
the Inquisition, wch embraced ail necessary and fundamentall pointes
of Faith, wthout any ye least touch of Popish corruption.” Besides
this, Bedell had prepared for the use of the congrégation an Italian
translation of the English Liturgy.
After much consultation, however, it was judged that the time
was not jet ripe for action in the matter, by pronouncing finally for
a rupture with the Church of Rome. “ Nevertheless,” says Bedell,
“ Fulgentio intends this Lent to preach Christ Jésus. There passeth,”
he continues, “ at most no day wherein we” (he and Fulgentio
the Servite) “ are not an hour or two together, and under prtence of
reading English to him (as indeede this last summer I made some
entrance therein to him and Mro Paulo, and giving some rules of or
language,f we read over the Actes of the Aples together,) under this
coulour we read and conferre about the whole course of ye Gospells
on wch he is to preach every day this Lent.” In a letter dated
Venice, March 20, 1609-10, Sir Henry Wotton says that Fulgentio
the Servite preacheth here daily, except Saturdays, at the church of
* Du Plessis-Momay, the Pope of the Huguenots, as he was styled, and one of the
purest and grandest characters of his time.
f These rules appear to hâve constituted what has been called the English Gram-
mar which Bedell wrote for the use of Paulo and Fulgentio, (supra, p. 4.) Dr.
Nicholas Bernard tells us that hehad seen a copy of it in BedelFs own hand.112
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
San Lorenzo, sermons wholly orthodox and full of zeal and courage
to large audiences, comprising numbers of senators and gentlemen.
Besides Fulgentio the Servite, pupil, friend, and biographer of
Father Paulo, there was in Yenice, at the time under notice, another
Fulgentio, a Franciscan, who, during the interdict, preached against
the Pope and the Jesuits, though, as Sir Henry Wotton observes,
more against their manners than doctrine. After the peace with
Borne, this Fulgentio was silenced, but was pensioned by the State,
and received for his own Order of St. Francis a grant of the House
of the expelled Jesuits. Not content with this, however, our
worthy Franciscan revolted to Rome. Bedell used to hâve con-
férences with him, in which he appeared to be still strongly opposed
to Popery, when “ it was sodenly noised y1 he (Fulgentio) was de-
parted.” At this Bedell confesses himself wholly confounded, and,
at the same time, vexed, especially as Fulgentio’s sermons made a
great impression on the multitude, “ being very vehement and in-
vective against ye vices of ye Roman Court.”
This Fulgentio, the Franciscan, it is said, was much favoured in
Rome at first, but soon after was burnt to ashes in the Field of
Flora.* In reference to the charge against Fulgentio at Rome, Sir
Henry Wotton, in a letter to the Earl of Salisbury, dated Yenice,
April 23, 1610, says: “ The Pope hath accused Fulgentio the
Franciscan (whom he drewe from hence long since under safe con-
duct) of a practise grounded uppon our King’s Embassr to conveighe
him thence to our Kinge, which he pretendeth to hâve been healed
[held] betweene him and the sayed Embass1*, by letters, and by the
intermission of a pilgrime. And this I conceave to be the maynest
cause of his imprisonment theare, a thing meerely surmised and
coyned in that shopp of lies. True it is, indeede, that since his
* Sir Dudley Carleton (successor of Sir Henry Wotton), in a letter" from Yenice
to Sir Ralph Winwood, mentions the incident of a Fulgentio being burnt_for a
heretick, but confounds him, as has been done by others since, with Fulgentio the
Servite. The latter was then living in Yenice, and lived^to attend Father Paulo on
his death-bed in 1623, and afterwards to Write his life.FRA FÜLGENTIO THE FRANCISCAN.
113
being theare he (Fulgentio) wrote a letter unto the Chaplaine of our
King’s Embass1 (Mr. Bedell), expressing some discontentment,
which was never communicated with any of the world, nor any
further prosecuted on oure part for some doubts we had in it.*5
In reference, again, to Fulgentio’s execution, Sir Henry Wotton,
writing to the Earl of Salisbury, October 29, 1610, says, “ In the
process of Fra Fulgentio, the Franciscan lately executed at Rome,
was openly readd in the Church of St. Peter’s, for one of the
maynest articles that he had heald correspondence and practise with
his Matie, thorough the English Ambassadr at Venice, about con-
veighing of him thense to London. This having been related unto
me first by letter, but more authentically by one that was présent at
the publication of the process ; I repeated it heere of late at one of
my audiences in College,* telling them that though I could not
restore that poore soûle his lyfe, yet I was bounde in honor and
conscience, and in the feeling of humanitie, to discharge him of ail
that which had pompousely been inserted in his process touching
his Matie and me the unworthiest of his servants— which I affirra
on my salvation to be as fayned and as false as I believed ail the
rest to be of the Roman Court. Which asseveration, when it was
afterwards related Verbatim, in sénat, youre LoP cannot imagin what
a general assent theare was of those that cryed, ‘ Per Dio Y è vero !’ ”
Fulgentio the Franciscan was not the only one who revolted to
Rome among those who were active against the Pope during the
interdict. One, if not more, of the seven Theologians who wrote
the “ Trattato del Interdetto ” did so. Monsignor Pietr* Antonio
Ribetti foliowed Fulgentio the Franciscan (being induced thereto by
the Patriarch on his return from Rome to be confirmed), and as Sir
Henry Wotton says, was put to public penance and abjuration of
the book. Sir Dudley Carleton in a letter from Venice to Sir Ralph
Winwood, allégés that Marc5 Antonio Capello also fled to Rome.
An attempt was made to inveigle even Father Paulo himself to that
* The College was the place in Venice whither Ambassadors resorted.
CAMD. SOC.	Q114
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
city. But, in reply to the Pope’s invitation to corne and receive his
blessing, Father Paulo observed tbat “ his Holiness might bless
him from Rome voluntarily, as easily as he did curse him from
thence; though for his part he found his conscience stand in no
need of the proffered blessing ! ”
The places in the list of the seven theologians, left vacant by
the défections mentioned, were filled up by stauncher men.
At the time the conférences respecting a reformation of religion
above-described were going on, an incident occurred in Venice
which, as it caused some talk at the time, deserves mention here,
more especially as the account of it given by Burnet in his Life of
Bedell has been subjected to stricture. Bedell in his correspondence
with Waddesworth (p. 77, London, 1624) observes: “ As for the
Protestants making tlie Pope Antichrist, I know that it is a point
that inrageth much at Rome. * * * What can the Protestants doe
with the matter ? I will take the liberty here to relate to you what
I saw while I was in Venice, the rather because it isnot impertinent
to our présent purpose. And though, perhaps, you may hâve heard
somewhat of it, yet the particulars are, I suppose, unknowne in those
parts.* And yet it doth more import they were knowne there then
otherwhere, being occasioned by a subject of the Crowne, though
of a name and family whereto it is not much beholding.”+
“ In the year 1608,” continues Bedell, “ F. Thomas Maria Ca-
* Spain.
f Allusion is here made to the enmity of Pope Paul IV. (John Peter Caraffa),
and other members of his family, to the King-Emperor Charles the Fifth. The
Caraffas were Neapolitans, and, as such, were at that time subjects of the Spanish
Crown, and, in eommon with their countrymen, had suffered from the oppression of
the Spanish yoke. But as a family they had spécial grievances of their own against
the King of Spain, which John Peter was not disposed to forget on his élévation to
the Papal throne, even if the Spanish Royal-Imperial party had not brought them
vividly back to the new Pontiff’s remembrance by their endeavours to prevent his
élection.
John Peter Caraffa was elevated to the Popedom in 1555, and in 1556 the Em-
peror Charles V. abdicated.PEA T. M. CARAFFa’S THESES»
115
raffa, of the Order of Fryers-Preachers, Reader of Philosophy in
Naples, printed a thousand Times in Philosophy and Divinity to be
disputed thrice, once at Rome in the Church of St. Marie super
Minervam, twice in St. Dominick’s at Naples. * * * Thesewere ail
included in the (pictorial) form of a tower, and dedicated with an
Epistle to the présent Pope Paulus V. * * * On the top of this
tower was this représentation curiously and largely eut : An altar,
&c. * * * In the middest for the altar-piece was the Pope’s picture.
* * * Underneath the picture of the Pope on the foreside of the
altar was this inscription : c Paulo V. Vice-Deo, Christianæ Reip.
Monarchæ Invictissimo, et Pontificiæ Omnipotentiæ Conservatori
Acerrimo., ”
“ The copies of these Theses were sent as novelles from Rome ;
and did the more amuse men at Yenice, because of the controversie
that State had with the Pope a little before, and the seeing their
Duke’s Corno (cap of State) hanged up, among his trophies, under
ail Princes’ Crowns. But most of ail, the new title Yice-Deo, and
the addition of Omnipotencie gave matter of wonder. The next
day it was noised about the citie that this was the picture of A ntichrist,
5 50	5	5 1 100 500
for that the inscription Pav 1 o V. Vice Deo contained exactly
in the numéral letters the number of the Beast in the Révélation 666.”
Bedell in his second letter from Yenice to Mr. Adam Newton in
the beginning of the year 1608-9 relates the anecdote, and tells him
that a u Retraict99 of Caraffa’s diagram with the inscription was
sent at the time to King James by Sir Henry Wotton. In the
same letter he informs Mr. Newton that it was lie himself who first
detected the coincidence as to the number of the Beast. Bedell’s
words, after mentioning the inscription, Pavlo Y. Vice-Deo, are,
“yenumerall letters whereof (as I remember I showed to Fui-
gentio) containe ye iust number of the Beast, 666.”*
By the blundering inaccuracy of Clogie and the négligence of
* Lansdowne MS. xc. 66, in the British Muséum ; also some original letters of
Bishop Bedell, &c. ut supra, pages 69 aûd 77.116
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
Burnet, who received his materials from Clogie, it is stated in
Burnet’s Life of Bishop Bedell that it was during the existence of
the Interdict that this incident occurred, that Caraffa was a Jesuit
instead of a Dominican or Friar Preacher, and that he actually
came to Yenice himself, whereas copies of his Theses only were
sent from Rome to Yenice. These mistakes were laid hold of by
Dr. Hickes (op. cit. p. 89) to disparage Burnet, and thereby to
throw a doubt on his attribution of the discovery to Bedell, of the
coincidence of the numbers represented by the numéral letters in the
words Pavlo V. Vice-Deo, giving when summed up the total of
666, thus :—
y	=	5
L	=	50
Y	=	5
y	=	5
i	=	1
c	=	100
D	==	500
		666
The story of the présentation of King James’s Book to the Senate
of Venice, again, is in its circumstances inaccurately related by
Clogie and repeated by Burnet. The facts were these :
Sir Henry Wotton in a letter (Public Record Office) to the Earl
of Salisbury dated from Venice July 3, 1609, style of the place,
said:—“ The Pope* hath renewed his complaynt personally to the
now Venetian Résident with him about Bibles (printed in Italian)
introduced into Yenice by the King of Éngland’s Ambassador, and
it pleased the Prince at the tyme of the advise in the Sénat, after
speaking earnestly in commendation of the King of England and
against “ the Jésuites and such nourselings of the Roman Court,”
who sought to slander his name, u to expresse some good will to
* The words here printed in Italics are written in cypher in the original.KING JAMES’S BOOK.
117
the King of EnglancCs Ambassador uppon this occasion.” This no
doubt was the utterance of the Doge referred to in Clogie’s version
of the story which appeared, as alleged, to Father Paulo and his
theological colleagues, with many others, to indicate a disposition in
favour of a reformation in religion. But whether Father Paulo and
his colleagues really acted on such a supposition in the manner Clogie
relates, and entreated Mr. Bedell to beg Sir Henry Wotton to
lose no time in making the présentation to the Senate of the copy
of the Latin Translation of King James’s Book, which had been
specially prepared for the purpose, there is no document to show.
It may possibly hâve been that Father Paulo and his colleagues,
aware of the intrigues that the Papal Nuncio was carrying on
to obtain the permission which was subsequently granted for
the Inquisition to suppress the publication of the King’s Book
in Venice when it should arrive there, thought that the design
might be thwarted by a timely présentation of it and the King’s
letter to the Doge.
This Book of King James comprised a reprint of a An Apologie
for the Oath of Allegience ” which His Majesty had published
anonymously in answer to the Bull of Pope Paul V., issuedin 1606,
forbidding English Papists to take the Oath of Allegiance, with a
Preamble, now first published, entitled “ A Prémonition to ail most
mightie Monarches, Kings, free Princes, and States of Christen-
dome.” The Latin translation was entitled u Apologia pro
juramento fidelitatis.”
Whether urged by Mr. Bedell (as Clogie allégés), or not, to pré-
sent the Book earlier, Sir Henry Wotton presented it and His
Majesty^s letter on St. James’s day (being Saturday July 25) 1609,
the anniversary of “ his Majesty’s happy Coronation.” In a letter
(Public Record Office) dated Yenice the last of July 1609, to the
Earl of Salisbury, Sir Henry says:—“ The King’s letter was pub-
liquely read by one of the Secretaries, and the Prince having kissed
bothe that and the booke with a very cheereful and ingenuouse
countenance,” answered in a gracious and complimentary strain.
In a letter to King James himself (Public Record Office) dated118	LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
August 14, 1609, Sir Henry Wotton,* after referring to the censure
of his Majesty’s Book winch had been sent by the Pope to Yenice
with the intention to forebarr the Senate from receiving it, says:—
“ In the mean while for anticipation of tyme (which was never
deerer) my Chaplain f (whom I am bound to commend unto your
Matie8 goodness for a person of singular lerning and zeale) hathe
translated the whole work into this vulgar, conferring the progress
of his labour weekly, twice or thrice, with Padre Paulo and Ful-
gentio, who both much rejoice that your Matie hath interserted therein
an admirable summarie of your own faythe,J which the world may
now see to hâve been most impudently slandered, as likewise the
magnanimitie and modération of your Royal Government.”
Whether the translation of the King’s Book into Italian by
Bedell here referred to was ever printed does not appear. As will
be seen, it was the Latin translation which was forbidden by name
(viz. Apologia pro juramento fidelitatis) to be sold in the book-
sellers* shops in Yenice.
Three weeks before the arrivai of his Majesty’s book in Venice,
the Pope had through the Secretary of the Yenetian Embassy at
Rome (the Ambassador himself being at the time ill of goût)
expressly commanded the Yenetian Senate not to accept it. Ex-
tracts from the book comprising King James’s Articles of Faith were
adduced as justifying his Holiness’s command. The Papal Nuncio
iterated the like office in Yenice, and said that the Pope intended
to excommunicate the book, which he afterwards did.
* Sir Henry Wotton’s letters to King James himself among the Venetian State
Papers in the Public Record Office, are signed :—“ Ottavio BALm.,, This was
the name under which Sir Henry Wotton was first introduced to the notice of King
James, when, before James’s accession to the throne of England, he presented him-
self to his Majesty in Stirling Castle (having travelled from Italy to Scotland by
way of Norway for greater privacy), as an Italian envoy from the Grand Duke of
Tuscany, to warn him against Popish emissaries who sought his life. See Isaak
Walton’s Life of Sir Henry Wotton.
t This Word was written in cypher.
J This was rather a sanguine and overstrained view, on the part of Sir Henry
Wotton, of the approval by Father Paulo of King James’s Articles of Faith.
See note *, infra, p. 120.KING JAMES’S BOOK.
119
Notwithstanding ail this, the Doge in the name of the Senate
graciously accepted the book, as above-mentioned.
On presenting the book Sir Henry Wotton explained that his
Majesty King James’s object in writing it was to vindicate himself
from slanders that had been propagated against him, and that his
Majesty, merely wishing to “ respect the common right of Princes,
senza alcun altro fine qui dentrofi * it was not his purpose to inno-
vate on the religious opinions of others—that he left to the good
pleasure of God.f
“ A Republie is a kind of Government where one may loose ail
the goodwill in a moming which he hath hardly gotten in five
years.” Thus thought Sir Henry Wotton again (as, in words, he
had shortly before remarked to the Earl of Salisbury), when, in
another letter (Public Record Office), dated the 28th of August
1609, it became his duty to communicate to his Lordship the fol-
lowing information : “ Since the acceptation of his Matie8 Booke
heere in that kinde maner (which 1 hâve formerly advertised), theare
hath order been given to ail the booksellers of this towne out of
the Office of the Inquisition to consigne immediately to the General
Inquisitor ail the copies that hâve or shall corne to theire hands of
a booke intituled : Apologia pro juramento fidelitatis. On being
informed of this, Sir Henry goes on to say that he was at first inclined
to disbelieve it ; but on further inquiry he found that it was true.
He ascertained that, during the absence of the Doge from illness,
and without the participation of the Senate, the Papal Nuncio in
an underhand way at the College procured a consent from the
‘ preconsultors * there, that the Inquisition might forbid the book to
be on sale in the bookbinders* shops in Venice; though with this
réservation, that his Majesty’s name was not to be mentioned, the title
of the book only to be quoted, and that no penalty was to be attached
to a transgression of the order on the part of any bookbinder. In-
* This is a Venetian phrase, Sir Henry Wotton remarks, in a marginal note, sig-
nifying, in the présent purpose, or in the matter in hand.
f Despatch from Venice in the Public Record Office.120
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
dignant at such a procedure, Sir Henry adds that he had demanded
an audience for the following day, viz. August the 29th. Sir Henry
Wotton writing again (Letter in Public Record Office), on the 8th
of September 1609, says that he had had an audience and expressed
his surprise that a Friar should be permitted to prohibit the pub-
lication in Yenice of his Majesty’s Book, which the Senate had so
short a time before received. graciously. The “ Savio délia Setti-
mana” answered for the Doge, who was still unwell, that the matter
should be brought before the Senate. But, twelve days having
elapsed without his receiving an answer, Sir Henry Wotton de-
manded another audience, in which he complained that the for-
bidding of the King’s Book to be sold in the shops in Yenice did
négative the grâce of the Senate’s acceptation of it, and demanded the
personal chastisement of the Inquisitor. Next day Sir Henry was
invited to the College, and had an answer read to him to the fol-
lowing effect : That the Senate could not revoke the mandate
without a rupture with the Roman faith, as the book contained
points contrary to their religion.* At the same time they denied
that the mandate implied an actual prohibition, as there was no
penalty attached to the transgression of it.+
Sir Henry Wotton, still not satisfied, had a third audience, when
the Doge himself was présent, and expressed himself so strongly
as to draw from the Doge the remark that he had spoken out with
“ troppo calore,” though, added the Prince, with sententious gravity,
“ quel che è fatto è fatto.”
* Griselini (ut supra) quotes a letter from Father Paulo on this subject to James
Lecasserio, written at the end of the year 1609, in which the Father remarks, that,
“ if the oath proposed to Catholics by the King of England had corne to us bare and
unmixed with the controversies of the time, it would hâve been approved of by the
more judicious, but, as the King has entered so much into theological questions, were
we to approve his articles, we should be supposed to receive ail the doctrine.”
f The penalty, had there been one, in such a case, would hâve probably been a
fine, and ten years at the galleys, or, in case the condemned was not able to row,
imprisonment for life.KING JAMES S BOOK.
121
The secret story of the underhand negotiations at the College,
above referred to, by which the Papal Nuncio procured a consent
that the Inquisition might prohibit King James’s book from being on
sale in the bookbinders* shops in Yenice, as gathered from Sir Henry
Wotton’s letters, was this: The abbot of S. Maria of Yangadezza,
in the Comaldulo, a young man “ of so loose a lyfe,” says Sir
Henry Wotton, “ as for that matter he might hâve been a Cardinal,”
having died, a question arose as to the right of présentation to this
very rich abbacy, between the Pope and the State of Venice. At
last, after much contention, on which account the Abbey came to be
called the u Litigious Abbey,” Signore Priuli, a Venetian of great
influence, negotiated a bargain with the Papal Nuncio, by which
the Pope, on the one hand, agreed to the appointment of one of his
(Priuli’s) sons to the abbacy, and Priuli, on the other, procured the
sanction of the Senate to the prohibition of King James’s book by
the Inquisition.
It is, however, to be observed that the Senate denied any bargain
with the Pope about the Abbey.
In conséquence of* their imbroglio with Sir Henry Wotton, the
Senate appointed the Chevalier Contarini as Ambassador extra-
ordinary to proceed to England on the subject; but in the mean-
time wrote to their ordinary résident in London desiring him to see
King James and explain matters to him. The Venetian résident ac-
cordingly had an audience of the King, an account of which is given
in the foliowing letter (Public Record Office), in his Majesty’s own
handwriting: “ My littel beagle, I hâve bene this nighte surprysedby
the venetian ambassadoure quho for ail my hunting hathe not
spaired to hunte me out heir, to be shorte his chiefe earande was
to tell me of a greate fraye in venice betwixte my ambassadoure
thaire & that staite anent a prohibition that the inquisition of
venice hathe sett foorthe against the publishing of my booke thaire,
he hathe complained that my ambassadoure takis this so hoatlie as
passeth, in a worde he hathe bestowid an houris vehement oration
CAMD. SOC.	R122
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
upon me for this purpose, my ansoure was, that I coulde never
dreame, that ather the State of venice wolde ever give me any
iuste cause of offence, or yett that ever my ambassadoure thaire
wolde do thaime any evill office, but as to give him any particulaire
ansoure I tolde him I muste firste heare frorn my owin ambassadoure,
for he knew well anewgh that everie prince or sfete muste hâve a
greate truste in thaire owin ministers, I only wryte this unto you
nou, that incace this pantalone corne unto you ye maye give him
the lyke deferring ansoure, albeit if I shoulde tell you my conscience,
if ail this mannis taie be trewe, my ambassadoure hathe usid this
maitter with a littel more fervent zeale then temperate wisdome, I
nowhoape to heare from you the assurance that youre sonne is well,
& so fair well,
James R.,,#
In answer to the représentations of the Senate through the ordi-
nary Venetian résident in London, mentioned in his letter just
quoted, King James sent an autograph letter dated October 3, 1609,
to the Doge, acknowledging the polite réception of his Majesty’s
book by him, and smoothing away the asperities of Sir Henry
Wotton’s complaints.f The réception of this letter by the Doge
and Senate is tlius described by Sir Henry Wotton in a letter
(Public Record Office) to the Earl of Salisbury, dated from Yenice,
December 4, 1609: “The world cannot expresse unto your LoP
with what cheerfullnesse, and with what eager attention the letter
was heard by them ail, nor with what ingenuitie and tendernesse of
* To this letter there is neither date nor address, but it is endorsed “ His My to
me, 12 Septr, 1609,” and occurs among letters addressed to the Earl of Salisbury on
the subject.
t The story of the présentation of the King’s Book by Sir Henry Wotton to the
Senate on St. James’s Day, as related in a letter from Sir Thomas Edmonds to Sir
Ralf Winwood, dated London, October 4, 1609 (Winwood’s Memorials, ut supra,
pp. 77, 78, vol. iii.), is in substantial agreement with the account now given from the
original documents.KING JAMES’S BOOK.
123
countenance this good Duke composed himself to speak,” which he
did, after acknowledging his Majesty’s former good offices to the
Republic, to the effect that “ they had receaved His Majesty’s
Booke, and so would preserve it amongst theire deerest monu-
ments.”
By decree of the Senate it was ordered that the Book should be
received as a Royal gift, though not to be published, that it was to
be consigned to the Grand Chancellor, to be by him kept locked up
in a chest and not to be shewn to any one, nor removed from the chest
nor anything whatever done with it, unless by decree of the Senate.*
By the blundering and inaccuracy of Clogie, the incident of the
présentation of King James’s Book to the Senate of Venice isrepre-
sented to hâve occurred during the Interdict, at a time, therefore,
when the “ Prémonition ” had not yet been published, and when of
course no Papal Nuncio would be résident in Venice. Burnet not
only reproduces the story in the inaccurate form in which Clogie
communicated it to him, without having taken the pains, as lie
ought to hâve done, to see that it tallied in respect to time with the
then well-known dates of the Venetian Interdict and of the publi-
cation of King James’s “ Prémonition,” but most unjustifiably cen-
sures Sir Henry Wotton for an alleged procrastination in presenting
the Book, at the same time improving on Clogie’s arrogant and
absurd remarks. On the other hand Griselini,f the Roman Catholic
biographer of Father Paulo, greedily seized upon the anachronisms
of Burnet, as exposed by Dr. Hickes,$ (who himself drew what
little information he had on the subject from Mr. Fulman,) to
impugn altogether the accuracy of the account of the transactions in
Venice towards a Reformation of Religion, in which Paulo and
Bedell took a leading part.
* Andreæ Mauroceni (Morosini, in Italian) Senatoris Historia Yeneta ab anno
M.D.XX.I. usque ad annum M.D.CXV. In quinque partes tributa. Folio, Lib.
xviii. p. 690. Venetiis, 1623.
f Opéré citato, p. 134.	% Opéré citato.124
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
The time now approached when Mr. Bedell was to leave Venice.
In a letter (Tanner Collection, Bodleian Library, lxxv. 354) dated
July 23, 1610, to Dr. Samuel Warde, he says that his return to
England will be in November next, and speaks of his cousin
Aliston (Fellow of Emmanuel College) as desiring to succeed him
in the chaplaincy to the Embassy at Venice, but Bedell rather
dissuades from the project, and hopes for something better for his
cousin. In the same letter Bedell, in reply to some proposition
made to him by Dr. Warde as to obtaining prefermenton his return
to England, observes:—“ Touching the plan you mention I doe not
understand the quality of it and therefore can say nothing. I
desire rather a quiet retyred life than to live in Princes’ Courts,
with losse of tyme and liberty of enjoying not only other things
but even a man’s own selfe.”
Before his return to England Bedell visited Constantinople, as
appears from Waddesworth’s letter to him, dated “ Sevill in Spaine,
April 1, 1615.”* But of this visit I hâve not discovered any
account.
CHAPTER IV.
Return to England from Venice—Dr. Despotine.
Sir Henry Wotton in a letter to the Earl of Salisbury, dated
Venice, December 10, 1610, says that he had resigned his charge
as Ambassador to his successor Sir Dudley Carletonf, and describes
his farewell audience with the Senate, and Sir Dudley’s réception
by the same.
On Sunday December the 26th, being St. Stephen’s day, 1610,
“ stile of the place,” Sir Henry Wotton writing from Padua, where
he arrived on Friday the 17th of December, to the Earl of Salis
* The copies of certain Letters between Spain and England, &c.
f Venetian State Papers, in Public Record Office.RETURN TO ENGLAND FROM YENICE.
125
bury, mentions that he found his Lordship’s son the Lord Cran-
bourne there iîl of ague, and announces that he was about to départ
for England next day, Monday the 27th, by way of Lombardy and
France.* * * §
Sir Thomas Edmonds in a letter to Sir Ralph Winwood froin
Paris, 7th of February 1610, O.S. (January 26, N.S.) says that
Sir Henry Wotton had been in that city for a week past, and in-
tended to spend three or four days longer there.f
Sir Henry Wotton, having arrived in Paris about the 19th of
January, had thus been about three weeks on his way from Padua
to Paris.
The Rev. John Sanford, writing to Sir Thomas Edmonds,
March 6 (February 24, N.S. ?) 1610-11, informshim that Sir Henry
Wotton hadlately arrived in Court. J
Mr. George Calvert, writing also to Sir Thomas Edmonds
March 10 (February 26, N.S. ?) 1610-11, says that he (Mr. G. C.)
arrived in England at Hythe in Kent on Saturday last late at night,
and that he reached Charing Cross on Sunday. He then observes
that “ Sir Henry Wotton arrived here some three or four days before
me.Ӥ
No doubt Mr. Bedell would accompany Sir Henry Wotton in his
journey from Venice. We may therefore conclude that he was
safely lodged in the house of Mr. Nunne (p. 13) by the end of Feb-
ruary or beginning of March 1610-11, after an absence from Bury
St. Edmund’s of rather more than three years and a half.
Mr. Bedell was, as stated in the text (pp. 10-13), accompanied
from Venice by Dr. Jasper Despotine, whom by his influence he
established in medical practice at Bury St. Edmund’s. In the
* Yenetian State Papers, in Public Record Office.
f Sir R. Winwood’s Memorials, ut supra, vol. iii. p. 179.
% The Court and Times of James I. By the Author of Maria Dorothea, &c.,
yoI. i. p. 105; 1848.
§ Eodem Opéré, vol. i. p. 111.126
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
Parish Register of Horningshearth there is, under the date of August
lOth 1619,* a record of the marriage of Dr. Despotine with Susan
Brand, and in the Register of St. Mary’s, Bury St. Edmund’s, we
find under the years 1620, 1622, and 1624, records of the baptism
of three daughters of Dr. Jasper Despotine and his wife Susan—
Catherine, Isabell, and Anne.f
Burnet in his Life of Bishop Bedell, repeating the statement of
his informant Clogie, says that Dr. Despotine, one of Bedell’s Italian
converts, came over to England with him and was by Bedell brought to
St. Edmundsbury. Dr. Hickes (op. cit. p. 32) takes exception to this
statement, saying : “ It was in the year 1610 that Mr. Bedell returned
with Sir Henry Wotton into England, and the bringing Despotine
should in ail Reason and Decency hâve been ascribed to the Ambas-
sador rather than to his Chaplain.” But this is a mere quibble, for the
fact is both had a share in bringing Despotine to England. The
account given in the text as well as here shows what was Mr. Bedell’s
share. On the other hand, Despotine most likely came with Bedell
in the Ambassador’s suite, and thus Sir Henry Wotton had the
share to which he himself refers in the foliowing letters:—Sir
Henry Wotton, writing to Sir Edmund Bacon from his lodging in
King’s Street, April 2, 1611, to introduce a friend to Sir Edmund
along with Dr. Despotine, says of the latter that he “ is a man well
practised in his own faculty, and very Philosophical and sound
in his Discourses. By birth a Venetian, which thougli it be not
Urbs ignobilis (as St. Paul said of his own Mother City) yet, in
his second Birth, the more excellent; I mean his Illumination
in God’s saving Truth, which was the only cause of his remove.
And I was glad to be the Conductor of him where his Con-
science may be free, though his Condition otherwise (till he
* Mr. Bedell was at this time Hector of Horningshearth. For the vérification of
this entry I am indebted to the Rev. S. D. Brownjohn, of Horninger.
J The entries of these Baptisms I found copied in Davy’s MS. Collections fo
Suffolk, Thingoe Hundred (Br. Mus.), but for their vérification I am indebted to
the Rev. John Richardson, of St. Mary’s.DR. DESPOTINE.
127
shall be known) will be poor.”* In another letter, written to
his friend Mr. Nicholas Pey, more than twenty years after the
preceding, Sir Henry Wotton says, “ More than a voluntary
motion doth now convey me towards Suffolk, especially that I may
confer with an excellent Physician at B(ury), whom I brought
myselffrom Yenice.”t Sir Henry. appears to hâve been suifering
from liver complaint, contracted in Yenice, and which he supposed
Dr. Despotine, from his medical expérience of the “ Inclinations99 of
that région, would be the best able to treat. There is no date to
this letter, but it was probably written in 1632, which is the date
of a letter of Despotine’s in one of the Tanner MS S. in the Bodleian
Library, in which he speaks of seeing Sir Henry Wotton pro-
fessionaliy, on the recommendation of Sir Théodore Mayerne, the
King’s Physician.
Bedell writing to Dr. Samuel Warde under the date of April 5,
1622,$ begs him to consult Mr. Légat, the printer at Cambridge,
about printing and publishing a work by Dr. Despotine, entitled
“De Magnitudine Morbi Disputatio: In quâ propositâ Sanitatis
naturâ et naturali perfectione in quâ primum Deus hominem crea-
verat, &c. : Opus Philosophis quidem jucundum,—Theologis utile,—
Medicis vero apprime necessarium.” In a subséquent letter Bedell
begs Warde to proceed no further in the matter of the proposais
about the printing and publishing the book for the présent. I hâve
not ascertained whether the book was ever published.
After Mr. Bedell went to Ireland, he kept up a correspondent
with Dr. Despotine, and it was, as stated in the text(p. 24), from his
letters to the Doctor that much of what is recorded there of BedelPs
career in Ireland, both as Provost of Trinity College, Dublin,
and as Bishop of Kilmore, was derived. In the Archiépiscopal
Library at Lambeth there is a letter from Bedell to Despotine, “ De
Prædicationibus Jesuitarum apud Sinenses, &c.” Cod. 595.
Dr. Despotine succeeded well in his medical practice at Bury St.
* Reliquiæ Wottonianæ.	f Op. Cit.
% Tanner MS. lxxiii. 129-140, Bodleian Library, Oxford.128
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
Edmund’s, and died wealthy. From his will,* proved at Bury St.
Edmund’s, July 22, 1650, it appears that his wife Susan and his
daughters Katherine and Anne were living at the date of his
will, December 13, 1648, but that Isabell, the second daughter,
was dead.
CHAPTER Y.
Marriage—Incumbency of Horningshearth—Literary
Labours—De Dominis—The Diodati Family.
On his retum from Venice, Mr. Bedell resumed his duties as
preacher at St. Mary’s in Bury St. Edmund’s, and about a year
thereafter married. The following is the entry of his marriage in
the register of St. Mary’s parish :
“ 1611. January 29, Married, Mr. William Bedle, Clk. and
Leah Mawe, Vid.”
Mrs. Leah Mawe’s first husband, Robert Mawe, Esq. Recorder of
Bury St. Edmund’s, was buried at St. Mary’s, in that town, on the
lst of June, 1609 (P. R.).
At the time of his marriage Bedell was forty years of âge, and
his wife Leah thirty. According to the text, Mrs. Bedell was a
daughter of John Bowles, Esq. of Earsham, co. Norfolk,t but Mr.
Alexander Clogie, who married her daughter by her first husband,
says in his Memoir of Bishop Bedell that she was a daughter of the
family of L’Estrange. Bishop Burnet and ail other biographers of
Bedell repeat the statement. The assertion of Mr. Clogie, on this
point, however, is not to be relied on as any authority.
* Wills and Inventories from the Register at Bury St. Edmund’s. Edited by
Samuel Tymms, F.S.A. A volume of the Camden Society for 1850-51.
f The Rev. W. P. Goode, Rector of Earsham, kindly searched the P. R. for me,
but did not find an entry of the baptism of Leah Bowles, nor one of her marriage
to Robert Mawe.MARRIAGE.
129
Mrs. Bedell’s family by her first husband, Mr. Robert Mawe,
consisted of, 1°, Nicholas, baptized at St. Mary’s, Bury St. Ed-
mund’s, February 25, 1601-2. He entered tbe medical profession,
and in the Roll of the College of Physicians of London by Dr.
Munk we find the following account of liim : 44 Nicholas Mawe,
M.D., a native of Suffolk, was educated at Peterhouse, Cambridge,
ofwhichhe was matriculated Pensioner in July, 1619. He pro-
ceeded A.B. in 1622 3, A.M. in 1626, M.D. in 1634, and was ad-
mitted a candidate of the College of Physicians, 15th of September,
1634	2°, John, baptized at St. Mary’s, Bury St. Edmund’s, June
19, 1603, died young ; 3°, Leah, baptized at St. Mary’s, Bury St.
Edmund’s, November 16, 1604 ; 4°, Robert, baptized at St. Mary’s,
Bury St. Edmund’s, December 10, 1606, died young; 5°, Edward,
baptized at St. Mary’s, Bury St. Edmund’s, March 22, 1607.
The daughter Leah and this son Edward accompanied their
mother and step-father to Ireland, where they will corne to be
noticed again.
The family of the Rev. William Bedell and his wife Leah con-
sisted of three sons and one daughter : 1°, William, baptized at St.
Mary’s, Bury St. Edmund’s, February 14, 1612-13 (P. R.). Dr.
Samuel Warde, Master of Sidney College, Cambridge, was his god-
father. Of this the eldest son, and his family, a full account will
be found in Chapter XIX. 2°, Grâce, baptized at St. Mary’s, Bury
St. Edmund’s, May 29, 1614 (P. R.), buried at Horningshearth,
April 25, 1624 (P.R).	3°, John, baptized at St. Mary’s, Bury St.
Edmund’s, August 9, 1616 (P. R.), died at Kilmore in the beginning
of the year 1635 ; 4°, Ambrose, baptized at Horningshearth 21st of
March, 1618 (P. R.)* Of this son Ambrose a biographical notice
is given in Chapter XVIII.
In a letter to Dr. Samuel Warde, dated Bury, this last day of
* For the vérification of the above entries in the P. R. of St. Mary’s, Bury St.
Edmund’s, I am indebted to the Rev. John Richardson; and for that of the entries
in the P. R. of Horningshearth I am indebted to the Rev. S. D. Brownjohn.
CAMD. SOC.	S130
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
November, 1613,* Mr. Bedell mentions that some of his writings
are at Geneva, in the hands of Sr Diodati, “ as my cosin Alistone can
tell,” who had recently been at Geneva. Understanding from his
cosin Alistone of Warde’s being in London, he takes the opportunity
to request, through Warde, leave from Sir Henry Wotton to
publish “ a Relation of Venice,” and, by reason of his public ser-
vices when Chaplain to the Embassy there, remarks that he con-
sidéra himself entitled to preferment. Among the Yenetian State
Papers of the date of Bedell’s résidence in Yenice, in the Public
Record Office, there are three writings, one in Latin and two in
Italian, on the History of Venice.f One of the latter is entitled
u a Relation of Yenice.” In the Library of the Servi at Yenice,
Griselini informs us, there are five volumes of Father Paulo’s MS S.
in one of which there is, among other matters, a History of Yenice.
The writings here mentioned on the History of Yenice among the
Yenetian State Papers, were probably copied or extracted from
Paulo’s manuscript, and may hâve been the groundwork of what
Bedell proposed to publish.
The Rectory of Horningshearth falling vacant in February,
1615-16, by the death of the Rev. Thomas Rogers, who had been
Rector of the parish since December 11, 1581, Mr. Bedell was pre-
sented to it by the patron, Sir Thomas Jermyn,î whose name is
intimately associated with that of Bedell as his warm and constant
friend. In the Diocesan Registry of Norwich there is a MS. (one
of the Tanner Collection) from which the foliowing is an extract,
* Tanner MS. lxxiv. 31, in Bodleian Library.
f No. 117, De origine Imperii Yenetorum, Nos. 125 and 133-141.
J Sir William Hervey, an ancestor of the Marquis of Bristol, married Susan,
daughter of Sir Robert Jermyn, of Rushbrook, co. SufFolk, and sister of this Sir
Thomas Jermyn. By this marriage the Jermyn property came to the Herveys, in-
cluding the right of présentation to the rectory of Hominger, or Horningshearth.
The présent Bishop of Bath and Wells, the Lord Arthur Hervey, was many years
Rector of that family living.LITERARY LABOURS.
131
but corrected as to the year, which is erroneously put down as 1625
instead of 1615.*
“ Horninger Magna fy Parva Lib. xxii. 56, 13 Mart. 1615,
Guliel. Bedell ad præs. Thomæ Jermyn Mil.”
The course of Mr. Bedell’s life at Horningshearth is very fully
detailed in the text. His leisure time he occupied in literary
labours, which here claim some notice.
While résident at Horningshearth, BedelPs correspondence with
his old college friend James Waddesworth, above referred to, took
place. After Waddesworth’s death, Bedell published the letters
under the foliowing title, and dedicated the book “ To the Most
High and Excellent Prince, Prince Charles.” “ The Copies of
Certain Letters which hâve passed between Spaine and England in
Matter of Beligion. Concerning the General Motives to the Roman
Obedience. Betweene Master James Wadesworth, a late Pensioner
of the Holy Inquisition in Sevill, and W. Bedell, a Minister of the
Gospel of Jésus Christ, in Suffolk.” London, 1624.
