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THE TEUE STORY 
 
 OF 
 
 ROBERT BROWNE 
 
 (1550 P-1633) 
 FATHER OF CONGREGATIONALISM 
 
 INCLUDING VARIOUS POINTS HITHERTO UNKNOWN 
 OR MISUNDERSTOOD, WITH SOME ACCOUNT OP THE 
 DEVELOPMENT OF HIS RELIGIOUS VIEWS, AND AN 
 EXTENDED AND IMPROVED LIST OF HIS WRITINGS 
 
 CHAMPLIN BURRAGE, M.A. (Beown Univeesity) 
 
 RESEARCH FELLOW OF NEWTON THEOLOGICAL INSTITUTION 
 
 OXFORD 
 
 PRINTED BY HORACE HART 
 
 AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS 
 
 LONDON : PUBLISHED^ BY HENRY FROWDE 
 
 1906 
 
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TO 
 
 THE MEMORY OF 
 
 HON. JOHN HAY 
 
 S£CB£TABY OF STATE, WHOSE KINDLY SUPPORT HAS 
 
 GREATLY BKIGHTENED AND FACILITATED 
 
 THE writer's RESEARCHES DURING 
 
 SIX YEARS OF STUDY ABROAD. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 The material here presented has been chiefly gatJiered at 
 intervals during the last three and a half years. For about 
 seven years, however, the writer has been interested in Bobert 
 Browne's life and writings, and for somewhat over four years 
 has been making a critical study of Browne's work. The 
 results have been surprising to himself, but he does not expect 
 he is now saying the final word on this subject ; other ' finds ' 
 possibly may be made and other facts learned that may neces- 
 sitate further material changes of view ; but he asks only for 
 an impartial reading of what he has to say, and hopes that as 
 a whole his work may prove to be well done, and to be a sub- 
 stantial addition to the already numerous accounts of Robert 
 Browne's life. 
 
 Especially within the last year many a new point concern- 
 ing Browne has come to the writer's attention. During this 
 time he has discovered the two most extended manuscripts 
 of Browne's apparently still extant. Together they cover 
 seventy-one folio pages and furnish us with between fifty 
 and sixty thousand words all in his own handwriting. These 
 manuscripts have been practically lost sight of for about 
 three hundred years, and their discovery wiU make Robert 
 Browne's handwriting better known than that of many notable 
 men of the sixteenth century. The discovery of these writings, 
 together with 'A New Years Guift' (edited in 1904), also 
 makes the writer's total contribution in the last four years 
 to Browne manuscripts hitherto unknown to scholars to 
 consist of eighty folio pages^ or probably between sixty and 
 seventy thousand words. 
 
 Within this last year and particularly during the past eight 
 months the present vniter has also become aware, as never 
 before, of the fact that the early writers, Robert BailUe, 
 Thomas Fuller, Peter Heylyn, Jeremy Collier, and others, 
 while giving many interesting facts concaming Browne, 
 
vi PREFACE 
 
 cannot be relied on for chronological accuracy, and should be 
 used only after the most unsparing criticism. This remark 
 also applies to the work of all those who have followed the 
 statements of these earlier authors, and thus the writer 
 himself is compelled to correct some of his own views else- 
 where expressed. 
 
 In the preparation of these pages he is greatly indebted to 
 the Eev. F. Ives Cater, of Oundle, for the loan of his admirable 
 paper entitled 'New Facts Relating to Robert Browne', re- 
 cently printed in the 'Transactions' of the Congregational 
 Historical Society for January, 1906. This is the most 
 suggestive contribution concerning Browne that has appeared 
 for a long time, and has enabled the writer to complete his 
 study of Browne's life. He is also especially grateful to 
 Dr. J. Vernon Bartlet, Professor of Church History in Mans- 
 field College, Oxford, for a thorough and critical examination 
 of the contents of the following pages, whereby very consider- 
 able improvement has been secured. 
 
 This pamphlet, it may be said, is not published for religious 
 controversial purposes, but rather as a supplement to, and 
 corrective of. Dr. Henry Martyn Dexter's account of Robert 
 Browne's life. It is also intended as a companion work to 
 Dr. Dexter's little volume, entitled ' The True Story of John 
 Smyth, the Se-Baptist ' ; and it is no small pleasure for one 
 who has benefited much by Congregational learning, to be 
 able herewith to present to the Congregationalists of America 
 and England the following 'True Story' of their historical 
 father or pioneer. The writer unfortunately has not been 
 able to adorn this pamphlet with a likeness of Robert Browne, 
 though he wishes he might have done so. Browne certainly 
 deserves a portrait, for the history of New* England may be 
 said really to begin with him, in the religious ideas which he 
 promulgated. Those who have said that Browne was not 
 made of the stuff of which martyrs are made, have at least not 
 spoken the whole truth. A martj^ does not need necessarily 
 to be hanged or to be burned at the stake. In some respects 
 Browne was certainly more of a martyr than Barrowe, Green- 
 wood, or Penry. The authorities ruined his life just as much 
 
PREFACE vii 
 
 as they did theirs. Their penalty was quickly executed ; but 
 Browne was practically allowed to- die for forty years, before 
 he was trundled off to Northampton Gaol. Robert Browne 
 has sometimes been looked upon as a coward and an apostate. 
 This is certainly too harsh judgement, for in reality he was 
 a singularly honest and an unusually brave man, as becomes 
 more and more apparent the better he is understood. 
 
 To the librarians and other officials of the many English 
 libraries which have been visited in the preparation of this 
 work, and which are almost too numerous here to record by 
 name, the writer hereby extends his very hearty thanks for 
 the many favours he has received at their hands. Among 
 those who have been exceptionally kind to him while engaged 
 in these researches, he would especially mention: the Rev. 
 Sadler Phillips, Hon. Secretary of the Church Historical 
 Society ; Mr. S. Wayland Kershaw, M.A., Librarian of Lam- 
 beth Palace Library, London ; Mr. Falconer Madan, M.A., Sub- 
 Librarian of the Bodleian Library, and Fellow of Brasenose 
 College, Oxford ; Mr. Rushbrooke, Head Master of St. Olave's 
 Grammar School, Southwark ; Mr. Francis J. H. Jenkinson, 
 M.A., Librarian of the University Library, Cambridge; 
 Mr. Charles W. Moule, M.A., Senior Fellow and Librarian 
 of Corpus Christi College; Professor J. S. Reid, D.Litt., 
 Librarian of Gonville and Caius College ; Mr. Arthur Gray, 
 M.A., Tutor of Jesus College; Mr. E. W. Lockhaxt, Sub- 
 Librarian of St. John's College ; Mr. James D. H. Dickson, 
 M.A., F.R.S.E., Fellow of Peterhouse ; Rev. Robert Sinker, 
 D.D., Librarian, and Mr. William White, Sub-Librarian, of 
 Trinity College, Cambridge; Mr. John A. Herbert, B.A., 
 Superintendent of the Manuscript Reading Room in the 
 British Museum; Mr. George K. Fortescue, Keeper of the 
 Printed Books in the British Museum ; Sir Edward Maunde 
 Thompson, K.C.B., &o., &c., Director and Principal Librarian of 
 the British Museum ; the Bishops of Norwich and London ; 
 the Archbishop of Canterbury ; and his Excellency, the Hon. 
 Whitelaw Reid, Ambassador of the United States of America. 
 
 C. B. 
 Oxford, April 25, 1906. 
 
' But as I judge it to be the noblest occupation to gaze on the truth, 
 60 it is the greatest dishonour to accept falsities for truths.' 
 {The Acactemics 0/ Ctcero as translated by Prof. 3. S. Beid, Litt.D., p. 57, sect. 66.) 
 
CHAPTEK I 
 
 THE PERIOD OF EDUCATION AND NONCON- 
 FORMITY (1568?-Oct. 7, 1585). 
 
 I. The Yeabs spent in England sucoebsivelt as Student, 
 
 Teaoheb, Preaoheb, and Oeganizee of a Separatist 
 
 Chubch (1568?— Jan. 1581/3 ?i). 
 
 From the time of Thomas Fuller it has been the custom of 
 those who have made a study of Robert Browne's life to give 
 considerable emphasis to the important standing of the Browne 
 family. The point of view, however, taken by later Congrega- 
 tional scholars in speaking of Browne in relation to his notable 
 ancestry, is naturally somewhat different from that adopted 
 by the earlier wiiters. Fuller seems rather to suggest a 
 contrast between the 'ancient and worshipfuU family' and 
 Robei-t (styled by Bredwell ' Troublechuroh ') Browne, and to 
 seek to make it appear strange that so great a family could 
 produce such a disturber of the Church's peace. Congrega- 
 tional scholars, however, refer with pride to the same ' ancient 
 and worshipfuU family ', to show that the father of Con- 
 gregationalism came from stock of more than ordinary reputa- 
 tion. To the present writer further attention to the Browne 
 family appears unnecessary. Those who delight in genea- 
 logical lore may go to Dr. Dexter's account of Browne's life, 
 or to Mr. Cater's admirable article on ' Robert Browne's 
 Ancestors and Descendants '.^ It is sufficient for us to know 
 that Browne came of a highly respectable family of even 
 honourable position, and that Robert also, if he had early 
 
 ' The dates of the years throughout these pages, unless within quotation 
 marks, are given both in Old and New Style. The dates of the month 
 always given in Old Style. 
 
 ' In the ' Transactions ' of the Congregational Historical Society for 
 September, 1905 (vol. ii, no. 3), pp. 151-9. 
 
 B 
 
2 THE PERIOD OF EDUCATION 
 
 chosen to follow the ways of the world, might himself have 
 been highly honoured. In time, too, it seems reasonable to 
 believe that he will have his honours, or at any rate become 
 better known to the world of to-day than any other member 
 of his ' ancient and worshipfuU family '. 
 
 Robert was the third son of Anthony Browne, who was 
 ' bom at Tolethorpe in 1515 ', and ' was sheriflf of Rutlandshire 
 in 1546, 1558, and 1571 '} He was bom probably about 1550, 
 but at present no record of the date of his birth is known. Of 
 his early life also we know practically nothing, except that 
 he had been ' brought vp in sohooles, & in the Vniuersitie of 
 Cambridge ' ^, where as a graduate of Corpus Christi College, 
 ' being placed 18th in the list,' he took the degree of B.A. in 
 1572.3 While in the University he was apparently 'knovvne 
 & counted forward in religion '.* After taking his degree it 
 is possible that he remained in Cambridge for some time, 
 and even then he evidently 'suffered some trouble' for his 
 advanced views," About 1575 he seems to have begun ' to 
 teach schoUers ' *, probably because he did not feel justified 
 in taking orders. There appears to be no good reason to 
 believe that Browne taught during this period in London. 
 More probably at this time he was teacher at some small 
 place like Stamford, where family influence would have given 
 him a good position. Here he remained 'for the space of 
 three yeares . . . hauing a special care to teach religion with 
 other learning '.'' In this work he seems to have had success 
 and to have kept ' his schoUers in such awe & good order, as 
 all the Tounseme where he taught gaue him vvitnes '.* Yet 
 he was not content, for as he noticed the great faults of the 
 times and brooded over them, ' he fell into great care, & was 
 soare greened while he long considered manie thinges amisse, 
 & the cause of all, to be the vvofuU and lametable state off 
 
 * ' Robert Browne's Ancestors and Descendants,' as above, p. 154. 
 
 • ' A Trve and Short Declaration,' . . . , Sig. A recto. 
 ' Browne entered Corpus in 1570. 
 
 * ' A Trve and Short Declaration,' . . . , Sig. A. 
 
 • Ibid. Sig. A. « Ibid. ' Ibid. 
 ' 'A Trve and Short Declaration,' . . . , Sig. A. 
 
AND NONCONFORMITY 3 
 
 the church. Wherefore he lahoured much to knowe his duetie 
 in such thiges, ... & night & day did consult with him selfe 
 & others about the, least he should be ignorant, or mistake 
 anie off those matters.' Browne now began to express his 
 views both to his pupils and to ' those of the tovvne vvith 
 vvhome he kept companie'.^ But this conscientiousness 
 only ' got hi much enuie of the preacher & sSe others where 
 he taught, & much trouble also whe he broke his mid more 
 plainlie vnto the. Presetlie after this he was discharged of 
 his schole by the grudge of his enimies. Yet he taught still, 
 with great good Vvill & fauour of the Tounseme, till such 
 time as the plague increased in the Towne . . . '.^ This was 
 probably in the summer of 1578, and being requested to come 
 home, Browne ' gaue warning to the Toune ' and returned to 
 Tolethorpe, where possibly he may have remained for as much 
 as half a year; but apparently becoming restless at this 
 inactive life, ' he asked leaue of his father, & tooke his lournie 
 to Cabridge fro vvhese a few yeares before he had departed,' ^ 
 and where evidently he hoped to be more successful in the 
 work of advancing a reformation in the Church of England. 
 
 Arriving in Cambridge apparently about January, 1578/9, 
 he seems soon to have sought out Mr. Eichard Greenham, 
 of Dry Drayton, a clergyman of Presbyterian inclinations, 
 ' whoe of all others he hard sai was moste forwarde '.* 
 Browne soon came to live in his house, and ' was suffered, 
 as others also in his his \sic\ house, to speake of that part of 
 scripture, Vvhich was vsed to be red after meales. And 
 although he [Greenham] said, that without leaue & special 
 word from the bishop, he was to suffer none to teach openlie 
 in his parish, yet Vvithout anie such leaue he suffered R. B.' *, 
 doubtless because he knew that Burghley, the Lord Treasurer 
 of the realm, and Chancellor of the University, was Browne's 
 kinsman. Robert had not been long in the neighbourhood 
 'when certaine in Cambrige . . boath moued him, & also 
 vvith consent of the Maior & Yice-chancelar, called him 
 
 ' ' A Trve and Short Declaration,' . . . , Sig. A recto and verso. 
 ' Ibid. Sig. A verso. ' Ibid. Sig. A verso. 
 
 * Ibid. ' Ibid. 
 
4 THE PERIOD OF EDUCATION 
 
 to preach among them,' ^ being at this time clearly of 
 Presbyterian inclination, like his teacher, Biohai-d Greenham. 
 Browne, however, hesitated to accept this invitation, because 
 he saw that he would be compelled to be ordained or licensed 
 by a bishop ; and this fact brought him face to face with the 
 question as to whether ordination, or even licensing, by a 
 bishop could be tolerated by him, and after much thought 
 and conference he decided in the negative, as he states in the 
 following citations : — 
 
 ' Then did E. B. againe & againe discusse these matters, as he had 
 often before, as whether the byshopes coulde be saied to preach 
 the word of God & minister the sacraments or no. For if that 
 were trewe, then also might they call & place ministers : & seing 
 they them selues did minister so great a thing as is the vvorde & 
 the sacraments, they might also minister their help in other things 
 not so great. Therfore to knowe whether they preached the word 
 of God, he searched & foud by the scriptures what it is to preach 
 the word : namely to do the Lordes message ... in teaching the 
 people those thinges, whereby they might turn them from their 
 euill waies & from the wickednes of their inuentions. Therefore 
 except they haue a due message, they can not preach the word off 
 message. For I set them not saieth the Lord in that place, nor 
 commaunded them, therefore they bring no profit vnto this 
 people.' ^ 
 
 'Therefore though the byshopes teach the people, & geue them 
 lawes, & make manie iniunctions, yea though they be lawes of 
 Christ, yet if they abuse the obedience of the people, to houlde and 
 foUowe with some lawes of Christ their owne lawes especiallie, 
 what are they but anti-christes ? " . . . 
 
 ' If then for such doctrine they [the Pharisees] were called blind 
 guides and fooles by Christ him selfe, . . . yea & though they sate 
 in Moses seat, that is at first were lawefullie called to teach the 
 people, yet the people were charged by Christ toe lett alone such 
 blind guides, & not to be guided by them. Matt 15, 14. howe 
 much more should we let these blind guides alone, which neuer 
 were lawfully called and also sit in the seat of Antichrist.'* . . . 
 
 * ' A Trve and Short Declaration,' . . . , Sig. A verso. 
 
 > Ibid. Sig. Aj. » Ibid. Sig. A,. * Ibid. 
 
AND NONCONFORMITY 5 
 
 In spite of these conclusions on Browne's part, however, 
 his brother (Philip?) applied to Archbishop GrindaJl for a 
 licence for him, and on June 6, and June 7, 1579, respectively, 
 Robert was granted Dimissory Letters and a Licence to preachi 
 written in Latin, sealed vnth the Archbishop's seal, and 
 couched in the following terms ^ : — 
 
 'Literoe dimissoriae concessoe 
 
 Boberto Browne in artibus 
 
 BacchaZoMreo &e' 
 
 ' WilleZmMs Awbrey et WilleZmMS Clerk legum doctores officio 
 vicariatus in Sp«n<ualibu3 generalis et officiaUtatis principalis Sedis 
 Archiepiscojjalis Gaxiiuaxiensis comuractim et diuisim legitime 
 fiingen^es DUectis " Nobis in Ghnsto Boberto Browne in Artibus 
 BacchaZaureo in diocesi Petriburgensi Cantuariensis provincial 
 oriundo Salutem in domino sempiternam vt a quocutnqt«e Eptscqpo 
 Catholico officij sui execucionem obtinen^i ad omnes sacros ordines 
 quos nondum es assequutus [assecutus] iuxta morem et ritum 
 ecclesiae Anglicanae in ea parte pie et salubriter editos et ordina- 
 tos libere et licite promoveri possis et valeas. Dummodo, etate 
 Moribus et h'feratura repertus fueris idoneus aliudqtte Canonicum 
 in ea parte tibi non obsistat impedimentum Super quibus ordinan- 
 tis' Gonscientiam oncramws tarn Episcopo hmusmodi predictos 
 ordines cofiferendo quam tibi eosdem recipiendo plenam et liberam 
 tenore praesentium quantum in nobis est et de iure possimtcs cow- 
 cedimMS facultatem[.] In cuius rei testimonium Sigilluw quo in 
 similibus vtimur praesentibws Apponi feoimMs[.] Dat^m VI'° 
 Die mensis Junij Anno Domini Milleaimo quingentesimo Septua- 
 gesimo Nono/.** 
 
 ^ Text from the copies written in Archbishop Grindall's Register, 
 fol. 176, recto. Letters in italics indicate the extension of abbreriations. 
 '' sic pro Dilecto. ' sic pro ordinandia. 
 
 * This may be rendered into English as follows : — 
 ' Letters dimissoiy granted 
 to Robert Browne, Bachelor 
 of Arts, &c.' 
 ' William Awbrey and William Clerk, doctors of law, jointly and 
 separately according to law exercising the office of vicar-general in 
 spiritual affairs and of official principal for the Archiepiscopal See of 
 Canterbury, to our beloved in Christ, Robert Browne, Bachelor of Arts, 
 bom in the diocese of Peterborough and province of Canterbury, greeting 
 
6 THE PERIOD OF EDUCATION 
 
 ' likenda, predicandi concessa 
 Koberto Browne in artibus 
 Bacchalaureo &e' 
 ' Willelmus Awbrey et WilleZmMs Clerk legum doctores officio 
 vicaiiatus in spintualibus generalis et officialitatis principalis Sedis 
 Archieptscojjalis Caatuariensis coniunctiia et diuisim legitime fun- 
 gentes Dilecto Nobis in Chrisf o Roberto Browne in Artibus Baccha- 
 Icmreo Salwtem in auctbore saluti3[.] Literantm sacrarum Sciencia 
 vitae probitas et alioe Dotes prudencioe et yirtutis de quibus Nobis 
 Gomendaris Merito Nos inducunt vt in comwtodum ecclesiae 
 suscitemtis hec dona tibi Diyinitus Data[.] Ad predicandtcm igitur 
 et exponendwm \eihum Dei publice sermone latino vel vulgari 
 Clero et populo in qaacximque Ecclesia per provinciam Oantuariewsem 
 vbilibet constituta modo te laudabilifer gesseris licenciam et facul- 
 tatem tibi tenore pniesentium OoucludimMS et impertimur ad 
 nostrum, beneplacttum duraturas[.] In cuius rei testimonium 
 Sigillujw nostrMm quo in similibus vtimur praesentibMS Apponi 
 fecim««s[.] Dattww Septimo die Mensis Junij Anno Domini millesimo 
 quingentesimo Septuagesimo Nono / ' ' 
 
 in the Lord everlasting. We grant the means full and free by the tenor 
 of [these] presents, as much as in us is and by law -we are able, that by 
 any Catholic Bishop in the execution of his office thou mayst freely and 
 lawfully be advanced to all those sacred orders which thou hast not yet 
 attained, according to the custom and rite of the Anglican Church reli- 
 giously and beneficially promulgated and ordained in that part, provided 
 that thou shalt have been found of suitable age, character, and learning, 
 and that no other Canonical obstacle in that part hinder thee — concerning 
 which injunctions we burden the conscience, quite as much of the Bishop, 
 who confers these aforesaid orders, as of thee, who receivest the same. 
 In witness of which thing we have caused the seal, which we use in 
 similar circumstances, to be affixed. Dated on the vi*i» day of the month 
 of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand five hundred seventy-nine.' 
 
 ' This may be rendered into English as follows : — 
 ' Licence to preach granted 
 to Robert Browne, Bachelor 
 of Arts, &o.' 
 
