mm ■ ■ ?■■■ .«ro ■,-■'.:.< ipfl ££ m '^^.';'# ( /'//s/A ^A/'r// £^9 :*** *« PRINCETON, N. J. "*» % Division .Sc Hon £C*2- \/A m :* V«3$ *' % • - • - — j STi ^S^^*^^i!-4j?^ft I&£ks>v£* Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2011 with funding from Princeton Theological Seminary Library http://www.archive.org/details/historyofreforma04soam THE HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION OF THE 4£fmvef) of l£it0lanD t HENRY SOAMES, M.A. RECTOR OF SHELLEY, IN ESSEX. VOL. IV. REIGNS OF THE QUEENS MARY AND ELIZABETH. LONDON : PRINTED FOR C. & J. RIVINGTON, st. Paul's church-yard, and waterloo-place, pall-mall. 1828. LONDON : PRINTED BY R. G 1 L 1! E R T, ST. JOIIN's-SQl'ARE. PREFACE TO THE FOURTH VOLUME. The earliest historian of the English Reformation appears to have been Foxe. The venerable martyr- ologist, however, has rather presented us with a series of valuable documents and important state- ments, than with a continuous narrative. Within a few years after the appearance of his work, Sanders, a plotting English Romanist, published a copious treatise in defence of the papal supremacy a, con- taining numerous aspersions upon those who had aided in emancipating England from that usurp- ation. These misrepresentations were promptly exposed by Ackworth b and Clerk c, under the pa- a De Visibili Monarchia Ecclesise. b De Vis. Mon. contra Nic. Sanderi Mon. TrpoXtyofxeru. G. Acwortho authore. c Fidelis Servi Subdito Infideli Responsio. VI PREFACE. tronage of Archbishop Parker. Soon after the death of Sanders, who perished miserably in Ireland, whither he had gone for the purpose of instigating a revolt, his famous work on the Schism of England was printed at Cologne. This might seem to be the principal, if not the only source of information, which foreign Romanists have ever consulted upon the subject of our national departure from their communion. Nor is the case apparently very dif- ferent even with English adherents to the papal party : their writers being usually contented to follow as Sanders leads. Yet this author is obviously un- worthy of any such deference. Some of his state- ments are so monstrous that they shock belief. His whole work is composed with little regard to chrono- logical order, or to the importance of the facts which it professes to relate ; trivial matters occupying an undue space, and interesting ones being nearly or wholly overlooked. The publication, accordingly, called forth no regular history from any Protestant contemporary ; nothing more important appearing on the other side than the Anti-S cinder us ; a brief attack upon such portions principally in the work of Sanders, as were most offensive to Queen Elizabeth. In the next age appeared a complete history of the Reformation from the pen of the able and laborious Dr. Peter Heylin. This work, however. PREFACE. Vll though highly valuable, is not sufficiently full for the satisfaction of a critical enquirer, it is also defi- cient in the citation of authorities, and it is written, as perhaps, a clerical author living at the time of the Great Rebellion, might ..be expected to write, with something of an unfriendly feeling against those who disturbed an established order of ecclesiastical affairs even for the purpose of introducing a system allowedly superior. Heylin's history, therefore, justly failed of satisfying his countrymen. Hence the indefatiga- ble Gilbert Burnet, afterwards Bishop of Salisbury, was encouraged to undertake a new account of Eng- land's rupture with Rome. His work appeared at the time when the reigning King, Charles II. was generally suspected, certainly not without reason, of a leaning towards Popery, when the heir presump- tive, James, Duke of York, was an avowed member of the Romish communion, and when besides, the whole nation was agitated by profligate accounts of an extensive Popish plot. Burnet, accordingly, gained immense applause from his history ; being even honoured, in consequence, with a parliamentary vote of thanks. This compliment was probably excessive, but it cannot be denied, that Burnet's labours entitled him to public gratitude. He treated a most important portion of the national history in a manner far more complete than any author who had written upon it before, and he rendered the Ylli PREFACE. bulk of his statements unassailable by accompanying them with the original documents from which they are derived. Nevertheless, unfriendly critics imme- diately arose to depreciate his production. The very learned Henry Wharton published under the name of Anthony Harmer, various corrections of it ; a service which would have redounded much more to the annotator's honour, had it not been rendered with an undeserved asperity. The laborious and erudite non-juror, Jeremy Collier, also animadverted upon Burnet's work in a harsh and hypercritical manner. In France, the Abbe Le Grand undertook the same ungracious office ; but he detracted from the value of his labours by taking Sanders as his historical guide. All these attacks upon Burnet must, however, be considered as substantial failures. Unfriendly as were the hands from which they pro- ceeded, nothing more resulted from them than the correction of some not very important inaccuracies. A farther confirmation of Burnet's integrity was soon afterwards indirectly furnished by the diligent Strype, who published numerous volumes detailing the history of the Reformation, and supported by an immense mass of documents never before printed. These important works, however, though adding greatly to our information respecting tjic period erf which Burnet wrote, afford not the least ground for suspecting the general accuracy of bis history. PREFACE. IX From the documentary evidence accumulated in the supplemental volumes of Burnet and Strype, the present work has chiefly been compiled. Much information has also been used from other contem- porary sources; as may be seen by the marginal references. Hence these volumes, though offer- ing but few particulars not already in print, are neither a modernisation of any preceding history, nor is the information which they contain to be found in any other single work. The Author's objects have been the discovery and statement of truth. In seeking for which he has deferred implicitly to no authority, however established in public estimation, but he has examined afresh every conspicuous inci- dent to which his attention has been called. His enquiries have led him to value more highly than ever the privileges of English birth, and a scriptural faith. Nor can he doubt, that an attentive perusal of the evidence published in illustration of England's defection from papal Rome will generally lead to a conviction that her ecclesiastical Reformers attained important, and even also necessary ends, through wise and unexceptionable means. CONTENTS FOURTH VOLUME. CHAPTER I. PAGE 1 553. — Mary retires to Kenninghall • • • • 3 Her letter to the council • 4 Lady Jane Grey . , 5 She is proclaimed Queen 13 Northumberland's arrangements 14 Mary's assumption of the sovereignty 20 The conspiracy in her favour • • 25 Jane relinquishes her pretensions 26 Mary's entry into London 28 King Edward's funeral 31 The Queen pledges herself to toleration 32 Tumult at St. Paul's Cross 33 Trial of Northumberland 38 His execution ...., 43 Severities against Protestants 47 Archbishop Cranmer prepares for adversity ...... 49 He vindicates himself from calumny 53 He is imprisoned in the Tower 59 Bishop Gardiner appointed to the chancellorship • • 60 Commendone's mission • 62 Cardinal Pole's correspondence* 66 XU CONTENTS. PAGE 1553. — Mary's matrimonial negotiations 72 Gardiner's anxiety to retard Pole's return 77 The coronation 78 Removal of foreign Protestants 79 Illegal use of the Roman service 82 The Queen's first Parliament ib. Trial of Lady Jane, Abp. Cranmer, and others. • • • 90 Cranmer's letter to the Queen 93 The Convocation 95 Debate upon Transubstantiation 104 1 554. — Treaty for the Queen's marriage 116 Dissatisfaction of the nation 117 Wyat's rebellion 119 Execution of the Lady Jane Grey 122 Other executions 127 The spirit in the wall 1 .'JO Mr. Justice Hales 132 The Queen's injunctions • • « 135 Deprivations of Protestant bishops 137 Persecution of the married clergy 1 39 The Queen's second Parliament 140 CHAPTER II. 1554. — Cranmer, Latimer, and Ridley removed to Oxford 147 Required to subscribe Romish articles 148 Cranmer's answer 153 Ridley's answer • 156 Cranmer's disputation 161 Ridley's disputation 164 Latimer brought forward to dispute 166 Cranmer's opponency 175 Condemnation of the three prelates 182 Cranmer's letter to the Queen ....'• 1 87 R idley's letter to the Prolocutor 192 Debate as to disposing of the three prelates 193 CONTENTS. Xlll PAGE 1554.— Their condition at Oxford 196 Their occupations there 202 A disputation at Cambridge proposed 207 The Queen's marriage 220 Bishop Boner's visitation 223 His articles of enquiry • • 227 Preparations for a new Parliament 233 Reversal of Pole's attainder • 238 Bulls authorising him to act as legate 242 His letter to Philip 248 Determination to bring him to England 253 His arrival • 256 His speech to the Parliament • 260 National submission to the Papacy 269 Bishop Gardiner's sermon at St. Paul's Cross • • • • 272 Dispensation for holding ecclesiastical estates .... 277 Acts passed in Parliament • 278 CHAPTER III. 1555. — Papal persecution • • 285 Persecuting principles of the Reformatio Legum. . 312 The Marian persecution begun 320 Celebration of England's submission to Rome - . . . 327 Bishop Gardiner's first session at St. Mary Overy's 328 Condemnation of the first victims 338 Rogers • • • 351 Martyrdom of Bishop Hooper • • • • 354 Rowland Taylor • 363 Laurence Saunders 376 First condemnations of Bishop Boner 383 General horror of the nation 385 Death of Julius III. and accession of Paul IV 387 Ferrar 392 Flower's outrage 403 Marsh 405 XIV CONTENTS. PAGE 1555. — Controversy upon persecution 408 The royal circulars 410 The Queen's imaginary pregnancy 414 Cardmaker 416 Bradford 420 Farther proceedings at Oxford 443 Degradation of Bishop Ridley 464 Martyrdom of Ridley and Latimer ■- . . 467 Conversion of Julius Palmer 474 Proceedings in Parliament • • • • • 476 Death of Bishop Gardiner 477 Philpot 480 Queen Mary's Primer 487 CHAPTER IV. 1555. — Archbishop Cranmer's letter to the Queen 493 Cardinal Pole's letters to Archbishop Cranmer* • • • 495 1 556. — Degradation of Archbishop Cranmer 506 Artifices employed to undermine his constancy* • • • 513 His dissimulation 515 His martyrdom 528 Consecration of Cardinal Pole 545 His canons 550 Continuance of the persecution 552 Supplication from Norfolk and Suffolk 556 The English exiles 559 Knox 56 1 Troubles at Francfort 563 Recantation of Sir John Cheke ••• 564. 1557. — Visitation of the universities 567 Revival of English monachism 57 1 Anti-papal records destroyed t 572 Commission of enquiry into cases of heresy 573 Execution of the Lord Stourton 574 Papal attack upon Cardinal Pole • 577 CONTENTS. XV TAGE 1558 —The loss of Calais 586 Extent of the Marian persecution • • • • 587 The Queen's death 591 Her character 592 Death of Cardinal Pole 595 CHAPTER V. 1558. — Accession of Queen Elizabeth 597 Her situation • 599 Her council • • 604 Sermon at Queen Mary's funeral • 606 Conduct of the Pope 608 Religious movements 610 1559. — The coronation 616 Meeting of Parliament 620 The royal supremacy 624 The High Commission Court 641 Conference at Westminster 642 The Act of Uniformity 656 Other enactments 658 The Convocation • 661 The non-juring prelacy • 662 Reception of the English Liturgy 674 The royal visitation 676 Parker 679 Death of Bishop Tunstall 682 Consecration of Archbishop Parker 683 Romish objections to the new prelacy C88 Legend of the Nag's Head Tavern 691 Objections to Parker's consecrators • • * 697 1 560. — Re-organisation of the hierarchy 702 Jewel's challenge 704 His Apology 708 Harding's replies 714 Ecclesiastical regulations 716 XVI CONTENTS. TAGE 1560. — Address to the Queen against images 718 Allowance of Latin offices 720 Publication of Foxe's martyrology 721 Calvin's approval of the English Reformation .... 722 1561.— Papal overtures . , . . ■ 723 1562. — Final assembling of the Trentine Council 731 1563.— The thirty-nine articles 734 Conclusion 736 Additions and Corrections 741 THE HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION DURING THE REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. CHAPTER I. Mary retires to Kenninghall — Her letter to the Council — Lady Jane Grey — She is proclaimed Queen — Northumberland 's arrangements in support of her pretensions — Mary assumes the Sovereignty — The conspiracy in her favour — The Lady Jane relinquishes her pretensions — Mary's entry into London — King Edivard's funeral — The Queen pledges herself to toleration — Tumult at St. Paul's Cross — Trial of Northum- berland— His execution — Severities against Protestants — Archbishop Cranmcr prepares for adversity — He vindicates himself from calumny — He is imprisoned in the Tower — Bishop Gardiner appointed to the Chancellorship — Commen- done's mission — Cardinal Pole's correspondence — His journey to D Ming en — Matrimonial negotiations between Mary and Philip of Spain — Gardiner's anxiety to prevent the premature return of Pole — The Queens coronation — Removal of the foreign Protestants — The Romish service illegally introduced — The Queen's first Parliament — Trial and attainder of the Lady Jane, Cranmer, and Others — The Archbishop7 s letter to the Queen — The Convocation — Debate upon Transubstan- tiation — Treaty for the Queen's marriage — Dissatisfaction of the nation — Wyat's rebellion — Execution of the Lady Jane — Other executions — The Spirit in the Wall — Mr. Justice Hales — The Queen's injunctions — Deprivation of the Protestant bishops — Persecution of the married clergy — The Queen's second Parliament. Short as the late reign had been, it did not close VOL. IV. B 2 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1553. before the Reformation was so far complete as to afford enquiring minds ample means of estimating its value. The Sacred Record had been honestly unlocked, and the Church relieved from every prin- ciple and usage incapable of solid justification from that infallible authority. For conciliating quickly and fully the popular admiration of a system so securely founded, nothing was better calculated than an opportunity of contrasting it with the worst features of the system which it had superseded. The new reign rendered this important service to the mighty cause of scriptural truth. Oppression and misery soon overspread every corner of the land, and the memory of a princess, personally virtuous, has descended to posterity with a traditional note of infamy. Her infatuated counsels were generally charged upon the religion which she professed, and hence, when the voice of authority again called Englishmen to the unquestionable faith of apostles and evangelists, it was obeyed with an alacrity never seen before. Edward's case having become desperate, a letter was despatched from the council, in the royal name, to the Lady Mary, summoning her to court, as it was alleged, for the purpose of comforting her brother in his sickness. The Princess received this call with pleasure, and immediately proceeded to- wards the metropolis a. Being arrived at Hunsdonb, she was apprised of the King's real state, and there- fore, naturally suspecting some sinister intent on the part of those who had required her attendance, she ■ Heylinj Hist. Ref. 154. ' Hayward, 1553.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 3 suspended her journey. An early intimation of Edward's death, in a private letter from the Earl of Arundel c, caused her to leave Hertfordshire with haste d, and she betook herself to Kenninghali, in Norfolk. When the late king expired, great pains were taken to keep that event from the public, until those who were intriguing to change the regular order of succession had sufficiently matured their plans. After two days, however, the secret was allowed cautiously to transpire. Sir George Barnes, the Lord Mayor of London, then received an order to attend at Greenwich, accompanied by six of the aldermen, and twelve of the principal merchants. These leading citizens obeyed the summons without delay, and being arrived at the palace, they were acquainted with Edward's demise, and with his dis- position of the crown c. An obligation to observe this arrangement was exacted from them upon oath ; but at the same time they were pledged to secresy as to what they had heard and done f. On the same day was despatched to the English ambassador at Brussels, an account of his royal master's death ; but in this communication nothing was said relating to the succession^ Charles, however, was aware that his cousin's pretensions to her father's throne might require some foreign aid, and accordingly, when the late King drew near his end, three Austrian agents arrived in England under colour of offering c Burnet, Hist. Ref. ii. 364. d Sanders, 238. e Heylin, Hist. Ref. 154. f Godwin, Annal. 105, s Burnet, Hist. Ref. ii. 364. B 2 4 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1.053. to him their master's condolence \ The real object of these gentlemen being to secure the Lady Mary's succession, the French ambassador endeavoured to counteract it by private assurances that his court would come forward with assistance if foreigners should attempt to disturb the tranquillity of England1. On the day following Edward's decease, arrange- ments in furtherance of Northumberland's views were made at the Tower, and on Sunday, the ninth of July, the principal officers of state, together with the royal guard, solemnly swore allegiance to Jane, as Queen of England \ In the evening of that day1 arrived a letter despatched from Kenninghall, in Mary's name, and addressed to the council. In this communication, the Princess asserts her preten- sions to the crown under authority of Parliament, and her father's will, " and intimates that there were other circumstances advancing her right." She then gently reprimands the councillors for omitting to send her information of the late King's demise, ac- quaints them with her knowledge of their hostile preparations, but expresses herself willing to pardon what they had hitherto done, and concludes with desiring them to proclaim her Queen, without de- lay m. To this letter was immediately returned an 11 Lingard, vii. 150. The authority for this statement is a collection of diplomatic papers in the library of Besancon. 1 Ambassades de Messieurs de Noailles en A.ngleterre, redi- gees par I'll i M. l'Abbede Vertot. A Leyde, 17(i.'i. ii. 45.50.53. k Strype, Eccl. Mem. iii. 4. 1 Heylin, Hist. Ref. 157. •" Foxe, L27 1553.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 5 answer" asserting Jane's title To the erown according to the " good order of old ancient good laws" of England, and according to .King Edward's devise. Mary was then reminded that ecclesiastical authori- ties, universities, and: acts of Parliament had' treated her as illegitimate. Upon these accounts she was charged to cease from her opposition, and to conduct herself as a peaceable subject. Any farther attempt to conceal the young king's death was now neither feasible nor politic. It was, accordingly, deter- mined, that, on the following day, Jane should make her public appearance, surrounded by the usual pomp of royalty. The family of Grey had attained considerable im- portance in France before: the Norman conquest. Its principal; seat was the 'castle of ;Croy°> in -Picardy, and i^ice'avas derived its- name. From this fortress, it is generally believed, an adventurer sallied forth to join the Conqueror's standard ; a fortunate deter- mination which procured for the hardy Picard's heirs n Signed, Thomas Canterbury, the Marquess of Winchester, John Bedford, Wil. Northampton, Thorn. Ely, Chancellor, Nor- thumberland, Henry Suffolk, Henry Arundel, Shrewsbury, Pem- broke, Cobhanr, R. Rich, Huntingdon, Darcy, Cheyney, R. Cotton, John Gates, W. Petre, W. Cecil, John Ch'eke, John Mason, Edward North, R. Bowes. Foxe, 1279. ° Probably pronounced Cray. A similar pronunciation of oy seems to have prevailed in other French words. Eeine was an- ciently written royne. Nor was this mode of sounding the diph- thong ay unknown to England. Croydon, in Surrey-^'was ordinarily called Cra?