No. 117.
ARCHBISHOP JUXON.By Vandyck.BORN 1582, DIED 1663.In Bishop’s robes.
ARCHBISHOP JUXON.By Vandyck.BORN 1582, DIED 1663.In Bishop’s robes.
ARCHBISHOP JUXON.
By Vandyck.
BORN 1582, DIED 1663.
In Bishop’s robes.
THE son of Richard Juxon of Chichester, in Sussex, where he was born. Educated at Merchant Taylors’ School, and in 1598 elected a Fellow of St. John’s, Oxford. Destined for the bar, he studied civil law at the University, and took his degree of B.C.L. in 1603, having already entered as student at Gray’s Inn.
He changed his mind, however, and read divinity with much diligence, took Orders, and was granted a living by his College,—St. Giles’s, Oxford; but he removed in 1614 to Somerton, in the same county. In the east window of this church is his paternal coat of arms.
He kept up his connection with the University, and was much esteemed by Laud, afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury. This remarkable man, destined to play so conspicuous a part in public life, was then President of St. John’s College, an office which he resigned in 1621, and it was chiefly owing to his exertions that Juxon was chosen to succeed him. In the same year Juxon became Doctor of Laws, and later on Vice-Chancellor of the University. Laud, who was first Bishop of Bath and Wells, and then of London, and high in favour with CharlesI., interested the King in Juxon’s preferment. He was appointed Chaplain-in-Ordinary to His Majesty,Dean of Worcester, and Prebendary of Chichester, and, at Laud’s particular request, Clerk of the Closet. This was in 1632, and Laud’s object in the choice was said to have been his ‘desire to have some one he could trust near the royal person, should he himself grow weak or infirm.’
New honours crowded on Dr. Juxon. He was elected to the Bishopric of Hereford in 1633, and made Dean of the King’s Chapel, but before consecration was translated to the See of London, Laud having become Primate of England. Laud, it seems, had made himself unpopular in the diocese with many of its members, but the mild and genial temper of the new Bishop gained him much respect and kindly feeling. The Archbishop of Canterbury desired above most things the aggrandisement of Churchmen, and their preferment to public offices of State, and for that aim he worked both for himself and his friend.
Dr. Juxon was, through his influence, raised to the office of Lord High Treasurer, a post which had not been filled by a Churchman since the reign of HenryVII., and this step was much cavilled at by the greater part of the nation, especially by many members of noble families who considered themselves (from their position at least) better fitted for the situation than a clergyman hitherto little known beyond the precincts of his College, and only two years in the possession of a mitre. Loud and angry were the invectives poured on the Government, but more particularly on the Primate,—the Puritans, Laud’s bitter enemies, being most violent on the occasion.
Juxon, in the meanwhile, by his wisdom and discretion, and the excellency of his administration, disarmed the anger of most of those who were so averse to his nomination, and, says Chalmers, ‘when the Republican party ransacked every office for causes of impeachment, sequestration, and death, they found nothing to object to in Bishop Juxon.’
In 1641 he was one of the few manly and generous-heartedEnglishmen who defended the cause of Strafford. On the passing of the bill of attainder, which he had strenuously opposed, the Lord High Treasurer resigned his office, and retired to his palace at Fulham, where he remained quietly for some time, unshaken in his loyalty to the King, and often visited by persons of distinction, many of whom consulted him and valued his advice. Charles paid him this tribute: ‘I will say, I never got his opinion freely in my life, but when I had it, I was ever the better for it.’
By consent of the Parliament, Juxon waited on the King at the treaty in the Isle of Wight, 1648, and by Charles’s particular desire, at Cotton House, in Westminster, in January of the following year, at the commencement of the trial.
He now never left the King, who found in this excellent Churchman the greatest comfort and support. He stood beside his royal master on the scaffold, and when the last moment was approaching, ‘There is, sir,’ he said, ‘but one stage more, which, though turbulent and troublesome, is still a very short one. It will soon carry you a great way: it will carry you from earth to heaven, and there you shall find, to your great joy, the prize to which you hasten—a crown of glory.’
‘I go,’ said Charles, ‘from a corruptible to an incorruptible crown, where no disturbance can be.’
‘You are exchanged,’ said Juxon, ‘from a temporal to an eternal crown—a good exchange.’