 'William Awbrey and William Clerk, doctors of law, jointly and 
 separately according to law exercising the office of vicar-general in 
 spiritual affairs and of official principal for the Archiepiscopal See 
 of Canterbury, to our beloved in Christ, Robert Browne, Bachelor of Arts, 
 greeting in the author of salvation. Thy knowledge of sacred literature, 
 uprightnesB of life, and other gifts of prudence and virtue, concerning 
 
AND NONCONFORMITY 7 
 
 Although the Archbishop appears to have been very kindly 
 disposed, Browne, who for the time being seems to have been 
 away from Cambridge, and probably in London, nevertheless 
 says that ' he both refused ' ' the bishopes seales ' ^ (that is, the 
 licence to preach) ' beffore the officers [? William Awbrey and 
 William Clerk], & being written for him vvuold not paie for 
 them, & also being afterward paied for by his brother, he 
 lost one, & burnt an other in the fier, & an other being sent 
 him to Cambridge, he kept it by him, till in his trouble it 
 was deliuered to a lustisse off peace, & so from him, as is 
 supposed, to the bishop off Norwich '.^ 
 
 From Thomas Fuller's account it appears that the call to 
 preach in Cambridge came from 'Bennet- Church'.* But 
 though Browne preached there, as he says, 'about halfe 
 a yeare, both by open preaching, & by daiely exhortation 
 in sundrie houses,' * ' he did not take charge off them, . . . for 
 that he sawe the parishes in such spirituaU bondage, that 
 Who soeuer Would take charge off them, must also come into 
 that bondage With them.' * Some idea of the preaching that 
 Browne gave the people of Cambridge can easily be obtained 
 from the fact that, among other things, ' he openlie preached 
 against the calling & authorising of preachers by bishops.' * 
 No wonder that ' D'. Still, afterwards Master of Trinity (out 
 of curiosity, or casually present at his preaching) discovered 
 
 which thou art commended to us, justly induce tis for the advantage of 
 the Ohurch to stir up these gifts by divine Providence given to thee. 
 Therefore we conclude and bestow upon thee by the tenor of [these] 
 presents the licence and means (to last at our good pleasure) for preaching 
 and expounding the word of God publicly in the Latin or vulgar tongue to 
 the clergy and people in any church throughout the province of Canterbury 
 wherever located, provided thou shalt have commendably behaved thyself. 
 In witness of which thing we have caused our seal, which we use in similar 
 circumstances, to be affixed. Dated on the seventh day of the month of 
 June in the year of our Lord one thousand five hundred seventy-nine.' 
 
 ' ' A Trve and Short Declaration,' . . . , Sig. A3 verso. 
 
 " Ibid. 
 
 ' The writer knows of no satisfactory evidence that Browne preached 
 in ' Bennet-Church ' before this period of his life. 
 
 * ' A Trve and Short Declaration,' . . . , Sig. A, verso. 
 
 » Ibid. " Ibid, 
 
8 THE PERIOD OF EDUCATION 
 
 in him something extraordinary, which he presaged would 
 prove the disturbance of the Church, if not seasonably pre- 
 vented.' ^ The people, however, seem to have been well 
 pleased with Browne's preaching : ' thei gathered him a sti- 
 pend, and would haue had him take charge,'^ but 'he re- 
 fused, and did both send backe the monie thei would haue 
 giuen him, and also gaue them warning of his departure . 
 Still ' he continued preaching a while '.* 
 
 Apparently early in January, 1579/80, ' he fell soare sicke : 
 and in his sicknes while he ceased his labour, he was for- 
 bidden to preach hie a letter shewed him from the counsell.' ' 
 This must have occurred about the end of January*, and 
 Browne says the ' bishops [i. e. presumably the Archbishop's] 
 officer, named Bancraft, did read the letter before him'.'' 
 This was evidently no other than Richard Bancroft, who on 
 August 9, 1584, was appointed chaplain of Archbishop Whit- 
 gift *, and later became the great opponent of Brownists and 
 BarrowJsts, as well as of Thomas Cartwiight and his sym- 
 pathizers, and who was probably on that account made 
 Bishop of London, and finally Archbishop of Canterbury. 
 Thus began Bancroft's acquaintance with Robert Browne, 
 and we can hardly imagine that either found the other an 
 attractive personality. However this may be, after giving 
 expression to some rather haughty words ', Browne promised 
 
 ' Thomas Fuller's ' Church-History of Britain ', 1655, p. 166. 
 
 2 'ATrve and Short Declaration,' - . . , Big. A.^ recto. 
 
 » Ibid. * Ibid. » Ibid. 
 
 " In Archbishop Grindall's Register (fol. 191, recto) is a letter from 
 the Privy Council dated 'London the xvij"' of lanuarye 1579 ', requesting 
 him not to allow in his diocese any longer such ministers as are ' termed 
 reading and ministring mynysters. and some Preachers and no Sacra- 
 mente Ministers ', &c. 
 
 In compliance -with this request Grindall issued a general order on 
 ' this xviijti' of lanuary 1579 ', to send to him the names of ' obstinate 
 and intractable ' ministers, as required by ' her Mat'Mes moast honorable 
 pryvye Counsayle ', &c. (fol. 191, recto and verso). 
 
 ' ' A Trve and Short Declaration,' . . . , Sig. Aj recto. 
 
 ' See vol. vi. of Charters, &c. (No. 52) in Lambeth Palace Library. 
 The appointment is in Latin. 
 
 » ' A Trve and Short Declaration,' . . . , Sig. A^ recto. 
 
AND NONCONFORMITY 9 
 
 not to preach longer in Cambridge, and so it appears Bancroft 
 departed. 
 
 After Browne had recovered from his illness, evidently in 
 the spring of 1580, and while he was deliberating ' Vvhat he 
 might do for the name & kingdom of God '^ ' he remembred 
 some in Norfolke [probably meaning at Bury St. Edmunds,^ 
 which he later visited], Vvhome he harde saie were verie 
 forward ... & thought it his duetie to take his voiage to 
 them.'* But before he left Cambridge an acquaintance, 
 Robert* Harrison, returned thither with the thought 'to 
 haue entred the ministerie ',^ and conferred with Browne con- 
 cerning the matter, but ' ether changing his mind, or disap- 
 pointed of his purpose, returned to Norwich ',^ where he held 
 the position of ' Maister in the Hospitall '.'' This must have 
 taken place in the spring of 1580, and ' a short time after ' * 
 Browne himself came to Norwich, apparently by previoua 
 arrangement with Harrison, and boarded in his house. On 
 the way to Norwich Browne may have visited Bury St. 
 Edmunds. 
 
 At this period Norwich had among its population very many 
 Dutch people, who had come over to England for purposes 
 of trade, and it is natural to believe that among them were at 
 least some of Anabaptist tendencies. Whether Browne at 
 this time came to know many of these Dutch immigrants, it 
 is diflScult with certainty to say; but it seems extremely 
 
 ' 'A Trve and Short Declaration,' . . . , Sig. A4 recto. 
 
 " Of course Bury St. Edmunds is strictly speaking not in Norfolk. 
 
 ' ' A Trve and Short Declaration,' . . , , Sig. A4 recto. 
 
 • As ' A Trve and Short Declaration ' always speaks of Harrison as 
 Robert Harrison, it appears that Professor Edward Arber and the British. 
 Museum catalogue are wrong in calling him Richard Harrison. 
 
 • ' A Trve and Short Declaration,' . . . , Sig. A^ verso. 
 
 • ftid. 
 
 '' The Rev. J. H. Shakespeare, M.A., in his admirable little volume just 
 published, entitled ' Baptist and Congregational Pioneers ', says (p. 33) 
 that this was the ' Old Man's Hospital '. 
 
 ' ' A Trve and Short Declaration,' . . . , Sig. A^ verso. In the light of 
 present evidence it is apparent that Browne did not visit Holland at 
 this time. His projects had not yet advanced so far. 
 
lo THE PERIOD OF EDUCATION 
 
 likely that he at least conferred with some of them.^ To be 
 sure it has been said that Browne never speaks of the Dutch 
 in Norwich ^, and the writer has noticed that he refers to the 
 Anabaptists only once in all his writings ' ; but in that instance 
 he also has nothing to say against them, a remarkable fact 
 considering the horror with which Englishmen usually at that 
 time regarded them. May we then not justly infer, that while 
 Browne may never have had any sympathy with their views 
 on baptism, he may nevertheless, and especially later in 
 Holland, have found kind men among them, and therefore 
 never felt that he could help to injure them, while his own 
 countrymen were doing all they could to crush him 1 
 
 It would seem that Browne may now at Norwich have begun 
 teaching again in order to support himself, though he does 
 not mention the fact. However this be, in a letter to Arch- 
 bishop Grindall ' from the Lords of the Counsaile ', dated ' the 
 viij of lune 1580 ', complaint is made that ' a greate parte of 
 the Corruption in religion growne throughout the Realme 
 proceadeth of lewde Scholemasters that teache and instructe 
 Children aswell publickly and pryvatly in mennes howses 
 infecting eche ' ; that all such Schoolmasters should be exa- 
 mined as to their religion ; ' And yf any shalbe founde corrupt 
 and vnworthy,' that they ' be Displaced and proceaded withall 
 
 * Dr. W. T. Bensly, Registrar and Secretary of the Bishop of Norwich, 
 writes that ' in vol. ii., p. 1188, of the " Norfolk Tour", printed in 1829 
 by John Stacy of Norwich, there is a footnote that Robert Browne 
 preached in the East End or Choir (called the Dutch Church) of St. 
 Andrew's Hall, formerly the Church of the Blackfriars at Norwich '. This 
 may be true, but it needs confirmation. The present writer now feels 
 obliged to conclude that at least before the summer of 1581, and prob- 
 ably even later, the prevailing influence in shaping Robert Browne's 
 religious views was the Fresbyterianism of Cartwright and others, not 
 Anabaptism ; but the latter may nevertheless have had some share later 
 in determining his modes of thought. 
 
 " The name ' Tatsel ' in ' A Trve and Short Declaration ' is the only one 
 mentioned in that work which may possibly be of foreign extraction. 
 
 ' In 'A Treatise vpon the 23. of Jlfof-|thewe ', . . . (Sig. Hj recto), 
 where he says : ' yet againe for this matter they bring in Caluin against 
 VB, and accuse vs for Anabaptistes and Donatistes.' . . . 
 
AND NONCONFORMITY il 
 
 ae other recusantes and fytt and sound persons placed in their 
 roomes'. It will be observed that this great desire for uni- 
 formity did not proceed immediately from the Archbishop 
 and Bishops but from the Privy Council, of which Burghley 
 himself was a member! In this light Burghley may have 
 been both a persecutor and a defender of Robert Browne. 
 
 At any rate Browne steadily advanced in his religious opi- 
 nions, and not long after his arrival in Norwich, he appears 
 to have come to the conclusion that there could be for him no 
 middle way of reformation such as even the Puritan ministers, 
 Mr. Greenham, Mr. ' Eobardes ', Mr. More, Mr. Deering, and 
 others were content to enjoy, and that these men could not 
 and would not join in his plan as Harrison evidently had 
 wished. In fact Harrison apparently was at first not averse 
 to partial conformity. Browne and Harrison now seem on 
 many occasions to have talked over the various problems 
 concerning the church, and among them, as to what profit 
 was to be gained from the ordinary preachers of the Church 
 of England, and as to whether faith could be ' wrought ' by 
 such preachers. 
 
 ' Then thei both tould how faieth Vvas first Vvrough[t] & bred 
 in the. But herein thei agreed not, because B. H. said that faith 
 might be bred & first wrought in some, onelie bie reading the 
 scriptures : and B. B. saied, no. For though it might be 
 nourished and increased bie such reading, yet the first Yvorcking 
 thereof, is by hearing the word preached : as Paul saith, Bom. 
 10. 14. howe shall Vve beleue on him on [sic\ Vvhom VYe haue 
 not hard, & howe shall We heare Vvithout a preacher. And least 
 reading should be taken for preaching, it is said, howe shall thei 
 preach except thei be sent. So also least hearing the Vvord, should 
 be taken for hearing it read, Paul saith afterward, that faith 
 Cometh by hearing & hearing by the word of God : meaning by 
 the Word of God the Vvorde off message in his mouth whome God 
 sendeth. So then faith is not Vvrought by reading, nether bie 
 preachers, nor bie preaching : but by the preaching of those which 
 are sent bie the Lord, if his grace in our harts do worck there- 
 withall for else all preaching & our hearing also is fruictles.". . . 
 
 ' ' A Trve and Short Declaration,' . , . , Sig. B, recto and verso. 
 
12 THE PERIOD OF EDUCATION 
 
 Thus Browne won Han-ison over to his various new opi- 
 nions, and to this view of how faith was * wrought ' Browne 
 stood fast even throughout the later controversy with BaiTOwe 
 and Greenwood, and probably to the end of his Hfe. Many 
 of his other ideas, especially those which were somewhat un- 
 charitable, changed with time, and in this respect the father 
 of Congregationalism much resembles John Smyth, the 
 Se-Baptist, and in a certain sense the father of the modem 
 Baptists. 
 
 If indeed Browne had now begun to teach again, he certainly 
 busied himself chiefly in gathering together a ' companie ' of 
 people and in expounding to them his views on religion. In 
 this work he must have had considerable success, and possibly 
 in order to increase his company he made missionary tours 
 into the neighbouring country. Among other things he told 
 his hearers, ' & also set dovvne in Vvriting,' ^ ' that we are 
 to forsake & denie all vngodlines and wicked felloweship, 
 and to refuse all vngodlie communion with Vvicked persons. 
 For this is it that is most & first of all needfull : because God 
 will receaue none to communion & couenant Vvith him, 
 Vvhich as yet are at one vvith the Vvicked, or do openlie 
 them selues transgresse his commaundementes.' ^ 
 
 'Behould their worthie building [i. e. of the popish kind of parishes] : 
 it is made of strawes, the beames be stubble, & the walls be hai & 
 withered grasse : nai rather those their vile & popish decrees & 
 traditions, are the synewes, & veins of that monster Antichrist : 
 their conclusions & lavves made in popish conuocations likewise 
 their yearli iniunctios made to persecute the forwardest, be the 
 bloud & marrow or rather the strength and poinson [?] of that 
 monster. Their stinted service is a popish beadrow [beadroll] full 
 of vaine repeticions as if seauen paternosters did please the Lord bet- 
 ter then syx : & as if the chatteriag of a pie or a parate were much 
 more the better, because it is much more the enough. Their 
 tossing to & fro of psalmes & senteses is like tenisseplaie whereto 
 God is called a ludg who can do best & be most gallant in his 
 worshipp : as bie organs, solfaing, prieksong chaating, bussing & 
 
 1 -A Trve and Short Declaration,' . . . , Sig. Bj verso, and Sig. B, 
 recto. 
 
AND NONCONFORMITY 13 
 
 mumling verie roundlie, on diuers handes. Thus thei haue a 
 shewe of religion, but in deed thei turne it to gaming, & plaie 
 mockholidaie with the worship of God. For the minister & 
 people are bridled like horses & euerie thing appointed ynto them 
 like puppies : as to heare, read, ansvuere, knele, sitt, stand, beginn, 
 breake of, & that by number, measure, & course, & onelie after the 
 order of antichrist. Their w^hole seruice is broken, disordered, 
 patched, taken out of the masse book, & a dum & idle ministerie 
 manteined therebie yea a vaine worsh[i]p Arvithout knowelege 
 and feeling. 
 
 * And' what difference is there betwene praiing on beades, & the 
 mimibling vp of so manye Lordes praiers, so manie bablinges bie 
 the priest, & so manie ansvueres by the dark & people ? For no 
 part of the seruice must be left out by the bishops iniunctions." 
 
 This last, it must be admitted, is an exceedingly harsh and 
 spicy passage. If Browne preached regularly in this style, 
 we hardly wonder that the authorities felt it necessary some- 
 what to temper his spirit, however truly he spoke. The 'com- 
 panie ', however, seem to have been especially pleased with 
 the separatist ideas and 'mauie [i.e. manie] did agree thereto ;' ^ 
 but then ' triall by pursuites, losses, & imprisonment cae, & 
 further increased'^, and 'some Fell awaie'.^ In order ap- 
 parently to overcome such weaknesses, the ' companie ' was 
 now more strictly organized by the use of a covenant. This 
 probably occurred early in the spring of 1581. It may be 
 that even Browne himself on account of persecution found it 
 advisable to leave Norwich for a time, and this may account 
 for his journeying about and disturbing the whole diocese of 
 the Bishop of Norwich. At any rate he evidently now carried 
 out the plan he had in mind, just before Harrison came back 
 to Cambridge, of going into ' Norfolke '. It is probable that 
 he visited various places, as well as Bury St. Edmunds, where 
 he made so considerable stir among the people, that he was 
 apprehended not long before April 19, 1581, and Dr. ' Freke ', 
 Bishop of Norwioh, writing to Lord Burghley on that date, 
 
 ' ' A Trve and Short Declaration,' - . . , Sig. B, verso. 
 > Ibid. Sig. Ca recto. 
 
14 THE PERIOD OF EDUCATION 
 
 felt called upon to give the following lively description of 
 him 1 : — 
 
 'And herwtth I do send vnto yowr "Lordship other articles 
 ministred against one Bobert Browne a miniester. & his personall 
 answers thervnto, the said party being lately apprehended in this 
 country vpon Gomplante made by many godly preachers [probably 
 Pm:itans°] for delyvering vnto y« people corrupt & contentious 
 doetryne, conceaved & sett downe more at large in y^ same articles, 
 his arrogant spirite of reproving being such as is to be merveled 
 at the man being also to be feared least if he were at Ubertie he 
 would seduce y* vulgar sort of the people who greatly depend of 
 him \sic\ assembling them selues together to the number of an 
 hundred at a tyme in privat howses & conventicles to heaie him, 
 not without danger of some yll event ' . . . 
 
 In reply to this communication the Lord Treasurer two 
 days later (April 21) wrote a letter *, a part of which reads aa 
 follows : — 
 
 ' Forasmuch, as he [Browne] is my kinsman ; if he be son 
 to him whom I take him to be, and that his errour seemeth to 
 proceed of zeal rather then of malice, I do therefore wish he were 
 charitably conferred with and reformed, which course I pray your 
 Lordship may be taken with him, either by your Lordship or such 
 as your Lordship shall assigne for that purpose. And in case 
 there shall not follow thereof such success, as may be to your 
 liking, that then you would be content to permit him to repair 
 hither to London, to be further dealt with as I shall take order for 
 upon his coming, for which purpose I have written a letter to the 
 Sheriff [of Norfolk, in whose charge Browne then was], if your 
 Lordship shall like thereof.' . . . 
 
 The writing of this letter evidently resulted in Browne's 
 visiting London, where he was for some time imprisoned, and 
 
 * Lansdowne MS. 33 (No. 13), in the British Museum. 
 
 ' See "A New Years Guift', where Browne says, p. 27, 'for once 
 imprisonment by the byshops, I haue bene more then thrise imprisoned 
 by the preachers or their proouringe/,' and p. 26, 'I haue found much 
 more wronge done me by the preachers of discipline, then by anie the 
 Byshops/.' . . . 
 
 • T. Fuller's 'Church-History', London, 1655, Book IX, p. 166. 
 
AND NONCONFORMITY 15 
 
 where also he must have received some good advice from his 
 noble kinsman. This imprisonment seems to have suggested 
 to his followers that they ought to flee into Scotland, and 
 some of them in Browne's absence sought to execute their 
 desire. Hearing of this, Browne tried to dissuade them by 
 writing from his prison to the contrary — showing that the 
 company had not yet decided whether they should leave 
 England at all ; that they still had work to do in their own 
 country ; that they should at any rate not flee like cowards, 
 but rather as delivered ' by the Lord ' ; and finally, that 
 Scotland was no suitable place of refuge, seeing it was too 
 conformable to England. On this advice the church decided 
 not to remove into Scotland, but nevertheless some suggested 
 that they might profitably go to 'Gersey or Gamsey', i.e. 
 Jersey or Guernsey.^ To this project Browne replied that he 
 had no objection, except that ' there was no such hast to be 
 gone out of England ' ^, and that they might well deliberate 
 a little longer over the matter. 
 
 After Browne had been freed from his imprisonment, and 
 possibly while on his way back to Norwich, he passed through 
 Bury St. Edmunds a second time, and was again apprehended. 
 From a letter ' of Bishop ' Freke ' to Lord Burghley, dated 
 August 2, 1581, we learn that this second imprisonment began 
 about that date. Dr. ' Freke ' now piteously complains, 
 
 'that thoughe M' Brownes late Gomminge into my dioces, and 
 teachinge straunge and daungerous doctrine, in all disordered 
 manner, hadde greatlie troubled the whole Cuntrie, and broughte 
 manie to greate disobedience of all lawe and magistrates : yett by 
 the good ayde and helpe of my Lorde Cheife lustice, and M' 
 
 • That Browne's ' companie ' were still very strongly inclined towards 
 Presbyterianism, is clearly indicated by the fact that they first thought 
 of going to Scotland; then to Jersey or Guernsey, where Heylyn 
 ('HISTORY I OF THE | Presbyterians. I' . . . , Oxford, 1670, p. 290) 
 says Cartwright had not long before ' settled the Presbytery ' ; and 
 finally they actually went to Middelburg, where Cartwright himself was. 
 These facts make it all the more probable that th^ at first joined Cart- 
 wright's congregation in Middelburg. 
 
 » ' A Trve and Short Declaration,' . . . , Sig. C3 recto. 
 
 ' Lansdowne MS. 33 (No. 20), in the British Museum. 
 
i6 THE PERIOD OF EDUCATION 
 
 lustes Anderson his associate, the Chefest of suche factions wei« 
 so bridled, and the rest of their followers so greatlie dismaied, as 
 I verilie hoaped of muehe good, and quietnes [?] to haue thereof 
 ensued, hadde not the saied Browne now returned, contrarie to my 
 expectation, and greatlie preiudeced these ther good proceadinges. 
 Who hauinge priuate meetinges in such Close and secrett manner 
 
 as that I know not possible [sic\, howe to suppresse the same, 
 
 And therefore the CarefuU dewtie I ought to haue to the Cuntrie 
 beinge my Charge, enforseth me to craue most earnestlie your 
 liordshipB helpe in suppressinge him especiallie, that no farther 
 inconvenience followe by this his returne,' . . . 
 
 Aboutthe same time^ Sir Robert JermynalsowroteBurghley, 
 saying, among other things, according to Strype's abstract, 
 ' That Mr. Browne came by chance to Bury ' this second time ; 
 and, in closing, that he would move the said ' lord treasurer 
 to advise Browne to a more careful regard of himself in so 
 deep and dangerous a matter ; the man being young both in 
 years and experience; and to threaten him, that he should 
 be very sharply censured to the example of others '. 
 
 Apparently within a few days after these letters were 
 written, Browne found himself once more in a London prison, 
 this time for a considerable period. Others also of his little 
 company, probably some of the leading spirits, were hunted 
 out and imprisoned, while the rest were 'in great trouble 
 & bondage out of prison '. Very likely it was late in the 
 autumn of 1581 before they were all free again, and then 
 ' thei all agreed, & were fuUie perswaded that the Lord did 
 call the out of England '.^ 
 
 II. The Sepabatist Experiment in Holland 
 (Jan. 1581/2?— Autumn, 1583). 
 
 It must have been not far from the beginning of the year 
 1581/2 when Browne's little company, probably by the help 
 
 ' John Strype, in his 'Annals of the Reformation', Oxford, 1824, ■ 
 vol. iii, part I, pp. 30-1, gives a portion of this letter but not its exact 
 date. Where the original is the writer does not know, nor where 
 Dr. Dexter obtained the date he gives to this letter. 
 