In the text, at page 10, it is stated that these letters were to hâve
been reprinted and published along with “ this présent history.”
But the author’s intention of publishing the history, and reprinting
the letters along with it, was never carried into effect. The Rev.
Gilbert Burnet (afterwards Bishop of Salisbury), however, reprinted
the correspondence at the end of his Life of Bishop Bedell, pub-
lished in 1685. This was the year in which James II. succeeded
to the throne, on the death of his brother Charles II., and in which
their cousin of France, Louis the Fourteenth, revoked the Edict of
Nantes, under which the Protestants of that country had enjoyed
toleration during the preceding seventy-five years. The time was,
therefore, not propitious for the republication of the passage in BedelPs
last letter (p. 133, Original Edition), which argues for the lawful-
* I am indebted to the kindness of my former colleague at University College
Hospital, Mr. Cadge, the distinguished surgeon, of Norwich, for procuring me this
extract.132
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
ness of resisting religious persécution by Princes, and repelling force
with force. And ail the less propitious for the republication of the
said passage under tbe auspices of Gilbert Burnet, who had been
recently deprived of his preachership at the Rolls, and his lecture-
ship at St. Clement’s Danes, by order of the King, on account of his
having (in 1683) attended Lord William Russell on the scaffold, and
who, on the accession of James II„ found it prudent to leave England
and retire to Holland. Accordingly, Sir Roger L’Estrange,the Censor
of the press, would not allow the republication of the passage without
interpolations calculated to give it an air as if Bedell had been
only repeating the arguments of others, but not endorsing them.
The interpolations occur in the tenth chapter of the tenth and
last letter (p. 133 of the original édition, and pp. 445-6 of Burnet),
where the author is speaking “ of the Reformers in France and
Holland.” This tenth letter comprises pp. 39 to 162 of the book
and is an elaborate dissertation against Popery, divided into twelve
chapters. The passage is here copied from the original édition as it
stands in respect to spelling. The interpolations are placed within
crotchets, as they were in Burnet, but in order that tliey may be
the more readily distinguished by the reader, they are here, in ad-
dition to that, printed in small capitals :—“ And tell mee,’* says
Bedell, “ in good sooth, Master Wadesworth, doe you approve such
barbarous crueltie ? Doe you allow the butchery at Paris ? Doe
you thinke subjects are bound to give their throats to bee eut by
their fellow subjects? or to [offer them without either
humble remonstrance OR flight to] their Princes, at their
meere wills against their owne Lawes and Edicts î You would
know quo jure the Protestants warres in France and Holland are
justified [I interpose not mine own Judgment, not being
THROUGHLY ACQUAINTED WITH THE LaWS AND CUSTOMES
OF THOSE COUNTRIES, BUT I TELL YOU WHAT BOTH THEY
AND THE PAPISTS ALSO, BOTH IN FRANCE AND ITALY, HAVE
IN SUCH CASES alledged], First, the Law of Nature, which
[they say] not onely alloweth, but inclineth and inforcethLITERÀRY LABOURS.
133
every living thing to defend itself from violence. Secondly, that
of Nations, which permitteth those that are in the protection
of others, to'whom they owe no more but an honourable acknow-
ledgement in case they goe about to make themselves absolute
Sovereignes, and usurpe their libertie, to resist and stand for the
same. And if a lawfull Prince (which is not yet Lord of his Sub-
jects’ lives and goods) shall attempt to despoile them of the same,
under colour of reducing them to his owne religion, after ail humble
remonstrances, they may [they say] stand upon their owne
guard, and, being assailed, repell force with force, as did the
Maccabees under Antiochus. In which case, notwithstanding, the
person of the Prince himselfe ought allwaies to be sacred and in-
violable as was SauVs to David. Lastly, if the inraged Minister of
a lawfull Prince will abuse his authoritie, against the fundamentall
Laws of the Country, [they say] it is no rébellion to defend
themselves against force, reserving still their obedience to their
Sovereigne inviolate. These are the Rules of which the Pro-
testants that hâve borne Arms in France and Flanders, and the
Papists also, both there and elsewhere, as in Naples, that hâve stood
for the defense of their liberties, hâve served themselves. How
truly, I esteem it hard for you and mee to détermine, unlesse we
were more throughly acquainted with the Lawes and Customes of
those Gountries than I, for my part, am/’
[Note.—“ This Passage above is to be considebed as a Relation, not
AS THE AUTHOS’S OPINION: BUT YET, FOE FEAB OF TAKING IT BY THE WBONG
HANDLE, THE READEB IS DESIBED TO TAKE NOTICE, THAT A SUBJECT’S BE-
SISTING HIS PBINCE IN ANY CAUSE WHATSOEVEB IS ÜNLAWFUL AND IMPIOUS.”]
When the Révolution in 1688 took place, the Rev. Gilbert Burnet
returned to England as chaplain to King William, and was soon
after (1689) raised to the Bishopric of Salisbury * in succession to
Dr. Seth Ward. Being now on the right side of politics, Burnet
* ArchbishopSancroft regarded Gilbert Burnet as “ a Presbyterian in a sur-
plice,” and, unwilling himself to assist at his consécration, issued a commission em-
powering any three of his Suffragans to act in the matter. Under the authority of
this instrument Burnet was consecrated Bishop.—Macaulay’s History.134
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
took the opportunity to modify Sir Roger L’Estrange’s note de-
nouncing as unlawful and impious a subject’s resisting his Prince in
any cause whatsoever. Accordingly the copies of his Life of Bedell
that remained on hand had the leaf (pp. 445-6) containing the note,
cancelled and replaced by a new printed one with the note altered
thus:—“ This passage above is to be considered as a relation, not
as the author’s opinion, lest it should mislead the reader into a
dangerous mistake.”
The interpolations within crotchets in the body of the passage
were allowed to remain, and the copies of the book thus altered were
issued with a new title-page dated 1692.
Dr. George Hickes (Discourses, ut supra,) gave vent to virulent
censures against Burnet in respect to the interpolations under notice ;
but, in doing so, the Dean appears to hâve been under the im-
pression that the interpolations were made by Burnet of his own
mere motion, and that, like a time-server, he denounced a subject’s
resisting his Prince in any cause whatsoever as unlawful and impious
when the Government was severe against résistance, as it was before
the Révolution of 1688, but changed his tone when, after the Révo-
lution, more liberal ideas came into vogue. Burnet in his Vin-
dication (Reflections on a Pamphlet by George Hickes, &c. London,
1696, 8vo.) says: “ In reprinting Bedell’s book against Wadsworth,
I could not but take notice of the case of subjects resisting their
Prince, fully stated and justified by Bedell and that in a book dedi-
cated to Charles I., then Prince of Wales. I told Mr. Chiswell my
publisher that I would not suffer the book to be printed without
the passage on résistance. He (Mr. Chiswell) showed it to Sir Roger
L’Estrange, who would not let it pass without several interpolations
to give it an air as if Bedell had been only reflecting the arguments
of other men. Besides which he (Sir R. L’E.) caused a marginal
note to be added at the end of the paragraph p. 446 of Bedell’s
letters, which was framed by Sir Roger L’Estrange himself. I was
very ill-pleased with ail this, but (continues Burnet) I could not
help it. Ail I could do was to get the interpolations put withinDE DOMIN1S.
135
crotchets.” This it will be admitted is a sufficiently complété vin-
dication of Burnet so far as regards the interpolations and the mar-
ginal note at pp. 445 and 446 of bis Life of Bedell as it appeared in
1685; but it is not easy to understand why Burnet did not, in the
re-issue of his Life of Bedell, dated 1692, strike out the interpola-
tions and the note altogether, and so restore the passage to the form
in which Bedell originally published it, in the volume he dedicated
to Charles, Prince of Wales, in 1624.
Another literary labour of Bedell while résident at Hornings-
hearth was his translation from the Italian into Latin of the two
last Books of Father Paulo’s History of the Council of Trent. This
(a continuation of a General History of Councils of the Church,
which is lost) was first published in the original Italian in London
in 1619, under the foliowing title: ct Historia dell Concilio Tri-
dentino. Di Pietro Soave Polano.” Paulo, it is said, completed
the History in 1615, and communicated the manuscript to Mark
Antony de Dominis, Archbishop of Spalatro or Spalato, who
had it printed and published in London, as above,* and dedicated it
to King James I. The work is printed in folio and extends to 806
pages. The feigned name “ Pietro Soave Polano,” under which the
History was published, is an anagram of “ Paolo Sarpio Veneto.”
Mark Antony de Dominis, Archbishop of Spalato, had corne to
London about the year 1616, having received through Sir Dudley
Carleton, the English Ambassador at Venice, some encouragement
from King James. While in Venice, Mr. Bedell became acquainted
with De Dominis, who was then residing in that city to be out of
the way of Papal vengeance, for having taken part with the
* Without the knowledge or permission of the anthor, it has been alleged, bnt
this is to be donbted. Griselini (Op. cit.) at the end of his Life of Father Fanlo
enumerates, among yarious other literary remains of that eminent man, the fol-
lowing: “La Storia del Concilio di Trento antografo di mano di F. Mario Fanzano
(Father Panlo’s amanuensis), con emmendazioni interlineari e marginali dell’ autore.
Fu trovato il codice fra iManoscritti spettanti al Patrizio Yeneto Zuanne Sagredo.
Ora e possiduto délia illuminatissima N. D. Yeneziana Catterina Sagredo, Pesaro,
Barbarigo.*’136
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
Venetians in their dispute with Rome. It was said by Clogie and
repeated by Bumet, and, though Dr. Hickes challenged the asser-
tion, there does not appear to be any reason to doubt it, that Mr.
Bedell suggested corrections of many ill applications of texts of
Scripture, and of quotations from the Fathers, in the work “ De Re-
publica Ecclesiastica,” which De Dominis was engaged in writing
at the time in Venice, and which he afterwards published in
London. Clogie and Bumet, however, were mistaken in saying
that De Dominis as well as Despotine accompanied Bedell from
Venice to England. As just said, De Dominis did not arrive in
England until about 1616.
He came to England in the character of a Protestant and was well
received by King James, who appointed him first to the Mastership
of the Savoy Chapel, and, six months after, made him Dean of
Windsor. De Dominis, however, restless and inconstant as he was,
went back to Rome on the élévation of his old fellow-student Lu-
dovici to the Papal throne as Gregory XV. Here he was at first
favourably received, but after Pope Gregory’s death in 1623 he was
imprisoned in the Castle of St. Angelo, where he died in 1624.
Being asked on his death-bed in what Faith and Religion he was
abiding, he took a crucifix, and, kissing it, said, “ I do die a member
of the Roman Catholic Church.” Notwithstanding this confession,
his study was searched after his deaih, and certain papers, it is
alleged, were found which did imply his opinion to be that there
was “ Inequalitas personarum in Sanctâ Trinitate.” This being
added to the crime of his former revoit, it was thought fit by the
Church to proceed against him. Advocates were retained on both
sides, and after much discussion it was adjudged that De Dominis
died in a State of heresy, and his body was condemned to be
burned.*
Bedell, in his Latin Translation of Father Paulo’s History of the
Venetian Interdict, mentions De Dominis as “ Infelix Archiepiscopus
Spalatensis.,,
* Goodman’s Court of King James, ut supra, vol. i. p. 354.LITERARY LABOURS.
137
In 1620 an English translation of Father Paulo’s “ Historia dell
Concilio Tridentino ** was published in London, of winch the fol-
lowing is the title : “ The Historié of the Councel of Trent. Con-
teining eight Bookes. In which (besides the ordinarie Acts of the
Councell) are deelared many notable occurrences which happened in
Christendome, during the space of fourtie yeares and more. And
particularly, the practices of the Court of Borne to hinder the Refor-
mation of their errors, and to maintaine their greatness. Written
in Italian by Pietro Soave Polano, and faithfully translated into
English by Nathanaël Brent.” Folio, pp. 825. This English
translation was dedicated both to King James and to the Archbishop
of Canterbury.
The translation of Father Paulo’s History of the Council of Trent
from the original Italian into Latin was made, the first six Books
by Mr. Adam Newton, who had been preceptor of Henry, Prince of
Wales (see p. 103), and the last two Books by Mr. W. Bedell, as
above stated. The following is a copy of the Title-page of the Book
(which is in folio, and contains 667 pages) :—
PETRI SYAYIS POLANI
Historiæ Concilii Tridentini
Libri Octo
Ex Italicis summa fide et accuiratione Latini facti.
Veniet qui conditam, et seculi sui malignitate compressam Yeri-
tatem, dies publicèt. Etiam si omnibus tecum viventibus silentium
livor indixerit; venient qui sine offensa, sine gratia judicent. Nihil
simulatio proficit, paucis imponit leviter extrinsecus inducta faciès ;
veritas in omnem partem sui semper eadem est. Quæ decipiunt,
nihil habent solidi. Tenue est mendacium : perlucet, si diligenter
inspexeris.	Seneca, in fine Epist. lxxix.
Augustæ Trinobantum.
M.DC.XX.
T
CAMD. SOC.138
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
Considering the large size of the history, the translations above
described could scarçely hâve been made in the short space of one
year from the printed Italian édition, after its publication in 1619.
Most probably, as both the original and thé translations appear to
hâve been brought out in concert, under the auspices of King
James, the translations were made from the printed sheets of the
Italian édition as they came from the press. Isaak Walton, in his
Life of Sir Henry Wotton, says that Paulo’s History of the Council
of Trent was commun icated by the author in portions as he wrote it
off to Sir Henry Wotton, William Bedell, and others, -and that the
portions were forwarded, inclosed in letters, to King James. This
had been during the period from the end of 1607 to the end of 1610.*
It was probably in reference to this that Nathanaël Brent, the English
translater, says, in his dedication to the King, that the author
wrote the History 44 in contemplation of your Majesty’s service
and, in his dedication to the Archbishop of Canterbury, that “cfor
the sake of his Majesty the King (as some reasons induce me to
believej the work was principally composed.” The incident men-
tioned by Isaak Walton, whatever were the real facts of the case,
was probably the foundation of the story told by Mr. Clogie, and
repeated by Bishop Burnet, that Father Paulo gave Bedell, on his
leaving Venice, besides other gifts, the manuscript of his History of
the Council of Trent. Dr Hickes (op. cit.J among his other
strictures on Burnet’s Life of Bedell, says that the History of the
Council of Trent (by Paulo) was not extant when Bedell left
Venice, as may be gathered from a letter of Sir Henry Wotton f in
1618 or 1619, in which the History is spoken of as a work then in
hand, or but newly finished, whereas Bedell left Venice in 1610.
The Dean, however, is here again at fault, for what Sir Henry Wotton
refers to is the proximate publication of the History in London, not
the writing of it by Father Paulo, who, we hâve seen, had finished
* Among the Yenetian State Papers for this period at the Public Record Office
I haye not met with anj such writings.
f Reliquiæ Wottonianæ.LITERARY LABOURS.
139
the writing of it long before. Sir Henry Wotton’s words to the
King are, “ Paulo’s History of the Council of Trent is ready to corne
abroad * * *, wherein your Majesty had a hand, for the benefit of
the Christian world.” What Sir Henry here refers to is that King
James promoted and encouraged the composition of the work, as far
as it lay in his power, through himself, while the Ambassador at
Venice, and William Bedell, the Chaplain to the Embassy—the
same thing which is referred to by Sir Nathanaël Brent the English
translator in his dedications. How far the History may hâve been
extant in 1610 has been above shown.
Though Dean Hickes was thus not correct in the matter, the
blundering inaccuracy of Clogie and Burnet cannot be denied.
A French translation of Father Paulo’s History of the Council of
of Trent, by John Diodati, was published at Geneva in 1621, folio,
and was entitled, “ Histoire du Concile de Trente, Traduite de
lTtalien de Pierre Soave Polan * Par Jean Diodati/’ This trans-
lation, of which I hâve seen only the fourth édition (Paris, 1665), is
esteemed for its fidelity.
The publication of the History of the Council of Trent made a
great noise in the Christian world, and revived the animosity of the
Court of Rome against Father Paulo, for, although the History was
published under a feigned name, it was quite well known at Rome
who the author was. Apropos of this, the anecdote related in the
Life of Father Paulo ,f and repeated with amplification and em-
bellishment by Sir Henry Wotton, in a letter to his friend Dr. Col-
lins, King’s Professor of Divinity in Cambridge,J may be here
quoted : in 1622, the year before Father Paulo died, the Prince of
Condé, being in Yenice, had a desire to see so eminent a personage,
but his visit could not be received without leave of the Senate.
This being granted, it was arranged that Father Paulo should
* The name “ Pietro Soave Polano,” by being Latinized and Frenchified, has lost
its anagrammatic point.
t English Translation, London, 1651, p. 152.
{ Printed in Burnet’s Life of Bishop Bedell.140
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
receive His Royal Highness at the house of Signor Angelo Conta-
rini, a Cavalier lately returned from an embassy to France, and
who had been appointed by the Senate to attend on the Prince
during his stay in Venice. In the course of the interview the Prince
asked Father Paulo who was the real author of the History of the
Council of Trent. Not choosing to answer such a home question
directly, Paulo merely observed that at Home, as he had been given
to understand, it was well enough known who the author was, and,
as the Prince was on his way to visit that city, he would learn ail
about it there.
Besides the last two Books of the History of the Council of Trent,
Mr. Bedell translated into Latin Father Paulo’s History of the
Yenetian Interdict. This translation, which he dedicated “ Serenis-
simo Potentissimoque Principi Carolo, D. G. Magnæ Britanniæ,
Franciæ, et Hiberniæ Begi, Fidei Defensori,” * was published under
the foliowing title : t€ Interdicti Yeneti Historia de motu Italiæ sub
initio Pontificatus Pauli Y. Commentarius, Authore R. P. Paulo
Sarpio, Veneto. Recens ex Italico conversus.f Cantabrigiæ, 1626,
4to.,,, pp. 225.
In his dedicatory observations, Bedell says that when in Yenice
he received the commentary from the author to read, but on con-
dition that he should not transcribe it. Father Paulo did not wish
it then to be published for fear of the resentment of the Court of
Rome. After Paulo’s death the work in Italian was published in
Venice in 1624. J Nothing, therefore, now preventing it, Mr.
Bedell felt himself at liberty to publish a Latin translation.
* There is in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin, Dr. Dickson informs me.
a copy of this work containing Bedell’s autograph présentation to the College, when
Provost.
t An English translation of Father Paulo’s History of the Yenetian Interdict was
published in London, in 1626, under the following title: “The History of the
Quarrels of Pope Paul V. with the State of Yenice, in seven Books. Faithfully
translated ont of the Italian, and compared with the French Copie;” 4to. pp. 435.
The translator gives only the initiais of his name, C. P,
{ Istoria dell Infcerdetto Yeneto.THE DIODATI FAMILY*
141
Mr. Bedell also translated into Latin a small tract by Father
Paulo about Roman Catholics bearing arms. The translation is en-
titled, “ Quæstio quodlibetica, an liceat stipendia sub Principe Reli-
gione discrepante mereri. Eodem Authore, pp. 30. Ibid. 1630.
Among the Tanner MS S. there is a letter to Dr. Samuel Warde,
dated May 7, 1628, which Mr. Bedell sent along with the MS. of
the translation of this tract, desiring to hâve it published at Cam-
bridge.
Mr. John Diodati, with whom, in conjunction with Fathers Paulo
and Fulgentio the Servîtes, Mr. Bedell had the Conférences in
Yenice, mentioned at p. 111, being on a visit to London in 1627,
made inquiry after Mr. Bedell; but none of the Clergy there hap-
pened to know anything of such a person. At this Mr. John Dio-
dati wondered, for he expected that a Divine distinguished for so
much learning and dévotion as Bedell was would hâve been well
known. Chance, however, brought the two friends together, for
they one day unexpectedly met each other in Cheapside. Mr.
Alexander Clogie, who tells the story on the authority of “a
person of honour who was well acquainted with Diodati/5 informa
us further that Mr. Diodati introduced Bedell to Dr. Moreton, then
Bishop of Lichfield and Coventry, but afterwards Bishop of Durham.
The person of honour referred to by Clogie as his informant, I am
disposed to believe, was Sir Robert Harley of Brampton Bryan,
Herefordshire, or some other member of the saine family, for the
foliowing reasons: 1. Mr. Clogie, as Yicar of Wigmore, was well
acquainted with the Harley family, as appears from both Lady
Brilliana Harley’s Letters and from unprinted documents, for
obtaining a copy of which from the Lady Frances Yernon Harcourt
I am indebted to the Rev. J. J. Trollope, the présent Vicar of
Wigmore. 2. The Harley family, in the time of Lady Brilliana,
were acquainted with a Dr. Diodati, as appears from some of her
Ladyship’s letters of about the date of 1645-6. This Dr. Diodati
was no doubt Dr. Théodore Diodati, the brother of Mr. John142
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
Diodati, the Theologian. He married an English lady and
settled in London as a Physician. From the Roll of the College of
Physicians of London, it appears that Théodore Diodati graduated
M.D. at Leyden, October 6, 1615, and was adraitted a Licentiate
of the College on the 24th of January 1616-17. He was buried in
the Church of St. Bartholomew-the-Less on the 12th of February
1650-1. He had a son Charles, also a Physician, who died before
him in 1638, and who was a friend of John Milton the Poet. In
the Roll of the College of Physicians of London, there is another
Théodore Diodati, the son of the Theologian of Geneva, and nephew
of the Dr. Théodore Diodati just mentioned. He was M.D. of
Leyden, February 4, 1643, and Honorary Fellow of the College of
Physicians of London in December 1664. He is mentioned in his
uncle Theodore’s will, which was dated June 26, 1649. When the
Rev. John Diodati was in London, in 1627, he had been no doubt
on a visit to his brother Dr. Théodore Diodati, who would therefore
be cognisant of the incident above-mentioned.
It may here be observed that the Christian name “ Théodore ”
was probably derived from Théodore Beza, the translator of the
New Testament into Latin, who was a friend of the Diodati family
and Instructor of John.
The Rev. John Diodati was born June 6, 1576, and died at
Geneva, October 3, 1649.
CHAPTER VI.
Bedell’s Removal to Ireland and Provostship of
Trinity College, Dublin.
Mr. Bedell had held the living of Horningshearth for twelve years
when hereceived an invitation tobe Provostof Trinity College, Dublin.
On the death of Sir William Temple, January 15,1626, who had been
Provost for seventeen or eighteen years, dissensions arose as to therightREMOVAL TO IRELAND.
143
of electing his successor between the Senior and Junior Fellows of the
College. The resuit was that the former chose one person, and the
latter another, to be Provost. But the King intervened, and by his
mandate, May 29, 1627, nominated Mr. William Bedell, a Bachelor
of Theology, of Emmanuel College in Cambridge, to the place, with
the approval of the Chancellor, the Most Keverend Dr. George
Abbot, Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Vice-Chancellor, the
Most Keverend Dr. James Ussher, Archbishop of Armagh. Itwas
early in March 1626-7 that Bedell was invited to be Provost,
as appears from a letter from him to his friend Dr. Samuel Warde,
dated March 15, 1626-7 (Tanner MS. lxxii. 176, in the Bodleian
Library, Oxford). He hesitated at first, but, the King’s letters
approving his nomination being communicated to him, Bedell agreed
to accept the appointment ; and, having received notice of his
élection, set out from Horningshearth for Dublin, about the end
of July, by himself, and arrived at his destination on the 12th of
August 1627. On the 16th of the same month he was sworn and
admitted to the office of Provost * of the College of the Blessed
Trinity, near Dublin, by the unanimous consent of the Fellows.
Thus was Mr. Bedell wafted to Ireland. The undercurrent which
led to his invitation appears to hâve set in in some such manner as
the foliowing : Sir Thomas Jermyn had no doubt exerted his in-
fluence at Court in raising up a favourable impression in the King’s
mind towards the Parson of Horningshearth, who had recently
dedicated to his Majesty his Latin translation of Father Paulo’s
“ Istoria dell Interdetto Veneto.” In the next place, Bishop More-
ton, to whom Diodati had introduced Bedell, appears to hâve drawn
the attention of Archbishops Abbot and Ussher, the Chancellor and
Vice-Chancellor of Trinity College, Dublin, to the high character
and qualifications of the man ; so that they, on the occasion of the
difficulty about the Provostship of that Institution, preferred a
requesfc to the King to interpose in favour of Bedell, respecting
whose fitness for the office his Majesty was already well-informed.
* Dublin Uniyersity Calendar.144
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
How this request was backed by Sir Henry Wotton we hâve seen
in his letter quoted in the text, p. 25.
Bedell returned to England in September of the same year, to
settle his affairs, and to take over his family. But his previous
hésitation to leave his native country returning, he had an in-
clination to give up the Provostship, and in a letter to Archbishop
Ussher, dated April 1, 1628, expressed a desire not to return to
Dublin, allegingas his reason broils in the College (p. 28), and, as he
thought, his non-acceptableness. Encouraged, however, by the
Primate he consented to retain the Provostship. Among the
Tanner MSS. in the Bodleian Library (lxxii. 275), there is a letter
from Bedell to Dr. Samuel Warde, dated April 28, relating to the
différences at Dublin College, and his scruples about resigning his
living at Horningshearth ; and another (lxxii. 282), dated May 13,
1628, taking farewell on going to Ireland, and stating that he had
named him (Warde), Dr. Despotine, and Mr. Sotheby, overseers of
his will.
Bedell returned to Dublin with his family and resumed his duties
as Provost on the 7th of June, and on the 18th of the same month,
1628, linally severed his connexion with England by resigning his
Bectory of Horningshearth.
Dr. Samuel Warde, in a letter to Archbishop Ussher, dated May
16, 1628, remarks on BedelFs appointment to the Provostship of
Trinity College, Dublin, with so much point that I cannot refrain
quoting his words, though they hâve been more than once else-
where printed : “I assure your Lordship I know not where
you could hâve pitched upon a man every way so qualified for
such a place. He is a sincere, honest man, not tainted with
avarice or ambition ; pious, discreet, wise, and stout enough, ‘ si res
exigat/ He will be ‘ frugi,’ and provident for the College ; and,
for converse, of a sweet and amiable disposition, and well expe-
rienced. In a word, he is 4 homo perpaucorum hominum, si quid
judico.’ ”
During his Provostship Bedell laboured with earnest diligence toPROVOSTSHIP OF TRINITY COLLEGE, DUBLIN. 145
reform the constitution of the College, and to improve the dis-
cipline. Among the MSS. in Trinity College Library there is a
small folio volume (F. 4. 31), containing Bedell’s Statutes, dated
September 23, 1628, in his own handwriting, and signed thus,
“ Guilielmus Bedell Præp.” (See page 27.) He also encouraged
instruction in the Irish language, with the view of providing
preachers of the Gospel whom the natives could understand, and
thus more effectually spreading a knowledge of the truth among
them. How industriously the Provost devoted himself to this
part of his mission appears from certain letters of his to Arch-
bishop Ussher. July 30, 1628. Here he refers to the progress
in the Irish language in Dublin College, and the translation
into Irish of the Psalter, for the Psalms had not been included in
the Irish translation of the Book of Common Prayer already pub-
lished in the Irish tongue. In a postscript to a letter dated Trinity
College, Dublin, August 12, 1628, Bedell says, “Iam become Mr.
King’s scholar in the Irish tongue. In respect whereof it may
please your Grâce to let me hâve the use of the manuscript Psalter
in the Irish letter. I shall inure myself to the character, and ob-
serve the différences as I go from our translation, and consider if it
might be fit constantly to follow that in the Irish translation or no.”
The Provost, moreover, inaugurated an Irish lecture to be read
publicly in the Hall of the College, enjoined attendance at prayers
in Irish in the Chapel, and directed a chapter of the New Testament
in Irish to be read by one of the native scholars at dinner in the
hall.
In 1628 Provost Bedell was elected one of the Burgesses torepre-
sent the University in Parliament; but he excused himself, and a
Mr. FitzGerald was chosen instead.
By patent, dated the 20th of May, 1629, the King appointed Dr.
Bedell to the Bishoprics of Kilmore and Ardagh, and, in reference
to a successor in the Provostship, “ His Majesty,” says Jjaud, in a
letter to Ussher, “ would fain hâve a man go on where Mr. Bedell
leaves;” * * * “ the King likes wondrous well of the Irish lecture
CAMD. SOC.	U146
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
by Mr. Bedell.” The King himself, in a letter to the Board of
Fellows,* says : “ In the College of the Blessed Trinity, near Dublin,
we are informed that, by Mr. Bedell’s care and good government,
there hath bene wrought great reformation, to our singular content-
aient.”
In the same letter, the Fellows of Trinity College received an
inhibition against electing a successor to Dr. Bedell till they should
understand his Majesty’s further pleasure. Jealous lest their silence
in this the second suspension of their privilège should in time make it
worthless, the Fellows deputed two of their number to supplicate his
Majesty to grant them freedom in élection, and requested Bedell to
give them a letter of recommendation to Bishop Laud of London.
In the letter he gave, dated Trinity College, the 2nd of June 1629,
(and which is preserved in the Public Record Office,) Bedell says, “ I
could not wth mine oth but give way to this their desire, and some
furthermore also by these lines I beseech yr Lord? to vouchsafe
their audience and yr favourable assistance in their suite, wch their
proposition upon the hearing shall seeme to yr Lord? to meritt.”
Annexed is a fac-similé of the signature to this letter :
The supplication of the Fellows was successful, for, in accordance
with their prayer, the King gave authority, dated Westminster, the
29th June, 1629,t for the élection of Dr. Robert Ussher to the
Provostship.
* Dated April 16, 1629.
f Document in the Public Record Office, London, among the Irish State Papers
for 1629.MADE BISHOP OF KILMORE AND ARDAGH.
147
CHAPTER VII.
Elévation to the Episcopate as Bishop of Kilmore and
Ardagh—Extortions of the Court Ecclesiastical
—Résignation of Ardagh.
It was after about two years’ tenure of the storray office of
Provost of Trinity College, Dublin, that Bedell was called to the
higher, but, as it proved, more perilous one of Bishop of Kilmore
and Ardagh; which two sees were again, for the occasion, united
under one Bishop, by the King’s patent.
The objection to making Bedell a Bishop referred to in the text,
p. 30, seems to liave arisen from his opposition to Arminianism
and a réputation he had acquired for Calvinism. At p. 58, the im-
putation of Puritanism, indeed, is stated to hâve lost him the
Deanery of Christchurch in Dublin. At p. 40, Dr. Bernard’s
“ Character ” of Bishop Bedell * is referred to, as giving a just account
of his conformity to the Liturgy of the Church of England. The
Bishop gave this direction, Dr. Nicholas Bernard informs us, viz. :
“ to observe whatsoever was injoyned in the Rubrick without
addition or diminution ; not to be led by custome, but by rule. And
in speciall he ordered that the whole Doxology to the Blessed Trinity,
Glory be to the Father, &c., should be always read by the Minister
alone, without the respond of the people, and the like for the
Psalms, Te Deum, and with the rest appointed to be read between
and after the Lessons, though the custom had prevailed otherwise
in most churches.
* Certain Discourses, &c. ; inclnding a Character of the late Bishop Bedell, of
Kilmore. By Nicholas Bernard, D.D. and Preacher of the Honourable Society of
Grayes Inné, London. (London, 1659.) Dr. Bernard was Dean of Kilmore, but in-
cnrring the Bishop’s displeasure on account of his holding a number of bénéfices
without being résident on any (Letter of Bedell to Laud dated September 2, 1637,
in the Public Record Office), he exchanged, in 1637, with Dr. Henry Jones (after-
wards Bishop of Meath) his Deanery of Kilmore for that of Ardagh. Dr. Bernard
suffered much in the rébellion, and fled to England.148
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
u The Communion Table was placed by him, not at the east end,
but within the body of the Chancell ; and for other Innovations
elsewhere introduced he observed them not. His judgement being,
that those were as well Non-Conformiste who added of their own
as those who came short of what was enjoyned, as he that adds an
inch to the measure dissownes it for a rule as well as he that cuts
an inch off.
“ He was a careful observer of the Lord?s Day both in publick
and private. At one of the clock in the afternoon, he had then the
Book of Common Prayer read in the Irish tongue in the cliurch for
the benefit of the Irish ; at which he was constantly présent himself,
who in that little space had obtained the knowledge of the
language.”*
Though, as Dr. Bernard says, the Communion-table (upon which
lay neither basins nor candies, Mr. Clogie f informs us,) was not
placed at the east end, but within the body of the chancel, it would
appear that Bishop Bedell still held sacred the upper end of the
chancel ; for, in his letter to Archbishop Laud, dated September 2,
1637, (in the Public Record Office,) commenting on the evils of
plurality and non-residence, he incidentally observes : “ When I
was a minister in Suffolk, I placed the Communion-table in the
upper end of my chancel. In Kilmore Cathédral, finding the
Bishop’s chair in that part, I said that I would never sit there, it
being the ancient place of the altar/’{ This, it is to be observed,
was probably the origin of the slander raised by his enemies against
him that he wished to pull down his predecessor’s seat in the chancel
and to set up an altar instead. To return from this digression : though
Bedell’s appointment was dated May the 20th, 1629, he.was not
consecrated Bishop until the 13th of September following. In re-
gard to this, he says in a letter to his friend Dr. Samuel Warde,§
* Certain Discourses, &c., ut supra, page 350.
f Memoir, &c. p. 139.
% See also Decree 11 of the Diocesan Synod: “ Ut Sacrarium in Consistorium non
convertatur, &c.” in Chapter IX.
§ Tanner MS. ccxc. Bodleian Library.MADE BISHOP OF KILMORE AND ARDAGH.
149
dated October 6, 1629 : “ The delay of my Consécration so long
was occasioned partly by the desire of our Fellows to hâve a free
élection ; * * * § partly out of my Lord Primate’s and mine to renew the
College nester-leases before an unknown successor should corne;
which, I thank God, I hâve happily effected.”+ Dr. Bedell was
consecrated at Drogheda by the Primate, Archbishop Ussher of
Armagh, assisted by Bishop Echlin, of Down and Connor, Bishop
Buckworth, of Dromore, and Bishop Spottiswood, of Clogher. J
Bishop Bedell, in the letter to Dr. Samuel Warde of the 6th of
October, 1629, just quoted, the first since his coming to Kilmore,
thus describes his first impressions of the place : u I ame corne into
a country fertile enough and pleasant, but where popery hath pos-
sessed not only the ancient inhabitants, but also our English, which
planted here at the first almost universally, and our plantations are
yet raw, and our churches ruined. My Cathédral church is such
another as Horningerth was, but without steeple, bell, or font.
You may imagine the rest. The Popish Bishop of this Diocese is
lately chosen Primate, and dwells within a mile or two of me. I
am in deliberation to write to him and offer some intercourse,
as I see the African Churches and Bishops did to the Donatists.”
Some months’ further expérience of his Diocèses did not lead Bedell
to form a more favourable estimate of their State, as appears from a
letter he wrote to Bishop Laud, dated April 1, 1630.§ This letter
also shows that if Bedell made any neighbourly advances to the
Roman Catholic Primate, as he said in his letter to Dr. Warde he
was contemplating, they had corne to nothing, for he now com-
plains of the encroachments and intolérance of the Popish clergy,
saying, that they are “ more numerous by far than we, and in full
exercise of ail jurisdiction ecclesiastical, by their vicar-generals and
* See in preceding chapter Bedell’s letter to Land, then Bishop of London.
+ Another cause of the delay is mentioned at page 30.
J Bishop Bedell’s predecessor in the Sees of Kilmore and Ardagh was Dr. Thomas
Moygne, Fellow of Peterhouse, Cambridge, who had been preferred from the Deanery
of St. Patrick’s, Dublin, in 1612.
§ Public Record Office.150
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
officiais, who are so confident as they excommunicate those who
corne to our courts, even in matrimonial causes, which affront hath
been offered myself by the Popish Primate’s Vicar-General, for
which I hâve begun a process against him.” This letter Bishop
Bedell concludes with the waming that “ His Majesty is now with
the greatest part of this country, as to their hearts and consciences,
King but at the Pope’s discrétion.”
In the letter to the Lord-Deputy Wentworth, written three years
and a half after this one (dated November 5, 1633),* vindicating
himself from the imputations against him for his share in the
matter of the pétition of the Protestants of Cavan, deprecating the op-
pressive charges for soldiers, as explained in pages 49-51 of the text,
Bishop Bedell expresses himself still more strongly to the same
effect, saying, “ I that know, that in this Kingdom of his Majesty
the Pope hath another Kingdom, far greater in number, and (as I
hâve heretofore signified to the Lords Justices and Council, which
is also since justified by themselves in print,) constantly guided and
directed by the orders of the New Congrégation Depropaganda fide>
lately erected at Rome, &c. * * *. Shortly, I that know that this
Clergy and these Begulars, hâve, at a general meeting, like to a
Synod, as themselves style it, holden at Drogheda, decreed, that it
is not lawful to take the Oath of Allegiance, and if theybe constant
to their own learning, do account his Majesty, in their own hearts,
to be King but at the Pope’s discrétion.”
The letter to Laud, dated April 1, 1630, and a copy of this one
to Wentworth, which Bedell had sent to Laud, now Archbishop of
Canterbury, having been found among the Archbishop’s papers,
were read, on the occasion of his trial, at the bar of the House of
Lords, by his prosecutors, as accusatory Articles, to show how Laud
had been warned by the Bishop of Kilmore against the encroach-
ments of Popery in Ireland, though without effect.f
* Strafford’s Letters and Despatches, vol. i. pp. 146-151; folio, London, 1739.
f See “ A Breviate of the Life of William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury,”
Necessary Introduction; and also " Canterburies Doome,” &c. by William Prynne,
Esquier, London, 1644 and 1646, folio.EXTORTIONS OF THE COURT ECCLESIASTICAL.
151
But to return : In his letter to Laud (April 1, 1630), Bedell
alludes also to the oppressions suffered by the poor Catholics,* from
the extortions of the Court Ecclesiastical of the Protestant Establish-
ment, 44 which,” says he, 44 in very truth, my Lord, I cannot excuse,
and do seek to reform.” Bishop BedelFs attempt to carry out this
reform led to his litigation with the Chancellor, Mr. Alane Cooke,
which is related at length in the text. The following brief sum-
mary of the transaction, in Bishop BedelFs own words, is extracted
from a letter (in the Public Record Office) to Archbishop Laud (at
the tirae Bishop of London), dated Kilmore, August 7, 1630 : —
******
44By ye dayly complaint of my neighbours, and some of my
tenants, and of the clergy,” says Bedell, 441 was inforced to demand
the sight of his (the Chancellor’s) Patent, which had been granted
him by the previous Bishop.”
******
44 On examination of the document,” continues Bedell, “ I found
a vast heape of authority conferred upon him, without due forme,
* Protestant Non-conformists also (settlers from England and Scotland in Ulster)
wonld appear to hâve suffered from the extortions of the Courts Ecclesiastical in
Ireland, and that even in as great a degree as the Catholics. In a pétition to the
Commons’ House of Parliament in 1641, the Protestant [Non-conformist] inhabitants
of the connties of Antrim, Downe, Tyrone, &c. complain that “ onre soûles are starved,
our estâtes undone, our families impoverished, and many lives among us eut off and
destroyed,’, ail through the “ over-ruling Lordly power” of the Bishops (of the
Establishment) and their subordinates. They also complain of the persécution and
exile of their ministers. (See a Pamphlet in 4# in the Library of the British
Muséum, to be found in the Catalogue under the name “ Antrim.”) Among the
Irish State Papers for 1638, in the Public Record Office, there is “ A Catalogue of the
Inhabitants dwelling in Antrim the last Easter, with those that did partake of the
Communion marked with a starr.” There is another paper, endorsed, “ Recd. Jan.
