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He had as yet only the Clerical Tonfure, or fome of the lower • Orders. The firft ecclefiaftical preferment which was conferred upon him, was the Rectory of Pulham in Norfolk, by the King's prefentation: it is dated the 30th of November, 1357. He met with fome difficulties with regard to this preferment from the Court of Rome; wherefore he received from the King, on the 16th of April, 1359, a grant of two hundred pounds a year over and above his former appointments, until he fhould get quiet poffeffion of the church of Pulham, ⚫ or fome other benefice to the value of one hundred marks.'

Our Author goes on to acquaint us, that Wykeham attended upon the King in the month of October, 1360, at Calais, when the treaty of Bretigny was folemnly ratified, and confirmed by the reciprocal oaths of the Kings of England and France in perfon. He then gives us a lift of his ecclefiaftical and civil preferments; and clofes the fection with telling us, that the King might eafily have procured him a Bifhopric before this time; but that, as Bishoprics were not abfolutely in his difpofal, nor tranflations from one Bishopric to another become the common fteps of advancement in the Church, he seems to have reserved him for the Bifhopric of Winchefter, which in point of honour and revenue would be a proper station for his favourite Minister, and which, in the courfe of nature, muft fhortly become va

cant.

The fecond fection is introduced with an account of Wykeham's being unanimously elected to fucceed William de Edyngdon Bishop of Winchefter, who died on the 8th of October, 1366. The Congè d'elire is dated October the 13th. The King approved the election on the 24th of the fame month. The Pope conftituted him Administrator of the Spiritualties and Temporalties of the vacant See, by his bull dated December the 11th of the fame year: and he was admitted to the adminiftration of the Spiritualties by the Archbishop of Canterbury, February the 22d following. By his bull of July the 14th, 1367, the Pope gave him leave to be confecrated, referring in it to the bull of Provifion of the fame date, by which he confers on him the Bishopric. He was confecrated in St. Paul's London, on the 10th of October, 1367, and two days after received from the King the grant of the Temporalties of the Bishopric. Thus it was a whole year from the time of the vacancy, and even from the time of his election, before he could get into full poffeffion of his new dignity.

The delay which this affair met with,' continues our Biographer, has been taken notice of by many Authors; fome of whom have affigned no reason for it; others, chiefly the latter

Writers,

Writers, have given a falfe one. Some fay, that the King was very unwilling to promote to fo high a ftation in the Church, a perfon who was very deficient in point of learning: this is not at all probable; Wykeham was recommended by the King, the election was made, and was approved by him, all within fixteen days after the vacancy happened; with as much dispatch as was poffible in an affair of this nature. Others pretend that the Pope made the fame objection: the contrary to this appears from the words of the bull abovementioned, dated December the 11th, 1366, in which the • Pope fpeaks of Wykeham as "recommended to him, by the "teftimony of many perfons worthy of credit, for his know"lege of letters, his probity of life and manners, and his pru"dence and circumfpection in affairs both fpiritual and tempo"ral." Which teftimony of his learning is the more to be infifted upon, as it appears on examining all the bulls of this kind that occur in Rymer's Collection of public Records through this century, that this part of the bull, in which the character of the perfon preferred is given, for the moft part runs in more general terms, and has more frequently than otherwife no mention of learning at all. The Pope was fo far from making the objection, that he feems fully perfuaded that there was really no room for it: for we may be fure the • Court of Rome had more addrefs than to go out of its way, ⚫ and depart from a common form, to compliment a perfon for the very quality in which he was notorioufly deficient.

But the true ftate of the cafe, and the reafon of this delay on the fide of the Pope, feems to be this. Since the time of Henry the third, the Kings and Parliaments of England had refolutely oppofed the ufurpations of the See of Rome, one confiderable article of which among many, was the Pope's af• fuming to himself the difpofal of all Church Preferments by way of provifion and refervation. The pretence was, that the Holy Father, out of his great care for the welfare of the • Church in general, and that of fuch a diocese fuppofe in particular, had provided for it beforehand a proper and ufeful perfon to prefide over it, left in cafe of a vacancy it might fuffer detriment, by being long deftitute of a Paftor; for which reafon, out of the plenitude of his authority, he referved to himfelf for this turn the difpofal of the faid Bishopric, decreeing from that time forward all interpofition or attempts to the contrary of all perfons whatsoever null and void. The moft 6 effectual method of putting an end to thefe encroachments on the rights of the King, Chapters, and Patrons, feemed to have 'been taken under Edward the third, by the Statutes of Provifors and Premunire: however, the Pope ftill continued his pretenfions,