 ' ' A Trve and Short Declaration,' . . . , Sig. Cj. 
 
AND NONCONFORMITY 17 
 
 of good-hearted Dutch merchants in Norwich, arrived at 
 Middelburg, Zealand. Browne and a few of the leading 
 men in the church may poBsibly have gone over before the 
 majority to ' spy out the land ', so to speak, and may even 
 have returned in order to give. their impressions in person to 
 the company. However this be, Browne's party undoubtedly 
 chose Middelburg as a place of refuge above all others, because 
 of Cartwright's presence there ; and knowing how nearly his 
 church must have fulfilled the ideal at least of Harrison, and 
 remembering Cartwright's affirmation in his letter to Harrison ^, 
 the writer would by no means be surprised to learn definitely 
 that Browne's company at first joined Cartwright's congrega- 
 tion. Such a union, however, cannot have lasted long. Very 
 soon at least Browne must have begun to hold his church meet- 
 ings in his ' chamber ', and there generally they were thereafter 
 held. But dissension and envy soon made bis life miserable ; 
 and adding to this the fact that he was Ul part of the time, he 
 must after a while have come to feel that he was faring in his 
 own church in Holland almost as poorly as he had previously 
 fared at the hands of the Bishops. It is certainly a wonder 
 that amid all his trouble he had the courage to defend hia 
 position te the world in his well-known volume, entitled, 
 'A Booke I wmcE: SKEWETs' ^ . . . Middelbvrgh, 1582, which 
 
 ^ • your first page had rayeed me vnto some hope for the reuniting of 
 your gelfe, with the rest of your company vnto vs, from whome you haue 
 thought good to sunder your selues.' See Rob. Browne's book, 'An 
 ansTvere ' . . . , p. 86. But this passage more probably means that 
 Harrison and his company after Browne's departure for Scotland joined 
 Cartwright's congregation, and then, possibly on Browne's later return 
 to Holland, decided to withdraw from it. This whole matter is per- 
 plexing. 
 'The full title reads as follows :— 
 
 ' A Booke I WHICH shbwbth thb \ life and manners of all true 
 Christians, \ and howe vnlike they are vnto Turkes and Papistes | 
 and Heathen folke. | Also the pointes and partes of all diuisjnitie 
 that is of the reuealed will and worde of God are | declared by 
 their seuerall Definitions | and Dvuisions in order as fol-\ loweth. | 
 C Also there goeth a Treatise before of | Reformation without 
 tarying for anie, and of the wiokeds| nesse of those Preachers, 
 which will not reforme them | selues and their charge, because 
 
 
 
la THE PERIOD OF EDUCATION 
 
 at first was composed of two, and finally of three, separate 
 treatises, the whole, however, forming one book, not three that 
 
 they -will | tarie till the Magistrate commaunde | and oompell 
 them. I By me, Robekt Browne. | Middelbvkgh, I IF Imprinted 
 hy Mcharde Painter [i. e. Schilders]. | 1582.' [4°.] 
 This book as it first appeared, composed only of two treatises, cannot 
 be said to be exceptionally scarce. As it appeared in its final form with 
 the three treatises, it is very rare ; but the idea, which has hitherto 
 prevailed, that only three copies of ' A Treatise of reformation ' . . . are 
 in existence, is quite incorrect. Probably at least six or eight copies of 
 that work are to be lound in London, Oxford, and Cambridge alone. It 
 is 'A Treatise vpon the 23. o/Jfai-lthewe,' . . . that is scarce. The pages 
 of the book are not numbered, but as first issued it consisted of Sigs. 
 Aj, B^, Ca, Dj, A4-O4. It is certainly a mistake of Dr. Baxter's to hold 
 that the various parts of the book were published separately, but were 
 also bound up together. The very structure of the book on careful 
 examination will show that the three treatises were not intended to be 
 issued separately. In reality, as first published, the book consisted of 
 the two treatises mentioned on the first title-page (which it wiU be 
 observed is decidedly different from the second' title-page, which indeed 
 gives the name ' Robert Browne ', but does not have the words ' By 
 Robert Browne ', or ' By me, Robert Browne ', as would be the case in 
 a genuine title-page), and a, four-page 'Preface' preceding the second 
 title-page. Later, however, when Browne found that his book was not 
 meeting with the favour in the Church of England for which he had 
 hoped, he wrote another treatise, which he says on the first page of 
 ' A Treatise of reformation' he purposes to write, 'which shall hereafter 
 come foorth.' To this new ' booke ' he gave the title 'A Treatise vpon 
 the 23. of Mat-\thewe,' ,. . , , which in reality is a further development 
 of ideas expressed in the last eight paragraphs of the four-page 
 'Preface', and takes their place in the complete volume. 'A Treatise 
 vpon the 23. of Jfat-lthewe,' . . . consists of the following sections :— 
 ' Against the abuse of Tongues in preaching ' ; ' Against vayne Logicke, 
 being their helpe in the | seconde point'; 'Against their Rhetorike 
 in that point, of doubtful! and | harde wordes' ; 'Against their curious 
 Methodes and Diuisions,' . . .; 'Against disordered preachinge at 
 Paules crosse in London,' . . . ; and finally 'Against Parishe Preachers 
 and hired Lecturers, and ail that Popishe rabble,' ... In this issue 
 of the three treatises the old title-page and the rest of the volume, 
 except the four-page ' Preface ', were retained. The ' Preface', however, 
 was now cut down to three pages, and five or six new sentences were 
 added in conclusion, stating that Browne already has in mind the 
 writing of still another 'Treatise ... of the Reuelation of Saint 
 lohn ', ' which we hope shall come foorth,' and that ' The abhomina- 
 
AND NONCONFORMITY 19 
 
 at first were separately circulated, as Dr. Dexter seems to 
 suggest.^ 
 
 Of the completed volume of three works ' A Treatise vpon 
 the 23. of Mat-\the^ve,' ... is decidedly the least known and 
 hence deserves here to be especially noticed. It will, how- 
 ever, also be worth while to give the four following charac- 
 teristic citations from ' A Treatise of reformation ' , and to 
 refer the reader for further study to the Rev. T, G. Crippen's 
 excellent reprint of that work.^ These quotations, it is hoped, 
 will give some idea of Robert Browne's style and vietrs at this 
 period : — 
 
 ' U A Treatise of reformation without 
 
 tarying for anie, and of the wickednesse of those Preachers 
 
 which will not reforme till the Magistrate com- 
 
 maunde or compell them.'' 
 
 ' Therefore woe vnto you ye Uinde guides, which cast away all by 
 
 tarying for the Magistrates. The Lorde teill remember this iniguitie, 
 
 and visite this simme vpon ymi. Ye will not haue the Mngdome of God, 
 
 to go forward by his spirit, but by an armie Sf strength forsooth : ye 
 
 win not haue it as Leauen hidde in three pecJces ofmeale, tUl it leauen 
 
 all, but at once ye will haue aU ahft, by ciuill power and authoritie : 
 
 you are offended at the basenesse and small beginnings, and because of 
 
 the troubles in beginning reformation, you wUl doe nothing. Therefore 
 
 tions of Antichriste we shall brieflie there touche, and some chiefer 
 thinges we shall handle more largelie '. However, ' A Treatise vpon the 
 23. of Jfa^lthewe,' . . . was never printed entire, and a contemporary 
 note at the end of the copy in the British Museum says, 'by reason of 
 trouble the print was staid.' Naturally therefore the 'Treatise . . . of the 
 Beuelation of Saint lohn ' never appeared, if indeed it were ever written, 
 but some of the ideas that Browne might have expressed therein are 
 probably to be found in 'A New Years Guift'. 'A Book | which 
 SHEWETH' ... in its final form consisted of Sigs. A^, B^, C^, D4-H1, 
 A^-O,. One beautiful copy of this last issue, that the writer has seen, by 
 mistake of the binder contains both Prefaces, and thus makes the structure 
 of the book perfectly plain. 
 
 ' ' The Congregationalism of the last three hundred years, as seen in 
 its Literature,' . . . , note 67 on p. 74, where he says the treaties were 
 'issued separately as fast as printed, but rather with the intention of 
 making one book of the three '. "" 
 
 ' London, Memorial Hall, 1903. ' Sig. Aj recto. 
 
 C 3 
 
ao THE PERIOD OF EDUCATION 
 
 shall Christ he that rocTce ofoffenee vnto nau, and ye shall strnnMe and 
 fall, and shall be iroJcen, and shaU be snared, and shal be taken. You 
 will be ddiuered frmn the yoke of Antichrist, to the which you doo 
 wiUinglie giue your neckes, by bowe, and by sworde, and by battell, by 
 horses and by horssemen [sic], that is, by ciuill power and pompe of 
 Magistrates : by their Proclamations and ParUam&ntes : and the Mng- 
 dome of God must come with obseruation, that men may say, Loe the 
 Parliament, or loe the Bishoppes decrees : but the kimgdome of God 
 shoulde be within you.' ' . . . 
 
 'The Lorde shaU therefore iudge these men, and cut them of 
 both heade Sf tayh, bravmih and rushe in one day. The auncient 
 and the honourable men, which take on them to put downe the Lordes 
 authoritie, and to stoppe the mouthes of his messengers, they be the 
 heade, and the wicked teachers which exalte men dboue God, th^ are 
 the tayle. They are afrayde of the face of the Magistrate, 6f do flatter 
 and currie fauour with them, and they would hau£ vs also to doo the 
 like.'^. .. 
 
 'Mowe therefore let the wise vnderstamde these thmgs, and the 
 Lorde be mercifull, and deliuer vs from these vnreasonable and 
 euill men. For there is no ende of their pride and crueltie which 
 ascende vp and sit in the Magistrates chaire and smite the people with 
 a continuall plague, and such of them as haue not yet gotten the roume, 
 do criefor Discipline, Discipline, that is for a eiuUl forcing, to imprison 
 the people, or otherwise by violence to handle and beate them, if they 
 will not obeye them. But the Lorde shall bringe them dovme to the 
 dust, and to the pitt, as abhommable earkasses, which would be aboue the 
 eloudes, yea which dare presume into the throne of Ohriste lesus, and 
 vmrpe that authoritie and calling in his Church, which is opposed and 
 contrarie to his Mngdom^ and gotiememmt.' ' . . . 
 
 'Beholde, the Lorde hath caste dwnge on their faces, euen the dunge 
 of their solemne feastes, as of their Christmasse, and Easter, and 
 Whitsuntide, and ofaU their traditions, receyuedfrom Baal. For in 
 their solevrvne meetings, then dodh their iniguitie most woefullie appeare. 
 And they haue saide plamlie {as in the dayes ofMalaohie) the table of 
 the Lorde is not to be regarded. For though hogges and Dogges come 
 thereto, yet who can redresse it: or why should the Commmmn be 
 cownted poUwted vnto vs?'* . . . 
 
 * Sig. A, recto. " Sig. B verso. 
 
 » Sig. Bj verso. * Sig. C verso. 
 
AND NONCONFORMITY 21 
 
 The following citations are from one of the scarcest and 
 most striking of Browne's printed treatises. There is a won- 
 derfully scathing sai-casm in some of these passages, and the 
 various pictures here depicted are so vividly portrayed that 
 we can almost see them. From what Browne says in these 
 citations we may safely judge that conditions have consider- 
 ably changed since his day. 
 
 *A Treatise vpm the 23. ofMat- 
 
 thewe, both for an order of studying and hand- 
 ling the Scriptures, and also for auoyding [sic] 
 the Popishe disorders, and vngodly cOmunion 
 of all false christicms, e^ediaUie [sic] oftmc- 
 ked Preachers and hirelings.' 
 
 'But somewhat it is meete to shewe the disorders of some in 
 that firste point for knowledge in the Tongues. For their hoct- 
 potch [sic] at Paulas crosse, or at Saint Maries in Cambridge, must 
 needes be fancied by vaunt of the tongues. Paule doeth wishe, 
 That they aU could spedke languages, therefore these will speake 
 Latin, when no man doeth neede it. Thei/ spake the languages 
 (saieth the scripture) as the spirite gaue them vtteraunce. And you 
 may smell out their spirites by the sent of their Greeke or Ebrewe 
 sentences. They cast them foorth, as he that giueth flowers to 
 feed the hungrie, or would make a feaste with the smell of a posie. 
 They spake the languages, in the 19. of the Actes, and also pro- 
 phesied: and so these speake Greeke and Latin, and I warraunt 
 you, doo edifie withall. They gather such stuffe from Ambrose or 
 Chrysostome, or from some common place booke of Doctorlie 
 sentences. 
 
 ' These Maidens of the Bishoppes, are called to the Pulpit, and 
 there euerie Maiden must hurle to them her dressing out of a hoode. 
 If John London do not sauce it with a Methode of preachinge, if 
 they haue not his Ehetoricke to make the hearers heedfull, wel- 
 willers, and teacheable, (o pure diuinitie), or if their cookerie be not 
 welcomed with the Beadle & the typstaffe, to bring it to the pulpit, 
 then may it go for no seruis. Their Latin is phisik to make hole 
 the sicke, and their greeke and hebrewe wiil [sic] blesse you frO 
 euill spirits. By these and by their booke of the order of preach- 
 ing, they may stand before the Queene, as did Daniel before the king. 
 For BO soone as they haue stood vp in famouse places, & shewed 
 
22 THE PERIOD OF EDUCATION 
 
 their vniueraitie degrees, and how wel they become their hoodes, 
 or their skarlett gownes, and of what standing in Gambridg, and 
 reading they are of in the tongues and Doctors : There may then 
 be none like them : then must you needes ball the Eabbie, Master 
 Doctor, My Lords Chaplen, Maister Preacher, and our Diuinitie 
 lecturer. This Phisicke will heale aU at Paules Crosse in one day. 
 For so soone as they haue shewed it and receyued a Dinner, and 
 their honour and the hope of some preferrement, all is made wholer 
 and they goe away as if no bodie were sicke. There be some also 
 which count it a fault in Pulpites, to recite Doctors sentences, or 
 to speake straunge language, and yet will descant vpon the trans- 
 lation, and shewe what varietie there is, least their learning should 
 be hidd. So because they will seeme to fetche nothing from the 
 Doctours or other authours, they will picke out some matter from 
 their owne fingers endes.' ■*■ 
 
 'Is Paules Crosse lerusalem, or is the Lordes name there? Is 
 not your [the prelates'] name sounded there, as by the blast 
 of a Trumpet? My Lord Bishoppe there controUeth, in his 
 name the Preacher standeth vp, as the Wolfe doeth in a visarde, 
 he hath the Bishoppes name in parchement, for that is his licence, 
 it is a Theeues quittance though he came in by the windowe, it is 
 the Scourecoastes Passeporte, though he roaue out for his praye. 
 My Lordes face is in the waxe, a print and marke of hoUnes. who 
 can preache without it? It is the seale of ghostlie message. 
 Three such seales, haue threefolde grace, but the money which 
 buyeth them, hath that grace seuenhundreth foulde. Is this nowe 
 the Lordes name, when his Grhospell must hange on parchment, 
 or on the name and markes of those Bomishe beastes ? Is this 
 his name, when his glad tydinges ceasse, except the parchement 
 holde, and his message misseth except a waxe marke giueth 
 it?'^.. 
 
 'This is now the Throne of the Bishoppes, which in their 
 Dioces, Parishes, and Cathedrall Churches is lift vp against Christ. 
 From it doeth come foorth their lawes and Iniunctions, by which 
 all menne euen small and great, riche and poore, free and bounde, 
 are made to receyue a marke in their hande or in their forehead. 
 For all are made thraules and slaues to their policie, to builde the 
 church, and to worshippe God after their deuisinges They are all 
 
 ' Sig. Dj recto and verso. " Sig. G^ verso. 
 
AND NONCONFORMITY 23 
 
 turned backe after bablinge Prayers and toying worshippfe, after 
 priestlie Preachers, blinde Ministers, and Canon offices, after 
 Popishe attire and foolishe disguising, after fastings, tythings, 
 holydayes, and a thousande moe abominations : and their feete 
 doc sticke faste in the myre and dirt of all Poperie, that they can 
 not gett out.' ^ ... 
 
 ' O Church of price, the famouse church of Englande. Tell 
 ye the Church, that is, tell ye the Bishoppe of the Dioces. The 
 church can geue him authoritie, to authorise both the church it 
 selfe, and the GhospeU, as if Cod should intreate such a Prelate 
 to be good vnto him : and as if the church should pul him by the 
 sleaue, that he put not out her eyes. O church without eyes. For 
 thy light is shutt vp at the Bishops Beneplaeitu. Art thou the 
 church of Christe, when thy starres be not in his hande, but the 
 fystes of thy Bishoppes doo pull them downe from thee ? yet is 
 this church of Englande the pillar and ground of trueth. For the 
 Bishops ouerryde it. They are the trueth and it is the ground. 
 It is the Beast and they are the Byders. It stoupeth as an Asse 
 for them to get vp. The whippe of their spirituall Courtes, and 
 the Spurres of their lawes, and the Bridle of their power, do make 
 it to carie them.' ^ . . . 
 
 ' They knewe those sheepefoldes before time that the Wolfe ruled 
 in them, and there they saw playnelie the face of Antichrist 
 looking ouer them. 
 
 ' But nowe they hide the Wolue in the folde, and saye, here is 
 Christe : they put a visarde on his face, and say that Antichriste 
 is gone, he shall deuoure them no more. Thou art deceyued O 
 Englande, thou art gone from one destruction vnto another : Thou 
 hast escaped the snare, but art fallen into the pitte. Woe to thee, 
 for thy fall is great, and who shall rayse thee vp ? " 
 'But thou ['0 Englande'] art obstinate, thy necke is an Iron 
 synewe, and thy browe brasse. Behoulde thou seest not be- 
 cause thou wilt not see : a visarde hath deceaued the, and the 
 sheepes clothing hath mocked the : and thou saiest, I will follow 
 my shepherdes which haue put away Antichrist, and yet behoulde 
 such rauening & mischeefe as was neuer the like, and wickednes 
 is gone forth from thy shepherdes into all the land. But let them 
 
 * Sig. G3 recto and verso. ' Sig. G3 verso and Sig. G4 recto. 
 
 Sig. G4 verso. 
 
24 THE PERIOD OF EDUCATION 
 
 heare his voice which sheweth them what their church and statfe 
 is, and what is that reformatio whereof they boast. The Scribes dt 
 Pharises sit in Moses seat, saith he.' '■ 
 
 ' Beholde, is not this to giue vs gall and wormewoode mingled 
 in our drinke? Is it not to set vp a Beetle for our guide, and 
 a stocke to teaohe vs knowledge ? Is it not to call a foole to be 
 our maister, and to welcome a messenger as bringing good tydinges, 
 from the Deuill and Satan ? la it not to t^e a straunger to feede 
 the flocke, whose teeth are of yron, & his tongue and voyce as the 
 sent of a pitt, which breatheth forth death and dostruction [sic] ? 
 Is it not to put the sheepes clothing on the rauening Wolfe, and 
 then make sport that the sheepe are beguiled ? ■ . . Have these 
 dumme Dogges or tolerating preachers, my letters and seales? 
 I never gaue them sayeth the Lorde, they are stolen and counterfet, 
 yea they haue the seales and licen;ses of their wicked Bi^oppes, 
 and if they haue my message, why holde they their peace at the 
 wicked Bishoppes discharging, as if they had his message onelie. 
 Be it therefore O ye Prelates, that yee put Moses seate for Moses 
 doctiine, Can you preache the Lordes worde and doctrine, or 
 Suinister his Sacramentes? To preache some trueth &a wicked 
 menne may doo, and to preache the Lords word of message is not 
 all one. For his message can 'not be without his gouernment, & 
 his gouernment is the Lordship he hath in the comunion of his 
 offices. But you haue the Popishe lordeship & comunion of his 
 offices, you haue not yet planted my Churdi sayth the Lord, by 
 gathering it from the wicked and vnworthi©,' ^ . . . 
 "O worthie outwarde calling. Boo not the Bishoppes pray 
 when they make Ministers, and shal we condemne their prayers? 
 For the Foxe is a Father in the Church, when he piayeth for 
 grace[.] Are not our ministers duelie examined? They are 
 Posed by master Examiner. Beware ye Priestes that ye can 
 speake Latin. And in anie case foi^et not your Catechisme. By 
 these two shall you spitte out your grace vpon others, and men 
 shall feede on your graceles spuinges. Breath vpou them ye 
 Bishoppes, and giae them your gracious spirites, which ye call the 
 holy Ghost. So shall they bee those good spirites, like Frogges 
 which come forth of your mouthes to make battell against vs. 
 Kneele downe ye Preachers, that the Bishoppe may ordayne you 
 sitting in his chayre. His holie handes shall blesse you, They are 
 
 • Sig. G^ verso. » Sig. H verso and Sig. Hj recto. 
 
AND NONCONFORMITY 25 
 
 ivashed from blood as was Pilates, and as the nose of a Wolfe 
 which will rauen no more. Then must you take your Licenses in 
 parchement, and paye well for them. Prepare a Boxe for your 
 waxe, priute your message therein, and keepe touche with the 
 Bishoppe, least he open your Boxe, and your calling flye awaye. 
 
 'Beholde, this is their outwarde oallinge, and if a manhaue this, 
 they are called (they say) and sitte in Moses seate. For may not a 
 reading minister serue for a better, if he be thus called ? And 
 may not an IdoU serue well ynough, when God doeth forsake them ? 
 Shoulde a blinde guide bee displaced, if he be thus called, for he 
 may become learned. So Satan doth call Theeues to steale, and 
 should they not freelie doo it ? For they haue a calling, and by 
 stealing they may learne to become true menne.' ^ . . . 
 
 Such were Eobert Browne's early views. Let the reader 
 keep them in mind, in order to compare them with his 
 opinions of a later period. 
 
 A second title-page precedes the last treatise in this volume. 
 It reads as follows : — 
 
 'A Booke I WHiCB sbbweth the \ life and mcmners of aU 
 true Christicms, \ and howe vnlike they are vnto Turkes 
 and Papistes, | and Heathen folke. | Also the pointes 
 and partes of all diuis:| nitie, that is of the reuealed will 
 and worde of God, are | declared by their seuerall Defini- 
 tions, I and Diuisions in order as \ foUoweth. | Eobebt 
 Beownk I [Device.] | Middelbvrgh, | U Imprinted ly 
 Bicharde Painter. \ 1582.' 
 