22,1638-9. The names of the Inhabitants and Communicants within the parish of
Antrim at Christmas, 1638, showing that more Scotts conforme to receive the Com-
munion, as is ordered in the Church of Ireland, than formerly.” Letters to Arch-
bishop Laud, about the Non-conformists in the connties aboyé mentioned, also
occur.152
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
Latine or common sense.” * * *	“ Nothing left to the Bp. but
a meere shaddow of authority.” * * * *	“ Accounting the
patent void or surreptitious, or revoking it, in case it had any
validity, I did inhibit Mr. Cooke to do any thing by vertue of it,
as my Yicar, and the Clergy to assist hira therein. Upô this, he
appealed to my Lo. Primate’s Court,* from whence I was inhibited
and cited to appear to answer him ; he being in the Citation styled
Yicar of the Courts of Kilmore and Ardagh lawfully established ;
For this so apparent a forejudging the cause ere it was heard, I en-
tered a récusation befbre a publick notary, wch I sent to my Lord
Primate, yet submitting y® cause to his owne censure omni appel-
latione remota, if my adversary were so pleased. This he refused.
Thus did it hang till Hilary Terme. In the mean season I went
about my Dioces my selfe, and sate in mine own Courts, redressing
the disorders and mittigating the fees (whereof yet I tooke no peny,
but sequestered them only), and in a short space hâve, as I hope,
disposed the people to some better opinion of or religion and juris-
diction then before they had conceived.
“ The case at Dublin was divided in pleading by my counsayle ;
1. That no Bishop may grant commission longer then during his
owne tyme; 2. That my predecessor holding 2 Bishoprieks, united
only for terme of life, could make no greater estate then his owne.
That by his death the Bishoprieks were againe divided and anew
united by his Ma% so as in them I am not his successor. The other
part would make a Yicar Generall a standing office, and sayd the
Dean aild Chapter anciently might choose a Bishop, much more then
côfirme a Bps. Vicar for life. Especially they urged precedents in
England, and some here. The Lo. Chancellor seemed unwilling to
hâve this case determined here, wch he said was never yet adjudged
in England. Those of the counsayle y* are of the profession of the
* In a letter to the Lord Primate, dated Febr. 15, 1629-30, Bishop Bedell ex-
pressed himself against the abuse of ecclesiastical jurisdiction, in terms identical
with those which occur here and there in the letter to Laud under notice.EXTORTIONS OF THE COURT ECCLESIASTICAL.
153
law, required it might be argued againe at the beginning of
Michaelmas Terme, wch was granted.
“ Since that Mr. Cookehath procured me to be cited again to the
Lo. Primate’s Court, where I appeared July 29, alledging that ye
cause is depending before ye LL. Justices and Counsell, and refusing
againe the Chancellor, Mr. George Synge,* to be either Judge or
Assistant therein; as having been Mr. Cooke’s Master and Patron,
and now his familiar friend, and having discovered some spleen
against me in certain letters wch since this cause came into the Court
he had sent me. Yr Lp hath here the historicall part of this busi-
ness. Whereto if I shall be bold to add the prognostical, it is this,
that although I hâve his Maties Patents as large for me as I can
desire, the canon law as clear as the sunne (whose maxims are
these: Yicarius perdit jurisdictionemmorte Epi.: Yicarius removeri
potest ad libitum Epi, etiamsi sit constitutus cum juramento de non
revocando : Vicarius mortuo Epo non potest perficere causas in-
choatas vivo Epo. And de facto Mr. Cooke, after the death of my
predecessor, tooke a new commisson frô y® Lo. Primate to execute
the jurisdiction sede vacante. Lastly, though I hâve the common
law æquall, if this be but a commission, and as ye Lo. Chiefe Baron
sayd openly by ye law one Judge cannot appoint another in his
steede, yet because in lands and possessions the grant of the Bp. wth
consent of Dean and Chapter is good, it will be carried so here also.
******
“The Lo. Chancellor persuades me to compound wth Mr. Cooke,
wch for the incredible scandall that would follow I can never doe.
******
“ My Lord, if this were mine owne particular casealone, I should
not be so bold as to request yr favour and assistance hereunto. But
it is the common interests of BBps. who through their owne suffrance
do now but serve for cyphers to make up the wronges and extortions
of their officers.
******
CAMD. SOC.
* See text, page 34.
X154	LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM REDELL.
u For my part, God is my Witness, y* if I thought I could be ex-
cused in côscience for the misgovernm1 of the people whom God
and his Ma1* hâve committed unto me, I could easily suffer Mr.
Cooke to exercise the jurisdiction, though there be left me nothing
but the name of it ; but when the blâme also, and the shame of
religion lies upon it, I hope good men will not account me prag»
maticall, if I be sensible, and desire to fulfill my profession made at
my consécration, that I would be gentle and mercifull for Christ9s
sake to poore and needy people, and such as be destitute of helpe.
These poore people (to whom to be put into the Bishop* s booke, as
they call it, hath beene more then their imaginary Purgatory) do
beseech yr Lp., and by you his Ma1* to pitty them. Religion in-
treates you to remove this scandall ; the Church to reforme this
disorder. I hâve sayd and done what I can. I leave the successe
to God.”
# * * * * *
Bishop Laud’s reply* to Bishop Bedell is dated from “ Fullham
House, September 11, 1630,” and is sufficiently friendly, frank, and
well considered, though, as stated in the text, p. 35, affording only
some small verbal encouragement. Laud, thinking that not much can
be done to remedy the difficulty, ad vises Bedell to adopt the suggestion
the Lord Chancellor to compound the matter, “ and in that compo-
sicon bynde up Mr. Cooke yt ye people may hâve justice and ease.
I doe not yet see what ill is in that, or what scandall can follow
upon it, for I shall not advyse the making of any other composition
then that which shall be free from corruption on your part, and for
the just and orderly setling of your jurisdiction on his.
u None can be asked for counsayle but a Bishop or a Civillian.
And if a Bishop be asked, he is likely to say for you, but if you
ask a civillian I am sure he will be for Mr. Cooke.”
In another letter (Public Record Office) to Bishop Laud, dated
from Dublin, December 6, 1630, Bishop Bedell says: “ If my Lo.
Copy in the Public Record Office.EXTORTIONS OF THE COURT ECCLESIASTICAL.
155
Primate be so pleased, he may décidé the case by the Canon Lawe.
If he put it over to the Comon Law, I am advised to send the case
into England and require the opinion of lawiers of that profession,
wch I hâve done by Sr Thomas Jermyn. ***** Yr Lo?
hath beene a true prophett concerning ye bringing ail the civilians
and canonists upô my topp, for Mr Cooke libelleth against me y1 I
seeke to roote out ail ye professors of y4 learning.”
******
This suit between Bishop Bedell and Dr. Alane Cooke was pro-
longed for several years. There is in the Public Becord Office a
letter, dated Dublin, May 24, 1639, to Archbishop Laud on the
subject, in which Bishop Bedell States that he had appealed from
the Lord Primate’s Court to the Chancery. And along with this
there is a copy of the pétition of the Bishop of Kilmore, “ to the
King’s Most Excellent Ma1* in his High Court of Chancery.”
The final decision is stated in the text, p. 56.*
Besides the suit with his Chancellor, Bishop Bedell felt it his duty
to institute proceedings for the recovery to the Bishoprics of lands
which had been, some forcibly seized and kept possession of by Sir
Edward Bagshaw and Sir Francis Hamilton,+ and some illegally
leased out for large fines or for favour at inconsiderable rents by
his predecessor, Dr. Moygne, as mentioned in the text, pp. 48-49.
In his anxious endeavours to discharge his duties honestîy,
Bishop Bedell appears to hâve been, on the one hand, but faintly
seconded, even in quarters where he might reasonably hâve expected
support; and, on the other hand, assailed with bitter revilings. By
some he was denounced as a Calvinist, by some as an Arminian, by
* Mr. Clogie (Memoir, &c. p. 86,) mentions that ih 1646 he met Dr. Alane Cooke by
chance in London, who spake as reverently of Bishop Bedell as anv could do, and said
that he thought there had not been snch a man npon the face of the earth till he tried
him; and that he was too hard for ail the civilians in Ireland; and had he not been
borne down by mere force, he had undoubtedly overthrown ail the Consistory Courts
by lay Chancellors, and restored to ail the Bishops their several jurisdictions. He
seemed to me to bemoan the Bishop’s death.
f Clogie’s Memoir, &c. pp. 39, 40.156
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
some as a Puritan, by some as a Papist. He was, indeed, a Calvinist,
inasmuch as he accepted the Calvinistic Articles of the Church of
England; and a Puritan, inasmuch as he conformed to the Rubric,
but would neither go beyond nor fall short of it. If thus a Calvinist,
he could not be an Arminian \ if a Puritan, not a Papist. Bedell
was benevolent and beneficent to ail men, whether Jew or Gentile,
Protestant or Papist, Conformist or Non-conformist. In thus en-
deavouring to imitate Jésus, he was, indeed, a “ Latitudinarian,”
though not in the sense in which Dr. Hickes (out of animosity to
Bishop Burnet) afterwards sought to represent him.
Under feelings raised by such a thankless réception of his bene-
ficent labours, BedelPs mind sometimes reverted to the quiet of
his incumbency at Horningshearth. But he was not of a temper
to be cast down ; and influenced solely by the desire to discharge
efficiently every duty, delegating nothing to others that he could
do himself, he had not been Bishop long before he resolved to resign
the Bishoprick of Ardagh in order to free himself from the dis-
tractions involved in the attempt to recover it from the plundered
state in which he found it, and thereby to be in a condition
the better to devote himself to the work of governing and correcting
the abuses in the Diocese of Kilmore alone. In a letter to Laud
(Public Record Office) on the subject, dated Dublin, May 10,
1631, Bishop Bedell accordingly intimâtes his desire to give up
Ardagh, and expresses his opinion that that See could be better
managed by a separate Bishop. At the same time he mentions
Dr. Richardson * as the fittest man for it he knows of.
On the 28th Feb. 1632, accordingly, Bp. Bedell resigned the see
of Ardagh. The following is a copy of the instrument of his resig-
* John Richardson, D.D. of the University of Dublin, Archdeacon of Derry
Rector of Ardstra, and Vicar of Granard. In 1639 he received the Archdeaconry
of Down and Connor, instead of that of Derry, which he had held since 1622. See
Sir James Ware’s Antiquities of lreland, vol. i., The Bishops; and Archdeacon
Henry Cotfcon’s Fasti Ecclesiæ Hibernicæ, vol. iii. pp. 49-52, 183-4, 231, 257, 337j
and vol. v. pp. 208-9.RESIGNATION OF THE SEE OF ARDAGH.
157
nation, from the original, preserved among the See Records of
Armagh * : —
“ Coram yobis Reverendissimo in Christo Pâtre ac Domino
Jacobo providentia divina Armachano Archiepiscopo totius
Hiberniæ Primate,
Ego Gulielmus Episcopus Kilmorensis et Ardaghensis vestræ
Armachanæ Provinciæ in Regno Hiberniæ humiliter et veraciter
expono. Quod cum Serenissimus et potentissimus Princeps ac
Dominus Carolus Dei Gratia Magnæ Britanniæ Franciæ et Hi-
berniæ Rex dictos Episcopatus mihi ex motu suo proprio et Regio
beneplacito contulisset eosdemque in meam gratiam et propter eorum
tenuitatem pro ea vice tantum univisset annexuisset et consolidasset
ita ut eorundem duorum Episcopatuum æque principaliter Epis-
copus a vobis consecrarer et eosdem pro uno tantum ad vitam dun-
taxat meam naturalem cum omnibus eorum respective juribus mem-
bris preeminentiis privilegiis jurisdictionibus commoditatibus et
hereditamentis quibuscunque tam spiritualibus quam temporalibus
retinerem eorum tam en Episcopatuum respective obsequiis semper
salvis Tametsi me uni Episcopatui administrando parem non existi-
marem ne dum ut duos capesserem tamen quoniam mihi conscius
eram hoc munus nec ambienti neque cogitanti mihi impositum,
nihil aliud quam fidem et diligentiam in utriusque Ecclesiæ ad-
ministratione præstandum putavi Et pro virili parte operam dedi ex
eo tempore ne quid alterutra detrimenti caperet Pro Ardaghensi
quidem cujus reditus tenuiores erant aliquam mihi navasse videor :
tum restitutis q^ibusdem possessionibus in feodum firmum et per-
petuum alienatis tum vero antiquo illius Ecclesiæ Registrario recu-
perato. Sed quum multa alia utriusque Ecclesiæ jura persequenda
restent et ista duarum Ecclesiarum unio utriusque commodis officit,
* For this again I am obliged to the courtesy of the Rev. Dr. Reeves, of Tynan,
whose numerous other contributions are of such a character that without them this
work would hâve been very incomplète.158
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
quod improbe et cupide videatur amplius petere cui jam bini sint
Episcopatus, cujus rei magnum argumentum capio, quod multis
meis laboribus et impensis nullum bac tenus ne in ruderibus quidem
Ardaghensis Ecclesiæ aut ædium Episcopalium locum nancisci
potuerim ubi vestigium ponam Cumque ista jurisdictionis ac pos-
sessionum Episcopalium in una persona conjunctio magnam in
præsentia confusionem pariat ac majorem imposterum paritura sit ;
Presertim vero quoniam rerum experimentis comperi, quod ad tem-
poralium utriusque diocesis curam et administrationem congruam,
solus impar sim nisi in Litibus perpetuis ætatem conterens populi
mihi commissi curam et officium Pastorale velim negligere. Hasce
igitur ob causas, et alias nonnullas graves et justas animum et con-
scientiam meam moventes; Ego Gulielmus Episcopus antedictus
non vi aut metu coactus, aut cujusquam precibus adductus, nec ullo
terreno aut carnali affectu permotus, sed pure simpliciter sponte
libéré et utilitatem Ecclesiarum predictarum et officium meum præ
oculis habens, Episcopatum Ardagliensem cum omnibus juribus tam
spiritualibus quam temporalibus ad eundem pertinentibus, in manus
vestras (Reverendissime Pater) ac per vos in manus Serenissimi
Domini nostri Regis Caroli resigno : tituloque ac nomini et dignitati
ejusdem cedo, et a cura ejusdem me per præsentes exonero: salvo
tamen semperque mihi reservato omni jure titulo siue interesse quod
in Episcopatu Kilmorensi cui prædictus Episcopatus Ardaghensis
in mea persona hactenus unitus fuit, mihi ex Majestatis suæ gratia,
et vestra Reverende Pater consecratione com petit. Et peto a vobis
humiliter ut hanc meam spontaneam cessionem siue resignationem
pure simpliciter libereque factam admittere ; et Regiæ îlajestati suæ sig-
nificarevelitis, quo unionem Ecclesiarum siue Diocessium prædictarum
in persona mea factam dissolvi; et jurisdictiones et possessiones earun-
dem secerni, et Ecclesiæ Ardaghensi de alio quovis Pastore idoneo
pro suo bene-placito provideri gratiose dignetur præcipere. In
quorum omnium fidem et testimonium nomen meum subscripsi et
sigillum meum Episcopale quo hactenus usus sum præsentibus ap-RESIGNATION OF THE SEE OF ARDAGH.
159
posui. Datum vicesimo octavo die Februarii Anno Domini Mille-
simo sexcentesimo tricesimo secundo.
Guilïel. Kilmoren.
In a letter to Dr. Warde on the subject of the résignation of
Ardagh, dated Kilmore, February 2, 1633-4,* Bishop Bedell says:
“And because I found my suits for therights of the Brick of Ardagh
had so cold success, as in three years I coidd not get so much as a
place where to set my foot in the Diocese, although the leases were
made contrary to an Act of State, and were upholden by forgery
and perjury, I accounted it my best course to quit the Brick to Dr
Richardson, who hath the best living j- in it and good friends.
“ And to tell you the whole truth, I was loth that myne own
example shd. serve for a pretext to the established practice of many
of our Nation, who hâve gotten 4, 5, 6, 8 bénéfices apiece, and
commonly vicarages, and wh. is yet worse maintain no curâtes unless
it be sometimes one for two or three livings.”
Dr. John Richardson was raised to the Bishopric of Ardagh by
Patent dated May 14, 1633, and consecrated in the autumn of the
same year at Armagh by Primate Ussher, continuing to hold his
preferments in Commendam.J
Four years after this, Bishop Bedell, in a letter, to Archbishop
Laud, dated September 2, 1637,§ says, that, by the care of Bishop
Richardson, Ardagh is now as good as Kilmore or better; thus
showing how well the affairs of the See of Ardagh had been
managed under a separate Bishop. Laud in his reply, dated
October 12, 1637,|| to this letter, expresses his satisfaction that the
revenue of the Bishopric of Ardagh had been so much improved,
and hopes that in time other bénéfices in Ireland will become rich
* Tanner MS. lxxi. 189, in Bodleian Library.
+ The Yicarage of Granard.
J See Sir James Ware’s " Ireland,” and Archdeacon Henry Cotton’s “ Fasti,”
ut supra, vol. y. p. 231.
§ Public Record Office.
|| Draft in the Public Record Office. Also Laud’s Works, vol. vii. p, 374.160
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
enough to do away with any excuse for pluralities and non-résidence.
The poomess of some livings Laud recognises as an excuse for the
existing abuses, remarking that poverty breeds contempt.
As a tail-piece to this chapter, Bedell’s autographs, as Bishop of
Kilmore and Ardagh, and as Bishop of Kilmore alone, are sub-
joined.

Ç]/ :	rey,
CHAPTEE VIII.
Family Bereayements.
In the midst of Bishop Bedell’s struggles to secure the duefulfilment
of the duties pertaining to his sacred office, Death began to knock
at his door.
First his second son John died. In a letter (Tanner MS. Ixx.
74, in Bodleian Library) to Dr. Samuel Warde, dated Kilmore,
October 11, 1635, the Bishop writes: “ Since my last to you, I
hâve sent before my second and best beloved sonne from the Col-
ledge at Dublin to a higher Universitie, as I hope. God bring me
well to him. It was a little after Christmas last.”
The next death in the Bishop’s family was. that of his step-
daughter Leah in little more than a month after her marriage to
the Rev. Alexander Clogie,* Vicar of Denn, in the county of
* See Chapter XVII.FAMILY BEREAVEMENTS.
161
Cavan. The marriage was solemnized in Dublin by the Bishop
himself, who, in order to be authorised to do so by the Archbishop
of Dublin, obtained a licence from the Consistory, November 23,
1637*
Mrs. Leah Bedell, the Bishop’s wife, did not long survive her
daughter. She died on the 26th of March 1638, and was buried at
Kilmore in the remotest part of the Cathédral churchyard beside
her son John, In the text we hâve notices of Mrs. Bedell in her
earlier days. In the following quotation from one of her husband’s
letters to Dr. Samuel Warde, we hâve a glimpse of her motherly
gladness on the occasion of her eldest son by her first marriage,
Nicholas Mawe, having distinguished himself at Cambridge. The
letterf is dated u Homintll5, 28th April, 1628, and Bédell says :
(t I thank yu for yr newes of Mr Mawe*s dysputacion, wh made his
mother a glad woman.” Mr. Clogie, her son-in-law, supplies a
further account of her. He praises her for her humility, virtue, and
godliness, and dwells much on the reverence she always manifested
towards her husband. The Bishop himself preached her funeral
sermon, taking for his text Eccl. vii. 1 : li A good name is better
than good ointment/’
It is above mentioned (p. 15) that Dr. Nicholas Mawe, Bishop
Bedell’s eldest step-son, married and entered on medical practice in
London, but died not long after. I hâve not been able to ascertain the
date of his death. He is not stated in the Roll of the College of
Physicians to hâve attained the Fellowship. The last notice of him
I hâve found isin the letter, dated Kilmore, October 11, 1635, to Dr.
Samuel Warde, in which Bishop Bedell announces the death of his
son John, and refers to his step-son Dr. Nicholas Mawe, in London,
to get him some books. He probably died before his mother, so
that Mrs. Bedell may hâve had to mourn the death of both her
eldest son and only daughter by her first marriage, ere she herself
was called away.
* Clogie’s Memoir, &c. p. 159. f Tanner MS. lxxii. 275, Bodleian Library.
CAMD. SOC.
Y162
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
CHAPTER IX.
Diocesan Synod.
In the text, Bishop Bedell’s labours in his Diocese are described
in detail, and the suit with the Chancellor, Dr. Alane Cooke, re-
ported at length. Another principal occurrence during his Epis-
copate, which is only glanced at in the text (p. 41), may here be
more fully noticed. In his anxiety for the well-ordering of his
Diocese, the Bishop inaugurated a plan of holding Diocesan Synods
yearly. The first, and, as it would appear, the only one, was held
at the Cathédral Church of Kilmore on the 19th of September,
1638, and, after deliberation on Diocesan matters, decrees relating
to discipline were passed. In the Public Record Office there is in
the Bishop’s own handwriting a document, which was sent to Arch-
bishop Laud, containing minutes of the proceedings of this Diocesan
Synod, with the decrees passed by it, and the names of the clergy-
men who subscribed them. There are also references to the eccle-
siastical authorities on which each decree is founded.
The foliowing is a copy of this document : *
Acta Ecclesiastica in Ecclïa Cathedrali Kilmoren.
Septembris 19°, 1638.
Quo die post peractas publicas prces, & synaxin ab Episcopo cele-
bratam, jussit Epüs in medium proferri S. Biblia, & in mensâ sacra
proponi : cumq. se ad conventus hujus causam exponendam accin-
geret, accessit Margeria King, uxor Murtachi King Yicarii parochiæ
de Templeport, & supplicem libellum ei porrexit, in præsentia totius
côventus, in quo de vi & injurijs viro suo & sibi illatis, a Guilielmo
* It is indorsed thus: “Becd: Decemb: 29: 1638. Synodus Diœcesana Kilmoren:
Septemb: 19: 1638. Actus ejusdë Synodi.” In Clogie’s Life of Bishop Bedell,
and also in that by Bumefc, there is a copy of the Decrees alone, but it does not
contain the names of the clergymen who subscribed them.DIOCESAN SYNOD.
163
Bayly Yicario de Anagheliff conquerebatr. Exclusif laicis &
quotquot non erant de capitulo, Epüs cum Presbyteris tractavit
super Articulis quibusdam in hoc conventu sanciendis. Intervenit
ibi dictus Guilielmus Bayly & inter Presbyteros consedit : Et post-
quam absolvissent tractare, lectus est libellus dictæ Margeriæ, & in-
terrogatus est G. Bayly an hæc ita se haberent ? Qui respondit,
multa in dicto libello contineri, partim vera, partim falsa. Inter-
rogatus de singulis, vim factam negavit. Agnovit se procurante
l’ras a Supremis Commissariis B. Matis pro causis Ecclesiasticis
décrétas, ut dictus Murtachus comprehensus in custodiam traderetur.
Se præsentem orasse Lictores, ut ipsü leniter tractarent, habitâ
ratione valetudinis ejus. Agnovit se cum tribus aliis Equitibus
abegisse boves et equas Margeriæ prædictæ. In quos dicebat ipsam
cum servulis impetum fecisse, & auditam ejus vocem jubentis unum é
suis, ut quêdam quocum manus conserebat occideret : Cum Epüs
eum admoneret excôicationis quam olim incurrerat, adeoq. non esse
ei jus in hoc conventu suffragandi ; respondit se absolutum ëe, idq.
postea manifestum fore. Cum alia quædam peragenda restarent,
propter temporis angustias ulterius processû non est in hoc negotio.
Proposita est locatio quædâ duarum pullarü fundi Epalis, facta ab
Epo Dionysio Sheriden, Yicario de Killasser, a capitulo confir-
manda. Lectæ sunt tabulæ locationis. Kes dilata ê in tempus pômeri-
dianum.
Cum iterum post prandium convenissent, lecta sunt Latine
capitula antea synodo proposita, & suffragia viritim rogata. De
quarto pro majori parte ampliabant, reliquis subscripserunt, nisi qd
Fidelis Teate S. Theologiæ Dr de mulieribus in sacrario non sedendis
non ê assensus.
De causâ G. Bayly, ipso non comparente, denuo tractatü est. Epüs
commemoravit ante annü in Visitatione Dromlahani propter vim et
intrusionem in dictam Yicariam de T. declaratum fuisse ipsü G.
Bayly non modo illâ quam occupaverat, sed insuper Vicariâ de
Anagheliff quam prius obtinuerat ipso jure privatü. Verum hujus-
modi declarationë executioni non fuisse demandatam. Consensu164
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
omnium decretum est, ut ad causam dicendam proximâ Curiâ
Cavanam citaretur, et prout causa postülaret procederetur.
De Negotio locationis, visum est capitulo tractandum prius cum
Prorege & Consilio, quorum si consensus accederet, se quoq. eam
locationem sigillo capituli (quod in presentiâ non aderat) con-
firmaturos.
Proposuit Epüs de querelâ Cleri et populi ob iniquas exactiones
in ultima Visitatione Metropolitica : et representati sunt breviculi
aliquot ad eam rem facientes. Epus consuluit ut Iras ad Eeve-
rendissm Prim. Armachanü Archiepum super hoc negotio conscri-
berent. Electus est Decanus Kilmoren, qui cum Archidiacono &
Dre Teate epistolam conciperent communi noie mittendam.
Negotium de Decimâ ex pastione animalium, quod demandatum
fuerat Geor. Creichtano, Yicario de Lurgan, prosequendum apud
Proregem et Consilium noie Clêri ; Item et aliud qd gerebat
Decanus Kilmoren de portione decimarü quam vendicat Cornes
Westmediæ a compluribus ecclesijs, nomine Prioratus sive Mo-
nasterii de Fower, dilata sunt in secundü Octobris, propter temporis
angustias.
Cum jam advesperasceret, gratijs ab Epô Deo redditis, ob paci-
ficum hujus Conventus exitum, ab omnibus discessum est.
Décréta Synodi.
In noie Dni Dej & Salvatoris nostri Jesu Chri.
Eegnante in perpetuum ac gubernante Ecclesiam suam, eodem
Dôio nostro Jesu Chro, annoque imperij Serenissimi Principis ac
Dni Caroli D. G. Magnæ Britâniæ et Hibniæ Eegis decimo quarto.
Cum ad Ecclesiam Cathedralem Kilmoren monitu Guilielmi Epi
convenisset Capitulum totius Diœceseos ad Synodum Diœcesanam
celebrandum, post fusas ad Deum preces pro publicâ pace, Eegisque
et familiæ Eegiæ incolumitate, et peractâ S. Synaxi, Verba fecit
Epus de ejusmodi Synodorum antiquitate, necessitate et authoritate.DECRETA SYNODI.
165
Et cum venisset in consultationem quibus rationibus et fidei sinceritas,
& morum sanctitas, & décor domus Dej, & Ministrorum libertas
conservari posset, nihil conducibilius visum est, quam ut ea quæ à
Patribus benè ac prudenter antiquitus instituta sunt, quasi post-
liminij jure revocarentr. Atque tractatu inter nos habito, ad
extremum in hæc capitula unanimiter consensum est.
Synodum Diœcesanam sive capitulum quotannis feria quarta
secundæhebdomadæMensis Septembrisin Eccliâ Kilmoren tenendam.
Eum diem huic Conventui statum et solennem fore, sine ullo Man-
data. Si res poscat in cæteris quoq. ordinationum temporibus Pres-
byterium contrahi, Episcopi mandatum expectandum.
Concil. Lateran. sub Innocen. c. 6, Sicut olim.
Concil. Basil, c. 8, Synodales.
In Epi absentia aut morbo Yicarius ejus si Presbyter fuerit,
præsidebit, alioquî Arcbidiaconus, qui de jure yicarius est Episcopi.
De offic° Archidiaconi, 1. i. tit. 23, c. 1° and 7°.
Yicarius Epi in posterum nullus constituât1* aut côfirmet1 qui
Laicus sit, nec quisquara prorsus nisi durante duntaxat bene-
placito.
Concil. Chalced. c. 26.
Concil. Hispalen. 2 c. 9, Nona actione, &c.
Ve Bertachinu\ pars 7, c. 9.
Ut Archidiaconus * de triennio in triennium personaliter visitet:
Singularum Ecclesiarum ædiumque mansionalium sarta tecta tueatr.
Libros et ornamenta in Indiculo descriptos habeat; defectus omnes
supplendos curet, Episcopalis procurationis dimidium habeat, eâ
conditione ut Episcopus eo anno non visitet.
De Offic. Archidiaconi, c. 1°.
Concil. Oxonie’, c. 22.
Ut secundum pristinam et antiquam hujus Diœceseos Kilmoren
constitutionem, in tribus ejus regionibus très Decani sint, ab ipsis
Ministris cujusq. Decanatus eligendi; qui vitam et mores Cleri
jugi circumspectione custodiant et ad Epüm référant, ejus mandata
* Dé hoc capite ampliat Capitulum.166
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
accipiantj et quoties opus erit, per Apparitorë Decanatus ad com-
presbyteros suos transmittant.
Regist. Kilmor.
De Offic. Archidiac. c. Ad hœc.
Ve Concil. Oxon. c. 16.
De Offic. Archipres. c. Ut singul.
In quoq. Decanatu in oppido ejus principali conventus sive
capitulum sit Ministrorü, quolibet saltem Mense: ubi lectis plenè
publicis precibus, concionentr per vices, absque longis precibus et
proemijs.
Ve Lindwood De Constitut. c. Quia.
Concil. Oxon. 16, 29 et 24.
Advocationes ecclesiar nondum vacantium quæ ad collationë
Epi spectant, nemini conférant1 aut confirmentur.
Concil. Lateran. sub Alex. Tit. de Jure Patr. 11, &c.
Tit. ult. 103.
Possessiones Eccliæ non alienentur aut locentur contra regni jura,
nempe terrarü mensalium nulla sit Locatio, nisi quoad Epüs in
vitâ aut sede sua supersit, cæterarum, in plures annos quam leges
sinunt aut prioribus locationibus trienio minus nondum expletis.
V9 Décrétal. 1. 3°, Tit 13, c. Nulli, &c.
c. Ut super.
Ut corpora defunctorü deinceps in Ecclesijs non humentur, sed
nec intra quintum pedem a pariete Ecclesiæ extrorsum.
Concil. Bracar, 1. c. 36.
Concil. Mold. c. 24° y1 9°, Antiquus in his, &c.
Concil. Mogunt. 1. c. 32.
Concil. Matised. 2. c. 17, Comperimus.
Concil. Tribur. 1, c. 17, Secundum, &c.
Ut mulieres in sacrario non sedeant, sed infra càcellos; et quidem
a viris secretæ.
Concil. Laodicen. 44.
Concil. Aquisgran. 82.
Capitular. Car. 1. 1, c. 17.
Ve Concil. Turonen. 2, c. 4, Ut laici, &c.DECRETA SYNODI.
167
Ut sacrarium in Consistorium non convertatr, aut sacra mensa
Notarijs aut Scribis sit pro pluteo.
Capitulai*. 1. 1, c. 71. Ex Concil. Lugd.
C. Decret, de immunitate Eccl. in Yl.
Concil. Colon’, snb Herma’no, Tit. 3°, De Metrop.
cap. 24, Cum in, &c.
Ne in funeribus mulieres planctum aut ululatum faciant.
Concil. Toletan. 3, c. 22.
Capitular. Car. 1. 6, c. 194.
Ut ossa defunctorü in cæmeterijs non coacervent1 sed tradantr
sepulturæ.
Capitular. 1, 6. 195.
Ut * matricula sit, in quam référant1 nôia eorum qui ad S. Ordines
admissi sunt, aut instituti ad bénéficia, sive ad cura animarum
coaptati ; clericorum item parochaliu, et Ludimagistrorü : neque
deinceps ad l’ras testimoniales in Visitationibus exhibendas adigant*.
Concil. Agathen.* c. 2.
Capitular. Addit. 4, c. 100.
Dist. 50*. c. Contumaces.
Lindwood, De Censibus, c. Item licet, &c.
c. Sæva, &c.
Ne quis Minister oblationes ad funera, baptismü, Eucharistiâ,
nuptias, post puerpérium, aut portionè Canonicam cuiquam locet.
Décrétal, 1. 3. Tit. 30°, c. Quamvis.
Concil. Oxon. c. 37.
Ne quis ejusmodi oblata acerbe exigat, prsertim a pauperibus.
Concil. Datera’, sub Innocent, c. 66.
Concil. Oxon’. 26.
Concil. Vasen. 2, Præcipiendu’ est, c. 13*, 9, 2d*.
Concil. Tribur. 16 Abhorrendus, &c.
Qrat. c*, 13, 9, 2, c. 12.
Ut fas sit Ministro a S. Cænâ repellere eos, qui se ingerunt ad
Synaxin, neque nôia sua pridie Parocho significarunt.
Concil. Cabilon. 2U, c. 46.168
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDE LL.
Ut pueri a septimo saltem ætatis anno donec confirment1, per
manuum impositionem, stent inter Catechumenos, factoque Catalogo,
singulis Dominicis certus eorum numerus sistatur in Ecclesiâ
examinandus.
Si quis Minister quenquam ex fratribus suis alibi accusaverit
priusquam Epô denunciet, ab ejus consortio cæteri ôes abstine-
bunt.
Concil. Chalced. c. 9.
Ve Grat. ca, n. q. 1, c. 38, De persona Presbyt.
et c. Pervenit.
Clerici comam ne nutriant & habitu elericali prout Synodo
Dubliniensi constitutum est incedant.
Concil. Oxon. c. 30.
Lindwood, Tit. De Offic. Indi. c. Ordinarij.
Oeconomi Parochiarum provideant, ne in Ecclesiâ tempore
cultus divini, pueruli discursent: atque canes arceantr, constitutis *
ostiarijs, vel muleta imposita, si quis semel atque iterum admonitus
canem secum in Ecclesiam introduxerit.
* V9 Concil. Laodicen. c. 22. & 43.
Capitular. 1. i. c. 71.
Ut nulla exœicationis sententia feratur ab uno solo Ministro, sed
ab Epô, assistentibus quotquot ex Capitulo fuerint prsentes.
Matth. 18, 17.
1 Cor. 5, 4.
Capit. Car. 1.1°, c. 142.
Haec Décréta Synodalia, quoniam ex usu hujus Diœceseos futura
credimus, et ipsi observabimus, & quantû in nobis est ab alijs
observanda curabimus adeoque manus suæ quisque subscriptione
corroboramus. Septemb. 19°, 1638.
Guiliel. Kilmorën Epüs.
Tho. Price, Archidiacon. Kilm. Hen. Jones.DIOCESAN SYNOD.
169
Omnibus his subscribo præter-
quam nono * decreto :— Faithfull Teate.
Martin Baxter.
Georg. Creichton.
Alexander Clogie.
Daniel Crean.
Al. Comine.
Tho. Brady.
Denis Shiriden.
It is here seen that the Ministers présent delayed judgment on
the fourtli decree, but subscribed to ail the others, except Dr. Faith-
full Teate,f who objected to that by winch it is ordered that women
should sit not in the chancel, but below the rails and apart from
the men. Dr. Teate’s reason for this was, Mr. Clogie allégés, that
he had erected a new seat for his wife in the chancel but a little
before, and was loath to remove it.
The convening of this Diocesan Synod gave occasion to a great
outcry against Bishop Bedell on the part of his adversaries. Not-
withstanding the modération and legality of the whole proceedings
the Bishop and every minister that assisted at the Synod, it was
declared, ought to be cited before the High Commission Court or
the Star Chamber. This frightened the ministers, but the Bishop
was ready with a reply.J His explanation to Archbishop Laud,
dated Dublin, December 20, 1638, accompanies the Minutes of the
Proceedings and the Decrees of the Synod above copied from the
document in the Public Record Office, and is here quoted :—
* The decree to which Dr. Teate did not assent was that against women sitting
in the chancel. This decree in the above sériés it will be seen stands tenth and not
ninth ; the fourth, being reserved, was not counted.
t The son of this Dr. Faithfull Teate or Tate was Nahum Tate, one of the
authors of the metrical version of the Psalms.
J “ You had better let him alone,” Archbishop Ussher wamed Bedell’s assailants
in Dublin, “ for fear, if he should be provoked, he should say much more for him-
self than any of his accusers can say against him.” (Harris’s Ware’s Works,
i. 236.)
CAMD. SOC.
Z170
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
“ Concerning my bringing into the Castle-Chamber and Prœ-
munire for our Diocesan Synode, the bruite is much ceased since
men hâve a little looked on their books. A Prelate of great note
said to one of my clergy here, If we might hold a Diocesan Synode,
why not a Provinciall? and if that, why not a Nationall? The
argumt indeed is a minore ad majus, but affirmative. Yet
touching Provinciall Synodes, enjoined by the canons of ye universal
church, allowed by the laws Imperiall, and those of other Christian
countries, practised by yr Grs predecessors in England, and by the
Archbps of this Kingdome, yea (as I am informed) by ye Popish
titular clergy here this day, I cannot conceive what jealousy of
State there should be against them, being sufficiently limited by
the Act of submission of the clergy and subordinated to the Crowne.
And if there be any scruple in the law touching the assembling of
Suffraganes by their Metropolitane, for causes merely Ecclesiasticall,
his Majesty by his Roiall authority declaring his pleasure therein,
might (if in his high wisdome he should thinke fitt) take away ail
doubt and restore the ancient order of the Christian Church,
and bring much ease to his subjects, wthout neede of other ex-
travagant courses. These conceptions I humbly submitt to y1’
Grace’s mature judgment. To retorne to Episcopall Synodes:
Among other things, since I came to this place, I hâve mett wth a
just Treatise De Synodo Epi, in that great work of the Tractates of
the Drs, printed at Venice, in 16 Tomes; It is Tome 2°. The
author’s name is Henricus Botteus; he wrote, as may appear, part
3% No. 74, ye year after Rome was sackt, anno 1527. Amongst
others, these are his positions : that such a Synode est de jure divino.
And, Papa non poH Ep'is auferre potest’em fadendi suas Synodos.
Item, Ep'us non débet petere licentiam ab Archiep'o pro congre-
ganda sua Synodo. Synodus est prœparatorium ad Visitationem, 8çc.
Quœdam Visitatio generalis fyc. Episcopus omittens convocare Synodum
debet puniri suspensione, &c. And it is very likely that those y*
penned or laté canons, or those from whom they were taken, had
this in their mindes when they appointed y* ye constitutions law-EFFORTS TO SPREAD THE GOSPEL IN IRISH.
171
fully enjoined by ye Bp. of the Dioces in his Visitation, should be
observed, &c. But I forget myself and yr Gracc’s many employ-
ments.”
CHAPTER X.
Efforts to spread the Gospel through the medium of
THE NATIVE LANGUAGE—IRISH TRANSLATION OF THE OLD
Testament.
From the time of Edward the Sixth down to that of James the
First, the necessity of imparting religious instruction to the Irish in
their own language had been repeatedly recognised. Queen Elizabeth,
in the 13th year of her reign, sent over a font of types, in the Irish
character, in the hope, as she expresses herself, “ that God in his mercy
would raise up some one to translate the New Testament into their
mother tangue.” And Sir H. Sidney, “ the good Lord Deputy,” sug-
gested that Irish-speaking ministers should be appointed in remote
parishes. But, notwithstanding ail this, we find King James, in
the 17th year of his reign, complaining that Irish-speaking
ministers had not been trained in Trinity College, Dublin, as had
been intended by Queen Elizabeth.
