MATTHEW WREN, D. D. a $

against the whola Order of Bishops; in Affront to the King , the great Loverand Protector of the Hierarchy in the Church of England with whom thisPrelate was in special Favour) had been preceded, (little more than two Yearsbefore) by an Address to his Majesty from the same Person, in the like Ex- 7 -w- very re~travagancy of Stile, varnissi’d over with fulsome Adulation, and high Strainsof Loyalty ; a Recital of which may be somewhat diverting, considering th Qtbe sameQuality of the Man, and the Figure he afterwards made, in the Times Orator, priorthe ensuing Rebellion and Tyranny, to which, on every Occasion, he too gj n ^.‘much contributed.

This Gentleman (of Gray's-Jnn) of the Profession of the Law, was Re-corder of the City of York , and of Berwick , for which Town he was return’d jsoiog,'a Member to sit in Parliament in the Year 1640. Upon the execrable Mur-ther of the King, in the Year 1648, he was appointed one of the three Com-missioners (jointly with Whitlock and John Liste a Regicide) of the counterfeitGreat Seal, in the Usurpation. In 1655, be was a Commissioner of theTrealury. He was chosen Speaker in Cromwell's Third Parliament , in theYear 1656, by which Cromwell was consirm’d Protector, and solemnly in-augurated by this Speaker. In 1658, he was Lord Chief Baron of the Ex-chequer. And in 1659, he was made by the Rump, one of their Council ofState.

March 27, 1639, King Charles took his Journey Northwards, against theScots, and arrived at York, the 30 th of March, to whom Sir Yhomas Wid-drmgton, Recorder of York and Berwick, made the following Speech.

Most gracious and dread Sovereign,

" T>E graciously pleas’d to pardon this Stay, that we, the least andRufowortivV" JD meanest Motes in the Firmament of your Majesty’s Government, ^iio^fpari" should thus dare to cause you (our bright and glorious Sun) to stand; give U. />. 187.

“ us Leave, who are the Members of this ancient and decay'd City, to make

“ known unto your Majesty (even our Sun itself) where the Sun now" stands,

In the City of York.

c ‘ Which (like-an ill-drawn Picture) needs a Name : A Place so unlike it*‘ self, that we may boldly say, Niobe was never so unlike Niobe ; never old£ ‘ Man so unlike himself, 'himself being young; as is the City of York unliketc the City of York ; heretofore an imperial City, the Place of the Life and“ Death of the Emperor Const ant ius Chlorus, in whose Grave a burning" Lamp was found many Centuries of Years after. The Place honour’d“ with the Birth of Constantino the Great; and with the most noble Library“ of Egbert.

" I might go farther, but this were only to shew, or rather speak of" ancient Tombs.

“ This City was afterwards twice burn’d, so that the very Assies of these" Antiquities are not now to be found : And if later Scars had not defaced" our former Glory, what was it truly in Respect of what we now enjoy ?

“ The Births, Lives, and Deaths of Emperors, are not so much for the“ Honour of York, as that King Charles was once Duke of York. Your*' Royal Aspect surmounts our former Glory, and scatters our later“ Clouds.

" It is more Honour for us, that King Charles hath given us a new Life,

Nativity and Being, by a most benign and liberal Character, than that Con-

stantine