A HISTORY OF NORFOLK Bishop Lloyd had been associated with Bishop Ken in 1685 in an effort to bring about greater vigilance in the admission of candidates to holy orders.^ He was an excellent preacher, and during the short time of his occupancy of Norwich he won the confidence and affection of his diocese in a remarkable degree.' There were more non-jurors in his diocese than in any other except London, and the reason seems simply to have been the influence of the bishop and the respect he inspired. After declining to take the oaths, although he was suspended from the performance of his ecclesiastical functions, he was not formally deprived until i February, 1690-1, when the king at last decided to fill up the sees which had been kept vacant for some time in the hope that the late non-juring holders might be won over. Dr. Sharp, then dean of St. Paul's and previously dean of Norwich, had the choice of two or three bishoprics offered him, and among them Norwich, which he refused, declaring that he could not think of taking the place of the bishop, with whom he had lived on terms of great friendship,' and it was accepted by Bishop Moore, who was consecrated 5 July, 1691. It was not till i January, 1709, that Bishop Lloyd died, and in February, 169 1-2, Archbishop Sancroft had delegated to him all his archiepiscopal powers in a formal document, dated at Fressingfield. This commission was never approved by Ken, and for a time brought the two bishops into opposition. But even those who did not entirely approve of Bishop Lloyd declare that he filled his difficult and delicate position judi- ciously. Dr. White Kennett speaks of ' the prudence and piety with which he managed matters, so as not thereby to give any umbrage to the government,' * and Dr. Doyley also testifies to his prudence and caution. ° One action of his at this time has been the subject of much discussion and criticism ; that of consecrating two new bishops, with Bishops Turner and White, 24 February, 1694, in spite of the strong objections of Bishops Ken and Frampton. These were Hickes, dean of Worcester, and Wagstaffe, chancellor of Lichfield, who took for titles two of those allowed by the Act of Henry VIII for suffragan bishops, Hickes being appointed bishop of Thetford, and Wagstaffe of Ipswich. They never seem to have claimed any territorial jurisdiction, but Hickes, a man of true piety and great learning, was a born fighter, and wrote continually with vigour and bitterness to widen the breach and aggravate the separation. Among the non-juring clergy of Norfolk who were deprived* were two chaplains of the bishop, Richard Tisdale, rector of Felthorpe and Trostrey, and Richard Kipping, rector of Fakenham. A canon of Norwich, Francis Roper, fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge, pre- bendary of Ely, and rector of Northwold ; two petty canons, Gawen Nash, vicar of Melton, and John Shaw, vicar of Carleton ; Henry Day, rector of Hunstanton ; John Gibbes, rector of Gissing ; Thomas Wright, vicar of Wymondham and fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge ; John Owen, rector of Tuddenham ; John Pitts, rector of St. Lawrence, and Thomas Verdon, rector of Great Snoring and fellow of St. John's, Cambridge ; and Francis Wace, rector of Blakeney, were also among those who thus gave up ' Abbey, Eng/. Church and Bishops, i, 169. ' Life of Dr. Humphrey Pridcaux, Dean of Norwich, 73, ' Overton, The Non-Jurors, 27. * Brydge, Restitua, , :,-]■].
- Life of Bancroft, ii, 32. ' Overton, The Non-jurors, 471-96.
300
