ughter of
John Kennedy, 6th earl of Cassilis, a lady who had already taken an active
part in affairs in Scotland, and was eighteen years older than Burnet. The
marriage was kept secret for three years, and Burnet renounced all claim to
his wife's fortune.

Lauderdale's ascendancy in Scotland and the failure of the attempts at
compromise in Scottish church affairs eventually led Burnet to settle in
England. He was favourably received by Charles II. in 1673, when he went up
to London to arrange for the publication of the Hamilton _Memoirs_, and he
was treated with confidence by the duke of York. On his return to Scotland
Lauderdale refused to receive him, and denounced him to Charles II. as one
of the chief centres of Scottish discontent. Burnet found it wiser to
retire to England on the plea of fulfilling his duties as royal chaplain.
Once in London he resigned his professorship (September 1674) at Glasgow;
but, although James remained his friend, Charles struck him off the roll of
court chaplains in 1674, and it was in opposition to court influence that
he was made chaplain to the Rolls Chapel by the master, Sir Harbottle
Grimston, and appointed lecturer at St Clement's. He was summoned in April
1675 before a committee of the House of Commons to give evidence against
Lauderdale, and disclosed, without reluctance according to his enemies,
confidences which had passed between him and the minister. He himself
confesses in his autobiography that "it was a great error in me to appear
in this matter," and his conduct cost him the patronage of the duke of
York. In ecclesiastical matters he threw in his lot with Thomas Tillotson
and John Tenison, and at the time of the Revolution had written some
eighteen polemics against encroachments of the Roman Catholic Church. At
the suggestion of Sir William Jones, the attorney-general, he began his
_History of the Reformation in England_, based on original documents. [v.04
p.0852] In the necessary research he received some pecuniary help from
Robert Boyle, but he was hindered in the preparation of the first part
(1679) through being refused access to the Cotton library, possibly by the
influence of Lauderdale. For this volume he received the thanks of
parliament, and the second and third volumes appeared in 1681 and 1715. In
this work he undertook to refute the statements of Nicholas Sanders, whose
_De Origine et progressu schismatis Anglicani libri tres_ (Cologne, 1585)
was still, in the