We hâve above seen that Bedell had not been Provost long
before he applied himself to the study of the Irish language. In
this he succeeded so well as to become a proficient, as regards the
reading and writing of it, but did not, as was to be expected at his
time of life, acquire much facility in speaking it. On being made
Bishop he undertook the task of having a translation of the Old
Testament made into Irish, as appears from a letter to Archbishop
Ussher, dated February 15, 1629-30, in which he mentions that
Mr. James Nangle was occupied with the translation of the Psalms,
and Mr. Murtach King with that of the Historical Books of the
Old Testament.172
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
In 1631 the Bishop printed, not exactly a catechism, but a short
summary of Christian doctrine, in English and Irisk. Of this tract
there is a copy in the British Muséum. A description of it and its
contents is here given, drawn up with the work before me.
It is comprised in a single sheet, small octavo : —
(First Leaf.)
The
A, B, C,
or
The Institution
of a Christian.
(Irish title in Irish letters.)
Dublin :
Printed by the Company of Stationers. 1631.
On the back of this title-page is a wood-engraving, coarsish but
clever and well-drawn, representing a tree laden with apples, and
children gathering the fruit from it : two are up the tree plucking
off the apples, three are catching them as they fall or picking them
up from among the fallen leaves, one is sitting looking up at the
tree, and one, also sitting, is eating of the fruit. The artist’s initiais
are B. B. This picture was, no doubt, intended by the Bishop to
illustrate the saying of St. Augustine, which he had often in
his mouth : u Fruit, not Leaves, I seek.”
(Second leaf.)
The A, B, C.
A a, B b, &c. in Koman	1 The corresponding letters in Irish
Characters.	I	Characters.A SUMMARY OF CHRISTIAN DOCTRINE.
173
Abbreviations :—
&	â ye	y*	y"	The same in	Irish.
and,	an, the,	that,	tliou,		
w1	wc	. i .		The same in	Irish.
with, which, viz*, tbat is.
Numerals :—
Roman--------------
Arabie-------------
Roman--------------
Arabie-------------
MDCXXXI.
1631.
On the reverse side of this second leaf the paging commences.
Page 1 on tbe left, in English, and page 2 on the right, in Irish,
face each other, and contain :—
The profession of a Christian :
In the name of the Father, &c.
The Catholike and Apostolike Faith:
The Creed.
The Lord’s Prayer begins.
Page 3 on the left in English, and page 4 on the right in Irish,
face each other, and contain the rest of the Lord’s Prayer, and the
lst and 2nd Commandments, with the commencement of the 3rd.
Page 5 on the left in English, and page 6 on the right in Irish,
facing each other, contain the rest of the Commandments.
Page 7 on the left in English, and page 8 on the right in Irish,
facing each other, contain “ The Summe of the Gospell,*’ Galat. 3,
10, John 3, 16.
Page 9 on the left in English, and page 10 on the right in Irish,
facing-each other, contain 2 Corinth. 5, 19.
Page 11 on the left in English, and page 12 on the right (by a
typographical error numbered 11) in Irish, facing each other, con-174
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
tain Acts 13, 38, The recommending the soûle into the hands of
God; Luke 18, 13 ; Mat. 9, 24; Luke 17, 5; Psal. 31, v. 7 ;
Acts 7, 59 ; Grâce before méat, Psal. 145, 15.
Page 13 is the last, and is divided into two columns, the first of
which is in English, and the second in Irish. It contains Grâce
after Méat and the Bénédiction, The Grâce of our Lord Jésus
Christ, and the love of God, and the Communion of the Holy
Ghost, be with us ail. Amen.
At the end of this page is a flowered tail-piece.
In a reprint of this tract, we are informed in Burnet’s Life of
Bedell, there were added some of Leo’s and Chrysostom’s homilies, in
English and Irish. This augmented édition of the work I hâve not seen.
Bishop Bedell did what he could to induce such of his clergy as
were résident on their livings to set up Irish Schools in their
parishes. In a letter to his friend Dr. Samuel Warde (Tanner
MS. lxxi. 189, Bodleian Library), dated February 2, 1633, the
Bishop says that he trains his children up as he may to understand
the Irish tongue, in the hope that they may endeavour to open the
eyes of some part of the Irish Nation.
In a convocation held at Dublin in 1634, there were no smali
debates on the subject of the version of the Bible and Liturgy
into Irish, for the benefit and instruction of the natives. The
Bishop of Kilmore advocated the measure, founding his argu-
ments on the principles of theology and the good of soûls. Dr. John
Bramhall,* then Bishop of Derry, and afterwards Archbishop of
Armagh, on the contrary, opposed the measure, from politics and
maxims of State, as inexpedient, and because there was a statute of
Henry the Eighth obliging the native Irish to learn English.f
* Dr. Bramhall appears always to hâve acted in a cold and unsympathising—even
secretly inimical—way towards BedelPs beneficent labours, as appears from his
letters to Laud in the Public Record Office, and occasional expressions in BedelPs
own letters.
t Dr. Antony Dopping, Bishop of Meath, in a letter dated December 14, 1685,
to the Rev. * * *, in the Works of the Hon. Robert Boyle.IRISH TRANSLATION OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.
175
Convocation, countenanced by Primate Ussher, siding with Bishop
Bedell, ordered, that when the people of a parish are ail, or mostly
ail, Irish, the Liturgy shall be read in Irish, and that when the
minister does not know Irish, and many Irish are in the parish,
such a clerk may be chosen as shall be able to read in Irish those
parts of the service as shall be appointed to be read in that lan-
gage.
The New Testament in Irish had already been published in 1602 ;
and in 1603 King James ordered it to read in the parishes of the
Irishrie. This Irish New Testament was that the translation of
which had been, in pursuance of the recommendation of Queen
Elizabeth, commenced by Nicholas Walsh, Bishop of Ossory, con-
tinued by Nehemiah O’Donnellan, Archbishop of Tuam, assisted
by John Kearney, sometime Treasurer of St. Patrick’s, Dublin, and
completed by William O’Donel or Daniel, the successor of O’Don-
nellan in the Archbishopric of Tuam, the expense being borne by the
Province of Connaught and Sir William Ussher, Clerk of the
Council.* Archbishop Daniel also translated the Book of Common
Prayer into Irish, and had it published at his own charges in
1608-9.
Encouraged by the decision of Convocation that where ail or
most part of the people are Irish, the Bible and Common Prayer
Book in the Irish tongue, so soon as they may be had, shall be pro-
vided by the parish, Bishop Bedell went on diligently with the
work of translating the Old Testament into Irish. The translation
was made from the authorised English version, and was com-
pleted about the year 1638. (See text, p. 61.) While préparation
was being made to print the translation, which the Bishop intended
to do at his own expense, Lord Wentworth, afterwards Earl of
Strafford, the then Lord-Deputy, influenced by misrepresentations,
interfered to delay the good work. An ill-feeling towards the
Bishop himself, on the part of certain persons, no doubt had some-
* Hon. Robert Boyle’s Life and Works, Appendix No. III. ; and Préfacé to the
Second Edition of the Irish New Testament.176
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
thing to do with this opposition. For already in 1630, as appears
from a letter to Archbishop Ussher, dated Kilmore, March 29,
Bedell refers to the slanders of some persons discontented against
him, which had found vent in the accusation of his being too zealous
in the endeavour to dissipate the gross errors that obscured the
minds of Roman Catholics ; but the ostensible grounds on which the
Irish translation of the Old Testament was objected to were the
meanness, unworthiness, and incapacity of the person whom Bishop
Bedell employed to make it.
Mr. Murtach King, the principal translator, was an old man of
about seventy, who, it is said, had formerly been a Roman Catholic
priest. By the account in the text (p. 61,) he was converted to the
Reformed religion by Bishop Bedell, though, by Mr. Clogie’s
account, his conversion dated back to King James’s time. How-
ever that may hâve been, King was recommended as above-said to
Bedell as the best Irish scholar then living. Bedell himself had
taken lessons in Irish from him, and was thus well able to judge
of his qualifications. Being .satisfied with Mr. King’s attainments
and conversation in life, the Bishop not only employed him, but
also admitted him to Holy Orders, and gave him the living of
Templeport, after having publicly examined him in ail points of
the Christian faith, in the Cathédral Church of Kilmore, as Mr.
Clogie informs us.*
The following is the entry in the Regai Visitation of 1633-4 of
Mr. Murtach King’s ordination and preferment : f
Dioc Kilmore.
Epüsconfert. Valet 60u > Vicaria de Tem- i Mr. Murtachus Kinge
per annum. J pleport. C	Vicarius.
Murtachus Kinge admissus fuit ad sacrum Diaconatus ordinem per
Gulielmum Kilmorensem et Ardaghensem Epüm, 23° die Septemis
1632. Et ad sacrum Presbyteratus ordinem per eundem Epüm,
* Memoir, p. 104.
f This extract has been supplied by the Rev. Dr. Reeves, of Tynan, to whom I
am indebted for so much original information relating to the subject of this work.IRISH TRANSLATION OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.
177
22 Sept. 1633. Idem Murtachus collatus fuit per eundem Epüm
ad Yicariam de Templeport, 29 Septem18, 1633. Inductus fuit in
eandem vicariam eisdem die et anno.
Mr. Murtach King was not only decried but positively persecuted,
notwithstanding ail the protection which the Bishop could alford
him. The bénéfice of Templeport, like the Vineyard of Naboth, ap-
pears to hâve been a moving cause of the persécution of Mr. Murtach
King. A Mr. Bayly, a Scotchman, whom Bishop Bedell had col-
lated to the living of AnaghelifF, on condition that he would
résidé in the parish, and not hold any other bénéfice, not content,
did, nevertheless, within a month after entering into this solemn
engagement, purchase a dispensation at the Prérogative Court in
Dublin to hold an additional bénéfice, and, casting covetous eyes on
Templeport, went about with the assistance and counsel of others to
disseize Mr. Murtach King of his living. Pretending now a lapse of
the bénéfice of Templeport to His Majesty the King, Mr. Bayly,
by his interest, obtained a grant of it from the Lord Deputy for
himself under the broad seal. See p. 47.
In his letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury, dated September
2, 1637 (in the Public Record Office), above quoted, Bishop Bedell
refers to this proceeding of Mr. William Bayly against Mr. Mur-
tach King, and in another letter (also in the Public Record Office),
dated Dublin, November 12, 1638, says, that by artifice of Lady
Lambart and Mr. W. Bayly, Mr. Murtach King was inveigled to
send in a résignation ; and that “ Bayly accused Mr. Murtach King
as a man unlearned in Holy Scripture and Divinity, not able to read
prayers, neglecting his cure, not conforming his wife and children
to the religion established, and in his heart affecting superstition
more than the truth, and with many more like Articles * such as
malice can suggest.” Again, in a brave letter to the Lord Deputy
* There is in the Public Record Office a copy of these Articles, which had been
sent by Bishop Bramhall, of Derry, to Archbishop Laud. The paper is indorged
“ Receeved February 28, 1638-9, from the Bp. of Derry, Articles of the High Com-
mission Court in Ireland against King.”
CAMD. SOC.	2 A178
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
Wentworth, dated December 1, 1638, the Bishop laid bare the
whole nefariousness of the transaction. This letter has been printed
but not accurately. From the copy of it in his own handwriting
(preserved in the Public Record Office), which Bishop Bedell sent
inclosed to Archbishop Laud, the folio wing ex tracts are taken :—
******
“ The occasion is not my long suite (wch I havecomitted to God)
or any other matter of profitt, but God’s honour, and (as He is
Witnes) yours. I hâve lately received letters from my Ld of Can-
terbury, whereby I perceive his Grâce is informed, yt Mr King
whom I employed to translate ye Bible into Irish is a man so igno-
rant yt ye translation cannot be worthy publick use in ye Church ;
and besides obnoxious, so as ye Church can receive no creditt from
any thing yt is his. And his Grâce adds, that he is so well ac-
quainted wth yr Lop8 disposition y1 he assures himselfe you would
not hâve given away his living had you not seene just cause
for it,
“ I account myselfe bownd to endeavour to satisfy his Gr. herein,
and desire, if I may be so happy to do it, by satisfieing you. * * * *
“ Touching Mr King’s seelines (wch it concerns me the more to
cleare him of, yt I be not accounted a seely man myselfe), I beseech
yr Lop. to take information, not by men w° never saw him till
yesterday, but by the ancient eithr Church or Statesmen of this
kingdome, in whose eies he hatli lived these many years, as are the
L. Primate, ye Bp. of Meath, ye L. Dillon, Sr James Ware, and the
like : I doubt not but yr Lo? shall understand y1 there is no such
danger, y1 ye translation should be unworthy because he did it.
Being a man of y1 knowne sufficiency for the Irish especially, either
in prose or verse, as few are his matches in the Kingdome. And
shortly, not to argue by conjecture and divination, let the worke
itselfe speake, yea, let it be examined rigoroso examine, if it be
fownd approveable, let it not suffer disgrâce from ye small boast of
the workeman; but let him rather (as old Sophocles, accused of
dotage) be absolved for the sufficiency of the worke.IRISH TRANSLATION OF THE OLD TESTAMENT.
179
“ Touching his being obnoxious : it is true yt there is a scandalous
information put in against hiin in the High Commission Court by
his despoyler, Mr. Bayly (so my Lo. of Derry, in my hearing, told
him he was), and by an excomunicate despoyler, as myselfe, before
th* execution of any sentence, declared him in ye Court to be ; And
Mr. King being cited to answer, and not appearing, as by lawe he
was not bownd, was taken pro confesso, deprived of his Ministry
and living, fined ÎOO11, decreed to be attached and imprisoned. His
adversary Mr. Bayly, before he was sentenced, purchased a new
Dispensation to hold his Bénéfice, and was ye very next day after (as
appears by ye date of the instrum1) both presented in the King’s
title, although ye Bénéfice be of my collation, and instituted by my
L. Primate’s Vicar, shortly after inducted by an Archdeacon of
another Dioces. Within a few dayes he brought downe an at-
tachm4, and delivered Mr. King to a Pursivant.* He was haled by
ye head and feete to horse-back, and brought up to Dublin, where
he hath remained under arrest these 4 or 5 Moneths. He hath
often offered to purge his supposed contumacy by oth and witnesses,
that by reason of his sicknes of ye flix£ (whereby he was brought to
death’s dore) he could not appeare and prosecute his defence, and yt
by the ounning of his adversary he was circumvented and secured.
Entreating y* he might be restored to his liberty, and his cause
into ye former estate. But it hath not availed him. My Reverend
Colleagues of ye High Commission doe some of them pitty his case.
Others say, the sentence past cannot be reversed, least y® crédit of
the Court be intacked. They bid him simply submitt himselfe and
acknowledge his censure is just. Whereas the Bp* of Rome them-
selves, after most formall proceeding, doe grant restitutionem in in-
tegrum, and acknowledge y* sententia Ro'œ Sedis potest in melius
corrCutari. My Lord, if I understand what is right divine or
humane, these be wrongs upon wrongs, which if they reached only
to Mr. King’s person were of less consideracôn. But when through
his side y* great worke, ye Translation of God’s booke, so necessary
* See the Minutes of the Diocesan Synod in the preceding chapter, p. 163.180
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
for both bis Ma*1®8 kingdomes, is mortally wownded, pardon me (I
beseech yr Lo5) if I be sensible of it.
******
“ For conclusion (good my Lord) give me leave a litle to apply
the parable of Nathan to K. David, to this purpose. If the way-
faring man y* is corne to us (for such he is, having never yet been
setled in one place,) hâve so sharpe a stomack, that he must be pro-
vided for wth Plurality, sith there are heards and flocks plenty,
suffer him not (I beseech you) under ye collour of the King’s name,
to take the cosset-ewe* of a poore man to satisfy his ravenous
appetite.f ”
* * * * * *
Notwithstanding the incredible injustice here exposed, it appears
that Bayly, having appealed from Bishop BedelPs sentence of ex-
communication, was absolved and confirmed in his ill-acquired béné-
fice. Nay, ere long, he was raised to the Episcopate, being in
1644 consecrated at Oxford Bishop of Clonfert. He had even been
designed, it is said, for the See of Kilmore, upon Bishop BedelPs
death, but the patent was revoked.I
* A pet lamb brought up by hand.
•f* According to what are aUeged to hâve been the true facts, the case of the
Bishop of Killala, above related in the text at pp. 52-4, was, in some respects, a
connterpart of this of Mr. Mnrtach King. The Bishopric of Elphin in Ireland
having fallen vacant, the Earl of Strafford claimed it for Dr. Henry Tilson, his
chaplain, whereas Eing Charles designed the preferment for another. At this
juncture, the scandai against the Bishop of Killala occurred, (see pp. 52-4), and was
seized upon as a pretext to deprive him of his Bishopric in order to create a vacancy
for the King’s nominee, John Maxwell, the refngee Bishop of Ross in Scotland ;
and by this notable expédient the wishes of both King and Viceroy, which had
corne to be to a certain extent at issue, were reconciled.
% Mr. William Bayly must hâve had great interest with King Charles. I do not
know whether he was of the same family as Dr. Lewis Bayly (the patemal ancestor
of the Marquis of Anglesey’s family), who came from Scotland with King James
the First as tutor to Prince Henry, and was made Bishop of Bangor. Bayly’s
career of preferment stands thus:—Jan. 7, 1634, Coll. Vicar of Annageliff; and
again, by présentation of the Crown, instituted and inducted, Aug. 7,1637; andTHE IRISH REBELLION OF 1641.
181
Before the impedimenta thus thrown in the way could be over-
come, so that the printing of the translation might be proceeded
with, the Rébellion broke out, and the publication of the Old
Testament in Irish was altogether prevented for the time by the
venerable Prelate’s death, which soon foliowed thereon.
CHAPTER XI.
The Irish Rébellion of 1641.
The rébellion broke out on Saturday the 23rd of October, 1641,
ail over Ireland, and none were more forward than the Rebels in the
county of Cavan. Ail the forts and other places of strength were
quickly in their hands except Keilagh and Croghan, the castles of
Sir Francis Hamilton and Sir James Craig, who were able to hold
out. The house of Bishop Bedell was at first respected, and thither,
as well as to Keilagh and Croghan Castles, the neighbouring
Protestants, English and Scotch, flocked for protection.
The plan of the rebels to surprise the Castle of Dublin, and to
seize the arms therein stored, having been by timely information
frustrated, and two of their principal leaders taken into custody,
those in the county of Cavan thought fit to temporise. Accordingly,
having drawn up a “ Remonstrance” to the Lords Justices and
Council, calculated to put a gloss upon their proceedings, in the
hope of suspending the opposition of the Government, they made
again June 15, 1638. Presented by the Crown to the Vicarage of Templeport Ang.
7,1637; and again June 15, 1638. Bishop Bedell inhis letter to Archbishop Laudy
dated Noyr. 12, 1638, refers to the instrument of this latter présentation as haying
been produced by Mr. W. Bayly. The renewed présentations by the Crown here
mentioned, were made to counteract the sentences of excommunication and privation
pronounced against Mr. Bayly by Bishop Bedell. See “ Acta Ecclesiastica,” in the
preceding chapter.182
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
application to Bishop Bedell to undertake the présentation of it, but
he fairly excused himself * on account of bis âge, whereby he was
not fit to travel to Dublin with that expédition which they expected ;
and also because that many of the poor English of Belturbefc, who
had retired to him and depended on what security and subsistence
he could afford them, would by his absence be exposed to want
and other injuries. This, says Dr. Henry Jones, the Dean of Kil-
more, whose narrative I am quoting, ct the rebels interpreted as a
put off, yet did the gravity and respect which his presence com-
manded restrain them from what some in their councell had before
propounded in case he should givê out and décliné that service for
them.” Dean Jones himself was next in their eye, being a prisoner
with his family in their hands. He was accordingly designed and
commanded upon this employment. “ I must confess, says the
Dean,f it was such as was in every respect improper for me to
undergo, but considering that I might gain the opportunity of
laying open to the Lords what I had observed of the proceedings
of the rebels in the county of Cavan, and which could not other-
wise be so safely communicated, I didaccept the employment.” Dr.
Jones accordingly went to Dublin accompanied by Mr. John
Waldron of Farnham, delivered “ the Remonstrance,” and after ten
days’ stay in that city retumed with an answer from the Lords
Justices and Council. “ Return I must,” says the Dean,—“ my
wife and children remaining as hostages ” in the hands of the
rebels. The Remonstrance was as foliows :—
* The Beginnings and Proceedings of the Rébellion in the county of Cavan
from the 23rd of October 1641 until the 15th of June 1642. By Henry Jones, D.D.
London, August 11,1642. See also Dr. Edmnnd Borlace’s History of the Irish
Rébellion, London, 1680, folio, p. 32; and Sir James Ware’s History of Ireland.
f Op. cit. This narrative of “ the Beginnings and Proceedings of the Rébellion
in the county of Cavan ” is a different work from Dr. Henry Jones’s déposition con-
ceraing the Rébellion, dated March 3rd, 1641-2, forming Appendix IX. in Sir
Richard Cox’s Hibemia Anglicana, or History of Ireland, vol. ii. p.p. 38-44. In
this déposition Dr. Jones States what he had heard of the long hatching of the
rébellion, and of the plans and intentions of the Rebels.THE IR1SH REBELLION OF 1641.
183
“ The humble Remonstrance made by the Gentry and Comonaltie
of the countie of Cavan, of their grievances comon with other pts
of this Kingdome of Ireland.*
“ To the Right Honble the Lords Justices and Councell.
“ Whereas wee his Maties loyall subjects of his Highness King-
dome of Ireland hâve of long time groaned under many grievous
pressures occasioned by the rigorous govtment of such placed over
us, as respected more the advancement of theire owne private
fortunes than the honour of his Matie or the welfare of us his sub-
jects, whereof wee hâve in part in humble maner declared ourselves
to his Highness, by the agents sent from the Parliament, the repré-
sentative body of this Kingdom : Notwithstanding which wee find
ourselves of late threatened with far greater and more grievous
vexations, either to captivating of oure Consciences, our loosing ofour
lawfule Liberties, or utter expulsion from our native seates, without
any just grounds given on our parts to alter his Maties goodness soo
long continued to us; of ail which wee find greate cause of feare in
the proceedings of our neighbour nations, and doe see it already
attempted upon us by certaine petitioners for the like Course to bee
taken in this Kingdom ; for the effecting whereof in a compulsory
way, rumours hâve caused feare of invasion from other parts, to the
dissolvinge the bond of mutual agreem* which hitherto hath bin held
inviolable betweene the severall subjects of this Kingdome, and
whereby ail other his Maties Dominions hâve been linked in one.
“ For preventing therefore of such evills growinge upon us in this
Kingdome, wee hâve, for the préservation of his Maties honor, and
our own liberties, thought fitt to take into oure hands for his High-
ness Use and Service, such forts and other places of strength, as,
comeing into the possession of others, might proove disadvantageous
and tend to the utter- undoing of the Kingdome. And wee doe
hereby déclaré, that herein we harboure not the least thought of
* Paper in the Public Record Office, endorsed :
«6 No. 1641.
Coppie of the Remonstrance of the Rebells in the county of Cavan.”184
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL,
disloyalty towards his Matie, or purpose any hurt to any his High-
ness subjects in theire profession, goods, or libertie, only wee
humbly desire that your Lo’pps will bee pleased to make Remou-
strance to his Matie for us, of ail our grievances and just feares, that
they may bee removed, and such a course setled by the ad vise of
the Parliament of Ireland, whereby the liberties of oure consciences
may bee secured unto us, and wee eased of our other burthens in
civill government.
46 As for the mischiefes and inconveniences that hâve already
happened through the disorder of the comon sort of people against
the English inhabitants or any other per son, wee, with the Noble-
men and Gentlemen ©f this and each other several countie of this
kingdome, are most willing and reddy to use our and theire best
endeavours in causing restitution and satisfaction to bee made, as in
pt. wee hâve already don.
“ An answere hereunto is most humbly desired w’th such présent
expédition as may by youre Lopps. bee thought most convenient for
avoidinge the continuance of the barbaritie and uncivilitie of the
comonalty who hâve comitted many outrages and insolences
without any order, consenting or privitie of ours. Ail which wee
most humbly leave to your Lopp’s most grave Wisdomes.
u And wee shall pray, &c.
* (Signed)—44 Phillip Rely,—Mullmor Q’Reilly,—Edmond
Relly,—Hugh Relly,—Owen Relly,—Hugh Reilly,
— Phi. Relly,—Ed. Reilly,—Torlagh Relly.”
This Remonstrance was presented to the Lords Justices and
Councilônthe 6th of November, 1641; and the following is the
Preamble and substance of their reply to it, dated the lOth of
November 1641 :—
4 4 By the Lords Justices and Councell.*
44 Wm. Parsons, Jo. Borlase.
* Paper in the Public Record Office, endorsed:—
“ Novr. 10,1641.
Coppie of the answer to the Remonstrance of the Rebellsin the county of Cavan.*’THE IRISH REBELLION OP 1641.
185
“ Henry Jones, Deane of Killmore, and John Waldrom, of
Farnan, in the countie of Cavan, Gent. attended us the Lords
Justices and Councell at this Board, and presented unto us a
writinge stiled : ‘ The humble Remonstrance made by the Gentry and
Comonaltie of the County of Cavan of their grievances comon with
other pts. of this Kingdome of Ireland/ and signed by (here follow
the names above given).
u Upon considération whereof and of other intelligence we had
from those parts before the said Jones and Waldrom came hither,
we observe : ”
Here follow the observations which were, in substance, that the
subscribers to the Remonstrance had without authority presumed
to make use of His Majesty’s name, and that they had no right to
speak in the name of ail the gentry and commonalty of the county
of Cavan or other county, and that there were no grounds for their
alleged fears. They were also reminded of the illegality of taking
into their own hands forts and other strong places without the
King’s authority.
The Lords Justices and Council, however, added that, as the
Remonstrants had not participated in the cruel outrages per-
petrated against the English, their Remonstrance would be for-
warded with a favourable représentation of their case to the King,
provided they (the Remonstrants) would lay down their arma, make
restitution to those who had been despoiled, and return home.
This reply is signed :—
“ Lancelot Dublin,*—Ormond,—Ossory,—R. Dillon,—Cha.
Lambert,—Ad. Loftus,—Jo. Temple,—Cha. Coote,
—Rob. Merydith.”
The names of the Lords Justices, “ Wm. Parsons, and Jo. Borlase,”
are at the top.
Dean Jones in his Narrative f expresses his belief that the rebels
did not expect or even wish any other answer; their Remonstrance
* Dr. Bulkeley, Archbishop of Dublin.
f Ut supra. See also Sir James Ware’s History of Ireland; and Dr. Edmund
Borlace’s History of the Irish Rébellion. London, 1680, fol. p. 32, ut supra.
CAMD. SOC.	2 B186
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
being tendered rather to wîn upon the people (whose cause they
pleaded) than to give any reasonable account or satisfaction to the
Lords concerning their proceedings. In fact during the présen-
tation of this Remonstrance the rebels were mustering their forces—ail
men from sixteen to sixty years of âge—to meet at Virginia the
Monday following, notwithstanding they had empowered the Dean
of Kilmore to assure the Lords Justices that there would be &
cessation of ail proceedings until the return of their Lordships*
answer. Afterwards, says Dr. Jones, as many cruelties and out-
rages were committed in the county of Cavan as elsewhere.
Mr. Clogie’s account of this transaction,* in whichhe is followed,
of course, by Bishop Burnet, and other biographers of Bishop
Bedell, is of the most unfounded character, inasmuch as the Bishop
is represented as having written the Remonstrance for the Rebels,
and sent it by a spécial messenger of their own, a chief rebel, to
the Lords Justices, f Whereas we hâve seen from the narrative of
Dr. Jones, the Dean of Kilmore, that Bishop Bedell refused to hâve
any share whatever in the transaction, and certainly, in its style, the
Remonstrance is very unlike the writing of Bedell. Mr. Clogie,
after his blundering and inaccurate fashion, appears to apply to this
Remonstrance of the Rebels the part which Bishop Bedell took in
revising and remodelling the Pétition of the Protestants of Cavan,
which was presented to the Lords Justices some eight or nine years
before. (See text, pp. 49-51.)
There is, in the British Muséum, a book, 8vo. pp. 162, printed
in London in 1747, but without a publisher’s name, entitled “ A
brief Account from the most Authentic Protestant Writers of the
Causes, Motives, and Mischiefs, of the Irish Rébellion, on the 23rd
Day of October, 1641, Delivered in a Dialogue between a Dissenter
and a Member of the Church of Ireland, as by Law Established.
Together with an Appendix.” Appendix No. 1 is “A Remon-
strance of the Gentry and Commonalty of the County of Cavan,
* Memoir, &c. p. 184.
f Possiblv a chief rebel may hâve accompanied Dr. Jones and Mr. Waldron as
an escort, but no snch person appears on record, or is even hinted at by Dean Jones.THE IRISH REBELLION OF 1641.	.
187
Written by Bisbop Bedell in 1641,”* and a quotation from Bishop
Bumet’s Life of Bishop Bedell is given as the authority for attri-
buting the authorship of the document to Bishop Bedell. Under
the guise of candour, “ the Churchman ” labours to make it appear
that in the Rébellion of 1641 the Irish were the lambs and the
English the wolves ; whilst Bishop Bedell, thanks to Mr. Clogie and
Bishop Burnet, is set before us as a witness in support of “ the
Churchman’s ” argument ! On this I will make no comment, but
beg here only to observe that one cherished object of the labour I
hâve bestowed in editing this life of Bishop Bedell lias been ta
rescue his memory from such indiscreet and uninformed friends as
Mr. Alexander Clogie and Bishop Burnet.
About this time Dr. Swiney, the Roman Catholic Bishop of
Kilmore, wrote to Bishop Bedell, offering to take up his résidence
with him in the Episcopal house, and so be a means of protection
to him. This offer Bedell received in good part, but declined ac«
cepting it.f
In the midst of the violence which prevailed, Bishop Bedell, like
the true shepherd, fled not when the wolf came down on the fold,
but stood at his post, doing what he could to protect his flock. But
at last the Rebels peremptorily commanded him to send the Pro-
testant refugees away from his house, and to betake himself and
family to Dublin, and, on his refusai, they, on the 18th of December,
seized him and his sons and step-son-in-law, and sent thcm prisoners
to Loughoughter J Castle, which they had taken possession of.
The Roman Catholic Bishop now took up his résidence in the
♦ In the Catalogue of the British Muséum Reading Room this work is entered
under different heads: 1°, Bedell (William), Bishop of Kilmore and Ardagh. A
Remonstrance of the Gentry and Commonalty of the County Cavan. 2°, Dissenter,
&c. 3®, “ Irish Nation, &c.” 4°, James Howell, on the Irish Rébellion of 1641.
f See Clogie’s Memoir, p. 188, for Bishop Bedell’s letter in reply to Dr. Swineys
dated Novr. 11, 1641.
J In English, Upper Lake.188	BIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
Episcopal house, and, in the course of the rifling that ensued, Bishop
BedelVs library was destroyed, dispersed, or lost, as described in the
text, p. 77, with the exception of his MS. Hebrew Bible, now in
the Library of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, and also the MS. of
the Irish Translation of the Old Testament, both pf which were
saved by the care of Mr. Denis Sheridan.
How the other Bishops of the Establishment in Ireland fared in
the Kebellion may, in conclusion of this chapter, be briefly glanced
at* Some did not escape personal ill-treatment, and almost ail
suffered loss of property.
Province of Munster.—Archbishop Hamilton of Cashel, Bishop
Adair of Waterford and Lismore, Bishop Chapellof Cork and Ross,
and Bishop Synge of Cloyne, quitted Ireland. Bishop Webb of
Limerick died of dysentery, a prisoner in the hands of the rebels.
Bishop Fulwer of Ardfert survived to be made Archbishop of
Cashel at the Restoration. Bishop Jones of Killaloe remained safe
in Dublin, where he departed this life at the advanced âge of 104.
Province of Connaught.— Archbishop Boy le of Tuam,and Bishop
John Maxwell of Killala, afterwards Archbishop of Tuam, found
refuge in Galway, the latter after being nearly killed. Bishop
Tilson of Elphin, and Bishop Dawson of Clonfert and Kilmacduagh,
quitted Ireland.
Province of Leinster.—Archbishop Bulkeley of Dublin remained
safe in Dublin city, and died in 1650 at the âge of 82. Bishop
Ussher of Kildare, Bishop Williams of Ossory, and Bishop Andrews
of Ferns and Leighlin quitted Ireland ; but Bishop Williams returned
to his See after the Restoration. Bishop Sibthorp of Kilfenora
survived the rébellion to be translated to Limerick.
Province of Ulster.—Archbishop Ussher of Armagh was in Eng-
land when the rébellion broke out, and remained there. Bishop
Bramhall of Derry quitted Ireland, but returned at the Restoration
Cotton’s Fasti and Sir James Ware’s History of Ireland, ut supra.LAST ILLNESS AND DEATH.
189
and was made Primate. Bishop Lesley of Raphoe also survived to
be translated to Clogher. Bishop Richardson of Ardagh was in
England when the rébellion broke out, and did not return to Ire-
land. Bishop Leslie of Down and Connor passed unhurt through
the rébellion, and was afterwards translated to Meath in 1660.
Bishop Buckworth of Dromore, and Bishop Spottiswoode of Clogher,
quitted Ireland. Bishop Martin of Meath, after the rébellion, was
Provost of Trinity College, Dublin.
CHAPTER XII.
Last Illness and Death.
Bishop Bedell with his two sons and his step-son-in-law, Mr.
Clogie, was detained in Loughoughter Castle from the 18th of
December until the 7th of January, when they were liberated under
the circumstances and conditions mentioned in the text. The
Bishop’s own résidence being now usurped by the Roman Catholic
Bishop, he took up his abode in the house of Mr. Denis Sheridan at
Drum Corr, in the parish of Kilmore, and within a mile of the
Church. Here the Bishop’s sons’ wives had remained during the
imprisonment of their husbands. How kindly and affectionately
Bishop Bedell was received and waited on in Denis Sheridan’s
house is related in the text.
On Sundays the 9th, 16th, 23rd and 30th of January, the Bishop
preached to his family. On Monday the 31st of January, he was
taken ill; on Tuesday the lst of tebruary, fever declared itself, and
on the 7th he died.*
From the description, as given in the text, of the illness which
carried off Bishop Bedell, it is to be inferred that it was malignant
typhus fever. This with other forms of pestilence prevailed in Ire-
Clogie’s Memoir, pp. 217-225.190
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
land as an attendant on the political disasters in that country of
1641 and subséquent years.* “ The malignant épidémie fever
began with cold and shivering/* then followed a weakness and
“ spots on the skin, pain in the head, delirium. Déplétion was
hurtful.” The forced crowding together in the Rev. Denis Sheridan’s
house of so many persons, refugees from the country round, and the
privations they suffered from deficiency of food and severity of the
weather—for the winter of 1641 in Ireland was <c most bitter cold
and frosty/’f were incidents which no doubt operated as the cause
of the outbreak of the typhus fever which attacked young Edward
Mawe, and was from him communicated to his step-father, the
Bishop, while affectionately nursing him in his sickness. What
became of Edward Mawe himself, whether he recovered or died of
the fever, I hâve not been able to ascertain.
Dr. Stokes, the distinguished Professor of Physic in Trinity
College, Dublin, to whom I sent a copy of the description of the
fever, as given in the text, with a request for his opinion, kindly
wrote in reply, saying: “ It may safely be assumed that the fever
of which Bishop Bedell died was typhus, or what is called pétéchial
fever ; doubtless intensified by the crowding together of many
persons under one roof;” and like other continued fevers more
dangerous in the old than the young.
In the text the fever is designated by the name of “ Irish ague;”
but here “ ague ” seems to be used as a name for fever in general,
and not for intermittent fever in particular. The name “ Irish Ague,”
Dr. Stokes observes, “ is clearly improper. Ague is not contagious,
and it is a curious fact that, except in a few localities in low sea
shores, ague cannot be enumerated among the diseases of Ireland.
I never heard of or met with a case of it as occurring in the great
bog districts of Ireland.”
Mr. Ambrose Bedell, in his déposition, we shall see, expresses
his belief that his father’s illness and death were occasioned by the
* Census of Ireland. Bine Book, yol. xxix. 1856, p. 107.
f Temple, History of the Irish Rébellion. See Blue Book, ut mpra.LA$T ILLNESS AND DEATH.
191
misérable accommodation he had in Loughoughter Castle, where
there was neither door, nor window of glass, nor shutter of wood, to
keep out the wintry winds, the snow, or the rain; and where they
must hâve perished from cold, had it not been that Mr. Castle-
dyne, a fellow-prisoner and who had formerly been a carpenter,
procured, as Mr. Clogie informs us, some tools and boards and made
extemporaneous shuts for the large windows.
The harsh usage which the venerable Bishop—the friend of ali
his neighbours, Papist as well as Protestant—was thus subjected
to, does not, however, really appear to hâve seriously affected his
health and strength, if we may judge from the anecdote related by
Mr, Clogie,* viz. that a week before the Bishop sickened, he was
out taking a walk with his sons and Mr. Clogie, and in returning
leaped so nimbly and vigorously over a broad ditch that, says Mr.
Clogie, it amazed us ail and put us to a stand still to foliow him.
Possibly the privations the Bishop endured in Loughoughter Castle
may hâve predisposed him to be more susceptible of the infection to
which he was exposed than he might otherwise hâve been. Still it
is so far consolatory to think that Bishop Bedell did îlot actually die
worn out from the hardships he suffered at the hands of the rebels,
as has hitherto been supposed. We hâve seen, with sympathetic
émotion, how his martyr-spirit rose above the terrors of the situation.
According to Mr. Clogie’s f description, Bishop Bedell was tall
in stature and appeared to be, nearly to the last, strong and haie for
his âge. His hair was gray, but he had suffered no loss of it. He
wore his beard long and broad. He had not lost one tooth ; and
his sight continued good. From the fact that he ne ver required
spectacles it is to be inferred that he was naturally somewhat near-
sighted, an inference which his small and beautiful handwriting
confirms. The history of his deafness is given in the text, p. 3.
* Memoir, ut supra, p. 226.	f Memoir, Sec. p. 226.192
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
CHAPTER XIII.
Bishop Bedell’s last Will and Testament.
In the name of God Allmighty the Father the Sonne and the
Holy Ghoste Amen in the yeare of our Lord’s Incarnation one
thousand six hundred and fourtie the fifteenth day of February I
William Bedell Bp. of Kilmore being in health of body but mindful
of the frailty of this mortall life desirous to set an order in that outward
estate which God of his greate mercie hath given me doe make this
my last will and testament in manner and form following But first
I bequeath my Soûle to Allmighty God my mercifull and faithfull
Creator Redeemer and Sanctifier by whose meere mercie through
the meritts of my Lord and Saviour Jésus Christ I hâve assured
hope that it shall be saved from the wrath to corne whensoever it
shall please him to call for it And for this corruptible flesh I appoint
that it be comitted to the ground without any feudall pompe in the
church yard of Kilmore at the south corner thereof in the same
grave or hard by the corpe of my deare wife Leah and my sonne
John about whose coffins and mine I doe appoint that there shall
be a wall of stone raised up from the bottome and the ground raised
up to the levell of the rest of the walke by the wall on the west side
of the church yard and one or more large gravestones layd over wth
this inscripcon Guilielmi quondam Kilmoren Epi Depositum I knowe
whome I hâve beleeved in and that hee is able to keepe that which
I hâve comitted to him against the day of his glorious appeareing
And as for my judgement in matters of Religion I doe referr my-
selfe to my former profession from a child my preaching and
wrytinge being the Catholiq. faith grounded on Holy Scriptures
and consonant to the confessions of the Churches of England and
Ireland whereof I hâve often (without any equivocacon as God is
wittness) made publique acknowledgement And for my worldlygoods
ffirst I give to the Church of Kilmore five pounds ster1 to be im-
ployed for the paveing of the chauncell with hewne stone and if anyLAST WILL AND TESTAMENT.