In taking his last leave of his faithful and devoted friend, Charles looked at him earnestly and said, ‘Remember!’ delivering at the same time his diamond George, to be given to his son.
The King’s last word brought down upon the Bishop the wrath and curiosity of the regicides. They insisted on knowing what it signified.
They insisted also on Juxon’s betraying the confidence ofhis Sovereign, by detailing all his last conversations. So far the Bishop answered, that the King had charged him to instil into his son’s mind the necessity of forgiving his murderers, and that the word ‘Remember’ had reference to this admonition; but this did not satisfy the suspicions of the inquirers. He accompanied the body to Windsor, where the cruelty of those in power forbade him to read the Funeral Service over the beloved remains. The Commonwealth deprived Juxon of his bishopric, and he retired to his private estate of Little Compton in Gloucestershire, where he remained for some time without molestation, occasionally indulging in the relaxation of field sports, to which he, in common with his Grace the Archbishop, was much addicted.
At the Restoration he was raised to the Primacy, and at the Coronation he placed the crown on the head of CharlesII.During the short period of his Archbishopric, Juxon enlarged and improved Lambeth and Croydon Palaces, and greatly ameliorated the clerical state of the See. He died of a painful disease in 1663, and was interred with great pomp in St. John’s College, Oxford, near the tomb of his friend and patron, Archbishop Laud. He left considerable sums to be laid out in Fellowships for his favourite College, and many charitable bequests. His reputation for moderation, piety, learning, and unswerving loyalty can scarcely be questioned. Not many of his genuine writings are extant.
No. 118.
WILLIAM LAUD, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY.ByVandyck.BORN 1573, BEHEADED 1645.In Bishop’s robes.
WILLIAM LAUD, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY.ByVandyck.BORN 1573, BEHEADED 1645.In Bishop’s robes.
WILLIAM LAUD, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY.
ByVandyck.
BORN 1573, BEHEADED 1645.
In Bishop’s robes.
SON of a clothier at Reading. Became Fellow of St. John’s College, Oxford, and afterwards took Orders. Was very vehement; very much opposed to the Puritans; had many different livings; named chaplain to JamesI., whom he accompanied to Scotland. Was Prebendary of Westminster; consecutively Bishop of St. David’s, Bath and Wells, and London, and subsequently Prime Minister, and Archbishop of Canterbury. In 1622 he held a famous conference with Fisher the Jesuit, in the presence of the Duke of Buckingham and his mother, who were wavering in their allegiance to the Protestant faith, and were fixed therein by the eloquence of Laud. Yet it was said of him that he was more than once tempted to abjure his religion by the offer of a Cardinal’s Hat; each time, however, he gave an emphatic denial. He was very strict respecting the revision and licensing of published books by high ecclesiastical authority, and was concerned in several prosecutions of the Star-Chamber against Bishop Williams, the Master of Westminster School, etc. etc. When the Parliament was abruptly dissolved in 1639, Laud was attacked in his palace at Lambeth by the mob. He had indeed made himself unpopular with the people at large, and with the House of Commons; and on the accusation of Sir Henry Vane, he was sent to the Tower in 1641, where he was detained three years, and treated withgreat severity. In 1644 he was tried, and though the treasonable charges were not proved, the bill of attainder was passed. He made an eloquent defence; but all in vain. The execution of Strafford was the forerunner of his own, and he suffered death on Tower Hill, displaying great courage. Clarendon says: ‘Such learning, piety, and virtue have been attained by few, and the greatest of his infirmities are common to all men.’
Of all the prelates of the Anglican Church, Lord Macaulay says, Laud departed furthest from the principles of the Reformation, and nearest to Rome. He hated Calvinism, loved forms and ceremonies, and advocated celibacy among the clergy, all of which opinions made him an object of abhorrence to the Puritans, and there was no love lost. Every corner of the realm, every separate congregation, nay, it was said the private devotions of individuals, were subjected to the supervision of his spies. Unfortunately for himself and the country, Charles was influenced in all public matters by the precepts of the Primate. He was a staunch friend, a genial companion, shrewd and witty, and fond of field sports. In fact, all his tastes and qualities endeared him to Lord Strafford, as we have mentioned in the notice of that remarkable man.