Note 553 — Chapter XX

Own Times, i. 258. "He told me he had a chaplain, that was a very honest man, but a very great blockhead, to whom he had given a living in Suffolk, that was full of that sort of people. He had gone about among them from house to house, though he could not imagine what he could say to them, for he said he was a very silly fellow; but that he believed his nonsense suited their nonsense, for he had brought them all to church; and in reward of his diligence, he had given him a bishopric in Ireland." Burnet gives the other report on the authority of a letter written by Sir Robert Murray. I may observe here, that party writers on both sides treat Burnet according to their prejudices; the one party believing implicitly everything he says to the disadvantage of the Church; the other party rejecting his evidence on this subject as utterly worthless. It appears to me that,—remembering Burnet's gossiping habits, and that he was a strong party man, and also noticing that he often tells his stories in a loose way, and, like Clarendon, writes down his recollections long after the time when the incidents he records had occurred—we ought to read him with great care, and not place implicit reliance upon his unsupported testimony. Yet, on the whole, Burnet appears to me to have been an honest man. His character will come under review in a future volume of this history, should I be permitted to complete it.