19$
ployed for the paveing of the chauncell with hewne stone and if any
remayne thereof for the furnishing the com union-table with linnen
as farr as it will extend the sayd money to be payd within three
monthes after my decease Item I give to the Church of Black
Notly in England where I was baptized a Bell to supply one that is
wanting of three which it aunciently had the money to be payd
within one yeare after my decease Item I give to the Library of
Emanuell Colledge in Cambridge where I was brought up and first
Scholar after Fellow of that Societie my manuscript Hebrew Bible*
and the foure Evangelists and Euclides Eléments in the Arabique
tongue Item I give to the Library of Trinity Colledge neere
Dublin my manuscript Priscian with foure more of my manuscripts
such as my Executor shall think fitt Item I give to the Right
Reverend Father in God the Lord Primat of Archmagh my manu-
script Psalter f written in the Irish Character in testimony of my
true and heartie affection to him Item I give and bequeath to my
sonne Ambrose Bedell the annuitie which I purchased of Sr James
Craig of fourtie pound per annum issuing out of the lands of Carne
which were lately purchased to his use and out of the lands
holden by Ralph Lowharret to hâve and hold to the sayd Ambrose
and his heyres for ever Item I give to my son-in-law Edward
Mawe fiftie pounds ster1 to supply his porcon spent in the time hee
was with my cosen Goodayand my brother John Bedell which sume
of fiftie pounds I will to remayne in the hands of William his
brother for his maintenance unless some convenient wife may be
* This MS., which Bedell brought from Venice, is now in the Library of Em-
manuel College, but the other books here bequeathed are not, itwould appear, known
to exist there. They had been lost or destroyed in the Rébellion.
t This appears to be identical with the Psalter in the library of T. C. D. con-
taining Ricemarch’s verses at the end. I am favoured with the following notice
on the subject by the Rev. Dr. Reeves of Tynan : the beautiful manuscript Psalter
preserved in the library of T. C. D., under sig. A. 4,20 (among Ussher’s MS. treasures),
has the antograph “ G. Bedellj.” This, the penmanship of which is in the Irish style,
is Ricemarch’s Psalter. Ussher, in his “ Religion possessed by the ancient Irish ”
(Works, vol. iv. p. 249), quotes from the Colophon verses; and in a note makes this ré-
férencé: “MS. in bibliotheca emditissimi antistitisD. GuilielmiBedelli Kilmorensis
et Ardaghensis apud nos Episcopi.” This treatise of Ussher, it is to be observed, was
CAMD. SOC.	2 C194
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
found for him whoe can manage his estate In winch case I will
that it be payd to him and his wife to beginne the world withall
Item I give to Edwin Walford and each of his sisters Phœbe and
Elizabeth to everie of them ten pounds the sayd summes for Phœbe
and Elizabeth to be raised yearly out of the profitts of Whiteheads
and payd into the hands of Mr. Richard Symons of Blacknotly to
their use And I doe comitt to the care of my Executor the educacon
of the sayd Edwin Walford till he shall accomplish the âge of one-
and twentie years at which time I will it shall be payd to him unlesse
it may be layd out for his preferrm1 in the meane time Item I give to
Mary Jervice ten pounds to William Jervice and John Walford and
to the two sonnes of my sister Willys to everie of them five pounds
to my two godsonnes Samuel Sothby and William Sheriden to each
of them fourtie shillings to my brother John Bedell my dear friends
Dr Ward Dr Despotine Dr Aylett and Mr Samuel Sothby to each of
them a ring of fourtie shillings price Item I give to each of my
servants which shall be in my service at the time of my death a
quarters wages above that which they hâve begun The residue of ail
my goods and chattles of what nature soever I give to my sonne
William Bedell wliom I make sole executor of this my Testant
which I hâve written with mine owne hand and sealed with my
seale the daye and year above written.	W. Kilmoren.
Whereas I hâve bequeathed the surplusage of my goods to my
Executor my meaning is notwithstanding that whatsoever I doe
recover in the suite wth Mrs. Moigne shall not be accompted any
part of my goods but if I recover anything and départ this life ere
I doe imploy it according to my vow to the Edition of the Irish
Bible that summe I charge him to apply to that end and noe other.*
W. Kilmoren.
first printed in 1631 when Bedell was Bishop of Kilmore and Ardagh. Again, in
his “ British Ecclesiastical Antiquities ” (Works, vol. v. p. 17), first printed in 1639,
when Bedell was Bishop of Kilmore alone,Ussher writes: “ In Britannico vero quod
describendum cnravit Ricemarchns Sulgeni Menevensis Episcopi filins, &c.” and in
a note to this adds: “ Habetnr MS. in Bibliotheca D. Guil. Bedelli Kilmorensis apud
nos Episcopi.”
* In a letter to the Lord Deputy Wentworth (Strafford’s Letters and Despatches,THE FUNERAL.
195
Administration with this will annexed granted to William Bedell
the Executor by the Court of Probate in London on the 13th day
of April 1654.
Proved in Dublin on the 17th day of January, 1656.
CHAPTER XIV.
Funeral and Tomb.
Bishop Bedell, it has been just seen, left directions in his will
that he should be buried beside his wife and son, and that his
funeral should be conducted without pomp. According to his
wishes he was buried beside his wife and son, though it appears to
hâve been with some difficulty that the permission of the intruding
and now paramount Popish Bishop was obtained, he objecting that
the churchyard was not to be defiled any more with the bodies of
heretics. As regards the absence of pomp, it cannot be said that
the deceased Bishop’s directions were observed. The cortège of
Irish rebels, and the volley of musketry over his grave, with the
éjaculation “ Requiescat in pace Ultimus Anglorum,” constituted a
kind of funeral pomp, barbarie no doubt, which, however, his
executor was powerless to prevent. To this scene in the church-
yard of Kilmore, on the 9th of February, 1641-2, a certain pathos
was imparted, when, in the enthusiasm of the moment, Edmund
Ferrely, a Roman Catholic priest, remembering the kindness he had
experienced from Bishop Bedell, and the instructive conversations
on religion he had so often had with him, was heard fervently
breathing out the prayer : “ O sit anima mea cum Bedello.’**
vol. ii. p. 151, folio, London, 1739), dated February 22,1637, Bishop Bedell refers to
his suit with Mrs. Moigne, concerning two un just leases given to her by her late
husband, his predecessor (see above, p. 155), and says, “ I had devoted and dedicated ail
that I should recover herein to God, to be employed in the édition of the Irish Bible.”
* See note in the édition of Bumet’s Life of Bishop Bedell, published in Dublin,
1758, communicated to the publisher by Mr. Bedell Stanford, grandson of Isabella
the youngest daughter of the Bishop’s eldest son, the Rev. William Bedell, Rector
of Rattlesden.196
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
Bishop Bedell entertained a strong feeling against tlie practice of
burying in churches, believing it to be injurious to the living, not
honouring to the dead, and a profanation of the house of God. One
of the decrees passed in his Diocesan Synod, it has been above seen,
was, that the bodies of deceased persons should not be buried in
churches, nor outside churches within five feet of the wall of the
building. We hâve seen that he buried his wife and son in a
remote corner of the churchyard of Kilmore, and directed that he
himself should be laid beside them, thus setting an example in his
own case in rebuke of the pride and superstition suggesting the
custom. Bedelfs college friend Joseph Hall, Bishop of Norwich,
participated in the same opinions on the subject, saying in his will,
“ My body I leave to be interred without any funeral pomp, at the
discrétion of my executors, with this only monition, that I do not
hold God’s house a meet repository for the greatest saints.” Not-
withstanding this “ monition,” Bishop Hall appears to hâve been
buried in the chancel of Heigham church.* Dr. Edward Wetten-
hall, who was Bishop of Kilmore and Ardagh from 1699 to his
death in 1713, and previously (1678) Bishop of Cork and Ross, in
his will, dated May 10, 1709, directed that, should he die at Kil*
more, his body should be interred near “ good Bishop Bedelfs.”
Dying in London, however, he was buried in Westminster Abbey.
Another Bishop of Kilmore, Dr. Denison Cumberland, who died in
1774, was interred beside Bishop Bedell. Mr. Richard Cumber-
land, the Bishop’s son, in his Memoirs, f says, “ In a small patch of
ground, inclosed within stone walls, my father’s corpse was interred
beside the grave of the venerable and exemplary Bishop Bedell.
This little spot, as containing the remains of that good and great
man, my father had fenced and guarded with particular dévotion,
and he had more than once pointed it out to me as his destined
grave, saying to me, as I well remember, in the words of the Old
Prophet of Bethel, ‘ When I am dead, then bury me in this sepul-
* Jones’s Life and Times of Bishop Hall, ut supra, p. 98.
t Vol. i. p. 275, 1807.THE TOMB.
197
chre, wherein the man of God is buried ; lay my bones beside his
bones.’”
In his will, it is seen, Bishop Bedell directed one or more large
grave-stones to be laid over his grave, with this inscription;
“ Guilielmi quondam Kilmoren. Epi Depositum. I know Whom I
hâve believed in, and that He is able to keep that which I hâve
coinmitted to Him against the day of his glorious appearing.”* By
the word u Depositum ” he meant, no doubt, themortal coil shuffled
off, on the ascension of the soûl to God. Here these Unes by Bogers
may be appropriately quoted : —
u When by a good raan’s grave I muse alone,
Methinks an angel sits upon the stone,
Like those of old, on that thrice-hallowed night,
Who sate and watched in raiment heavenly bright :
And, with a voice inspiring joy, not fear,
Says, pointing upward, that he is not here,
That he is risen.”
The tombstone over his grave shows that the Bishop’s in-
junction was carried out, with the exception that the quotation
from 2nd Timothy is omitted. The time when the tombstone was
laid down there is no record to tell. Probably it was not until
some years after his death, in conséquence of the troubles created by
the rébellion. The Bishop’s property had, to a large amount, been
destroyed (as shown by his son Ambrose’s déposition, to be quoted
below), and it was not until 1654 that his will was proved in
London, and two years after that in Dublin.
The earliest description of the tombstone, so far as I hâve been
able to ascertain, occurs among the manuscript notes in the copy of
Bishop Burnet’s Life of Bedell, in the possession of a gentleman in
the county of Monaghan, above referred to, p. 88, written by a Mr.
Thomas Bedell, about the year 1721. A rough drawing repre-
sents the sculpture and inscription on the grave-stone, as follows :
Second Epistle of Paul to Timothy, lst chapter, 12th verse.198
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
A shield bearing, Per fess azuré and argent a pale and three
mullets counterchanged. Surmountiug the shield there is some-
thing which might be taken for a cap of maintenance, or an esquire’s
helmet, and over that a Bishop’s mitre. Below the shield are cross-
boues, and below them a skull. On either side of which is a sand-
glass. Underneath is the incription :
Gulielmi Bedell
quondem . Kilmorens
is . Episco
pi Depositum.
The description next in date is by the minister of Killasser, in
1740. He savs, “ At the south angle of the churchyard (Kilmore),
within a small walled enclosure, are deposited, in a vault, the
remains of the good and great Bishop Bedell, over which is raised a
tombstone, with his arms, and this modest inscription :
‘ Gulielmi Bedell, quondam Episcopi Kilmorensis, Depositum.’
“ The présent Bishop is now repairing the injuries which this
venerable tomb has suffered by time. Between the Episcopal
house of Kilmore and the garden there is a venerable old grove of
sycamore trees, planted one hundred years ago by Bishop Bedell,*
the largest of which stands in the middle of the terrace, and from
thence, spreading its boughs into the churchyard, shades its planter’s
tomb.”t
Of nearly one hundred years’ later date is the description in
Bishop Mant’s History of the Church of Ireland. The wood-
engraving given in this work represents the shield as above de-
scribed, and, surmounting the shield, something more like an
* In the text at page 17, it is stated that, by way of récréation, he used to oc-
cupy himself in planting, transplanting, &c. See also Mr. Clogie’s Memoir, p. 145.
f See “ A Description of Lough Eme,” in Additional MS. 4436, British Muséum,
page 314. The Bishop of Kilmore referred to as repairing Bishop Bedell’s tomb
had been, if the date of the writing here quoted was 1740, Dr. Josiah Hort, who was
translated to the Archbishopric of Tuam in 1742, and was succeeded by Dr. Joseph
Story.INSCRIPTION ON THE TOMB.
199
esquire’s helmet. Above this, but not resting on it, is a Bishop’s
mitre. Below the shield is a clam-shell-like ornamental flourish,
below which is a skull, and below this again cross-bones. On the
left-hand side, just above the level of the skull, is an open book,
and in the corresponding place on the right-hand side is a sand-
glass. Underneath ail is the inscription, which stands thus :
Guilielmi Bedll
quondem Kilmorens
is Episcopi
Depositum.
On each side of the slab is a sculptured représentation of pillars
in low relief, supporting as if the représentation of an ornamental
arch over the shield and mitre.
The two pictorial représentations just described tally with each
other, except in such slight déviations as might readily hâve been
made in the act of sketching. The inscription in the letter-press
accompanying the engraving in Bishop Mant’s History, it is to be
observed, does not so exactly tally with the inscription as given in
the engraving. The following is the account given by a friend of
Bishop Mant:—“ I had much difficulty in reading the inscription;
indeed it puzzled me twice, and I was perplexed, but determined to
make it clear. The letters are ail raised on a brownish slab broken
in pièces, and the edges of the letters are so rounded by time that
there is little shade from them, so as to recognise them from the
plane surface. The bursting out of the sun, as the shadows from
the index of a dial, relieved the letters a little for me, and made my
success more complété. The inscription, then, is truly and really
this : —
Gulielmi Bideli
quondem Kilmorens
is Episcopi
Depositum.
“ As a few years will remove ail, I wish you to keep this as the
fruit of accurate inquiry, and the more especially as I could not200
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
obtain any aid in making the matter more easy. I hâve seen some
notices of the inscription, but they are ail incorrect. The grave is
in a retired part of the churchyard, and a sycamore tree of at least
twelve feet in circumference, the growth of âges, is flourishing
near it, and flinging its time-honoured arms over the spot.” *
This sycamore tree, said to be one of those which were planted
by the Bishop himself, and known by the name of “ Bedell’s tree,”
stands in the Palace grounds. I hâve a photograph of it before me
in which it is seen at the end of the walk by the side of the wall
which intervenes between the palace grounds and the churchyard.
The branches of the tree at the left side, as we face it looking down
the walk, project over the adjacent wall into the churchyard, and
so shade the tomb of Bedell.
A correspondent in Saunders’s News-letter for April 4, 1871,
thus describes the State in which he found Bishop Bedell’s tomb at
a recent visit. “ The grave-yard is in quite a ruinous State, covered
with weeds . . . Bedell’s resting-place being elevated a little above the
level has escaped in some degree the surrounding ruin. The in-
scription is almost covered over with grass and weeds, and the stone
(which lies fiat) is broken in two or three parts.”
More recently, as I am informed, the slab has been brushed clean
with soap and water.
Whether the grave-stone with the sculpture described in the copy
of Burnet’s Life of Bedell above referred to, and that described in
Mant’s History be identical, or whether the latter be a new édition
of the former, can* t so far as I know be determined. Nor can it
be determined whether the grave-stone described as above in 1721
was that originally laid down. Grave-stones by the exposure to the
weather so rapidly undergo decay that we can scarcely suppose
that that at least described in Mant’s History was the original one.
Probably the restoration by the Bishop of Kilmore about the year
1740, referred to in the “ Description of Lough Erne,” may hâve
* Bishop Mant, History of the Church of Ireland, yol. ii. p. 655. For the
drawing of the grave-stone, see vol. i.DEPARTURE OF HIS SONS FROM CO. CAYAN.
201
been complété enough to secure its préservation down to Dr.
Mant’s time.
Now, there is a nobler and more enduring monument to Bishop
Bedell. On the west front of the new Cathédral Church of Kilmore
is this inscription:—
©utltelmt ürtïcilt quonïram IStlmotensta îEpiscopt in mtmtiam.
This new Cathédral Church, consecrated on the 17th of July 1860,
was erected by the pious care of Dr. Marcus Gervais Beresford,
formerly Bishop of Kilmore and now Archbishop of Armagh,
aided by generous contributions from the many who sympathised
in the design of Dr. Beresford’s undertaking.
CHAPTER XV.
Departure of Bishop Bedell’s Sons from the Coünty of
Cayan.
After the Bishop’s death his eldest son William with his wife
continued to résidé at Drum Corr, in the house of Mr. Denis
Sheridan. Mr. Alexander Clogie also found a home there.
Sir James Craig, of Castle Croghan, who had long held out
against the rebels, having died of fever, Ambrose Bedell, whose
wife was a niece of Lady Craig, was entrusted with the command
of Croghan Castle, along with Archdeacon Price.* The neigh-
bouring Castle of Keilagh was held by Sir Francis Hamilton. In
these two castles great numbers of British Protestants had found an
asylum, but, in conséquence of déficient food and want of room,
fever broke out among them. Thus straitened with famine and
sickness, the garrisons of Keilagh and Croghan were nécessitated,
* Dean Jones’s Beginnings and Proceedings of the Rébellion, &c. ut supra.
CAMD. SOC.	2 D202
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
after a résistance for eight months, to propose terms of surrender to
the rebels. On the 4tli of May 1642 negotiations for this purpose
were opened by Sir Francis Hamilton, requesting the rebel chiefs to
permit Master Thomas Price, Archdeacon of Kilmore, and Master
Ambrose Bedell, Chief in the Castle of Croghan, to pass with safety
from thence to his Castle of Keilagh, to confer with him on the
subject of the proposed capitulation. This having been agreed to,
the représentatives of the two castles of Keilagh and Croghan met
and decided on treating with the rebels. Accordingly a conférence
took place. Sir Francis Hamilton, Sir Arthur Forbes, and two
others from the Castle of Keilagh, and Master Price and Master
Ambrose Bedell from the Castle of Croghan on the part of the British,
met Philip McHugh O’Reilly, Mullmor O’Reilly, and four others on
the part of the rebels. The terms of surrender agreed on were
these :—The garrisons of the Castles of Keilagh and Croghan, with
the refugees who had therein sought and found protection, and what
other English and Scotch Protestants were still remaining about the
neighbourhood, were to be allowed to march away to Drogheda with
some arms, and ail the moveable goods which they could con-
veniently carry away with them by horse or cart. Master William
Bedell, Minister of Kinawley, and his wife, Master Alexander
Clogie, Minister of Cavan, Mr. Bagshaw and his family Mr.
Arthur Cullum ,* and Mr. Castledyne,f were specially included by
name in the agreement. Besides these, the company, which, according
to the terms of capitulation agreed on, started for Drogheda on
Wednesday the 15th of June 1642, consisted of Sir Francis
Hamilton, Sir Arthur Forbes, and about eight hundred men,
wômen, and children from Keilagh Castle; Lady Craig, Master
Ambrose Bedell and his wife, ten ministers, including Archdeacon
* The Governor of Loughoughter Castle at the breaking ont of the Rébellion, and
who with his charge was seized by Mullmor O’Reilly, when he came on pretence of
making a visit of courtesy.
f Who turned his former occupation of a carpenter to account for the benefit of
Bishop Bedell, and his other fellow prisoners in Longhoughter Castle, by making
shutters for the Windows to keep out the cold and the rain.THE SHERIDAN FAMILY.
203
Price, with about four hundred men, women, and cbildren from
Croghan Castle; and about one hundred and forty persons from
other parts in the neighbourhood, making in ail one thousand three
hundred and forty soûls. They were accompanied by a large escort
of rebels.
On their arrivai at Slane on the 22nd of June, wearied by their
seven days* march and seven nights’ bivouac in the open fields, they
were met by Sir Henry Tichborne, the Governor of Drogheda,
and a party of horse and foot, and by them conducted into the
town.
Most of the people, including Mr. Clogie and the other ministers,
proceeded on to Dublin. From Drogheda the Bedell family took
shipping and went for England.
It now remains for us to follow separately the fortunes of William
Bedell, Ambrose Bedell, and Alexander Clogie. But I cannot
leave Kilmore without paying a tribute of respect to the minister of
Killasser, Mr. Denis Sheridan, the kind host of Bishop Bedell and
the préserver of the manuscript of the Hebrew Bible, and of the
Irish translation of the Old Testament, and glancing at the career
of his remarkable family.
CHAPTER XVI.
The Sheridan Family.
Of an ancient Irish stock, Denis Sheridan, though a Protestant
and a minister of the Established Church of Ireland, still com-
manded in a great measure the affections of his clan or sept.
When, therefore, the rébellion broke out, he was able through his
influence with his countrymen to aid in protecting many of the
British Protestants who flocked to his house for safety. And when
Bishop Bedell was liberated from his imprisonment in Lough-
oughter Castle, his own house being now appropriated by the204
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
Roman Catholic Bishop, Denis Sheridan’s house, winch had been
ail along the asylum of his sons* wives, was open to receive him and
his sons also.
Mr. Denis Sheridan, it has been commonly said, was a Popish
priest or friar, but that, becoming acquainted with Bishop Bedell,
he was led by the Bishop’s conversation and arguments to embrace
the Reformed Faith. From the account in the text, however, it
would appear that Denis Sheridan was brought up a Protestant, in
the house of John Hill, Dean of Kilmore. Whether originally a
Roman Catholic, or not, Denis Sheridan was ordained by Bishop
Bedell, June 10, 1634, as a Minister of the Established Church, and
two days after was collated to the Vicarage of Killasser, in the
Diocese of Kilmore.
The following entry is extracted from the Regai Visitation of
1633-4:
Epus confert valet 40111 Vicaria de f Mr. Dionitius Siriden
per annum. ) Killasser. I	Vicarius.
Dionisius Shirridan admissus fuit ad sacrum Diaconatus ordinem
per Wittum Kilmorensem Episcopum 10° Junij 1634. Collatus fuit
ad Vicariam de Killassar per eundem Episcopum 13° Junij 1634.
Inductus fuit 13° Junij 1634.
In addition to Killasser, “ Denis Sheridan, Clerk, was, Sept. 20,
1645, presented by Patent (19°-24° Car. I. f. 8,) to the vicarages of
Drunge and Larra, in the diocese of Kilmore, in the gift of the
Crown by lapse, Dr. Faithfull Teate the last Incumbent being
dead.”
Mr. Denis Sheridan married about the year 1634. His wife was
an English lady. Their son Thomas, in his speech before the House
of Commons, on Wednesday the 15th of December, 1680, to be
quoted below, defending him self against the charge of being a paid
adhèrent of the Duke of York, and of being a participator in the
Popish plot, incidentally stated that she was of a family named
Foster. In the pedigree of the Sheridans of Cavan, in the College
of Arms, Dublin, a copy of which is subjoined (p. 205), there is,THE SHERIDAN FAMILY.
205
PEDIGREE OF SHERIDAN.
Oscar O’Sheridan of Castle Togher,=ÿ=..
Co. Cavan, only son and heir. I
Anthony O’Sheridan, son=^=,
and heir.
danghter of O’Rourke, Prince of the Co.
Leitrim.
daughter of O’Neil, Prince of
the Co. Tyrone.
Conor O’Sheridan, son=p
and heir.
Anthony O’Sheridan, son and heir.=p
Conor O’Sheridan, son and heir;
....daughter of O’Donnell,
Prince of the Co. Donegall.
... daughter of O’Farrell of Moat Farrell,
and Prince of North Annatly, Co. Longford.
... daughter of The O’Connor Don of
Cloonniallas, Co. Roscommon, Prince of
Connaught.
i------------;--------
Anthony O’Sheridan, son=F......daughter of O’Reilly, Prince of
and heir.	j	the Co. Cavan.
Conor O’Sheridan, son=ÿ=
and heir.	I
Anthony O’Sheridan, son=f=
and heir.	I
Thadeus O’Sheridan, son=p
and heir.
Audven * O’Sheridan, son and=p
heir.
daughter of O’Rourke, Prince
of the Co. Leitrim.
daughter of O’Connor of Sligo,
Prince of Co. Sligo.
— daughter of Edmond O’Reilly
of Cayan in the Co. Cavan, Esq.
. daughter of Thomas O’Brady of
Ballyhase in Co. Cavan, Esq.
______________________!
i
Denis O’Sheridan, son=ÿ=Jane, daughter of Anthony
and heir.	Atkinson.
* According to another account the Christian name of the father of Denis
Sheridan, the friend of Bishop Bedell, was “ Donald.” See Dublin University
Magazine for November 1852, article “ Quilca and the Sheridan family.”206
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
we see, a Denis who corresponds, as regards date, to the Denis
Sheridan under notice, but bis wife’s name, though English, is put
down as Atkinson.
The children of Denis Sheridan of whom I hâve found notices
are the foliowing: 1°, William, the godson of Bishop Bedell, bom
in 1635. Bedell in his will, it has been seen, left him forty shillings.
In 1652, being then seventeen years of âge, he was entered at Trinity
College, Dublin, as appears from the following extract from the
Register:—1652, May 15°. Sheridan, Gulielm., Schol. Commensalis
—filius Dionysii Sheridan, ministri—17 annorum, natus in Togher
Comitatu de Cavan, educatus sub Mria Sheridan, Bedlow, et Wilson.
Tutor, Josephus Travers.
William Sheridan became Dean of Down, and was in January
1681 made Bishop of Kilmore and Ardagh. He received the
degree of Doctor of Divinity T. C. D. in 1682. In 1691 he was
deprived of his Bishoprics for refusing to take the oaths to William
and Mary.* He died in London, October 3, 1711.+
2°, Patrick, the second son, was born in 1638, and entered at
Trinity College, Dublin, along with his brother William: 1652,
May 15°. Sheridan, Patricius, Schol. commensalis—filius Dionysii
Sheridan, Ministri—14 annorum, natus juxta Enniskillen in Com.
Fermanagh, educatus sub Mris Sheridan, Bedlow, et Wilson. Tutor,
Joseph Travers.
He was one of the four Masters of Arts nominated Fellows of
* On the deprivation of William Sheridan, the Bishoprics of Kilmore and
Ardagh were again separated. The former was given to Dr. Wm. Smith, who was
translated from Raphoe, and the latter to Dr. Ulysses Bnrgh, Dean of Emly. Dr.
Bnrgh, who was consecrated in September 1692, dying a few months after, Ardagh
was reunited to Kilmore under Bishop Smith, who died February 24, 1698, and was
succeeded by Dr. Wettenhall (see p. 196). My kinsman, the late Rev. Richard Bnrgh
Byam, Vicar of Kew and Petersham, was a great-great-grandson of Bishop Burgh.
f It is said in Bishop Mant’s History of the Irish Chtrch that the deprived
Bishop of Kilmore died in poverty in London, but this is contradicted in the article
on Quilca and the Sheridan Family, in the Dublin University Magazine for
November 1862.THE SHERIDÀN FAMILY.
207
Trinity College, Dublin, by the Crown on the occasion of the
Eestoration of Charles the Second in 1660. In 1665 he took the
degree of B.D.; in 1666-8 he was Vice-Provost of Trinity College,
Dublin; and in 1679 was made Bishop of Cloyne, retaining the
other preferments which he previously held.* Bishop Patrick
Sheridan married in 1677 Anne, daughter and co-heir of Francis
Hill of Hill Hall (brother of Mary the wife of Captain Ambrose
Bedell) and relict of her cousin Moyses Hill of Hill Hall. He died
s.p. and was buried November 22, 1682, in the College Chapel,
Dublin. His widowdied in July 1683.
3°. The third son of the Rev. Denis Sheridan has been hitherto
overlooked. That the son Thomas was the fourth and not the third
is shown by his entry at the Middle Temple. The third son (pro-
bably named Denis) and the fifth or youngest son James, to be
mentioned below, were, it issaid, Générais in the Impérial service.f
4°. Thomas Sheridan was born in 1646, and entered at Trinity
College, Dublin, as appears from the foliowing extract: 1660-1,
January 17, Sheridan, Thomas, Pensionar.—filius Dionysii Sheridan,
ministri—14 annorum, natus villa Sti Jôhis juxta Trimiam, in
Comitatu Medensi, Dublinii privatim educatus. Tutor, Laurentius
White.
He graduated B. A. in 1664, became a Fellow in 1667, and in
1670, June 29, was admitted of the Middle Temple, London :—
June 29, 1670: Mr. Thomas Sheridan, filius quartus Dennis Sheridan
de Drum Corr in Com. Cavan in Regno Hibniæ gen. admissus est
in Societatem Medii Templi.
* Dublin University Calendar, 1870, pp. 354-5.
f The authority for this is the minister of Killasher or Killassar, co. Cavan, about
1740, in the article entitled, a “ Description of Lough Eme,” in Add. MS. 4,436,
Br. Muséum. His words are that Denis Sheridan was ordained by Bishop Bedell,
and was promoted to the living of Killasher, in the diocese of Kilmore, where he
died at a great âge, “ and saw two of his sons générais in the Impérial service, a
third Secretary of State and Commissioner of the Revenue, a fourth, Patrick
Sheridan, Bishop of Cloyne, and the eldest (youngest is erroneously put down,)
William, Bishop of Kilmore and Ardagh.”208
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
In this entry Thomas Sheridan is put down as the fourth son.
Between the date of his brother Patrick’s birth in 1638 and that of
his own in 1646 there is room for an intermediate brother, who
was no doubt the one before indicated.*
Thomas Sheridan obtained the situation of Collector of the Customs
in Cork, by which he realized some fortune. He subsequently
became acquainted with the Duke of York, afterwards James II.,
and visited him at Brussels during H. R. H.’s retirement there in
1679, in conséquence of the strong public feeling manifested against
him. Being thus known as an adhèrent of the Duke of York,
Thomas Sheridan was accused of a participation in the Popish plot,
and committed to prison in 1680. On the lôthof December, 1680,
he was examined by the House of Commons, and, after his ex-
amination, made a speech, from which the following extracts relating
to his family are made: +—
“ I was born a gentleman of one of the antientest families, and
related to many considérable, in Ireland. In one county there is a
castle and a large demesne; in another a greater tract of land for
several miles together yet known by our name. I need not say who
was the head or chief—’tis too much, that my grandfather was the
last that enjoyed the estate; and that my father, left an orphan at
the beginning of King James’s reign, found himself dispossessed and
exposed to the world—that whole county with five others in Ulster
being entirely escheated to the Crown. My parents, Protestants—
my mother, a gentlewoman of England, of good fortune, a Foster,
who for my father’s sake quitted her country and relations—both
famed for honesty, for their loyalty and sufferings in the late ré-
bellion, when my father escaped twice narrowly with his life and at
* In Brady’s Clérical and Parochial Records of Cork, Cloyne, and Ross, Thomas
is erroneously stated to hâve been bom in 1641 ; but this year was no doubt the date
of a birth in Denis Sheridan’s family, that, namely, of the third son.
f A short account or state of Mr. Sheridan’s case before the late House of Com-
mons. In a letter to J. T. London, 1681, small 4to. King’s Pamphlets, in the
British Muséum.THE SHER1DAN FAMILY.
209
last was forced to fly for relieving and protecting both the fortunes
and persons of very many English.
“Tomybirth, I had a suitable éducation; I haveslender pretence
to letters ; am not altogether a stranger to the civil law nor the laws
of England, the means intended for my livelihood.
******
“ Born of Protestant parents, bred ail along a member of the
Churcli of England, and (by the grâce of God) will live and die in
this profession, for it is not so much owing to the chance of éduca-
tion, as to my choice being satisfied by reason, by Scripture, and
the laws of my country,—no inconsiderable argument, that of ail it is
the most purely Christian.
******
“ It has been objected against me ‘ that by my interest in H. R. H.
I got my brother made a Bishop in opposition to the Lord Levetenant
of Ireland and contrary to merit.’
******
“ My brother has been as much and as injuriously defamed as I,
though not so publicly. But he came off with honour.”
******
Parliament being abruptly dissolved, Thomas Sheridan was set at
liberty.
On his accession to the throne, James the Second created Colonel
Richard Talbot Earl of Tirconnell, and appointed him to be Lieut.-
General in Ireland. Henry Hyde, the second Earl of Clarendon,
was then Lord Lieutenant, but was superseded two years after (Feb.
1687) by Lord Tirconnell. About this time Mr. Thomas Sheridan
was sent Secretary into Ireland, and Commissioner of IL M.’s.
Revenue, but he had not been long there before Lord Tirconnell,
wishing to hâve another person as Secretary, preferred charges
against Sheridan, and eventually removed him from the offices to
which he had been appointed. In vindication of himself Thomas
CAMD. SOC.	2 E210
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
Sheridan appealed to the King. The resuit does not appear; but
tliat the King was satisfied with Sheridan is évident from the circum-
stance that his Majesty in exile retained him as private Secretary.*
Thomas Sheridan is said to hâve married a natural daughter of
King James, and to hâve had a son and a daughter. The son
followed the fortunes of the Pretender, and the daughter married
Colonel Guilliaume, Aid-de-Camp to King William the Tliird.
5°. James, the youngest son, was born in 1649, and entered at
Trinity College, Dublin, in 1665:—u 1665. Undecimo Maii,
Jacobus Sheridan, filius Dionysii Sheridan clerici, natus annos
sedecim, natus juxta Trimiam ; Educatus sub Mro Cary ; Tutor,
Michael Ward.”
As above said, this James, the youngest son of Denis Sheridan,
was no doubt one of the two sons said to hâve been Générais in the
Impérial service. He is the only son of Denis Sheridan mentioned
in the pedigree in the College of Arms, Dublin.
It has been said that Dr. Thomas Sheridan, the grandfather of
Richard Brinsley Sheridan, was the son of James Sheridan just
noticed, but the pedigree in the College of Arms does not sub-
stantiate the relationship. Dr. Thomas Sheridan, the friend of
Swift the Dean of St. Patrick’s, father of Thomas Sheridan “ the
Manager ” as he has been styled, who was the father of Richard-
Brinsley, appears to hâve been the son of a collateral branch of
the Sheridan family. He was born in 1684, and was educated at
Trinity College, Dublin, through the kindness, it is said, of his
kinsman Dr. William Sheridan, the deprived Bishop of Kilmore.
He died in 1738.
* In the Bodleian Library, Rawlinson Collection of Mannscripts, 139, B. 4, there
are “ Two memorials to the King from Thomas Sheridan, Secretary and Com-
missioner of the Revenue in Ireland, respecting the charges brought against him by
the Lord Deputy, together with a letter from him to the President of the Council, a
copy of the articles exhibited against him, the original report of the Irish judges
thereon,” &c. 1688, ff. 118,121, 146, 175.THE REV. ALEXANDER CLOGIE.
211
The following anecdote * here merits a place, as the verses by
Dr. Sheridan afford a brilliant example of his ready genius : Soon
after Swift and Sheridan became acquainted, they passed some days
together at the épiscopal palace of Kilmore on a visit to the then
bishop. After Swift’s departure, it was discovered that he had
written the following lines on one of the Windows looking into the
churchyard towards Bishop Bedell’s grave :—
Résolve me this, ye happy dead,
Who’ve lain some hundred years in bed,
Erom every persécution free
That in this wretched life we see,
Would ye résumé a second birth
And choose once more to live on earth?
Whereupon, in reply, Dr. Sheridan wrote underneath :—
Thus spoke great Bedell from his tomb:
“ Mortal, I would not change my doom
To live in such a restless State,
To be unf ortunately great ;
To flatter fools, and spum at knaves,
To shine amidst a race of slaves;
To learn from wise men to complain,
And only rise to fall again:
No, let my dusty relies rest,
Until I rise among the blest.”
CHAPTER XVII.
The Rev. Alexander Clogie.
Mr. Clogie was a Scotchman, born in 1614, but in what part of
Scotland I hâve not ascertained. In 1636 we first become acquainted
with him, when he was admitted to Holy Orders by Bishop
Bedell.
* Swift’s Works, by Sir W. Scott, vol. xii. pp. 485-6. 2nd Ed. 1824.212
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
On the 12tli of November 1637 he was collated to tbe Vicarage of
Dyne or Denn, co. Cavan, in the Diocese of Kilmore, and, in about
a fortnight after, was married to Miss Leah Mawe, the Bishop’s
step-daughter. She, however, as stated in Chapter VIII., died in
little more than a month after her marriage.
Mr. Clogie held the Vicarage of Denn until May 1640, on the
7th of which month he was instituted Vicar of Urney, or Cavan,
instead. He seems to hâve lived in habits of intimacy at the Epis-
copal house, but was not Chaplain, for the Bishop discharged the
duties of that office himself (see page 77). The period under notice
was that during which Bishop Bedell was engaged carrying on the
supervision of the translation of the Old Testament into the Irish
language, by Mr. Murtach King. In this labour of supervision Mr.
Clogie, as he himself informs us,* assisted. He thus appears to hâve
known Irish, and, though he does not say that he previously knew
Gaelic, it is probable he came from some district in Scotland where
that language was spoken, and that, knowing Gaelic, hewasenabled
the more readily to acquire a knowledge of the Irish.f
Mr. Clogie, we hâve seen, was with Bishop Bedell and his family
when the Rébellion broke out, and shared in their sufferings and
imprisonment J After the Bishop’s death he continued at Mr.
Denis Sheridan’s house until the 15tli of June, 1642, when, as
above mentioned, he made one of the company of English and
Scotch who departed for Dublin. At Drogheda we lost sight of
Mr. Clogie ; now we meet him again in Mr. Bladen’s shop in Dublin,
as related by himself in the following passage :—“ Amongst other
converts there was a learned friar called Daniel 0’Creane,§ on whom
* Memoir of Bishop Bedell, printed from the MS. (No. 6400, Har. Coll.) in the
British Muséum, and edited by Mr. W. Walker Wilkins, p. 106, London, 1862.
f See p. 156 et seq. The Minister here referred to under the initiais A. B.
appears to hâve been Mr. Clogie himself.
J Memoir of Bishop Bedell just cited, p. 205.
§ Mr. Creane’s name occurs among the signatures to the decrees passed at the
Piocesan Synod of Kilmore, on the 19th of September, 1638. (See Chapter IX.)
Ile was collated to the vicarage of Mullagh, alias Killinkere, by Bishop Bedell inTHE REV. ALEXANDER CLOGIE.
213
the Bishop had bestowed a good living. * * * He did not fall
away upon the Rébellion, as many hypocrites and false converts
did, but stood out manfully against ail violence, and spoil, and
terror, and escaped to Dublin, at length, naked and bare, and the
first money that God sent him he laid out for an English Bible (as
I—Clogie—did seé) in Mr. Bladen’s shop.” *
On the llth of Sept. 1643, Mr. Clogie appears to hâve been
présent when Lord Moore was killed in an attack against the rebels
at Portlester. “ I saw,” says Clogie, “ the cannon bullet taken out
of his body.”f
The next time we meet with Mr. Clogie is when he came from
Ireland to England at the end of 1643, as Chaplain with the Horse,J
after the Marquis of Ormonde had made the treaty for a cessation of
arms with the rebels, on the 15th of September of the same year.
In 1645 he appears to hâve been with the troopsbefore Hereford,
when Col. Lawrence Crawford was slain there.§
In 1646 we find Mr. Clogie in London,|| for he relates that then
and there he met Dr. Alane Cooke, the Chancellor of the Diocese
of Kilmore, with whom Bishop Bedell had the protracted litigation
(see pp. 55-6, 151). Dr. Cooke, Mr. Clogie says, spoke kindly of
the Bishop, and lamented his death (see p. 155).
