Note 660 — Chapter XI · (continued 2)

He tells us himself that it began by his reading a book written by a learned bishop of the church of England to clear her from schism in leaving the Roman communion, which had a contrary effect on him; especially when, at the said bishop's desire, he read an answer to it. This made him inquisitive about the grounds and manner of the reformation. After his return, Heylin's History of the Reformation, and the preface to Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity, thoroughly convinced him that neither the church of England, nor Calvin, nor any of the reformers, had power to do what they did; and he was confident, he said, that whosoever reads those two books with attention and without prejudice, would be of the same opinion. Life of James, i. 629. The Duchess of York embraced the same creed as her husband, and, as he tells us, without knowledge of his sentiments, but one year before her death in 1670. She left a paper at her death containing the reasons for her change. See it in Kennet, 320. It is plain that she, as well as the duke, had been influenced by the Romanising tendency of some Anglican divines.