Church party.  Sancroft and his brethren were informed that, if they would consent to perform their spiritual duty, to ordain, to institute, to confirm, and to watch over the faith and the morality of the priesthood, a bill should be brought into Parliament to excuse them from taking the oaths.44 This offer was imprudently liberal; but those to whom it was made could not consistently accept it.  For in the ordination service, and indeed in almost every service of the Church, William and Mary were designated as King and Queen.  The only promise that could be obtained from the deprived prelates was that they would live quietly; and even this promise they had not all kept.  One of them at least had been guilty of treason aggravated by impiety.  He had, under the strong fear of being butchered by the populace, declared that he abhorred the thought of calling in the aid of France, and had invoked God to attest the sincerity of this declaration.  Yet, a short time after, he bad been detected in plotting to bring a French army into England; and he had written to assure the Court of Saint Germains that he was acting in concert with his brethren, and especially with Sancroft.  The Whigs called loudly for severity.  Even the Tory counsellors of William owned that indulgence had been carried to the extreme point.  They made, however, a last attempt to mediate.  “Will you and your brethren,” said Trevor to Lloyd, the nonjuring Bishop of Norwich, “disown all connection with Doctor Turner, and declare that what he has in his letters imputed to you is false?” Lloyd evaded the question.  It was now evident that William’s forbearance had only emboldened the adversaries whom he had hoped to conciliate.  Even Caermarthen, even Nottingham, declared that it was high time to fill the vacant sees.45

Tillotson was nominated to the Archbishopric, and was consecrated on Whitsunday, in the church of St. Mary Le Bow.  Compton, cruelly mortified, refused to bear any part in the ceremony.  His place was supplied by Mew, Bishop of Winchester, who was assisted by Burnet, Stillingfleet and Hough.  The congregation was the most splendid that had been seen in any place of worship since the coronation.  The Queen’s drawingroom was, on that day, deserted.  Most of the peers who were in town met in the morning at Bedford House, and went thence in procession to Cheapside.  Norfolk, Caermarthen and Dorset were conspicuous in the throng.  Devonshire, who was impatient to see his woods at Chatsworth in their summer beauty, had deferred his departure in order to mark his respect for Tillotson.  The crowd which lined the streets greeted the new Primate warmly.  For he had, during many years, preached in the City; and his eloquence, his probity and the singular gentleness of his temper and manners, had made him the favourite of the Londoners.46 But the congratulations and applauses of his friends could not drown the roar of execration which the Jacobites set up.  According to them, he was a thief who