At last, in 1647, Mr. Clogie, after ail his troubles, is settled in
the Vicarage of Wigmore, county Hereford, where he enters on a
new phase of life. Now thirty-three years of âge, his incumbency ex-
tended throughout a period of fifty-one years more. The following
1631. (Reg. Visitation 1633-4.) The Rev. Daniel Creane married a daughter of
Captain Perkins, and had a son named Ambrose, after Captain Ambrose Bedell,
the Bishop’s son. To this Ambrose Creane Captain Ambrose Bedell bequeathed £5.
* Op. Cit. p. 97.	t Op. Cit. p. 176.
J Clogie, Op. Cit. p. 68. Master Thomas Price, who had been Bishop Bedell s
Archdeacon, and who was joined with Ambrose Bedell in command of the Castle
of Croghan after Sir James Craig’s death, came over to England at the same time
as Chaplain of Infantry. Archdeacon Price was afterwards Bishop of Kildare.
We shall meet with him again as Archbishop of Cashel.
§ Op. Cit. p. 177.	Il Op. Cit. p. 86.214	LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
inscription is on a stone slab inside the Communion-rails and im-
mediately under the Communion-table in the church of Wig-
more :—
“ Here lieth in hopes of a glorious Résurrection unto Life eternall
the body of that Holy, Reverend, and Learned Divine, Mr. Alex-
ander Clogie, who departed this life October 24, 1698, aged 84.
Minister at Wigmore 51 years.*’*
To whom Mr. Clogie was indebted for his introduction to the
Yicarage of Wigmore I hâve not ascertained ; but it is suggested by
the Rev. T. T. Lewis, the editor of the Letters of Lady Brilliana
Harley during the Civil War,t that it may hâve been through the
Rev. Stanley Gower, the Rector of Brampton Bryan, and one of the
Members of the Assembly of Divines at Westminster. Mr. Stanley
Gower had been Chaplain to Archbishop Ussher, and to him Mr.
Clogie might thereby hâve become known in connection with Bishop
Bedell.
It isabove stated that Mr. Clogie was a Scotchman. This had
been surmised by the Rev. Dr. Reeves of Tynan, near Armagh,
from certain passages in Clogie’s Life of Bedell ; but it is now shown
to be a fact by a document communicated through the Rev. J. J.
Trollope,} the présent Yicar of Wigmore, by the Lady Frances
Yernon Harcourt. It is to be premised that on the 6th of August
1650, “ An Act was passed prohibiting ail trade between England
and Scotland, and the injoyning the departure of Scotsmen out of
this Commonwealth.” (Whitelock’s Memorials, p. 452.) The
document, which is a pétition from the parishioners of Wigmore to
the Parliament, that their Yicar, Mr. Clogie, though a Scottishman,
may hâve licence to remain in England, is as follows:—
* In the bnrial of Mr. Clogie within the church, the example of Bishop Bedell
was not followed.
f A volume of the Camden Society for the year 1853-4.
J For ail the information here given about Mr. Alexander Clogie, I am indebted
to the very obliging courtesy and kindness of the Rev. Mr. Trollope. Thomas
BedelPs MS. notes (supra p. 89) first gaye the reference to Wigmore.THE REV. ALEXANDER CLOGIE.
215
Whereas wee are given to understand that there is an Act of
Parliam* latelie made by yor honours, that ail Scottishmen shall
speedilie départ out of this Comon Wealth of England unlesse they
hâve a especial lycence from yor honours : Wee the inhabitants of
this parish of Wigmore in the countie of Hereff. are bould to become
humble peticoers to yor honours in the behalf of Mr. Alexander
Clogie or now Minister, a Scottishman borne but hath not lived in
Scotland, as wee are informed, for sixteen years past, who is a man
learned and of a godlie conversacon; That as he hath been sent wth
the approbacon and good liking of the Parliam* amongst us where
he hath exercized his ministrie both painfullie and powerfullie to
the great comfort of or poore soûles for the space of allmost three
years, so you will be pleased out of the goodnes and zeale for God’s
glorie to give him lycence to continue amongst us in this parish for
time to corne. By which worke of yoS * * * * * * * 13 God shall be glorified, and
wee of this poor parish shall be bound to pray for yor honours’ hap-
pines in this and the world to corne.
Signed by 97 persons.
Endorsed Wigmore, petin for Mr. Cloggie.
(in the hand-writing of Sir R. Harley or that of Sir E. Harley.)
S orne eight years after his settlement at Wigmore, Mr. Clogie
entered into a second marriage, of which the following is the record
in the Parish Register of Wigmore :—
1655. The eleventh day of December, 1655, Mr. Alexander Clogie,
Minister of the Gospel of Jésus Christ at Wigmore, was married to
Mrs. Susanna Nelme, daughter to Mr, John Nelme, some tyme
of Gloucester, citizen, according to the Act of Parliament, at Ludlow,
in the county of Salop.
The children of this marriage were the following, as appears from
the Parish Register of Wigmore:—1656, John; 1658, Brilliana ;
1660, Shusanna; 1661-2, Leah; 1665-6, Thomas; 1671, Mary.
Mr. and Mrs. Clogie lived to see grand-children.
Mrs. Clogie survived her husband and died in 1711. Her burial216
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
at Wigmore is entered as follows :—25 July Anno Dni 1711, buried
Mrs. Cloggie, Vid.
The time when Mr. Clogie wrote his life of Bishop Bedell appears,
from what he says,* to hâve been whilst Dr. Francis Marsh was
Bishop of Kilmore and Ardagh, viz. between 1672 and 1681. That
the Memoir was already written before 1679 is shown by Mr.
Clogie’s letter to Archbishop Sancroft of Canterbury, given below,
and that it was written subsequently to 1672 may be inferred from
his remark that, at the time he was writing it, above fifty years had
run out since the publication of Bedell’s correspondence with Wades-
worth in 1624. This makes the time to be about 1675. Isaak
Walton’s Life of Sir Henry Wotton had been already published
when Mr. Clogie was writing his Life of Bishop Bedell.
The foliowing letter to Archbishop Sancroft of Canterbury is
contained in the Tanner MS. xxxviii. 41, Bodleian Library,
Oxford :—
Most Reverend Father in God my Honble good Lord,
I bless God with ail my hart, that after almost 40 years oblivion
it hath pleased him to raise and stirr up yr Grâce to revive the
blessed memory of that worthy man of God, who was a faythfull
servant in his house as another Moses, Dr Wm Bedell, L. B. of
Kilmore, my Lord and Father, whose name to me is next y* Sacred
rame y1 is above every name; it hath beene undoubtedly a great
loss to the Church to hâve beene depry ved so long of the knowledge
of so worthy a person, so famous for ail Christian excellencys in his
génération as any since the Aptes days. Had I been so happy as
to hâve known sooner yr Grace’s interest in him and sincere affection
to him as his , ail my interest and papers (the sacred reliques of
him) had readily attended y' Grace’s honble désigné, in raysing up
the name of ye dead. The short narrative of his life and death y4
by the motion of some noble posons I drew up, notfor publick view,
but private satisfaction (having lived wth him in the hour of tempta-
* Printed Memoir, ut supra, p. 49.THE REV. ALEXANDER CLOGIE.
217
tion yt came upon Ireland in ’41, and being wth him in prison and
at his death and buriall) I humbly submit to yr Wisdom’s correction
and arbitrant. I hâve sent yr Grâce (according to my promise) some
of his papers y1 I rescued out of the fyre with the hazard of my lyfe.
I hâve yet by me many loose papers of his owne writting, out of
whch many precous things things (sic) may be picked for the benefit
of the Church, and since I hâve found favour in yr Grace’s eyes for
Jonathan’s sake, if in this, in giving the dead his due, or in any-
thing else, I may be serviceable to yr Lp., I doe most willingly re-
sign my selfe to yr Grace’s disposai, and craving pardon for this
presumption,
Most worthy Patriarch, I subscribe myselfe yr Grace’s (above ail
mortalls) most humble and obedient sofie and servant,
Wigmore, June 9th, 79.
The noble persons to whom Mr. Clogie alludes in this letter, by
whose motion he was led to draw up his narrative of the Life and
Death of Bishop Bedell, were probably the Harley family of Bramp-
ton Bryan, with whom he appears to hâve lived, as Vicar of
Wigmore, in habits of intimacy. The manuscript copy of his
narrative in the Harleian Collection in the British Muséum, which
I hâve no doubt is in his own hand, had probably been presented
by him to one of the Harley s, and thus came to form one of their
celebrated collection. The copy sent to Archbishop Sancroft is
probably that which is now in the Tanner Collection in the Bodleian
Library bound up in the same volume with the MS. of our text.
To Mr. Clogie the Rev. Gilbert Burnet, afterwards Bishop of
Salisbury, was indebted for the materials on which was founded his
well-known Life of William Bedell, Lord Bishop of Kilmore, first
published in 1685. Burnet settled as a résident in London in 1674,
CAMD. SOC.	2 F218
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
and it was probably some time after that when he and Mr. Clogie
became personally acquainted, for tbere had evidently been, judging
by Burnet’s expressions, personal communications between the two.
Burnet says, in his préfacé: u I had a great collection of materials put
in my hands by a worthy and learned Divine, Mr. Clogie, that was
mucb more the author of this book than I am. I confess my part in this
was so small that I can scarce assume anything to myself but the
copying out what was put in my hands.” In the course of his work,
again, p. 232, Burnet says: “ And both he that collected these Me-
morials of Bishop Bedell, and he that copies them out and publishes
them, will think their labours very happily employed if the reading
them produces any of those good effects that are intended by
them.”
The Life of Bishop Bedell, as publislied by Gilbert Burnet, lias
supplied the materials for ail the biographies of Bedell which hâve
appeared. The latter therefore reproduce ail the defects and errors
of the former. We hâve seen that Archbishop Sancroft designed
at one time to publish a treatise comprising the biography and
works of Bishop Bedell, and that the manuscripts on the subject in
the Tanner Collection in the Bodleian Library were of his Grace’s
collecting. This being known at the time, Dr. Edward Wetten-
hall, Bishop of Cork and Ross, in a letter to Archbishop Sancroft
of Canterbury, dated April 24, 1686, hints his disapprobation of
Burnet^s Life of Bedell, in the following terms :—
“ I hâve read Bp. BedelLs life, but I cannot think it is published
by any whom your Grâce employed. The présent Bp. of Kilmore,
in whose father’s house Bp. B. died, told me lately he had several
papers of Bp. B. which I hâve desired him to look up at his return
home, which will give a fuller account.” *
* Tanner MSS. in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, vol. xxx. folio 25.
The Bishop of Kilmore here referred to was Dr. William Sheridan; and Dr.
Edward Wettenhall, the Bishop of Cork and Ross in 1686, who himself became
Bishop of Kilmore and Ardagh in 1699, in succession to Dr. Smith, was he who
directed in his will that should he die at Kilmore his body should be interred near
“ good Bishop Bedeirs.'* Sujwtf, p. 196.THE REV. ALEXANDER CLOGIE.
219
I hâve above had occasion to examine into the validity of Dean
Hickes* strictures on certain passages in Bishop Burnet’s Life of
Bishop Bedell, and to show that though they are in part justified
they also in a much greater part betray the Dean’s unacquaintance
with the subject into which he ventured to rush as a critic, and
manifest too glaringly the animus by which he was actuated against
Burnet. In his vindication of the funeral sermon on Archbishop
Tillotson, Burnet says :—161 published that life (of Bishop Bedell)
just when I went out of England. . . . The whole materials were
prepared for me many years before I meddled with them by an
ancient and reverend clergyman, Mr. Clogie. ... I declined to
Write on the subject for some years, but repeated importunities
overcame me at last.
44 I am not answerable for any mistakes which my author may
hâve misremembered : so if any of these are wrong, they are another
man’s errors, they are not mine.”
The blundering and inaccuracy of Mr. Clogie, however, are in
some instances so glaring that any one acquainted with Ecclesiastical
History—as a former Professor of Divinity, an actual Preacher at
the Rolls, and a future Bishop of the Church of England ought to
be—must at once hâve been led to examine more narrowly into the
facts of his subject. Bishop Burnet therefore cannot be excused
for contenting himself with copying merely and standing sponsor to
the. statements of Mr. Clogie.
In taking leave of Mr. Clogie we must not omit mention of a
singular publication which appeared under his name a few years
before his death, entitled: 44 Vox Corvi; or, the Voice of a Haven
that thrice spoke these words distinctly; 4 Look into Colossians the
3rd, and 15th/ A sermon preached at Wigmore, co. Hereford, by
Alexander Clogie. London, 1694.” Of this pamphlet there is a
copy in the British Muséum, and another in the Bodleian Library
at Oxford. But these are not copies of the first édition. I hâve
seen, through the kindness of the Rev. J. J. Trollope of Wigmore,
the préfacé (witliout the sermon) of an édition dated 1691. This220
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
no doubt was the first, as the alleged incident on which the sermon
was founded is stated to hâve occurred on the 3rd of February,
1691.
The sermon is directed against domestic brawls, and the alleged
incident referred to was this :—A certain family in the parish of
Wigmore had become notorious for the dissensions which existed
among its members, when one day Thomas Kinnersley, a grandson
of Mr. Clogie, ten years of âge, who resided with him, went out
into the wood-yard, where he sat down, and was amusing himself
with “ whittling” a stick, when his attention was drawn to a raven
perched on the steeple of the Church, which, looking towards the
house at variance with itself, screamed out distinctly to his hearing
three times the words, “ Look into Colossians the 3rd, 15th.”
Surprised and alarmed at this extraordinary occurrence, the child
ran into the house, breathless, and told what he had heard. Where-
upon reference was made to Colossians, chapter iii. and verse 15,
and the text found to be this: “ And let the peace of God rule in
your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be
ye thankful.**
A wood-cut, different in the two éditions above referred to, but
in each case of artistic merit about equal to that which is usually
displayed by the woodcuts on broadsides, represents : 1°, The par-
sonage, with Mr. Clogie, in canonicals and book in hand as if he
were preaching, standing at the door; 2°, Thomas Kinnersley in
the wood-yard “ whittling ” his stick and looking at the steeple
where, 3°, the Kaven is perched as above described, with a scroll
held in its beak, on which the words already mentioned are written ;
4°, the House at variance with itself, and its members at the door
quarrelling with each other.221
CHAPTER XVIII.
Captain Ambrose Bedell.
About the year 1640, Ambrose, the youngest son of Bishop
Bedell, being then twenty two*years of âge, married Mary, only
daughter of Peter Hill, Sheriff of Down, and his wife the sister of
Randall, first Earl of Antrim. Peter Hill was the eldest son of Sir
Moyses Hill, the second son of Sir Moyses being Arthur of Hills-
borough, the ancestor of the Marquis of Downshire, and of the
late Viscount Dungannon. Mary, the only daughter of Sir Moyses,
was the wife of Sir James Craig, of Croghan Castle, near Kilmore.
On the occasion of Ambrose’s marriage, his father bought the lands
of Carne from the Rev. Martin Baxter, Vicar of Kildallon, “ for the
use of Ambrose and Mary his wife during tlieir lives, and for the-
heirs of their bodies and right heirs of Ambrose Bedell for ever.,,
We hâve seen that Sir James Craig held his Castle out against
the rebels, and gave shelter to many of the British Protestants.
Fever breaking out among them, however, Sir James caught it, and
died. After this Ambrose Bedell, in conjunction with Archdeacon
Price, continued the defence until they were necessitated by famine
and sickness to capitulate as above related. After the capitulation
Ambrose went with the company from Croghan and Keilagh
Castles and the neighbourhood as far as Drogheda. Thence he
accompanied his brother to England, but did not remain long in
that country, for we find him in Dublin on the 26th of October,
1642,making his déposition regarding the sufferings undergone and
losses sustained by his family in conséquence of the rébellion. The
following are the principal points in this déposition : *—
“Ambrose Bedell, gent. sonne of the late Reverend Father in
God William Lord Bp. of Kilmore, in ye county of Cavan (now,
* The original is preserved in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin, and has I
believe ne ver before been printed. For procuring me a copy of it I am indebted to
Professor Stokes of T.C.D. who has been unwearied in forwarding my undertaking.222
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
b y the cruelties of ye rebells, deceased), sworne and examined,
deposeth and sayth that in the beginning of the présent rébellion
and by means thereof his said father in his lyfetyme was deprived,
robbed, or otherwise despoyled of his meanes, goodes, and chattels
of the value and to his présente coste of foure thousand and
three score poundes str. And this déponent was also deprived,
robbed or otherwise dispossessed of the possession, rente, and profite
of his lands and farme, and of his goodes and chattels, wortli three
hundred and thirty-one pound str. and is like to loose the future
rentes and profitts of his said landes and farmes worth ninety-six
poundes p. ann. untill a peace be established.
“ And further sayth that Edmund McMulmore O’Rely of. .. Esqre
came about the 19th or 20th of Novr.* last 1641 to the said Lord
Bp*s. house and commanded him to turne out of dores about 200
of aged psons, women and children of Protestants, whom (with others
before that tyme departed from him) lie had since the beginning of
the rébellion harboured and releived. The said Edmund alledging
that the said Bp. must not kepe those English to devoure the meate
(meaning the said Bp’s. meate) which belonged to the souldiers
meaning his the said Edmund’s rebellious company. But the said
Bp. professed that whyle he had a bytt for himself never a child
there to his .... should want. And when ail was gone he would
trust in God for more. Whereupon the said Edmund told him that
the next day he would show him the most woefulle spectacle that
ever he beheld. To witt he would hang ail those people before
his own face. And accordingly the said Edmund came the next
day, with about 200 foote and 20 or 30 horse, and entering the
said house seised on the person of the said Bishop, and on ail his
goodes, turned the poore stripped people out of dores to shift for
themselves, many of whiche perished by the highway with cold and
hunger. Others were killed with the barbarous people, and some
escaped to Dublin, as this déponent hath credibly heard. But this
déponent with the said Lord Bishop his father, Mr. Wm. Bedell
* This appears to be a mistake for December.CAPTAIN AMBROSE BEDELL.
223
this deponent’s elder brother, and bis brother-in-law Mr. Clogby,
Minister, were by the said Edmund carried prisoners to Clowater
Castle. And tbis déponent and tlie said Mr. Cloghy cast in boults,
wbere ail of tbem abode for tbe space of tbree weeks. And im-
mediately after the said prisoners were sett free out of that misérable
castle, where they had noe glass windowes or sbutters to keepe out
the weather coming off the lough where it was seated, the said
Lord Bishopp fell sick and died (as this déponent verily believeth)
by occasion of such usages in the said castle. And this dep*
further saith that shortly after that his said father and the forenamed
were cast into prison the pretended popish Bishopp of that Diocese
came by the direction or consent of the said Edmund Rely into the
said Bishop’s house, seized on the rest of the goodes and bookes
which were in the said house, and there liveth..................And
(this déponent) further saith that Sr James Craige, knight, that
long had maintained Castle Croghan, being buried in the Church
of Killesandra his corps were taken up out of the grave by the
rebells and cutt in pièces, and after they had taken away his
coffin and sheete, and had soe hackt and mangled him, they threw his
mangled body into the grave again. And further saith that the
rebells did often say that they woulde neither leave Englishe nor
Scottishe, nor Protestants, nor any nation but themselves in Ireland.
And this dep1 hath heard the rebells utter and use divers oppro-
brious words against the Lords' Justices and Counsell of this
Kingdome. And further saith that Mr. Luke Dillon of Trinity
Island seemed long not to partake with the rebells, and tould this
depts father that he was loth to joine with tbem. But after when
the said Luke Dillon’s father was dead the said Luke Dillon say de
he had a letter from the Lord Dillon his brother, whereby he was
advised to partake with the rebells to save the old Erle of Ros-
comon’s goodes, and that thereupon the said Luke did joine and
partake with the rebells of the Englishe pale * only : but not with
* The English pale was a territory comprehending the county of Louth in the
Province of Ulster, and the counties of Dublin, Meath, and Kildare in Leinster.224
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
the other rebells for that they were of different counsell and factions,
and this dep* heard the meere Irishe rebells often say to tlie otlier
rebells of the pale these words, viz: You churles with the great
breeches, doe you think that if we were rid of the Englishe we
would spare you? noe, we would cutt ail your throats also, for you
are ail of one race with the other Englishe thougli we make use of
you for the présente. And further saith that there were owing unto
the said Lord Bishopp, this deponent’s father, several sûmes of monie
bydivers persons, some whereof are absolute rebells, and therest owing
by such as the présente rébellion hath disabled to make satisfaction,
to the amounting in ail to the sume of one thousand one hundred
poundes or thereabout. And that the parties rebells that were soe
indebted were and are these that folio we, viz. Philip McMulmore
O’Rely, of Lismore, in this county of Cavan, Esq., Hugh McTor-
laghe Brady of Drumloght in the same county, Gent., Owen
McWiltin O’Sheridan late of Lisbeg in the county of Longford,
Gent., and Owen O’Sheridan of .... in the county of Cavan, a
captain of rebells. And further saith that these persons hereafter
named were and are notorious rebells, and acted in this présente
rébellion, and doe partake, joine with, and carry arms with, for
and amongst the rebells against the King’s Matie and his loyale
subjects, viz. (Here follows a number of names which it is un-
necessary to quote.)	(Signed) Ambrose Bedell.
The xxvi. October 1642.
John Watson.
Will. Aldrich.
After this Ambrose Bedell served in the Royal Army in Ireland
as a Captain in the régiment of his wife’s uncle Colonel Arthur
Hill,* until 1649. He was thus one of the “ Forty-nine Officers 99
The rebels of the English pale were the descendants of the old English settlers in
those counties who still adhered to Popery.
* This Colonel Arthur Hill, of Hillsborough, second son of Sir Moyses Hill, as
above said, was ancestor of the Marquis of Downshire and of the late Viscount
Dungannon. From him the name of Arthur descended in the Downshire and Dun-
gannon families, from the latter of which the Duke of Wellington derived it, hisCAPTAIN AMBROSE BEDELL.
225
who claimed arrears of pay to a large amount. None of these
arrears had been paid when Cromwell assigned lands to satisfy his
own army. After the Restoration, however, the daims of the
“ Forty*nine Officers ” were attended to, and Captain Ambrose
Bedell had a grant of lands confirmed to him under the Acts of
Seulement and Explanation, May 21, 19th Charles IL This grant
comprised the townlands of Drumherine alias Drumhervise, Unagh
alias Uragh, both in the Barony of Loughtee, county of Cavan;
and Ballybollan, alias Uterdony, in the barony of Toome, county of
Antrim, containing in ail about 450 acres.*
Besides the lands thus acquired and the lands bought for him by
his father, Captain Ambrose Bedell, on the 30th of April 1661,
purchased from Thomas Richardson and his wife Anne {née Bagshaw)
certain other lands in the parish of Drumlane, county of Cavan.f
After his retirement from the army, Ambrose Bedell appears to
hâve resided on his estate at Carn Hill, a Justice of the Peace for
the county of Cavan. Here he was residing when the letter
(printed in the préfacé to the présent volume) was addressed to him
on the 5th of October, 1680, from Trinity College, Dublin, by Dr.
Palliser, J relative to Archbishop Sancroft’s design of publishing the
Life and Writings of his father Bishop Bedell.
In 1682, having Êrst made his will, Capt. Ambrose Bedell
went to London to be touched by the King for the “ Evil,” as
appears by a letter § from Archbishop Francis Marsh, of Dublin,
previously Bishop of Kilmore, to Archbishop Sancroft of Canter-
bury, dated August 12, 1682, recommending Capt. Ambrose Bedell
mother being the eldest daughter of Arthur Hill lst Viscount Dungannon, who was
second son of the grandson of Colonel Arthur Hill. H. R. H. Prince Arthur, again,
was named “ Arthur,” after the Duke of Wellington.
* Reports from the Commissionersrespecting the Public Records of Ireland, 1821-
1825, folio, p. 96. Ordered to be printed 17 June 1829.
f These lands were sold by Capt. Bedell Stanford, who died in 1857, to James H,
Story, Esq.
J Tanner Collection, xxxvii. 147, Bodleian Library, Oxford.
§ Tanner Collection, xxxv. 68, Bodleian Library.
CAMD, SOC.	2 G226
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
to his Grace’s assistance to get him touched by the King; Capt.
A, Bedell being, observes His Grâce of Dublin, grievously afflicted
with the evil.
In the letter from Capt. Ambrose Bedell to the Archbishop of
Canterbury (Tanner Collection xxxv. 121) dated November 1,
1682, given in the préfacé, he speaks as if his health had been
fully restored, and returns humble and hearty thanks to his Grâce.
However, the King’s touch notwithstanding, Captain Ambrose
Bedell died the foliowing year at Cavan, aged sixty-five.
I hâve not ascertained when his wife died. Though Ambrose
Bedell appears to hâve had a child or children before his father’s
death,* they were dead before him, as he left no issue.
In his will, dated June 20, 1682, and proved in Dublin
October 20, 1683, Captain Ambrose Bedell directed that he should
be buried in the churchyard of Kilmore beside his father. The
testamentary disposai of his property will be noticed in the next
chapter.
CIIAPTER XIX.
The Rev. William Bedell and his Family.
William, the eldest son of Bishop Bedell, was godson of Dr.
Samuel Warde, Master of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. In
a letter to Dr. Warde, dated Kilmore, February 2, 1633, in reply
to an offer made by him to entertain William at Cambridge, the
Bishop says : “ I do thank you very heartily for your kind and very
friendly offer of entertaining my son, which I shall perhaps accepté *
William, however, who was then twenty-one years of âge, does not
appear to hâve been sent to Cambridge.
On the Ist of June, 1634, the Bishop ordained him Deacon, and
on the sixth of the same month collated him to the Yicarage of
* Clogie’s Memoir, ut supra, p. 4.THE REV. WILLIAM BEDELL AND HIS FAMILY,
227
Kinawley, a parish situated at the head of Lough Erne, in the
diocese of Kilmore, but chiefly lying in the county of Fermanagh.
The foliowing extract from the Regai Visitation of 1633-4 has
been supplied by the Rev. Dr. Reeves :—
Dioc Kilmore.
Decanat. de Dromlahen.
con-
fert. Valet
100u per
annum.
Guliellûs Bedellus litteratus admissus fuit ad sacrum Diacanatus
ordinem per Guliellmum Kilmorensem Episcopum 1° Junii, 1634.
Collatus fuit per eundem Episcopum ad vicariam de Kinally
unacum omnibus decimis oblationibus et emolumentis ad rectorias
de Knockninnay et Claindgorry et Ballegillaconing olim ad Epis-
copum Kilmorensem infra parochiam de Kinally pertinen et nunc
vigore literar patencium Jacobi nuper Regis eidem vicarie assign et
annex 6° Jun. 1634.
Inductus fuit 7° Junii, 1634.
In reference to this admission of his eldest son William to Holy
Orders, and his Collation to the Vicarage of Kinawley, Bishop
Bedell in a letter to Dr. Samuel Warde, dated October 11, 1635,
says: “ Your Godson I hâve conferred a bénéfice upon; whereupon
he is résident, and I hope he will prove a good minister and an
honest man. I pray give some direction for the course of his studies,
for I ne ver y et knew how to study/*
We hâve seen how anxîous Bishop Bedell was that his Clergy
should not be absentees from their parishes. But though the clergy,
influenced by his own example of faithful discharge of duty, were
many of them favourably disposed to conform to his wishes, this
difficulty as to résidence so presented itself that in many parishes
there was no parsonage, nor even glebe land on which a parsonage
might be built. Large parcefe of ground indeed had been granted
Vicaria ( Mr. Guliellmus
de	Bedell,
Kinally [ Vicarius.228
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
by King James, on the plantation of Ulster, to each church for
glebe land, with a provision in the patent requiring the incumbent
to build a mansion-honse of a specified size for his personal résidence.
The distribution of the glebe lands however had been so incon-
veniently ma de by the surveyors and commissioners that in most
cases there was not a foot of the glebe land situated in the parish to
which it was assigned. To obviate the difficulty Bishop Bedell offered
a portion of the Episcopal lands which lay in the neighbourhood of
most of the parish churches, in exchange for the glebe lands which
were situated so inconveniently out of the way, and to carry the plan
ont obtained a commission from the Lord Deputy and Council to see
the exchange equitably made, so that the bishopric might hâve no
damage, nor the présent lessees of the glebe lands any just reason
to complain. A general agreement on the subject having been
corne to between the bishop and the clergy, Mr. William Bedell
was chosen to be sent into England with a pétition to the King
begging a confirmation of this exchange by a new patent.
Such was the occasion, so far as I can make out, of the visit of the
Rev. William Bedell, Yicar of Kinawley, to England in 1637. He
had a letter of recommendation,* from his father to Archbishop
Laud, dated Septr. 2, and was entrusted by the latter to carry back
a repïy thereto, dated Oct. 12. But, being unable to return to
Ireland so soon as he expected, Mr. William Bedell forwarded
Archbishop Laud’s letter to his father by a spécial messenger.
In a letter to the Archbishop, dated Dublin, December 20, 1638,
Bishop Bedell incidentally mentions that he received this com-
munication on the 30th of October 1637, and says, that his son
had ague in England and was detained there in conséquence, being
advised by his physician not to return to Ireland until the following
spring.
We hâve seen that William Bedell was already married when
* This letter and a draft of Laud’s reply are in the Public Record Office, and are
above quoted in Chapter VII. p. 159, in reference to the improvement of the
revenue of the Bishopric of Ardagh under Dr. Richardson.THE REV. WILLIAM BEDELL AND HIS FAMILY. 229
the rébellion broke out. But when, where, and whom be married
I hâve not ascertained directly from any document. I am, how-
ever, inclined to think tbat he married when in England on the
occasion just mentioned, and that his wife was a daughter of a
Suffolk family named Barber. Mrs. Bedeirs Christian name was
Mary, as appears from the entry of her burial, and also of that of
her son James, in the parish register of Rattlesden, to be quoted
below. That her maiden name was Barber may be inferred from
the expression in her son James’s will that his books were lying in
the care of his “ Uncle Barber/’ The first child of William Bedell
and his wife Mary of whom I hâve found any record was his
daughter Leah, who was baptized at Whepstead, co. Suffolk, on the
28th of December, 1643 (P. R.). According to Mr. Clogie’s
Narrative (p. 4), it would appear that William, as well as his
brother Ambrose, had a child or children before his father’s death.
Any such child or children, however, must hâve died young.
The story of William Bedell, from his leaving Ireland after his
father’s death until his temporary settlement at Whepstead, is
related with simple but touching pathos in the following letter to
his godfather Dr. Samuel Warde, who at the time was himself
overwhelmed by the troubles of the Great Rébellion which
had commenced in England. See Chapter II. p. 95.
Reverend Sir,
I hâve received yours of the first of this instant montli, in w11 yu
justly blâme me of forgetfulnesse of those many obligations whereby I
stand obliged to yu, both in respect of my deceased father and
myselfe and mine owne particular.* I desire to give yu a breife
* The letter of Dr. Samuel Warde to which this is a reply would seem to hâve
been written in a querulous tone. William Bedell however completely exonérâtes
himself from the charge of neglect. I do not know whether he was ever able to
make his promised visit to his godfather, but I fear that Dr. Warde remained dis-
satisfied with him, otherwise he would hâve left him a ring as he did to several
other personal friends. I must confess that I felt disappointed on reading Dr.
.Samuel Warde’s will (supra, p. 95) to find that he did not mention his godson
William Bedell. The Bishop in his will did not forget Dr. Warde.230
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
account of ray présent condition, wh. is not settled as yu hâve
heard. After I had some while rested me in Essex at my father’s
brother’s house after my long and dangerous journey out of Ireland,
I came into Suffolk, and being with an auncient friend of my
father’s (Dr. Despotine) I was desired to preach at Whepstead by
some of the parish who had known my father. Now the minister
of this towne, one Mr. Hinde, had a little before left his place in
this manner : He fumished himselfe with an horse and pistolls and
a sword, and borrowed some money, and takes his journey, with
purpose after some weeks to returne. For what reasons I cannot
certainly say, but for some cause or other, he is not yet returned.
In his absence (which hath been since Christmas) I hâve at the
entreaty of the parish supplyed his place, and upon their pétition
to ye Parliament I am appoynted to serve the cure, and to be payd
for my paines out of ye benefits of ye living till Mr. Hinde appear.
This is my settlem*. And truly I confesse yu may well marvell y*
yu were not consulted with. But for yr satisfaction: First, the
thing was suddene and unexpected; Secondly, the people were
wholly unprovided of a minister, so that I could never be at mine
owne disposing since I first preached among them ; And lastly, I
was certainly informed y4 yu were not at Cambridge, so yt I knew
not whither to goe unto yu; and withall I neyther was furnished
with horse nor money. Thus yu may in fact understand my case.
As for that poynt in yr lettr touching my father’s death, I cannot
at large satisfie yu. Yet thus much in short: He died in ye rebells’
hands, but had courteous useage in comparison of what other
Englishmen found. I shall give yu ye full relation shortly (if God
please). For those wrightings yr lettr mentioneth, I think I heard
my father speake of them. But what became of them or of the
Bp. of Corke * himselfe I know not. S% the truth is, ail my father’s
* The Bishop here referred to was William Chappel, B.D., Fellow of Corpus
Christi, Cambridge, Provost of Trinity College, Dublin, Feb. 1634-5, and Bisbop
of Cork and Ross, 1638. When the rébellion broke out he went from Cork to
Dublin, whence he escaped to England in Decémber. This was the Bishop of CorkeTHE REV. WILLIAM BEDELL AND HIS FAMILY.
231
books and papers are wth y*3 rebella. And although I bad some
principall labours of his I durst not bring them (being to passe
among ye rebells and being lyable to be searched at their pleasure)
except I would extreamely hâve hazarded my life, wh without yt was
danger enough. For conclusion, I am glad to heare of yr health,
and I shall shortly by God’s helpe see yu. But as for yr imprison-
ment and ye cause thereof wh yr letter expresseth, they are matters
above me. Therefore I can but desire God to direct yu and to fit
us ail for times of suffering. Which I shall dayly doe in my poore
prayers. Thus craving yr blessing, I rest

i.éJL
Whepstead, June yc 12, 1643.
Mr. Hinde, the rector of Whepstead here mentioned, not having
returned, or, according to Walker’s “ Sufferings of the Clergy,”
(part ii. p. 274,) having been turned out, the Rev. Ambrose Salus-
bury was, about April 1644, preferred to the living, and the Rev.
William Bedell was made Minister of Rattlesden, co. Suffolk, after
doing clérical duty at Whepstead for about a year. The following
is the record of his présentation extracted from Tanner’s MS. in the
Diocesan Registry, Norwich:—
“ Rattlesden.
“ Lib. Hall, 4 Mart. 1644, Gui: Bedellus, A.M. ad præs: Edw.
Rivett, Arm.”
Thus was Mr. William Bedell settled in the quiet Rectory of Rat-
tlesden, after having suffered so much in that hurricane of human
who was so“very sharpe against y® offence ” of the Bishop of Killal: see note,
p. 64. Bishop Chappel was one of the persons supposed to hâve been the anthor of
“ The Whole Duty of Man.” He died at Derby in 1649, aged 67.232
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
passion, stirred up by national animosity and intensified by religious
hâte, which swept over Ireland, carrying death and dévastation before
it, and leaving famine, pestilence, and misery behind, where ail had
been previously blessed with peace and plenty. It is, indeed, a
relief now to contemplate him and his family in the refuge he had
gained in his own county and among his own people, where, being
still young, he might look forward to many years of usefulness,
“ labouring,” as Mr. Clogie said of him, in his Yicarage of Kinawley,
“ with that fidelity which became the son of such a father.”
It was, I believe, during the earlier years of his quarter of a
century’s incumbency at Rattlesden that “ The Relation of the Life
and Death ” of his father here published was composed by him.
Dr. Despotine, from whom much information was derived, died in
1650, and was, therefore, still living during the first six years of the
time. Dr. Despotine in his will, dated December 13, 1648, left
five pounds to the Rev. William Bedell, of Rattlesden. See supra,
p. 128.
The Rev. William Bedell’s wife, Mrs. Mary Bedell, died in 1663.
The following is the entry of her burial in the Parish Register of
Rattlesden :— *
“ 1663. Mary the wife of William Bedell was buried.*’
The Rev. William Bedell himself died in 1670-1. The following
is the entry of his burial in the P. R. of Rattlesden :—
“ 1670, March 16. Mr. William Bedell, after he had been Rector
of this parish...........years, was buried.”
A blank is here left in the Register. It will be seen that
twenty-sîx years was about the time.
He left no will so far as I hâve been able to discover .f
* For this and the following extracts from the Parish Register of Rattlesden,
relating to the Rev. William BedelPs family, I am indebted to the kindness and
çourtesy of the Rector, the Rev. John Bamey.
t He succeeded his uncle John Bedell, his father’s brother, in the family property
in Essex. In an old rate-book of the parish of Black Notley in the possession ofTHE REV. WILLIAM BEDELL AND HIS FAMILY.
233
The children of William and Mary Bedell were :—
I.	Leah, baptized at Whepstead. The following is the entry of
of her baptism in the Register of that parish :— *
“ 1643, Innocents* Day. Leah the daughter of William Bedell
was baptized.**
This daughter died unmarried at the âge of twenty-eiglit. The
following is the entry of her burial in the P. R. of Battlesden : —
“ 1671, December 22. Mra Leah, daughtr to Mr Wm Bedell, ye
late Rector of this parh, buried.
II.	William. The following is the entry of his baptism in the
P. R. of Battlesden :—
“ 1645, February 22. William, the sonne of William Bedell and
his wife, baptized.’*
When he grew up William was sent to Ireland to the care of his
uncle Ambrose, whose heir presumptive he was, for his university
éducation. The following is the record of his entrance as a Fellow
Commoner at Trinity College, Dublin: “ 26 Maii 1662, Gui8
Mr. Watkinson of Staunton’s, who obligingly permitted me to look through it, I
found under the year 1670 a “Mr. Bedle” rated at sixteen shillings and eight
pence. I hâve not fonnd any later trace of Essex property being in possession
of the family. The Bishop in his will refers to a property named “ Whiteheads ”
belonging to himself, apparently in the parish of Black Notley. In the will of
Mathew Elliston, or Alliston, of Castle Hedingham, the Bishop’s uncle, dated Sept.
29, 1621, certain lands in the parish of Black Notley belonging to the Bishop’s
brother John, which the testator held in mortgage, are transferred to his second son
John Alliston. This John Alliston, who was buried at Black Notley on the 16th
October 1625, in his will proyed at Braintree May 2, 1626, describes the said lands
under the name of “ Dewlands,” and leaves them to one of his sons, unless they
should be redeemed by John Bedel. John Alliston States that though the time for
the rédemption of the lands had already passed, his will, nevertheless, “ is that if my
said Cosen Bedel doe pay or cause to be payd unto mine executor the said sume of
two hundreth pounds, and the rent behind at the feast of the Annunciation of the
Blessed Virgin Mary next coming, that then my said Cosen Bedel to hâve and injoy
the said lands as in his former right.”
* For the vérification of this entry I am indebted to the kind courtesy of the
Rector, the Rev. T. J. Steele.
CAMD. SOC.	2 H234
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
Bedell Scholarium Commensalis filius Gulielmi Bedell Presbiteri
natus annos sedecim. Natus Rattlesden in Comitatu Suffolciæ.
Educatus in eodem Comitatu sub Magistro Coulson—(Tutor) Pa-
tricius Sheridan.”
This Patrick, afterwards Bishop of Cloyne, was the second son of
the Rev. Denis Sheridan, as above mentioned, p. 206.
