the reputation, according to Harington, of being 'one of the youngest in age, but one of the ripest in learning,' of all that had occupied the see. 'It is like,' adds the worthy knight, 'that he shall not abide there long,' a prophecy fulfilled when, in three years' time, he was translated to the see of Lincoln.
After his elevation to the see of Rochester, Barlow's powers as a controversialist were publicly recognised by his being selected, together with Bishop Andrews and Drs. Buckeridge and King, afterwards bishops of Ely and London, in September 1606, to preach one of the course of controversial sermons at Hampton Court, commanded by the king in the vain hope of converting the learned and highly gifted presbyterian divine, Andrew Melville, and his nephew James, who had been summoned by James I to appear before him, to the acceptance of the episcopal form of church government and the acknowledgment of the royal supremacy. Bishop Barlow's sermon 'concerning the Antiquity and Superioritie of Bishops,' on Acts xx. 28, was the first of the four. Its effect on him whom it was intended to convince is commemorated in one of Melville's caustic epigrams (Muses, pp. 23, 24):—
In Concionem Doctoris Barlo dictam Catecheticam.
Praxiteles Gnidiæ Veneris dum sculperet ora,
Cratinæ ad vultus sculpsit et ora suæ.
Divinum Barlo Pastorem ut sculperet, Angli
Præsulis ad vultum sculpsit et ora sui.
Praxiteles Venerem sculpsit divamne lupamve?
Pastorem Barlo sculpserat, anne lupum?
When, two years later, 1608, Parsons, the jesuit, writing under the disguise of 'a banished catholic Englishman,' attacked the 'Apology for the Oath of Allegiance,' in which James I, 'transferring his quarrel with the pope from the field of diplomacy to that of literature, had refuted the asserted right of the Bishop of Rome to depose sovereigns and to authorise their subjects to take up arms against them, he received a learned and elaborate answer from Barlow, who in the meantime had been translated to the see of Lincoln, 27 June 1600. To this Parsons wrote a reply, published in 1612 after the author's death. It was also answered by another English Roman catholic named FitzHerbert.
Barlow's career as bishop of Lincoln was uneventful. He continued to reside partly in his prebendal house at Westminster, from which he wrote several lamentable letters to Cecil, praying for the remission of the firstfruits of his see, 'his necessities pressing on him' (Calendar of State Papers, 1609, 1610). He died somewhat suddenly, in his palace at Buckden, 7 Sept. 1613, and was buried in the chancel of Buckden church. His monument, which had been defaced by the puritans, was restored by his successor and namesake, Bishop Thomas Barlow [see Barlow, Thomas], who, by his request, was buried in the same grave.
Bishop Barlow's published works are as follows: 1. 'Vita et obitus Ricardi Cosin,' 1598. 2. 'Sermon preached at Paules Crosse, 1 March 1600, with a short Discourse of the late Earle of Essex, his confession and penitence before and at the time of his death,' 1601. 3. 'A Defense of the Articles of the Protestant Religion in answer to a libell lately cast abroad,' 1601. 4. 'The Summe and Substance of the Conference at Hampton Court,' 1604. 5. 'Sermon on Acts xx. 28, preached at Hampton Court,' 1607. 6. 'Answer to a Catholike Englishman (so by himself entituled),' 1609.
[Baker's History of St. John's College, Cambridge, ed. Mayer; Godwin de Præsulibus; Sir J. Harington's Brief View of the State of the Church of England; Neal's History of the Puritans; Fuller's Church History; Heylyn's History of Presbyterianism; Cardwell's Conferences; Spotiswood's History of the Church of Scotland; Heylyn's Life of Laud.]
BARLOW or BARLOWE, WILLIAM (d. 1625), archdeacon of Salisbury, son of William Barlow [see Barlow, William, d. 1568] and Agatha Wellesbourne, was born at St. David's when his father was bishop of that diocese, and was educated at Balliol College, Oxford. He graduated B.A. in 1564. About 1573 he entered into holy orders, and was made a prebendary of Winchester (1581) and rector of Easton. Most of his biographers assume that he spent the greater part of these years at sea, but on no better ground, it would appear, than the interest he showed in navigation, and the following ambiguous extract from the dedicatory epistle to his first book, 'The Navigator's Supply:' 'Touching experience of these matters'–compasses, &c.–'of myself I have none. For by natural constitution of body, even when I was young and strongest, I altogether abhorred the sea. Howbeit, that antipathy of my body against so barbarous an element could never hinder the sympathy of my mind and hearty affection towards so worthy an art as navigation is: tied to that element, if you respect the outward toil of the hand; but clearly freed therefrom, if you regard the apprehension of the mind.' This book was published in 1597 and dedicated to the Earl of Essex. In 1588 Barlow was transferred to a prebendal stall