/don, Thoydon, and PcoydjDu^-rff'Essex, are yet known as Th«?/don, and Ra?/don. In some ancient books also we ve&dpoynter, for painter. 6 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [1553. an establishment at Rotherfield Grey, in Oxford- shire. A descendant of this ancient house, John de Grey, Lord Ferrars of Groby, married Elizabeth Woodville, the celebrated beauty who subsequently mounted the throne as Queen to Edward IV. Tho- mas de Grey, Elizabeth's elder son by her first hus- band, was created Earl of Huntingdon, and Marquess of Dorset, successively. This nobleman's grandson, Henry Grey, married, as his second wife, the Lady Frances Brandon, elder daughter of the Duke of Suffolk, by the French Queen, younger sister of King Henry VIII. The Lady Jane, eldest daughter of this connexion p, was born, it is believed, at Brad- gate, in Leicestershire, a seat of her father's, about the year 1537 q. Her education was chiefly con- ducted under the direction of John Aylmer, a Nor- folk man of eminent learning and abilities, who, after being maintained by her father at the Univer- sity, subsequently resided in his house as tutor to his children r. Jane's was no ordinary mind : hence she rapidly made a considerable progress in the vari- ous branches of learning to which, according to the fashion of her time, her attention was directed. Her attainments, indeed, as a linguist have been re- presented as such as are far from usual in professed scholars of ripe age, and such as can scarcely be p See Hist. Ref. iii. 666. '' Memoir of Lady .lane Grey, by N. H. Nicolas, Esq. F.A.S. prefixed to her Literary Remains. Lond. 18:25. \>. mi. ' Strype, Life of Bp. Aylmer, (Oxf. 1821. p. 2.) Aylmei was advanced to the Bee of London m the yeai 1576. Ibid. 17. 1553.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 7 attributed without palpable exaggeration to an indi- vidual who perished in early youth s. That, how- ever, she was smitten by that love of literature which distinguishes so remarkably a few young persons from the great majority of their equals in age appears undeniably from an anecdote preserved by the learned Roger Ascham. That scholar, visiting Bradgate, found its inmates generally engaged in hunting, in the park. But the Lady Jane remained at home, and was reading Plato's Phgedon, in the original Greek, apparently with lively interest. Ascham greatly surprized by conduct so unusual at her time of life, enquired how she could make up her mind to forego the pleasures which her family and friends were enjoying in the park ? The fair student replied with a smile : " I fancy, all their sport is but a shadow to the pleasure that I find in Plato. Alas ! good folks, they never felt what true pleasure means V From Aylmer, it may reasonably be sup- posed, the Lady Jane acquired that religious infor- mation which estranged her so effectually from Romanism. All her early prejudices were, indeed, happily arrayed against that hollow but seductive creed. She seems at one time to have been even unaware of the Romish superstition which retains consecrated wafers in places of worship, and assigns to them religious honours. When very young, being " It is said that she was well versed in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Chaldee, Arabic, French, and Italian. Nicolas id supra. 1 Ascham's Schoolmaster, cited by Strype. Life of Bp. Ayl- mer, 3. 8 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1553. in Essex, at New Hall, a seat belonging to the Lady Mary, Jane was invited by Lady Wharton to accom- pany her in a walk. Passing by the chapel, Lady Wharton made a low courtesy towards the altar. " Is the Lady Mary there ?" enquired Jane. " No," replied her conductress, " I pay this token of reve- rence to him who made us all." On understanding the drift of this answer, Jane rejoined : " How can he have made us all ? why, the baker made him." This instance of acuteness, coming to the Lady Mary's ears, inspired her with a disgust for her youthful guest, which, it was thought, she never surmounted u. Since her marriage with Lord Guilford Dudley, the Lady Jane had usually resided with her hus- band's family at Sion House near Brentford v. When her royal kinsman however, drew very dear his end, she had obtained permission, with some difficulty, for a visit to Chelsea, and she was staying there, alarmed by the news recently communicated to her of her intended elevation, and half disbelieving it, when Edward expired. An order from the council conveyed to her with unusual gravity, by the Lady Sidney her husband's sister, now caused her sudden return to Sion. Soon after her arrival there, she re- ceived a visit from the Duke of Northumberland, the Marquess of Northampton, and the Earls of Arun- u Foxe, 1927. v Nicholas, xxxv. The Duke of Northumberland had ob- tained from the crown a grant of this residence about two \, ars before. Lady .lane Grey, and her Times: by George Howard, Esq. Lond. 1822. j>. 221. 1553.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 9 del, Huntingdon, and Pembroke. These noblemen assumed an unusual appearance of respect and kind- ness, in entering the room, but the conversation which arose, was merely remarkable from its over- strained courtesy towards Jane. After a short in- terval, the party was joined by the Duchesses of Suffolk and Northumberland, and the Marchioness of Northampton. Northumberland now stepped forward, and formally, as president of the council, informed his daughter-in-law, that her royal cousin was no more, and that before his demise, being anxious to secure his realm from Papistry, he had excluded from the succession, in conformity with the spirit of a parliamentary act, his two illegitimate sisters, and settled the crown upon her. The noble party then knelt before Jane, acknowledged her, as their hereditary and lawful sovereign, and expressed their determination to spill their blood, if necessary, in defence of her right. With extreme difficulty had the youthful object of this most unwelcome, and but half-expected homage mastered her agitation during the progress of this trying scene, but its conclusion utterly unnerved her. She wept violently, and then fell senseless upon the floor. On her recovery she lamented bitterly her cousin's death, and expressed a conviction of her insufficiency to supply his place : but she added, turning her eyes to heaven, " If the right be truly mine, O gracious God, give me strength I pray most earnestly, so to rule as to pro- mote thy honour, and my country's benefit w." w " Perciocche poiche cgli s'era publicamente detto che non 10 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1553. v'era piit speranza veruna della vita del Re, si come la Ducliessa di Nortumberland, havea gia promesso, ch' io resterei in casa con mia madre, cosi havendolo ella inteso poco dopo dall' marito, che fu '1 primo che lo mi dicesse, non voile pin ch' io partisse di casa mia, dicendomi che se Dio havesse voluto chiamare alia sua misericordia il Re, dell' cui vita non v'era speranza veruna ; era bisogno ch' io me n* andasse tosto in Torre, essend' io fatta da S. M. herede dell' istesso suo reame. Le quali parole essendomi dette cosi sprovvedutamente mi diedero in vero alterazione, e mi turbarono forte l'animo, come anche dopo molto piu m' aggrava- rono. Ma io con tutto cio, poca stima faccendo di quelle parole, non restai pero d' andar da mia madre. Dimanierache la Du- cliessa di Nortumberland s' adiro meco, e con la Duchessa, mia madre, dicendo che s'ella si risolvera di tener me in casa, ancor ella haverebbe tenuto appresso di se il suo figliuolo, mio marito, a cui pensava ch' io sarei andata in ogni modo, ed ella me ne resterebbe disobligata. E in verita per due, 6 tre notti io restai in casa sua, ma infine impetrai grazia d' andare a Celse per mio diporto, dove poco dopo essendomi ammalata, fui mandata a chiamare dal Consiglio, faccendomi egli intendere, che quell' istessa notse io dovesse 'andare a Sion per ricever quello che dal Re m' era stato ordinato. E colei che mi venne a portar questa nuova, fu la Signora Sedmei, mia cognata, e figliuola del Duca di Nortumberland, la quale mi dicea con gravita piu che ordi- naria, ch' egli era necessario, ch' io andasse seco, come feci. Ma giunte che fummo la, non vi trovammo veruno, ancorche poco dopo vi giunsero il Duca di Nortumberland, il Marchese di Nortanton, il Conte d' Arondel, il Conte d' Untinton, e di Pem- broch, i quali con carezze e piacevolezze insolite mi fecero rive- renza tale, e alio stato mio non mica convenevole, inginocchi- andomisi in terra, e in molte altre maniere faccendo sembiante di riverirmi. E riconoscendomi, como loro maggior signora, che con infinita mia confusione mi facevano vergognare : in fine fecero venire, dove era io, la Duchessa Fiancesca, mia madre, la Duchessa di Nortumberland, e la Marclusana di Nortmton. II Duca di Nortumberland, come Presidente del Consiglio, publico la morte del Re Edouardo, dipoi dimostrando quanta cagione noi havevamo tutti d' allegrarci per la vertuosa e lode- 1553.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 11 vole vita, ch' egli havea menata, e per 1' ottima morte ch' egli havea simigliantemente fatta. In oltre egli mostrava di confor- tare se medesimo, e i circostanti in lodando molto la prudenza e bonta sua, per 1' ottima cura ch' egli havea hauta del suo reame nell' ultimo fine della sua vita, havendo pregato Iddio che '1 difFendesse dalla fede Papistica, e liberasselo dal governo delle sue non buone sorelle. Disse dipoi che S. Maes, havea ben' considerato un' atto di Parlamento, in cui fu gia diliberato, che chiunque volesse riconoscere la Serenissima Maria, cioe la Sere- niss. M. V. ovvero la Signora Lisabetta, e accettarle per vere heredi della corona d' Inghilterra, questi cotali dovessero esser tenuti per traditori, essendo gia, stata una di loro disubbidiente a. suo padre Arrigo Ottavo, e poi anche a lui stesso, intorno alia verita della religione, e poi anche nemici capitali della parola di Dio, e amendune bastarde. Ond' egli non volea in guisa veruna, ch' elle fossero sue heredi, e di quella corona ; potendole in ogni maniera disredare. E pero ordino al Consiglio inanzi la morte sua, che per 1' onore che dovevano a lui, e per 1' amore che portavano al reame, e per la carita, che alia patria si dee, dovessero a quell' ultima volonta sua ubbidire. Soggiugnendo poi il Duca ch' io era quell' herede nominata da S. M. per succeder nella corona, e che le mie sorelle mi dovevano somig- liantemente succedere in caso di mancamento del mio seme. Alle cui parole tutti i signori del Consiglio mi inginocchiarono, dicendomi, che mi rendevano quell' onore che alia persona mia conveniva, per esser io della vera e diritta linea herede di quella corona, e che a, loro in ogni miglior maniera convenia d' osservar quello che eglino promesso avevano al Re con animo diliberato, di spargere etiandio il sangue, sponendo le lor proprie vite alia morte. Le quali cose tosto che con infinito dolore dell' animo mio hebbi intese, quanto io restasse fuor di me stordita e sbattuta, ne lascero testimoniare a quei signori, i quali si trova- rono presenti, che sopraggiunta da subita e non aspettata doglia mi videro in terra cadere, molto dolorasamente piangendo. E dichiarando poi loro 1' insofficienza mia, forte mi rammaricai della morte d' un si nobile principe, e insieme mi rivolsi a Dio, humilmente piegandolo, e supplicandolo, che se quello che m'era dato, era dirittamente e legittiinamente mia ; S. D. M. mi do- 12 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1553; The timid and reluctant victim x of another's hced- nasse tanta grazia, e Spirito, ch' io il potesse governare a gloria sua, e servigio, e utile di questo reame. — Lettera della Signora Giana, gia proclamata reina, scritta a S. M. nel mese d' Agosto, dell' anno 1553, mentreche ella si ritroVava prigione in Torre; ovvero ragionamento fatto al popolo nel punto della morte, per iscusa dell' errore di eui ell' era imputata, che fu a di' 12. di Febraio dell' anno 1554." (L'Historia Ecclesiastica della Rivo- luzion d'lnghilterra, da F. Girolamo Pollini. Rom. 1594. p. 355.) The student of English history is much obliged to Pollini for the preservation of this interesting letter, which bears every mark of genuineness. In general, however, Pollini's compilation is worth- less; being little else than an Italian version of the libels, follies, and inaccuracies, which Sanders strung together for the purpose of perpetuating Romish ignorance and bigotry. In explanation of that part of Northumberland's address which attributes Edward's disherision of his sisters to a parliamentary act, it should be remembered, that the act pronouncing those ladies illegitimate had never been repealed. The king was ad- vised, that, being thus statutably stigmatized, they were legally incapable of taking any possession by inheritance*. "'Tt was, pro- bably, represented also, that Henry's testamentary disposition in their favour was a plain breach of the constitution, and therefore could not hold good. The illegitimacy of the princesses, though formally pronounced in Parliament, could scarcely be considi red merely as an arbitrary judgment of that assembly. Mere poli- ticians were far from being the only persons who considered both of them spuriously born. x Ina letter written by Jane to her father, a short time before both of them were executed, she uses the following \\ " Though I must needs acknowledge that being constrained, and as you know well enough, continually assayed, yet in taking upon me, I seemed to consent, and therein grievously offended the Queen and her laws; yet do I assuredly trust that this my offence towards God is so much the less in that b< ing in so royal estate as I was, my enforced honour never interfered with my inn I heart." (Howard, 366.) " Her father-in-law did afterwards say 1553.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 13 less ambition was now conducted to Northumber- land's town-resjdence, Durham House, in the Strand, and thence, in the afternoon of the same day, by water, to the Tower y. A splendid procession at- tended her to this ancient fortress, and the air re- sounded with artillery as she passed along2. No cheering shouts 'however, of popular exultation arose to lighten her anxiety, but the crowd gazed idly on the shew3. In the evening, Jane was proclaimed, with the usual formalities, in Cheapside, and Fleet- street ; the people generally hearing this announce- ment with seeming indifference. A vintner's ap- prentice ventured, indeed, to say something in the Lady Mary's favour : an indiscretion which con- signed him immediately to prison, and caused him, on the following morning, to lo.se both his ears in the pillory b. As Jane's title could not fail to oc- casion considerable discussion, a proclamation was immediately circulated explaining the grounds of her claim to the throne. This instrument recites, in council, she was rather by enticement of the councillors, and force made to accept of the crown, than came to it by her own seeking and request." Burnet, Hist. Ref. II. 366. " Adeo ho- noris delati neutiquam appetens, ut regia ornamenta sine gemitu et lachrymis non susceperit, et cunctis palam et manifestum foret a parentibus et amicis plane invitam coactam esse ut id fastigii conscenderet." Godwin, Annal. 105. " Sforzatamente lascio gridarsi Reina." Pallavicino, Istoria del Concilio di Trento. Rom. 1657. II. 28. y Heylin, Hist. Ref. 159. z Strype, Eccl. Mem. III. 4. a Godwin, Annal. 106. " Strype, Eccl. Mem. III. 5. 14 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [\553. that, the ladies Mary and Elizabeth, having been pro- nounced illegitimate by legislative and ecclesiastical authority, were incapable of inheriting from any per- son whatsoever : that they were besides, so incapable from the late king, as being related to him by the half- blood only ; that if allowed to mount the throne, they might marry foreigners who would be likely to in- troduce Popery, and overthrow the liberties of England ; and that these considerations had moved the deceased sovereign, under the advice of his nobles, councillors, judges, and other persons of weight to settle the crown upon the Duchess of Suffolk's posterity c. On the second day of Jane's unhappy abode in the Tower, a letter was addressed in her name, to the Marquess of Northampton, con- tinuing him in the lieutenancy of certain counties ; announcing the provisions of King Edward's will ; and enjoining that strenuous preparations be made for resisting the claims of the Lady Mary, " bastard daughter to King Henry the Eighth d." A similar communication was probably made to other Lord Lieu- tenants. In order to secure the Emperor, Mr. Richard Shelley was sent to his court with dispatches dated from the Tower, on the 12th of July, and ad- dressed to the English embassy e. There was, in- deed, some reason to believe that if Jane could have maintained her pretensions at home, opposition was not to be anticipated from Austria. For when Ed- c Nicolas, xlvi. from the Lansdownc MSS, d From the original among the muniments at Losely House. Ellis's Letters, II. 183. * Nicolas, l\v. 1.5.53.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 15 ward's death was notified to him, Charles merely- expressed his respect for the young Prince's memory, and his desire to maintain friendly relations with England f. About the imperial court there were even those, on the first news from our island, who spoke of the Lord Guilford Dudley as " his Ma- jesty," admitting that the illegitimacy of the two English Princesses was a question with which foreigners had no concern 8. When, however Shelley arrived, Charles was apprised of movements in fa- vour of the Lady Mary. He therefore declined the giving of an audience to that gentleman as not know- ing the character which he was to maintain at his court. He also expressed himself displeased that Edward had treated Mary as illegitimate, and had altered the order of succession as settled by King Henry. He observed that if the English princesses were disqualified from inheriting by the circumstances of their birth, the Queen of Scotland's claim was preferable to the Lady Jane's. The differences between her and the Lady Mary ought to be decided, he said, in Parliament, and not by violence ; and he suggested that his cousin might be married to an English peer as a means of allaying apprehensions of a change in the national politics, or religion. An intimation was soon afterwards con- veyed to the English embassy that his Imperial Ma- jesty could only receive in future such agents from f Communication from the English embassy to the Lords of the Council, dated July 17. Ibid. lx. e The Commissioners at Brussels to tbe Council,, dated July 1 ">. Ibid. lxv. 16 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1553. England as came with credentials from Queen Mary h. Jane had, indeed, no sooner assumed the port of royalty, than domestic miseries ' and political diffi- culties embittered every passing- hour. It was clear, that without an arduous struggle, her occupation of the throne would quickly terminate in the ruin of all who might remain steadfast in her cause. In the metropolis apathy, if not hostility, towards her attempt appeared generally prevalent. In fact, she seems personally to have been scarcely considered. Her assumption was merely viewed as a fresh in- stance of Northumberland's unprincipled ambition. Against that aspiring peer popular prejudice had reached its height. He lay under the imputation of having persuaded Somerset to take the Lord Admiral's life ; of having afterwards persuaded Edward to sacrifice the Duke ; and, as the consum- mation of his villainy, of poisoning the young king himself k. Of such a man, it was unhesitatingly 11 Nicolas, Ixvi. ' The Lord Guilford Dudley insisted upon being crowned with his wife. Jane refused this. She would make him a duke, she said, but she could not consent to his assumption of royalty. Both Guilford and his mother were so violently enraged by this answer that the former immediately ceased to sleep with his un- happy wife The Lady Jane to Queen Mary. Pollini, ubi. sup. k Burnet, Hist. Ref. ii. 370. " II est bien a craindre que le Due (Northumberland) puisse achever son entrepriusesans beau- coup de travail et de peril, tant -pour la hayne que lc peuple ct beaucoup de la noblesse portent a lui ct aux siens, que pour I'amictie qu'ilz out a ladiete Dame Marie.'