pretenfions, and his provifions in reality took place; only the perfon fo preferred, was obliged to renounce in form, all man"ner of right to the temporalties which might be derived to him ⚫ from the Bull of Provifion, and all words contained in it preju⚫dicial to the rights of the Crown. This was the occafion of ⚫ perpetual difputes between the King and the Pope, and of the delay in the prefent cafe. Wykeham was probably a perfon very agreeable to the Pope, who had feveral times made use of his intereft with the King: and we fee that at this very time • he made no difficulty of granting to him, as to the prefumptive fucceffor, the administration of the vacant See. The point in queftion was not, whether Wykeham fhould have the Bishopric of Winchester or not; but by what title, and by whom it should be conferred on him. The Pope's right ⚫ of provision was not to be dropt in the difpofal of fo great a ''preferment, and when he had an opportunity by it of making a merit with the first Minister of the greatest Prince in Europe. The King defended the right of election: the Pope pretended, that election in this cafe gave no right to the Bi fhopric, and would have it acknowleged as a favour from him. felf. The King had fo great a regard for Wykeham, that he condefcended at last to form an intereft with the Pope, to in⚫duce him to recede a little from his pretenfions. He wrote to the Duke of Bourbon, one of his hoftages for the King of France, to whom he had granted leave of abfence about a year before, and had lately prolonged it at the Pope's request, defiring him to prevail with the Pope to confirm Wykeham's election. The Duke went to Avignon, where the Pope then <refided, and follicited the affair in perfon. He was glad of this opportunity of laying the King and his Minifter under an obligation to him. And it is probable, that in confideration of this fervice the King the more readily granted him his liberty the year following, on his paying forty thoufand crowns ⚫ for his ransom. The Pope was as well, pleased to receive a petition from the King of England; 'twas the very thing he ⚫ propofed to himself by all this delay. He fo far complied with it, as to end the difpute without determining the merits of the cause according to the general maxim of the Court of Rome, ⚫ never to give up its pretenfions in any cafe whatsoever; but rather to yield to the defire of an opponent too powerful to be refifted, as out of mere grace and favour, without admitting his claim. However, in the prefent cafe it seems to have been < agreed, that each party should in some measure allow the pretenfions of the other. Accordingly the Pope's bull of July the 14th, 1367, before-mentioned, in which he refers to the Bull of Provifion, is nevertheless directed to William Bishop Elect of Winchefter: and on the other hand the King in his

letters

.

letters patent of the 12th of October, 1367, by which he grants him the Temporalties of the Bishopric, acknowleges him Bifhop of Wincheiter by the Pope's provifion, without mentioning his election. He was inthroned in the cathedral church of Winchefter by William de Afkeby, Archdeacon of Northampton, by commiffion from the Cardinal Archdeacon of Canterbury's Procurator General, on the 9th of July, 1368; who acknowleges him to be Bishop of Winchefter by election, confirmation, and confecration, without any mention at all of the Pope's provifion.'

As foon as the difpute between the King and the Pope was accommodated, Wykeham, being now qualified by his advancement in the Church, to receive the higheft dignity in the State, was conftituted Chancellor of England. He was even poffeffed of this great office while he was only Bifhop elect; for he was confirmed in it on the 17th of September, 1367. Confidering the infinite multiplicity of affairs which he had tranfacted for the King, in the feveral employments with which he had been entrufted, it was impoffible for the most upright or prudent man' to have acted in every particular with fo much exactnefs and caution as to guard against the envy and malice of thofe enemies, which high ftation in a Court is fure to create. As therefore he had now quitted fome of thofe employments, no more to be engaged in them, and was to act from henceforth in a new sphere, he thought it proper to fecure himfelf with regard to the paft, by obtaining a full acquittance and discharge from the King: This the King granted him in the moit ample manner, by his letters patent, dated May the 22d, 1368.

In 1371 he delivered the great feal to the King, in confe quence of a complaint made by the Parliament, that the government of the realm had been for a long time in the hands of Ecclefiaftics, by which many mifchiefs had in times paft happened, and more might happen in times to come, to the diferifon of the Crown, and great prejudice of the kingdom. There is no reafon to conclude, however, that he was difmiffed with any marks of the King's difpleafure, or that he was himfelf dif fatisfied with his removal.

In the beginning of the third fection, our Author tells us, that though Wykeham was fo deeply engaged in affairs of fate, yet he was not in the mean time wanting to his epifcopal function, or remifs in the care of his diocefe. One of the first things that required his attention, was the care of the epifcopal houfes and buildings of all forts; which his predeceffor had left very much out of repair in general, and many of them in a ruinous condition. The buildings belonging to the Bifhops of Winchester, REV. July, 1758. E

were

were at this time very large and numerous, and Wykeham immediately fet about the great work of repairing them all in fuch a manner as might have been expected from one of his generous fpirit, and of his fkill and experience in Architecture. In the year 1373 he held a vifitation of his whole diocese; not only of the fecular Clergy through the feveral Deaneries, but also of the Monafteries, and religious Houfes of all forts, which he vifited in perfon. The next year he fent his Commiffioners with powers to correct and reform the feveral irregularities and abufes which he had discovered in the course of his visitation.

Some years afterwards, having visited three feveral times all the religious Houfes throughout his diocefe, and being well in-, formed of the ftate and condition of each, and of the particular abufes which required correction and reformation, befide the orders which he had already given, and the remedies which he had occafionally applied by his Commiffioners, he now iffued his injunctions to each of them. They were accommodated to their feveral exigences, and intended to correct the abufes introduced, and to recal them all to a ftrict obfervation of the rules of their refpective orders. Many of these injunctions, our Author fays, are ftill extant, and are evident monuments of the care and attention with which he discharged this part of his epifcopal duty.

But the zeal and diligence with which the Bishop pursued the wholesome work of difcipline,' continues the Doctor, and the reformation of abufes, will be beft exemplified by an account of his proceedings in the vifitation of the hospital of St. Crofs; of which we are able to give a more particular detail, as he met with fome difficulties and obftructions in them, and was, upon that occafion, engaged in a long and troublefome difpute. It will be neceffary to premife an account of the foundation and conftitution of this ample and remarkable charity; which, if it is more particular than is elsewhere to be met with, will not, perhaps, be the lefs agreeable to the curious Reader.

The hofpital of St. Crofs, at Sparkeford, near Winchester, was founded by Henry de Blois, Bithop of Winchester, and brother to King Stephen, about the year 1136, for the health of his own foul, and the fouls of his predeceffors, and of the Kings of England. The Founder's inftitution requires, That thirteen poor men, fo decayed and past their strength, that without charitable affiftance they cannot maintain themselves, fhall abide continually in the hofpital, who fhall be provided with proper cloathing, and beds fuitable to their infirmities; and hall have an allowance daily of good wheat bread, good beer, three mees each for dinner, and one for fupper. If

any