Chapter II: Part 2

To whom George Marsh said, “O my lord, I pray you judge not so of me;
I stand now upon the point of life and death: and a man in my case
hath no cause to be arrogant, neither am I, God is my record. And as
concerning the disagreement of the doctrine, among many other things,
the church of Rome erreth in the sacrament. For Christ, in the
institution thereof, did as well deliver the cup as the bread,
saying, ‘Drink ye all of this,’ and St. Mark reporteth that they
_did_ drink of it. In like manner St. Paul delivered it unto the
Corinthians. In the same sort also it was used in the primitive
church for the space of many hundred years. Now the church of Rome
doth take away one part of the sacrament from the laity. Wherefore
if I could be persuaded in my conscience by God’s word that it were
well done, I could gladly yield in this point.” “Then,” said the
bishop, “there is no disputing with a heretic.” Therefore, when all
his answers were ready, he asked him whether he would stand to the
same, or else forsake them, and come unto the catholic church? to
which Mr. Marsh answered, that “he held no heretical opinion, but
utterly abhorred all kinds of heresy, although they did so slander
him. And he desired all to bear him witness, that in all articles of
religion he held no other opinion than was by law established, and
publicly taught in England at the death of Edward VI.; and in the
same pure religion and doctrine he would, by God’s grace, stand,
live, and die.”

The bishop of Chester then took a writing out of his bosom, and began
to read the sentence of condemnation; but when he had proceeded half
through it, the chancellor called him, and said, “Good my lord, stay,
stay! for if you read any further, it will be too late to call it
again.” The bishop accordingly stopped, when several priests, and
many of the ignorant people, called upon Mr. Marsh, with many earnest
words, to recant. They bade him kneel down and pray, and they would
pray for him: so they kneeled down, and he desired them to pray for
him, and he would pray for them. When this was over, the bishop
again asked him, whether he would not have the queen’s mercy in time?
he answered, “he gladly desired the same, and loved her grace as
faithfully as any of them: but yet he durst not deny his Saviour
Christ, lest he lose his mercy everlasting, and so win everlasting
death.”

The bishop then proceeded with the sentence for about five or six
lines, when again the chancellor, with flattering words and smiling
countenance, stopped him, and said, “Yet good my lord, once again
stay, for if that word be spoken, all is past, no relenting will then
serve.” Then turning to Mr. Marsh, he asked, “How sayest thou? wilt
thou recant?” Many of the priests and people again exhorted him to
recant, and save his life. To whom he answered, “I would as fain
live as you, if in so doing I should not deny my master Christ; but
then he would deny me before his Father in heaven.”

The bishop then read his sentence unto the end, and afterwards said
unto him, “Now, I will no more pray for thee than I will for a dog.”
Mr. Marsh answered, that notwithstanding, he would pray for his
lordship. He was then delivered to the sheriffs of the city; when
his late keeper, finding he should lose him, said with tears,
“Farewell, good George;” which caused the officers to carry him to a
prison at the north gate, where he was very strictly kept until he
went to his death, during which time he had little comfort or relief
of any creature. For being in the dungeon, or dark prison, none that
would do him good could speak with him, or at least durst attempt it,
for fear of accusation; and some of the citizens who loved him for
the gospel’s sake, although they were never acquainted with him,
would sometimes in the evening call to him, and ask him how he did.
He would answer them most cheerfully, that he did well, and thanked
God highly that he would vouchsafe of his mercy to appoint him to be
a witness of his truth, and to suffer for the same, wherein he did
most rejoice; beseeching that he would give him grace not to faint
under the cross, but patiently bear the same to his glory, and to the
comfort of his church.

The day of his martyrdom being come, the sheriffs of the city, with
their officers, went to the Northgate, and thence brought him forth,
with a lock upon his feet. As he came on the way towards the place
of execution, some proffered him money, and looked that he should
have gone with a little purse in his hand, in order to gather money
to give unto a priest to say masses for him after his death; but Mr.
Marsh said, he would not be troubled to receive money, but desired
some good man to take it if the people were disposed to give any, and
give it to the prisoners or the poor. He went all the way reading
intently, and many said, “This man goeth not unto his death as a
thief, or as one that deserveth to die.” On coming to the place of
execution without the city, a deputy chamberlain of Chester showed
Mr. Marsh a writing under a great seal, saying, that it was a pardon
for him if he would recant. He answered, forasmuch as it tended to
pluck him from God, he would not receive it upon that condition.

He now began to address the people, showing the cause of his death,
and would have exhorted them to be faithful unto Christ, but one of
the sheriffs told him there must be no sermoning now. He then
kneeling down, prayed earnestly, and was then chained to the post,
having a number of fagots under him, and a barrel with pitch and tar
in it over his head. The fire being unskilfully made, and the wind
driving it to and fro, he suffered great extremity in his death,
which notwithstanding he bore very patiently. When the spectators
supposed he had been dead, suddenly he spread abroad his arms,
saying, “Father of heaven, have mercy upon me,” and so yielded his
spirit into the hands of the Lord. Upon this, many of the people
said he was a martyr, and died marvellously patient; which caused the
bishop shortly after to make a sermon in the cathedral church, and
therein to affirm, that the said Marsh was a heretic, burnt as such,
and was then a fire-brand in hell.

