for the entire invisibility of the Church, and the possi bility of her falling into error, the Puritans, with the regius professor among them-for that was his biaswould claim him for their own. If he argued contrariwise, they would be offended, and perhaps upbraid him with having an affection for Popery. He adopted, however, the latter argument, not from any love of Rome, with which he had no sympathy, but from clear, sound, orthodox convictions of apostolic truth. His argument therefore was, for the infallibility of the Church Catholic, and not of the Church of Rome; and thus, he did not aim to please a party, but simply to maintain sound doctrine. Perhaps he might have expected some heavy discharges of censure and contradiction from Dr. Prideaux and his particular school. If he did, he was not taken by surprise by the rough usage he received from the learned professor. He "fell foul upon Heylin," as Anthony Wood tells us, "calling him 'Bellarminian, Pontifician,' and what not; doing his best to beat Heylin from the ground he had rested on,-but Peter was not to be so easily frightened. He bravely fought the battle of orthodoxy against sectarianism; and though again and again on this present occasion assailed with reproaches of being a Papist, he set them all at defiance, knowing well the fallacy of such an imputation, and feeling, as he said, that God stood with him.'"

The storm continued in the university for several months. Many of the most influential among the Puritan party unceasingly attacked him, in open pulpit as well as in academical exercise; Heylin himself being occasionally an auditor of his own assailants, but he always, with great resolution, said that, although it much disturbed and perplexed his mind to be looked upon as friendly to Popery, yet he was but very little troubled by the opposition, which the puritanical preachers and declaimers had raised against his arguments on the academical questions. His fame, as a zealous, intelli

gent, and very able friend to the reformed and apostolical Church, was highly and honourably advanced by this display of his abilities at Oxford; and on being called upon to preach before the king, he very fitly took hold of the occasion, preaching on the text, John iv. 20, to set himself right under the imputation, which his enemies had so industriously cast upon him, of having an affection for the peculiar doctrines of the Church of Rome.

This honourable and honest desire was not a vain one. He more than ever proved himself a faithful and unmixed friend of the Church of England, equally unbiassed towards both Romish errors, and puritanical extremes. Such a man could not long be hid, or unnoticed by the supporters of orthodoxy. His reputation soon reached the ears of Laud, then Bishop of Bath and Wells, to whom, through the intervention of Danvers, Earl of Danby, he was personally introduced. From this introduction arose an intimacy, and an attachment between the two congenial spirits, which afterwards resulted in very peculiar advantages to each of them, as will be shown in the subsequent pages. Laud, as might be expected, would take much delight in an association. with one, who, to eminent learning and brilliant capacity, added a spirit so akin to his own, and sentiments on Church matters so clearly orthodox and apostolical. We therefore find Heylin, soon after this introduction, entering into animated discourse, with his new episcopal friend, on the subject of the late academical exercise at Oxford, together with the side which Heylin himself took, and the part which Dr. Prideaux and his party took against him. The arguments and grounds taken up by the young graduate were entirely approved by the bishop, who added that they were such as all the Prideauxs in the world could never upset in any fair way. "Don't be discouraged by noise and clamour," said Laud, "I was formerly" continued he, "assailed in the same way, and on a similar occasion, and after taking my

ground upon similar views, as yours; but I cared not for the clamour which arose against me, though Archbishop Abbot at that time was at the head of it. I quietly, but firmly, stood my ground, and at length overcame my assailants, as you by the same course, may also do it. Keep in the via media," continued Laud, “and by your judicious moderation, avoid the extremes of party, whether it proceed from Rome or Geneva, and thus you may employ yourself in making up the breaches in the walks of Christendom." No admonition could be more wise or judicious than this; for Heylin's temper was hot, and somewhat overbearing. He wanted forbearance and patience towards his opponents. Heylin now (in 1628) became chaplain to his friend Lord Danby, and accompanied him in that capacity to the isle of Guernsey, of which his lordship was then made governor. But the retirement and privacy of that position not well suiting the young chaplain's views, he soon returned to England, and threw together, in his leisure hours, a short but entertaining account of the island above-named, and his voyage to it. The subject was not one possessing much interest, and therefore to give it the more consequence he committed the MS. to his friend Laud, then Bishop of London, who shrunk not from bestowing his patronage upon it; though many years elapsed before it was really laid before the public eye. After this" he fell into a resolution to effect the history of St. George, patron of the most noble order of the garter." He had previously, through the interest of his friend Lord Danby, been appointed one of the king's chaplains. Through Laud, he was now personally introduced to the king, and was soon made to understand the high approbation with which his book had been received by his majesty. This chivalric history had not been a sinecure or off-hand work with Heylin. Very great researches into various

intricate documents had been bestowed upon it, whilst much public prejudice, especially from the Puritan school of religionists, which was extending its principles and influence very widely among the people, was already at work against it. In fact, the history of St. George cost Heylin the study and labour of many months. But the old, or at least the wholesome maxim at length prevailed with him, viz: “First toil, then victory." The toil indeed seems to have been not merely that of literary research and study, but the enduring and contending against the calumnies and assaults of sectarian enemies. However strengthening and encouraging might be the countenance of royal favour, and the patronage of many persons of high consideration, yet in the puritanical Archbishop of Canterbury, (Abbot,) and in the Earl of Exeter, (William Cecil,) Heylin, in regard to this book of his about St. George and the order of the garter, met with two formidable enemies. Abbot was never backward to thwart the labours of sound and strenuous Churchmen, and his opposition therefore it is not difficult to account for. Lord Exeter (the second earl) took also at first a very harsh and uncourteous part against Heylin on this occasion; the whole of his lordship's bitterness arising from the idea, that the author of "the life of St. George" was a bragging charlatan in literature, ("a begging scholar," as Lord Exeter called him,) whose only object was to beg his way to eminence and preferment by a display of his scholarship. But the noble calumniator was soon silenced; and not only silenced, but made also to be ashamed of his vituperation, by the sterling weight and worth of Heylin's literary acquirements, and the high patronage which, out of consideration for them, was now so deservedly growing upon him. His Puritan enemies were generally very determined against him, but in learning and in argument he was so greatly their superior, that in all

his encounters with them, they always had the worst of it.

There was a Dr. George Hakewill, who had undertaken to demolish all Heylin's arguments, and history too, about St. George and the garter knighthood. But unfortunately for this adversary, he dealt out his vituperations upon Heylin, with so unsparing a hand, attacking not merely the book itself, but the personal character of the author of it, in both his civil and religious capacity, that great interest about him was awakened in the breast of the king himself; and this led to a step, which resulted in still higher reputation for Heylin, as the author of the biography of St. George. The king commanded Heylin to repair to Windsor, for the purpose of searching more diligently into records concerning the order of the garter. These researches brought to light many additional facts and arguments, which served only to establish the more incontestably what Heylin had previously written on the subject. A fresh edition of his book was soon called for, Dr. Hakewill retracted his observations concerning the statements in the former edition, refrained from a repetition of his slanders, and thus helped to bring about the very purpose which at first he laboured so sedulously to discomfit. He threw oil upon the fire, when he thought he was throwing water; and of course the honour and reputation of Heylin's name, as an author, a scholar, and a divine, shone out with more brilliancy than before.

He still kept his position in the university of Oxford, as an able and learned divine, and about the same time, when at length he resigned his fellowship, (1630) he was appointed to preach on Act Sunday, at St. Mary's. On this occasion he again manifested not only an intrepid spirit, as a friend to the Church of England, but a most able competency as an advocate of her apostolical truth and order, and a vigilant guardian of her rights and con