The RESTORATION brought with it, of course, the ascendancy of loyal subjects and monarchical principles in all parts of the realm. Charles, however, did not make the wisest use of the power and influence he had newly acquired; and the closing hours of his life proved that his religious principles, unfixed and vacillating, were ill adapted to the requirements of the age. Howsoever much other parts of the kingdom were disturbed during this reign, the town of Oswestry would seem to have resumed a tranquil position: the injury and damage sustained in it during the many years of disquietude and war were partially restored; the ancient Church was gradually repaired; but the Castle, so dilapidated and broken down, was permitted to lie in ruins; the crown made no effort to restore it; and by degrees its shattered walls and fallen columns were carried away by nocturnal depredators, until at length the vestiges of the fortress consisted of little more than the mound still left in our sight. In 1681, only four years before Charles’s death, a polemic scene was enacted in Oswestry, which, from the celebrity of the parties engaged in it, forms no uninteresting feature in the history of the town. Charles’s reign was marked by odious political intolerance and injustice. He aimed at absolutism, and was as regardless of religious liberty as of religion itself. The controversy to which we have alluded occurred in the Guildhall of Oswestry, in September, 1681, and was conducted throughout in a spirit of candour and moderation not frequently to be witnessed in that turbulent period. The leading parties engaged were Dr. Lloyd, Bishop of St. Asaph (the prelate who preached the first sermon in the Chapel Royal to William III.), and the distinguished Philip Henry, of Broad Oak, Flintshire (father of the erudite and evangelical Matthew Henry, the Commentator on the Bible). Other nonconformist Ministers were present, and took part in the proceedings, especially Mr. James Owen, then of Oswestry—but afterwards of Shrewsbury Seminary for the education of Dissenting Ministers—a man of considerable acquirements and genuine piety. The Bishop, upon his elevation to the episcopal chair, was desirous of securing the conformity of those who dissented, and “that he might do it with the cords of a man, he resolved to reason the matter with them, and endeavour to effect their conviction by discourse, in which he had a very great facility both by learning and temper.” The account from which we derive these particulars goes on to state, that “one of the most eminent nonconformist ministers in his diocese was Mr. James Owen, of Oswestry. The Bishop had several interviews with Mr. Owen in private. At last he appointed a meeting to be held in the Town Hall, Oswestry, on Tuesday, the 27th of September, 1681, at which he requested Mr. Owen to give an account ‘by what right he exercised the ministry, not having episcopal ordination.’ He also directed him to procure any other