He was succeeded by Cuthbert Scott, S.T.P. He was educated at Christ’s College, Cambridge, and was appointed Master of the College in 1553; became Vice-Chancellor of the University in 1555, and had the temporalities of the see of Chester delivered to him in 1556. He was an active and zealous Romanist, and was implicated in the burning of Bucer’s bones at Cambridge. He was concerned in most of the political movements of his day, and being disaffected towards Queen Elizabeth, and opposed to the reformed religion, was imprisoned in the Fleet in London, from which he escaped, and died at Louvain about the year 1560.

William Downham, D.D., was born in Norfolk, elected Fellow of Magdalene College, Oxford, in 1544, and appointed chaplain to the Lady Elizabeth, who, when queen, nominated him to a Canonry in Westminster in 1560; and on the 4th May, 1561, he was consecrated Bishop of Chester. He died in November, 1577, aged 72, and was buried in the Cathedral of Chester, with a monumental inscription, preserved by Webb, but the monument itself has long since perished.

His sons were eminent theologians, and had the merit suitably rewarded. George Downham became Bishop of Derry, and John Downham, B.D., a learned writer, had various preferments.

William Chadderton, D.D., was born at Nuthurst, near Manchester. He was educated at the Grammar School of Manchester, and afterwards became Fellow of Christ’s College, Cambridge. In 1567 he was appointed Regius and Lady Margaret’s Professor of Divinity, and the following year President of Queen’s College. Shortly afterwards he became a Canon of Westminster, and was fortunate in being appointed chaplain to the royal favourite, Dudley, Earl of Leicester, to whom he was chiefly indebted for his subsequent promotion. In 1568 he became Archdeacon of York, and held the dignity for ten years. In 1579 he was nominated to the see of Chester, which had been for some time vacant, and in the same year he accepted the Wardenship of Manchester, where he chiefly resided. He was a member of the Ecclesiastical Commission for the North; and it must be admitted that he used considerable severity towards the Papists, fines and imprisonments being amongst the strongest arguments he employed to induce that body to acknowledge the queen’s supremacy. One of the priests executed at Lancaster, in 1584, as a traitor and rebel, complained of Chadderton as “a Calvinist, and a false and cruel Bishop,” charges which lose much of their severity when proceeding from the friend of Campian and Parsons. Antony á Wood says, that “the Bishop showed more respect to a cloak than a cassock,” and there is no doubt that he was a successful preacher, and a zealous puritan; although by a reference to the Act Books of the Bishop of Chester it will be found that he was strict in enforcing the use of clerical vestments, and both suspended and deprived some of his clergy for their disregard of the Rubric. On the 5th April, 1595, he was translated to Lincoln, when he resigned the Wardenship of Manchester. He died at Southoe, in Huntingdonshire, April 11th, 1608.

Hugh Bellot, D.D., second son of Thomas Bellot, Esq., of Moreton Hall, in the county of Chester. Le Neve says he was brought up in Queen’s College, Cambridge, though Leycester gives him to St. John’s. He was Proctor in 1570, and afterwards Rector of Tydd, near Wisbeach, and Vicar of Gresford, both in episcopal patronage. He was consecrated Bishop of Bangor in the year 1585, and translated to Chester June 25th, 1595. He was Bishop of Chester about seven months, and was buried at Wrexham, in Denbighshire, in 1596, aged 54, where a monument was erected to his memory by his brother, Cuthbert Bellot, Prebendary of Chester.

Richard Vaughan, D.D., a native of Caernarvonshire, educated at St. John’s College, Cambridge, and one of the queen’s chaplains. He was B.D. in Oct., 1588, when he was collated by Bishop Aylmer to the Archdeaconry of Middlesex. He was also a Canon of Wells. He succeeded Bellot in the see of Bangor, and was also his successor at Chester, being translated thither, according to Lee, May 16th, 1596, which is probably the correct date, although the generality of his biographers state that he did not become Bishop of Chester until 1597, which might be the date of his consecration. He was translated to London in 1604, and, dying of apoplexy on the 30th March, 1607, was buried in St. Paul’s Cathedral. Wood says he was accounted an excellent preacher and pious liver. It appears from the Bishop’s registers that, like some of his predecessors, he was much concerned to repress the spirit of insubordination and impatience of episcopal restraint which he found existing among his clergy. Failing in his attempts to act as the spiritual adviser and comforter of his clerical brethren, and to uproot their antipathy to certain ancient and decent ecclesiastical forms, he frequently cited them to appear before him in the parish church of Aldford, in which village he then resided, and publicly vindicated in their presence the polity of the church. The bishop did not succeed, however, in removing the scruples of these good men, who regarded their superior as one who sought to fetter their independence and destroy their liberty. On the 3rd of Oct. 1604, a large body of Lancashire dissentients appeared before the bishop at Aldford. They appear to have been men of holy character, laborious in the discharge of their ministerial functions in populous parishes, and apparently received kind and impartial treatment. They were all publicly admonished by the bishop, and required to conform to the liturgy and ceremonies of the church, and also to subscribe, _ex animo_, to the three articles in the 36th canon. They were cited to appear again at the same place on the 28th of November following, but only one complied with the order. In those days, when roads were proverbially bad, and public conveyances unknown, a journey to Aldford must have been attended with serious inconveniences, especially on a gloomy and boisterous November day. Burnet says, in reference to these dissentients, that “they were very factious and insolent.” During the Episcopate of Bishop Vaughan, the cathedral was much repaired; he caused the bells to be re-cast and hung in the great tower; the west roof he had new leaded, and the timber work repaired. On his translation to London—

George Lloyd, D.D., rector of Halsall, near Ormskirk, and bishop of Sodor and Man in 1509, was translated to Chester January 14th, 1604–5. He died at Thornton-in-the-Moors, near Chester, of which parish he was Rector, on the 1st of August, 1615, aged 55 years, and was privately buried in the choir of the Cathedral of Chester.