* ( Noailles ii. 73.) 1553.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 17 surmised, that the real object could be no other than to decorate his daughter-in-law with the mere shew of royalty, until every thing was ripe for thrusting her aside, and for his own usurpation of the diadem. Undismayed, however, by the prospect which lay before him, Northumberland steadily pursued his course. Sir Francis Inglefield, and other partizans of Mary, were placed under personal restraint '. Military preparations were made with despatch and vigour for overthrowing in the field any attempt in favour of that Princess. In deciding upon a com- mander to act against her considerable difficulty was experienced. Northumberland, aware that his au- thority in London hung upon a thread, would fain have remained there, and have despatched the Duke of Suffolk into the eastern counties. But Jane earnestly implored that her father should not be sent away from her at such an anxious time, and exposed to the hazards of a campaign. These entreaties being backed by some of the council, who secretly desired to be relieved from Northumberland's pre- sence m, and being rendered effective by Suffolk's known unfitness for the command under considera- tion, at length induced the ambitious father-in-law " Vous asseurant, Sire, qui toutes ces choses sont advenues plus four la grande hayne que que Von porte a icelluy Due, qui a voulu tenir un chacun en craincte, que pour l'amictie que Ton a a la dicte Royne." Ibid. 80. Sanders, 240. Sanders's Spanish imitator, the Jesuit Ri- badeneyra, is pleased to say that Inglefield and many others were imprisoned. " Fue encarcelado con otros muchos.'" Hist, Eccl. del Scisma de Inglaterra. Madrid, 1588, p. 202. m Heylin, Hist. Ref. 159. C 18 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1553. to determine upon leaving the seat of government. On Friday, the 14th of the month, he took his de- parture at the head of about eight thousand foot, and two thousand horse. A great throng was at- tracted into the streets to view this armament in its passage out of town, but Northumberland observed with grief and apprehension, that mere curiosity had drawn the spectators from their homes. Having reached Shoreditch, he despondingly remarked, "n The people press to us, but not one of them saith God speed you." Two days after the Duke's depar- ture, a circular letter, in Jane's name, was addressed to the sheriffs, magistracy, and gentry, of Surrey, exhorting them to make a stand against Mary's pre- tensions, in deference to the late King's wishes °, and for the sake of guarding the realm against foreigners and Papists. On the following day was despatched from the Tower another letter, in which Sir John Bridges, and Sir Nicholas Poyntz were enjoined to muster their dependants, and to repair with all haste towards Buckinghamshire for the purpose of serving there under the Earls of Arundel and Pembroke ; two peers who then professed their intentions of n Nicolas, lxix. 0 " A great number of the same nobility, councillors, and judges can truly testify to all the world, with safety of their con- science, how carefully and earnestly the late King of famous memory, our dear cousin, Edward the Sixth, from time to time mentioned and provoked them partly by persuasion, partly com- mandments, to have such respect to his succession, if God should call him to his mercy without issue, as might be the preservation of the crown in the whole undcli led English blood." Ellis's Let- ter from the Muniments at Loseley House, n. 187, 1553.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 19 suppressing a movement which had arisen in that county p. Other attempts, far less justifiable, in Jane's favour, were made by means of the pulpit. It is stated that Northumberland engaged many of the London clergy to preach against Mary's claim q. Certainly Bishop Ridley ventured upon that un- seemly employment, by the council's order, at St. Paul's Cross, on Sunday the 9th r. He dwelt upon the strong probability that Popery would be restored, should the Lady Mary be permitted to mount the throne, and he related what happened to himself when he endeavoured to touch her mind with a con- viction of unquestionable religious truth s. On the following Sunday, Mr. Rogers, a learned divine of scriptural principles, and eventually a martyr, preached at the Cross, but his discourse was little more than an exposition of the gospel of the day e. Mary wrote, on the 12th of July, to the mayor of Norwich, requiring him to proclaim her queen. A refusal was returned, upon the ground that no cer- tain intelligence of Edward's death had hitherto arrived. That fact, however, being ascertained p Nicolas, Ivii. from the Harleian MSS. q Godwin, Annal. 106. r " Utinam vir optimus hac in re lapsus non fuisset." Ibid. 3 Hist. Ref. under King Edward VI. 629. 1 Strype, Eccl. Mem. iii. 7. " I preached, quoth I, a sermon at the Cross, after the Queen came to the Tower ; but therein was nothing said against the Queen : I take witness of the audience, which was not small. I alleged also, that he had, after ex- amination, let ine go at liberty after the preaching of that sermon." Rogers's account of his examination before the Chancellor Gar- diner, in January, 1555. Foxe, 1351. c 2 20 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1553. shortly afterwards, Mary's requisition was not only obeyed on the following day, but also men and am- munition were despatched to her from Norwich. A backwardness observable in the people of Norfolk, had caused her to remove in haste to Framlingham Castle, in Suffolk, a place of some security, and, from its nearness to the sea, offering facilities for commu- nication with her friends abroad u. In this fortress Mary, being surrounded by the Earl of Sussex, Sir Thomas Cornwallis, Sir Henry Jerningham, Sir John Sulyard, and other persons of some consider- ation v, assumed openly the royal style and autho- rity. Letters were written in her name to some of the nobility, commanding them, upon their alle- giance, to lend her immediate aid w, and a kind of proclamation was issued, briefly announcing Edward's death, her own accession, her actual residence in England, and her intention to remain there \ Her ■ Heylin, Hist. Ref. 161. * The History and Antiquities of Hcngrave, in Suffolk : by John Gage, Esq. F.S.A. Lond. 1822, p. 131. w Heylin, tit supra. 1 Mr. Butler (Book of the R. C. Church, 214,) having ad- verted to this proclamation as a proof that Queen Mary made no promise upon the subject of religion to the people of Suffolk, the following copy of this document is subjoined, extracted from Mr. Gage's Hengrave, p. 143. " Marie the Quene, " Knowe yc all the good subjects of this realme that y' most noble Prince, yor Soveraine Lord and King, Edward the vi**, ys upon Thursday last, being the vilh of July, depted this worldc to Godes mercie. And that now the most excellent princes, his sister Marie, by the grace of God ys Queue of E. and Y. and 1553.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 21 prospects brightened rapidly. Northumberland was even more than ordinarily hateful in Norfolk and Suffolk, from a recollection of the severity with which he had crushed Rett's rebellion ; all persons of Romish principles could not fail of wishing well to Mary's cause ; and of those who loved the Reform- ation (a very numerous body in the eastern counties) many held it alien from their profession to resist lawful authority. The loyalty of such conscientious Christians was, indeed, fortified, it is said, by some promise, or allowed understanding, on the Queen's part, that under her government they would not be molested in the exercise of their religion y. While all things thereunto belonging, to God's glory, the honor of the royalme of England, and all yor cofortes. And her Highness ys not fled thys her royalme, ne intendeth to do, as is most untruly surmised." This notification, for it is really nothing else, must have been put forth before Thursday, July 13. Mary, consequently, had not yet been proclaimed at Norwich, and in fact she had no known supporters, except a few persons of property about her person. The time, therefore, was not come, for any public enquiry as to her intended religious policy. y " To whom (Mary) first of all resorted the Suffolk men ; who, being always forward in promoting the proceedings of the gospel, promised her their aid and help, so that she would not attempt the alteration of the religion which her brother Edward had before established by laws and orders publicly enacted and received by the consent of the whole realm in that behalf. To make the matter short, unto this condition she eftsoons agreed, with such promise made unto them, that no innovation should be made of religion, as that no man would or could then have misdoubted her." (Foxe, 1279.) Upon this authority, probably, Heylin, Burnet, Speed, and other historians have asserted that 22 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1553. Mary's affairs wore yet a dubious aspect, six vessels, equipped for the purpose of cruising off the coast, with a view to prevent her flight, or to intercept any forces coming to her aid from Flanders, were driven by stress of weather into the harbour of Yar- mouth. In that town Sir Henry Jerningham was then raising recruits for Mary's service, and turning his attention to the hostile squadron, by threats and persuasions he induced the crews to declare against the Lady Jane z. Meanwhile, troops from every side ranged themselves under Mary's banner, and within a few days fourteen thousand men had as- sembled in arms to await her orders a. In the hope of promptly crushing this formidable mass of hostility, Northumberland advanced from Cambridge into Suffolk. Popular opinion, however, he found decidedly against him, and even his own ranks were alarmingly thinned by desertion b. At Bury, becoming apprehensive of his incapacity to face Mary's partizans, he resolved to fall back upon Cambridge. Thence he wrote urgently to the Queen Mary pledged herself to the people of Suffolk that she would not innovate upon her brother's ecclesiastical system. This, however, appears to be going too far. A petition for reli- gious toleration eventually was presented from Suffolk; but the Queen is not reminded in it of any promise broken. Still, it is likely, both from corroborative contemporary evidence, and from one of Mary's known declarations made soon afterwards, that she gave some private assurance or understanding as to her intention of protecting the Reformers in their religious profession. " Godwin, Annal. 107. a Heylin, Hist. Ref. 185. b Godwin, Annul. 107. 1553.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 23 Council for effective reinforcements. His situation had, indeed, become highly critical. In Bucking- hamshire, Sir Edward Hastings asserted the claim of Mary, at the head of a very numerous assem- blage, rendering it far from improbable that the Duke's communication with London woidd soon be intercepted c. In the metropolis so many indications of a falling cause quickly took full effect upon all who were intent upon their own interest or security, or upon the restoration of Romanism. The coun- cillors, however, were congregated in the Tower, and Suffolk had been instructed to detain them there. Under this embarrassment, those among them who were meditating a change of sides, affected a great anxiety to support Northumberland. But their intentions, it was urged, could not be carried into execution, unless an opportunity were allowed them of consulting with the Lord Mayor and alder- men. For this purpose, and for that of despatching some foreign business, it was represented as advisable that certain members of the council should leave the Tower. Overcome by these pretences, Suffolk consented that the business under consideration should be transacted at Castle Baynard, a mansion in the heart of the city, occupied by the Earl of Pembroke. One of Lady Jane Grey's sisters was married to that nobleman's son, and hence it was naturally concluded that confidence might be reposed in the father. In the morning of the dayd devoted to the meeting at Castle Baynard, a letter was despatched from the 0 Burnet, Hist. Ref. ii. 372. d July 19. 24 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1553. council to Lord Rich, in answer to one from him announcing the Earl of Oxford's defection to Mary. This required him to continue firm in his allegiance to Jane : a course to which the subscribers pledged themselves e. The dissembling councillors, finding themselves together under Pembroke's roof, the Earl of Arundel, who had been needlessly forward in ex- pressions of devotion to Jane's cause f, assumed the politic but disreputable part of spokesman. He burst out into a violent invective against Northum- berland, imputing to him every error of the late reign, and painting with all the strength of party- colouring his inordinate ambition. In conclusion, the noble orator strenuously advised an immediate offer of allegiance to Mary ; adding, that religious considerations needed to cool no man's ardour in her * " Requiring your Lp. nevertheless like a noble man to remain in that promise and steadfastness to our sovereign Lady Queen Jane's service, as ye shall find us ready and firm with all our force to the same. Which neither with honour, nor with safety, nor yet with duty we may now forsake. From the Tower of London, the 19th of July, 1553. Your L. assured loving friends, T. Cant. T. Ely, Canc. W. Petre, S. J. Sufiolk, Jo. Baker, Pembroke, J. Bedford, William Paget, F. Shrewsbury, Winchester, Richard Cotton, Arundel, Jo. Cheke, T. Darcy, Robert Bowes." T. Cheyne. , Strype, Mem. Cranm. Appendix, 913. f Nicolas, lxix. 1553.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 25 cause, as she was reported to have spoken upon that subject, with the greatest moderation to the people of Suffolk s. Pembroke then arose, grasped the hilt of his sword, uttered a cordial assent to Arundel's harangue, and professed his readiness to jeopardy his life in Mary's quarrel. A like enthusiasm being shewn by all present, the Lord Mayor and aldermen were sent for, and informed of the determination to which the councillors had come. Gf this the citizens having approved, all the party went in procession to Cheapside Cross, where, between five and six in the afternoon queen Mary was proclaimed with the usual solemnities, and amidst the loudest acclamations. They then proceeded to St. Paul's cathedral, through the lofty vaults of which te Deuni immediately pealed in all the charms of choral harmony. As the night closed in the merry bells resounded, bonfires blazed, wine and ale were distributed to those who walked about the streets, and money was profusely scattered among the happy groupes h. 8 " Cuinam quseso compertum est, ait, Mariam in rebus ad religionem spectantibus quicquam mutaturam ? Certe Soffolcien- sium nonnullis hac de re nuperrime earn interpellantibus, (et verum id fuit,) sequissime dicitur respondisse." (Godwin, Annal. 108.) According to Heylin, Arundel said, " How doth it appear that the Princess Mary intends any alteration in religion ? Certainly, having been lately petitioned to in this point, by the Suffolk men, she gave them a very hopeful answer." Hist. Ref. 163. b Godwin, ut supra. Queen Mary " was proclaimed by four trumpeters and three heralds of arms. There were present the Earls of Arundel, Shrewsbury, Pembroke, also the Lord Trea- surer, Lord Privy Seal, Lord Cobham, Lord Warden of the 26 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1553. After leaving St. Paul's, the councillors despatched a messenger to Suffolk requiring his concurrence in their present determination. The Duke attempted not to stem the tide, but entering his daughter's apartment he informed her of the revolution which had just occurred, and he exhorted her to descend with equanimity to a private station. Without any appearance of emotion, Jane replied : " This change in my condition, father, is far more acceptable to me than that of which you recently informed me. In obedience to my mother and yourself, I then did violence to my inclinations, and I have thereby com- mitted a very serious offence. But the present act is my own. I willingly resign the royal state; and I shall, indeed, be happy if mere abdication, and an admission of my fault shall be considered as an atonement for my mistaken compliance." She then retired into another room oppressed with apprehen- sions for her future safety K Mary was formally apprised of the recent transac- tions in London by the Earl of Arundel, and Lord Paget. A letter, of which these noblemen were the bearers, assured the Queen that the councillors who had caused her to be proclaimed were ever true to her in their hearts, and had only assumed an ap- pearance of hostility to her cause, in order to prc- Cinque Ports, Sir John Mason, the Lord Mayor, and divers other noblemen." (Strype, Eccl. Mem. iii. 21.) Extract from aeon- temporary letter among the Ihulcum MSS. printed in Mr. Howard's Lady Jane Grey. 1 Godwin, ut supra. 8 1553.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 27 vent the destruction of themselves and others k. Mary's title being no longer disputed in the me- tropolis by any party, thecouncil, generally, met at Westminster, and thence wrote to Northumberland, enjoining him to disband his troops, and to remain at a distance from London until her Majesty's plea- sure should be known1. The herald who conveyed this communication was also charged to declare in all places upon the road, that if the Duke should not immediately submit, he was to be treated as a traitor, and that, " the late King's council would persecute him to his utter confusion m." Northum- berland, however, having received private advices from London, had previously to the herald's arrival in Cambridge n resolved upon abandoning his hope- less enterprise. He even went into the market- place to hear Queen Mary proclaimed, and that ce- remony being concluded, he threw his cap into the air in token of exultation. But he had sinned past all forgiveness. On the following morning the earl of Arundel arrested him by Mary's orders °, and on k Strype, Mem. Cranm. Append. 915. To this letter, which is printed from a copy of the original, no signatures are ap- pended. 1 This letter was signed by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of Ely, Lord Chancellor, the Marquess of Winchester, the Duke of Suffolk, the Earls of Bedford, Shrewsbury, and Pembroke, the Lord Darcy, the Secretaries Petre and Cecil, Sir Richard Cotton, Sir John Baker, Sir John Mason, and Sir Ro- bert Bowes. Strype, Mem. Cranm. 434. ra Ibid. n Godwin, Annal. 108. 