 Of the contents of this treatise, which is already so well 
 known and which is in some respects the most important of 
 all Browne's productions, being his Congregational Church 
 Polity, we need not speak here, except to say that it is largely 
 incorporated in Professor Williston Walker's admirable work, 
 ' The Creeds and Platforms of Congregationalism,' New York, 
 1893, in which form it may be conveniently consulted. 
 
 It is hardly to be wondered at that the appearance of this 
 little volume containing the three treatises raised a storm 
 of opposition in England. A Broadside, entitled 'By the 
 Queene. | A Proclamation against certaine seditious and 
 
 ' Sig Hj verBO. 
 
26 THE PERIOD OF EDUCATION 
 
 scismatical | Bookes and Libelles, &c.,' was promptly issued 
 in June, 1583, commanding, that the books of Kobert Browne 
 and ' Richard ' Harrison, who are ' remaining presently in 
 Zealande', as soon as published 'and dispersed in sundry 
 places within this Realme ', should be brought and delivered 
 up ' vnto the Ordinarie of the Diocesse, or of the place where 
 they inhabite, to the intent they may bee burned, or vtterly 
 defaced by the sayde Ordinary,' &c. 
 
 Browne had apparently never given his followers any hope 
 that they might lawfully return to England and enjoy the 
 comforts of their native land, when they became weary of the 
 ' hardnes ' of foreign life. Harrison, however, seems to have 
 taught that doctrine and so was more popular. Nevertheless 
 through the curious irony of history Browne eventually 
 returned to live and die in England, while Harrison died in 
 Holland. 
 
 Further, Browne's opposition to various characteristics in 
 the government of the Church of England during 1583 and 
 even later was remarkably strong ; but before leaving Holland 
 for Scotland in the late autumn of 1583, he admits that his 
 opponents in the 'companie' 'codemned him as though he 
 had some times saied (vvhich he neuer did) that some might 
 be of the outward church of God while they resorted to that 
 false worship & idol seruice then vsed in England, & ioined 
 with others therein, but nowe blamed them which held 
 such doctrine '.^ During the last months of Browne's stay in 
 Middelburg he must have had a very unhappy time, and no 
 wonder he felt that he could not endure aJl this wrangling 
 and criticism. In fact, in his two short years in Middelburg, 
 he was three times for trivial reasons condemned and for- 
 saken by his followers, who finally, having deprived some of 
 those who were still faithful to him of their rooms, threatened 
 also to put him out of his 'chamber' and sought in many 
 other ways to make his life miserable.^ Thus circumstances 
 gradually forced Browne to leave Middelburg, but evidently 
 
 * 'A Trve and Short Declaration,' . . . , Sig. C, verso. 
 » Ibid. 
 
AND NONCONFORMITY 27 
 
 he determined first to defend himself against the calumnies 
 that were certain to be raised against him both in Holland 
 and in England. So he wrote that little pamphlet, which was 
 so wretchedly printed and yet is so full of interesting informa- 
 tion, entitled, 'a teve and | short deolabation, both of 
 
 THE I GATHERING AND lOYNING TOGETHER | OF CEETAINE 
 PERSONS: AND ALSO OF | THE LAMENTABLE BREACH AND | 
 DIVISION WHICH FELL | AMONGST THEM.' ^ 4°. No place, 
 
 author's or printer's name, or date is given. There is also no 
 title-page. From internal evidence, however, this appears to 
 be Robert Browne's spiritual autobiography for perhaps the 
 most important years of his life ; and Dr. Dexter in locating 
 a copy of this work did one of his greatest services to history. 
 
 Browne seems to have had trouble with Richard Schilders 
 (i. e. Painter), the printer of his first volume, while 'A Treatise 
 vpon the 23. of Mat-\ihewe,' . . . was in the press. This 
 trouble evidently prevented that work from ever being 
 finished, and also compelled Browne now to have an inferior 
 workman do the printing. Yet even the 'Declaration' 
 also breaks off abruptly and was apparently never printed 
 entire. It was probably unfinished on account of want of 
 funds. Only one copy of the 'Declaration' seems to have 
 been preserved in England ; but one copy is enough to show 
 Browne's true character and to make it worth his whUe to 
 have written it, even though it clearly manifests the failure 
 of his fondest hopes. 
 
 Having thus given to the world the story of his early life, 
 Browne must with some sadness, probably in the late autumn 
 of 1583, have turned his back on the little company which 
 once had meant so much to him, but which he was to call his 
 no more. However, on his arrival in Scotland he seems to 
 have been in good spirits, and as active as ever in advocating 
 his views. 
 
 It would appear that Browne was first married some time 
 
 ' The pages are not numbered, but the pamphlet consists of Sigs. 
 A4-C4, or twenty-four pages in all. It will be noticed that the writer 
 assigns the printing of this treatise to an earlier date than that assigned 
 by Dr. Dexter. 
 
28 THE PERIOD OF EDUCATION 
 
 in 1583, though of this we cannot be absolutely certain. The 
 writer would be inclined to date the wedding some time in 
 the summer of that year. Browne's first wife was Alice Allen, 
 of Yorkshire, but inasmuch as Browne cannot weE have been 
 in Yorkshire during 1583, the question at once arises as to 
 where he was married and where he met his wife. This diflS- 
 culty is easily removed by the view that Alice Allen was one 
 of Browne's own company, even the ' Sister Aliens ' whom he 
 at one time had unjustly criticized, and whom he mentions 
 once towards the end of ' A Trve and Short Declaration,' . . . 
 
 III. The Visit to Scotland and the Eetubn to England, 
 
 EESULTINa IN THE SdBSCBIPTION 
 
 (? Jan. 1, 1583/4— Oct. 7, 1585). 
 
 David Calderwood in ' THE HISTORIE | of the Kirk of 
 Scotland | . . . ', vol. iii, of which the original manuscript is in 
 the British Museum ', has fortunately preserved for us from a 
 now apparently lost writing the following account of Browne's 
 experiences after his arrival in Scotland : — 
 
 ' Vpon thursday the 9 of lanuar [1583/4] an english man called 
 Robert Brown come to \sic\ Edinburgh out of Flanders. He 
 landed at Dundie, and having gottin support there, he come to 
 Sanct Andrewes where he purchased a letter of commendatioun 
 frome M' Andrew Meluill to M' lames Lowsone. There come in 
 companie with him 4, or 5 english men with their wives, and 
 famileis. They held opinioiin of separatioun from all kirks where 
 excommunicatioun wes [sk\ not rigorouslie vsed against open 
 offenders, not repenting. They would not admitt witnesses in 
 baptisme. And sondrie other opinions they had. This Browne 
 wes their preacher. Vpon tuisday the 14 he made shew after an 
 arrogant maner before the sessioun of the kirk of Edinburgh, that 
 he would mainteane that witnesses at baptisme wes not a thing 
 indifferent, but simplie evill. But he failed in the probatioun. 
 He afSrmed, as the manuscript bereth [sic] that the soules died. 
 He and his companie remained at the heid of the Canno[n]gate." 
 
 1 Harleian MS. 4736, vol. iii. = p. 1305. 
 
AND NONCONFORMITY 29 
 
 'Vpon thursday the 21 Robert Browne the ring leader of the 
 Brownists in conference with some of the presbyterie alledged 
 that the whole discipline of Scotland wes amisse, that he, and his 
 companie wer not subject to it, and therefore he would appeale 
 from the kirk to the Magistrat. It wes thought good that M*^ 
 lames Lowsone, and M'^ lohne Dauidsone sould [sic] gather out of 
 his bookes and their practise suche opinions as they suspected, or 
 perceaved them to erre in, and gett them readie against Moonday 
 nixt to pose him and his followers thervpon that therafter the 
 king might be informed.' ^ 
 
 ' Vpon tuisday the 28 Eobert Browne with the rest of his com- 
 plices wer called before the presbyterie of Edinburgh, and con- 
 tinued till the morne. He acknowledged, and avowed his bookes, 
 and other things writtin be \sic\ him. M' lames Lowsone and 
 M' lohne Dauidsone wer appointed to gather the erroneous articles 
 to be presented to the king. But they wer interteaned, and 
 fostered to molest the kirk.' ' 
 
 How long Eobert Browne and his company remained in 
 Scotland is not known, but he himself certainly must have been 
 there a good while, probably until some time in the autumn 
 of 1584 ; for he could hardly ' haue knowne the king in great 
 daunger & feare of his lyfe' *, or ' haue hard the king by name 
 to be verie spitefully abused by their [the Presbyterian] 
 preachers in pulpitt'*, before June, 1584,* about which time 
 the troubles between the king and the clergy of the Kirk 
 probably began to break out. Browne to be sure seems to 
 have met with almost no success in Scotland, but it must 
 also be admitted that Calderwood gives no evidence that he 
 (Browne) was long imprisoned there. The fact rather seems 
 to be, that the king decided to let him have his freedom in 
 
 1 p. 1305, ' PP- 1305-6. 
 
 » 'A New Years Guift,' p. 26. 
 
 * See ' The Register of the Privy Council of Scotland Edited and 
 
 Abridged by David Masson, LL.D Vol. iii., a. d. 1578-1585 . . . 
 
 Edinburgh, 1880 ', Introduction, pp. Ixiii-kvi, &c. In May and August, 
 1584, special Acts were passed in Scotland for suppressing the Pres- 
 byterian Clergy and for putting Bishops in their place, who should be 
 under the authority of the king. The state of things pictured by Browne 
 in ' A New Tears Guift ' resulted from the passing of these Acts. 
 
30 THE PERIOD OF EDUCATION 
 
 order to weaken the power of the Kirk. Browne at any rate 
 had abundant opportunity to visit various cities in Scotland, 
 as ' A New Years Guift ' amply testifies. The atmosphere, 
 however, cannot have been very congenial to him and he was 
 doubtless glad when the time came to leave the country. 
 His few faithful followers may now have returned to England, 
 or possibly to Holland, where he may have met them later. 
 However this be, he himself, at least for a time, probably 
 returned to England with his wife. 
 
 Hitherto it has been supposed that Browne was in prison in 
 London about July 17, 1584, and that his health had begun 
 to be impaired by the various imprisonments he had under- 
 gone. For this view, however, there is absolutely no trust- 
 worthy authority.^ On the contrary he appears to have 
 returned to Stamford^ in the autumn or early winter of 1584. 
 
 ^ Hanbury in the first instance is apparently responsible for this error 
 creeping into Congregational history. Dr. Dexter merely followed 
 Hanbury. Now Hanbury cited a transcript, made by Bishop White 
 Eennett, D.D., of Peterborough, of a letter sent by William Burghley 
 to Archbishop Whitgift, dated July 17, 1584, and hitherto generally 
 supposed to pertain to Robert Browne. Kennett, however, misread 
 ' Browne ' for ' Brayne ', i. e. Edward Brayne, as Thomas Puller did in 
 the preparation of his ' Church-History of Britain ',..., 1655. Fuller 
 has a copy of this letter, Book IX, p. 159, but does not give the date, 
 and on pp. 154-161 gives with this three other letters all pertaining to 
 the same matter. Now John Stiype had the originals of these three last- 
 mentioned letters, and gives in his Life of John Whitgift a much better 
 text of them than Fuller, and inserts the name ' Brayne ' in place of 
 ' Browne '- In fact Fuller has the name ' Brain ' in the last of this series 
 of four letters. Now these letters aU speak of the same person, and if 
 ' Brayne ' is the one referred to in three of these letters, he must be also 
 in the letter to which we especially refer. To confirm this view the 
 Rev. T. G. Crippen has called the writer's attention to the fact that the 
 very words which Fuller, Hanbury, and Dr. Dexter apply to Browne, are 
 to be found in Benjamin Brook's 'Lives of the Puritans', 1813, under 
 the heading 'Edward Brayne'. Thus falls one of the supports to 
 Dr. Dexter's theoiy that in the latter part of his life Browne became 
 somewhat insane, -v^hich theory the Rev. F. Ives Cater and the present 
 writer now feel obliged to discard. 
 
 ^ In that day Browne could hardly have allowed his wife to return to 
 Stamford alone. 
 
AND NONCONFORMITY 31 
 
 There soon after he evidently left his wife, and for some 
 reason, possibly to escape further imprisonment, made his way 
 once more to the Continent, and very likely to Holland. At 
 any rate he seems to have been somewhere ' beyonde sea ' on 
 Feb. 8, 1584/5^, the date when his first child Jone, or Joan, 
 was baptized. 2 Not long after this incident Browne appears 
 to have returned to Stamford* from Holland, possibly bearing 
 with him a manuscript that he had prepared, entitled ' An 
 answere to M' Cartwrights Letter, for loyninge | with the 
 English Churches '. 
 
 When he passed through London on his way home, he may 
 have put this treatise in the hands of some of his friends 
 residing there and having opinions kindred to his own, who 
 without his direct knowledge caused it to be printed. As the 
 existence of this manuscript was discovered by the writer 
 only last spring, after its practical loss for over three hundred 
 yeai'S ; as it differs somewhat in spelling from the few still 
 existing copies of Browne's book printed from it ; and espe- 
 cially as it is one of his most characteristic and yet least 
 known writings, it will be well to cite from it several of the 
 more important passages. It will be noticed that in certain 
 points at least Browne even now expresses himself somewhat 
 differently from what we might have eipected. These points 
 should be kept in mind in tracing the development of his 
 religious views. Against the ' dumbe ministers ' he is, how- 
 ever, as vehement as ever. 
 
 'How friendlie M^ Cartwright is to it ['the Church of God'], 
 let vs examine bye this his letter, and by the grace of Grod, let vs 
 trie out the trueth betwixt him and vs. His letter is in mania 
 mens hands, and was sent abroade vnsealed, and open, as if he 
 cared not who should read it. wherefore I may the more bouldlye 
 answere it, and the rather because the matter thereof is publique 
 and pertainirage to the church of God. It came but lately to my 
 hands, and was written, as they tell me more then fyue or sixe 
 
 ' See Mr. Cater's article, entitled ' Robert Browne's Ancestors and 
 Descendants ', p. 155. 
 
 ^ S. B.[redwell] ' The Easing | ' . . . , London, 1588, pp. 140 and 
 142. 
 
 ' Ibid., p. 135, ' before his subscrip. Brown being about Stamford.' 
 
32 THE PERIOD OF EDUCATION 
 
 weekea agoe. wherein, if he and others that prouoke [i. e. appeal 
 to] him, sought not to take vs tardie in the trueth, and to worcke 
 vs trouble, we would the lesse haue regarded his letters : But 
 selnge he wUl needs make ts enimies to the ordinarie and common 
 good lawes of the Bealme, to the Church of God in the realme, & 
 to the peace and welfare of the common welth, let vs shortly 
 gather vp his vntruethes and errors, and hurle them out by mani- 
 fest and knowne marcks, lest anie man do beleue them as trueth. 
 M' Cartwright doeth moue the first question thus : that the out- 
 ward profession made by the lawes of the land, and the assemblies 
 of the Church held accordingly are condemned as vnlawfuU. This 
 is the short saieth he of M' Harrisons longer discourse. If he vse 
 to make such shorts, he is not meet to deale with short or louge. 
 . . . First for the Lawes, he knewe weU enough, what lawes 
 we ment, namely certaine popish canon lawes, which though the 
 Magistrates do tolerate for a tyme, yet the common good lawes of 
 the lande are wholly against them. . . . Soe then the lawes are 
 a wall to the Church round about : they stand vp as an armed man, 
 that it may shew it selfe openly without shame or feare. For 
 when they putt downe aU outward grosse wickednes, and will not 
 suffer it, they do as it were scatter and driue away darcknes from 
 the church, that men may see it visible and cleare as the sufin.'^ . . . 
 'For the common lawes are against the canon lawes in manie 
 hundreth points. One geueth check to the other, as twoe 
 Dames at variance in one house. The canon is as fier in the 
 house to bume it, the common is as water powring downe to 
 quensh it. . . . If there be contrarie lawes, one against an other, as 
 through change of tymes, variance of people, and other necessities 
 it may fall out, yet through fauour and help of good Magistrates, 
 the lawes shall still be with the church and not against it. As for 
 the Magistracie of bishops, there is noe lawe to warrant it, but 
 onely hir Majesties permission. Likewise for the common forme 
 of seruice and praiers, there is exception by the lawe, and it is set 
 downe allso in the booke of common prayer, that the Praiers may 
 be changed, intermitted and left of by occasions : . . . Further 
 whereas the lawe doeth bynd vs to come to the church, it doth 
 weU. For noe man ought to refuse the Church of God. . . . And 
 if they [the Magistrates] see to it, that men shall come to church, 
 they will first see that the Church be better ordered, that men may 
 
 ' Fol. 1 recto. 
 
AND NONCONFORMITY 33 
 
 come with comfort and not with hart burning to their conscience. 
 Also for Discipline in gatheringe the worthie from the vnworthie, 
 the law appointeth it and geueth leaue, to make exception both in 
 publique iudgement and in churches against vnworthie persons. . . . 
 It were to [sic] longe to reherse what libertie the lawes doe yeeld 
 to vs, and what outward profession there is by the Lawes.' "... 
 ' But goe toe : he soieth that christ is the head of those assemblies, 
 & not the dumbe ministers. That Christ is their head or founda- 
 cion, he can not proue as was shewed before ; wherefore for anie 
 thing he can proue, the dumbe ministers, in the absence of the 
 bishops & their ofQcers, are the cheife and heads ouer them. That 
 they are allwaise cheife we said it not ; For when the bishopes, 
 which are greater vsurpers are present, then they are heades, & and 
 [sic] both the dumbe ministers, and hireling preachers, may serue 
 well enough to be the taile. For Satan hath alwaies by such, as 
 by the taile of the Dragon, drawen the third part of the starrs of 
 heauen, & cast them to the earth. What shall we vnderstand by 
 heauen, but the shew of the church, as it were set in heauen, & 
 by the starrs, but the children of the church, fallinge to wickednes 
 and losing their light. Such are the people of those assemblies, 
 whom Satan hath cast vpon the earth as starrs without light. . . . 
 Wherefore I would say, there were holines in the dumb ministerie, 
 if all the dumbe ministers were hanged yp in the churches and 
 publique assemblies, for a warning and terror to the rest, that are 
 redie to enter such a function. Then in deed, they were a holie 
 signe and remembrance of Iudgement agai[nst] such wretches ; 
 but other holines haue they none in them. Yet M' C. dare say 
 that their ministration of the sacraments, & reading of praiers, is 
 holie & sanctified ; yea so far sanctified that we may lawfully 
 receaue the sacraments of them, & loyne with them in Praiers." 
 ' Suerly these are trimw distinctions to carie him blindfold, 
 he can not tell whether [sic]. For whether will he wander 
 in his vanieties ? or how manie deuelish doctrines wyll he heape 
 vp together ? First he saieth, they are vnlawfuU ministers, & yet 
 ministers of God : then that they are ministers of God, but not 
 lawful ministers of God : thirdly that they haue their callinge & 
 allowance by the church & yet are thurst vpon the church: 
 fourthlye that ether such dumbe ministers, and their ministerie 
 is of God ; or if they [?] be of the deuill, yet if the bishop & his 
 ^ Pol. 1 verso. ' Fol. 6 recto. 
 
34 THE PERIOD OF EDUCATION 
 
 oflScers doe authorise them, then the Church doeth authorise them, 
 & noe man ought to refuse them : Fiftly that their reading of 
 seruice, is to be hard, as being a good thing from Christ : sixtly 
 that their sacraments are to be receaued as good things from 
 Christ: whereby also it foUoweth that Christ doeth send such 
 dumbe, or blind reading ministers to take charge of the people: 
 also that for a need, reading ministers may be in the church in 
 stead of preachinge ministers. Further that the byshops may 
 thurst vpon the flocke, what ministers they list, & geue them that 
 authoritie and callinge which God can not geue them : Also that 
 the people shall be counted Grods people & church, though they 
 be vnder the deuills messenger, & subiect to his guidinge. How 
 vngodlie & foolish doctrine is aU this ? ' ^ . . . 
 'But let vs see, what are those things, of Christ, which he 
 saieth the dumbe ministers can geue vs. Forsooth the sacraments 
 & the reading of common sei^uice , . . wherefore as we shewed 
 before, both their censings & their offerings, that is their praiers 
 & sacraments are reiected of the Lord as execrable things. . . . For 
 their stinted forme of seruice, deuised by the byshops, & translated 
 from the Massebooke, can neuer be proued to be incense made by 
 fier from the altar of the Lord. But yet M' C. will iustifie their 
 Sacraments & reading of seruice. Let vs therefore see toe his 
 proofes. . . . noe more ought the people at this day, to partake in 
 the sacraments with such blind ministers. But why doeth not 
 M^^ C. perceaue, that his owne proofe is against him selfe. For if 
 the Scribs & Fharises were to be hard because they preached trueth, 
 then are these dumbe ministers not to be hard because they are 
 noe preachers. But this proofe failinge, M' C. prepareth an other, 
 namelye this. The Scribs & Fharises, were as vnfit & as vnlawf ull 
 ministers, as our readinge ministers, and yet might be hard, 
 therefore our reading ministers may be hard. How vnfit ministers 
 yB Fharises were, it is after examined, we saye not but that the 
 dumbe ministers may be hard. For if standing on the gallouse to 
 be executed, they say they would come downe, I knowe we may 
 heare them. But the question is whether we may be vnder their 
 charge & guidinge, & so dailie & vsually heare them, as our spiritual 
 guids, pastors, watchmew for our soules, & ministers in the 
 church . . . yea if he looke well, this proofe serueth against him. 
 For the Disciples of Christ were not to heare the Fharises, as being 
 
 ' Fol. 12 recto. 
 