Gerard Massie, B.D., was nominated to the bishopric on the death of Lloyd; but died before consecration.

Thomas Moreton, S.T.P., son of Richard Moreton, of York, Mercer, born in that city, March 20th, 1564, and educated there and at Halifax. He distinguished himself by his extensive classical and theological attainments at Cambridge, and was elected a Fellow of St. John’s College. He became B.D. in 1598, and was presented to the rectory of Long Marston, near Tadcaster. In 1602 he rendered himself conspicuous by his fearless attendance on the sick during the prevalence of the plague in York; and becoming chaplain to Lord Evers, accompanied that nobleman, in 1603, in his embassy to the Emperor of Germany. On his return he was appointed domestic chaplain to the Earl of Rutland, and wrote the first part of the _Apologia Catholica_, in consequence of the merit of which Archbishop Matthews collated him to a prependal stall at York. In 1608 he graduated D.D., and was appointed chaplain to James I., from whom he received the deanery of Gloucester; and in the following year succeeded to the deanery of Winchester. He was a great benefactor to Winchester Cathedral. He was elected Bishop of Chester May 22nd, 1616, and was consecrated at Lambeth July 7th. With this see he held the rectory of Stockport, and diligently applied himself to reconcile popish recusants and scrupulous non-conformists to the church; and his success was noticed in the royal declaration in 1618. He was translated to Lichfield and Coventry March 6th, 1618, and advanced to Durham June 29th, 1632. He died at the house of Sir Henry Yelverton, Bart., at Easton Mauduit, Northamptonshire, September 23rd, 1659, aged 95 years, unmarried, and was buried in the parish church there, with a long epitaph recounting his preferments and sufferings. He endured, with much resignation, hardships, confiscation, and imprisonment. Clarendon mentions Bishop Moreton as being one of the “less formal and more popular prelates.”

John Bridgeman, D.D., the successor of Moreton, was educated at Cambridge, and elected Fellow of Magdalen College, of which he was afterwards chosen master, and appointed chaplain to James I. He was also prebendary of Lichfield and Peterborough. He was consecrated Bishop of Chester 9th May, 1619, at Lambeth, the revenues of the sees amounting at that time to £420 per annum. In 1621 he became rector of Bangor-Iscoed, in Flintshire. He held his see until episcopacy was suspended under the commonwealth; and on the 15th December, 1650, his palace, with all the furniture, was sold by the republicans for £1059. He died at his son’s house at Moreton, and was buried at Kinnersley church, in Shropshire, about the year 1658. Bishop Bridgeman maintained annually at his own expense, hopeful young men at the University, and preferred some to ecclesiastical honours, who afterwards assisted to deprive him of his mitre. He was father of Sir Orlando Bridgeman, created Baronet June 7th, 1660, who was successively Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer, Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, and Lord Keeper of the Great Seal. He was also the direct ancestor of the present Earl of Bradford.

Brian Walton, D.D., a native of Cleveland, in the north riding of Yorkshire, born in the year 1600, admitted of Magdalen College, Cambridge, as a sizer, and removed thence to St. Peter’s College in 1616. He graduated M.A. in 1623, and D.D. in 1639, being then a prebendary of St. Paul’s, and chaplain to Charles I. His persecutions and losses during the great rebellion having driven him into retirement, he projected his great work, the Polyglot Bible, an imperishable monument of his learning and industry, which was first printed at London in six folio volumes in 1657. On presenting this work to Charles II. at the restoration, he was made chaplain to the king, and consecrated Bishop of Chester in Westminster Abbey, on the 2nd December, 1660. A. á Wood gives a minute and graphic description of the enthusiastic reception which the bishop met with when he went to take possession of this long desecrated see. The joy of the people on the national resuscitation of episcopacy was unbounded, and evinced itself by the most public and decided manifestations.—_Wood’s Athenæ_, _Vol._ 2, _p._ 731. He enjoyed his dignity for a short time only, and dying at his house in Aldersgate-street, London, on the 29th November, 1661, aged 62, was buried in St. Paul’s Cathedral.

Henry Ferne, D.D. was born at York, in 1642, he was chaplain to Charles I.; he was one of the king’s commissioners, along with Sheldon, Hammond, and others, to treat at Uxbridge, in matters relating to the Church. He was a personal favourite of the king, and suffered much for the royal cause; but at the Restoration, a succession of dignities and rewards were conferred upon him. He was consecrated Bishop of Chester, February 9th, 1661–2, and died five weeks afterwards, on March 16th, and was buried with great honour March 25th, 1662, aged 59 years, having never been at Chester. In 1642, he published his “Case of Conscience touching Rebellion,” being the first printed vindication of the royal cause.