0 Ibid. 28 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1553. the 25th of July, he was sent to the Tower together with several of his family and confederates p. The Queen remained in Suffolk until near the end of July, when she removed to Wanstead, in the vicinity of London. At this place, the lady Eliza- beth, attended by a splendid cavalcade, paid her a congratulatory visit. On the third of August, the royal sisters entered London on horseback, in a style of great magnificence, and according to ancient usage Mary proceeded to the Tower. On ar- riving within the walls of this venerable fortress, she observed upon their knees the old duke of Norfolk, Edward Courtenay, son of the attainted Marquess of Exeter*3, the widowed Duchess of Somerset, and the deprived Bishop of Winchester. In their joint names Gardiner congratulated the new Sovereign upon her accession, praying that her reign might be long and happy. Mary, raising and saluting the suppliants, courteously said, " These are my pri- soners." Orders were immediately given for their release, and Courtenay was restored, on the next day, to his father's title. The following day saw the Bishops Boner and Tunstall at liberty again. Nor were Heath and Day much longer under restraint r. All these prelates were after no long interval, by means of summary processes, reinstated in their for- mer sees s, and thus Romanism soon acquired once more its ascendancy upon the episcopal bench. p Burnet, Hist. Ref. II. 374. « See Hist. Ref. under King Henry VIII. Vol. II. 338. 359. ' Godwin, Annal. 110. ' Ridley had been recently translated to the see of Durham, bul 1553.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 29 During the agitation which followed King Ed- he had never taken possession of it. His claim upon it was soon after annulled upon the grounds of his heresy and sedition. Worcester was holden in commendam with Gloucester, and was, besides, conferred upon Bishop Hooper, during pleasure. Win- chester and Chichester were holden upon the same terms, and were also filled by bishops, whose consecration might be disputed, as having not been solemnized according to the Romish Canons. Bishop Boner's formal restoration to the see of London followed upon a representation which he made to the Queen that his de- privation had been effected in a manner contrary to law and jus- tice. In consequence, a commission was addressed to John Tregonnel and William Roper, Esquires, Geoffrey Glynn, Wil- liam Cooke, and Henry Cole, Doctors of Law, the Marquess of Winchester, the Earls of Arundel, Derby, and Shrewsbury, Sir Richard and Sir Robert Southwell, Sir Edward Came, and Sir Richard Read, empowering them to hear and decide the question. " By the way, these commissioners were most of them laymen, and any two empowered to give sentence." (Collier, ii. 344.) By virtue of this commission, judgment was given, on the 5th of September, that the sentence against Boner was null. In the following strain of vulgar levity did that unworthy prelate give vent to his exultation on the next day, in a letter addressed to his cousin Shirley, and to two other gentlemen. " In most hearty wise, I commend me unto you, asserting that yesterday I was by sentence restored again to my bishopric, and reposed in the same, even as fully as I was at any time before I was de- prived ; and by the said sentence, my usurper, Dr. Ridley, is utterly repulsed : so that I would ye did order all things at Kid- merley, and Bushley at your pleasure ; not suffering sheep's head or ship's side (alluding to Ridley's brother, Shipside, whom that prelate had appointed keeper of his park,) to be any meddler there, or to bring any thing from thence ; and I trust, at your coming up now at the Parliament, I shall so handle the said sheep's heads, and other calves' heads, that they shall perceive their sweet shall not be without sour sauce. This day it is looked 30 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [1553. ward's death, the care of his funeral appears to have been overlooked. At length, on the eighth of Au- gust, the royal corpse was removed to Westminster, and on the following day \ amidst a striking demon- stration of popular grief, a small company of mourners attended it to its last resting-place in the Abbey- church u. Upon this occasion a sermon was de- livered by Bishop Day ; who made excuses for the de- ceased monarch, but severely blamed his advisers, and eulogised in glowing colours the reigning Queen T. With the Burial Office was joined the holy Commu- nion; and the whole service was that prescribed in the book of Common Prayer w. Meanwhile the that Mr. Canterbury must be placed where it is meet for him- He is become very humble, and ready to submit himself in all things ; but that will not serve. In the same predicament is Dr. Smith, my friend, and the Dean of St. Paul's, with others. Commend me to your bedfellows most heartily, and remember the liquor that I wrote to you for. This bearer shall declare the rest, and also put you in remembrance for beeves and muttons for my house-fare. And thus our blessed Lord long and well keep you all. Written in haste this 6th of September. " Assuredly all your own, " Edmond London." Life of Bp. Ridley, 429. Wharton's Observations upon Strypc's Cranmer, 1056. 1 Heylin, Hist. Ref. 140. u Strype, Eccl. Mem. iii. 31. Noaillcs, ii. 108. v Burnet, Hist. Ref. ii. 381. w Upon this subject, historians are unanimous, and in fact ii was illegal to use any other than the English service. The prin- cipal officiating minister in this solemnity cannot be certainly named. Bp. Godwin says that Day officiated as well as preach- ed. (Annul. 110.) Heylin is. silent as io the individual who 1553.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 31 Queen evinced a decent anxiety to relieve her bro- ther's immortal part from some portion of those pur- gatorial miseries to which, according to her creed, it was then consigned. In the afternoon, accordingly, of the day devoted to his interment she attended a dirge chanted for his benefit within the Tower. In the following morning a mass of Requiem, solemnized for the same purpose was graced by her presence, and by that of a very numerous congregation \ Encouraged, probably, by this example, an aged ecclesiastic, on the succeeding day y ventured to say mass in the church of St. Bartholomew, in Smith- field ; greatly to the scandal and indignation of those who heard him ; and he was accordingly very roughly treated when the service was over z. A violent de- ministered upon this occasion. Burnet and Strype, {ut supra.') assert that Cranmer officiated. * Heylin, ut supra. Noailles, ii. 109. Sanders appears to have considered this act of Mary's as an oversight, because " according to human judgment, Edward died without the Church." Afterwards, however, it seems, her Majesty was better instructed (" melius postea instituta,") and therefore, though " grieving much," she would not allow any public prayers to be offered up for her father, King Henry. This charitable determination, we are told, was " according to the rule of piety and religion." Secundum regulam pietatis et religionis passa est regi. (De Schism. 248.) Her advisers in this matter were, in Ribadeneyra's words, " holy and wise men," tomando el con- sejo de varones santps y savios. Hist. Eccl. de Ingl. 209. ' Aug. 11. a From a contemporary letter in the British Museum cited by Howard, 302. This officious priest was soon after arrested, at the Lord Mayor's urgent instances, which her Majesty heard with 32 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1553. gree of uneasiness upon the subject of religion was, indeed, beginning to pervade the public mind. Hence the Queen judged it prudent to make a de- claration to the Lord Mayor and Recorder of Lon- don, announcing that her intentions were tolerant. On the 12th of August she thus addressed these magistrates. " Albeit my conscience is staid in matter of religion, yet I mean not to compel or strain the consciences of other men, otherwise than God shall, as I trust, put in their hearts a persuasion of the truth in which I am myself ; through the opening of his word unto them by godly, virtuous, and learned preachers V One of the preachers in- tended by this designation made an experiment on the following day b, at St. Paul's Cross. This was Gilbert Bourn, prebendary of St. Paul's, and rector of High Ongar, in Essex, a divine who was advanced soon afterwards to the bishopric of Bath and Wells c. The corporation of London, and some of the nobility attended at the Cross, upon this occasion; as did undissembled rage. She consented, however, to this act of se- verity, merely to blind the Londoners ; who abhorred the mass : and the old priest was quickly permitted to make his escape from prison. Noailles, ii. 110. 0 Proceedings of Privy Council, 50. " Aug. 13. c Bourn was consecrated to that see, on the 1st of April, 1554. Towards the end of Queen Mary's reign he was appointed President of Wales. Under Queen Elizabeth he was deprived, and he died at Silverton, in Devonshire, in* 1569. Godwin de Praesul. 388. Le Neve, 34. 1553.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 33 also Bishop Boner, to whom Bourn was chaplain d. Having taken as his text the passage upon which Boner had discoursed in the same place, four years previously, the preacher, reminding his auditory of this, warmly panegyrised that prelate, adverted to the hardships which he had recently undergone, and attacked severely the policy of King Edward e. As this indiscreet harangue proceeded, murmurs arose among the congregation, women and boys became violently excited, and even some clergymen, who were present, encouraged the general feeling of dis- gust. At length, caps were thrown into the air, stones were levelled at the preacher, and some fiery zealot, probably an apprentice lad, completed the disgrace of his own party by hurling a dagger at the man who had justly given so much offence. Bourn stooping avoided the deadly weapon, and his brother then besought Mr. Bradford, an eminent preacher of scriptural principles, to appease, if possible, the peo- ple's fury. The call being readily obeyed, a mild rebuke from the lips of one well known, and de- servedly respected, soon quelled the spirit of outrage. The obnoxious preacher was then conducted between Bradford, and Rogers, another clergyman averse from Popery, into St. Paul's school ; where he re- mained until the crowd had dispersed f. Before d Foxe, 1281. Strype, Eccl. Mem. iii. 32. Burnet, Hist. Ref. ii. 382. c Foxe, ut supra. Godwin, Annal. 1 1 0. f Foxe, ut supra. It seems to have been thought that some hot-headed apprentice hurled the dagger at Bourn, for it was VOL. IV. D 34 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1553. night, in consequence of this unhappy tumult, orders from the council were given to the lord mayor and aldermen, to call a meeting of the common council on the following day. The assembled citizens were then to be acquainted with that declaration of toler- ance which her Majesty had uttered to the mayor and recorder, two days before. Heads of families also were to be informed that they must stand responsible for the conduct of their dependents, who were to be kept in habits of strict industry on ordi- ' nary days, and who were to attend their particular parish-churches on holidays. The civic authorities were likewise to forbid the clergy in their respective wards either to preach, or to expound publicly the scripture e, unless they should have the royal license for such purpose. A particular injunction was then given as to preserving the public peace at night, and search was ordered to be made for some who had been active in the recent outrage \ In conse- quence, some apprehensions took place, and two of the prisoners, one of whom was rector of St. Ethel- burga's, the other a barber, were pilloried and lost their ears, in the course of a few days \ On the Sunday following that in which Bourn's discourse had agitated the metropolis, another conspicu- ous attack upon the Reformation was made at ordered in the following week, that no apprentice should come to the sermon, nor bear any knife, or dagger. Ibid. 1 331. g " Make any open or solemn reading of the Scripture." h Proceedings of Privy Council, 50. • ' Strype, Eccl. Mem. iii. 34. The person who hurled the dagger at Bourn was not discovered. 8 1553.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 35 St. Paul's cross. The lord mayor and alder- men, some of the nobility, and the principal city companies were present. Dr. Watson, chaplain to Bishop Gardiner, preached, and in urging to- pics likely to inflame the public mind, he did not yield to Bourn k. But he could utter his invec- tives unapprehensive of any danger ; for while he thus aspersed the religion of holy Scripture, the po- licy pursued under an amiable young prince, yet scarcely cold in his grave, and laws remaining in force, two hundred of the royal guard stood around the pulpit. Mary seems, indeed, quickly to have discovered that she might safely follow the impulses of her own gloomy fanaticism, and therefore to have determined that Englishmen should be compelled to relinquish a religion founded not upon popes, and councils under their influence, but upon apostles and evangelists according to their own recorded declara- tions. As a preparation for this line of policy the magistrates of London were ordered, on the 14th of August, to lay before the council, within two days, a plan for keeping the city in tranquillity ; and were informed, that if no such plan were then brought forward, the lord mayor must deliver up his sword into the Queen's hands '-. Before the week expired a royal proclamation m unblushingly retracted the promise of toleration which Mary had made to the lord mayor and recorder within a few days, and k Strype, Eccl. Mem. iii. 33. ' Proceedings of Privy Council, 51. m Issued on the 18th of August. Heylin, Hist. Ref. 193. D 2 36 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1553. which these functionaries had subsequently been ordered to lay before the common-council. In this document her Majesty begins by observing, that much inconvenience had arisen in times past from religious dissensions, and that such mischiefs had recently revived " through certain false and untrue reports and rumours spread by some evil-disposed persons." She then proceeds to say, that " being presently by the only goodness of God settled in her just possession of the imperial crown of this realm, and other dominions thereunto belonging, she can- not now hide that religion which God and the world knoweth she hath ever professed from her infancy hitherto. Which as her Majesty is minded to ob- serve and maintain for herself, by God's grace, dur- ing her time, so doth her Highness much desire, and would be glad the same were of all her subjects quietly and charitably entertained. And yet she doth signify unto all her Majesty's loving subjects, that of her most gracious disposition and clemency, her Highness mindeth not to compel any of her said subjects thereunto until such time as further order hij common assent may be taken therein ." Of these words the plain import is, that the Queen was anxious to rule over a Romish people, but that she did not mean to force a renunciation of the reformed faith upon any of her subjects so long as the law should refuse her the requisite authority. Her in- tention was to defer the business of compulsory con- version until an obsequious Parliament should arm her with the powers upon which she calculated. The proclamation then forbids people " to move 1553.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 37 seditions, or stir unquietness, by interpreting the laws after their brains and fancies ;" and enjoins them " to continue quietly for the time, till (as be- fore is said) further order could be taken." The use of irritating appellations, as Papist, Heretic, is also interdicted, and all persons are advised " to apply their whole care, study, and travel, to live in the fear of God, exercising their conversations in such charitable and godly doing, as their lives may indeed express the great hunger and thirst of God's glory, which by rash talk and words many have pretended : and in so doing they shall best please God, and live without danger of the laws, and main- tain the tranquillity of the realm. Whereof, as her Highness shall be most glad, so if any man shall rashly presume to make any assemblies of people, or at any public assemblies, or otherwise, shall go about to stir the people to disorder, or disquiet, she mind- eth, according to her duty, to see the same most severely reformed and punished according to her Highness's laws." The proclamation concludes by prohibiting all persons to preach, or to expound the Scriptures, or to print any thing in verse or prose, or to play any dramatic piece, without the Queen's especial permission in writing. In thus undertaking to regulate the pulpit, undoubtedly Mary exercised an act of her legal supremacy according to prece- dents in the two last reigns. But her interference happened to be more at variance with Romish prin- ciples than that recently seen under King Edward. The Archbishop of Canterbury was then empowered to license preachers as well as the King. Now, 38 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1553. however, laical authority alone stepped forward to prescribe the doctrines which the clergy should pub- licly dispense. This act of Mary's, as constitutional head of the Church within her dominions, appears to have been followed by results far from unsatisfac- tory to herself and her advisers. The Reformers could scarcely doubt, that her Majesty had them in her eye when she talked of " pretenders to a hun- ger and thirst after God's glory." They were, therefore, little likely to importune her for permis- sion to unseal their lips in the pulpit. On the other hand, Romanists felt themselves encouraged not only to spread their peculiar doctrines with unwonted diligence, but also to indulge their " brains and fan- cies," in interpreting the laws in force against the mass, as a permission for the immediate revival of that service. Accordingly, before the expiration of many days, the Romish ritual was introduced again into a very large proportion of the churches " ; and clergymen who were backward in this illegal innova- tion soon found themselves exposed to the displeasure of their superiors. On the 18th of August the Duke of Northumber- land, his eldest son, the Earl of Warwick, and the Marquess of Northampton, were brought to trial. Upon this occasion the old Duke of Norfolk again appeared in public, having been appointed to act as High Steward0. On Northumberland's approach n Extract from a contemporary letter in the British Museum. Lady Jane Grey, and her Times, 30G. 0 It was now alleged by the Duke of Norfolk, that the act of attainder against him was invalid ; and the judges, after bearing 1553.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 39 to the bar, after making a profound obeisance, he professed his loyalty to the Queen, and acknow- ledged that he had offended her grievously. " I mean not, therefore," he added, " to say any thing in my defence ; but I would fain learn the judgment of the court upon two points. First, I would en- quire, whether a man doing an act by authority of the prince and council, and under warrant of the great seal of England, is liable to a charge of trea- son ; he having done nothing without such warrant ? Secondly, whether those who were equally culpable with himself, and who prescribed by letters and com- mandments all that he did, could sit in judgment upon him ?" To these questions it was replied, that the great seal mentioned by the prisoner could legalise no act, because it was merely the instru- ment of an usurper ; and that as no attainder had disqualified any member of the court, every one of them was perfectly competent to discharge the duty now laid upon him. His objections being thus over- ruled, the Duke briefly expressed his concern for the part which he had taken, intreated Norfolk to sup- plicate for the royal mercy in his behalf, and then the case, decided that question affirmatively. " This had never been mentioned all the last reign, lest an act should have been procured to confirm his attainder. So he came now in upon his former right ; by which all the grants that had been given of his estate were to be declared void by common law." (Burnet, Hist. Ref. ii. 379.) In the next Parliament a private act was passed, to make void the Duke of Norfolk's attainder. (Ibid. 401.) The Duke obtained also from the Queen, as an additional secu- rity, a general pardon. Lingard, note d. vii. 495. 