In 1667 he was translated to the Bishopric of Salisbury, and in the House of Lords, being an able speaker, took a prominent part in the debates. He has been accused of lending rather too complying an ear to the Court, both in Parliament and the rule of his diocese; probably these charges arose from his supporting the ill-advised and tyrannical Conventicle Act, which his predecessor, Bishop Earl, a man beloved by all parties, had opposed. On the other hand, it must be borne in mind he approved of the opposition to James II., and to two copies of the petition his signature was affixed. His residence, when his duties called him to the metropolis, was at Knightsbridge, and here he was visited by all the leading literary and scientific men of the day. Evelyn, in his “Diary,” March 25th, 1674, writes, “I dined at Knightsbridge, with the Bishops of Salisbury, Chester, and Lincoln, my old friends.” The celebrated Isaac Barrow was also a frequent guest; and it was at the Bishop’s table he was seized with the illness which in a short time ended his days. The celebrated Sir Charles Scarborough was another friend—he also was Ward’s medical adviser; and Burnet states he was at Knightsbridge with him when the Queen’s coach came for him to attend her at the birth of the future Pretender. The Bishop’s health towards the close of his life was very indifferent, and at length he was deprived of his faculties altogether, and died at Knightsbridge, January 6, 1689, in his seventy-second year. He was a very learned man, as his writings abundantly show, and a very charitable one. At his native place he founded almshouses, and also left a sum for apprenticing its poor boys. I know nothing more beautiful or pure in a great man’s character than to see him remembering in his old age those villagers among whom, in a comparatively humble sphere, he first drew breath. Such conduct indicates a benevolent mind and a good heart; and such public acts which seem to show a different spirit, I would rather attribute to a temporary fear or extraneous motive, other than the genuine constitution of the mind. A life of Ward was published by Dr. Pope, author of the celebrated ballad, “The Old Man’s Wish.” {214}