FULLER, THOMAS, was the eon of the Rev. Thomas Fuller, rector of St. Peter's Aldwinckle, in .Northamptonshire, where he was born in Juno 1603. He was educated uuder hie father, and was sent In his thirteenth year to Queen's College, Cambridge, of which his uncle Davenent bishop of Salisbury was president. He became B.A. in 1625, and M.A. in 1623, but afterwards removed to Sidney Sussex College, where he obtained a fellowship in 1631, and nearly at the tame time the prebend of Netherby, in the church of Salisbury, and the living of St. Benees, Cambridge. In this year also he issued his first publication, a quaint poem, now little known, entitled 'David's Heinous Sin, lleartie Repentance, Heavie Punishment,' in 12ruo. He was soon after presented by his uncle to the rectory of Broad Windsor, in Doreotehire, where he remained about seven years; when he removed to London, and distinguished himself so much in the pulpits there, that he was Invited by the master and brethren of the Savoy to be their lecturer. In 1639 he published his ' History of the Holy War :' it was printed at Cambridge, in folio, and by his striking originality became so popular that a third edition appeared in 1647. On April 13, 1640, a parliament was called, and a convocation also began at Westminster, in Henry VIltlea chapel, having licence granted to snake new canons for the better government of the church : of this convoca tion he was a member, and has detailed its proceedings in his 'Church History.' During the commencement of the Rebellion, and when the king left London, in 1641, to raise an army, Fuller continued at the Savoy, to the great satisfaction of his congregation and the neighbouring nobility and gentry, labouring all the while in private and in public to soften the angry feelings existing between the two great parties into which society was rapidly dividing. On the anniversary of the accession of Charles, March 27, 1643, Fuller preached at Westminster Abbey on this text, 2 Sam. xix. 30, " Yea, let him take all, so that my lord the king retnrn in peace," iu which he earnestly urged the duty of mutual concession with a view to peace. But as he had taken occasion in his discourse to laud the piety and personal character of the king, and to expatiate on the liberality of the royal offers, his sermon on which being printed, gave great offence to those who were engaged in the opposition, and exposed the preacher to a good deal of danger. This
offence was increased by a sermon he preached on the Fast day, July 27; and soon after refusing to take an oath to the parliament, unless with such reserves as they would not admit, Fuller with drew from London in the autumn of 1653, and joined the king at Oxford. Charles, having heard of his extraordinary abilities in the pulpit, was desirous of knowing them personally, and accordingly Fuller preached before him at St. Mary's church. But his entreaties to moderation as a means to a reconciliation were as little acceptable in Oxford as they had been in London. In London he had been cen sured as too hot a royalist; and now, at Oxford, he was pronounced little better then a puritan. During his stay here, his residence was in Lincoln College, but he was not long after sequestered, and lost all his books and manuscripts. This loss, the heaviest he could sustain, was made up partly by Henry Lord Beauchamp, and partly by Lionel Cranfield, earl of Middlesex, who gave him the remains of hie father's library. Fuller found matters at Oxford so little to his liking, that he left it within about four months from entering it ; but in order that he might not lie under the suspicion of want of zeal or courage in the royal cause, he determined to join the army, and there fore, being well recommended, was received by Sir Ralph Hoptou in the quality of chaplain. For this employment he was at liberty, being deprived of all other preferment. Though he attended the army from place to place, and constantly exercised his duty as chaplain, he yet found proper intervals for his favourite studies, which be employed chiefly in making historical collection's, and espe cially in gathering materials for his 'Worthies of England,' which be did, not only by an extensive correspondence, but by personal inquiries in every place which the army had occasion to pass through.