40 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1553. pleaded guilty. Sentence to die as a traitor being immediately passed upon him, Northumberland begged that he might be executed, according to his quality, by decapitation ; that his children might be favourably treated, in consideration of their age ; that he might be permitted to confer with some learned divine, for the settling of his conscience ; and that her Majesty would send to him four of her council, in order to hear at his lips certain secrets of state. The Marquess of Northampton pleaded, that at the beginning of recent events he did not take any part in public business, but occupied himself in rural sports. As, however, he could not deny his subsequent co-operation with the former prisoner, he received also sentence of death. The Earl of War- wick finding that his youth would not be considered as any excuse for his acts, merely begged that some portion of his effects might be applied to the payment of his creditors, and then heard the fatal sentence with unshaken resolution p. On the following day, Sir John and Sir Henry Gates, Sir Thomas Palmer, and Sir Andrew Dudley, were arraigned before a jury of commoners, and pleading guilty, received sentence of death q. Well aware of Bishop Gardiner's influence with the Queen, Northumberland, after condemnation, expressed himself anxious for an interview with him. That prelate, in consequence, accompanied by ano- p From a book of the Lord Stewards of England, in the Bri- tish Museum. Howard, 315. 0 Burnet, Hist. Ref. ii. 379. 1553.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 41 ther member of the council r, paid a visit to the de- jected prisoner, who thus gave vent to his anguish : " Is there no hope at all for me that I may live awhile, to do some penance for my sins past ? Alas ! let me live a little longer, though it be but in a mouse-hole." Gardiner then said, " I wish to God, that when your Grace was at liberty, and in prosperity, something short of a kingdom could have contented you ; and at present, I wish that it were in my power to give you the mouse-hole which you desire. I would give you the best palace that I have; and I shall now gladly serve you to the ut- most of my ability. Your offence, however, is great, and your enemies numerous. I pray you, therefore, provide for the worst. Especially consider whether you stand well with God as to your conscience and religion. For, to speak plainly, it is most likely that you must die." The Duke replied : '* I will do my best to dispose myself, and therefore, pray let me have a learned priest who may comfort me, and to whom I may confess. As for religion, you know, my Lord Bishop, that I can be of none other but of your own. Indeed, I never was of any other. I never was so foolish as to believe any of the reli- gion which was set up in King Edward's time. I only took it up for my own ambitious purposes : a sin which I hope that God will forgive. At my death, I shall testify publicly what I now tell your Lordship, as I am bound to do, for it is the truth.'* r " Who himself told my author these passages." Strype, Mem. Cranm. 452. 42 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1553. Gardiner was affected even to tears by this conver- sation, and there is reason to believe that he did not omit an application to the Queen in the prisoner's favour. But Mary was admonished from the impe- rial court that she could not safely spare an offender like Northumberland. She did not, however, anni- hilate at once his eager hope of life by announcing the clay of his execution. The care of his religious comfort and instruction was assigned to Bishop Heath ; and that amiable prelate, being aided pro- bably by the prisoner's own anxiety to gratify the Queen, quickly brought his mind into such a state as left the Romish party nothing to desire. Accord- ingly, on the Monday after his condemnation3, in company with his fellow-prisoners, he attended mass, and received the Eucharist in one kind '. After the service was concluded, the unhappy Duke said aloud : " For the last sixteen years I have not served God truly. But of all my errors, the greatest is the concern which I have had in putting down the mass. I must, however, say, that if God had pleased to preserve my life, and to continue me in authority, * Aug. 21. Every preparation was made for the execution on that day, and a great crowd assembled to witness it, but a re- prieve was granted, in order that the prisoners might attend mass. Strype, Eccl. Mem. iii. 33. e " Before divers of the council." (Persons's Three Conver- sions, i. 623.) The magistracy of London, and some leading members of the companies were also present. (Strype, ut supra.) There can be little doubt that Northumberland had announced his intention of making some such speech as he actually delivered. Of the object which he hoped to answer by it there can be no doubt. 1553.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 43 I would have restored it again before ever one year had come to end. I could not do it at once, because it was necessary for my ends to win the hearts of the Londoners, who love new things u." This was quite enough ; and accordingly, before the close of the day v, the Lieutenant of the Tower informed his prisoner that he must die on the following morning. Overpowered by this intelligence, Northumberland instantly despatched letters to Bishop Gardiner and to the Earl of Arundel w, earnestly begging for their interference in his behalf. His intreaties proving ineffectual, the Duke, together with Sir John Gates, and Sir Thomas Palmer x, were led to a scaffold on Tower Hill, at the time appointed. In their way Northumberland said to Gates, " God have mercy upon us, Sir John, for this day will end both our lives. I pray you forgive me whatsoever I have offended. I forgive you with all my heart, although you and your counsel have helped to bring this end upon me." The knight replied, " Well, my Lord, I forgive you all as I would be forgiven ; and yet u From a contemporary letter in the British Museum, Howard, 329. v The Duke of Northumberland to the Earl of Arundel. Ibid. 321. w In his letter to Arundel he says, " If my life be lengthened by your mediation, and my good Lord Chancellor's (to whom I have also sent my blurred letters) I will ever owe it to be spent at your honourable feet." Gardiner was not at that time Chan- cellor, but the seals were committed to his custody. x The other persons condemned were reprieved, and after- wards pardoned. Heylin, Hist. Ref. 180. 44 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1553. you and your authority have caused the whole mis- chief: but the Lord pardon you, and I pray you forgive me." The unhappy men then bowed to each other, and moved onwards to the fatal spot y. On reaching the scaffold, Northumberland stripped off his damask gown, and leaning on the eastern rail, thus addressed the spectators. " I am come hither to undergo a death most horrible and detestable, but one that I have justly merited ; for I have com- mitted most grievous offences against Almighty God, the whole world, and the Queen's grace. This end, however, is not altogether of my own procuring, but has been incensed z by others ; whom I pray God to pardon ; for I will not name nor accuse any man here. I was led by false teachers and preachers some time before King Henry's death, y Lord Stewards' Book. Howard, 323. * To incense, in old language, commonly means to incite, or to set one upon a thing. Such is the force of the word in Shak- speare's King Lear, where Mr. Malone's gloss is to instigate. " He is attended with a desp'rate train ; And what they may incense him to, being apt To have his ear abus'd, wisdom bids fear." If Northumberland used the word in this sense, he might seem to intimate that he was incited to his enterprise by some name- less individuals ; intending, probably, to glance at the Reformers. But this, though of a piece with his address to Sir John Gates, is not exactly the sort of intimation which one would desire to hear from the lips of a man upon the very thncshold of eternity. Upon the whole, indeed, the Romanists have little cause for exulting in the fact that this unhappy man concluded his varied career by such loud professions of regard for their principles. 1553.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 45 and I have been so ever since. Which is a great part of this my death. Wherefore, beware, good people, lest ye be led and deceived by these sedi- tious and lewd preachers, who have opened the book, and who know not how to shut it again. Return home again to the true religion, to the Catholic faith which hath been taught you of old. Since this new teaching has come among us God has plagued us with wars, commotions, rebellions, pesti- lence, and famine. Wherefore, good people, obey the Queen, and be content to receive again the true Catholic faith. An example of such as refuse this we have in Germany. How that country has been seduced, and how it is now brought to ruin are facts known to the whole world. By our creed we are taught to say, / believe in the holy Catholic faith % and such is my very belief, as my Lord Bi- shop can testify. All this I say not from having been commanded so to do, but of my own free willb." This absurd, calumnious, and sophistical a " If this speech were not of Heath's inditing to be used by the Duke, yet this argument from the Creed, I am apt to think, was his, it being his custom to make use of it. For I find, in a conference betwixt this Bishop and Rogers, he asked him if he did not know his Creed, and urged Credo sanctam Ecclesiam Catholicam. But Rogers could tell him that he did not find the Bishop of Rome there." Strype, Mem. Cranm. 451. b Foxe (1280) says of this unhappy victim to his own inordi- nate ambition ; " Albeit he having a promise, and being put in hope of pardon, yea though his head were upon the block, if he would recant, and hear mass, consented thereto, and denied in words that true religion, which before-time, as well in King Henry's days, as in King Edward's, he had oft evidently de- 46 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1553. harangue being concluded, after a short interval of prayer, the Duke submitted his neck to the axe c. clarcd himself both to favour, and to further : exhorting also the people to turn to the Catholic faith, as he termed it. Whose recantation the Papists forthwith did publish, and set abroad, rejoicing not a little at his conversion, or rather subversion, as then appeared." That, however, the Duke had received any promise of pardon is not likely, although very little reliance can be placed upon his silence as to this upon the scaffold ; for he knew that his recantation must be made complete, before he could calculate on the desired reward of it. That the topics in his speech had been suggested by Bp. Heath can scarcely be doubted : it being not so much the declaration of an awakened conscience, as an invective against a religious party which the ruling powers hoped speedily to crush. Northumberland's words, therefore, concerned the views of those who were struggling for a signal triumph in this lower scene rather than his own appearance in another world. That a man should thus act the politician, in the most awful moment of his existence, unless with some worldly view, is far from probable. There is every reason to believe that to the last he buoyed himself up with the hope of pardon, and that from the Queen's known fanaticism he calculated upon pur- chasing it at the price of publicly renouncing a religion, to which he had always discovered the utmost indifference, and of aspers- ing the men who were now evidently marked out for destruction. c Strype, Mem. Cranm. Appendix, 917. From one of the Cottonian MSS. John Dudley was eldest son of Sir Edmund Sutton, alias Dudley, who, together with Sir Richard Empson, was mainly concerned in the fiscal severities of King Henry VII. for which, and other offences they were both put to death, in the beginning of the next reign, much to the popular satisfac- tion. John Dudley was originally bred to the law, but after-; wards turning his attention to military affairs, he rapidly rose to distinction, and in 1541, he was created Viscount Lisle. Two years afterwards he was installed Knight of the Garter. Under King Edward he became Earl of Warwick, and Duke of Nor- 1553.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 47 The other two sufferers uttered the language of reli- gion and penitence, but no recantation d. On the day before this execution, a royal procla- mation was issued, commanding, that no man should reason against the doings of her Grace and her coun- cil ; and assuring the nation, that what she did should be for the honour of God, and for the profit of her subjects' souls e. Before the month ended f, Mary exercised her ecclesiastical supremacy in com- missioning Bishop Gardiner to license such preachers as he might consider fit to dispense religious infor- mation. Of the manner in which this discretion would be exercised, there could be no doubt in any man's breast, and therefore, such as were attached to the religion established by law began to reflect earnestly, and to consult upon the line of conduct which expedience or necessity might prescribe to them. The courses adopted were various. There were clergymen who set at nought the royal man- date, and continued to preach publicly as they had been used. Others contented themselves with con- tinuing at church the English service prescribed by law, and left the business of religious instruction to private conferences with their parishioners. Of in- dividuals who adopted the former course several thumberland. He had six sons who reached manhood, but no one of them left any lawful issue. In 1557, the earldom of Northumberland was restored to the family of Percy. Heylin, Hist. Ref. 189. A From a contemporary letter. Howard, 330. e Strype, Eccl. Mem. hi. 40. f On the 29th. 48 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1553. were taken into custody E. A disposition to deal severely with several eminent or active divines of scriptural principles had, indeed, been plainly shewn from the beginning of Mary's reign. Bishop Ridley had gone to Framlingham to make his apologies, and offer his submission. He was, however, repulsed, and committed to the Tower as a traitor h. Early in August, Dr. Cox, the late King's tutor, was im- prisoned in the Marshalsea, under a similar charge '. Bradford and Rogers were requited for their services to Bourn in the tumult at St. Paul's Cross, by being placed under restraint. The former was sent to the Tower, the latter was confined to his house. As they had evidently so much influence over the people, it was concluded that they must have planned the outrage k. Before the end of August Coverdale, Bishop of Exeter, and Hooper, Bishop of Gloucester, were summoned before the council. After three hearings, the latter prelate was com- mitted to the Fleet ' ; Coverdale was ordered to re- main in attendance. At length this industrious and pious divine regained his liberty, being allowed to go abroad at the instances of the Danish court ,n. In e Burnet, Hist. Ref. ii. 386. h Burghley State-Papers by Haynes, 196. 4 Ibid. Dr. Cox was within a short time despoiled in a sum- mary manner, of his deaneries of Westminster and Christ Church, which he held together. Dr. Richard Marshall was advanced to the former preferment ; Dr. Hugh Weston to the latter. Heylin, Hist Ref. 192. k Burnet, Hist. Ref. ii. 385. . 1 September 1. m Heylin, Hist. Ref. 194. 1553..] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 49 the beginning* of September the venerable Bishop Latimer, then near Coventry, received a summons to attend the council. Ample time was allowed for his escape after the serving of this notice, no doubt intentionally ; but the good old man, scorning to flee, cheerfully waited for the pursuivant ; and on the 13th of the month he was committed close pri- soner to the Tower, for his " seditious demeanour11," as it is expressed in the council-book. While the religious horizon of England was thus daily becoming more gloomy, Cranmer passed his anxious hours at Lambeth, secluded from public bu- siness. He was, indeed, placed under restraint soon after Mary's arrival in London. He then appeared before the council, in all probability, to answer for his participation in the late unhappy attempt to set aside the Queen. He was there severely repri- manded, enjoined to remain at home, and informed that he must hold himself in readiness for another summons0. His hospitality was now claimed again by Peter Martyr, who had received orders, within a few days of King Edward's death, to suspend his lectures, to keep himself within Oxford, and not to remove from that place any of his effects. After a short interval, however, the learned Florentine was n Proceedings of Privy Council, 52. Latimer appears to have been brow-beaten and insulted, when before the council. His spirited reception of this treatment is most probably the " sedi- tious demeanour" mentioned in the record. In his way through Smithfield, the admirable old man said, "This place has long groaned for me." Foxe, 1579. ° Strype, Mem. Cranm. 439. VOL. IV. E 50 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1553. allowed his liberty, and he used it by going imme- diately to share the Archbishop's griefs at Lam- beth p. The present aspect of affairs was, indeed, highly distressing to all who loved the Reformation, and most alarming to such as had been prominent in the humiliation of Romanism. Many persons, ac- cordingly, of scriptural principles began to meditate a flight from their devoted country before the ga- thering storm should burst upon it. Cranmer ap- proved this course, as appears from a letter which he subsequently wrote to a religious friend. It was desirable, he said, to forsake a land which denied the liberty of truly worshipping God. Nor would any man fear lest his flight should bring discredit upon the Gospel, if he recollected that even our Saviour did not hesitate to elude the madness of the people before his hour was come, and that his apostles never rushed needlessly into danger q. The Archbishop, however, himself refused to flee. Some of his friends urged him strongly to withdraw clandestinely from 11 After Cranmer was committed to prison, Martyr continued for some time in London, under much anxiety for his personal safety. But at length having- obtained permission from the Queen to return to the continent, he settled himself again at Strasburg. (Ibid. 455.) Peter Martyr, whose family name was Vermigli, removed to Zurich, in 1556, as professor of Hebrew and theology, in the room of the learned Conrad Pellican, then lately dead. Martyr died at Zurich in 15G2, highly esteemed for his learning, abilities, and unblemished morals. He was born in the year 1500. History of the Progress a'nd Suppression of the Reformation in Italy, in the Sixteenth Centurv, by T. M'Crie, D.D. Edinb. 1827. pp. 117.384. (i Abp. Cranmer to Mrs. Wilkinson. Foxe, 171s. 1553.