like imposture of the bleeding Image (replaced by himself after Browne's deprivation) and caused it to be broken down*; quoted Scripture to the Queen, who was indifferent in the matter, to justify throwing all images out of churches; read the service in English, which by his orders had ceased to be read publicly from the death of Edward vith. ; had the walls of Christ Church and St. Patrick's newly painted, and instead of pictures and popish fancies, had passages or texts of Scripture placed on the walls. He was also a party to the celebrated Declaration of Articles of Religion, published in 1566, when Sir Henry Sidney was Lord Deputy of Ireland+. Such was the conduct of this Archapostate ! "I meet (says Strype) with a letter without date of year, but I suppose near about this time, writ from Adam (Loftus) Archbishop of Armagh to our Archbishop of Canterbury (Matthew Parker), dated from Trinity College in Cambridge, September 27, 1561, wherein the Irish Archbishop, now not long entered upon his function, hinted how the Archbishop of Canterbury had promised him his aid in all Church causes of Ireland at his last being in England, especially for removing the [Arch] Bishop of Dublin. He was, as he described him, a known enemy, and labored under open * Strype's Life of Parker, in 2 B. ch. 9. + Mant. 271. crimes, which although he shamed not to do, I am, saith that Archbishop, almost ashamed to speak, so he desired him now being in England again, to put to his helping hand, and to recommend some zealous man to succeed in that Bishop's place; and that he, the Archbishop of Canterbury, would write to the Court of this matter." At this time, it appears that he was reputed not only a known enemy to the Church, but labored under open crimes; what these were is no where explained. Seeing Loftus' anxiety to succeed Curwen, as he ultimately did; knowing, too, the means slander usually takes to fritter away a man's character, we are inclined to disbelieve this underhand charge of immorality or crime. For certain is it, that Curwen remained six years after the date of this letter Archbishop of Dublin, and when Loftus did succeed him, it was not upon deprivation, but on the translation of Curwen to another See, namely, to that of Oxford. This took place in 1567. "Being now," as Strype also informs us, grown old, he desired to return and die in his own country, as he did the next year at Swinbroke, near Barford." 66 There is no monument in the church where he was buried. There is a large freestone slightly ridged down the middle, but seemingly never having bore an inscription*. If there be any + Cotton's Fasti Eccl. Hib. moral in the phrase De mortuis nil nisi bonum, the wordless slab presents to view his best and most appropriate epitaph. Virtue is the surest foundation both of reputation and fortune; and the great step to greatness is to be honest. HE man before us stands from the canvass in bold relief, by the side of the Arch-Apostate Curwen, and of the Wolsey-like figure of St. Praxis with the poisoned chalice to his lips. Though the age in which Potter lived and moved and had his being was crowded with great events in which he had his share, yet, in truth, he was a good, rather than a great man. A man truly penitent, full of brotherly love, and of great kindness. In him Christianity was not a philosophy of life, but a life-a living process; with the blessings of Heaven on his head, and its purity in his heart. * See Lloyd's Memoirs, fol. 1677, the fullest account; Wood's Ath. Ox. (Edit. Bliss 1817); Fuller's Worthies; Hall's Remains, 4to. 1660; Clark's Lives of Modern Div.; Chambers' Biog. Dict. In his pastoral charge, he was exemplary in carriage, and powerful in discourse. As the Provost of his College strict, but not overbearing. As a Prelate learned and zealous, but moderate and discreet; when moderation and discretion with men of his order were pre-eminently acts of wisdom. By birth, by education, and at heart a Puritan, yet free from the leaven of the Pharisee. The staunch friend of Civil and Religious Liberty. His house an open sanctuary for the non-conformists and persecuted Recusants, yet raised by a Stuart to the dignities and responsibilities of the Episcopal Bench. A Puritanical Bishop, and yet courted and confided in by the House of Stuart. When Popery, the Divine Right of Kings, Toleration, the Rights of Man, and no Bishops, were the Shibboleths of faction, and the Io Pæans of the Sovereign people, "Justum ac tenacem propositi virum, Mente quatit solidâ." He stood, like the just man, firm, resolute, and undaunted. But when he saw that the Altar and the Throne must sink together in the dust,-in the conflicting elements of civil strife; when he saw the mild, and gentle, and liberal-minded Charles buffeted and spit upon; when he heard the savage yell of No Bishops; when he beheld the Spiritual Peers reduced to the necessity of petitioning the House |