bate, in the course of which John Selden [q. v.] remarked, ‘they had as good inquire whether they had best admit Inigo Jones, the king's architect, to the company of mouse-trap makers.’ He responded to the summons by preaching boldly against the legality of the assembly; the commons promptly removed his name, substituting that of John Bond, LL.D. [q. v.], and confiscated his library, then deposited at Chelsea College. Daniel Featley or Fairclough [q. v.], with Selden's aid, redeemed the books for a nominal sum, but many of Ussher's papers and all his correspondence had disappeared. He was again offered a seat in the assembly in 1647, but he never attended. The influence of his writings is very apparent in the work of the assembly. The chapters of the ‘Westminster Confession’ in the main follow the order and adopt the headings of the Irish articles, and introduce but two new topics (liberty of conscience and marriage).
Ussher had found himself powerless to resist Charles's scheme (April 1644) for purchasing Irish support by proffering relief to Roman catholics. He left Oxford on 5 March 1644–5, accompanying Prince Charles as far as Bristol. Thence he proceeded to Cardiff, where Tyrrell, his son-in-law, was governor. There he preached before Charles on 3 Aug. He had thoughts of migrating to the continent, but accepted the hospitality of Mary, widow of Sir Edward Stradling [see under Stradling, Sir John] at St. Donat's, Glamorganshire. On his way thither with his daughter he fell into the hands of Welsh insurgents, and was stripped of his books and papers, most of which were afterwards recovered. At St. Donat's Castle there was a fine library, but Ussher's studies were interrupted by serious illness, leaving him so weak from hæmorrhage that his death was reported. John Greaves [q. v.] wrote an epitaph for him. He again resolved to retire to the continent, and procured a passport from Robert Rich, second earl of Warwick [q. v.], the lord high admiral. He was putting to sea, when Molton, the vice-admiral, threatened him with arrest. At the invitation of his old friend, Elizabeth Mordaunt, now Dowager Countess of Peterborough, he removed to London, and remained her guest till his death. On his way through Gloucester (June 1646) he had an interview with John Biddle [q. v.], the antitrinitarian; the interview was not fruitless, as it led Biddle to examine the argument from Christian antiquity.
When parliament called upon Ussher to take the negative oath, he asked time for consideration, and the matter was not pressed. His appointment as preacher at Lincoln's Inn was sanctioned by parliament at the beginning of 1647, on his petition. He is said to have refused the sacrament to Edward, first lord Herbert of Cherbury [q. v.], on his deathbed (August 1648), in consequence of the dying man's remark, ‘if there was good in anything it was in that; or if it did no good, it could do no harm.’ His preaching was fearless. In November 1648 he denounced at Lincoln's Inn the attitude of parliament towards the king. On 19 Nov. (the king's birthday), in a sermon before Charles at Carisbrooke, he urged the doctrine of divine right. It was then that Charles accepted his ‘reduction’ scheme of 1641, having previously refused it (this is Ussher's own testimony given to Baxter, Reliq. Baxt. i. 62). He saw the preliminaries of the execution of Charles from the leads of Lady Peterborough's house in St. Martin's Lane, ‘just over against Charing Cross,’ but fainted when ‘the villains in vizards began to put up his hair.’ To a date subsequent to the execution of Charles must be referred the offer (to which he alludes, November 1651) of a pension with the free exercise of his religion, made through Richelieu by the queen regent of France. He had previously exchanged courtesies with Richelieu, after the publication of his ‘Britannicarum Ecclesiarum Antiquitates’ (1639).
Early in 1654 Roger Boyle, baron Broghill [q. v.], nominated Ussher as one of fourteen divines to draw up ‘fundamentals’ as terms of toleration; he declined to act, and suggested Baxter, who was put in his place (Monthly Repository, 1825, p. 287). Cromwell, according to Parr, consulted Ussher about advancing the protestant interest abroad, and promised him a twenty-one years' lease of lands belonging to the see of Armagh; the grant was not made; after Ussher's death his daughter made fruitless application for it. In November 1654 Ussher was at Selden's deathbed, and is said to have given him absolution. He approached Cromwell in 1655, seeking liberty for episcopal clergy to minister in private; some kind of promise was given, but retracted at a second interview, after Ussher had made a retort, often quoted. ‘If this core were out,’ said Cromwell (alluding to a boil), ‘I should be soon well.’ ‘I doubt the core lies deeper,’ said Ussher; ‘there is a core in the heart.’ His application to Cromwell had no personal reference, for he had resigned Lincoln's Inn, as loss of teeth interfered with his preaching. His sight was also failing, and spectacles were of no service. He preached for the