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 51 a country which no longer allowed him the hope of being either useful or secure. He nobly replied, " Were I likely to be called in question for treason, robbery, or any other crime, I should be much more likely to abscond than I am at present. As it is, the post that I hold, and the part that I have taken, re- quire me to make a stand for the truths of holy Scripture. I shall, therefore, undergo with con- stancy the loss of life, rather than remove secretly from the realm'." This virtuous resolve having been formed, he prepared for the worst by an exact adjustment of his affairs. Every claim against him was fully satisfied ; and thus, when deprived of his resources, it was found that he had not a single cre- ditor. This final arrangement of his pecuniary con- cerns was a great relief to his mind. " Thank God," he piously said, " I am now mine own man. I can now conscientiously, with God's help, answer all the world, and face any adversities which may be laid upon me \" Cranmer was abruptly drawn from his temporary seclusion by that spirit of detraction which had in- dustriously pursued him during the whole course of his public life. It had been reported, soon after Mary's triumph over the opposition to her claim, that, anxious to gain favour with the successful party, he had offered to celebrate King Edward's obsequies by officiating in a mass of Requiem. The event quickly shewed this to be an impudent fiction ; r Parker, 509. Strype, Mem. Cranm. 449. ' Foxe, 1692. E 2 52 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1553. but rumours of a similar kind remained afloat At length it became notorious, that mass had been re- stored in the cathedral of Canterbury, and this fact was urged as an irrefragable proof of the Primate's time-serving disposition. The truth, however, is, that this illegal act had proceeded from the orders of Dr. Thornden, the perfidious and ungrateful monk who had abused so shamefully Cranmer's confidence and liberality several years before l. Dr. Wotton, the Dean of Canterbury, was absent upon a foreign embassy ; and consequently the Sub-Dean, who was Thornden, had the church under his control u. The Archbishop was no sooner apprised of the man- ner in which his own character was suffering from this unworthy clergyman's forward zeal for Popery, than he gave vent to his wounded feelings upon paper. The writing lay in a window of his apart- ment when Bishop Scory chanced, on the 5th of September, to pay him a visit. That prelate read it, and, as it is reported, he successfully begged a copy. He certainly left Lambeth with one in his possession, which he soon lent to a friend, who suf- fered it to fall into the hands of a third person. It was now transcribed again, and publicly read in Cheapside. All London immediately burned to see it, and the services of almost every hackney writer being quickly put into requisition, within a very short space of time Cranmer's declaration was circulated through the whole metropolis \ In this piece, the ' See Hist. Ref. under King Henry VIII. ii. 556. " Strype, Mem. Cranm, 136. v Foxe, 1698. There is good reason to believe that Fdi 1553.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 53 rumours afloat respecting the writer's compliances are flatly contradicted ; Thornden is characterised in terms perhaps unbecoming in a man of Cranmer's condition, but in such terms undoubtedly as that ecclesiastic had fully merited at his hands ; masses satisfactory are treated in a manner which unbiassed readers of Scripture generally would pronounce cor- rect, but which was hardly suited either to the wri- ter's place in society, or to the moment when he wrote. In conclusion, he offered, in conjunction with Peter Martyr and four or five others, to main- tain publicly the accordance of his opinions with Scripture and ecclesiastical antiquity. This decla- ration is upon the whole an interesting monument of Cranmer's courage, and of his conviction that able Protestants must always establish a triumphant case against Romish adversaries. For the severity of his language an exculpatory reason may be found in the irritation of a mind smarting under calumny, and in the surreptitious mode by which the piece obtained general circulation. It may be supposed not un- fairly, that had it been withholden from the public eye until its writer authorised its appearance, ex- mistaken in stating that Cranmer gave Scory permission to copy this paper. It is probable, therefore, that its appearance in public was not only premature, but also completely surreptitious. " At the close of the Latin version of the declaration, published in 1554, it is there said : ' Lecta publice Londini in vico mercatorum ab amico qui clam autographum surripuerat, 5. Sept. Anno Dom. 1553.' Valerandus Pollanus republished it in 1554." (Mr. Todd's Introd. to Cranmer, Ixxxix.) The reprint of 1557 pro- ceeded from the English exiles. 54 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1553 pressions which could hardly fail to escape from his pen during the heat and hurry of composition, would have been softened down y. The case of y The following is a copy of this declaration : " As the devil, Christ's ancient adversary, is a liar and the father of lies, even so hath he stirred up his servants and members to persecute Christ and his true word and religion with lying ; which he ceaseth not to do most earnestly at this present time. For whereas the prince of most famous memory, King Henry VIII. seeing the great abuses of the Latin mass, reformed some things therein in his life-time, and after, our late sovereign Lord, King Edward VI. took the same wholly away for the great and manifold errors and abuses of the same, and restored in the place thereof Christ's Holy Supper, according to Christ's own institution, and as the Apostles used the same in the primitive Church: the devil goeth about now with lying to overthrow the Lord's Supper again, and to restore his Latin satisfactory mass, a thing of his own invention and device. And to bring the same more easily to pass, some have abused the name of me, Thomas, Archbishop of Canterbury, bruiting abroad that I have set up the mass again at Canterbury, and that I offered to say mass at the burial of our late sovereign lord, King Edward VI. and that I offered to say mass before the Queen's Highness, and at Paul's church, and I wot not where. And although I have been well exercised these twenty years to suffer and bear evil reports and lies, and have not been much grieved thereat, but have borne all things quietly, yet when untrue reports and lies turn to the hindrance of God's truth, they are in no wise to be suffered. Wherefore these be to signify unto the world, that it was not I that did set up the mass at Canterbury, but it was a false, flattering, lying and dissembling monk, which caused mass to be set up there without mine advice or counsel : Reddat Mi Dominus in die Mo. And as for oflerittg myself to say mass before the Queen's Highness, or in any other place. I never did it as her Grace well knoweth. I>ut if her Grace will give me leave, I shall be ready to prove agflfost ali thai will say to the contrary, that all that is contained in the Holy Commu- nion set out by the must innocent and godly prince, Km 1553.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 55 Cranmer appears in the first instance to have occa- sioned some difficulty among the Queen's advisers. It was true that he had displayed considerable ac- tivity in forwarding the divorce of King Henry from his first wife, and that he even pronounced the final sentence in that famous affair. Early, therefore, in his public life Mary must have looked upon him ward VI. in his high Court of Parliament, is conformable to that order which our Saviour Christ did both observe and command to be observed, and which his Apostles and the primitive Church used many years. Whereas the mass in many things not only hath no foundation of Christ, his Apostles, nor the primitive Church, but is manifestly contrary to the same, and containeth many horrible abuses in it. And although many, either unlearned or malicious, do report that M. Peter Martyr is unlearned, yet if the Queen's Highness will grant thereunto, I, with the said M. Peter Martyr, and other four or five which I shall choose, will by God's grace, take upon us to defend, not only the common prayers of the Church, the ministration of the Sacraments, and other rites and ceremonies, but also all the doctrine and religion set out by our said sovereign lord King Edward VI. to be more pure and according to God's Word, than any other that hath been used in England these thousand years : so that God's Word may be judge, and that the reasons and proofs of both parties may be set out in writing, to the intent, as well that all the world may examine and judge thereon, as that no man shall start back from his writing. And where they boast of the faith that hath been in the Church these fifteen hundred years, we will join them in this point, and that the same doctrine and usage is to be fol- lowed which was in the Church fifteen hundred years past, and we shall prove that the order of the Church, set out at present in this realm by act of Parliament, is the same that was used in the Church fifteen hundred years past, and so shall they never be able to prove theirs." (Foxe, 1332.) Among the Foxian MSS. in the British Museum (Bibl. Harl. 417.) is bound up a copy of Cranmer's declaration, printed in black letter in the year 1557. 56 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1553. with aversion. But Gardiner, now basking in the sunshine of royal confidence, had not yielded to any man in zeal for the divorce ; and although his ap- pearance during the agitation of that cause was in the character of advocate, yet he had subsequently published in his book De Vera Obedientia, the most marked condemnation of the Aragonese mar- riage z. It may be thought that he had long since made his peace with the Queen by his sufferings for Romanism. But Cranmer also could advance a claim upon the favourable consideration of Mary. She was even obliged to him personally. His inter- ference it was that saved her from the effects of her father's anger, He had, indeed, participated in the plan for excluding her from the succession ; but he was the last to do so, he did it with the utmost reluc- tance, and a coolness, approaching total alienation from each other, had long notoriously prevailed be- tween him and Northumberland. Nor, when that 1 The following citation from Gardiner, De Vera Obedientia, is supplied by Sir Francis Hastings : " Sith there is command- ment that a man shall not marry his brother's wife, what could the King's excellent Majesty do otherwise than he did, by the consent of the people, and the judgment of the Church ; that is, be divorced from unlawful marriage, and use lawful and per- mitted copulation : and obeying, as meet it was, conformably to the commandment, cast off her, whom neither law nor right per- mitted him to have, and take him to chaste and lawful mar- riage?" (An Apology of Defence of the Watch-word. London, 1600, p. 135.) In the library of York cathedral is a copy of Bp. Gardiner's book, on the first page of which is written, in an an- cient hand, " Apostate Gardineri excusatio." Mr. Todd's ln- trod. to Cranmer, Ivii. 1553.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 57 unprincipled adventurer was completely foiled, did Cranmer withhold his signature from the orders issued to disarm him. Obviously, therefore, the Archbishop's political offences were lighter than those of many persons now admitted to Mary's favour. His various claims to the royal clemency do not ap- pear accordingly to have escaped his enemies, and there is reason to believe, that a design was enter- tained at one time of merely driving him into privacy upon some small allowance \ Possibly with a view to this object, he was cited, on the 27th of August, to appear before the Queen's commissioners, in the consistory of St. Paul's, and he was ordered to bring with him an inventory of his effects b. He obeyed, and then again retired to Lambeth. On the 7th of September, however, his declaration made its public appearance % and it immediately furnished his ene- mies with an excuse for treating him with severity. Before the day closed he received an order to attend in the Star-chamber on the following morning d. He was there interrogated as to the declaration, and Bishop Heath enquired of him, whether he was not 3 Strype, Mem. Cranm. 438, b Foxe, 1332. With the Archbishop were cited Dr. May, the Dean of St. Paul's, and Sir Thomas Smyth, to whom had been given, according to the bad usage of King Edward's reign, the provostship of Eton, and the deanery of Carlisle. Sir Thomas, however, is thought by Strype to have been in deacon's orders. Under Queen Elizabeth, Smyth recovered his deanery, and he held it until his death. Le Neve, 336. Strype's Life of Smyth, Oxf. 1820, p. 31. c Foxe, 1332. d Proceedings of Privy Council, 52. 58 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1553: sorry that it had been so generally circulated. The Primate replied by avowing himself the author of the paper, and by expressing his regret at its prema- ture appearance. "It was my intention," he said, " to have drawn up a longer piece, and to have affixed it, authenticated by my seal, upon the door of St. Paul's, and of other churches in London V This avowal occasioned a long and serious debate in the council. It was evident, that, if at liberty, the Archbishop would not remain pusillanimously silent during the overthrow of that religious system, upon which he had so long laboured. On the contrary, none of his hearers could doubt that he would come boldly forward, and expose those pretences of anti- quity which Romanists invariably place in the fore- ground of their controversies. Such conduct indeed was plainly called for both by his rank in the Church, and by the part which he had taken during several preceding years. Nor was it illegal to main- tain opinions at variance with papal traditions ; all the laws imposing a restraint upon such an exercise of judgment having been abrogated. Under these difficulties, it was found necessary to make out against the Archbishop a case as aggravated as pos- sible, in order to justify his arrest. The councillors accordingly, though generally inculpated in his poli- tical delinquency themselves, had the face to make it a ground of accusation against him. In their own words, they " thought it convenient, as well for the treason committed by him against the Queen's Ma- c Heylin, Hist. Rtf. L96. 1553.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 59 jesty, as for the aggravating of the same his offence, by spreading about seditious bills moving tumults to the disquieting of the present state, that he should be committed to the Tower ; there to remain and be referred to justice, or further ordered, as shall stand with the Queen's pleasure f." Now of these two charges, even the second is vague and unjust. For, ecclesiastically speaking, " the present state" was that which the Archbishop sought to preserve in quietness ; and it is obvious that he was not likely to cause any political uneasiness unless existing laws were overthrown. His imprisonment, therefore, upon such grounds amounted to an admission that Mary had already made up her mind to abrogate the established religion g. One of Bishop Gardiner's earliest cares, on reco- vering his liberty, was to renew his intercourse with the Emperor. He represented to that monarch the propriety of recommending caution to Mary in her measures for the restoration of Popery. English- men had been assiduously taught, he observed, dur- ing twenty-five years, that the Papacy was one of the most unprincipled usurpations ever known, and f Proceedings of Privy Council, 52. B According to Foxe (1332) Cranmer was not actually com- mitted to the Tower before the 14th of September. Heylin (Hist. Ref. 196) accounts for this delay by supposing it to have arisen from some members of the council who recommended that the Archbishop should merely be reduced to a private station. But others, he says, who better understood the Queen's mind, subsequently caused the order for his committal to be carried into execution. 60 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1553. therefore it was unlikely that they coukl be brought all at once to a recognition of its authority. Many powerful families also, enriched by the spoils of the Church, might be expected to use their influence for maintaining an ecclesiastical system, which guaran- teed the stability of their acquisitions. Nor, he added, was it to be forgotten, that heresy had in- fected a large portion of the people ; and hence, hasty measures for extirpating that evil might excite a ferment much to be deprecated by a government imperfectly settled. The Bishop also, being aware of Mary's impatience for the restoration of Pole to his native land, urged the necessity of restraining that ecclesiastic from returning with undue haste. Being under a parliamentary attainder, the Cardi- nal, it was truly said, could not legally set his foot upon English ground, and being obnoxious to a large party in the country, his sudden arrival would be likely to occasion a degree of disgust far from politic to provoke. Among other matters, Gardiner suggested that his own elevation to the chancellor- ship would probably prove advantageous to the Ro- mish cause. Charles immediately saw the justice of these suggestions, and accordingly he wrote to the Queen according to Gardiner's wishes h. In one particular Mary yielded a prompt obedience to the advice of her imperial cousin ; the Bishop of Win- chester being appointed to the chancellorship on the 23d of August \ But she would not pledge herself * h Burnet, Hist. Ref. ii. 378. J Proceedings of Privy Council, 51, Gardiner's patent for 1553.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 61 to proceed with caution in her designs upon the established religion. She replied to Charles's admo- nition upon this head, " My trust in God has hitherto supported me under adversity. Now, there- fore, that I have attained a throne, I am determined to testify my gratitude to Him, and that not dilato- rily or obscurely, but immediately and openly k." At the time of Edward's death, Cardinal Pole was living in retirement at a Benedictine monastery, situated at Maguzzano, a healthy spot upon the lake Garda. He had there no sooner been informed of recent occurrences in England, than he despatched Vincent Parpaglia •, an intimate friend, with a letter to the pontiff, Julius III. exhorting him to take advantage, if possible, of the favourable conjuncture which seemed to have arrived. His Holiness, how- ever, needed not this admonition. Upon the first intelligence from our island, he addressed m, under advice of the consistory, a brief to Pole, demand- ing his opinion as to the course most eligible to be pursued. After the lapse of two or three days, news reached Rome, that Mary had gained posses- sion of the English crown. Upon this, Pole was appointed, with the unanimous consent of the con- the office of Chancellor bears date September 21, according to Dugdale. Harmer's Specimen of Errors, Lond. 1693, p. 121. k La Vie du Cardinal Commendon, ecrite en Latin par A. M. Gratiani, trad, en Fr. par M. Flechier, Eveque de Nismes. Par. 1702, i. 59. Phillips's Pole, 8vo. ed. ii. 48. 1 August 6. Pallavicino, ii. 29. m August 2. Ibid. 30. 62 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1553. sistory, papal legate for England". The bearer of this nomination met Parpaglia near Bologna ; when that person, finding himself anticipated, immediately returned with the Roman messenger to Maguzzano. Pole seems to have accepted the office of English legate with little or no hesitation ; but he suggested that it might be desirable to feel his way before he should leave Italy, by means of some secret agent. For this purpose he despatched Henry Penning to England °, charged with several letters, among which was one for the Queen, another was for Bonvisi, an Italian merchant, and a third was for Cardinal Dan- dino, papal ambassador at Brussels, upon whom the messenger was to call. Dandino had, however, been beforehand with the English Cardinal p. He had already sent into our island one of his suite, John Francis Commendone, a Venetian of distin- guished abilities, and eventually a cardinal, with instructions to observe particularly the state of pub- lic opinion, and to obtain, if possible, a private audience of the Queen. Commendone left Brussels secretly and alone. He embarked at Gravelines, having previously hired there two servants, one a thorough master of French, the other of English, to act as guides and interpreters. To these men he represented that he was nephew of an Italian n August 5. Ibid. 0 August 12. Ibid. r This is obvious from the fact that Dandiuo's agent was in London when Bourn preached at St. Paul's Cross, August 13, as appears from Graziani's Life of Commendone, cited by Ridley. Review of Phillips, 223. 