George Hall, D.D. son of the pious and learned Joseph Hall, Bishop of Norwich, was entered of Exeter College, Oxford, in 1628, being then aged 16 years, elected Fellow of his college in 1632, collated to a Prebend in Exeter Cathedral, in 1639, and installed Archdeacon of Cornwall, October 8th, 1641. He was presented by his college to the vicarage of Menherriot, near Liskeard, but was deprived of his benefice, and prevented keeping a school for his subsistence, during the usurpation. At the Restoration, he became chaplain to the king, was appointed Canon of Windsor, and collated by Archbishop Juxon to the Archdeaconry of Canterbury in 1660, which latter dignity he held _in commendam_ with the see of Chester, of which he was consecrated bishop May 11th, 1662. About the same time he was presented to the rectory of Wigan, by Sir Orlando Bridgeman, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas. His death was occasioned by a wound he received from a knife which happened to be in his pocket, as he accidentally fell from a terrace in the rectory gardens at Wigan, on the 23rd August, 1668, aged 55 years. He was buried in the rector’s chancel, within Wigan church, where a marble monument was erected to his memory, on which he is styled “Ecclesiæ Dei servus inutilis, sed cordatus.” He published several sermons, and a treatise against popery, with the singular title of “The Triumphs of Romans over Despised Protestancy. London, 1655.”

John Wilkins, D.D., was born in 1614; and in 1627 was entered of New Inn, Oxford, but removed to Magdalen Hall, where he graduated. On the breaking out of the rebellion he took the covenant; and in 1648 was created B.D., and made warden of Wadham College by the Presbyterian Committee for the Reformation of the University. He afterwards subscribed to the engagement, and complied with the various changes of the times, though apparently steadily attached to the monarchy. About 1656, he married Robina, sister of Oliver Cromwell, by whom he had no issue; and in 1659 he was appointed master of Trinity College, Cambridge. On the restoration he took the required oaths, and was appointed Dean of Ripon, afterwards Dean of Exeter; and also preached to the Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn. Through the influence of George, Duke of Buckingham, he obtained the Bishopric of Chester, and was consecrated November 15th, 1668, holding with it the rectory of Wigan. He died at the house of Dr. Tillotson, who had married his daughter-in-law, on November 19th, 1672, and was buried in the church of St. Lawrence, Jewry, London. He was one of the founders of the Royal Society, to which he bequeathed £400, and a pious, learned, and scientific man. Calamy says “many ministers were brought in by Bishop Wilkins’ soft interpretation of the terms of conformity.” “He was no great read man,” says Aubrey, “but one of much and deepe thinkeing, and of a working head, and a prudent man as well as ingeniose. He was a lustie, strong growne, well sett, broad shouldered person; cheerful and hospitable. He was extremely well beloved in his diocese.” Bishop Wilkins wrote several curious and learned works, which are now scarce and of considerable value.

John Pearson, D.D., F.R.S., born at Snoring (or Creake), in Norfolk, February 12th, 1612, educated at Eton, admitted of King’s College, Cambridge, B.A. 1635, M.A. 1639, and shortly afterwards Prebendary of Sarum. During the civil war he was chaplain to Lord Goring, and afterwards in the same capacity in the family of Sir Robert Cook in London. In 1650, he was minister of St. Clement’s, Eastcheap, London, at which Church, he preached his incomparable lectures on the Creed, and afterwards published them, as he states in the dedication to his parishioners, at their request. At the Restoration, he was nominated one of the king’s chaplains, installed Prebendary of Ely, September 22nd, 1660, and on the 26th of the same month and year, appointed Archdeacon of Surrey, and admitted Master of Trinity College, on the 14th April, 1662. Elected F.R.S. 1667.

This great and learned man was consecrated Bishop of Chester, February 9th, 1672–3. He died July 16th, 1686, and was buried in his own Cathedral without any memorial. Burnet says he was in all respects the greatest divine of the age; a man of great learning, strong reason, and a clear judgment. He was a judicious and grave preacher, more instructive than affective, and a man of a spotless life, and of an excellent temper. He was not active in his diocese, but too remiss and easy in his episcopal functions, and was a much better divine than a Bishop. He was a speaking instance of what a great man may fall to, for his memory went from him so entirely that he became a child some years before he died.—_Hist. Own Times_, _Vol._ 3, _p._ 109–10.

Bishop Pearson has achieved for himself a splendid fame by his able work on the Creed, which will long perpetuate his memory.

Thomas Cartwright, D.D. son of a schoolmaster of the same name, was born at Southampton, 1st Sept. 1634, and was educated by presbyterian parents. He was admitted of Magdalen college, Oxford, but removed to Queen’s college by the parliamentary visitors in 1649; he afterwards became chaplain of his college and vicar of Walthamstow, in Essex, and in 1659, preacher at St. Mary Magdelene’s, in Fish-street, and an active promoter of the popular faction. At the Restoration, he turned round and distinguished himself by his extravagant zeal for the royal cause. He had many valuable preferments bestowed upon him, and was created D.D. although not standing for it. In 1672, being chaplain to the king, he was installed Prebendary of Durham, and in 1675, nominated Dean of Ripon, and was consecrated, October 17th, 1686, Bishop of Chester, “not by constraint but willingly.” James the Second found him a ready and expert agent, and appointed him one of the three commissioners to eject the President and Fellows of Magdelen college, Oxford, for nobly resisting the king’s arbitrary attempts to restore popery. Cartwright being an unpopular man, found it necessary to leave the kingdom on the arrival of the Prince of Orange in 1688. He escaped in disguise, and joined James II. at St. Germains, whom he shortly afterwards accompanied to Ireland, where, being seized with a dysentery, he died on the 15th April, 1689, aged 54, and was buried the next night by the Bishop of Meath, in the choir of Christ Church, Dublin. He died in communion with the Church of England, although attempts were made by the Romanists, in his last moments, to shake his creed, which his previous inconsistency and constant intercourse with the agents of the Church of Rome had rendered questionable. His diary, from August 1686, to October 1687, has been edited for the Camden Society by Mr. Hunter, and will increase the unfavourable estimate which posterity has formed of the vacillating principles of this unhappy prelate; although there still appears to be insufficient evidence to conclude with Ormerod that the bishop, on his death-bed, expressed his faith in equivocal terms, leaving it doubtful whether he died in communion of the protestant or popish churches; for even Burnet, who says he was “one of the worst of men,” adds, “bad as he was, he never made that step, even in the most desperate state of his affairs;” and Antony á Wood rescues him from a similar charge.

