never accepted any office of magistracy.

He was not, however, without some attention to his fortune, for he
asked from the king (in 1665) the provostship of Eton College, and
obtained it; but Clarendon refused to put the seal to the grant,
alleging that it could be held only by a clergyman. It is known
that Sir Henry Wotton qualified himself for it by deacon's orders.

To this opposition, the Biographia imputes the violence and acrimony
with which Waller joined Buckingham's faction in the prosecution of
Clarendon. The motive was illiberal and dishonest, and showed that
more than sixty years had not been able to teach him morality. His
accusation is such as conscience can hardly be supposed to dictate
without the help of malice. "We were to be governed by Janizaries
instead of Parliaments, and are in danger from a worse plot than
that of the fifth of November; then, if the Lords and Commons had
been destroyed, there had been a succession; but here both had been
destroyed for ever." This is the language of a man who is glad of
an opportunity to rail, and ready to sacrifice truth to interest at
one time, and to anger at another.

A year after the chancellor's banishment, another vacancy gave him
encouragement for another petition, which the king referred to the
Council, who, after hearing the question argued by lawyers for three
days, determined that the office could be held only by a clergyman,
according to the Act of Uniformity, since the provosts had always
received institution as for a parsonage from the Bishops of Lincoln.
The king then said he could not break the law which he had made; and
Dr. Zachary Cradock, famous for a single sermon, at most for two
sermons, was chosen by the Fellows.