Note 695 — Chapter XXV

Newcome, in his Diary, says—"November 22, 1672. I received the sad news of the death of the learned, worthy, pious, and peaceable Bishop of Chester, Dr. John Wilkins; he was my worthy friend." John Angier, the Nonconformist minister at Denton, speaks of his removal as a great loss.—Heywood's Life of Angier, 86. Martindale (Autobiography, 196) also refers to the Bishop's moderation, and adds—"But the Archbishop of York, by his visitation, took all power out of his hands for a year, soon after which this honest Bishop Wilkins died." I may be permitted to add that the good Bishop was a wit. In reference to his idea of the possibility of a passage to the moon, the Duchess of Newcastle said to him, "Doctor, where am I to find a place for waiting in the way up to that planet?" "Madam," replied he, "of all other people in the world, I never expected that question from you, who have built so many castles in the air, that you may be every night at one of your own."—Stanley's Memorials of Westminster, 234.