Protector; and, as we learn from other sources, he here obtained a considerable sum of money in furtherance of the pacification.' On February 7th, 1655, he was at Berne again, where he stayed to print something, to be dispersed in France.' Another Synod at Arau gave him a second opportunity of meeting the assembled Swiss divines, when, finding that the cities of Zurich and Berne were not acting together with cordiality, this most indefatigable man posted to the former, where he stayed 'during March, April, and May, to expect the promised decla'ration of the Church, to print some preliminary information 'to be sent before into Germany, to settle the course for theo'logical correspondence, and to receive the answer of the Pro'testant cantons to his highness's letter.' Having achieved all that he thought possible in Switzerland, he set forward by way of Basle for Germany, intending to visit Heidelberg. But the Elector Palatine, he says, for some reason would not receive him;' that reason, of course, being that he was on terms of such intimate friendship with the murderers of the Elector's near relation, King Charles. He therefore went to Stuttgard, where he arrived at an unfortunate moment, as the duchess was on her death-bed; the duke, however, despatched some of his ministers to hear Dury's plan. It must be confessed that the general sentiments with which our hero was regarded in Germany were not favourable. Thus, a Lutheran nobleman writes of him about this time: Johannes Duraus, tum Lutheranos inter et Calvinistas inanis proxeneta, nunc vero inter Puritanos ubique et ipsos Independentes conator operosissimus, &c. However, not discouraged, he again travelled through all the Wetterau, and attended a general meeting of Protestant deputies at Frankfort, July 1655. All this time he was keeping up a correspondence with Hottinger, the principal ecclesiastical authority of the Elector Palatine, whom he represents himself as having satisfied. Hottinger, himself anxious for a pacification, mentions Dury in his Meletemata Irenica,' but so as to show that he felt no great confidence in that divine's powers. Dury next entered the territories of the more insignificant German princes, and dealt with' the Counts of Yssenburg, Buddenheim, Solms, and the Prince of Nassau, as well as with the counsellors of the Count of Wetzenstein, who was the director of the circle of Wetterau. Thence, in October, to Marburg: his exploits in that place are related by Schenk, in his Vitæ Professorum Theologiæ: so to Cassel; and so, in the beginning of 1656, to the princes of Anhalt: from him of Anhalt-Köthen (the German

2

6

1 This part of Dury's history is also related by Gesselius, Historia Ecclesiastica,' ii. 773; and Ancillius, Mel. Crit. ii. 244.

2 This is quoted in Struvius's Fasciculus ultimus Librorum rariorum,' p. 54.

afterwards of great assistance to him in carrying out his plans, was one of his inducements to enter into a state for which his continued journeys must have rendered him very ill suited. It is a curious example of human inconsistency, that our pacificator, who was for unlimited liberality abroad, would have no such thing as toleration in his own country. In 1644 he published An Epistolary Discourse against Toleration,' addressed to Thomas Goodwin, Philip Nye, and his old and staunch friend, Samuel Hartlib. Four years later, he exerted his utmost efforts to save the King. Afterwards, as he had willingly taken the Covenant, he, with as little scruple, set his hand to the Engagement; hence, in 1650, he was attacked in a pamphlet entitled, The Time-serving Proteus, and Ambidexter Divine, uncased 'to the World.' To which he replied by the tract which we have so often quoted, The Unchanged, Constant, and Single'hearted Peacemaker, drawn forth into the World; in a Letter to 'Samuel Hartlib, May 30th, 1650.' The war between England and Holland threw further obstacles in the way of Dury's designs; as soon as peace was made, he procured letters commendatory from Cromwell and from the principal divines in and near London, and again left England, April 5th, 1654. Having hitherto found greater success among Calvinists than among Lutherans, he determined on labouring in a hitherto untried portion of the same field. He reached Zurich on the 18th of May, and was delighted to find that a general meeting of the Protestant Cantons was to be held at Arau on the 13th of June. There he of course presented himself, 'dealt with' all the theologians who assembled in the place, and managed to procure from them a document in which they set forth what in their opinion was necessary to be done. Back he went to Zurich, in order to interest the civil authorities of that place. They recommended him to prosecute his endeavours at Berne; to Berne he accordingly betook himself, and thence to St. Gall and Basle. Hearing that the Reformed congregations among the Grisons were anxious to take part in the movement, he appointed a place where their deputies might meet him in safety; and to that place,' as he cautiously writes in 1657, he went in December, and spent one day in a satisfactory conference. Having thus shown his friends at Zurich that his scheme was likely to be taken up by the other Cantons, he repaired thither again; and, in a series of visits to Bern Biel, Neufchatel, and Lausanne, he prosecuted his endeav besides, as he tells us, calling on the preacher of every co able town in or near those places. He had not yet which must have excited his earnest veneration this he had especial letters of recommendatio