AND NONCONFORMITY ~ 35 
 
 their disciples and vnder their charge, therefore may not we be 
 vnder the dumbe ministers charge, to heare them as our teachers, 
 and guids in Christ. An other proofe he geueth thus : The Dumbe 
 ministers haue a calling by the church, as the Scribs & Pharises 
 had: therefore we may lawfully heare them & receaue them as 
 ministers. In this proofe we haue these matters to consider 
 whether our dumbe ministers haue as good a callinge as the 
 Scribes & Pharises had. whether the bishops & their officers that 
 call ministers are to be counted the church : whether if the church 
 should appoint & receaue a dumbe minister, he had therebye anie 
 whit more authoritie, or were anie whit the rather to be receaued. 
 It is certaine, that Ezra was a scribe, and a preist also of the sonnes 
 of Aaron, as we may read in the booke of Ezra & Nehemiah. And 
 in other places other scribs also are mencioned, which were both 
 writers & preachers of the Lawe & word of God. And therefore 
 Christ saieth that they sate in Moses seat. That is, as it is in 
 8 of Ezra, they were chosen being men of ynderstandinge to preach 
 & minister to the people as their office required, yea by the 
 preists & elders & consent of the congregation were they chosen. 
 But dare M"" C[.] say that our dumbe ministers are thus chosen and 
 called ? or dare he saye, that they sitt in Moses seat ? . . . Where- 
 fore let Mr. C. lay away his fond distinction that they are ministers, 
 though they be vnlawful ministers. For if the reading ministerie 
 be noe office nor callinge appointed by Christ, then is it an office 
 of Antichrist ; And why then should he stick soe much on the 
 word minister, if they be antichristian & deuelish ministers ? " . . , 
 ' Likewise he saieth of the Preists & of Magistrats that some of 
 the preists were domb doggs, & some false teachers, & some had 
 noe soe lawfuU callinge, also that some Magistrats are not lawful! 
 & sufficient Magistrats & yet nether the scribs nor the preists, nor 
 the Magistrats were to be reieoted as noe ministers nor Magistrats. 
 What true or false doctrine there is in all this, we will shewe by 
 & bye \sic], but graunt it true which he saieth of the Scribes, 
 Preists, & Magistrates : namely that they were soe euill, as he 
 saieth, or taught such false doctrine, yet he him selfe hath geuen 
 the answere before, to condem him selfe. For he saied that the 
 scribes were not to be hard, but in that they taught trueth : and 
 that our dumbe ministers were to be hard, & receiued but soe 
 
 ' Fol. 12 verso and fol. 13 recto. 
 D a 
 
36 THE PERIOD OF EDUCATION 
 
 farr, as they can geue vs anie thinge that is of Christ. ITow it is 
 shewed that a readinge or dumbe ministerie is not of Christ, 
 therefore we are not to receaue or heare such a ministerie.'^ . . . 
 
 When Browne reached Stamford after leaving London on 
 his return from ' beyonde sea ', he found that in his absence 
 and contrary to his orders his daughter Joan had been 
 baptized at All Saints. This cannot have pleased him at 
 all. Soon also people began to ply him with annoying ques- 
 tions, for instance, as to whether it was not lawful to attend 
 the services of the Church of England ; and having admitted 
 that it was not unlawful, he was requested by ' M. Far. & 
 M. Ear, Londoners ' — 
 
 ' that he would by some writing, perswade his followers at 
 London thereunto, seeing they did at that time vtterly cOdemne 
 hearing with vs. They obteined his letters, which (as they 
 testify) perswaded indeed to hearing in our assemblies, not as 
 children addressing theselues to the sincere milke of the word, 
 to grow therby: nor as mS plowing vp the furrowes of their 
 harts, to receiue the seed of the holy word to a perfect rooting 
 in the : but in stead of these, other cDditiSs of their hearing were 
 put down, as trying, looking into, & iudging of the doctrine & 
 behauiour of the preachers, and that so they might come, as by 
 occasion & in the way of protestation for such respects.'' . . . 
 
 Some time during the period before his submission Browne 
 also seems to have had a conference with Jf [r]. ^.[dmondes 1] 
 and M\y\. jp'.[ar. ?] concerning similar matters, and to have 
 'admitted reasoning by Sillogismes in his own order, put 
 downe in writing for the forme of the coference '.* A manu- 
 script report of this discussion appears to have been made by 
 Browne, and to have come into Stephen Bredwell's hands. 
 Of what Browne said in this ' Conference ' we know but one 
 sentence, namely : ' There may bee a true church of God with- 
 out the presbyterie.' * His stay at Stamford, however, must 
 
 1 Fol. 13 verso. 
 
 ' S. Bredwell's ' the rasing | of the porifDATioNS \ of Brovvnisme. | ' 
 .... 1588, p. 135. 
 
 ' Stephen Bredwell's ' [the ?] | dbtection of \ Ed. Glovers hereticall 
 confection, | ' . . . London. [1586.] p. 123. 
 
 * Ibid., p. 124. 
 
AND NONCONFORMITY 37 
 
 have been of short duration. His volume entitled 'An 
 ansyvere to Ma»|sTER cartweight his | letter fob iotnino 
 I with the English Churches : where-|unto the true copie of 
 his I sayde letter is an-\neaxd. | ' . . . London [no date is 
 given], 4°, pp. iv, 96, was evidently soon printed, and on 
 account of its publication some time before May 16, 1585 (the 
 date of the baptism of his son ' Anthonie '), he appears to have 
 been imprisoned once more *, and to have remained a prisoner 
 until the date of his subscription, October 7, 1585, six months 
 later.* Whether he was all this time imprisoned in London 
 we do not know, but probably this was not the case. From 
 a letter of Burghley to Browne's father, dated 'this eighth of 
 October 1585 ' (i. e. the day after his subscription), we learn 
 that he ' had been sent for up by my Lord Bishop of Canter- 
 bury, to answer to such matters as he was to be charged 
 withall, conteined in a Book made by him, and published in 
 print (as it was thought) by his means: ' ^ . . .On being questioned 
 by the Archbishop he would 'not deny the making of the 
 Book, yet by no means will [would] he confess to be acquainted 
 with the publishing or printing of it.' ® . . . 
 
 Burghley, who evidently knew in advance about Browne's 
 proposed examination, appears to have requested Whitgift to 
 send Robert to him, as soon as it was over. With this request 
 the Archbishop complied, after having extracted from Burgh- 
 ley's young kinsman a subscription to the following five points, 
 which seem to have been administered in the form of five 
 separate questions, to be answered in the affirmative. Bred- 
 well apparently in some way secured the report of this sub- 
 scription, and has preserved for us in ' the basing ( of the 
 
 ' See Bred-well's ' The Rasing ' , 1588, p. 140, where in the fifth 
 
 section of Browne's subscription the length of this imprisonment is 
 suggested. 
 
 ' This subscription, Mr. Cater and the writer have both noticed, is 
 entirely different from the agreement made by Browne, when he accepted 
 the mastership at St. Olave's Grammar School somewhat over a year 
 later. Dr. Dexter confused the two, and this fact accounts for what he 
 calls the ' haziness ' of this part of Browne's life, as told by him. 
 
 ' Thomas Fuller's ' Church- History of Britain'; . . ., London, 1655, 
 Book ix, p. 167. 
 
38 ^ THE PERIOD OF EDUCATION 
 
 FOVNDATiONS \ of Brownisme. | ' . . . , London, 1588, probably 
 the most important clauses, &c., but hardly the complete text 
 subscribed. ByPhere and there inserting a word in brackets, 
 and by eliminating a few words, as necessity demands, the 
 present writer seeks to give uniform expression to the various 
 answers. They thus read as follows : — 
 
 [1.] 'I do humbly submit my self to be at my Lord of Cant, 
 commandemet, whose authority vnder her Ma.[iestie] I wil neuer 
 resist nor depraue, by the grace of God.' ' . . . 
 [2. I acknowledge] ' that where the word of God is duly preached, 
 and the sacraments accordingly ministred, there is the Church of 
 God.' « 
 
 '3. [I] acknowledge the Church of England to be the church of 
 Christ, or the Church of God . . . and . . . promise to cOmunicate 
 with the same in praiers, sacramets, & hearing of the word . . . 
 and will . . . frequent our Churches accordiag to law." . . . 
 [4. I] 'promise also quietly to behaue [my] selfe, and to keepe 
 the peace of this church: and that [I] will not preach nor 
 exercise the ministerie*, vnlesse [I] be lawfully called there- 
 unto.'" . . . 
 
 ' Fiftly ... I refuse ° not to communicate in the Sacraments. 
 For I haue one childe that is alreadie baptiZed, according to the 
 order and lawe, and by this time in mine absence, if God haue ^ 
 giuen my wife a safe deliuerance, and the childe doe line, I suppose 
 it is also baptized in like manner. Further, my seruants being 
 three, doe orderly come to their owne Parish Church, according 
 to the lawe, and communicate also according to the Lawe . . . 
 To all these pojmtes that they are true, I do subscribe with mine 
 hand and name, this 7. of October, Anno Dom. 1585.'^ 
 
 At first sight one might think some of these answers to be 
 
 1 ' THE BASING | ' . . . , p. 127. * Ibid., p. 134. 
 
 » Ibid., p. 134. 
 
 * The last half of this article would seem to indicate that up to this 
 time Browne had not taken orders. 
 
 » ' THE EASING j ' . . . , p. 137. 
 
 ' This does not look much as if Browne had previously been excom- 
 municated, except by his own will and choice. 
 
 ' ' THE EASING | ' . . . , p. 140. 
 
AND NONCONFORMITY 39 
 
 rather strange statements for Erowne to have made, but in 
 a subsequent writing to and against Bredwell, he says : — 
 
 ' The bishops ciuill authoritie Browne did acknowledge lawfull in 
 his subscription, and their magistracie to bee obeyed . . . hee 
 doeth by those wordes, neither iustifie those for brethren which 
 doe persecute, nor allow an idle and Lordly ministerie in the 
 Church as a part of the brotherhoode.' ^ 
 
 ' his childe was baptiZed according to order of lawe, . . . But 
 yet it was done without his consent, and contrary to an order he 
 had taken and appointed : for it was baptised in England he 
 being beyonde sea.' ' 
 
 ' [his] seruants comming to Church according to lawe, . . . for 
 that he was not to force his seruants agaynst their conscience and 
 custome, being newly come to him, . . . [that he] neuer came 
 to the same Church with them, the parson beeing a common 
 drunkard, and infamous by sundrie faults.' ' 
 ' he would come to Church according to order of lawe, • . . for 
 that there was no lawe to force him to take such a parson for his 
 lawfull minister, neither to ioyne with him in the prayers and 
 Sacraments.' . . -* 
 
 These last citations clearly show what this subscription 
 really meant to Browne. It did not mean much, but it meant 
 something ; and at any rate with this subscription the early 
 period of his life ends and a new one begins. 
 
 » ' THE RASING ] ' . . . , p. 141. 
 
 ' Ibid., p. 142, incorrectly printed 102. 
 ' Ibid., p. 142, incorrectly printed 102. 
 * Ibid., pp. 142-3, printed 102-43, 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 THE PERIOD OF OUTWARD CONFORMITY 
 (Oct. r, 1585— Oct. 8, 1633). 
 
 I. The Years oe Literary Aotiyitt and Controversy 
 
 INCLUDING THE SCHOOLMASTEESHIP AT St. OlATE'S 
 
 Grammar School 
 (Oct. 7, 1585— Sept. 30, 1591). 
 
 On October 8, 1585, Browne evidently appeared before 
 Burghley, who probably gave him some friendly advice and 
 inquired what it was his purpose to do. Finding that Browne 
 intended to return to Tolethorpe, Burghley gave him a letter 
 to his father, expressing the hope that Robert would later 
 entirely give up • some fond opinions of his ', which Burghley 
 evidently considered he had already paiiially renounced, and 
 that he 'be dealt withall in some kinde, and temperate 
 manner '.^ 
 
 Evidently Browne was now put on conforming diet, so to 
 speak, and probably a good deal was expected of him. By 
 such treatment he must have been considerably irritated, and 
 also to some extent must have displeased the family, because 
 he did not go to church as regularly as they had hoped. At 
 any rate just before Feb. 17, 1585/6, Robert's father wrote to 
 Lord Burghley requesting permission to remove Robert 'to 
 Stamford, or some other place ' ; to which in a letter of that 
 date Burghley assented, expressing the hope that there 'he 
 might better be perswaded to conform himself for his own 
 good : and yours, and his friends comfort '.* But if Browne 
 
 • Thomas Fuller's ' Church-History of Britain ';..., 1655, Book ix, 
 p. 167. 
 » Ibid. 
 
THE PERIO OF OUTWARD CONFORMITY 41 
 
 temoved to Stamford, he evidently did not do so early enough 
 to avoid complaint for his previous non-attendance at Church 
 services ; for the Rev. F. Ives Cater of Oundle has recently 
 and most fortunately discovered ' an entry in the Peterborough 
 diocesan records ', which shows that within two months after 
 Burghley's letter was written Robert Browne was having 
 trouble with the authorities at Little Castei-ton, ' the parish in 
 which Tolethorpe Hall is situated." Mr. Cater says: 'The 
 churchwardens of Little Casterton appear to have presented 
 Robert Browne and his wife as recusants to Richard Howland, 
 Bishop of Peterborough, who started a suit against them in 
 his Chancellor's Court. The case was brought before 
 Mr. Richard Fletcher, S.T.P., surrogate of Henry Hickman, 
 vicar-general of the bishop, and was heard " in the Chapel of 
 the Blessed Virgin Mary within the Cathedral Church of 
 Peterborough". There were three hearings, on April 19th, 
 May 5th, and June 25th, 1586, respectively. The charge 
 brought against him was "that he will not come to the 
 Churche ", and the same charge was brought against his wife. 
 At the second hearing the case was in statu qvA). On coming 
 up for the third hearing it was stated that the case had been 
 transferred to the bishop's cognizance, and that a personal 
 interview had taken place. It is doubtful whether a record 
 of this interview remains, nor is it easy to say what was the 
 issue of it. Probably Browne was persuaded again to promise 
 outward conformity. In any case I venture to suggest 
 that this citation, trial, and personal interview are the 
 plain historical events out of which grew the improbable 
 and unauthenticated story of Browne's excommunica- 
 tion.' 1 
 
 With this last suggestion of Mr. Cater's, excellent as it is, it 
 is difficult entirely to agree. So far as the writer can learn, 
 Browne's excommunication was first mentioned in print in 
 ' Bihliotheca Sciyptorum Ecdesice Anglicance: or, a Collection 
 
 ' 'New Facts relating to Robert Browne,' in the 'Transactions' 
 of the Congregational Historical Society, for January, 1906, pp. 
 239-40. 
 
42 THE PERIOD OF OUTWARD CONFORMITY 
 
 of Tracts Relating to the Government and Authority of the 
 Churoh: . . . ' S London, 1709. 
 This work says ^ : — 
 
 ' WhUst this Dr. [Thomas Bayly] liv'd as Cha^lam to Bishop 
 Lindsell, at Peterborough, one thing hMppen'd which aught not to he 
 forgotten: I have it from a Grave and Reverend Divine now [1709] 
 alive, who had it from his [Bayly's] own Mouth. The Story im short 
 is this : The Bishop of Peterborough hearing, in his Visitation, that 
 Brown, the Bingleader of the Brownists, liv'd at North-Hampton, 
 a Market Town in his Diocess, died him to appear before him ; but he 
 neglecting, or refusing to appear, the Bishop, upon mature Delibera- 
 tion, Excommtmicated him. This so struck the old Gentleman, that 
 he submitted himself to the Bishop, desir'd to be absoWd, and being 
 absolv'd accordingly, and re-admitted into the Church, never after left 
 it. And Bishop [Dr. Henry] Lesley [of ' Down in Ireland '] tdls 
 us,. . . (udthout takmg any notice of the Excomnmnication or Absolu- 
 tion) " That Brown the Bingleader of the Separation in England, from 
 whom they were call'd Brownists, did afterwards return, conform him- 
 self, and for many Tears after enjoy' d a good Benefice.{l'] '. . . . 
 
 Of course Jeremy Collier^ borrowed his account of Browne's 
 
 ' A copy may be found in tie Bodleian Library, Oxford (Press mark 
 Th. 8°. L. 137). 
 
 ' See the preface ' to tbe Reader', pp. xii-xiii. The editor of ' Biblio- 
 theca' and Jeremy Collier evidently believed these testimonies of 
 Dr. Bayly and Bishop Lesley to refer to the same matter, but a careful 
 examination of this citation is certain to make clear to the reader that 
 •what Lesley says refers only to Browne's submission, ordination, and 
 subsequent general conformity, -while Dr. Bayly evidently has something 
 quite different and more specific in mind. 
 
 » See 'AN I Ecclesiastical History | of | qeeat beitain,' . . ., London, 
 1714, Vol. II, Part II, Book vii, pp. 581-2. Collier does not mention any 
 date of this excommunication (Benjamin Brook apparently first added 
 that), but -with some unnecessary amplification follows ' Bibliotheca ', 
 and among other things says the excommunication was pronounced by 
 Lindsell, Bishop of Peterborough, who ' being inform'd that Brotm liv'd 
 at NoHhampton, and was busie in promoting his Sect, sent him a Citation 
 to come before him ; he refus'd to appear : Upon which contemptuous 
 Omission he was excommunicated. Brown being deeply affected with 
 the Solemnity of this Censure, made his Submission, mov'd to Absolution, 
 
THE PERIOD OF OUTWARD CONFORMITY 43 
 
 excommunication from what is said in ' Bibliotheca ', but added 
 thereto certain details suppKed by his imagination, and united 
 into one account with material gleaned elsewhere the utterly- 
 distinct testimonies of Dr. Bayly and Bishop Lesley, thereby 
 confusing the whole story of Eobert Browne's life. While 
 the writer, therefore, cannot accept Mr. Cater's suggestion as 
 to the source of this excommunication story of 1586, he is 
 able entirely to agree with hina in believing that Eichard 
 Howland, Bishop of Peterborough, never excommunicated 
 Robert Browne. In fact the Rev. T. G. Crippen apparently is 
 the first ever to have declared in so many words that Howland 
 excommunicated Browne. Dr. Dexter said that Bishop 
 Lindsell excommunicated him about 1586, an evident impossi- 
 bility ; and Mr. Crippen in his account, with excellent intent, 
 substituted ' Howland ' for ' Lindsell ', thereby removing the 
 obvious anachronism, but unfortunately at the same time 
 only the more obscuring the truth. Dr. Dexter apparently 
 never looked critically into this matter of Browne's excom- 
 munication, but without question accepted Benjamin Brook's 
 assertion, with the result that a very considerable error at 
 this point has crept into our understanding of Browne's 
 career. 
 
 During the previously mentioned interview with Bishop 
 Howland of Peterborough in 1586 Browne may have re- 
 linquished his desire to * exercise the ministerie ', which 
 ' exercise ' possibly Howland may have somewhat allowed 
 after the subscription ; but of this we cannot at present be 
 sure. We only know that Burghley, writing to Howland 
 
 and leceiv'd it ; and fcova. this Time continued in the Communion of the 
 Church'. 
 
 What flimsy history Collier -wrote in his account of Bro-wme's life, may 
 to some extent be seen by briefly examining this citation. In the first 
 place Augustine Lindsell -was not appointed Bishop of Peterborough 
 until 1633 and he remained in that position about one year (see William 
 Stubbs' 'Registrum Sacrum Anglicanum'. . . Oxford, 1858, p. 175). 
 Now Collier himself says that Browne died in 1630, an error, however, 
 which he borrowed from Fuller. Further, as far as the present writer 
 can judge, Bro-wne never lived at Northampton, nor did he ever 
 ' promote ' his sect there. 
 
44 THE PERIOD OF OUTWARD CONFORMITY 
 
 three years later, on June 20, 1589, expressed the hope that he 
 would ' receaue him [Browne] againe into the Ministerye, and 
 to geue him your [his] best meanes and helpe for sum 
 eccl[es]iasticall prefe[r]ment '.^ This statement certainly 
 looks as if Bishop Howland had allowed Browne at some time 
 before that date at least to preach in his diocese. 
 
 After his interview with the Bishop of Peterborough in the 
 summer of 1586, and perhaps at the Bishop's advice, Browne 
 seems to have decided to return to his earlier occupation of 
 teaching. He came up to London, and on November 31 of this 
 same year he became schoolmaster in St., Olave's Grammar 
 School, Southwark, upon agreeing to the following terms, 
 still contained in the Minute Book of that well-known and 
 ancient Institution : — 
 
 ' Item the xxj'''^ daye of November Anno Dowini / 1586 / was 
 
 chosen to bee scholemaister Eob[er]te Brownne' vpon his good 
 
 behauiour & obseruinge theise artycles her vnderwritten. / / 
 
 / / [etc.] 
 
 ' Fyrste that you shall not entermedle your selfe with the minister 
 
 or mynestrie of this parrishe or disturbe the quiet of the 
 
 pansheoneres by kepinge any conventycles or conference with 
 
 any suspected or desordered persons 
 
 ' Secondly that yo^^ shall ' bringe yowr Children to sermons & 
 
 lectures in the Churche & theire accompany them for their better 
 
 gouernment / 
 
 ' Thirdly yf any errour shalbe found in you & you convincest 
 
 [sic\ therof that you shall vpon admonition * [?] therof revoke yt 
 
 & conforme yowr selfe to y® doctryn of the Churche of England 
 
 ' Fourthely you shall reade in yowr schole no other Cathechisme 
 
 then is ac[? u]thorysed by publicke authoritie / . 
 
 ' Fyftly that you shall at Conveniente tymes commvnycat in this 
 
 parishe according to the lawes 
 
 ' Lansdowne MS. 103 (No. 60). 
 
 ' The name in the original minute is interlined. 
 
 ' The word ' not ' was -written between ' shall ' and ' bringe ' at first 
 and then was crossed out. 
 
 * The word ' admonition ' is inserted in place of ' dyrection ', which 
 has been crossed out. 
 
THE PERIOD OF OUTWARD CONFORMITY 45 
 
 ' Sixtly not beinge contentyd to answere & kepe theise articles not 
 longer to kepe the scholmaisterehippe / but to avoyde yt 
 
 'Subscribed by me Bobert Browne 
 according to my answeres before 
 all the gouernours, & the distinctis: 
 ons & exceptions before themnamed. 
 'These governors whose names foUoweth were present at the 
 chosinge of the sayd Eoberte Brownne viz M"^ Absolon [?]ersonn 
 Thomas Smithe minister 'Richard Sampsonn 'Riohard Hutton, 
 Eob[er]te Couche Thomas Pinden RieJiard Denman Richard Pin- 
 fold 3ohn Byrd Thomas westwray lohn Selbey Eoberte Foltham 
 Rjchard Atkinsonn & Peter metcalfe [?] ' » 
 
 During the period of his schoolmastership at St. Olave's, 
 Browne can have led no very happy life. Not long after ho 
 came to London, Stephen Bredwell's first book appeared, 
 bearing the title ^ : — 
 
 '[the?] I DETECTION OF | Ed. Glouers hereticall confection, | 
 lately contriued and proffered to the | Ghmch of England, vnder the 
 name of \ A present Preseruatiue. | Wherein | With the laying 
 open of his impudent Bla,n-\der against our whole Ministtie, the 
 Beader | shed find a new built nest of old hatcht heresies | discouered, 
 {and 6y the grace of God) \ ouerthroivne : togither with an ad-\monitimt 
 to the followers of | Gl&uer and Browne. \ By Steph. Bredwell, 
 Student in | Phisicke. \ Seene and allowed. | ' . . . 
 [1586.] London. 80. pp. xiv, 125, i. ' Printed by lohn Wolfe.' 
 