1553.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 63 merchant, recently dead in London, and that he wanted to visit that capital for the purpose of wind- ing up his uncle's affairs there. When arrived in the English metropolis, he found a high degree of agitation generally prevalent, and he observed with uneasiness that those who were about the Queen displayed a considerable anxiety to keep her from holding any confidential communication with fo- reigners, especially with such as might be likely to serve the Pope, or the Emperor q. At length he met with an Englishman, named Lee, a strict Romanist, whom he had formerly known in Italy, and who was now attached to the royal household. After some conversation with this person, Commendone became satisfied that he might safely confide to him a know- ledge of his object in coming to England, and by his means he secretly gained admittance into the royal presence. Mary cordially welcomed her Italian visitor, and expressed her anxiety for a reconciliation with Rome, but she complained that her movements were very closely watched, and that her authority as yet was but imperfectly established. Hence it would be necessary, she said, to proceed for the present, as to religion, with secresy and caution. Of this Com- mendone was fully persuaded, and he, therefore, threw out hints of the security with which her Majesty might effect her purposes, if she were to marry the Emperor's son. In another private au- dience, Mary gave to her new acquaintance a letter for the Pope, in her own hand-writing, promising the q Pallavicino, ii. 31. Graziani, i. 63. 64 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1.053. return of herself and her people to the faith of Rome, and to a dependence upon the Papacy'. Having given this unconstitutional pledge, Mary dismissed Commendone with an injunction to com- municate the particulars of their conversation only to Cardinal Pole and the Pope. The successful Italian left London on the day following that on which Northumberland was executed s, and after calling at Brussels to see his patron Dandino, he travelled day and night until he reached Pole's rc- r " Chiamo il Commendone, e consegnoli una leltera seritta al Papa di suo earattere, nella quale prornettcva, ch' ella eel stio regno sarebbono stall nella fede, e nclV ubbidienza de Romani Pontejici" (Ibid.) To her interviews with Commendone may, probably, be attributed Mary's disengenuous conduct at the time when that agent was in London. His visits to the Queen must have been paid between the 13th and 22d of August. From the difficulties which he experienced in obtaining admittance to her, most probably near the latter date. Now, on the 12th of the month, her Majesty assured the Lord Mayor and Recorder of London, that she " did not mean to strain or compel the con- sciences of other men." This declaration was to be publicly promulged to the Common Council on the 14th : but on the 18th, a royal proclamation plainly announced that this tolerance was only to continue until parliament should meet. It seems likely that Commendone had contrived, between the 14th and the 18th, to inflame the bigotry of Mary, and to raise her spirits by holding out the prospect of foreign assistance. 8 August 23. " Partissi di Londra il Commendone appunto il giorno appresso al supplizio del Duca di Nortumbria." Ibid. 32. Graziani says, that Commendone stayed to see the execution of Northumberland by Mary's particular desire,. The dexterous Italian had accomplished his object two days before thai ad of justice, ami he was impatient to be gone, Viede Commendone, i. 69. 1553.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 65 tirement upon the lake Garda', whence he proceeded with all haste to Rome u. Julius heard an account of his mission with tears of joy, and immediately summoned the resident cardinals to a consultation. When, however, their eminences met, two sources of embarrassment presented themselves. Mary had committed herself to Commendone and the Pope under a solemn pledge of secresy, and Dandino had informed his agent, while at Brussels, that the Em- peror was anxious to prevent Pole from assuming the legatine functions with precipitancy. For the purpose, accordingly, of keeping faith with the Queen, Julius agreed to lay her pledge before the cardinals merely as a fact of which he was assured by a trusty messenger, who had heard it from persons in Mary's confidence. This statement, though confirmed by Commendone in person, was not satisfactory to the Consistory : nor did it seem reasonable, if such an account were true, that Pole should delay his journey to England. Nothing, therefore, was concluded, and the cardinals agreed to meet again at the end of a week. They then determined v to let matters rest until England should be less agitated by the violence of party, and until the Queen could fulfil her intentions without exposing herself to the hazard of dethronement w. In the mean time it was resolved to nominate Pole legate to the courts of Austria and t September 7. Vie de Commendone. u He reached Rome on the 11th of September. Pallavicino, ii. 33. September 18. Ibid. 34. „ Ibid. VOL, IV. F 66 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1553. France, in the places of the Cardinals Dandino and Capodiferro, who had been despatched from Rome, in the preceding April, with the view of negociating a peace between Charles and Henry x. Shortly after the departure of his first messenger, Penning, Pole sent into England his secretary Fior- dibello y, with a letter formally congratulating Mary upon her accession, and announcing his own appoint- ment to the English legation. This person was also charged to counteract, if possible, any objections which the Emperor might urge against his master's immediate assumption of the legatine authority. He was to represent, that England had shewn her- self favourable to the Catholic religion, in raising so readily to the throne a queen who professed it, and that, when parliament should assemble, it would be most injurious to let the session pass without some protest on the part of the apostolic see against the schism 2. If, therefore, it were thought unde- sirable that the Cardinal should pass over into his native land immediately, Fiordibello was to reason, that he ought at least to be within so short a dis- tance as to allow the parliament easily to commu- nicate with him. In the course of a week a, Pole x Pallavicino, ii. 25. v August 21. Ibid. 32. 1 Dovendosi ben tosto raunare un parliamento de tie ordini del regno, nel qua] parliamento in primo luogo, ciascuno che si stimi aggravato dal preceduto governo, espon sue ragioni, sarebije stato di gravissimo pregiudicio, che niund per iiomc della Sede Apostoliea parlassc contra lo scisina." Ibid. a August 28. Ibid. 1553.] UNDER QUEEN MAKV. 67 despatched to Mary, by the hands of Michael Throck- morton, a letter urging the same arguments, and the bearer undertook to support them verbally. The Cardinal's impatience was soon afterwards inflamed by the visit of Commendone, and when that able Venetian left Maguzzano, he took from him a letter to the Pope, representing the necessity of expe- dition b. But Julius quickly came to a different con- clusion ; and accordingly, September had nearly worn away before the desired packet reached the shores of Garda. That Pole was far from fully satis- fied with his new instructions is scarcely doubtful. However he undertook the mission to Charles and Henry, and set off without delay c. Being arrived at Trent, he received, on the first of October, a letter from Penning, who had succeeded in obtain- ing a private audience of the Queen. Mary ex- pressed to him a great anxiety to see Pole again in England, but she said that her apprehensions of heretical hostility had not subsided, that she could not pay obedience to the Roman see without par- liamentary authority, nor hold a parliament before her coronation. She therefore intreated the Cardinal to dispense with a public avowal of her sentiments towards Rome, until she should be legally empow- ered to make it. She added, that she would not bear the schismatical title of Head of the English Church, even if she could thereby gain three other kingdoms d. On the following day e, Pole addressed b Vie de Commendone. c Pallavicino, ii. 34, d Ibid. 35. e October 2. F 2 68 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1553. to his royal cousin a very long letter in English. In this he represented that it was her duty to pro- ceed with spirit in replacing England under the pon- tifical authority ; and that the opponents of such a measure would be found far less numerous than might be supposed : the clergy having been pillaged since their defection from Rome ; the people, in lieu of paying a trifling taxf, having been grievously oppressed ; and the nobility, though averse from the papal supremacy, as having been enriched by its abolition, being very much dependent upon the court. In conclusion, he besought the Queen to lay aside her apprehensions, and to use her endea- vours to allay those of the Emperor. Having writ- ten this letter, and sent off despatches to the French and Imperial courts, announcing his mission to them, the Cardinal proceeded. At Dillingen, in the bishopric of Augsburg, he found it necessary to wait awhile for passports from the Duke of Wurtem- berg, and some other princes. There he met Pen- ning, charged with a letter to him from Mary, conceived in very kind and religious terms, but pro- bably brief and cautious ; as he was referred to the bearer for more complete information. From that individual he learnt, that the Queen wished him to conduct himself at Brussels in a very guarded man- ner, and that she would communicate with him through Granville, Bishop of Arras g. In his way homewards Dandino saw Pole, and ■ 1 Peter-pence. PallaVicino nt supra 1553.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 09 informed him that he must expect his mission to prove any thing rather than agreeable at the Impe- rial court. This intelligence was quickly confirmed by Fiordibello, who had been sent to Brussels with despatches. f* It is extraordinary/' said Granville to that person, with a most unpromising air of sur- prise h, " that the Pope should not have given a hint of this embassy to his Imperial Majesty. What hope is there that the interference of any single Legate will effect the pacification for which the two Cardinals just recalled have so long vainly laboured ? This mission is a mere blind to conceal your master's English legation ; upon the duties of which, I cer- tainly know that the Queen anxiously desires him not to enter at present ; being persuaded that an immediate exercise of his powers as an agent of the Roman see would injure, most probably, both her own interests, and those of her people '." To these intimations Pole was deaf, and having received his passports from the Duke of Wurtemberg, he pro- ceeded on his journey. But he had not advanced many leagues, before Don John Mendoza met him with a letter from the Emperor, and at the same time apprised him, that for most important reasons, which his imperial Majesty had communicated to the Pope, it was judged inexpedient to receive him at Brussels. He, therefore, begged him either to stay where he was, or at some other place upon the road. h Fiordibello " tosto che ne die parte al Vescovo d'Arras, il vide far atto d'una spiacevole maraviglia." Pallavicino, ii. 35. 1 Ibid. 70 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1553. Mendoza strove to allay Pole's irritation under this mortifying interruption of his plans, by dwelling upon the unsettled state of England, and upon the invidiousness of his proceeding to the imperial court in the first instance, when the mission equally con- cerned the King of France. Such a preference, he said, would look as if it were thought that the chief impediments to a pacification lay on the side of Aus- tria. Observations were also made, as if inciden- tally, upon the prudence of allowing the question of Mary's marriage to be decided first among the vari- ous objects which engaged her attention. In dis- coursing upon this matter, Mendoza expressed him- self anxious that her Majesty should fix her choice upon a foreigner, as a means of preventing those heats and jealousies which would be likely to flow from a preference for one of her own subjects. Pole admitted the justice of much that was urged, but he could not conceal his chagrin at being thus arrested, when he seemed upon the point of realiz- ing all his hopes. " This affair," he said, " is an indignity to the Apostolic see. And I think my- self scarcely justified, having received a commission from his Holiness, in stopping at the desire of an- other prince. The Emperor had better have spoken plainly, and expressed an objection to me personally, not to a pontifical legation generally." Mendoza, after assurances that Charles was actuated by no personal objections against him, recommended him to travel onwards at his leisure as far as Liege, and there to stop. Pole, however, thought that lie .should thus aggravate the indignity which he had 1553.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 71 encountered, and the difficulty of accomplishing his designs. It seemed like knocking at the very door of the Emperor's court without any reasonable hope of obtaining admittance, and like placing himself in a cage from which he might find it impossible to pass over into England k. He, therefore, deter- mined upon returning to Dillingen. There he soon had the mortification to receive a letter from the papal court1, informing him that Charles had as- signed to the Pontiff sufficient reasons why he should suspend for a time, the exercise of his powers ; and in consequence, enjoining him to remain where he was, until his imperial Majesty should approve of his removal. In France, the Cardinal's messenger obtained a satisfactory answer, Henry being willing to receive his patron. But Charles, apprehensive, it is thought, that if Pole reached Paris, he would quickly pass over into England, intimated his inten- tion to decline the papal mediation altogether, if it should first be attempted with his rival. In vain did the arrested legate write very long and animated letters to the Emperor, the Pope, and the Queen. All these great personages remained obstinately deaf to his remonstrances until arrangements had been made for marrying Mary to the Prince of Spain. Then Pole received a letter from Charles inviting him to Brussels m, and he soon afterwards k Pallavicino, ii. 36. 1 Dated October 28. Ibid. M Dated December 22. Ibid. 37. 72 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1553. had the satisfaction of entering that capital, in a style corresponding with his expectations n. The Emperor's principal object in impeding Pole was undoubtedly to conclude a matrimonial treaty between Mary and his own son. Philip was born at Valladolid, on the 21st of May, in the year 1527. Before he had completed the half of his seventeenth year, he was married to the Infanta Mary, daughter of John III. King of Portugal, and of Catharine, his father's sister. Mary was then just sixteen, and she lived with her youthful husband until the sum- mer following her marriage was on the wane. She then died, leaving a son behind her, named Charles °, after his grandfather ; who proving eventually weak, worthless, and unmanageable, was privately de- stroyed by his father's orders, and has, under the designation of Don Carlos, furnished many pages to* the lovers of mystery and romance. Since the death of his Portugueze bride Philip had lived a widower. He was now in his twenty-seventh year. His cousin, Mary of England, was fast approaching to the full age of thirty-nine p. Philip, however, fully alive to the soundness of that matrimonial policy to which his family was mainly indebted for its existing splendour q, made no great objection to 51 Pallavicino. ° Felipe Segundo Rey de Espana, por Luis de Cabrera. Ma- drid, 1619. p. 8. p Mary was born on the 8th of February, in the year 1515. q The Emperor Maximilian of Austria married in the year 1477, Mary, daughter and heiress of Charles the Bold, Duke of 1553.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 73 a match with the Queen of England : an object which engrossed his father's cares immediately after Mary's accession. It is believed that her Majesty, upon her first arrival in London, had some thoughts of marrying Courtenay, Earl of Devonshire, one of the distinguished persons whom she found impri- soned in the Tower, a young man of handsome per- son and of royal blood, being descended maternally from King Edward IV. But Courtenay soon fell into habits of low dissipation, and he seems, besides, to have preferred the Lady Elizabeth'. That Pole Burgundy, who perished in battle at the beginning of that year. This princess died in 1482, from the effects of a fall received in hunting, leaving two children, Philip and Margaret. The elder of these, surnamed the handsome, who succeeded to the bulk of the territories ruled by his maternal ancestors, obtained for his posterity the dominion of Spain, by a marriage, in 1496, with Joan, daughter and heiress of Ferdinand, King of Aragon, and Isabella, Queen of Castile. This rapid rise of the house of Austria to the summit of princely splendour, by means of mar- riage, gave birth to the following epigram : " Bella gerant alii, tu felix Austria nube, Nam quse Mars aliis, dat tibi regna Venus." Coxe's House of Austria, i. 353. ii. 89. PfefFel, ii. 61. r " There goes a story that the young Earl petitioning her (Mary) for leave to travel, she advised him to marry and stay at home, assuring him that no lady in the land, how high soever, would refuse to accept him for a husband. By which words, though she pointed out herself as plainly as might stand with the modesty or majesty of a maiden queen, yet the young gen- tleman, not daring to look so high as a crown, or being better affected to the person of the Princess Elizabeth, desired the Queen to give him leave to marry her sister, which gave the Queen so 74- HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1553. was considered by many persons an eligible husband for Mary admits of no question, and there is very good reason for believing that she herself was in- clined at one time to bestow her hand upon him3. It is positively stated that she had even gone so far as to ask Commendone whether the Cardinal, having only taken deacon's orders, might not obtain a pon- tifical dispensation enabling him to marry, should the public good require it1. Pole himself appears to have entertained the hope of such a marriage at an early period of his life, and never to have aban- doned it until the princess was affianced to another. She had been educated in his mother's family, and therefore, although fifteen years her senior, it is not unlikely that he might have fixed his affections upon her, and that she might have grown up with a strong partiality for him. To the hope of accomplishing eventually this cherished object have been attributed, much displeasure, that she looked with an evil eye upon both of them for ever after." Heylin, Hist. Ref. 201. a " II estoit bien informe qu'il y avoit des gens dans Londres, qui vouloient que la Reine epousast lc Cardinal Polus. On disoit que la Reine mesme n'avoit pas fort rejette cette proposition, et qu'elle avoit demande a Commendon, si le Pope pouvoit dis- penser un cardinal diacre pour le marriage." Graziani, i. 71. * " Essendo stati proposti alia Reina varij mariti del paese, fra quelli erasi nominato anche il Polo, si come uniforme di re- ligione, regio di sangue, eminente di vertu. Ne la Reina sera astcnuta di fame motto alio stesso Commendone, addimandolo s'egli credea che'l Pontefice fosse per dispensare col Polo, essendo cgli non ancora sacerdotc, ma diacono, e trbvandosi esempij di tali dispensazioni per qualchc gran bcncficio publico." Pallavi- cino, ii. 33. 