traveller will remember the place from the great gamblinghouse which the present sovereign has erected close to the railway station) he received much encouragement. Thence to Weimar, and to Gotha, where he was closeted with the Duke Ernest from eight to twelve, and from two to six; a circumstance which he records with evident satisfaction. It would be endless to mention all the small principalities which he at this time visited. At length he seems to have pined for Holland, and found his way thither by Cleves and Nymeguen. When in the latter place, he heard that the provincial Synod of Harderwick was about to assemble; of course he went thither, and obtained a certificate from the divines there in consultation. Crossing the country to Alkmaar, he found the Synod of North Holland in session, but was less fortunate than usual in his reception, as the lay commissioners interfered, and would not allow him to speak. He therefore thought it necessary to go to the Hague, and to obtain from the States General such letters of recommendation as might obviate the like opposition for the future; these he procured, and forwarded them to the several provinces; and relying on the protection he had thus acquired, he presented himself in September to the Synod of Utrecht, to that of Middelburg, and to that of the Walloons. The latter being concluded-it is one little proof among many of the indomitable perseverance of the man-he went to Flushing, simply, as he says, 'to confer with some men of note who could contribute somewhat to the furtherance of his design.' He next heard that there was a meeting of divines at Bergen op Zoom; here he did what he could, and so was in time for the assembly of the States of Holland at Amsterdam. By them he was told that they could do nothing till they knew how far the Lutherans would be disposed to meet them. Dury immediately fell to work, and translated and printed such papers as he thought might obviate that difficulty; the declarations of Leipsic and Frankfort, a letter from the King of Sweden to one of his bishops, and some other documents. He now thought that he might hope to obtain some official recognition by the States General. They told him that it was necessary that he should come provided with a similar certificate from all the provincial States before they could entertain his proposal. Here was all his labour in Holland to be begun over again; but the persevering man, not a whit daunted, set about the task with good courage. He first went to the University of Franeker, then to the deputies of Friesland, assembled at Leeuwarden; then to those of Overyssel, at Zwolle, where he found great opposition; and lastly, to Amsterdam. While he was there, the Prince of Sweden happened to visit that city; Dury, of course, did not miss the

opportunity, and his highness promised to do what he could among his Lutheran subjects. Having thus concluded his Dutch tour, our hero thought that a fresh certificate from Cromwell might not be without its influence at the next meeting of the States General; he sailed from Flushing on the 14th and landed at Margate on the 15th of February, 1657. His own account of his adventures concludes with the following resolution of the House of Commons:

June 26th, 1657.-' Ordered by the parliament that it be recommended to his highness the Lord Protector at the desire of the parliament, that his highness will be pleased to encourage all Christian endeavours for uniting the Protestant Church abroad; and that the lord deputy, the lord Lambert, Master Secretary, General Desberow, and Colonel Jones be desired to present this vote to the Lord Protector.'

We now lose Dury as a guide, and must follow his history from the necessarily inferior materials which the diligence of Benzelius was able to collect. It appears that he remained quiet till the Restoration in 1660; and that he then addressed a letter to Charles II., setting forth what he had already done, and what he still hoped to perform. The only wonder is, that our hero ever expected to receive an answer; however, nothing daunted when he found that his application was unnoticed, he applied to Archbishop Juxon, whose reply is preserved. It is exactly that which might be expected. Nothing could be more desirable than the union of all Christians; nothing more in accordance with the Archbishop's own particular wish; but the divisions in England must be taken into consideration. If foreign princes would unite in expressing any desire for the mediation of the Anglican Church, it would then be the time for her prelates to consult the king as to what his own feelings might be, &c. Finding that he was thus thrown on his own resources, Dury-who, it must be remembered, was now upwards of sixty-again went into Holland, and travelled through the whole of the country, visiting pastors, scattering papers, claiming to be heard at Synods, in short, leaving no stone unturned to effect his purpose. Imagining that he had made some little progress in this country, he was anxious to go again into Sweden, but was deterred, as he says, by the fate of the bishop Matthiæ, who had been by this time deprived for his book called the Olive Branches. He forgets to state that the sentence of banishment pronounced against him, under Christina, had never been repealed. However, as he was unable to go himself, he sent a number of pamphlets, which might tend to further his purpose; and, deriving fresh hopes from the Conference of Cassel-of which we shall presently have occasion to speakhe went, in 1662, into Switzerland, and having kept alive what