 The part of this book devoted to Browne is comparatively 
 insignificant ; but he nevertheless seems to have felt obliged 
 to defend himself against its insinuations by a writing, which 
 Bredwell ^ later describes as ' a raging Libell . . . sent abroade, 
 in sundrie written copies'. None of the manuscript copies 
 of this ' Libell ' are known to exist to-day, but it seems to 
 have consisted of one hundred and twenty sections, of 
 
 * Deciphered and transcribed by the courtesy, and with the help, of 
 Mr. Rushbrooke, Head Master of St. Olave's Grammar School, Tower 
 Bridge, London, S.B. 
 
 ' Prom the unique copy in the Cambridge University Library (Syn. 8. 
 58. 10). 
 
 » In ' THE BASING | ' . . . London, 1588, p. 61. 
 
46 THE PERIOD OF OUTWARD CONFORMITY 
 
 which Bredwell ia ' the basing | of tee fovndations \ of 
 Brownisme '. | . , . , London, 1 588, has preserved certain cita- 
 tions. From these we may easily obtain an idea of its general 
 tone. Here are several of the most important portions : — 
 
 [' Numb. 3.'] ' Glouers popery or popish heresies, being long ago 
 by many diuines refuted, needeth not Bredwells childish refuta- 
 tion, whereas the cause wherein Bro. hath stood as yet is refuted 
 by none." 
 
 [This passage plainly shows that Edward Glover was no 
 co-worker of Robert Browne's, as Dr. Dexter seems in his 
 account to suggest.] 
 
 [' Numb. 20.'] ' Thou hast written it heeretofore, that there is no 
 Aegipt in England, and hast thou now found vs out to be in 
 Aegipt, Doest thou not perceiue, that thou and thy partakers, 
 abusing your knowledge to persecute those which are come out 
 of Aegipt, are worse then Aegipt, yea princes of Sodome, and 
 people of Gomorrha ? looke thou to it, that thou remain not in 
 Aegipt. Thou hast confessed that we were once come out 
 of Aegipt, thou canst not say so of thy selfe, if still thou iustifie 
 thy Aegiptian doctrine & poUutiOs, as is to be seen by thy 
 pamphlet ' ' [i. e. ' [the] ] detection of | Ed. Glouers hereticall 
 confection, I' . . . [1586]]. 
 
 ['Numb. 28.'] 'We haue gained, by fleeing from persecuting 
 wolues, not wealth, nor bellycheere, nor fauour in the world, but 
 losse, imprisonment, all manner [of] euil speaches, and death 
 it selfe.' » 
 
 [Numb.] ' 75. If all were such persecuting wretches as Bredwell 
 is, they were not only infidels, denying the fayth, but also woorse 
 than infidels, because they yet suffered the beleeuers to dwell in 
 the same house with them : but Bredwell and his partners would 
 not suffer them to dwell in the same Citie with them, no not in 
 the same Countrey, no not vpon the face of the earth.' 
 'num. 77. Nay false hypocrite, ... It is thy manor and thy 
 
 ' p. 134. ' pp. 132-3. 
 
 * p. 133. Those who, with Dr. Leonard Bacon, think that 'Robert 
 Browne was not a martyr', and that 'he was not of the stuff that 
 martyrs are made of, do him the highest injustice, as this citation alone 
 amply shows. 
 
THE PERIOD OF OUTWARD CONFORMITY 47 
 
 partners, to force, to threaten, to make stirrings and hurlie burlies, 
 and to driue man and wife asunder. [Such treatment as this 
 may have been the cause of Browne's later domestic unhappiness.] 
 Thine and their outrage cannot be satisfied with bloud. Thine 
 and their raylings, slaunders and false accusations, haue brought 
 diuerse of vs to death, some by the Gibbet, some by long imprison- 
 ment, some by flight and pursuit, some by extreame care, death 
 and sickenesse : some by seas, some by necessitie and want, some 
 by chaunging aire, dwelling and place. The bloud of all these 
 shall bee vpon thine and thy partners heades.' ' 
 ['Numb. 105.'] 'While they [the ministers of the Church of 
 England] raile & resist the truth ... we may heare them as 
 enemies, but ioyne with ths as brethren we dare not.' ' 
 
 During this period of Browne's career Bredwell also appears 
 to have had other dealings with him. One of Robert Browne's 
 followers, whose name seems to have had the initials W. F., 
 and who evidently had been urged by Bredwell to come to 
 church, wrote to him asking for a sufficient reason. Bredwell 
 replied, and his answer came into Browne's hands, who re- 
 sponded for W. F. in a writing concerning ' the question of 
 communicating', of which the original is totally lost, and 
 of the contents of which we have but the following three 
 sentences : — 
 
 ' Thus your writing condemneth you of iniquity, that speake not 
 one word in the pulpit [Bredwell was a medical student, not a 
 clergyman, as Browne, when he wrote this, seems to have sup- 
 posed], against the restraint by popish discipline, that ye cannot 
 separate. How sore do you labour, and how much do you suffer, 
 that dare not speake a word by name against those officers and 
 courts, neither name nor protest openly against those wicked, 
 against whom you would haue vs protest particularly and by 
 name. . , . But why labour you not also to charge them openly, 
 though it cost you your life and lining ? ' ' 
 
 This communication must have been penned either after 
 Bredwell's first book had been written and was in the press, 
 
 1 pp. 114-5. » p. 136. 
 
 » ' THE BASING I' . . • , 1588, p. 132. 
 
48 THE PERIOD OF OUTWARD CONFORMITY 
 
 or before Browne saw a copy of it, for '[the?] | detec- 
 tion' . . . plainly states on the title-page that Bredwell is 
 a ' Student in Phisicke ', and no mention is made in it of this 
 writing of Browne's concerning ' communicating'. 
 
 Bredwell published his answers to all these writings of 
 Robert Browne, with an account of Browne's life and literary 
 activity during his schoolmastership in Southwark, in his 
 book which appeared in 1588, when Browne had been about 
 two years in that position, entitled as previously stated, ' the 
 EASING I ow THE FOVNSATiONS \ of Brownisme. I . . . ' ; and 
 to-day right glad may we be that this book was written and 
 published, for it is a mine of information. 
 
 From this work we learn that up to August 12, 1588, 
 Browne had not communicated in the sacrament at St. Olave's, 
 in fact that before this date, in order to avoid partaking in 
 the Communion, he had moved into another parish; that 
 sometimes he attended the preaching services, but ' as a censor 
 to iudge, not as a brother to leame'; that he had written 
 a treatise of ' v. or vi. sheetes of paper ' for one ' seelie woman ' 
 in the parish of St. Olave's, and thereby had so confirmed her 
 ' in her sottish sepai-ation ' that there appeared to be ' vtterly 
 no hope of her recouerie ' ; that he had sent his writings 
 against Bredwell ' to a hundreth miles distance from London ' ; 
 that 'somewhat later' he had 'disturbed the cogregatio at 
 Dertford, drawn away some, railed opely & dispersed writings, 
 as of chalenge against the lecturer', Mr. Edmondes, because 
 he had advised his people of the danger of Brownism ; that 
 since Browne's subscription he had preached in private houses, 
 ' & namely amongst the rest, one Lordes day, & not farre from 
 Ludgate: hauing a litle before in the same house earnestly 
 conteded against, in reasoning, & disswaded fro publique 
 hearing'; that on this occasion Browne had also exercised 
 ' the ministerie of preaching ', inasmuch as ' he was earnestly 
 requested vnto it by those that were present', this fact in 
 his opinion evidently constituting a 'lawful calling to that 
 ministrie '. 
 
 Now while Browne was having discussions with men on 
 the side of the Established Church, he was evidently at the 
 
THE PERIOD OF OUTWARD CONFORMITY 49 
 
 same time engaged in another controversy with Barrowe and 
 Greenwood, who had carried Cartwright's and Browne's early 
 teachmg to extremes, but who would in no wise acknowledge 
 themselves to be indebted to Browne, after his subscription. 
 This controversy with the Brownists [or Barrowists?] in 
 London doubtless began at least not much more than half 
 a year before October 7, 1585, about which time, probably at 
 the request of ' M. Far. & M. Ear. Londoners ', he sent letters 
 to ' his followers at Lortdon ', as before mentioned, to persuade 
 them that 'it was not vnlawfui to heare the Word' in the 
 churches of the Establishment. Apparently these letters 
 were answered, for Browne in a later writing mentions sending 
 Barrowe and Greenwood ' the platforme ' ', and also a treatise ^ 
 in which the following conclusions concerning the ordinary 
 preachers in the Church of England were expressed, namely, 
 ' their lawfull preaching of the word *, ' Secondlie their send- 
 ing and calling,' ' Thirdlie the blessing liking or allowing of 
 their bringing of the ghospel/.' It is to be regretted that 
 neither of these manuscripts is known to be extant, but 
 fortunately the most important of all this series of Browne's 
 writings was accidentally discovered by the present writer 
 during the past year. This manuscript is in fact the lost key 
 to the true understanding of the latter half of Browne's life. 
 Bredwell referred to this treatise at considerable length in the 
 preface 'IT To the Christian Reader** in 'the easing | of 
 
 * Mentioned in Browne's long-lost MS., entitled, 'A reproofe of 
 certeine schismatical persons & their doctrine | . . .' 
 
 ' [pp. ix.-xi.] The whole section reads: — 
 
 ' Of mine aduersaries [the Brownists] I rather knowe the nature then 
 the number. Although (as it hath been obserued) sundrie among them, 
 from time to time, haue laboured to be leaders, and so vpon the spurre 
 of emulation haue galloped as hard as they could : yet without all 
 question, there is none among them that can iustly take the garland 
 from Rob. Brovme. His writings doe foreiudge the cause agaynst all his 
 competitors. And albeit newe maisters are risen among them, that 
 nowe, in a fresh hote moode, condemne his coldnesse and colourable 
 dealing, and that worthily : yet they must, euen Barote and Greenwood, 
 with the rest, acknowledge him the shop of their store, and the Steele of 
 their strength : . . . But some will obiect, that these that I name, agree 
 not among themselues: and therefore cannot be accounted of one 
 
50 THE PERIOD OF OUTWARD CONFORMITY 
 
 THE FOVNVATiONS \ of Brovvnisme. | ' . . . , 1588. Apparently 
 this writing of Robert Browne's has been practically lost 
 
 familie. . . . Barow and Greenewood nakedly discouered their piofession, 
 and are prisoners. Browne cunningly counterfeitetli conformitie, and 
 dissembleth with his owne soule, for libertie. . . . Hence cometh that 
 grudge, quarrell and heartburning among them. They expostulate 
 with him as a coward, and one that shrinketh in the wetting. He 
 againe nippeth them for their egernesse, in running before their olde 
 maister, and thereby obscuring his light, as though the truth (forsooth) 
 had first bin reuealed by them. It seemetfa, they would not heare 
 a sermon, to gaine their libertie. But it is manifest, that he to redeeme 
 trouble, hath learned to apply himselfe to all times, places, and persons. 
 Nowe in this their iarre, manie strange paradoxes and grosse absurdities 
 haue passed betweene them : arguing both sides to haue trusted in their 
 strength, and therefore to haue beene destitute of the spirit of truth to 
 guide their pennes. Barow and Greenwood denie [Marginal note. ' As 
 appeareth in a writing that came from Brownes hand of this matter.'], 
 that our preachers doe preach the teoorde, and that they doe, or can beget 
 fayth. They say, 2%e wicked home no teoorde of Sod, no graces of eon, no 
 spirituall orsanctifyed graces, that they doe no good, that they may net teach, 
 testifie, preach or counsaile anie woorde of aoD, anie religion or dutie of 
 religion. That they haue no kinde of promise nor "blessing : and that there 
 is no Communion to bee had with them in spirituall graces. They denie 
 fayth to come necessarily, by the woorde of eoD : and say, It may bee begotten 
 without anie promise of the woorde. Beeing demaunded, what faith doeth 
 beleeue : They aunswere : God, without anie consideration of his woorde and 
 promise. Likewise beeing asked, howe they came by their fa^h, it seemeth 
 they aunswered, as it pleased God: namely, by his spirite: but not 
 acknowledging the outwarde meanes. Some of them graunt, our 
 preachers beget fayth or beleefe of the woorde, but not the fayth of Christ. 
 Hee prooueth it not the fayth of Christ, because it hath not good woorkes: 
 Which hee speoifieth to be Idolatrie, Eebellion and Bondage. They say, 
 our ministers bring a newe Gospdl. That the lawe in their mouthes, and 
 the sacrifices or presumptuous ministerie of Korah, Dathan and Abiram are 
 alike. And they make no better account of our Parish meetings, than of 
 the meetings at the groaues and hill altars. wo&U men, and drunken 
 with the wine of their owne headie conceites. Browne againe, for feare 
 all these reproches shoulde light vppon him, because hee commeth into our 
 Churches, minseth the matter euerie where, with these ill stampt dis- 
 tinctions, Of the better and woorser sort of our preachers : (wherein hee 
 leaues his meaning doubtfull still,) and of ioyning with vs in the common 
 graces, both worldly and spirituall, but not as in one bodie, and couenant of 
 the Church. mocker : Let the Lorde iudge thy hypocrisie, for no man 
 can sounde it. Concerning the disputation of both parties in this matter 
 
THE PERIOD OF OUTWARD CONFORMITY 51 
 
 sight of from Bredwell's time to the day when the writef 
 unexpectedly discovered it; and before this was found, the 
 real extent to which Browne gave up his earlier views was 
 unknown. Mr. Cater has sought to show that Browne's life 
 in reality was a reasonably consistent whole. This manu- 
 script makes it plain that that position is not strictly correct ; 
 but it nevertheless shows Browne oflf to advantage, even while 
 revealing his inconsistency. In fact it is such a production 
 that it makes us glad to examine bis new point of view. 
 
 This manuscript is undated and anonymous, except for the 
 following endorsement in a well-known contemporary hand, 
 'M' Brownes | Booke | Sent [Lent?] ] me,' but the hand- 
 writing of the document also is unmistakable. The full title 
 of this writing is, ' A reproofe of certeine sehiamatical persons 
 [i.e. 'Barow and Greenewood'] & their doctrine | Touching 
 the hearing & preaching of the word | of God.' The section 
 in Bredwell seems to indicate that it was written in the latter 
 half of 1587 or in the first half of 1588, Inasmuch as the 
 material in this treatise is fresh, it may be worth while here 
 to devote some space to the treatment of it.^ 
 
 if I bee asked my iudgement, this must I esij : Browne hath sufficiently 
 ouertkrowne the manie asseitions of his young maisters, as hee calleth 
 them, in proouing our preachers to haue a calling, because they beget 
 fayth: that they preach the woorde, because they beget fayth: For 
 examples: in him and themseluea they haue done it, ergo, S^c. And 
 that, The knowledge of reformation and discouerie of Church corruptions 
 camefi'mt to them by their preaching, ergo, S^c. And as they number vp all 
 the euils they can finde in the doctrine and practise of our preachers, to 
 proone they can doe no good, nor beget faith : hee contrariwise by a fiill 
 floud of their true doctrine, and good fruits (whereof he maketh a copioug 
 catalogue) woorthily quencheth the furious flame of their slaunderoua 
 tongues. Also by the sitting of the Scribes and Pharisees in Moses chaire, 
 and the commaundement of hearing them, he verie sufficiently proueth that 
 wicked men may preach Grods worde, and being in such office, charge 
 and calling, ought to be heard. The cauils they make against these 
 things, are such, as shew them wilfully to stoppe their .eares, least the 
 sounde of truth shoulde smite their hearts. In these pointes I testifie, 
 that Broime hath well confuted their furie. . . .' 
 
 * The story of the discovery of this manuscript is here omitted, in- 
 asmuch as it is hoped that the publication of a complete edition of this 
 writing, with a suitable introduction, may later be possible. 
 
 E 2 
 
52 THE PERIOD OF OUTWARD CONFORMITY 
 
 The extended passage from Bredwell settles the identifica- 
 tion of the treatise ; for while even the italicized expressions 
 are not always what we would call quotations in the strictest 
 sense, and while he sometimes rearranges the expressions he 
 quotes or summarizes to suit his own convenience, yet he has 
 quoted enough, has used a sufficient number of peculiar ex- 
 pressions and words, and summarized with such minuteness, 
 as to leave no shadow of a doubt that he had this manuscript 
 before him. For this minuteness in Bredwell's description 
 we should be profoundly thankful, as without all these par- 
 ticulars we would probably never have known for certain 
 against just what persons Browne was writing, and might 
 possibly be inclined to date the manuscript several years too 
 late. Further this passage adds considerably to the interest 
 of the manuscript itself, since it shows that this work of 
 Browne's was in his own day considered important ; and con- 
 versely the treatise heightens the interest of the section in 
 Bredwell, as supplying its original source. 
 
 We may now pass to a brief description of the appearance of 
 this manuscript written against 'Barow and Greenewood'. 
 It is a document probably of between twenty-five and twenty- 
 eight thousand words, and covers thirty-one closely written 
 folio pages. It is properly divided into two sections, contain- 
 ing answers to two separate writings of Browne's opponents. 
 It is not a beautiful production (as are the manuscripts of 
 ' A New Years Guift ' and ' An answere to M» Cartwrights 
 letter, . . . ', which latter is probably the most extended writing 
 in Browne's hand now in existence, and must contain at least 
 thirty thousand words), nor was it apparently intended for 
 the printer. We cannot even be sure that ' A reproofe . . . ', 
 as we now have it, contains all that Browne wrote in the first 
 section, which appears in any case to have been left unfinished. 
 Throughout, in fact, this document bears every mark of haste. 
 Many words have been crossed out, and four or five whole 
 paragraphs in different places have been blotted out with a 
 sort of ink-like black paint, as carefully as if done by a censor. 
 Further the whole outer top comer of pages 7 and 8, at the 
 beginning of the second section, has been torn off", and the 
 
THE PERIOD OF OUTWARD CONFORMITY 53 
 
 paper under the blotted paragraphs is beginning to craok 
 and break off. Nevertheless on the whole, in spite of these 
 defects, which in so extended a writing are after all com- 
 paratively insignificant, the manuscript may be said to be in 
 very good condition. 
 
 To give a minutely exact and logical description of the 
 contents of this treatise is practically impossible, for evidently 
 it is not a discussion logically developed by Browne himself, 
 but is rather a refutation of the views of his two opponents 
 in the order followed by them. Again, the continuity of 
 the thought is all the more broken by the fact that ' Barow 
 and Greenewood ' evidently did not entirely agree with each 
 other on the topics discussed. Hence the present writer has 
 decided to give the following quite general summary of the 
 principal ideas for which Browne here contends, as this 
 method ought to furnish the reader with a really more ser- 
 viceable introduction to a study of the treatise than a more 
 minute, but necessarily more confused, statement of the 
 various points under discussion : — 
 
 I. A short introduction, giving the occasion and purpose 
 of the treatise. 
 n. Discussion : — 
 
 (a) The preachers of the Church of England, 
 
 whether good or bad, have the Word of God 
 
 and preach it truly, because they beget 
 
 faith. 
 \. I (b) These preachers are also sent by God, and 
 
 have a sufficient calling, because they beget 
 
 faith, 
 (c) Since they have a sufficient calling, they 
 
 may be heard. 
 
 2. We all owe a debt of gratitude to these preachers 
 of the Church of England, since the know- 
 ledge of abuses and the desire for reformation, 
 even in yourselves, came first of all from their 
 preaching. 
 
 3. Further, the ordinary preachers in the Church of 
 England are now themselves preaching against 
 
54 THE PERIOD OF OUTWARD CONFORMITY 
 
 all the principal abuses (Browne enumerates 
 50) that have been noted ; and as these men 
 are occupying positions which you should 
 honour, it is ungrateful of you to carry on any 
 longer a rigidly separatist reformation against 
 them. 
 in. A brief conclusion. 
 
 The writer believes this to be the general line of argument 
 intended to be advanced by Browne in this treatise, but 
 expressed by him in much looser fashion. 
 
 As the reader may have surmised, in so extended a writing 
 on such a subject, there are many passages of considerable 
 interest, a few of which only can here be given. Browne 
 begins with the following kindly words : — 
 
 ' You seeme to seeks quietnes and peace, and to proffer and call 
 for loue in debating theis matters : Then geue forth no cruel 
 verdite against vs, and let ech syde stay all rash iudgment and 
 sentence, tyll the trueth be duely skanned, afterward duelie offered 
 and charitablie vrged, and then let the obstinat be iustly reproued. 
 If you had delt herein according to this and according to our 
 request long ago herein there had bene more peace and loue then 
 in deed we haue found at your hands-^.' 
 
 ' I haue not as yet your whole writing, no not one whole sheet 
 thereof though very instantly I haue sought it all : But I know 
 not what loue or good counsel hath kept back, & denied me the 
 sight thereof. 
 
 ' Well it walcking abroad, now a long tyme a& I heare in other 
 mens hands, & gathering strength to it selfe, because it hath no 
 full nor due check, I tooke in hand this present Wednesday, in the 
 name & feare of God, If it may be by his grace & fauour, to stop 
 the euill course thereof. 
 
 'The Lord set our hartes and penns as sanctified means, & 
 appointed to beleiue & [?] testifie his trueth onelye, AmeU'^' 
 
 These opening lines very well illustrate the general tone 
 of the treatise. Somehow we can hardly imagine Eobert 
 Browne at this time writing in so calm a spirit, and espe- 
 cially giving expression to ideas that we have hitherto sup- 
 posed were only- wrung from him by the intensity of his 
 
THE PERIOD OF OUTWARD CONFORMITY 55 
 
 persecution; but we may perhaps presume that in reality 
 up to this time we have seen little more than one side of 
 his life. Indeed throughout the whole manuscript Browne 
 uses practically no phi-ases that could be called harsh or 
 resentful, unless they be the following : — 
 
 ' nether may those receiuers alledge saying, we are turned away 
 from our first teachers & preachers, for they are naught, & what 
 good did we euer take by them /?'... 
 
