P. 164. Burnet. The great share he [Sir Henry Vane] had in the attainder of the Earl Strafford, and in the whole turn of affairs to the total change of government, but above all the great opinion that was had of his parts and capacity to embroil matters again, made the court think it was necessary to put him out of the way.—­Swift. A malicious turn.  Vane was a dangerous enthusiastic beast.

Ibid. Burnet. When he [Sir Henry Vane] saw his death was designed, he composed himself to it, with a resolution that surprised all who knew how little of that was natural to him.  Some instances of this were very extraordinary, though they cannot be mentioned with decency.—­Swift. His lady conceived of him the night before his execution.

Ibid. Burnet. Sir Henry Vane died with so much composedness, that it was generally thought, the government had lost more than it had gained by his death.—­Swift. Vane was beheaded for new attempts, not here mentioned.

P. 179. Burnet. [The Papists] seemed zealous for the Church.  But at the same time they spoke of toleration, as necessary both for the peace and quiet of the nation, and for the encouragement of trade.—­Swift. This is inconsistent.

P. 180. Burnet says that Mr. Baxter:—­was a man of great piety; and, if he had not meddled in too many things, would have been esteemed one of the learned men of the age:  He writ near two hundred books.—­Swift. Very sad ones.

P. 184. Burnet. The Convocation that prepared those alterations, as they added some new holy days, St. Barnabas, and the Conversion of St. Paul, so they took in more lessons out of the Apocrypha, in particular the story of Bel and the Dragon.—­Swift. I think they acted wrong.

Ibid. Burnet. Reports were spread ... of the plots of the Presbyterians in several counties.  Many were taken up on those reports:  But none were ever tried for them.—­Swift. A common practice.

Ibid. Burnet, writing of the ejection of the Nonconformists on St. Bartholomew’s Day, 1662, says:—­A severity neither practised by Queen Elizabeth in the enacting her Liturgy, nor by Cromwell in ejecting the Royalists.—­Swift. But by King William.

P. 186. Burnet, speaking of the great fines raised on the church estates ill applied, proceeds:—­If the half had been applied to the buying of tithes or glebes for small vicarages, here a foundation had been laid down for a great and effectual reformation.—­Swift. He judges here right, in my opinion.

Ibid. Burnet, continuing the same subject:—­The men of merit and service were loaded with many livings and many dignities.  With this great accession of wealth there broke in upon the Church a great deal of luxury and high living, on the pretence of hospitality; while others made purchases, and left great estates, most of which we have seen melt away.—­Swift. Uncharitable aggravation; a base innuendo.