"_Anno 1641._ The great businesse of the _Earle of Strafford_ came in agitation, in which there is one thing he gave me a charge, as I had occasion, to clear him, _viz._ of a _scandall_ raised on him, by a _rash_, I will not say malicious pen, in his _Vocall forrest_, as if he had made use of a pretended distinction of a _Personall and politicall conscience_, to satisfy the late King, that he might consent to the beheading of the said Earle; that _though the first resisted, he might do it by the second;_ which, I wonder men of prudence, or that had any esteem of him, could be so credulous of: but there is a presumptuous _Observator_ of late, hath more ridiculously and maliciously abused him in it, as if the root of it was in revenge, for the _Earles suppressing the Articles of Ireland;_ both are of the like falshood, as hath been already made apparent, in an answer to him. "And I have lately seen it under the hand of a person of quality, affirming, that some yeers agone, a rumour being spread of the death of this Reverend _Primate_ (who was much lamented at Oxford) and this concerning the Earle being by one then objected against him. He was an ear-witnesse, that the late _King_, answered that person in very great Passion, and with an oath protested his innocency therein." Bernard received ordination from the hands of Ussher; was his librarian at the period in question; and was honoured with his confidence for thirty years. His _Life_ of Ussher is a work of authority, and deserves to be held in remembrance. BOLTON CORNEY. ANGLO-CATHOLIC LIBRARY--BISHOP OVERALL'S CONVOCATION BOOK. The volume which is known under the title of Bishop Overall's _Convocation Book_, is a document possessing no ordinary degree of interest. It consists of a series of arguments and canons, in which are discussed and decided several questions of great moment relative to the authority of princes, the divine right of episcopacy, and the differences between the Church of England and the see of Rome. Though this document never obtained the sanction of the Crown, yet its intrinsic value is considerable; and its claim to be regarded as an authentic exposition of the doctrine of the Church of England, in the beginning of the seventeenth century, is unquestionable. Drawn up by the eminent divines who constituted the lower house of the Convocation of 1603, the signature of Bishop Overall at the end attests that the whole had been read three times in the hearing of the house, and unanimously approved.[5] [Footnote 5: "Hæc omnia suprascripta ter lecta sunt in domo inferiori convocationis in frequenti synodo cleri, et unanimi consensu comprobata. Ita testor, "JOHANNES OVERALL, Prolocutor. "April 16. 1606." The whole of this passage, the editor informs us, "is in the handwriting of Overall."--P. 272.]