Nicholas Stratford, D.D., was consecrated Bishop of Chester at Fulham, on 15th September, 1689. He was a firm supporter of the polity and principles of the English Church, and was esteemed a learned and primitive ecclesiastic. It is recorded of him that he never admonished or reproved others, but in the spirit of meekness and conciliation, a testimony which appears sufficiently confirmed by the christian tone which pervades his “Dissuasion against Revenge,” which he addressed to the conflicting parties in Manchester on leaving that parish. He was appointed one of the governors of the bounty of the Queen Anne in the first charter. He died February 12th, 1706–7, aged 74, and was buried in his own cathedral, his whole diocese witnessing that in simplicity and godly sincerity he had had his conversation in the world; he was charitable and benevolent, humble and devout. Chester Blue Coat Hospital was founded by this excellent bishop, and the Infirmary was founded by his son, who bequeathed £300 to the charity.

Sir William Dawes, Bart., D.D., was appointed Dean of Bocking by Dr. Tenison, Archbishop of Canterbury, and about 1697 was nominated chaplain to King William III., whose favour he secured by a sermon he preached on the 5th November. Being disappointed of the Bishopric of Lincoln in 1705, the queen nominated him without application to that of Chester, and on the 8th February 1707, he was consecrated. He was very bountiful to the poor clergy of the diocese, and augmented several small livings. In 1714 he was translated to York; Archbishop Sharpe, who died at Bath February 2nd, 1713–14, having obtained a promise from Queen Anne that Sir William Dawes should be his successor, because his grace thought that he would be diligent in executing the duties of his laborious office.

Francis Gastrell, D.D., was consecrated Bishop of Chester in 1714, a learned and pious man, who laboured with untiring energy, and whose episcopate was characterized by great benevolence, prudence, and wisdom. He compiled a most valuable MSS. concerning the benefices of the diocese, entitled “Notitia Cestriensis,” which is considered “the noblest document extant on the subject of the ecclesiastical antiquities of the diocese.” He is also the author of a very useful work, entitled “The Christian Institutes.” He died November 24th, 1725.

Samuel Peploe, S.T.P., was appointed to the see of Chester April 12th, 1726. He died February 21st, 1752, was buried in the cathedral near the altar, where a monument was erected to his memory.

Dr. Edmund Keene, master of St. Peter’s, Cambridge, and rector of Stanhope, succeeded Peploe, and held the rectory of Stanhope in commendam. He was consecrated March 22nd, 1752. The present episcopal palace was re-built by him out of his own fortune, at an expense of £2,200. On his installation to the see of Ely in 1771—

William Markham, LL.D., Dean of Christ Church, Oxford, was elected Bishop January 26th. Shortly afterwards he was appointed preceptor to the Prince of Wales, and the Duke of York. From this See in 1776, he was translated to the Archbishopric of York. He died in his 89th year, universally beloved, and was buried in the cloisters of Westminster Abbey.

Beilby Porteus, D.D., was born at York, May 8th, 1731, of American parents, and was the youngest but one of nineteen children. He received his early education at York and Ripon, and was afterwards admitted a sizer of Christ’s College, Cambridge, in which University his merits and abilities soon became distinguished, and were made more generally known by his excellent poem on “Death,” which received the Seatonian Prize. In 1769, he was made chaplain to His Majesty, and December 31st, 1776, was promoted to the Bishopric of Chester, from whence he was translated to London in 1787, on the demise of Dr. Louth, and died on the 14th May, 1808, in the 78th year of his age. In 1772, he joined with some other clergymen in an unsuccessful endeavour to obtain an amendment of some portions of the Prayer Book. In 1769, he gave his support to a measure for enlarging the liberties of protestant dissenters, and in 1781 opposed an effort “to lay such restrictions on the catholics as would prevent their increase.” He felt a deep interest in the cause of the slave, and made strenuous efforts to improve the condition of the negroes of the West Indies. Among other charitable benefactions, he transferred in his lifetime nearly £7000 stock to the Archdeaconries of the diocese of London, as a permanent fund for the relief of the poorer clergy of that diocese; and he also established three annual gold medals at Christ’s College, Cambridge, and by his will bequeathed his library to his successors in the See of London, with a liberal sum towards erecting a building for its reception in the episcopal palace at Fulham. This learned and pious prelate wrote several works, which are highly esteemed. At his own request, the inscription on his tomb simply records the dates of his birth and death. {49} He was succeeded by—

William Cleaver, D.D., who was advanced to the See of Chester through the interest of his former pupil, the Marquis of Buckingham, whom he had attended as chaplain when Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. He was consecrated Bishop, January 20th, 1788, and was translated to Bangor in 1799, and from thence, on the death of Bishop Horsley in 1806, to the diocese of St. Asaph, over which he continued to preside until his death, which took place May 15th, 1815.

