PREFACE

то

THE SECOND EDITION.

IN offering to the public this second Irish Edition of Burnet's Lives, it is necessary to etate, that, in one particular instance, abbreviation has been adopted. The Sermon preached by Mr. Parsons on the death of the Earl of Rochester was interest, ing, only on account of the additional information which it afforded respecting that extraordinary man. Accordingly, the Biographical part alone is retained; and will be found subjoined to the Life, in the form of an Appendix.

It was at first a question, whether the Memoir respecting Sir Matthew Hale, by Richard Baxter, should be retained or rejected. The objection to its retention arose from its being so strongly marked with that spirit of non-conformity, which predominated in the mind, and gave law to the conduct, of its otherwise excellent, and justly cele brated author.

Retention was at length preferred; not only because the sketches of Hale, which Baxter has given, were immediately from the life, while Burnet depended solely on the information of others; but also, because some of the particulars which Baxter has recorded, may serve to throw useful light on a remarkable transaction in the life of Hale. This transaction, as related by Burnet, might, at first view, be thought to bear a favourable testimony to the cause of non-conformity.' Certain circumstances, stated, as far as we know, exclusively in Baxter's memoir, are peculiarly fitted to obviate any such conclusion.

The passage in Burnet's life of Hale, to which this observation alludes, is that in which the then Chief Baron is stated to have taken an active and zealous part, in obtaining such modifications, in the government and ceremonies of the national church, as might tend to satisfy the scruples of the more moderate non-conformists. In Burnet's account of this unsuccessful effort, though some of the grounds on which it was resisted are stated with fairness, the reader, on the whole, seems left to conclude, that the advocates for comprehension, as it was called, not only acted from motives of christian charity, (a point which no candid mind will dispute,) but were also guided by soundness of judgment, and enlarged views of religion. It must, however, be felt, that, if this were the fact, an inference might be made, reflecting discredit not only on the actual opponents of the measure, but on the national church itself; whose improvement

is thus supposed to have been obstructed, and, by consequence, its imperfection perpetuated.

In this view, it is of importance, that we should be able to judge with certainty, under what distinct considerations Hale engaged in this pursuit: whether the interest he took in the question was the result of impartial reason and penetrating sagacity; or whether, even this worthy and excellent person might not, on this particular occasion, have been influenced by some rooted prepossession: in a word, whether there was not some party bias, of which he himself might have scarcely been conscious, but from which all his strength of understanding, and depth of experience, might have been inadequate to set him at perfect liberty.

It is conceived that Baxter's memoir will be found amply sufficient to satisfy this inquiry.Among the particulars which it contains, there are some which put it beyond a doubt, that the otherwise liberal and enlightened Hale could not be wholly without bias on the questions in dispute; as it plainly appears, that his mind was, in a certain degree, influenced by puritanic prepossessions.

The evidences of this fact might, from their minuteness, have escaped observation, if they had not met the eye of one, whose own prejudices made him sharp-sighted in whatever was favourable to his cause; and who could not but desire to record the slightest sanction from so great a name. Seemingly trivial as the circumstances are, their significancy will be felt to admit of no dispute;

and had they been questionable, the intimacy between Hale and Baxter would have led to explanation.

The fact of such an intimacy has been expressly noticed by Burnet. "Hale," says he, "held great "conversation with Mr. Baxter, who was his neigh"bour at Acton, on whom he looked as a person "of great devotion and piety." Baxter observes farther, that the seat in which he himself sat in the church of Acton, was next to that of Judge Hale. This deserves to be noticed, because the symptoms of Hale's non-conforming tendency appeared in his behaviour at church; and Baxter's constant nearness made it impossible that he should misconstrue accidental movements into settled intention.

Baxter's words are, "His behaviour in the "church was conformable, but prudent. In com66 mon prayer he behaved himself as others, saving "that, to avoid the differencing of the Gospels "from the Epistles, and the bowing at the name "of Jesus, from the names Christ, Saviour, God, "&c. he would use some equality in his gestures, "and stand up at the reading of all God's words "alike."

It is

This statement requires no elucidation. obvious, that this worthy man was influenced, either by the scruples or the dislikes of non-conformity. He believed, either that the observances enjoined by the Church of England were in them. selves exceptionable; or, at least, that it was

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wrong to make them obligatory. Whichsoever of the two sentiments possessed the mind of Hale, his wish for indulgence to non-conformists is accounted for on other grounds, besides those of unbiassed reason and penetrating sagacity. He had a real, though limited fellow-feeling, with the party whose cause he was espousing; and, though his mind was too sound to admit of actual fetters on his conscience, the puritanic bias was sufficient to excite commisseration and engage exertion.

This tendency in Judge Hale may be reasonably explained by what Burnet has told us respecting his education. His tutor at Oxford was Obadiah Sedgwick, one of the most zealous puritans of that day; and, though Hale's habits while at College were, probably, in no respect in unison with those of Sedgwick, yet some evidence of personal attachment is shewn, in Hale's wish to commence that military career, to which the first ardour of his youth aspired, in company with Sedgwick, who had just then been appointed chaplain to the leader of a projected expedition. It was natural, therefore, that Hale, when afterwards entering deliberately on a strict course of conduct, should look back with respect on the stern virtue of his first instructor. It was most likely, that from this source, Hale had derived the seeds of that religious conscientiousness, which gained so early the ascendant in his character, and distinguished his whole subsequent life. Thus, perhaps, it was in the nature of things impossible, that the piety of Hale, however essentially pure and exemplary, should not have