 ' Yet you without feare dare vauntj and mocke them and vs, 
 first in pulling from them their credit, & then bidding them get 
 it againe if they can, also in reprochfuU deniing of that faieth & 
 knowledge they haue taught & you learned daring them or facing 
 them to proue it.' 
 
 ' But rather you yong Maisters, which haue eaten and filled your 
 selues of your ould MaisterS labours, do now kick yp your heeles 
 against them, and not onely would put them from their righl;, 
 saiing that the Grhospel & true faieth did first of all come from 
 you / but also do chalendge them as dastards because you dreame 
 or rather crack a victorie before hand.' 
 
 ' Theis things I am loth to discourse so largely, but much more 
 vauie philosophie in you then this is, which is not espied, shall 
 hereafter heap vp much more busnies [?] to your answearers [?] ; 
 and not onlie astonish them that such as you & so manie of you 
 should be beguiled with them so longe, but also as raging wanes 
 dash vpon them, tyll by Gods help, they haue sent them downe to 
 that gulfe beneath, & tiuned their streame to that hellish lake, 
 whence they shall neuer retourne / .' 
 
 Finally, this writing simply abounds in passages in which 
 the thought is strikingly remarkable as coming from Browne. 
 The following examples may be given : — 
 
 ' How much more blessed are they that preach the whole ghospel 
 & that purelie, I meane truelie, as do soe manie [in the Church of 
 England] at this day.' 
 
 ' Thirdlie you should learne that The Byshops & Courts, & all 
 higher Magistrats haue authoritie to deale in all spiritual & eccle- 
 siasticall matters, & who so euer doeth cut of them \sic\ all right 
 to deale in spiritual things, doeth whollie ouerthrow all authoritie 
 / seing there is no duetie, lawe, deed, cause, quaestion, or plea, etc 
 
56 THE PERIOD OF OUTWARD CONFORMITY 
 
 which ought not to be spiritual, or is not determined by the diuine 
 & spiritual right, law & word of God /. 
 
 ' Yea and the iniunctions & statutes do permitt & geiue leaue 
 to speak against all abuses in all things, (^sw\ But with theis 
 exceptions, ^sic\ that we speak not reprochfully, railingly, will- 
 fully & obstinatly, but in humilitie as we ought, & as being vnder 
 correction & iudgmewt of magistrats if we speake amisse, read the 
 statute & you shall fynd such like words /.'... 
 
 ' Also we doubt not but that a forme of Praier may be prse- 
 scribed, so that still the libertie of vsing or appliing those praiers 
 bring not a bondage. So that the minister and people do vse them 
 wel as they haue iust & lawful! occasion : And herein the Magis- 
 trat must iudge as well as the minister, and if the minister vse his 
 forme of Praier amisse, the Magistrate may call him to accounts & 
 punish him-^.' 
 
 ' Yet further we say, that your owne harts do tell you, that you 
 haue no knowledge of anie abuses, against which the preachers 
 haue not, & do not most vsually preach & you learned that fcnow- 
 ledg of them. For though some preach some things corruptlie, & 
 the same men do some tymes stand with and against one & the 
 same abuse / . Yet the better sort & greatest number haue left 
 no abuse vntouched, but with much zeale & great patience haue 
 cried out against them in this age & suffered persecution for them 
 in former ages as some by fleing their contrie, some by losing 
 their liuings, place & standings, some by imprisonmewt, arraign- 
 ment & burning at the stake / .' . . . 
 
 ' Also you make difference of Scribs & Pharises, and of Parson, 
 vicare. Curate / . But what so euer title the world geueth anie 
 preacher or minister, if he do his duetie we must honour him, 
 abd not dispitefuUy call him, as you do, the excrement of 
 Antichrist / . 
 
 ' And if he do not his duetie, but be a vile person, by offending 
 vpon ignorance in waightie matters in knowledg, zeale, good con- 
 science against some or manie synns / and in guifts of vtterance 
 & preaching, & the same also confirmed by lawfull authoritie, 
 the same Man doeth sit in Moses chaire, that is he hath right of 
 Buperioritie, & authoritie, whereby he may & ought to imploie his 
 guifts to the edifiing of all men, and all men according to their 
 place, calling, & iust occasions may & ought to heare him / . And 
 all that haue such guifts, ought to minister by them, & to offer 
 
THE PERIOD OF OUTWARD CONFORMITY 57 
 
 their seruice & ministerie by all occasions nether is it reproohfully 
 to be termed stincking seruice, or vnlooked for. For we must 
 look for good by all men, & men must offer & prefer good by all 
 occasions /-»-.' 
 
 ' But if they offer or take vpon them further then their guift or 
 lawfull calling serueth them, being abominable men, therein 
 their seruice stinoketh, and is not blessed, nether can it be 
 vsed/.' 
 
 ' Yea your owne conscience, we are suer, will bourne & sting in 
 you, as lyinge against the spirit of grace, if you say, that your 
 harts haue not some tymes bene inflamed with a zeale of Gods 
 glorie, with a conscience against synne, with a ioye in that faieth 
 & knowledge which you haue learned & receiued at their sermons 
 [i. e. the sermons of the "ordinarie preachers" of the Church of 
 England]/:'. . . 
 
 ' 2. If anie speake against Sectaries which are none, and also 
 in their ignorance & blind zeale seeme to raile on the inno- 
 cent, they do euilL Yet except they slaunder maliciousUe, 
 & against their conscience & knowne trueth, and it be 
 euident, that they do it of mere zeale & by name do not 
 spitefully abuse anie, we iudg it but an infirmitie.' 
 
 The closing words of this treatise are interesting and may- 
 well be cited. They are : — 
 
 ' Thus you see, how farr you haue runn to wearie your selues in 
 vaine / . For all this your discoursing will not proue, but that 
 we may heare the preachers, yea by occasion, wicked preachers 
 & false prophets. And that in all good & common graces both 
 worldli & spiritual, we may ioine with the T[yic]ked, so that we 
 ioine not with them in euil / .-*-. 
 
 ' And the same grace, & spirit of discerning & triing, which you 
 wish & pray for to vs, do we wish & pray for to you / & that to 
 come from God our Father for his Ghrists sake. 
 
 'Wo to them that are wise in their owne eies, & 
 
 prudent in their owne conceit. 
 'He that iustifieth the wicked & he that con- 
 demneth the righteous are both [a?] like abomin- 
 able/^.' 
 
 Many passages could be given, if space would allow, to 
 show that yarious points, which Browne in earlier years had 
 
58 THE PERIOD OF OUTWARD CONFORMITY 
 
 upheld as true, had at last been discarded by him. He now, 
 with one or two exceptions, accepts as his own the very argu- 
 ments that he had earlier opposed. If the reader will compare 
 the views represented in the citations from Browne's earlier 
 works with these citations from ' A reproofe ..." and with the 
 passage from BredweU, he will sufficiently see the wonderful 
 change that in a short time had come over Browne. ' A 
 reproofe . . . ' is perhaps the finest tempered, and in some 
 respects the most interesting, treatise that he ever wrote. 
 
 Apart from the information contained in the preceding 
 citations^ the historical value of this treatise against ' Barow 
 and Greenewood ' is not insignificant. 
 
 1. This writing is evidently not that ' against one Barowe ', 
 referred to by Bancroft, This is of entii-ely different tone, and 
 makes no reference to ' Elders and Presbyters ' as that does. 
 
 2. From this treatise the writer judges that, while Browne 
 may have appeared to BredweU only to pretend to conformity, 
 he honestly conformed with certain reservations, believing on 
 the whole, under existing circumstances, that this was the 
 wiser, as well as the safer course. If this be so, he cannot be 
 justly blamed for inconsistency. 
 
 3. Certainly, however, Browne's conformity had its reserva- 
 tions ^, and he evidently never intended to allow it to become 
 what might be termed a sleepyj easy conformity. For all he 
 says in defence of hearing bad preachers, he admits that he 
 sighs and grieves ' at badd doctrine, & teachers ' ; only he adds 
 also, ' Do we therefore condemne the better for the worser, 
 the good part, for the badd 1 ' 
 
 4. After his submission Browne must really have spent 
 a very considerable amount of time hearing various preachers 
 of the Church of England, and in studying the subjects of 
 
 ^ That Browne openly and honestly avowed certain reserrations in his 
 conformity is proved beyond a doubt by his subscription in accepting 
 the mastership of St. Olave's Grammar School, in which he definitely 
 states in his own handwriting after his signature, that he makes these 
 promises with the 'distinctions & exceptions' named 'before all the 
 gouemours'. Probably Browne's previous subscription on October 7, 
 1585, was also signed with similar reservations, but of course BredweU 
 does not mention them. 
 
THE PERIOD OF OUTWARD CONFORMITY 5c 
 
 their sermons. This study seems to have persuaded him thai 
 perhaps formerly he had been too severe in his judgements 
 and that at any rate it was proper, nay even might be a duty 
 to hear these preachers so long as they continued to preach 
 against abuses, as they were doing when he heard them. 
 
 5. The fine, kindly, sane tone manifested throughout thifi 
 long treatise shows conclusively that Browne was no insane 
 person at the very time when Bredwell wrote of him, ' Browne 
 is sound, his braine is sicke.' With the discovery of this 
 manuscript the theory of Browne's later insanity must fall. 
 
 6. But after all, perhaps, the most important part that the 
 discovery of this treatise will enable the writer to perform, is 
 in the direction of adding a few touches to the portrait oi 
 Eobert Browne as we now have it. What a flood of light this 
 long-lost manuscript throws upon those formerly little under- 
 stood years between his submission and the writing of 'A New 
 Years Guift', December 31, 1588/91 What years of anxiety 
 and unending controversy, as a climax to many* imprison- 
 ments I Yet with aU this gloomy background, how striking 
 is it to find him writing this ' Booke ', probably during the 
 first half of the year 1588, in so comparatively peaceful styles 
 on the whole in so fair-tempered, even kindly mood ! He has 
 evidently regained some of his earlier buoyancy of spirit ; his 
 mind seems to be in an entirely healthy state; his powers 
 in debate are nowhere seen to better advantage. Here 
 evidently we find the conforming Robert Browne at his best. 
 Nevertheless, it is certainly a much-changed, though probably 
 wiser character, who looks out at us from the worn, hastily 
 written pages of this old manuscript, as compared with the 
 turbulent separatist Browne of former years. Here we find 
 him defending his new and somewhat strange position with 
 much of his earlier ardour, and with the apparent consciousness 
 that here too he is still the master of the situation. 
 
 Two other manuscripts Browne wrote in this controversy 
 
 with Barrowe and Greenwood, which are no longer extant. 
 
 One of these was evidently a sort of appendix to 'A reproofs 
 
 . . .', being a 'profession of our faieth in a seueral booke 
 
 1 See 'A New Tears Guift', Memorial Hall, London, E.G., 1904, p. 27. 
 
6o THE PERIOD OF OUTWARD CONFORMITY 
 
 annexed to this [i.e. 'A reproofe, • . .'] /against disorders 
 & teaching the true doctrine of religion^/: which is the same 
 our preachers do preachy and shew to the world,' 
 
 About this time Henry Barrowe (?) apparently wrote a 
 treatise, entitled 'Four Causes of Separation '.^ This prob- 
 ably was not addressed especially to Browne, but rather to 
 all who were content to remain in the Church of England. 
 This treatise contained those well-known words ascribed to 
 Barrowe : ' you shall find herbye christ Jesus denied in all his 
 ofices, & so consequently not to be com in the flesh.' The 
 Eev. T. G. Crippen is the fortunate discoverer of a copy of this 
 most valuable manuscript *, written in an anonymous contem- 
 porary hand. It would seem that this treatise was originally 
 penned in the summer or autumn of 1588, and was soon after 
 answered by Eobert Browne ' in a treatise of his against one 
 Ba/rowe ', of the contents of which we now have no knowledge 
 except in those racy lines cited by Richard Bancroft, in ' A 
 Sermon preached at Pavles Crosse the 9. of Februarie '*,... 
 1588/9:— 
 
 ' Whereas you charge us ... in denieng Christ in his offices, 
 and consequently not to be come in the flesh : it shall appeere by 
 your presbyterie or eldermen, that indeed you are and will be the 
 aldermen even to pull the most ancient of all, Christ lesu him- 
 seUe by the beard : yea and seeke not onely to shake him by the 
 lockes of his haire out of his offices, but also all his ancients under 
 him, I meane the lawful magistrates and ministers, which have 
 lawfiill authoritie from him. 
 
 ' Wherefore not we but you rather seeke the glistering blase of 
 great name : and if once you might get up the names of Elders 
 and Presbyters, what mischiefe, crueltie, and pride would not 
 
 ' In the manuscript the words ' against . . . religion ' have been 
 crossed out. 
 
 ' For some account of this work, see the ' Transactions ' of the Con- 
 gregational Historical Society, vol. ii, no. 3, for September, 1905, pp. 
 149-150, and for the complete text see the 'Transactions', vol. ii, no. 4, 
 for January, 1906. 
 
 " In the Congregational Library, London. 
 
 * See the edition published at London, and dated 1588, pp. 76-7. 
 
THE PERIOD OF OUTWARD CONFORMITY 6i 
 
 streame from that name, even as fire from a biasing star to set 
 on fire the whole world ? For every busie foole, the more busie 
 he were in discrediting others, and seeking mastership amoig the 
 people, the better elder he should be judged. Yea and this new 
 name of an elder given him, were even as a sacrament of grace, 
 and would seale up all his knaverie : that whatsoever filthines 
 dropped from him, yet the skirte of his ancients gowne should 
 cover it.' 
 
 About this same time also Browne seems to have written 
 ' a seueral treatisse in latine, touching the herring fishes . . . 
 taken in the east seas ', an apocalyptical writing and evidently 
 the outgrowth of correspondence on that subject. In 'A New 
 Years Guift ' ^ he gives some description of this treatise, which 
 itself probably has long since been destroyed. While what 
 Browne says about this work and certain points in the Book 
 of Revelation appears at first sight to indicate a mind slightly 
 disordered, it afifords no conclusive evidence that this was 
 the case. The men of Browne's day and until late in the 
 seventeenth century treated such matters in their discussions 
 in dead earnest ; and the ideas of that period were so vastly 
 different from those of our time, that one is likely now to read 
 into these early writings characteristics that were not apparent 
 to contemporaries. 
 
 On December 31, 1588/9, Browne wrote to a Mr. — Flower, 
 whom he calls uncle, a letter treatise, which Richard Bancroft, 
 later Archbishop of Canterbury, secured along with ' a treatise 
 . . . against one Barowe '. Sections from both of these manu- 
 scripts were employed by Bancroft in his famous sermon 
 preached at 'Pavles Crosse'. The former treatise was dis- 
 covered by the present writer in the autumn of 1902, and 
 somewhat over a year later was published with the title 
 ' A New Years Guift '.^ This writing, with ' a treatise . . . 
 
 ^ pp. 35-6 of the edition published by the Congregational Historical 
 Society, Memorial Hall, London, 1904. 
 
 ' After the publication of ' A New Tears G-uift ' Sir Edward Maunde 
 Thompson kindly called the attention of the writer to the fact that this 
 manuscript somehow came into the hands of the Rev. George Harbin 
 (Nonjuror, Chaplain to the Bishop of Ely, 1684-1691, and Librarian a< 
 Longleate, Warminster), and became a part of his own library; thai 
 
62 THE PERIOD OF OUTWARD CONFORMITY 
 
 against one Sarowe ', manifests an interesting change no 
 be noticed in Browne's views. Once he had strongly inc 
 to Presbyterianism, and hitherto he had written little ag 
 it, but now he even goes so far as to compare Presbyteria 
 unfavourably with the Church of England, and declares 
 self on the side of the latter. He tells of the bitter experic 
 he has had at the hands of Puritan preachers, and says 
 they have done him more harm than any of the bishops, 
 has already ' bene in more then twentie prisons ', and is ' 
 enough & broken to to [sic] much with former trouble 
 feel any ' need of further affliction '.* The practical experie 
 of life had blasted his early hopes, and it is hardly surpr 
 to us soon to find him seeking the favour of the Chun 
 England, which he had once so heartily rejected. 
 
 Evidently Bredwell's second book, ' the easing | of 
 FOTNDATiONS \ of Brovvnisme. | ' . . . , London, 1588, 
 published in the autumn of that year, and its appearance 
 have compelled Browne's early removal from St. Ola 
 Whether he was still schoolmaster when he wrote ' a tre 
 . . . against one Barowe ' and • A New ¥ears Guift ' is 
 known, but possibly Mr. — Flower^s request to answer eei 
 questions which resulted in the writing of ' A New T 
 Guift ' may have been prompted by the appearance of B 
 well's work. 
 
 Baillie says that Robert Browne was 'first a Schoolmast< 
 iSouthwark, and then a Preacher at Islington neer London' 
 If he ever preached in a gravel-pit* there, or in the ' Saw- 
 at Chelmsford*, therefore he would seem to have don 
 during his sohoolmastership or at any rate probably be 
 June 20, 1589. That Browne was ever ' Lecturer 
 
 Mr. Harbin's collection was sold by auction at Messrs. Puttick & Sim| 
 during a three days' sale in 1874 ; and that on the second day o 
 sale, Tuesday, March 31, this manuscript, together with the other i 
 in the same bundle, was sold to the British Museum for the trifling 
 of six shillings ! 
 > In 'A New Tears Gnifii ', p. 43. 
 
 * 'A Dissvasive ' . . . London, 1645, p. 13. 
 ' Dr. Dexter's ' Coi^gregationalism ', p. 65. 
 
 * ' Mercurius Rusticus ':..., 1646, pp. 169-170. 
 
THE PERIOD OF OUTWARD CONFORMITY 63 
 
 St. Mary's Parish, Isiiiigtoii, as claimed by Lewis ^, seems 
 rather improbable, but possible. 
 
 Certainly by June SO, 1589, Browne's sehool-teaehing in 
 Southwark had ended, for on that day presumably he started^ 
 for Peterborough to seek office in the Church of England. 
 This time he carried with him a letter from Lord Burghley 
 to the Bishop, requesting, ' if happelie any conceipt male be in 
 you that theare should remaine anie Beliques in him of his 
 former erronious opinions, your L. would conferre with him 
 and finding him duetifull and conformable as I hope you shall, 
 to receaue him againe into the Ministerye, and to geue him 
 your best meanes and helpe for sum ecelfesjiasticaJl prefe[r]- 
 ment:' ^ . . . 
 
 This request of Burghley's appeai-s to have resulted in no 
 very prompt compliance on the part of the Bishop, probably 
 because he found Browne not so thoroughly ' conformable ' 
 as Burghley had hoped. At any rate Browne seems, after 
 having given up his schoolmastership, and after having inter- 
 viewed the Bishop, to have returned once more to Stamford. 
 Here evidently he gave his thought chiefly to educational 
 matters, and probably early in 1589/90 sent Burghley certain 
 'latine tables and definitions' (now lost), which were later 
 submitted to the approval of 'some learned &reuerend Fathers 
 the By&hops ', but which had been by them ' ether neglected 
 or through greater busines forgotten '. This neglect was not 
 resented by Browne ; he kept steadily at work, and by April 
 15, 1590, had produced another kindred ' treatisse ' concerning 
 ' the arts & the rules & termes of Art '. This work, a sort of 
 supplement to the ' latine tables ' . . . , also has disappeared, 
 but the letter, which was sent to Burghley with the treatise, 
 is still extant^, and gives us fortunately some idea of the con- 
 tents of ' this book ', in which he says : — 
 
 ' See Dr. Dexter's ' The Cougregationaliam ' . . . London ed., p. 65, 
 note 23. 
 
 * Lansdowne MS. 103 (no. 60). This letter indicates that Browne 
 himself was to carry it. 
 
 " Lansdowne MS. 64 (no. 34) in the British Museum. 
 
 John Strype gives this letter in fuU in ' The Life and Acts of John 
 Whitgift, D.D.' See the Oxford Edition, 1822, vol. iii, pp. 229-30. From 
 
64 THE PERIOD OF OUTWARD CONFORMITY 
 
 ' I haue lastly altered the arts & the rules & tennes of Art, by 
 euidence of the word, & haue corrected manie errors of all our 
 professors, yea manie falsified points of learning both in the 
 methode & trueth of the arts & also of religion. . . . Further 
 I offer to proue that the word of God doth expressely sett downe, 
 all necessarie & general rules of the arts & all learning, as may 
 appeare by this book ; ' . . . 
 
 Browne's educational scheme propounded to the Lord 
 Treasurer, at first sight seems in places to be written by one 
 not quite in his right mind, and yet it does not necessarily 
 appear so when read in the light cast upon his meaning by 
 the contents of ' A Treatise vpon the 23. of ilfa<|thewe' . . . , 
 which though fantastical is yet quite sane. Browne himaelf 
 is certainly not afraid of his abilities nor too modest in his 
 claims : — 
 
 ' yea I dare by Gods Help & your Lordships fauour vndertake this 
 plea or cause, that in one yeare, schollers may well learne together 
 those arts, which scarcely in ten yeares they yntowardly learne 
 in the vniuersities/. And that by diuine wisdome & prudence 
 they shal confute their Logick, by right speach and languag 
 disproue their Grammar By right vse of prouerbs & prouerbial 
 speaches or bywords disproue their Bhetorick. Allso their 
 Arithmetick by the right rules of numbering/, their geometrie 
 by better measuring Their Musick by better melodie. Their meta- 
 physicks by the lawes of creation, couenau«t, and sanctificatiow/. 
 Their Ethicks, Aeconomicks, politicks, by true Beligion & 
 righteousnes. / yet I condemn none of the arts, but onely the 
 falsifiing of them/: And if it were not that I am become odious 
 to manie for the trueths sake, I would not doubt by Gods grace, 
 to bring manie thousands of my mind & iudgment, & in verie 
 short tyme profit them in the former studies, as is aboue specified. 
 
 a study of this Dr. Dexter came to champion the theory that Browne was 
 becoming insane, but probably our sympathies for him cause us to read 
 into this letter more than is really there. That Bredwell said 'his 
 braine is sicke ', or that others said he was ' madde ', means little. The 
 writer himself has heard a clergyman of the Church of England call 
 a prominent Nonconformiat minister ' mad ', meaning apparently just 
 what Browne's opponents meant by these expressions, when applied to 
 him. 
 