Henry William Majendie, D.D., canon of St. Paul’s, was nominated in the place of Bishop Cleaver, May 24th, and consecrated June 14th, 1800, translated in 1810, to the See of Bangor.

Bowyer Edward Sparke, D.D., Dean of Bristol, was consecrated January 21st, 1810, and translated to the See of Ely in 1812.

George Henry Law, Prebendary of Carlisle, was consecrated Bishop of Chester, July 5th, 1812, and translated to the See of Bath and Wells in the year 1824. Bishop Law was a fine scholar, and a most able divine.

Charles James Blomfield, D.D., the present learned Bishop of London, was consecrated to the See of Chester in 1824. He was Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, in which University his great talents and lofty erudition secured for him high academical honours. Upon his translation to the See of London in 1828 {50a} he was succeeded by—

John Bird Sumner, D.D., who has been as labouring in the use of his pen, as he was faithful and assiduous in the fulfilment of his episcopal duties. His voluminous writings have achieved for him great fame as an able and eloquent divine. His prize essay, entitled “The Records of Creation,” is a wonderful display of learning and reasoning power, and will doubtless long perpetuate his brilliant reputation. His piety, earnest zeal, and affable bearing, during the period he held the Episcopate of Chester, secured the affection of all classes. He was universally beloved. After having occupied the See of Chester for twenty years, he was in 1848 appointed Archbishop of Canterbury.

John Graham, D.D., was consecrated Bishop of this Diocese in 1848, and is at present, with pious earnestness and diligence, fulfilling the duties of his high office.

When Henry the Eighth dissolved the monastery of St. Werburgh and erected it into a Cathedral Church, he founded a Deanery, two Archdeaconries, and six Prebendaries. Under this new _regime_, John Clarke, the last Abbot of the monastery, was appointed first Dean. His successor was Henry Mann, who was, in 1546, consecrated Bishop of the Isle of Man. He was succeeded by William Cliff, L.L.D. in 1547; Richard Walker in 1558; John Peers in 1567; Richd. Langworth in 1571; Robert Dorset in 1579; Thomas Modesley in 1580; John Rutter in 1589; William Barlow in 1602; Henry Parry in 1605, who was afterwards made Bishop of Rochester, from which he was successively translated to Gloucester and Worcester; he was succeeded by Thomas Mallory in 1606, who held his appointment 38 years; he died at Chester, April 3rd, 1644, and was buried in the choir of the Cathedral.

William Nicols, installed April 12th, 1644. His successor, after a vacancy of about 2 years, was Henry Bridgman, presented July 13th, 1660, he was consecrated Bishop of the Isle of Man, with leave to hold the Deanery, _in commendam_. He died in Chester, May 15th, 1682, and was buried in the Cathedral, without any memorial. Leycester says, “he hath beautified and repaired the Deans’ house in the Abbey court very much.”

He was succeeded by James Arderne in 1682; he died August 18th, 1691, and was buried in the choir of the Cathedral, with the following memorial on one of the pillars:—“Near this place lies the body of Dr. James Arderne, of this County, a while Dean of this Church, who though he bore more than a common affection to his private relations, yet gave the substance of his bequeathable estate to this Cathedral, which gift, his will was, should be mentioned, that clergymen may consider whether it be not a sort of sacrilege to sweep all away from the church and charity, into the possession of their lay kindred, who are not needy. Dat. Oct. 27th, 1688. This plain monument with the above inscription, upon this cheap stone, is according to the express words of Dean Arderne’s will.” His successor was Lawrence Fogg, in 1691. His first preferment was the Rectory of Hawarden, in Flintshire, from which he was ejected for non-conformity. Subsequently, conforming, he was presented to the vicarage of St. Oswald’s, by the Dean and Chapter, in 1672: he was buried in the chapel of the Cathedral, and a monument was erected to his memory. Walter Offley was installed in 1718. Thomas Allen in 1721. Thomas Brooke in 1733. William Smith in 1758. This learned divine was presented by the Earl of Derby to the Rectory of Trinity, Chester, in 1735. In 1753 he was nominated one of the Ministers of St. George’s Church, Liverpool, by the corporation. In 1766, he was instituted to the Rectory of Handley, Cheshire, by the Chapter of the Cathedral, and in the following year he resigned the Chaplainship of St. George’s Church, on which occasion the corporation of Liverpool presented him with 150 guineas, “for his eminent and good services in the said church.” He died January 8th, 1787, in the 76th year of his age, and was buried on the south side of the communion table in the cathedral. An elegant monument was erected to his memory by his widow, with an inscription, reciting his merits as a christian, a scholar, and a preacher.

Dr. Smith was worthily distinguished for his learning. He was an eminent scholar, a sound divine, and a good poet. His elegant translations of the Greek classics were held in great repute, and have been several times reprinted. He was succeeded by George Cotton, who was installed February 10th, 1787. Hugh Cholmondley was appointed in 1806.

