of time, so, too, it was chief in order of importance among the many questions with which, at his accession. to the throne, the restored monarch found himself forced to deal.

On this point, however, there was fortunately no room for doubt or hesitation. Among the ecclesiastics who had survived the Great Rebellion was the man from whose hands the Royal Martyr had received his last sacrament; who had filled the office of Bishop of London, next in real importance to the archbishopric; who had enjoyed the esteem of the unfortunate monarch; who had attended him on the scaffold, and had received his latest confidences.

Naturally, he was the man designated by the unanimous voice of the triumphant cavaliers as having the strongest claim to be raised to the primacy; and when we consider the mildness of Juxon's character, and the moderation of his views, we shall probably conclude that it would have been a fortunate circumstance for the Church and the country if he could not only have occupied the office of primate, but also have discharged the duties that belonged to it, and especially that of guiding the destinies of the Church.

But at the time of the Restoration, he was in the seventy-eighth year of his age, and was suffering, without the smallest hope of alleviation, from a disease which incapacitated him from discharging even the routine duties of the primacy, and impaired the vigour of his mind. It is true that his translation from the see of London to that of Canterbury was a transference from

a post of considerable labour to a situation of comparative ease. But even the lighter duties of his new station were too heavy for him. However, Sheldon, who had succeeded him in the see of London, was in the full vigour of his constitution, and readily undertook the work which Juxon's age and infirmities disabled him from discharging. Besides, he had claims on Charles, which probably in that monarch's estimation were superior even to those of Juxon; for he had not only aided the exiled monarch very liberally from his own private resources, but had also raised and remitted to him considerable sums of money, which had been contributed, at his solicitation, by several of the king's friends. The consequence was that, with the single exception of the chancellor, the Earl of Clarendon, Sheldon was, during the earlier years of the reign of Charles II., his trusted adviser in political matters, and in matters ecclesiastical his influence was even greater than that of the chancellor himself. At all events, he had the undisputed control of a great number of details, with which neither Charles nor Clarendon had time or inclination to deal.

Thus it came to pass that throughout one of the most important crises in the history of this Church and nation, the powers of the primacy were either virtually or actually wielded, with scarcely any limitation or control, by a man "to whose merits and memory,' according to the opinion of honest Izaak Walton, “posterity-the clergy especially-ought to pay reverence." I am therefore acting on this opinion of the worthy

fisherman, by endeavouring to give a short but truthful sketch of the biography of the man who, at the Restoration and for many years after, exerted a most powerful influence over the constitution, the doctrines, and the historical evolution of the Anglican Church.

Gilbert Sheldon was the descendant of an ancient family, which, however, had fallen into such decay that his father, Roger Sheldon, had been obliged to become a servant in the family of Gilbert, Earl of Shrewsbury. In this station he seems to have acquired the respect of his master's family, for the little Gilbert was brought to the baptismal font by two godfathers of whom he might justly be proud-Gilbert, his father's master, known as "The Great Earl of Shrewsbury," from whom he derived his Christian name; and Robert Sanderson, of Gilthwaite Hall, in the town of Rotherham, father of the celebrated Bishop Sanderson. The child thus honoured was born in the hamlet of Stanton, situated in the parish of Ellaston and the county of Stafford, in the year of our Lord 1598. The name of Sheldon has altogether disappeared from the neighbourhood, but the house in which his parents resided was long after his death shown to visitors; and the room in which he first saw the light contained a wooden tablet, bearing the following inscription:—

"Sheldonus ille præsulum primus pater

Has inter ortus aspicit lucem Lares

O tu beata Stantonis villæ casa

Cui cuncta possunt invidere marmora.

Towards the end of 1613, Sheldon was entered as a

member of Trinity College, Oxford. In 1617 he took the degree of Bachelor of Arts, that of Master in 1620, and in 1622 was elected a Fellow of All Souls' College, and ordained a deacon. Soon after he became chaplain to Lord Keeper Coventry, by whom, after some experience of his capacity, he was recommended to Charles I. as being well versed in political affairs.

After this he mounted, through a rapid series of preferments, up to the deanery of Westminster and the mastership of the Savoy Hospital. From these posts he was ejected, and his place at the Savoy was occupied by a Puritan divine, who died during the Protectorate. Sheldon then took possession of the mastership without opposition, and continued to hold it till his appointment to the archbishopric. He and Dr. Hammond together attended Charles I., while he was a prisoner in Holmby Castle, as his chaplains, and there celebrated the services of the Anglican Church without hindrance. Like too many others, he entered the civil wars a pious, Godfearing man; but came out of them a profane and debauched cavalier, fired with a strong desire to avenge on the defeated Puritans the injuries which they had inflicted on himself and his friends. Much has been made by Sheldon's apologists of a sermon that he preached before Charles on his arrival at Whitehall, on charity and the forgiveness of injuries, but I suspect that the subject of his discourse had been dictated to him by Charles and Clarendon, at a time when it was still thought necessary to endeavour to propitiate the Presbyterians, and to obtain their support to the new settlement.

But whatever his motives may have been, he took a very early opportunity of displaying his utter disregard of the Christian graces and virtues which he had inculcated in this discourse. His real dispositions were speedily manifested on many occasions, but especially at the celebrated Savoy Conference-so called because it was held in the lodge which he occupied in the Savoy Hospital, as master of that institution. This celebrated meeting raised high hopes, which, in the event, were doomed to meet with bitter disappointment, chiefly through Sheldon's interposition.

There is no sort of doubt that Charles and his chancellor, Clarendon, had held out to the Presbyterian divines who waited on them at Breda just before the Restoration, intimations that almost amounted to promises, that they would not only be tolerated, but that changes would be made in the doctrine and discipline of the English Church which would enable them, without violence to their consciences, to retain the benefices they had held during the Protectorate. I see no reason for supposing that Charles and his adviser were insincere, or that they had any intention of evading the promises they had made or disappointing the expectations they had raised. Charles hated Presbyterianism, and was wont to sneer at it as being a religion that was not fit for a gentleman. He had not forgotten the treatment he had received in Scotland while nominally the king, but really the prisoner, of the people of that country. He was heartily sick of the long sermons which the divines of the Presbyterian Church had in