Dr. Stokes, to whose kindness I am indebted for tbis extract, in-
forma me that in the Record Book of entries there appear no names
of Masters of Arts until 1672. As William Bedell was a Fellow
Commoner he would be entitled to take the degree of M.A. in
1668, but of this there is no record, as at the time of the Révo-
lution Trinity College was despoiled of many of its old documents.
The William Bedell under notice is no doubt the William Bedell,
M.A., who is mentioned in Archdeacon Cotton’s Fasti Ecclesiæ
Hibernicæ as Prebendary*of Iniscattery or Kilrush, 1672, and who
was the same year collated to the Prebend of Tullagh.*
William Bedell, M.A. was at the same time instituted in the
vicarages of Kilballahone, Moyferta, Killmihill, and Killfieragh, ail
in the county of Clare.f
What became of Prebendary Bedell I hâve not ascertained. He
probably died in 1674, the date of the avoidance of his bénéfices.
There is no mention of him in his uncle Ambrose’s will, nor in his
brother James’s will, which apparently refers to ail the other members
of the family living in 1682. There is no will of this William in
the P. C. of Dublin.
III. John. The foliowing is the entry of the baptism of this son
in the P. R. of Rattlesden : 1648, July 9, John, the sonne of
William Bedell and his wife, baptized.
In the list of Cambridge graduâtes there is a John Bedell, C. C.,
A.B. 1666, A.M. 1670. This was probably our John, who entered
* The Prebends of Iniscattery and of Tullagh are in the Diocese of Killaloe.
The Bishop of Killaloe from 1669 to 1674 was Daniel Witter, previously Dean of
Down. Dr. Witter was sncceeded in his Deanery by Dr. William Sheridan.
t First Fruits Books, Record Office, Dublin.THE REV. WILLIAM BEDELL AND HIS FAMILY.
235
the Church, and succeeded his father as Rector of Rattlesden. The
foliowing is the record of his présentation, extracted frora Tanner’s
MS. in the Diocesan Registry of Norwich :—*
“ Rattlesden.
“ Lib. Reynolds. 24 Augt. 1671, Jôes Bedell, A.M. ad præs.
Gui. Pooley, Arm.”
The Parish Register of Rattlesden of 1671 is signed “ Rector, Mr.
John Bedell.”
He died the folio wing year, as appears from the entry of his burial :
u 1672, Aug. 21. John Bedell, after he had been Rectr of this
parish a year or thereabouts, was buried.”
I hâve not found that the Rev. John Bedell left a will.
IV. James. The folio wing is the entry of the baptism of this
son in the P. R. of Rattlesden :
“1651, March 30. James, the sonne of William Bedell and his
wife, baptized.”
I hâve not ascertained of what profession, if of any, James was.
He died at the âge of thirty-one. The folio wing is the entry of his
burial at Rattlesden in the P. R. :
“ 1682, Feb. 24. James, ye son of Mr. William Bedel, some-
time Rector of this parish, and Mary his wife, was buryed.”
The will of this James Bedell, dated December 28, 1682,f was
proved in the Archidiaconal Court of Sudbury, at Bury St. Ed-
mund’s. In it he is described as “ of Ratelsden, single man.”
James makes no mention of his brother William in his will, from
which it is to be inferred, as above said, that William was then
dead. I shall return to the provisions of James’s will after quoting
the entries of the baptism of his next brother, and of his three
youngest sisters, the only members of the family living at the time
he made his will.
* For procuring me this record of John BedelPs présentation to Rattlesden, and
also for that of his father’s présentation, as well as for the extract relating to his
grandfather’s présentation to Horninger, I am indebted to Mr. Cadge of Norwich.
f That is the December preceding February 1682-3.236
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
Y. Ambrose. In the P. K. of Eattlesden there are two entries
relating to this son, one recording his birth, and one his baptism :—
“ 1653, February 5. Ambrose, the sonne of William Bedell and
his wife, was bom. February 19. Ambrose, the sonne of William
Pedell and his wife, baptized.”
VI. Penelope. The following is the entry of the baptism of this
daughter in the P. E. of Eattlesden :—
“ 1656, October 12. Penelope, the daughter of William Bedell
and his wife, baptized.”
Vil. Agnes. The following is the entry of the baptism of this
daughter in the P. E. of Eattlesden :—
“ 1658, December 19. Agnes, daughter of William Bedell and
his wife baptized.”
VIII. Isabella. The following is the entry of the baptism of
this daughter in the P. E. of Eattlesden :—
“ 1662, August 3. Isabella, ye daughter of William Bedell,
Eector of this parish, baptized.”
It is to be observed that Mrs. Mary Bedell, the mother, died the
year after the birth of this daughter Isabella.
To return now to the provisions of James Bedell’s will. To his
brother Ambrose (“ who liveth in the Kingdom of Ireland ”)he be-
queaths his lands and other real property in the King’s County.
To his sister Agnes Bedell of Eatelsden he gives his real property
in the County of Suffolk, including the “ Grove,” in his own occu-
pation. To his other two sisters, Penelope and Isabella Bedell, in
Ireland, he gives £50 each. His sister Agnes, to whom he gives
the rest of his personalty, including his books at the time lying in
the care of his “ Uncle Barber ** he appoints his sole executrix.
From this will we see that James Bedell, the elder surviving son
of his father, in 1682 possessed lands and other real property in
Ireland. This property may hâve been granted to the Eev. William
Bedell in compensation for the losses sustained by his father the
Bishop by the Eebellion. Or, it may hâve been acquired by James’s
eldest brothet William, the Prebendary of Iniscattery, and, on hisTHE REV. WILLIAM BEDELL AND HIS FAMILY.
237
death, hâve corne to James. It is not likely that James, himself
résident in England, would hâve invested money in Irish property.
However this may be, it is also seen that Ambrose, the youngest
son of the Eev. William Bedell of Eattlesden, with his sisters
Penelope and Isabeila, had emigrated to Ireland, and were living
there at the time their brother James made his will.
I hâve not been able to trace the history of Agnes Bedell who
remained in Suffolk.
Before proceeding with the history of Ambrose, Penelope, and
Isabeila in Ireland, we hâve to recur to the will of Captain Ambrose
Bedell. He devised his lands of inheritance known by the names
of Carne and Listiernan, Dromheriffe and Uragh, Killerolyn with
the two mills, Antner, Ardue, Clony, Clonachatige, and Creagh-
rahen, first to his nephew James Bedell and his heirs male; and
failing such to his nephew Ambrose Bedell (James BedelFs next
brother) and his heirs male; and, failing such, to his (the testator’s)
heirs next in blood to his father William, late Lord Bishop of Kil-
more. The plate to go with the estate.
To his niece Isabeila Bedell, the testator left 500Z. to be paid out
of the profits of his whole estate at the time of her marriage, and
directed that until she is married 401. a year be allowed her for her
maintenance besides the 500Z.
To his niece Agnes Bedell he gave 140Z. to be raised out of his
whole estate at the time of her marriage, and meanwhile 14J. ayear.
To his u Cussin John Lowry and Penelope * his wife” he gave
250Z. due upon Sir Charles Hamilton and his son Captain Francis
Hamilton, with the deed of mortgage on the lands of Faransire, and
on the land in the barony of Tullaghconcho.
James Bedell having died before his uncle, as above seen, his
brother Ambrose Bedell succeeded to his uncle Ambrose’s property.
Penelope Bedell wae married in 1680 to John Lowry, vicar of
Kinawly and Killinagh (1685), and afterwards (1704) of Arklow,
in the co. Wicklow. Of this marriage there was a son named
* This was testator’s niece Penelope.238
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
Ambrose. Mrs. Penelope Lowry died in 1689. In 1721 the Rev.
John Lowry and his son Ambrose, both ministers, were living at
Callaghil near Belturbet.
Isabella Bedell was married, about 1689 or 1690, to Major Daniel
French, and had a daughter Eleanor who married Mr. John Stan-
ford of Belturbet. Major French died at the end of the year 1702.
Ambrose Bedell, who succeeded to his Uncle Ambrose’s property,
having j oined the army of King William III. against James the
Second, was attainted by King James’s Irish Parliament of 1689.
In the list of persons attainted in the county of Cavan, given in the
Appendix to Archbishop King’s u State of the Protestants of
Ireland under King James’s Government,” Ambrose Bedell of Carn-
dallan, Gent. appears. *
Ambrose Bedell, an officer, died in the camp atDundalk in 1690,
unmarried. He left a will, dated 1689, of which the following is the
history :—
In 1721 the will had not been proved, but on April 6, 1693,
administration of Mr. Ambrose Bedell’s goods and chattels was
granted at Dublin to Wm. Connolly, Esq. a principal creditor, on the
supposition that Mr. Ambrose Bedell had died intestate. Mr.
Connolly, the said administrator, gave 1,000Z. security for adminis-
tration.
The will of Mr. Ambrose Bedell remained in the hands of Richard
Geering of Dublin, Esq. unproved. By the ternis of his will Mr.
Ambrose Bedell gave ail his lands to his sister Isabella, the wife of
Major Daniel French, and after her death to the next heir male of
the name of Bedell. On the death of Mrs. Isabella French, which
occurred some time between 1714 and 1721, the next heir male of
the Bedell family was, in accordance with this provision, advertised
for in the London Gazette, as follows : f—
* For reference to Abp. King’s work I am indebted to C. S. K. in N. and Q. for
June 18, 1870.
f Advertisement on the lastpage of the London Gazette, for Tuesday, April 12, to
Saturday, April 16, 1721.THE REV. WILLIAM BEDELL AND HIS FAMILY.
239
“ Whereas Ambrose Bedell (incorrectly printed Bodell) formerly
of Cairn in the county of Cavan and Kingdom of Ireland, Esq. by
bis last will did devise an estate in the said Kingdom to the heirs
male of the name of Bedell under 30 years of âge that should
appear to be next in blood to William Bedell, sometime Hector of
the parish of Ratlesden in Low Suffolk, in England, and to Mr.
William Bedell, sometime Minister of Homingsheath in Essex
(mistake for Suffolk), afterwards Provost of Trinity College, Dublin,
and afterwards Bishop of Kilmore in Ireland, and to his heirs
male for ever; therefore, if there be any person living entitled as
aforesaid to the said estate, let him give notice thereof unto Richard
Geering, Esq. one of the six Clerks in Chancery, in Dublin, in
Ireland, or unto John Hamilton, Esq. of Castle Yard, in Holborn,
London, and upon due proof of such his pedigree and qualification,
his title to the said estate will be produced.”
Mr. Thomas Bedell of Charles Square, Hoxton, London, the
author of the MS. Genealogical Notes in the copy of Bishop
BurnePs Life of Bishop Bedell,* above referred to at pp. 88,89,197,
conceiving himself the next heir male of Bishop Bedell’s family,
made application in 1723 to Mr. Richard Geering, who, not being
satisfied that Mr. Thomas Bedell had made out his pedigree and
qualification, declined to produce the title.
Mr. John Stanford, who married Eleanor the daughter of Daniel
and Isabella French, on the other hand, applied to Mr. R. Geering
for surrender of the title deeds to him, but Mr. Geering declined.
Whereupon Mr. Stanford, in right of his wife Eleanor, filed a
Bill -f- against him. Mr. Richard Geering now acknowledged pos-
* This interesting volume was purchased by its présent possessor of the late Mr.
Lilly, the Bookseller, April 2,1861.
f The Bill was filed in Chancery June 21, 1728, under the following title:—
John Stanford and Ellen his wife, the Rev. John Fletcher, Clerk, Mary his wife, and
Susanna Britton, widow,
Plaintiffs;
Richard Geering, Thomas Bedell, Merchant, and Thomas Bedell Cooke,
Défendants.240
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
session, and, July 18, 1729, deposited the title-deeds in the Court
of Chancery. Mr. John Stanford and his wife Eleanor accordingly
obtained the estate.
The Rev. John Lowry, the husband of Penelope, the elder
sister and coheir of Mrs. Isabella French, in conjunction with his
son Ambrose Lowry, had, in 1704, compounded, with Mrs. Isabella
French, their claim for a considération in money.
Mr. John Woodward Stanford, great-grandson in the third
degree of Mrs. Isabella French, née Bedell, now enjoys the
property.
In illustration of this history of William Bedell, Bishop of Kil-
more, a tabular summary of the pedigree of his father’s and mother’s
families is given in Appendix No. III. pp. 258-9.
CHAPTER XX.
Publication of the Old Testament in the Irish
Language.
The translation of the Old Testament into Irish being completed,
as above described in Chapter X., we hâve seen how Bishop Bedelfs
heart was set on its publication, but how he was thwarted, and how,
like Moses, he was eut off without seeing the accomplishment of his
cherished work. It was not until forty-three years after the Bishop’s
deàth that the Old Testament in Irish was published. The manu-
script of the translation, which had been saved from the rebels by
Mr. Denis Sheridan,* was by him committed to the care of Dr.
Henry Jones, who, it will be remembered, was Dean of Kilmore at
* See Chapter XL p. 188. In the text there isno mention of the manuscript of the
Irish translation of the Old Testament having been saved from the rifling of the
rébellion, nor is there any mention of it in Mr. Clogie’s Memoir ; and Isaak Walton
(Reliquiæ Wottonianœ) says distinctly that the MS. was lost.PUBLICATION OF THE OLD TESTAMENT IN IRISH. 241
the time of the rébellion, but who was afterwards Bishop of Clogher,
and latterly Bishop of Meath from 1661 till his death in 1681.
With Dr. Jones the manuscript lay dormant, and was allowed to
fall into the pitifully defaced and broken State in which Dr. Sali
received it from him.
Dr. Andrew Sali, writing to the Hon. Bobert Boyle,* from Christ-
church in Oxford, December 17, 1678, says:—“ I doubt not but it
may conduce highly to the glory of God, good of those soûls, and
crédit of our Government, if the other prelates and pastors of Ireland
did use such endeavours as the good Archbishop of Cashell f does,
by communing with the natives, and winning them to hear and read
the Word of God, and specially if in the College (T. C. D.) there
were a course taken for obliging or enticing candidates for holy
orders to read and déclaré the Holy Scriptures in Irish, specially the
New Testament, the historical and proverbial books of the Old,
together with the old Psalms ; of want of which I saw good men
in both kingdoms give grievous complaints.” In another letter to
Mr. Boyle,$ dated Dublin, May 20, 1680, Dr. Sali says:—iC I con-
ferred with my Lord Lieutenant, my Lord Bishop of Meath, and
with the Provost of the College, upon the subject (of publishing a
new édition of the New Testament in Irish), and I found ail three
very willing to countenance and further the matter..........I find
both my Lord Bishop of Meath and the Provost willing to con-
tinue the reading of it, and of Irish prayers in the College ....
By preaching in Irish at Cashell and elsewhere, I will endeavour to
préparé the way for the reading of your Irish Testament.”
In a letter dated Dublin, August 4, 1680, to the Hon. Bobert
Boyle,§ Bishop Jones of Meath says:—“ By Dr. Sali I understand,
* Letters from and to Mr. Boyle. In Dr. Thomas Birch’s Life and Works of the
Honourable Robert Boyle. Vol. y. folio, London, 1744, p. 603.
•f Thomas Price, who had been Bishop Bedell’s Archdeacon. See pp. 168, 201,
202, 213, 221.	J Letters from and to Mr. Boyle, ut supra, p. 604.
§ Life of the Honourable Robert Boyle, ut supra. Appendix No. III. Letters
relatin g to the édition of the Irish Bible, printed and distributed at the expense of
Mr. Boyle.
CAMD. SOC.	2 I242	LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
Sir, your zeal for having this poor ignorant people, the Irish,
informed in the true knowledge of God in their own language,
by reprinting the New Testament and Common Prayer in Irish,
these being now out of press, and the books of them extant hardly
found. In addition whereunto is herein offered the publishing of the
Old Testament also in Irish, together with the Psalms in métré fitted
to our ordinary church tunes, translated by means and procurement
of the learned and pious prelate Dr. Bedell, sometime Bishop of
Kilmore in Ireland, and Provost of Trinity College in Dublin ;
whose heart God had stirred up thereunto zealously. This was by
that learned Bishop himself compared with the original, andfinished
anno 1640 ; after whose death it came into mine hand, where it
now continues in sheets and MS S. This compleating the Bible in
Irish, and added to what is already printed, would be a work
greatly to God’s glory, in bringing by his grâce many from darkness
to light, and of deserved praise to the happy undertaker.
******
“As for the Irish letters, stamped for the first pririting here of
the Common Prayer and New Testament, they had passed from
hand to hand of many of His Majesty’s printers in Dublin succes-
sively, until by coveteousness of one, into whose hands they fell,
unhappily, they were by the Jesuits gotten away, and are now at
Doway, for Irish prints; some of which I hâve seen to my grief
sent hither, further corrupting the people. So as there is nothing
left of what was formerly towards the printing of Irish here, if it
should be required.
“ I hâve dealt with our présent Provost of the College of
Dublin,* that he, according to what was sometimes by Dr.
Bedell, his predecessor, practised, would encourage the reading
Irish ; and that Irish prayers, &c. as others, might be publicly used
in the College for thereby fitting out labourers for that harvest of
soûls which may, by God’s blessing su ch endeavours, be hopefully
expected. But even for that are books wanting, or not sufficient to
* Dr. Narcissus Marsh.PUBLICATION OF THE OLD TESTAMENT IN IRISH. 243
be found for it. Therefore the reprinting what is now out of
press, if there be no more, will be for that good work necessary.,,
******
In another letter to Mr. Boyle,* dated September 3,1681, Bishop
Jones of Meath says :—“ I am surprised in missing, in that our
Common Prayer-book in Irish, the vulgar translation of the Psalms,
which until now I ne ver observed ; it having been a strange omis-
sion that the Psalms, of such daily use in reading, should hâve been
neglected. But I suppose that what of the Psalms we hâve in the
body of the Old Testament in the Irish MS. (which I hâve) may
supply that want, although it be not according to the vulgar, and
may be added in the Common Prayer-book as the other.
******
“ I understand by Dr. Sali and others versed in the Irish, that it
may be necessary that the Irish version of the Old Testament in
MS. should be first revised before it be exposed to public view.”
Mr. Boyle, in answer to the Bishop of Meath’s observation as to
the absence of the reading Psalms in the Irish Common Prayer-book,
says ;—“ But perhaps it will not be for the worse, since it will be
necessary to supply that omission out of y our Irish Old Testament,
in which it is hard if the Psalms be not better translated out of the
original than if they had been out of the vulgate.”
The Bishop of Meath, writing from Dublin, November 5, 1681,
to Mr. Boyle, says:—“I shall forthwith put into his (Dr. Sall’s)
hand the Irish Old Testament in manuscript, to be by him revised.”
Writing again to Mr. Boyle f from Dublin on the 8th of Novem-
ber, 1681, Dr. Andrew Sali says:—“ I am daily and long time ex-
pecting the Old Testament in Irish to be sent to me to see what it
is, and what it wants, that I may contribute my small endeavour,
while those few live who hâve any zeal of the conversion of the
natives here.” In another letter to Mr. Boyle,{ dated Dublin, De-
* Life, ut supra,.	f Works, ut supra, vol. y. p. 605.
t Ibid. p. 606.244
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
cember 13, 1681, Dr. Sali says:—“ Some ten days ago, my Lord
Bishop of Meath sent me the manuscript of the Old Testament in
Irish, a confused heap, pitifully defaced and broken. It was a work
of very great labour to bring it into some order. I sent for a book-
binder to bind up what I could gather, of which and another un-
coutb bulk, sent to me from the College, I hope to make up a com-
plété Old Testament, by the help of Mr. Higgins the Irish lecturer,
if he be encouraged by our Prelates, wherein I wish they may be
more zealous than accustomed to be. It will be a work of great
labour and no little time to draw up a clear copy of the whole,
purged from errors and foolish additions or alterations, interlaced
by some unlucky corrector, pretending to criticism in Irish.,,
Dr. Andrew Sali to Mr. Boyle,* Dublin, February 7, 1681-2,
says:—“ As soon as I received yours of January 21, I bestirred
myself, with ail care possible, to effect your pious desire of having
the printing of the Old Testament in Irish to begin speedily, and
having found out haply a very able person to write Irish, I brought
him to my house, and set him to work, and already he has written
out eight chapters of Genesis, in a very fair letter, as legible as any
print, and within four days will hâve the twelve sheets, which Mr.
Rely desires to be sent over, and as fast as the print can go I
hope to send over sheets in the same manner.”. . . In superintend-
ing the préparation of the transcript, Dr. Sali continues:—“ My
labour and industry I will not spare, and will lay aside other studies
I was engaged in to attend this work, being persuaded that none
other can be of more importance for the glory of God and the good
of soûls in this poor country.”
The funds for the publication of the Old Testament in Irish were
to be raised by subscription, and Bishop Jones of Meath exerted
himself in procuring them. Mr. Boyle put 50Z. at his disposai for
the purpose. Bishop Jones, however, dying, his successor Dr.
Anthony Dopping (previously Bishop of Kildare) undertook the
* Ibid. p. 607.PUBLICATION OF THE OLD TESTAMENT IN IRISH. 245
charge of the business. In a letter to Mr. Boyle, dated August 3,
1682, Bishop Dopping* of Meath says:—“As for the design on foot
about the Irish Old Testament, it goes on, though by slow and
leisurely steps; but I doubt not within a small time to procure (from
some well-affected persons to the work) such subscriptions as may
add a little more of life and briskness to the undertaking.”
In regard to Dr. Dopping, the successor of Dr. H. Jones as
Bishop of Meath, Dr. Sali in his letter of February 7, says:—“ He
is the only man, his predecessor a little before his death told me,
he had gained to join with him in this work.” It will be seen
below, however, that the new Bishop of Meath was not steadfast in
his support of the cause.
To return to Dr. Sali: “ What I can offer,” continues he, “ is the
drudgery of inspecting and correcting this confused chaos of papers
put into my hands, with such auxiliaries as God shall be pleased to
provide for me..........I write a letter to Mr. Rely, in whioh I
endeavour to encourage him for continuing the work of correcting
the print, as I hope you will more effectually do by your authority;
and truly I know none so able as he to do that work/*
In a letter to Mr. Boyle, f dated April 8,1682, Dr. Narcissus Marsh,
then Provost of Trinity College, Dublin, says:—“The design of
printing the Old Testament in the Irish language has received a great
(though I hope not a fatal) stroke by the death of Dr. Sali, who de-
parted this life April 5, in the evening. I intend that the revising of
that old translation of the Old Testament and its transcription shall
nevertheless go on with the help of Mr. Higgins and some other
Irishmen whom I will call in to assist, if I can but discern that by
God’s help I may be able to guide and direct the management of the
work, what pains soever it may cost me. And for subscriptions, I
doubt not but enough might be easily gotten to so pious an under-
taking, were it put into a due method.” Dr. Narcissus Marsh
again writing to Mr. Boyle J from Dublin, June 23, 1682, says:—
* Appendix to Life, ut supra.	f Works, ut supra, vol. v. p. 610.
X Ibid. p. 610.246
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
“ Since Dr. Sall’s death I hâve taken upon me the care to see the
Irish Bible transcribed and fitted for the press. The work goes on
successfully, there being above a hundred and forty sheets trans-
cribed already. Ail our care at présent is, how to get the charges
of transcribing and printing it to be defrayed, which must be done
by subscription.” . ; . . “Mr. Higgins having gotten a good prefer-
ment,” Dr. N. Marsh continues, “ has put himself out of a capacity
of being further serviceable towards the carrying on my design of
teaching Irish in the College, by getting him a wife as soon as he
had gotten himself preferment, so that he is very shortly leaving,
and I must be at new charges to provide another to supply liis
place.”
In another letter to Mr. Boyle,* dated Dublin, September 30,
1682, Dr. N. Marsh says:—“ Lately understanding that my Lord
Archbishop of Canterbury was very solicitous to know what is
become of Bishop Bedell’s Translation of the Old Testament into
Irish, (because he is now about to write his Life,) and it being the
copy that I hâve, I gave his Grâce an account where it is and what
is doing with it, and likewise that through your care, as well as at
your présent charges, it is begun to be printed.” . . . . “ I hâve
ready transcribed as far as Ezra.”
Again, Dr. N. Marsh to Mr. Boyle,f Dublin, February 17,
1682-3, says:—“The transcriber goes on with his work, having
written as far as the end of Jeremiah’s prophecy.”
******
u What Mr. Rely objects against the Irish translation, that it
follows the English too much word for word, whereby the phrase
many times is rendered less proper and more obscure, is confessed
by those who well understand the language to hâve much of truth
in it, as to the first part of the allégation ; but they add that, though
the Irish thereby may be less élégant, yet it is proper enough, and
never the less intelligible by the vulgar people ; yea, they think it
* Works, ut sujpra, vol. v. p. 612.	f Works, ut supra, vol. v. p. 612.PUBLICATION OF THE OLD TESTAMENT IN IRISH. 247
is a good, plain, familiar translation, and that if it were more élégant
it would not be so fit as now it is for common use.”...........“ The
translation, I conceive, ought not lightly to be altered but where it
is faulty, out of respect to the author of it, Bishop Bedell, whose
memory I know that my Lord Archbishop of Canterbury does
honour, and with what care he caused it to be made by Ulster men
is sufficiently known.”
Dr. Narcissus Marsh, now Bishop of Ferns and Leighlin, writing
in conclusion of the subject to Mr. Boyle,* from Staplestown, on
March 22, 1685-6, says:—“ Upon the hint in your letter of my
Lord Lieutenant’s favourable tlioughts of this design of publishing
the Bible in the Irish tongue, I made bold to address to his Excel-
lency about it (and that the rather because I hâve gotten a great
deal of ill-will from some great men in this Kingdom for what
I hâve done in promoting this good and charitable work, which
has been no small discourageraent to me). His Excellency was
pleased to promise his encouragement and assistance towards the
carrying it on, both by his purse and otherwise, but withall
was surprised to hear what I related of the discouragements (and
indeed threatsf) that I hâve had on this account. The un-
welcomeness of this undertaking to many in this country, I believe,
was the reason why the Bishop of Meath (Dr. Dopping) flew off
from prosecuting what he designed and promised, and has ever
since been wholly unconcerned and sat neuter.” . . . “ The great
charges and care that you hâve been at in printing the Old Testa-
ment will, I hope, find that acknowledgment, and the pious work
find that acceptance amongst the generality of this Kingdom, as they
really do deserve ; and that a means will yet be found out to commit
the Book of Common Prayer in the Irish tongue to the press also ;
that so the design of the Canons of this Church, which require every
* Works, ut supra, vol. v. p. 614.
f What Dr. Narcissus Marsh here refers to was the utterance of the Lord Primate
Boyle, then Lord Chancellor, and others, to the effect “ that there was an Act of
Parliament for abolishing the Irish language ; but that Dr. Marsh endeavoured to
propagate it, for which he might be questioned in Parliament.’,248
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
parisli to hâve the Bible and Book of Common Prayer in Irish, may
be answered.”
At last, in the year 1685, the Old Testament in Irish was pub-
lished in quarto, uniform with the new édition of the Irish New
Testament which had been brought out in 1681. And thus was
Ireland supplied with a complété version of the Holy Scriptures in
the native language.
The Honourable Robert Boyle, in promoting the publication of
the whole Bible in Irish with his influence and purse, so far made
some return for the rich possessions which his family had acquired
in Ireland ; and for this, as well as for his scientific labours, he is
entitled to grateful remembrance. As the real labourers in the
work, Archbishop Price of Cashel, Dr. Andrew Sali of Cashel, and
Archbishop Marsh of Armagh, here deserve a spécial notice.
Thomas Price was Archdeacon of Kilmore in the time of Bedell,
as we hâve seen. He was afterwards made Bishop of Kildare, and
in 1667 was translated to the Archbishopric of Cashel. Having
been trained under Bishop Bedell, he took great pains to instruct
the native Irish in religion through the means of their own lan-
guage. He died on the 4th of August, 1685, aged 85.
Andrew Sali was brought up a Roman Catholic, became a mem-
ber of the Society of Jésus, and was for many years a Professor in
in Spain. In 1664 he returned to Ireland as Superior ofthe Jesuits’
Mission. Under the auspices of Archbishop Price he was led in 1674
to abjure popery, and on the 5th of June in that year he preached in
Christ’s Church, Dublin, declaring the reasons of his change. He
was D.D. of T. C. D. and of Oxford. His preferments in the
Established Church were the Prebend of Swords, the Rectory of
Ardmulchan, and the Chancellorship of Cashel. He died at Cashel
while revising the Irish translation of the Old Testament, as we
hâve seen, on the 6th of April, 1682, aged about 70.
Narcissus Marsh, educated at Oxford, was the founder of the
library in Dublin which bears his name. Seeing the efforts madeINTRODUCTION OP THE IRISH BIBLE INTO SCOTLAND. 249
by Archbishop Price, aboyé referred to, he was led, while Provost of
Trinity College, Dublin, to use ail his exertions towards encouraging
tbe study of the Irish language among the scholars of that house.
Provost Marsh was made Bishop of Ferns in 1683, Archbishop of
Cashel in 1691, Archbishop of Dublin in 1694, and lastly Arch-
bishop of Armagh in 1703.
He died in 1713, aged 75.
On learning that the language of the Highlanders of Scotland was
similar to the Irish, and that they had neither Bibles nor Catechisms
in their own language, Mr. Boyle sent a number of copies of the
Irish Bible into Scotland, where they were most gladly received.*
The foliowing extract from a letter, dated March 5, 1687-8, written
by Mr. Boyle to Mr. Kirkwood, gives some interesting particulars
relative to the distribution of the Irish Bible both in Ireland and in
Scotland :—“ In the publication of the Irish Bible, my aim at first
was, as I thought it became me to do some service to the country
wherein I was born and hâve some little estate, though I hâve lived
a great stranger to it ; and especially to contribute to the conversion
and instruction of those Irish natives that are most of them of
the Bomish religion. In pursuit of this design, I, with much
ado, procured a version of the New Testament, made, as I remem-
ber in [1602] ; and finding it to hâve been many years out of print,
the copies having, as I hâve been informed, been bought up from
time to time by some Bomish ecclesiasticks, I caused a font of
Irish letters to be cast, and the book to be here reprinted, of which
I sent over some hundreds ready bound, to be distributed gratis
among those to whom they should upon the place be judged the
most likely to do good. These things I relate that you may not
think it strange that I hâve not still by me any number of New
Testaments in Irish, though I should not hâve so much disfurnished
* Life of the Hon. Robert Boyle, ut supra. Appendix No. iv. Letters and
Papers relating to the distributing of the Irish Bibles in the Highlands of Scotland,
at the expense of Mr. Boyle.
CAMD. SOC.	2 K250
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
myself of them if 1 had been so informed, as now I am, that this
language is still that of a great part of the North of Scotland. And
my main design being, as I said above, to acquaint the native Irish with
the Divine oracles, as soon as I had with the same characters caused an
édition to be made of an Irish version of the Old Testament, which
the excellent Bishop Bedell had long ago procured, and which,
after the lately mentioned publication of the New Testament, divers
of the reverend Protestant Clergy in Ireland, besides some worthy
Prelates, in tend ed to promote, but by various occurrences were
hindered from accomplishing their good desires—as soon, I say, as
the press had despatched this book—I sent a competent number of
these books into Ireland to be distributed gratis by some pious and
judicious persons there. By ail which particulars you may easily
discern that it was not, nor well could be, my principal design to
provide for the Highlanders and other natives in Scotland that
speak Irish ; and that it never was my purpose that any of those
that were printed at my charge should be set to sale. But yet,
because it were great pity that the pious intentions and endcavours
of your reverend ministers should be altogether disappointed, I
shall acquaint you with what cornes into my mind about it. Before
I well knew the great extent of the Irish language in Scotland, I
had caused several Old Testaments to be bound for the use of your
nation, divers of which remain yet in my hands, so that, as to the
one-and-thirty you mention, I can spare each of them a book, which
I think you very discreetly advise should not be disposed of by the
minister at his death, or removed, but be kept for the use of the
parish.........I shall also send an hundred more unbound..........
With Irish New Testaments I formerly told you that I was not
furnished, and I did not think fit to reprint them with the Old.
.... But, having caused inquiry to be made, I am informed that
a bookseller, having with my leave printed a somewhat greater
number of New Testaments than I had contracted for, he has yet
in his hands about fifty Old Testaments, and about one hundred
and fifty New ones. He can afford each whole Bible for a mark,INTRODUCTION OF THE IRISH BIBLE INTO SCOTLAND. 251
provided tlie whole fifty be taken off his hands ; and for the super-
numerary hundred or thereabouts of New Testaments he can part
with them at three shillings apiece in quires.”
The Irish translation of the Scriptures, thus introduced into
Scotland, was eventually superseded by a translation into the ver-
nacular Gaelic. I am favoured by that eminent Gaelic scholar the
Rev. Dr. M. Mackay, of Portobello, with the foliowing short histori-
cal notice of the édition of the Irish Bible in a modified form which
was long in use among Scotch-Gaelic readers, and of the subséquent
publication of the pure Gaelic version.
The Irish character not being in use in Scotland, the Highlanders
experienced some difficulty in reading the words in the Irish Bibles
sent to them by the Hon. Robert Boy le from London, though they
could understand the language, when decyphered, sufficiently well.
It therefore became a desideratum to hâve an édition printed in the
Roman character. Accordingly the Rev. Robert Kirke, then
Minister of the Scottish Episcopal Church at Aberfoyle, and after-
wards at Balquidder in Perthshire (author of the first metrical ver-
sion of the Psalms in Gaelic), was employed to go to London to
superintend the printing in Roman type of an édition of the Bible
in Irish, comprising Archbishop Daniels or O’Donell’s New Testa-
ment and Bishop Bedell’s Old Testament. In thus reprinting the
Bible in Irish, the opportunity was taken to substitute, to some
extent, Gaelic idioms for such Irish idioms as were not quite intelli-
gible to the Scotch Highlanders. This édition of the Irish Bible
by the Rev. Robert Kirke was published in 1690, and continued to
be for a lengthened period the only Celtic version of the Scriptures
to be found in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland.
In 1767 the Society for Propagating Christian Knowledge pub-
lished a translation of the New Testament into pure Scotch Gaelic,
and subsequently a translation of the Old Testament also. Several
successive éditions of this version of the whole Scriptures in Gaelic
were published undcr the sanction of the General Asseinbly of the252
LIFE AND DEATH OF WILLIAM BEDELL.
Kirk of Scotland down to the year 1826, when a revised édition
was brought out (in quarto) by the Society above-naraed. The
révision was conducted by a committee consisting of several minis-
ters in the Highlands, men of known classical learning, and this
version of the Holy Scriptures is now considered as the standard of
Gaelic orthographical correctness.253
APPENDIX No. I.
I hâve been favoured by B. Beedham, Esq. of Ashfield House, Kim-
bol ton, with the copy of a letter to Sir Nathaniel Riche, in which Bedell
gives a graphie account of his first entrance on the duties of Provost of
Trinity College, Dublin. The original letter is in the possession of the
Duke of Manchester at Kimbolton Castle, and the transcript was made
with his Grace’s permission, some twelve years ago, by Mr. Beedham
himself, who at the same time had leave to print it.
The appropriate place for this interesting letter, which has hitherto lain
inedited, would hâve been in Chapter VI., page 143, but, the document
not liaving been received in time, it finds a place here as Appendix
No. 1.
The connection of the Montagu family with that of Riche, it may be
observed, was by the marriage of Edward, second Earl of Manchester,
with Anne, daughter of Robert, second Earl of Warwick, of the Riche
création.
The patronage of the Rectory of South Runcton, and of the Chapelry of
Holme, co. Norfolk, was in the Riche family, and it may hâve been
through Bedell’s friendship with them that his cousin Dr. Joseph Alliston
(p. 99) was in 1614 presented to these bénéfices. (See Blomfield’s
History of Norfolk, 8vo vol. vii.) It may, however, on the other hand,
hâve been that Bedell became acquainted with the Riche family through
Dr. Alliston.
Salutem in Chr’o Jesu.
Sr,
I am retourned from Dublin vpon Michaelmas day, whether I set forth
vpon St. James day. My iorney I thanck God was prosperous, as farre as
hitherto I can judge of it, if the vndertaking a place of yt charge -and
burthen aboue my strength do not oppresse and crash me. At my com-
ming I prsented my selfe to my Lord Deputy, by whom I was graciously254
APPENDIX.
vsed. The next day came to me Mr Ussher, who was elected by ye
junior fellowes, wishing me to be advised ere I entered a place whereto he
had right ; He douted not but when His Ma^ should be informed he
would administer indifferent justice to ail his subjects, ec. I could not
get of him the grownds of his prtension, nor perswade him to goe w1 me
to Drogheda to my L. Primates, whether I went ye next day, & com-
municated witli him of ail Things. He to the point of Mr Usher sayd he
was sorry he would not be advised by his friends : wished me to proceede
ec. I retourned, & having pervsed the Statutes, went to the Colledge,
& took ye oath, yet w1 Protestatiô y1 I entended not to binde my selfe
to every clause and phrase in the Statutes, but to the Substance: &
where ye Provost might not hold any Bénéfice, except it were w1 in three
miles of Dublin, I did not intend presently to give over my Bénéfice, in as
much as the place was litigious, & my family & affayres in England
vnsettled, but would do it when w* conveniency I might. Thence
forward, having taken vpô me ye place, I endeavoured to sow vp the rent
betweene ye fellowes, & to yfc end appointed a Communié ye next
Sonday (A Thing intermitted these 11 years). Then orderedthe members
of or governing Senate, I meane ye Seniors ; removing (as by or charter
we were bound) such as by tyme after their Degree of Mr of Arts were to
be removed. Next we chose oflicers, gave grâces in the house for Degrees,
reformed some abuses in the Chappell & Hall: as ye Evening Prayers
were in the Hall, & Philosophical Acts in the Chappell. But my next
care was about the Statutes, which, being part Latin, part English, &
in sheetes of Paper, some stich’d together, some loose, a heape w*out order,
w* long prambles, and sometyme vnnecessary, & in many thinges
defective : w* the côsent of ye greater part of the Seniors, I digested into a
new forme, and and (sic) at last perfected, as I hope, & published in
the Chappell. The State of the Colledge in respect of the Revenew and
Treasure should hâve been the thing I would next hâve entered into
consideratié of. But it required a long tyme. And this, in short, I
fownd, there was not money enough in the chest to pay ye Commons and
the stipends when ye day should corne. I consigned ail the Bookes of
former accounts into the handes of the Yice-Provost (Mr Lloyd) and the
Auditor (Sr James Ware), desiring him to set me downe the Estate of the
Colledge, especially in respect of Areares. Which hitherto he sayd heAPPENDIX.