In this worthy Dean the poor had a generous benefactor, while the active interest he took in every object which proposed the good of the city, rendered him beloved by all. He was most laborious in his attention to the duties of his office, and many important restorations were effected in the cathedral by him. He was succeeded by Robert Hodgson, D.D., in 1816. Dr. Vaughan was appointed as his successor in 1820, who was succeeded by Edward Coppleston, D.D., afterwards promoted to the Bishopric of Llandaff, who erected the screen which separates the church of St. Oswald, from the south side of the cathedral, at an expense of £600. Henry Philpotts, D.D., was appointed Dean in 1828, and on his promotion to the Bishopric of Exeter, in 1831, was succeeded by Dr. Davys, the well known author of “Village Conversations on the Liturgy,” “History of England for Children,” &c.

On his promotion to the See of Peterborough in 1839, the Rev. F. Anson, D.D., was appointed Dean of Chester, to whose unremitting zeal, directed by sound judgment and refined taste, we are indebted for the important improvements which have been effected in the cathedral since his appointment. Through his indefatigable energy, the noble edifice has been greatly beautified; and many essential alterations have been introduced in the choral service and architectural arrangements, which have added very much to its decoration and general effect.

During the siege of Chester by the republican army, the cathedral was very much damaged by those heroic but unscrupulous men. Notwithstanding that one of the articles of surrender was to the effect that “no church within the city, or evidence or writings, belonging to the same shall be defaced,” in the face of this solemn engagement, they wantonly defaced the cathedral choir, injured the organ, broke nearly all the painted glass, and removed the fonts from the churches. Although the parliamentary forces were cemented by their renowned leader, chiefly by religious enthusiasm, and all their extraordinary movements directed and sustained mainly by that feeling; it nevertheless did not restrain them from committing violent outrages on the churches of the land. Religious impulse banded them together, and impressed a singular unity on all their movements. The memorable counsel of Cromwell to his men will be remembered,—“put your trust in the Lord, and keep your powder dry;”—to them the counsel was opportune, and met with a deep response; but they respected but little the dictates of conscience and the christian associations of others, whose religious views and modes of worship differed from their own. Whatever judgment may be entertained respecting their political course, and the issues in which it resulted, we apprehend that the acts of violence they perpetrated on the sacred edifices which others frequented and revered, as the places of their holy service, cannot be justified on any principle.

In 1683 the cathedral was again wantonly damaged by a reckless mob, instigated by the ambitious Duke of Monmouth. The Cowper MSS. gives us the following detail of the disgraceful outrages which unhappily they succeeded in perpetrating.

“In the middle of August, James, Duke of Monmouth, came to Chester,
greatly affecting popularity, and giving countenance to riotous
assemblies and tumultuous mobs, whose violence was such as to pelt
with stones the windows of several gentlemen’s houses in the city,
and otherwise to damage the same. They likewise furiously forced the
doors of the cathedral church and destroyed most of the painted
glass, burst open the little vestries and cupboards, wherein were the
surplices and hoods belonging to the clergy, which they rent to rags,
and carried away; they beat to pieces the baptismal font, pulled down
some monuments, attempted to demolish the organ, and committed other
enormous outrages.”

It now remains for us to give a description of this venerable religious edifice. Although in its general external appearance, it may not present the prepossessing attractions which appertain to some other cathedral churches, it nevertheless has a history of peculiar interest; and in its architectural delineations is well worthy of the study of the ecclesiologist and the antiquary. From whatever side the cathedral is viewed, it presents the appearance of a massive pile, and exhibits a pleasing variety of styles in accordance with the taste of different ages; some parts decorated with elaborate workmanship, while others are perfectly simple and unadorned. The principal parts now standing are not, perhaps, older than the 14th and 15th century, when the richly ornamented style of Gothic architecture was at its zenith in this country. Its general character may be termed the perpendicular. It has been generally supposed that there are some remaining specimens of the Saxon, and Lysons favours the theory; but Mr. Asphitel, in an interesting and able lecture, delivered before the Archæological Society, stated that he could not, from the most minute research, discover any portions of the Saxon church. He considered it probable there might be some portions in the foundations, but none, in his opinion, were visible.

The west front is said to have been the work of Abbot Ripley, who was appointed to the abbacy in 1485. It is now in an unfinished state, and it would seem that there was an intention to form two western towers. The foundation of them was laid with much ceremony by Abbot Birchenshaw, in 1508, the Mayor being then present: but the project was most likely abandoned for want of funds. “Had the original design been executed,” says Winkle, “it would not have been very imposing. The effect of it, as it now appears, is much injured by a building which is connected with it, and shuts out one of the turrets which flank on either side the west wall of the nave. The original intention seems to have been the usual one, viz., a square tower on each side of the west end of the nave. The foundations of that on the north side still exist, the site of that on the south is now occupied by a building called the consistory court, once perhaps a chapel, in the west wall of which is a pointed window of four lights, with perpendicular tracery, and flowing crocketted canopy with rich finial; above the window is a belt of pannelled tracery, and on each side of it is a niche with overhanging canopies, adorned with pendants and pinnacles, and resting on good brackets. The statues are gone. The parapet of this building is quite plain. The west entrance is a singular and beautiful composition. The door itself is a Tudor arch, inclosed within a square head, the spandrils are filled with rich and elegant foliations, the hollow moulding along the top is deep and broad, and filled with a row of angels half-lengths; all this is deeply recessed within another Tudor arch, under another square head, with plain spandrils of ordinary panelling. On each side of the door are four niches, with their usual accompaniments of crocketted canopies, pinnacles, and pendants, and instead of brackets, the statues stood on pedestals with good bases and capitals. Above this entrance is the great west window of the nave, deeply and richly recessed; it is of eight lights, with elaborate tracery, of some breadth just below the spring of the arch, and above this some simple tracery of the kind most common to the latest age of the pointed style. The arch of the window is much depressed, and has above it a flowing crocketted canopy, the gable has no parapet, but is finished off with a simple coping. The flanking turrets before-mentioned are octagonal, and have belts of panelled tracery and embattled parapets.

