The King,” he said, “commands them with the advice of his Council for to publish his Declaration; they would not do it. _If the King had been Turk or Jew, it had been all one--for the subject ought to obey._”[15] The infatuation of the Judge equalled the infatuation of the King. [Sidenote: 1688.] Of course the effect was to identify the Judges with unconstitutional indulgence. Where it had been successful, they were welcomed--where it had created alarm, they were rebuffed. Down in the West, the Declaration had been published by some--by others denounced. The wearers of the ermine were treated accordingly. Trelawny, one of the seven Bishops, wrote to Sancroft, at the time of the Assizes, a letter which gives us some idea of what was going on at Bristol and Exeter:-- “May it please your Grace, “Mr. Gilbert, the bearer, going for London, and being desirous of paying his duty to your Grace, I gave him this opportunity, as well to receive your blessing as to present you with the present state of the West. He is the laborious minister of Plymouth, who, by his courage, life, and doctrine, hath done a great deal of good in that town. I wish his Lordship the Bishop of Exeter had as fixt and steady resolutions, but his Lordship, acting according to a settled maxim of his own, _I will be safe_, had given order for the publishing the Declaration, notwithstanding the Bishop of Bath and Wells, and my letter to him; and was at last brought to recall them by the Dean’s sending him word, that if he would betray the Church, he should not the Cathedral; for he would rather be hanged at the doors of it, than that the Declaration should be read there, or in any part of his jurisdiction, which is large in the county. The gentry and clergy complained to me very much of the Bishop’s giving a church to the Mayor[16] for his Conventicle (in which the Declaration was read), and for his great respects to Mr. Beare, the last sessions, which gave great offence. Who this Mr. Beare is, Mr. Gilbert can give your Grace a full account. I had a long and warm argument with the Bishop, to divert him from waiting on the Judges and treating them,--setting at large before him what a malicious, wicked instrument Justice Bolduck was in our business; but all I said was to no purpose. However, the Dean and Chapter assured me, they would withdraw their civility, and not receive them either at the church or at an entertainment, as hath been customary. I hope I shall do some good with the gentry of Devonshire and Cornwall. I humbly beg your blessing, and remain, “Yours Grace’s most obedient, humble servant, “J. BRISTOL.”[17] [Sidenote: PREPARATIONS FOR REVOLUTION.] The Bishop of Exeter was Dr. Lamplugh, and how he was rewarded for his devotion to the measures of the Court will presently appear.