LIFE AND TIMES

OF

WILLIAM LAUD, D.D.

CHAPTER I.

1573-1603.

Birth of Laud-His family connections-Notices of themLaud's education-Sent to St. John's College, Oxford-Dr. John Buckeridge-Notice of him-Is Laud's tutor-Reputation of Laud-His conduct at the University-Admitted into Holy Orders-Bishop Young-Principles of Laud-Calvinism, its nature and tendency—Its unhappy influence in the Church of England-The Puritans-Conduct of Laud-Remarks.

WILLIAM LAUD was born on the 7th day of October, 1573', in the parish of St. Lawrence, Reading, a town of considerable importance in Berkshire, pleasantly situated on the river Kennet, and famous for its magnificent abbey, now in ruins, founded by Henry I. in 1126, and dedicated to St. James the Apostle. He was the only son of William Laud,

'Wood, Athen. edit. 1721, vol. ii. col. 55. Laud's Diary, p. 1. fol. edit. 1695.

' Dugdale's Monasticon Anglicanum, vol. i. folio, edit. 1682, p. 417. Lansdowne MSS. 721. "Abstract of the Lives of John Williams, Bishop of Lincoln, and Archbishop of York, and of William Laud, Bishop of London, and Archbishop of VOL. I.

B

by profession a clothier, and Lucy Webb, sister to Sir William Webb of the same county, of an ancient and respectable family, who filled the office of Lord Mayor of London in 1591'. His mother had been once married, previous to her marriage with his father: but of her first husband we know nothing, save his name and occupation. He was John Robinson, an eminent clothier and merchant in Reading, by whom she had several sons and daughters, all of them respectably connected in after life. A younger son entered into holy orders, and was Prebendary of Westminster and Archdeacon of Nottingham, and two of the daughters were married to clergymen of considerable reputation in the Church 2.

Though the man who was in future to rise to

Canterbury, written by Bishop Hacket and Dr. Heylin, who had been their Chaplains." It is there stated, "1573, William Laud was born at Reading, in Berkshire, his father a rich clothier, and his mother (widow to one Robinson, a clothier, by whom she had children) a sister to Sir William Webb, Lord Mayor of London in 1591. So he was not born of poor and obscure parents, e faece plebis, as many said." Sir William Webb, it appears, was a salter. Fuller's Church History, book xi. p. 246.

1

Laud's maternal relatives were natives of Reading. His mother was a daughter of John Webb, of whom we know nothing. John Webb was father of Sir William Webb. Wood. Athen. Oxon. by Dr. Bliss, vol. iii. col. 117. Fuller's English Worthies, folio, edit. 1662, p. 98.

2 Dr. Cotsford and Dr. Layfield. Cyprianus Anglicus, or Life of Archbishop Laud, by his chaplain, Dr. Peter Heylin, fol. 1671, p. 42.

the highest ecclesiastical station in the Church, and to be alike distinguished for his munificence, his learning, and his genius, could not boast of noble birth or splendid alliance, yet his parents, while engaged in trade, were respectable in their station, and possessed of considerable wealth'. His father was most extensively engaged in manufactures, and we are informed that he kept "not only many looms in his house, but many weavers, spinners, and fullers; living in good esteem and reputation among his neighbours to the very last 2." Of Laud's plebeian birth, however, his enemies afterwards took advantage, with that illiberality which is characteristic of little minds. When his actions were exhibited to his disadvantage by those whose extravagant pretensions he restrained, it was not

I may here notice the puerile and false assertions of the Puritans. Neal (History of the Puritans, vol. ii. p. 156.) says, that he was educated at St. John's College, Oxford, upon the charitable donation of Mr. White, Founder of Merchant Tailors' School." There is here a contemptuous way of talking of Sir T. White's scholarships, which marks the disposition of the party besides, Laud was one year at College on his own expences, before he received the scholarship, an appointment so honourable to his promising talents. That violent fanatic, Prynne, also tells us, that he was born of "poor and obscure parents in a cottage," and in July, 1589, "he came a poor scholar to Oxford." Such were the low and scurrilous falsehoods retailed by the Puritans. Prynne's Breviat of the Life of Laud, folio, London, 1644, p. 1.

2

Heylin, ut sup. p. 42. Laud's father died on the 11th of April, 1594, and his mother on the 24th of November, 1600. Lansdowne MSS. 721.

Diary, folio, ut sup. p. 1, 2.

forgotten, that he who was then primate of all England was comparatively of humble origin; nor were those furious zealots satisfied with stating that he was the son of a respectable and wealthy tradesman, and abiding by the naked truth, but falsehoods were busily circulated, and his enemies, delineating his character to their liking, broadly asserted that he was sprung from the very dregs of the people'.

1E faece plebis. Lord Brook, referred to by Heylin, who falsely asserted this not only of Laud, but of all the other Bishops. Republicanism, however, had then wrought its ferment, and the sectaries were rapidly advancing in their career of extravagance, rebellion, and blood. Lord Brook, however, ought to have been sparing of this insinuation on his part, inasmuch as he succeeded to the estate and honour in a very remote degree, his father, though a kinsman, being only keeper of Sir Fulk Greville's park. The ŝon afterwards succeeded to the estate, Sir Fulk Greville having never been married. (Vide Peerage of England, London edit. 8vo. 1710, p. 67, 68.) Dr. Heylin, who was the chaplain and confidential friend of Laud, introduces an anecdote of the Archbishop on this subject. He says that he once found him in his garden at Lambeth walking to and fro in remarkable agitation, and though he did not, through delicacy, inquire the reason, the primate shewed him a paper, on which was printed a vile libel, which he had stopped at the press, representing him with “ so base a parentage, as if he had been raked out of the dung-hill." He at the same time said, that "though he had not had the good fortune to be born a gentleman, yet he thanked God he had been born of honest parents, who lived in a plentiful condition, employed many poor people in their way, and left a good report behind them." As if ashamed, however, to have been impressed with those falsehoods which his sectarian enemies daily invented and retailed, and reflecting with satisfaction on the worth and respectability of his parents, his countenance resumed its wonted composure.

"And

They chose to forget, that, even had it been the case, the more worthy was he of that eminence to which he had attained, since the man who could exalt himself solely by his genius and merit, was to be held in much greater reverence than he who, boasting of his noble lineage, had no other recommendation. They forgot that it is a remarkable feature of that country, about whose liberty they clamoured so violently, that the highest offices are open to every Briton, and that he whose genius has secured for him a well-earned reputation, is every way as noble when he is exalted, as the offspring of fortune and ancestral fame. But, without enlarging on these inconsistences, I may here remark, that the coincidence between Laud's situation, and that of some of his predecessors in the Church, as well as of some of those who were his ecclesiastical contemporaries, is very remarkable. I need not go to the Church of Rome for examples, though abundant proofs could be adduced from its history, that the best and the most celebrated of the Popes and dignitaries were men of humble origin,

thereupon," says Heylin, "I told him as presently as I durst, that Pope Sixtus V. as stout a Pope as ever wore the triple crown, but a poor man's son, did use familiarly to say, in contempt of such libels as frequently were made against him, that he was domo natus illustri, because the sun-beams passing through the broken walls and ragged roof, illuminated or illustrated every corner of that homely cottage in which he was born: with which facetiousness of that Pope, so applicable to the present occasion, he seemed very well pleased." Heylin, ut sup. p. 43, 44.