“Leaving the west front, and turning to the south, a rich and deep
porch presents itself behind the consistory court. The south face of
that court is very similar, in all respects, to the west, already
described. The porch is flanked by buttresses which once had
pinnacles. The entrance is under a Tudor arch, within a square head,
the spandrils richly panelled, over the square head is a broad belt
of quatrefoil panelling, above that a hollow moulding adorned with
the Tudor flower. Above this are two flat-headed windows, of two
lights each, with a deep niche between them, resting on a projecting
bracket, the statue of course is gone, but the projecting and richly
decorated canopy remains, on both sides of which the wall above is
adorned with two rows of panelling, the open embattled parapet which
once crowned the whole has disappeared. The south side of the nave
and its aisle is plain, but not without dignity; the windows are all
pointed and of perpendicular character; those of the aisle have
straight canopies, with projecting buttresses between, which still
have niches, and once had both pinnacles and statues. The aisle has
no parapet. The windows of the clerestory are unusually large and
lofty, and their canopies are flowing in form, but perfectly plain,
and without finials, they have no buttresses between them, and the
parapet is very shallow and quite plain.

“The next feature of this cathedral, which is now to be described in
due order, is a very singular one, and indeed unique, viz., the south
wing of the transept. It is no uncommon case to find the two
portions of the transept unlike each other in some respects; but in
no other instance are they so perfectly dissimilar as at Chester.
Here, the south wing is nearly as long as the nave, and of equal
length with the choir, and considerably broader than either, having,
like them, aisles on both sides; while the north, which probably
stands upon the original foundations, has no aisles, is very short,
and only just the breadth of one side of the central tower. The east
and west faces of this south portion of the transept are nearly
similar. The aisles have no parapet; the windows are pointed, of
four lights each, with late decorated tracery and small intervening
buttresses. The clerestory has a parapet similar to that of the
nave; the windows are pointed, large, and lofty, with perpendicular
tracery, and two transoms. The south front of this transept, flat at
top, is flanked with square embattled turrets and buttresses, and has
a large window of the perpendicular age filling up nearly all the
space between them. The south face of the aisles on each side have
pointed windows, similar to those already described, and sloping tops
without parapet, but flanked by double buttresses at the external
angles, without pinnacles.

“The south face of the choir, with its aisle, is in nearly all
respects similar to the south portion of the transept; but the aisle
is lengthened out beyond the choir, and becomes the side aisle of the
Lady Chapel, and has an octangular turret near the east end, with
embattled parapet, and beyond it a plain heavy clumsy buttress: the
sloping parapet of the east face of this aisle meets at the top the
flat plain parapet of the most eastern compartment of the Lady Chapel
which projects beyond the aisle, to that extent. The windows of the
Lady Chapel are all pointed, and of good perpendicular character; the
projecting portion has double buttresses at the external angles, and
the eastern face has a low gable point. This chapel is very little
higher than the side aisles of the choir, the east face of which is
seen over it, with a large lofty pointed window, with perpendicular
tracery and several transoms, flanked with octagonal turrets,
engaged, and terminated with something like domes of Elizabethan
architecture. The parapet of this east face of the choir is flat.
The north side of Lady Chapel is similar to the south; the choir and
its aisles exhibit features of early English character on this side,
but the chapter-room conceals a considerable portion of it, which is
a small building of an oblong form, and also of early English
architecture. Over its vestibule and the arched passage leading into
the east walk of the cloister, is seen the large window in the north
front of the transept; the arch is much depressed, the tracery very
common and plain, and it has two transoms; the walls of this wing of
the transept are very plain, flat at top, and no parapet. The whole
north side of the nave can be seen only from the cloister-yard. The
south walk of the cloister is gone, and in the wall of the aisle,
below the windows, are still seen several enriched semicircular
arches resting on short cylindrical columns, evidently belonging to
the original church of Hugh Lupus. The windows of the aisle are
Tudor arched, with the ordinary tracery of this period; but, owing to
the cloister once existing beneath, are necessarily curtailed of half
their due length: there is a thin flat buttress between each; the
aisle has no parapet. The clerestory is lofty, and the windows
pointed, and not so much depressed as those in the aisle beneath:
they are not so lofty as those in the south side, nor have they any
canopies. There is a thin buttress between each, without pinnacles,
and the parapet is quite plain, but not so shallow as that on the
south side.

“The central tower is perhaps the best external feature of this
cathedral, it is indeed only of one story above the roof ridge, but
it is loftier than such towers usually are; in each face of it are
two pointed windows, divided down the middle with a single mullion,
with a quatrefoil at the top, and all of them have flowing crocketted
canopies with finials. At each of the four angles of the tower is an
octagonal turret engaged, all of which like the tower itself, are
terminated with an embattled parapet.”