No subject in the realm occupied so important and commanding a position with reference to religious parties as Nottingham.

To the influence derived from rank, from wealth, and from office, he added the higher influence which belongs to knowledge, to eloquence, and to integrity.

The orthodoxy of his creed, the regularity of his devotions, and the purity of his morals gave a peculiar weight to his opinions on questions in which the interests of Christianity were concerned.

Of all the ministers of the new Sovereigns, he had the largest share of the confidence of the clergy.

Shrewsbury was certainly a Whig, and probably a freethinker: he had lost one religion; and it did not very clearly appear that he had found another.