buried, as it seems, amongst her own kin. He returned to London, and on Wednesday, 26th July, he preached on church reformation, satirizing the religious reformers, and maintaining that only the Supreme Power could initiate reforms. The storm which this sermon aroused in the metropolis, then well-nigh abandoned by the active royalists, brought about Fuller’s secret flight to Oxford, and the loss of all his preferments and property. He lived in a hired chamber at Lincoln College for 17 weeks. Thence he put forth a witty and effective reply to John Saltmarsh, who had attacked his views on ecclesiastical reform. Fuller subsequently published by royal request a fast sermon preached 10th May 1644, at St Mary’s, Oxford, before the king and Prince Charles, called Jacob’s Vow. In this discourse which, it is supposed, had relation to the king’s proposed restoration of the church lands, the preacher referred to some religious exercise then being observed every Tuesday by Charles I., all record of which has been omitted in the pages of history. The spirit of Fuller’s preaching, always characterized by calmness and moderation, gave offence to the high royalists, who charged him with lukewarmness in their cause. To silence unjust censures, he became chaplain to the regiment of the excellent Lord Hopton. For the first five years of the war, as he said, when excusing the non-appearance of his Church-History, “I had little list or leisure to write, fearing to be made a history, and shifting daily for my safety. All that time I could not live to study, who did only study to live.” After the defeat of Hopton at Cheriton Down, Fuller retreated to Basing House. He took an active part in its defence, and was once incited by the noise of the enemy’s artillery, which disturbed him at his books, to head a sally upon the trenches. His life with the troops caused him to be afterwards regarded as one of “the great cavalier parsons.” In his marches with his regiment round about Oxford and in the west, he devoted much time to the collection of details, from churches, old buildings, and the conversation of ancient gossips, for his Church-History and Worthies of England. His patriotism in the national crisis was evidenced in many ways. For the soldiers and the more religious of the royalist party he compiled, 1645, a small volume of prayers and meditations,—the Good Thoughts in Bad Times,—which, set up and printed in the besieged city of Exeter, whither he had retired, was called by himself “the first fruits of Exeter press.” It was inscribed to Lady Dalkeith, governess to the infant princess, Henrietta Anne, who was born at Exeter, 16th June 1644. Fuller was by the king placed in the household of the princess through the influence of Lady Dalkeith. In this city, as elsewhere, he attracted to himself a circle of friends. The corporation gave him the Bodleian lectureship, 21st March 1645–6, and he held it until 17th June following, soon after the surrender of the city to the Parliament. The Fear of losing the Old Light, 4to, 1646, was his farewell discourse to his Exeter friends. Under the Articles of Surrender Fuller made his composition with the Government at London, his “delinquency” being that he had been present in the king’s garrisons. In a characteristic petition to compound, dated 1st June 1646, he acquainted the committee that he was then lodging at “the Crown” in St Paul’s Church-yard (the sign of his bookseller, Williams); and the word Crown is written in large letters and designedly falls in the centre of the document, in which, moreover, there are traces of the disagreeable position in which he was placed. In a life of Andronicus, 1646, partly authentic and partly fictitious, he satirized the leaders of the Revolution; and more than one edition of this little book was called for. For the comfort of sufferers by the war he issued, 1647, a second devotional manual, entitled Good Thoughts in Worse Times, abounding, like its predecessor and its successor, in fervent aspirations, and drawing moral lessons in beautiful language out of the events of his life, or the circumstances of the time. In grief over his losses which included his library and manuscripts (his “upper and nether millstone”), and over the calamities of the country, he wrote his work on the Wounded Conscience, 1647. It was prepared at Boughton House in his native county, where, in a penniless, feeble, and exiled position, he and his little son were entertained by Edward Lord Mountagu, his patron, and where, as he says, he was restored to his former self. For the next few years of his life, Fuller was mainly dependent upon his dealings with booksellers, of whom he asserted that none had ever lost by him. Amongst other minor productions of his pen at this time he seems to have made considerable progress in an English translation of the Annales of his friend Archbishop Ussher from the MS. of that great work. Amongst his benefactors it is curious to find Sir John Danvers of Chelsea, afterwards the regicide. Under the countenance of citizens whose names are perpetuated in the dedications in his books, Fuller in 1647 began to preach at St Clement’s, East Cheap, and elsewhere, in the capacity of lecturer. While at St Clement’s he was suspended; but speedily recovering his freedom, he preached wherever he was invited. His connexion with the church named has recently been recognized by the erection of a fine memorial window in which, clad in a doctor’s gown, he stands holding in his hand his best gift to the universal church. At Chelsea, where also he occasionally officiated, he covertly preached a sermon on the death of Charles I.,—an event which he deeply deplored. Amongst Fuller’s noble patrons was the earl of Carlisle, who made him his chaplain, and presented him to the curacy of Waltham Abbey. To this kind patron he dedicated his history of that foundation; and on the title-page placed the words—
| “ | Patria est ubicunque est bene; |
| Bene vixit qui bene latuit.” |