THE PERIOD OF OUTWARD CONFORMITY 65 
 
 I meane if I were authorised to read publique lectures & make 
 profession according. For as Plato, Aristotle, Socrates & Pytha- 
 geras made manie thousands schoUers [sic], and that without anie 
 publique mantenance & charge & in verie few yeares, so much 
 rather in the arts & points of religion more truelie handled, 
 & vtterly differing from them all, I would hope by your Lord- 
 ships good countenance onely, to performe much rather th^ 
 like, & that in all quietnes also, not medling to condemne or 
 controule anie learned man or anie kind of profession/.' 
 
 This letter is at present the latest known writing of 
 Browne's of which we possess any knowledge, except the 
 entries made by him in the Achurch register. His request 
 to be allowed to teach on these new lines suggested by him 
 does not seem to have met with any great encouragement 
 from his noble relative or from the Bishops^ in fact we do not 
 know what reply he received. He does not, however, appear 
 to have been idle while waiting for an opening to teach, for in 
 Richard Cosin's little quarto volume entitled, 'Consfibacie, | 
 for Pretended Reformation : | ' . . . , the writing of which was 
 apparently finished on the last of September, 1591, and which 
 was published at London in 1593, it is stated (p. 32) that Giles 
 Wigginton had two pamphlets ('the one of Prcedesti/ndtion, 
 the other carrying an odde and needelesse title,' namely, 
 ' The Foolea bolte') privately printed at ' Whitsontide ', 1591, 
 ' by the meanes and helpe of one Browne.' This was no 
 doubt our Robert Browne, and it will be remembered that 
 Wigginton ' was borne or bred vp in Ourtdd ', which is not 
 far distant fi-om Browne's home, and possibly may be the 
 place where he first taught school after leaving college. Robert 
 Browne was evidently not yet so consistent a conformist, that 
 he would not aid the cause of Nonconformity in which he had 
 formerly been so active. The discovery of Browne's com- 
 plicity in the printing of Wigginton's pamphlets curiously, 
 however, does not seem to have kept him from securing a 
 position, for Mr. Cater has discovered a Latin entry in the 
 ' Institution Book among the Peterborough diocesan records', 
 which states that on ' the thirtieth day of June, Anno 
 Domini 1591, Robert Browne, clerk, was admitted and insti- 
 
 r 
 
66 THE PERIOD OF OUTWARD CONFORMITY 
 
 tuted to the rectory of the ecclesiastical parish of Littl6 
 Casterton in the county of Eutland and diocese of Peter- 
 borough', &c.^ Mr. Cater adds that the 'patron of Little 
 Casterton was Francis Browne, Robert's eldest brother, and 
 the occupant of Tolethorpe Hall at that time ', and that the 
 •entry is incomplete, for there is no signature, an unusual 
 omission.' * 
 
 For some unknown reason Browne did not long remain 
 rector of Little Casterton, but on September 2, 1591, became 
 ' rector of the parish of Achurch-cum-Thorpe Waterville, in 
 Northamptonshire',' while in the following November his 
 elder brother Philip was instituted rector of Little Casterton. 
 Browne at last had evidently become wearied of the continual 
 criticism to which his views in the past had subjected him, 
 and probably had honestly come to feel that he might be of 
 really more service to the world, as it was, not by wearing 
 himself out by combating established ideas, but rather by 
 accepting what the world offered him and by using the advan- 
 tage he had thus gained to the furtherance of his higher 
 ideals. However this be, Mr. Cater has been fortunate enough 
 also to discover the following record of Browne's ordination : — 
 ' On the last day of September, 1591, Robert Browne Bachelor 
 in [of] Arts of Corpus Christi Cambridge was admitted to the 
 holy orders of deacon and priest.'* It is from this entry that 
 Mr. Cater has been able to prove finally that hitherto Browne 
 had not been ordained. 
 
 * See 'New Facts relating to Robert Browne', by the Rev. F. Ives 
 Cater of Oundle, in the 'Transactions' of the Congregational Historical 
 Society, vol. ii, pp. 240-1. 
 
 ' Ibid. 
 
 ' Ibid., p. 241. 
 
 * Ibid. The record itself is in Latin. The very fact that Browne was 
 ordained at this time gives further evidence that he was not insane or 
 becoming insane. 
 
THE PERIOD OF OUTWARD CONFORMITY 67 
 
 11. The Fobtt-two Yeaes of Silence, including the 
 Long Teem of Excommunication 
 
 (Sept. 30, 1591— Oct. 8, 1633). 
 
 At last then we find Browne safely sheltered in that haven 
 of rest, even Episcopal ordination, towards which his family, 
 the Puritans, Lord Burghley, the Archbishop and Bishops had 
 been gradually but unceasingly driving him for a period of 
 ten long years. Nor does it seem strange that after such 
 a struggle he was brought to take this last step, for he had 
 practically no choice in the matter. To live as the authorities 
 had compelled him to live in the past had benefited no one, 
 least of all himself. He had only sufiered ^ greatly for his 
 conscientiousness, and also had ' become odious to manie for 
 the traeths sake '.^ He had further apparently sacrificed his 
 life to no purpose. 
 
 Now by his ordination Robert Browne, so to speak, began 
 a new life, but from this time the mystery about him deepens. 
 We cannot understand him as in those earlier years, for we 
 do not know enough about him. Bredwell's last book remained 
 unanswered, and though Browne lived for over forty years 
 after his ordination, his voice is silent, and we, who look back 
 at him through the hazy mists of three hundred years, must 
 instinctively and sorrowfully feel that by 1591 his career in 
 reality had practically ended, and that his star had already 
 set. Before that date, in spite of the obstacles that beset him, 
 Browne was after all reckoned of some account, later he was 
 almost entirely forgotten by the rude world. He wrote no 
 more, and but few wrote about him until after his death, and 
 since his day other than recent historians have largely taken 
 delight in telling his story to show off his character to the 
 least advantage, and would have been glad to make his name 
 a byword in English Church History. 
 
 ' 'The Rasing of the Fovndations of Brovvnisme.' . . ., 1588, p. 133. 
 ' Lansdowne MS. 64 (No. 34) in. the British Museum. 
 
 F a 
 
68 THE PERIOD OF OUTWARD CONFORMITY 
 
 To all practical intents and purposes then Kobert Browne's 
 public career ended on the last of September, 1591. Probably 
 he did his best in this new position, and he may even have 
 been of some real value to the community at Achurch. 
 Mr. Cater, who has made a thorough study of this period 
 of Browne's life, says that he 'appears to have employed 
 preachers or curates during the whole of his incumbency. . . . 
 Whether Browne himself preached from the pulpit of Achurch 
 or not we cannot positively say. Probably he did not'.^ 
 Browne's fiJst wife, Alice Allen, was buried during this 
 period on July 9, 1610. 
 
 From 1616 to 1626 Browne's handwriting in the Achurch 
 register disappears, and all writers thus far have been much 
 puzzled to know what he was doing all the while. Dr. Dexter 
 thought that at this time ' his malady [' mental disease '] was 
 60 severe upon him that he was either housed at home, or in 
 some safe retreat ' ^ ; the Rev. T. G. Crippen thinks he was 
 • secluded or incapable ' *, without, however, apparently realiz- 
 ing how near the truth the former of these suppositions 
 probably comes; the Rev. F. Ives Cater too optimistically 
 believes that during these years he ' gave up even those few 
 official duties he had hitherto discharged as rector, that he 
 might give exclusive ministerial oversight to a Brownist 
 congregation he had formed at Thorpe Waterville, in his own 
 parish ' *, and which met in his thatched house, called even 
 to-day ' The Old Chapel ' or ' The Chapel House '. Mr. Cater 
 gives an extended and excellent account of this old building 
 and of the great room in which the ' Chapel ' services were 
 held, and states that the house until recently ' bore the date 
 1618 on its chimney '—which date, he says in another place ®, 
 
 ^ ' New Facts ...',' Transactions ' of the Congregational Historical 
 Society, vol. ii, pp. 242-3. 
 
 ' 'The Congregationalism ' . . . , p. 123. 
 
 ' In the Introduction to his reprint of 'A Treatise of Reformation' 
 . ..,p.lO. 
 
 « 'New Facts'. . .,p. 243. 
 
 * 'Robert Browne's Ancestors and Descendants,' in the 'Transactions' 
 of the Congregational Historical Society, vol. ii, p. 159. 
 
THE^ PERIOD OF OUTWARD CONFORMITY 6g 
 
 synchronizes with that of Browne's second marriage (i. e. with 
 « Joane' Story, in All Saints, Stamford, Nov. 24, 1618). 
 
 With these views before us and with Dr. Thomas Bayly's 
 story of Bobert Browne's excommunication (in the preface to 
 ' BiUiotheca Scriptorwm Ecdesice Anglicance : . . .,' 1709) in 
 mind, it seems possible for us to reach a still more satisfactory 
 conclusion with regard to this disappearance of Browne's hand- 
 writing from the Achurch register during the years 1616-1626. 
 Now admittedly this excommunication story was first pub- 
 lished at least some eighty years after the event described, 
 and nearly one hundred years afterwards if the present 
 writer's opinion is correct. Further, our information touch- 
 ing it was only orally transmitted by Dr. Bayly to ' a Grave 
 and Eeverend Divine now [1709] aUve ', who in turn told it 
 to the editor of ' BiUiotheca ' ; and in that work ' The Story ' 
 is only given 'in short'. Hence we may not expect either 
 absolute accuracy or fullness of detail in the account in 
 ' BiUiotheca ' ; but nevertheless we may expect to find a 
 kernel of truth in it. Among other things too we may safely 
 infer that in his account the editor, in order to be exact, 
 should have written 'Achurch near Northampton ' for ' North- 
 ampton ' ; that the bishop who excommunicated Browne was 
 not Lindsell but Thomas Dove, who was Bishop of Peter- 
 borough from 1601 to 1630 ; and that Dr. Bayly indeed heard 
 this excommunication story while he was ' Chaplain to Bishop 
 Lindsell, at Peterborough ', but that the event itself occurred 
 some years earlier. 
 
 The facts of the case as they appear to the writer after con- 
 siderable study seem to be as follows: — Robert Browne, 
 possibly following the example of Richard Bernard at Work- 
 sop a few years earlier, may (as has been suggested to the 
 writer by Dr. J. Vernon Bartlet) have formed a special 
 covenanted company within his parish, some members at 
 least of which may early have manifested separatist ten- 
 dencies, while Browne himself was anxious to continue to 
 conform. Possibly hearing of these schismatics in Browne's 
 parish at Achurch near ' North-Hampton ', Bishop Dove some 
 time about June, 1616, ' cited him to appear before him ; but 
 
76 THE PERIOD OF OUTWARD CONFORMITY 
 
 he neglecting, or refusing to appear, the Bishop, upon mature 
 Deliberation, excommunicated him.' ^ 
 
 After having been excommunicated, Browne may have 
 again repaired to Stamford, where on Nov. 24, 1618, his 
 second marriage took place. After this he appears to have 
 returned to the neighbourhood of Achurch, and to have built 
 at Thorpe Waterville his thatched house, with an addition 
 known as the ' Old Chapel', where for some years he probably 
 taught those of his parishioners in special religious covenant 
 with him. 
 
 No doubt the latter half of Eobert Browne's life was much 
 embittered by the way in which the world had used him. 
 He probably withdrew into himself more and more as the 
 years wore on. He easily became irritated, manifested ' an 
 imperious nature ', and appeared ' offended, if what he affirm'd, 
 but in common discourse, were not instantly received as an 
 oracle'.^ Eobert Baillie,* indeed, would have us believe that 
 Browne was a confirmed ' beater of his poor old wife '. But 
 as Fuller, who knew him personally, and also of course was 
 well acquainted with what Baillie had written, does not even 
 refer to any unkindness of Browne's towards his wife, 
 
 • This view it will be noted agrees very well with the tradition which 
 Mr. Cater says still is told by ' the older inhabitants ' of Thorpe Water- 
 ville, and the importance of which even Mr. Cater seems rather to have 
 overlooked ; to the e£Fect, ' that a parson of Achurch was turned out, 
 built this chapel house, held services there, and ended his days in gaol ' 
 ('Transactions' of the Congregational Historical Society for Jan., 1906, 
 p. 244). This view also furnishes a ready solution of the problem as to 
 the meaning of the hitherto misunderstood ' schism ' entries in the 
 Achurch register. 
 
 » Thomas Fuller's ' Church-History . . .', 1655, p. 168. 
 
 ' In 'A Dissvasive . . .', 1645, Baillie says of Browne: 'The course of 
 his life, to his deep old age, was so extreamly scandalous, that more then 
 ordinary charity is needfull to perswade that ever he was led with a good 
 spirit. I have heard it from reverend Ministers, that he was a common 
 beater of his poor old wife, and would not stick to defend publikely this 
 his wicked practice ; also, that he was an open profaner of the Sabbath ; 
 and that his injustice, in not paying the small pittance he was indebted 
 to him whom lazinesse in his Calling made him to keep for the supply 
 of the cure of his Parsonage, did bring him to prison, in the which, for 
 that very cause, he continued till death.' (p. 14.) 
 
THE PERIOD OF OUTWAkD CONFORMITY 71 
 
 we also shall doubtless be fully justified in attaching no great 
 importance to this statement of Baillie's, which was probably 
 wi'itten and published with no good intent. If Browne was 
 not so strict in his Sabbatarian views as some later and 
 • preciser Brownists ', it was certainly no great discredit to him. 
 His second wife died after a few years and was buried on 
 Jan. 3, 1633/4, in Stamford. About two years later Browne 
 seems to have 'submitted himself to the Bishop' of Peter- 
 borough, and to have ' desir'd to be absolv'd ' of his excom- 
 munication, ' and being absolv'd accordingly, and re-admitted 
 into the Church ', he ' never after left it ', but resumed ^ his 
 duties at Achurch. From this time, during the rest of his 
 life as a parish clergyman, he seems with the aid of curates 
 or preachers to have done his work faithfully. His last entry 
 in the Achurch register bears the date June 2, 1631,^ and in 
 November, 1633, a new rector took his place, — a fact that 
 causes us to infer that Browne died not long before that 
 date. 
 
 The story of Browne's death, as given by Thomas Fuller 
 (who was born at Aldwinkle, ' within a mile of this Brown 
 his pastorall charge,' at Achurch, who ' when a youth, often 
 beheld him ', and who states that he is 'credibly informed' 
 concerning Browne's death), is as follows : — ' being by the 
 Constable of the Paiish (who chanced also to be his God-son 
 [i.e. 'Eobert Greene']) somewhat roughly and rudely 
 required the payment of a rate, he [Browne] happ'ned in 
 passion to strike him. The Constable (not taking it patiently 
 as a castagation from a God-father, but in anger as an affront 
 to his office) complained to S'. Rowland S*. John, a neigh- 
 bouring Justice of the peace, and Brown is brought before him. 
 The Knight of himself, was prone rather to pity, and pardon, 
 
 ' Browne's resumption of his duties at Achurch may indicate that 
 during the years 1616-1626 he had had a bitter experience with some at 
 least of his separatist gathering, which led him now to abandon separatism 
 for ever and make the six ' schism ' entries in the parish register between 
 1629 and 1631. 
 
 ' See Dr. Dexter's ' The Congregationalism of the last three hundred 
 Tears, . . .', London, p. 83, note 98. 
 
72 THE PERIOD OF OUTWARD CONFORMITY 
 
 than punish his passion ; but Browns behaviour was so stub- 
 born, that he appeared obstinately ambitious of a prison, as 
 desirous (after long absence) to renew his familiarity ^ with 
 his ancient acquaintance.. His Mittvmus is madOj and a cart 
 with a feather-bed provided to carry him, he himself being so 
 [i.e. too] infirme (above eighty) to goe, too unweldie to ride, 
 and no friend so favourable, as to purchase for him a more 
 comly conveyance. To Nortka/mpton jayle he is sent, where, 
 soon after he sickned, died, and was buried in a neighbouring 
 Church-yard,'- ie. in St. Giles, Northampton, on October 8, 
 1633.» 
 
 Such was the lonely end of the life of Eobert Browne, 
 father of Congregationalism, whom even Dr. Dexter with all 
 his fairness of judgement could only describe as ' a long 
 maligned, eccentric, infirm, and probably insane, yet I must 
 think a mainly good and singularly clever, man'.* And 
 
 ' This narrative is told in Fuller's characteristically facetious and 
 quaintly loquacious style. 
 
 ' Thomas Fuller's 'Church-History of Britain; . . .', London, 1655, 
 Book ix, pp. 168-9. 
 
 ' The Rev. T. G. Crippen has kindly called the writer's attention to 
 a note of Mr. H. N. Dixon's in the 'Transactions' of the Congregational 
 Historical Society (vol. i, p. 421), where the date of Browne's interment 
 and the location of his grave are recorded. Mr. Dixon here states that 
 in the first existing volume of the parish register of St. Giles, North- 
 ampton, under the year 1633, occurs the following entry : — ' Mr. Browne, 
 Parson of Achurch, was buryed the viii. of October.' 
 
 As has been suggested to the writer by the Bev. T. G. Crippen and 
 Dr. J. Vernon Bartlet, independently, it is improbable that Browne 
 remained in 'Northampton jayle' from Jime, 1631, to October, 1633. 
 Fuller's account would seem to indicate that Browne was not long in 
 gaol, but that he soon became ill and died a prisoner. It is further 
 sufficiently evident from his burial that he died in Northampton. If 
 then we suppose that Browne was brought thither in the spring or 
 summer of 1633, and that he died after the lapse of a few months, we 
 may possibly be nearer the truth, than if we suppose his imprisonment 
 began about June, 1631, and lasted for over two years; but it must be 
 admitted that if this view be accepted the cause of Browne's making 
 no more entries in the Achurch register after June 2, 1631, remains 
 a mystery. 
 
 * 'The Congregationalism of the last three hundred Years, . . .', 
 N. T., 1880, Introduction, p. viii. 
 
THE PERIOD OF OUTWARD CONFORMITY 73 
 
 indeed it must be admitted that Eobert Browne will never 
 influence men so much by the sample of his life regarded as 
 a whole, as by his courageous spirit, his love of the truth, 
 his willingness to search for it even to his own great personal 
 disadvantage, and especially by the writings of his early man- 
 hood — writings which, even among those who do not at all 
 agree with his ideas, should for ever preserve the memory of 
 his name. 
 
A LIST OF 
 
 THE WRITINGS OF ROBERT BROWNE 
 
 chronologically arranged. 
 
 1. [A lost MS. relating to Separation, mentioned in • A Trve 
 and Short Declaration ', and probably -written early in 
 1581.] 
 
 2. [A lost Letter sent from his prison in London to the 
 ' Companie ' in Norwich to dissuade his followers from 
 going to Scotland. Probably written between April 21 
 and August 2, 1581.J 
 
 3. ' A Booke | which sheweth . . .,' Middelbvrgh, 1583. 
 
 4. ' ^ A Treatise of reformation . . .' [Middelbvrgh, 1582.] 
 
 5. 'A Treatise vpon the 23. of Jfaf-|thewe, . . .' [Middel- 
 bvrgh, probably printed late in 1582 or early in 1583]. 
 
 6. A ' Treatise ... of the Reuelation of Saint lohn ', planned 
 but probably not written. 
 
 7. ' A TEVE AND | SHOBT DECLAKATiON, . . .' [Middelbvrgh (?), 
 1583 (?)]. Reprinted in the ' Congregationalist ', London, 
 1882. 
 
 8. ' An answere to M' Cartwrights Letter, . . .' [1584/5 ?] 
 MS., printed and published at London, before October 7, 
 1585, 
 
 9. [Lost Letters written to his followers in London before 
 Oct. 7, 1585, and at the request of ' M. Far. & M. Ear. 
 Londoners '.] 
 
 10. [A lost MS. admitting 'reasoning by Sillogismes' for 
 the following conference.] 
 
 11. [A lost report of a conference with Jf[r]. ^.[dmondes ?] 
 and M[t\. F.[ax. ?], 1585 ?] 
 
 J2. ['a raging Libell,' written against Bredwell, 1586 (?). 
 MS. now lost, but of which there were ' sundrie ' copies 
 circulated.] 
 
 13. [A lost writing concerning ' the question of communicat- 
 ing', 1585 or 1586 ?] 
 
LIST OF WRITINGS OF ROBERT BROWNE 75 
 
 14. [A treatise of ' v. or vi. sheetes of paper ' written for a 
 ' seelie woman ' confirming her in her separation, 1587 ?] 
 
 15. [Writings ' of chalenge ' against Mr. Edmondes distributed 
 at Dertford, 1587 ?, or possibly written before Nos. 10 
 and ll.J 
 
 16. ['the platfonne', a lost MS. against Barrowe and Green- 
 wood, 1586 ?] 
 
 17. [A lost MS. written against Barrowe and Greenwood 
 some time before ' A reproofe ', 1587 ?] 
 
 18. [A lost appendix to ' A reproofe . . .', being a ' profession 
 of our faith . . .', 1588 ?] 
 
 19. ' A reproofe of certeine schismatical persons & their doc- 
 trine I Touching the hearing & preaching of the word | of 
 God.' MS. of 31 folio pages, 1588 % 
 
 2Q. [' a seueral treatisse in latine, touching the herring fishes 
 . . . taken in the east seas, 1588 ? MS., lost.] 
 
 21. [' A Treatise . . . against one Barmve,' 1588 ? MS., lost.] 
 
 22. [A letter written to Mr. — Flower, Dec. 31, 1588/9, MS. 
 in the British Museum, published at London, 1904, under 
 the title ' A New Years Guift '.] 
 
 23. [A lost MS. consisting of ' latine tables and definitions ', 
 1589/90 If] 
 
 24. [A lost 'treatisse' concerning 'the arts & the rules & 
 termes of Art ', written before April 15, 1590.] 
 
 25. [A letter to Burghley relating to the preceding ' treatisse ', 
 written April 15, 1590. Lansdowne MS. 64 (no. 34), 
 Printed in Strype.] 
 
Cornell University Library 
 BX7260.B88 B96 
 
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