255
could never doe, in as much as lie had not so much as a Rentall of tlie
College revenewe, but had made vp every yeares account only out of
what was taken out of the chest and disbursed.	Wherein notw Standing
sundry Bursars had left in their hands large summes of the Colledge
money, never satisfied. And to mend the matter a custome was brought
in of giving to the Senior Fellowes at ther departing a Viaticum as they
call it. Which also was demanded by those Fellows who now left their
places. But to these Viaticums I hâve I hope given a Viaticum. And
whenever I shall retorne to the house I hope to looke a litle better to the
Accounts: & if it be possible to recover some of those hundreds wch
I doe already by a superficiall view perceive are vnjustly w^elde frô
the Colledge, partly received & never accounted ; partly lent (as is
prtended) but w^ut assent of the greater part of ye Seniors ; partly lent
indeede, but never repayed; & as it is now hoped to be granted for a
Viaticum to the formr Provost. Sr, you may by this wch I hâve in short
run over, conceive what a world of busines I am put into : yet I repent
me not of my iorney, though I hâve not had there one houre voyd of
paines, trouble, or thought, nor do looke to hâve when I shall retourne,
for many moneths. But if I shalbe able to setle the Colledge in a good
State, for their maners, lawes, revenew, & studies, whereof in respect of
many difficultés in each I hâve great reason to doubt, yet, the State of ye
country considered, now wholely assubjected to Romish superstition,
&, as it seemes, in respect of religion, even abandoned by those yt should
hâve the care & charge of it, I hâve little hope euerto hâve comfortable
day there. Unlesse wt the Ap’le I could rejoice in labours & troubles,
& euen to be offered vp on the sacrifice & service of ye faith of God’s
people ; which I do some tymes wish, & hâve some comfort I confesse
euen in y* very wishing. But I should enter into a Sea to goe about to
relate vnto yu the prsent State of religio’ in Ireland. Your selfe I beleeve
would scarce beleeve it possible y* in a few yeares since yr being there it
should receive such a headlong downefall. I shall reserve y* to or meeting,
which shalbe I hope ere long, when I shall receive the Colledge, & my
Lord Primates letters, or advice yt they are in London for me. At wch
tyme also I hope to make my excuse & satisfaction for my not seeing
my Lord of Canterbury at my parting, being in truth required by my L.
Primate to repaire to Dublin w* ail possible speede. I hope yu hâve in256
APPENDIX.
part made my excuse, & on any occasiô will further doe it. Meane
while desiring yu to remember my [humjble service to the Earle of
Warwick, my ever honoured Lord, I committ yu to the protection of or good
God, & rest,
. ^ .
Yours ever in Christ to be commanded,
W. Bedell.
Homingerth, October the 9th, 1627.
Indorsed: To the Worsh11 and my Yery
goôd friend Sr Nathaneell Riche at
Warwick House dr these in London.
APPENDIX No. II.
In the Cotton MS. Julius, C. m. (British Muséum), there is an
original letter from Bedell to Sir Robert Cotton from which the foliowing
extract is here given as an addition to the note at pp. 193-4, respecting
Ricemarch’s Psalter. It may be here observed that u the manuscript
Psalter in the Irish letter,” which Bedell, writing to Ussher, August 12,
1628 (p. 145), asksto hâve the use of, was no doubt his own Ricemarcus’
Psalter, which, from this letter to Sir Robert Cotton, it is seen Bedell had
lent Ussher. The Rev. Dr. Reeves suggests that, the book having again
been lent to Abp. Ussher, it was in that Prelate’s library at the time of
the Rébellion, and thus escaped destruction. Finally, by Bedell’s will,
use was converted into possession.
» Sir Robert Cotton was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, and
being only about a year of two older than Bedell the two had no doubt
become acquainted at the University.
Salutem in Chr’o Jesu.
Sr,
I received this other day by Sr E. Askew a note from y ou, wherein
you claime a promise of me of the Psalter of David written by Ricemarcus
in ye Irish hand, and a Roll of the Evidences of Bury Abbey. For theAPPENDIX.
257
former of them it is yet in the hands of my L. Primate of Armagh, to
whom I sent it by Dr. Warde while lie was here in England, and, at my
being w4 him at Drogheda this summer, he told me he did esteeme it even
for the translatiô’s sake (being not the Vulgar, but according to ye
Hebrew Yerity). And in truth, Sr, besides ye use y4 I conceived he had
of the Tables and Kalender in the begin’ing, being in hand w4 something
about the Ecclesiastical Compt, that poore Kingdome as I am perswaded
may hâve spécial use of it in ye new translatiô of ye Psalter, wch may be
well countenanced w4 a monum4 of y1 antiquity, justifying the not resting
in ye Vulgar, even by ye opinion of those tymes. (Here follow observations
respecting the “ Roll of the Evidences of Bury Abbey.”)
Your affectionate frend and servant,
W. Bedell.
Homingerth, near Bury, Decem. 10, 1627.
To Sir Robert Cotton.
2 L
CAMD. SOC.APPENDIX No. III.
PEDIGREE OP THE BEDELL AND ELLISTON FAMILLES OF ESSEX.
Thomas Bedyll, of^Johan.
Black Notley, will
dated 1550.
r------------J
... Aliston or
Elliston.
T
John Bedell, of^Elizabeth Elliston Mathew Elliston or=ÿ=Anna Whighte,
Black Notley.
co. Essex; d.
in 1600.
or Aliston, died
in March
1623-4.
Aliston, of Castle
Hedingham, co.
Essex; d. in 1625.
mar. in 1570,
died in 1597.
William Bedell,=f=Leah, dan. of John Elliston or Alliston,^=Alice,
2nd surviving
son,andonly son
who left issue.
Died Bishop of
Kilmore in
John Bowles,
and relict of
Robt. Mawe,
married in
1611-12; died
of Guestingthorpe and
Black Notley, co. Essex ;
second son, and the only
one of six of whom de-
scendants are known to
dau. of
Thos.
Pilgrim,
of Hal-
stead,
1641-2, 70.	aged	in 1638, aged exist; died 1625, aged 57. 52.		co. Essex.
Grâce, John,		Ambrose, born 1618,	Peter Elliston, Rector=ÿ=Mary Fuller,	
b.1614,	born	a Captain in the army in Ireland;	of Sandhurst, co.	dau. of Richd.
died	1616,		Kent, sixth son,	Fuller, of
1624;	died	married Mary Hill,	and the only one of	Heathfield,
bur. at	1635,	daughter of Peter	seven of whom	co. Sussex;
Hora-	bur. at	Hill, eldest son of	descendants are	died in 1712,
ings- hearth.	Kil- more.	Sir Moyses Hill. Died in 1683, s. p.	known to exist; d. 1660.®	aged 94.d
	1 William	Bedell, born Feb.=r=Mary		John Elliston of West=pElizabeth	
1612-13. Was instituted
vicar of Kinawley in the
Diocese of Kilmore in
1634, died Rector of
Rattlesden, co. Suffolk,
in 1670.
(Barber?)
died at
Rattles-
den in
1663.
Mailing, eldest son
and the only child
of whom descendants
are known to exist;
born in 1648, died
in 1707-8.
died in
1711.
William, b. 1645,	III 1 Leah, born Isa- =ï		=Major	Martha El-
Prebendary of	1643, died	bella,	Daniel	liston, 3rd
Inniscattery	1671 un-	born	French,	dau. born
and Tullagh,	mar.	1662,	of Bel-	1683, m.
ob. s. p.	Penelope	mar.	turbet,	in 1702.
John, born 1648,	b. 1656,	about	died in	The only
died Rector of	mar. in	1689	1702.	one of the
Rattlesden in	1680 the	or		Elliston
1672, s. p.	Rev. John	1690,		family of
James, b. 1651,	Lowry, of	died		whom
d. 1682-3, un-	Arklow,	be-		descen-
married.	and had	tween		dants are
Ambrose, born	a son	1714		known
1653-4, d. un-	Ambrose.	and		to exist;
mar. in 1690, in	She died	1721.		died in
the army of K.	in 1689.			1743.
William III. at	Agnes, b.			
Dundalk.	1658.			
Richard Philips, of
Great Queen Street,
Lincoln’s-Inn-Fields,
portrait painter, b.
1680, second son of
Charles Philips, of
Chesham, co. Bucks,
who was eldest son
of Charles Philips of
Nashleigh, parish of
Chesham. Richard
Philips was the only
child of his father
who had issue; died
in 1741 in Great
Queen Street, Lin-
coln’s-Inn-Fields.ePEDIGREE OF THE BEDELL AND ELLISTON FAMILIES. 259
Eleanor =pJohn Stan- Charles Philips, of Great=f=Mary Freeman, 2nd dau.
French.
ford, of Bel-
turbet, co.
Cavan,a will
dated May
28, 1745.
Queen Street, portrait
painter, eldest son, and
only child who had issue ;
born in 1703, died in
1747.
. r
of Thomas Freeman, of
Antigua, and his wife
Rebecca née Byam*,f
married in 1738, died in
1755.
Daniel Stan-=pMary Martha Byam Philips,^Richard Jones, of St. Dun-
ford, 2nd son,
heir of his
bro. Bedell
Howard
Stanford,b
died 1788.
Richard-
only daughter and
only child who had
issue; born in 1742,
married in 1761, died
in 1801.
stan’s in the East, London,
only son of Thomas Jones
and his wife Barbara, of
Ty-newydd, parish of Os-
westry, co. Salop ; born
1727-8, died in 1767.S
John
Stanford,
b. 1761,
d. 1806.
=pBarbara
Cliffe,
mar.
1784.
Richard Jones, only sur-:
viving son, of H. M.
Customs for Scotland ;
bapt. at St. Dunstan’s
in the East, Nov. 12,
1764, died 1821.
:Margaret Cockbum, second dau.
of Mark Cockburn, of Ayton
Mains, youngest son of James
Cockburn of Ayton Law, co.
Berwick; born 1782, married
1802, died 1862.
Capt. Bedell,=T=Eliza-
Stanford, d. beth
1857.	Gale.
I_______
Richard Elliston Jones,
Lient. H.E.I.C.S.,died
at sea in 1828.
Thomas Whar- Nath. Walton
ton Jones,	Jones,M.R.C.S,
F.R.S.,F.R.C.S. L.S.A.
John Woodward Stanford, present=pLouisa
représentative of Bishop Bedell. | Reid.
I i i i i r
Four sons and three daughters.
a This is the John Stanford who in right of his wife claimed and got possession
of the Bedell property.
b This had been the Mr. Bedell Stanford who communicated the anecdote of Mr.
Edmund Ferrely’s prayer at Bishop Bedell’s funeral to the publisher of the Dublin
Edition of Burnet’s Life of Bedell, 1758. (See p. 195.)
c For obituary notice, see Calamy’s Life and Times of Richard Baxter, under
“ Horsmonden” and “ Sandhurst,” in Kent.
d See Herald and Genealogist for 1870.
e For obituary notice, see “ The London Daily Post and General Advertiser ”
Newspaper, for Thursday, Sept. 10, 1741. For obituary notice of his brother
Nathaniel, also, see “ The Public Advertiser ” newspaper for Friday, May 20, 1757.
f See Pedigree of Byam of Antigua, in the College of Arms, and that of Free-
man, Philips, and Jones, in connection therewith.
e For obituary notice, see Lloyd’s Evening Post Newspaper, London, Feb. 25-27,
1767.
*** See Visitations of Essex, 1634 and 1664, for Elliston ; also entry at the
College of Arms, in 1868, of the pedigree of Alliston or Elliston, of Essex and Kent,
and of Philipps of Chesham, Bucks, with that of Jones in continuation thereof.INDEX
Abbot, Archbishop of Canterbury, 24, 143
Aliston or Alliston, or Elliston, Bedell’s
mother’s family name, 2, 86, 93
Alistone, Mathew, of Castle Hedingham,
Bp. Bedell’s mother’s brother, 86, 87 ;
his will, 233
Alliston, John, of Black Notley, Bedeirs
cousin, his will, 233
------- Dr. Joseph, rector of South
Runcton, Bishop Bedell’s cousin, 99,
104, 124, 130, 253 ; his will, 99
Alliston or Elliston, pedigree of, 86, 258
Ardagh, Bedell’s résignation of the
Bishopric of, 46, 156, 157
------- Dr. John Richardson made Bp.
of, 159
-■ — — improvement of the revenue of,
under Bp. Richardson, 159
------- Bp. Richardson of, and the
rébellion, 189
Ardfert, Bp. Fulwer of, and the rébellion,
188
Armagh, Abp. James Ussher of, and the
rébellion, 188
•	■■	- see Ussher.
------- Abp. M. G. Beresford of, pre-
viously Bp. of Kilmore, erects the new
Cathédral of Kilmore, 201
Arthur, the Christian name of, derived
by the Duke of Wellington from his
great-grandfather in the fourth degree,
Col. Arthur Hill, 224, 225
Ash, Mr. Richard, registrarof Kilmore, 56
Augustine St., sayingof, “ Fruit, not leaves,
I seek,” 172
Authorship of this “ Life and Death ” of
Bp. Bedell attributed to William, Bp.
Bedell’s eldest son, viii., 232.
Autograph initiais of the Rev. Dr. Joseph
Alliston, Fellow of Emmanuel College,
Cambridge, 99
Autograph of Capt Ambrose Bedell, viii.
-------of Bedell, while résident in Venice,
104
-------while Provost of T.C.D. 146
CAMD. SOC.	2
Autograph while Bp. of Kilmore and
Ardagh, 160
------when Bp. of Kilmore alone, 160
------ of the Rev. William Bedell, the
Bp.’s eldest son, 231
------of the Rev. Alexander Clogie, 217
Bagshaw, Sir Edward, Bp. Bedell’s pro-
ceedings against, for the recovery of
épiscopal lands, 155
Baldi, Ottavio, see Ottavio Baldi
Bayly, Mr. William, his unjust conduct
to Mr. Murtach King, 163, 177-180
-------made Bp. of Clonfert, 180
Beast, the, number of, 115, 116
Bedell, Ambrose, his déposition respecting
the sufferings and losses of his family
in the rébellion, 221-224
------- in his will, directs that he be
buried beside his father, 226
— Captain, as one of the “ Forty-
nine officers,” receives a grant of lands,
224, 225
-------his letter to Abp. Sancroft, vii.
— the testamentary disposition of his
property, 237
■	in conjunction with Archdeacon
Price, holds out Croghan Castle against
the rebels, 201,202, 221
Bedell, Ambrose, junr., attainted by King
James the Second’s Parliament in
Ireland, 238
-------dies in the camp of King William
III. before Dundalk, 238
-------the history of his will, 238
Bedell, Bp.,his correspondence with Laud,
see Laud
-------his letters to Dr. Samuel Warde,
x., 94, 102, 124, 127, 130, 149, 159,
160-1, 174
Bedell, Mrs. Elizabeth, the Bp.’s mother,
her maiden name of Elliston, 2, 86,
93
-------her will, 87
M262
INDEX.
Bedell, James, of Rattlesden, his will,
235, 6
Bedell, John, the Bishop’s father, his wili
87
------- John, the Bishop’s second son,
his death, 160
Bedell, John, the Bp.’s grandson, succeeds
his father as Rector of Rattlesden, 234 ;
his death, 235
Bedell, Mrs. Leah, her family by her first
husband Robert Mawe, Esq., and family
by Mr. Bedell, 129
Bedell, pedigree of, 258
Bedell, pronunciation and dérivation of
the name, 85
Bedell, Thomas, of Charles Square,
Hoxton, claims to be heir-male of
Bishop Bedell’s family, 89, 197, 239;
his MS. genealogical notes, 88, 89, 197
“ Bedell’s Statutes,” T.C.D. 27, 145
Bedell, the Rev. Wlliam, his collation and
induction to the Vicarage of Kinawley,
226, 227
-------and his family 226-232 et seq.
------- his letter to his godfather Dr.
Samuel Warde, 229, 230, 231
------- his présentation to the Rectory of
Rattlesden, 231
■" his visit to England in 1637,
228
Bedell, William, Prebendary of Iniscattery
and Tullagh, 234
Belturbet, vi., 62, 258-9
Beresford, M. G., Abp. of Armagh, see
Armagh and Kilmore
Bernard, Dr. Nicholas, his “ Character of
Bishop Bedell,” 40, 147, 148
Bible in Gaelic, first publication of the, 251
Bible in Irish, publication of the, 175-181,
240
Birth and Parentage of Bp. Bedell, 1, 2,
85, 91, 92
Bishops of Ireland and the rébellion, 188,
189
Black Notley, 1, 85 et seq.
Boyle, Hon. Robert, publishes a new
édition of Daniel’s Irish New Testament
and promûtes the first publication of
Bedell’s Irish Old Testament, 248
Braintry or Braintree, William Bedell and
his elder brother John attend the school
of Mr. Denman at, 2, 92
Burnet, Gilbert, afterwards Bishop of
Salisbury, supplied by the Rev. Alex-
ander Clogie with the materials for his
Life of Bp. Bedell, 217, 218, 219
Burnet and Clogie censured for their in-
accuracies respecting Bp. Bedell, 186,
187, 219
Cambridge, Emmanuel College, Bedeirs
éducation at, 3 et seq ; 93 et seq.
Canterbury, Abbot, Abp. of, 24, 143
Canterbury, Laud, Abp. of, see Laud
Canterbury, Sancroft, Abp. of, see Sancroft
Caraffa, the family of, 114
Caraffa, Fra. T. M., his Theses, 115
Carne Hill, the résidence of Capt. Am-
brose Bedell, vi., 225
Cashel, Abp. Hamilton of, and the rébel-
lion, 188
Cashel, Thos. Price, Abp. of, formerly
Archdeacon of Kilmore, forwards the
publication of the Irish Old Testament,
248,
Cavan, 62
Chaderton, Dr., Master of Emmanuel Col-
lege, Cambridge, 4, 94
Chancellor of the Diocèses of Kilmore and
Ardagh, Mr. Alane Cook, Bishop
Bedell’s protracted litigation with, 34,
$5, 36, 55, 56, 152, 155
------his unjust jurisdiction, 32, 33, 151,
154
Charles I., his letter to the fellows of
T. C. D., 146
>■■■ Sir Henry Wotton’s letter to,
recommending Mr. Bedell for the Pro-
vostship of T. C. D., 25
Chirurgery, Mrs. Elizabeth Bedell, the
Bishop’s mother, famous and expert in,
2
Churches, Bp. Bedell’s labours in repairing
and building, 60
Clogher, Bp. Spottiswoode of, and the
rébellion, 189
Clogie, the Rev. Alexander, his biography,
211-220
—description of the person of Bp.
Bedell by, 191
------his first marriage to Miss Leah
Mawe, 212
------his letter to Abp. Sancroft, 216,
217
......his family by his second marriage
215
Clogie and Burnet censured for their in-
accuracy as to a connexion of Bp.INDEX.
263
Bedell with the “ Remonstrance ” of
the Rebels, 186, 187 ; and for other in-
accu rades, 219
Clonfert and Kilmacduagh, Bp. Dawson
of, and the rébellion, 188
Cloyne, Bp. Synge of, and the rébellion,
188
Condé, Prince of, his visit to Father
Paulo in Venice, 139, 140
Contemporaries, College, Bedell’s, 94-
100
Convocation, Bedell chosen Member of,
for Suffolk, 22, 23
Cooke, Mr. Alane, the Chancellor of the
Diocèses of Kilmore and Ardagh, Bishop
Bedell’s protracted litigation with, 34,
35, 36, 55, 56, 152, 155 ; his unjust
jurisdiction, 32, 33, 151, 154
Cork and Ross, Bp. Chappell of, and the
rébellion, 188
Cotton, Sir Robert, Bedell’s letter to,
about Ricemarchus's Psalter, 256
Courts Ecclesiastical, extortions of the,
Bishop Bedell labours to reform, 38,
39, 40, 42, 151-2-3-4-5-6
Craig, Sir James, of Croghan Castle, 181,
201,221
Croghan Castle, held against the rebels by
Ambrose Bedell and Archdeacon Price
after Sir James Craig* s death, 201,
202
Croghan and Keilagh Castles capitulate to
the rebels, 202
Cumberland, Dr. Denison, Bishop of Kil-
more, desires to be buried beside Bishop
Bedell, 196
Daniel or O’Donell, Wm., Abp. of Tuam.
translator of New Testament and Book
of Common Prayer into Irish, 60, 175
Daru’s Histoire de la Republique de
Venise, 110
Deafness, the cause of Bp. BedelFs, 3
Death of Bishop Bedell, 79, 80, 81, 189
-------of Bishop Bedell’s wife Leah, 161
De Dominis, Archbishop of Spalato, 135,
136
-------his dead body burnt, 136
Denman, Mr., William Bedell’s school-
master at Braintry, orBraintree, a good
teacher but harsh master, 2, 3, 92
Derry, Bp. Bramhall of, 174
-------and the rébellion, 188
Despotine, Dr. Jasper, of Venice, makes
the acquaintance of Bedell, 10, 12
------- his adventure with the friar in
Venice, 10, 11, 12
-------accompanies Bedell on the return
of the latter to England from Venice,
13,	124,125
-------is established in Bury St. Edmund’s
as a physician, and marries there, 13,
14,	125, 126, 128
-------Sir Henry Wotton and, 126, 127
----an elder of the Presbyterian Church
in Bury St. Edmund’s, ix.
Diodati, John, 110, 111, 141, 142
Diodati family, the, 142
Diocesan Synod, 41, 162
Divines, the Seven, of Venice, and their
tractate on the Papal Interdict, 108
Dodwell, Dr. Henry, his letter to Abp.
Sancroft, vii.
Dopping, Dr. Anthony, Bp. of Meath, 174
-------and Bedell’s Irish Old Testament,
245, 247
Down and Connor, Bp. Leslie of, and the
rébellion, 189
Dromore, Bp. Buckworth of, and the ré-
bellion, 189
Drum Corr, Mr. Denis Sheridan’s rési-
dence at, 189, 207
Dublin, Abp. Lancelot Bulkeley of, 56, 185
-------and the rébellion, 188
Dublin, Trinity College near, Bedell Pro-
vost of, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 142,
143, 144, 145
-------Bedell’s letter to Sir Nathaniel
Riche on State of, 253
Education and entrance intoHoly Orders,
Bedell’s, 3, 4, 5, 92, 93, 94
Elizabeth, Queen, recommends an Irish
translation of the New Testament to be
made, 171, 175
Elliston, or Alliston, BedelPs mother’s
family name, 2, 86, 93
-------pedigree of, 86, 258; wills of, 99,
233
Elphin, Bp.Tilson of, andtherébellion, 188
Emmanuel College, Cambridge, Bedell’s
éducation at, 3 etseq., 93 et seq.
Estey, or Estye, the Rev. George, preacher
at St. Mary’s, Bury St. Edmund’s, suc-
ceeded by Bedell, 7, 100
Extortions of the Court Ecclesiastical, 33,264
INDEX.
34,35, 36, 38, 39, 40, 42, 151, 152,
153, 154,155
Falkland, the Lord Deputy, 26, 58
Family bereavements, Bp. Bedell’s, 160,
161
Ferns and Leighlin, Bp. Andrews of, and
the rébellion, 188
Fletcher, the Rev. Nathaniel, Sir Henry
Wotton’s first chaplain in Venice, 102
** Forty-nine Officers,” Capt. Ambrose
Bedell as one of the, receives a grant of
lands, 224, 225
French, Major Daniel, marries Isabella
Bedell, the youngest daughter of the
Rev. William Bedell of Rattlesden, 238
“ Fruit, not leaves, Iseek,” St. Augustine’s
saying, 172
Fulgentio, the Franciscah Friar of Venice,
burnt at Rome for alleged heresy, 112,
113
Fulgentio, the Servite Friar of Venice,
108, 110, 111
Funeral of Bishop Bedell, 80, 81, 195
Gaelic Bible, first publication of the, 251
Griselini, his Life of Father Paulo, 106,
107,123
Hall, Joseph, Bishop of Norwich, 97, 98,
196
Hamilton, Sir Francis, Bp. Bedell’s pro-
ceedings against, for the recovery of
épiscopal lands, 155
Harley family of Brampton Bryan, 141,217
Hickes, Dr. George, deprived Dean of
Worcester, consecrated titular Bishop of
Thetford by the deprived Bishops of
Norwich, Peterborough, and Ely, xvii.,
105
-------his strictures on Burnet’s Life of
Bedell, 105, 123,126,134,138, 139,219
Hill, Colonel Arthur, 221, 224. The
name Arthur derived from him by his
descendant the late Duke of Wellington,
224,225
-------Mary, only daughter of Peter, and
grand-daughter of Sir Moyses Hill, wife
of Capt. Ambrose Bedell, 221
-------Sir Moyses, and his family, 221
Holland, Earl of, and Sir Thomas Jermin,
friends of Bedell, 57, 58
Horninger, see Horningshearth
Horningshearth, Sir Thomas Jermin pré-
sents Bedell to the Rectory of, 15, 16,
131
Horningshearth, Bedell’s Incumbency of
16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 130
-------Bedell’s literary labours during his
incumbency of, 131-141
Hoyle, Dr. Joshua, 28
Illness, last, of Bishop Bedell, 78, 79, 189,
190, 191
Iniscattery and Tullagh, William Bedell
(son of the Rev. William of Rattlesden),
prebendary of, 234
Institution of a Christian in English and
Irish, description of the book, 172,173
Interdict, Papal, against Venice, 8, 101
------- tractate on the, by the Seven
Divines, 108
-------History of the, by Father Paulo, 140
Ireland, Bedell’s removal to, 23 et seq.,
142, 143 et seq.
Irish language, Bp. Bedell’s efforts to
spread the Gospel through the medium
of, 44, 45, 171 et seq.
-------translation of the New Testament
into the, 175
-------translation of the Old Testament
into the, 60, 61, 175-180, 240
Irish Old Testament, Bedell’s, the publi-
cation of, obstructed and delayed, 175-
181
-------MS. of, entrusted by Denis Sheridan
to Henry Jones, Dean of Kilmore, and
afterwards Bp. of Meath, 240, 242
-------eventual publication of, 240
Irish Rébellion of 1641, 65 et seq., 181 et seq.
James I, King, 8, 25
------- his “ Apologie ” and “ Pré-
monition,” 25 ; présentation of, to the
Doge of Venice, 117-123
-------autograph letter of, 121, 122
-------orders the Irish New Testament
to be read in “the Parishes of the
Irishrie,” 175
James II. and Thomas Sheridan, 208, 209,
210
Jegon, Dr., Bishop of Norwich, Bedell re-
fuses to pay the fees demanded by the
officers of, 16
Jermin, Sir Thomas, friend and patron of
Bedell, 15, 29, 58, 59, 143
-------présents Mr. Bedell to the Rectory
of Gt. Horningshearth, 15, 16INDEX.
265
Jews in Venice, Bedell’s acquaintance
with, 9
Jones, Henry, Dean of Kilmore, his
narrative of the rébellion, 182
------- afterwards Bp. of Meath, and
Bedeirs Irish Old Testament, 240 et
seq.
Keilagh Castle, held against the rebels by
Sir Francis Hamilton, at last is sur-
rendered to the rebels, 201, 202
Kildare, Bp. Ussher of, and the rébellion,
188
Kilfenora, Bp. Sibthorp of, and the ré-
bellion, 188
Killala, Bishop Adair of, unjustly de-
prived, 52, 53, 54
-------alleged secret cause of the pro-
ceedings against, 180
Killala, Bp. John Maxwell of, and the ré-
bellion, 188
Killaloe, Bp. Jones of, and the rébellion,
188
Kilmore and Ardagh, Bedeirs élévation to
the Bishoprics of, 29 et seq., 147-150
Kilmore, Episcopal house of, 62; lines
written on one of the Windows of, by
Dean Swift and Dr. Thomas Sheridan,
211
------- New Cathédral of, erected by Dr.
M. G. Beresford, now Abp. of Armagh,
201
- ■ ■ • Dr. Swiney, Popish Bishop of,
71, 72, 91, 92, 187, 195
-------topographical description of, 62,
63
Kinawley, William Bedell collatèd to the
vicarage of, 227
King, Rev. Murtach, employed in the
work of translating the Old Testament
into Irish, 61, 176, 180
-------articles against, 177
“ King’s Evil,” Capt. Ambrose Bedell
touched by the King for the, 225, 226
Kirke, Rev. Robert, supervises the printing
of an édition of the Irish Scriptures in
Roman type for use in Scotland, 251
Laud, Bp. of London and afterwards Abp.
of Canterbury, Bedell’s letters to, about
the Chancellor, Mr. Alane Cook, 35,
151-154,155 ; and Laud’s reply, 154
------- his uncourteous letter to Bp.
Bedell about the pétition of the Pro-
testants of Cavan, 51
-------to Abp. Ussher on Bedell’s résig-
nation of the Provostship of T. C. D.,
145, 146
-------Bedeirs letter to, recommending
a députation of Fellows of T. C. D.,
146
-------BedelEs letter to, about resigning
the see of Ardagh and recommendation
of Dr. Richardson, 156
-------Bedell’s letter to, about the im-
provement of the revenue of the see of
Ardagh under Bp. Richardson, 159
-------Bp. Bedell’s letter to, in explanatiori
of his Diocesan Synod, 170
—-— Bp. Bedeirs letter to, about the
persécution of Mr. Murtach King, 177
-------letters on Popery in Ireland, from
Bp. Bedell to him, and to the Lord
Deputy Wentworth, read in the House
of Lords at Laud’s trial, 150
Lecasserio, James, Father Paulo’s letter to,
about King James’s Book, 120
Limerick, Bp. Webb of, and the rébellion,
188
Loughoughter Castle, Bishop Bedell and
sons imprisoned in, 73, 74, 187
-— libération of Bp. Bedell and his
sons from imprisonment in, 75, 76, 189
Lowry, the Rev. John, marries Penelope
Bedell, third youngest daughter of the
Rev. William Bedell, of Rattlesden, 237
Lucas, Wm. Esq., BedelPs suit with, for
the recovery of lands belonging to the
Rectory of Great Horningshearth, 21
Mant’s, Bp., history, description of Bp.
Bedell’s tomb in, 198, 199, 200
Marriage, Rev. William Bedell’s to Mrs.
Leah Mawe, widow, 14, 128
Marsh, Narcissus, Abp. of Armagh, for-
wards the publication of Bedell’s Irish
Old Testament, 246-7-8.
Mawe, Edward, Bp. Bedell catches fever
from, 78, 190
-------Mrs. Leah, widow, her marriage
with the Rev. William Bedell, 14, 128
-------Dr. Nicholas, 15, 129, 161
Meath, Bp. Dopping of, 174, 245, 247
Meath, Bp. Martin of, and the rébellion, 189
Ministers, able to speak Irish collatèd to
Bénéfices by Bishop Bedell, 43, 44, 45,
176266
INDEX.
Moigne, Dr. Thomas, Bedell's predecessor
as Bishop, 149, 155
-------Mrs., Bp. Bedell’s law-suit with,
48, 155, 194, 195
Moreton, Bp. of Durham, 141, 143
Morosini’s Historia Veneta referred to,
123
Morton, Sir Albertus, 102
M.P. for the University of Dublin, Pro-
vost Bedell elected as, 145
Nangle, Mr. James, employed in the work
of translating the Psalms into Irish, 61,
171.
Newton, Mr., afterwards Sir Adam, Bedell’s
correspondent with, 103, 104
Non-conformists in the north of Ireland,
their pétition to the House of Commons
in 1641 against Episcopal rule, 151
O’Donell, or Daniel, Wm. Abp. of Tuam,
complétés the translation of New Testa-
ment into Irish, and also translates the
Book of Common Prayer, 60, 175
O’Donnellan, Abp. of Tuam, continues
Bp. Walsh’s work of translating the
New Testament into Irish, 175
Old Testament, translation of the, into the
Irish language procured by Bp. Bedell,
60, 61, 175, 176,242
Ossory, Bp. Walsh of, commences the
translation of the New Testament into
Irish, 175
Ossory, Bp. Williams of, and the rébellion,
188
Ottavio Baldi, Sir Henry Wotton’s first
introduction to King James in Stirling
Castle under this name, 118
Pale, the English, rebels of, 223
Palliser, Dr. William, afterwards Abp. of
Cashel, his letter to Capt. Ambrose
Bedell, v.
Parentage, birth and, of Bishop Bedell, 1,
2, 85, 91, 92
Paulo, Father, the Servite Friar of
Venice, 8, 9, 103, 106, 107, 108, 109,
110, 111, 113, 114
------- attempted assassination of, 103,
109
-------his History of the Council of Trent,
135, 137, 138, 139 ; his History of
the Venetian Interdict, 140
-------his life translated into English, 8
Paulus V. Pope, his interdict against the
state of Venice, 8, 101, 103
Pedigree of the Bedell andElliston families,
258, 259
Perkins, the Rev. William, 4, 6, 94
-------his work on the Government of
the Tongue, 19
Pestilence in Ireland in 1641, 190
Plessis-Mornay, du, 111
Pluralities, Bishop Bedell’s discounte-
nance of, 43, 147, 159
Pope, Paul V. his interdict against Venice,
8, 101, 103
Price, Thos., Archdeacon of Kilmore,
assists Ambrose Bedell in the defence
of Croghan Castle, 201, 202, 221
------- Abp. of Cashel, formerly Arch-
deacon of Kilmore, forwards the pub-
lication of Bedell’s Irish Old Testament,
241,248
Protestant Pétition of the county of
Cavan, complaint against Bedell on
account of, 49, 50, 51
-------Bp. Bedell’s part in, erroneously
appiied by Mr. Clogie to the remon-
strance of the rebels of Cavan, 186
Provostship of T.C.D., BedelFs, 23-29,
142-146, 253
Prynne, William, his Life of Abp. Laud,
49,150
RadclifFe, Sir George, his account of Bp.
Adair of Killala’s trial, 54
Raphoe, Bp. Lesley of, and the rébellion,
189
Rattlesden, John 2nd son of the Rev.
William Bedell of Rattlesden presented
to the rectory of, 235
-------William, eldest son of Bp.
Bedell, presented to the rectory of, 231
------- extracts from the P.R. of, re-
lating to the Rev. William Bedell’s
family, 232 et seq.
Rébellion, Irish, of 1641, outbreak of, 65
181
Rebels, the, Protestants escaping from,
are protected by Bishop Bedell, 65, 66,
67, 69, 181
------- rob the Bishop himself, 70, 71,
72
------- imprison Bishop Bedell and his
sons in Loughoughter Castle, 73, 74,
187, 189INDEX.
267
Reeves, the Rev. Dr. William, dedication
of this volume to, xi.
Reilly, Relly, or O’Reilly, the names of
the Clan signing “ Remonstrance ” of
the rebels of the county of Cavan, 184
“ Remonstrance ’’ of the rebels of Cavan
to the Lords Justices and Council, 181,
182, 183, 184
-------answer of the Lords Justices and
Council thereto, 185
Republic, Sir Henry Wotton’s opinion of
a, 119
Ricemarchus’s Psalter, 193-4, 256
Riche, Sir Nathaniel, BedelFs letter to, on
the state of T.C.D., 253
St. Edmondsbury, Preachership at St.
Mary’s, 5, 7, 13, 100
Sali, Dr. Andrew, aids in revising for the
press the MS. of Bedell’s Irish Old
Testament, 241-5
-------his life and death, 248
Sancroft, William, Archbishop of Canter-
bury, his intention to Write a life of
Bp. Bedell, vi., 100, 216, 217, 218, 246
-------his opinion of Bp. Burnet, 133
Sancroft, William, Master of Emmanuel
College, Cambridge, uncle of Arch-
bishop Sancroft, 99
S. MariaofVangadezza, the Abbacy of, 121
Sarpi, Francis, the father, and Isabella,
née Morelli, the mother of Father
Paulo, the Servite Friar of Venice, 108
Scriptures, the, in a language understood
by the people, judged by Bishop Bedell
to be as essential to the Church as the
building of stone walls, 60
Seal, Bp. Bedell’s, with the figure of a
crucible, and a Hebrew motto, 81, 82
Sheridan, the Rev. Denis, ordained and
collated to the vicarage of Killasser by
Bp. Bedell, 204
....... presented to the vicarages of
Drunge and Larra, 204
-------Bishop Bedell takes up his abode
in the house of, 76, 77, 189
-------saves Bedell’s MS. Hebrew Bible
and the MS. of the Irish translation of
the Old Testament, 76, 77, 188, 240
Sheridan Family, 203-211
Sheridan, Dr. Thomas, and Dr. Jonathan
Swift, Dean of St. Patrick’s, their lines
written on a window of the Episcopal
Palace of Kilmore, 211
Spalato, De Dominis, Archbishop of,
135, 136 ; his dead body burnt, 136
Stanford, John, marries Eleanor French,
238, 239
------- daims and obtains the Bedell
property in right of his wife, 239,
240
Stanford, Pedigree of. 259
Statutes of T. C. D., Bedell’s, 27, 145
Stern, Dr. John, Bishop Suffragan of
Colchester, Bedell ordained by, 5
Stokes, Professor Dr. William, dedication
of this volume to, xi.
-------on the fever of which Bp. Bedell
died, 190
Strafford, Earl of, see Wentworth
Swift, Dr. Jonathan, Dean of St. Patrick’s,
and Dr. Thomas Sheridan, their lines
written on a window of the Episcopal
Palace of Kilmore, 211
Swiney, Dr., Roman Catholic Bp. of Kil-
more, 71, 72, 91, 92, 187, 195
Synod, Diocesan, 41, 162-169
-------names of Ministers présent at, 169
------- Bp. Bedell’s letter to Abp. Laud
in explanation of, 170
Tate or Teate, Dr. Faithfull, 169; suc-
ceeded by Denis Sheridan in the béné-
fices of Drunge and Larra, 204
Templeport, Rev. Murtach King, disseized
of his living of, 177
Tirconnell, Richd. Talbot, Earl of, and
Thomas Sheridan, 209
Tomb of Bp. Bedell, 197-200
Trent, History of the Council of, by
Father Paulo, 135, 137, 138, 139
Tuam, Abp. Boyle of, and the rébellion,
188
Tullagh, William Bedell, Prebendary of,
234
Ussher, James, Archbishop of Armagh,
24, 26, 30, 34, 143, 145, 188, 193,256,
Venice, Mr. Bedell’s résidence in, 8-13,
100-124
Venice, the State of, controversy with
Rome, 8, 101, 103
Vox Corvi, Mr. Clogie’s sermon, entitled,
219-220
Waddesworth, James, 10, 95-97
-------■ Bedell’s correspondence with, 131
Waldron, Mr. John, of Farnham, 182, 185268
INDEX,
Walsh, Bp. of Ossory, commences the
translation of the New Testament into
Irish, 175
Walton, Isaak, his notices of Bedell in his
Life of Sir Henry Wotton, 101, 102,
216
-------his account of the writing of Father
Paulo’s History of the Council of Trent,
138
Ward, Dr. Seth, Bp. of Salisbury, 95
Warde, Dr. Samuel, Master of Sidney
College, Cambridge, 94-95
-------Bishop Bedeirs letters to, x., 94,
102, 124, 127, 130, 149, 159, 160, 161,
174
-------his character of Bedell, 144
» godfather of William, Bishop
Bedeirs eldest son, 226
Waterford and Lismore, Bp. Adair of, and
the rébellion, 188
Wentworth, Lord Deputy, his ill-feeling
to Bishop Bedell about the pétition of
the Protestants of Cavan, 49-51
-------interfères to delay the publication
of the Old Testament in Irish, 175
-------Bp. Bedeirs letter to him about
the persécution of Mr. Murtach King,
177-180
Wettenhall, Bishop of Kilmore, desires to
be buried beside Bishop Bedell, 196;
his disapprobation of Burnet’s Life of
Bedell, 218
Whepstead, William Bedell, the Bishop’s
eldest son, does clérical duty at, 229,
230
Will of John Alliston of Black Notley,
Bedell’s cousin, 233
-------Dr. Joseph Alliston, Bedell’s cousin,
99
------- Mathew Alliston, or Elliston, Bp.
BedeH’s uncle, 233
-------Capt. Ambrose Bedell, 237
-------Ambrose Bedell, Junr., 238
-------Bp. Bedell, 192-195
-------Bp. Bedeirs father, 87
-------Bp. Bedeirs mother, 87
-------James Bedell 235, 236
Wotton, Sir Henry, English Ambassador
at Venice, 8, 101-123
-------invites Mr. Bedell to join him as
Chaplain at Venice, in succession to
the Rev. Nathaniel Fletcher, 8, 101,102
------- his first introduction to King
James in Stirling Castle under the name
of Ottavio Baldi, 118
------- his letter to Charles I. recom-
mending the Rev. Mr. Bedell to the
Provostship of T. C. D., 25