4 1553.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 75 with great probability, much both of the good and of the ill which marked his character. It has been doubted whether his wishes to decline the Cardinalate and the Papacy, flowed so much from modesty, as from a desire to remain at liberty for accepting the Lady Mary's hand. Nor has it been thought unlikely that his unbecoming appearances as a political agi- tator u and a party-libeller v are not so much attri- butable to fanaticism, as to rage and disappointment ; the princess, by whose means he hoped to share a throne, being, when he thus disgraced himself, for- mally cut off from the prospect of succession w. u See Hist. Ref. under King Henry VIII. ii. 229. 337. ¥ Ibid. 185. w Archbishop Parker (522) says that, according to many people, Catharine of Aragon wished her daughter Mary to marry one of the Lady Salisbury's sons, with the view of strengthening her claims to the throne, in case her father should die without male offspring. Now Reginald was the Countess's youngest son, therefore, to say nothing of any personal recommendations that he might possess, he was the member of his family most suited for a match with his royal cousin. To the hope of contracting this splendid alliance, the Archbishop attributes Pole's delay in taking priest's orders. All this is founded avowedly upon ru- mours and conjectures alone. But they were the rumours and conjectures of contemporaries, and they are rendered highly probable by the fact that Pole, though fifty-three years of age at the time of Mary's accession, was actually talked of for her husband, and even, as there is good reason to believe, by her- self. If this, however, be the real solution of Pole's conduct, it is no small disparagement to his character. It is bad enough to look upon him as an ill-judging fanatic, who hesitated at nothing which he thought likely to serve his party, but the case is much worse if he took so much pains to disgrace himself, because his eye was ever fixed upon a throne. 76 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1553. Besides his anxiety to conclude the matrimonial treaty before Pole reached England, Charles desired to delay his arrival there upon another account. The policy of Austria demanded that Mary should be main- tained upon the throne, if possible, as a counterpoise to the power of France. But that princess, herself, in conversation with Commendone, had described her situation as any thing rather than secure. " I must wait," she said, " until my people's feelings towards the apostolical see are somewhat mollified, or until I am more thoroughly settled on the throne. At present, the very name of Rome is mortally hated here. My sister Elizabeth, accordingly, as iden- tified with the popular religious party, is dear to the public, and furnishes a never-failing theme of conversation"." Charles was no stranger to the state of parties in England, and he, therefore, natu- rally dreaded the premature interference of a papal legate ; especially of one whose discretion he must have doubted, and whose principles even he, pro- bably, thought open to suspicion. It might seem, indeed, that the Emperor had hinted to the Pope his distrust of Pole. For Archbishop Mozzarelli, who, in the name of his Holiness, congratulated Charles upon the conclusion of a matrimonial treaty between Philip and Mary, was ordered to bear testi- x " S'aspcttasse che i popoli fossero 6 piu mollificati verso la sede apostolica, il cui nome odiavano a morte, 6 pin domati dalla Ileina a cui rendevano un ossequio quasi spontaneo cd imprcstato ; havendo sempre in bocca ed in cuore lasorclla Elisabctta, quanto minore d'eta, altrettanto maggiore di spirito, ed uniformc ad essi Delia religione." Pallavieino, ii. 32. 1553.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 77 mony to the integrity of Pole, and to represent him as a man whose only objects had ever been to obey the Pope, and to benefit religion y. Bishop Gardi- ner, also, was upon the alert to prevent Pole from suddenly coming home. His object in this has been considered as partly personal, and it probably was so. The Bishop of Winchester, like all worldly men, was greedy of wealth, power, and distinction. The see of Canterbury might be looked upon as vacant, and it is far from unlikely that Gardiner would gladly have accepted it. He was already Chancellor, and should he be able to preserve his influence with the Queen, he might reasonably calculate upon re- taining that office, and of adding to it some of the honours dispensed by the court of Rome. He might thus attain a condition of splendour resembling that of Wolsey, his patron in early life. Pole, however, was likely to cross his ambitious views. The Car- dinal might be expected to obtain the see of Can- terbury, if it should be vacant on his arrival. He could scarcely fail of acquiring a great influence over Mary, both from his early connexion with her, and from his uniform adherence to the papacy. Gar- diner, therefore, was naturally anxious that his own power should be established, and his own objects attained before the return of Pole. He had also reasons of state for desiring to keep the Cardinal y " Al nuovo arcivescovo fu dunque imposto, che si congratulasse con Cesare del matrimonio conchiuso, e che dipoi I'assicurasse intorno al integrita del Cardinal Polo ; la cui virtu esser tale, che niuno interesse mondano l'harebbe travolto dalle commessioni del papa e dal bene della religione." Pallavicino, ii. 37. 78 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1553. some time longer abroad. That distinguished churchman had forfeited the good opinion of his countrymen by his treasons and libels. A salutary abhorrence of the Roman see had taken firm pos- session of the public mind. The evils arising from that source were fresh in the recollections of men, and able Englishmen of all parties had laboured suc- cessfully to expose the shallowness of those pretences upon which the papal usurpation is founded. Gardi- ner, accordingly, dreaded a premature attempt to place England once more under the yoke of Rome. But he had no reason to confide in the discretion of Pole, and he did not doubt that personal commu- nication would soon give him a powerful influence over the Queen's mind. The Bishop of Winchester, therefore, apprehended that, under existing circum- stances, Pole's arrival would occasion a general alarm, and thus ruin the cause which he was labour- ing to advance z. The first of October was devoted to the splendid pageantry of Mary's coronation. As usual, the cere- mony was performed in the abbey-church of West- minster, and although the celebration of mass was illegal, her Majesty either chose to exercise her dis- cretion as head of the national church, or to set law at defiance upon this occasion, for that service was z Noailles, the French ambassador, says of Pole, " if once he come hither, he will have the first place in the Queen's confi- dence, but little to the pleasure of the Chancellor, of several of the nobility, and of the people, who will he yeryiflnwflliitg to obey such a minister of the Pope." Neve's Animadv. upon Phillips, 475. 1553.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 79 used 8. Bishop Gardiner crowned his royal mistress, being assisted by ten other bishops. In order that the day might gratify her subjects as well as herself, Mary now remitted the payment of the subsidy voted in the last Parliament b. She also granted a gene- ral pardon. But from the benefit of this were ex- cluded all the prisoners in the Tower, the Fleet, and sixty-two unfortunates besides. Grafton and Whit- church, the publishers of the Bible in English, were among the persons expressly excepted from this act of royal clemency c. That no clemency was in reserve for those who should refuse to relinquish a scriptural faith, was now indeed thoroughly understood; and, accordingly, great numbers of conscientious Englishmen were in- tent upon escaping to the continent. Facilities for this emigration were afforded by the removal of the foreign Protestants. Early in September, a Lasco's congregation, after being dispossessed of its privi- leges, and of the church appropriated for its public worship, was compelled to quit the island. Two Spanish vessels happened to be in the river, and on board of them one hundred and seventy-five of these refugees embarked. They steered for Denmark, but having adopted the Helvetian confession, they were not allowed to settle in that country. Nor was it until the end of March, that, after much wandering, and many difficulties, they found a home in Fries- a Parker, 509. b Burnet, Hist. Ref. ii. 393. c Foxe, 1332. 80 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1553. land. Many French Protestants also withdrew from England about the same time ; and orders were sent, on the 16th of September, to the mayors of Rye and Dover, to place no impediments in the way of their embarkation. To these orders many conscientious Englishmen were indebted for an escape from do- mestic intolerance. The foreigners, whose egress was thus gladly permitted, took with them, under the name of servants, no small number of their Eng- lish friends. When, however, the Queen's ministers heard that their grasp was thus in several instances eluded, orders were sent down to the coast, that for the future none should be suffered to embark as Frenchmen, who were not furnished with passports from the French ambassador. In number, the Eng- lish Christians who were happily enabled about this time to seek that liberty of conscience abroad, which their native land refused them, did not fall short of eight hundred d. Among these pious exiles were several individuals highly distinguished for their learning and abilities e. The alarm of such Englishmen as opposed the cor- ruptions of Rome, was indeed inevitable, from the whole conduct of the government ever since it had d Heylin, Hist. Ref. 196. Burnet, Hist. Ref. ii. 390. e The Bishops Poynet, Barlow, Scory, Coverdale, and Bale, ultimately effected their escape; as did the Deans Cox, Haddon, Horn, Turner, and Sampson. Of eminent churchmen then less dignified, there were, in the course of time, among the refugees, Aylmer, Grindal, Sandys, Jewell, Pilkington, Nowell, and many others little inferior in talent, probably, to these. Strype, Mem. Cranm. 449. 1553.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 81 acquired even an appearance of stability. So great was the severity and partiality with which affairs were conducted, that Mary was believed to have formed the most tyrannical determinations. It was re- ported that she had spoken of herself as " a virgin sent from God to ride and tame the people of Eng- land f." In many minds the prospect of miseries in f Strype, Mem. Cranm. 442. A parade of continence being one of the pretences by which Romanism obtains a hold upon ignorant and fanatical minds, much stress was laid upon it at this time. The following is a compliment paid, through this channel, to the Queen. " Considering farther the earnest affection which your Grace beareth towards the furtherance of true religion, the reformation of abuses touching the same, and the maintenance of virtue ; and again, that among other virtues, there is none so re- quisite for any that taketh upon him the regiment of Christ's people, as cleanness of heart, and chastity of body, wherein your Grace excelleth : I have addressed this simple piece oficork unto your Highness, and dedicated it unto your Grace's protection, for so much as the whole process of your life doth plainly repel the brutish opinion which is now commonly holden among those men, that no wight can live chaste, whereas they, notwithstand- ing, and heresy self granteth us that your Highness hath ever continued a virgin. And if, according to the saying of one of the seven wise men, that woman is to be counted chaste, de qua vientiri fama veretur, how high praiseworthy is your Grace, whom, not fame only, but also malice itself, was ever ashamed to belie in this behalf, as in the which she could never find any thing worthy reproach. Wherefore, as I said, I knew not to whom I might so conveniently dedicate this my book containing the de- fence of virginity, as to so worthy a virgin." (A Traictise declar- ing and plainly proving, that the pretensed marriage of priests and professed persons is no marriage : by T. Martin, Doctor of the Civil Laws, Lond. May, 1554.) At the time when these compliments were addressed to her Majesty, she was upon the eve of marriage with Philip. VOL. IV. G 82 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1553. reversion completely answered the end for which a kind Providence afflicts mankind. Churches in which ministers officiated according to law, were attended by large and devout congregations, which listened to the prayers, and received the holy Com- munion, with more seriousness than heretofore. This disposition of some clergymen to obey the law, and of many among the people to reap the benefit of a service which they could understand, gave offence at court. Agents accordingly went round the Lon- don churches, and endeavoured to disturb in their ministrations any clergymen whom they found offici- ating in the manner prescribed by act of Parliament. Such individuals were summoned, under one pre- tence or other, before the Chancellor Gardiner, and unless they shewed a disposition to use the illegal rites of Popery, they were committed to prison ". On the 5th of October the great council of the nation assembled at Westminster. Its first business g Strype, Mem. Cranm. 446. Sanders affects to bewail the precipitancy with which Romish bigots, or interested worldlings of the clerical order, resumed the papal service. All priests ought, he says, before they took this course, to have considered by whom and in what manner they were ordained, and whether they were obnoxious to any ecclesiastical censures. To the man- ner in which these considerations were overlooked, he thinks may probably be attributed two judicial visitations of Providence, as he considers them, namely, the early loss of Queen Mary, and the substitution of a religion, having Scripture for its warrant, for the creed, which she took upon trust from Homo. " Coeterum ex hac, fortasse, in clero, maxime illius tctnporis supina ac irre- ligiosa negligentia, tarn cito, Deo vindicc, qui sancta non nisi sancte tractari voluit, cum pientissima Principe, etiam hoc reli- gionis summum bonum amisiinus." De Schism. '240. 1553.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 83 was to infringe existing laws ; for Mary, being de- termined to force her own religion upon the people, had ordered, that a mass of the Holy Ghost should precede the despatch of public business ; as had been usual at the time when such a service could be per- formed without the violation of any law. The abbey-church was again the scene of this illegal act, and the Queen attended it in all the pomp of royalty. One immediate effect of this ceremony was the ex- clusion from his seat of the only prelate likely to protest against the yoke of papal Rome. On the day preceding that in which Parliament met, Hol- gate, Archbishop of York, was committed to the Tower, " for divers his offences h ;" a sweeping kind of censure, which leaves the prelate's particular de- linquencies open to conjecture. Nor is it obvious what offences could be laid to his charge, unless it had appeared that he had favoured the lady Jane. He was, besides, married, and he professed the esta- blished religion, instead of the Queen's. By this opportune imprisonment, only the Bishops Taylor and Harley remained among their order to plead in Parliament the cause of the Reformation. Of these prelates, the latter was not allowed to take his seat ; because, using the discretion allowed to him by the laws of God, of the Catholic Church, and of his h Proceedings of Privy Council, 53. Abp. Holgate was re- leased after the imprisonment of something more than a year, together with others " concerned in the lady Jane's or Wyat's business." His political offences, however, appear to have been but slight, for he was fined only twenty-three marks. One of those released with him was fined 200/. and another 300/. G 2 84 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1553. country, he had contracted marriage. Taylor at- tended the opening of Parliament ; but not conceiv- ing himself justified, as a Christian man and minis- ter, in offering religious adoration to any other than the mighty God, he turned a deaf ear to the tinkling bell, and knelt not before the wafer-cake uplifted at the mass of the Holy Ghost. This act of obedience to holy Scripture, and to the laws of his native coun- try, was deemed inexcusable, and he was unceremo- niously thrust out of his place l. Considerable pains had been taken to muster such a House of Commons as might prove agreeable to the court, letters being sent down into different parts of the country naming individuals who were to be returned. In some instances this unconstitu- tional interference on the part of the government was spurned by the electors. Members, however, chosen in such a spirit of independence were not al- lowed to sit ; others being illegally substituted for themk. Measures, thus arbitrary, were not un- usual in that age. Edward had interfered with his people in their exercise of the elective fran- chise, and Elizabeth subsequently did the same. But it must be owned that a Lower House assem- bled in such a manner can hardly be thought fairly to represent the sense of the nation. After all, it was found, at this time, that the Commons were not sufficiently pliant. An act was passed to restore the 1 Collier, ii. 348 : chiefly from Deal, clerk of the council under Queen Elizabeth. k Strype, Mem. Cranm.457« Burnet, Hist. Ref.ii. 394i 1553.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 85 law of treason to the state in which it was left by King Edward III. and the law of felony to the state in which it stood at the accession of King Henry VIII. From the benefit, however, of this merciful statute, all were excepted who had been imprisoned, or even restrained, upon charges of treason, petty treason, or. misprision of treason, before the last day of the prece- ding September K Two private bills also passed : one, for repealing the attainder of the late Marquess of Exeter's widow, the other, for rendering a similar service to her son, the Earl of Devonshire m. It was intended to follow these popular measures by an act repealing at one blow, all the statutes bearing upon religion which had been enacted since the commence- ment of King Henry's disputes with Rome. This would at once have asserted the Queen's legitimacy, and have given to Popery a legal establishment in 1 " That none of those multitudes of King Edward's friends, or of the Lady Jane's well-willers, or professors of the Gospel, that were already taken up and crowded in gaols, should receive benefit by this wonderful act of clemency ; it was provided, that nothing in that act should in any wise extend to give any manner of benefit, advantage, or commodity to any person, or persons being the last day of September arrested or imprisoned for trea- son, or to any person heretofore being indicted of treason, petty treason, &c. before the last day of September ; or if they were not actually taken up, yet if they were so much as commanded to keep his or their house, or houses, or other men's houses, or otherwise excepted out of the Queen's mbst gracious pardon, given the day of her coronation, &c. all these should suffer such pains of death, losses, forfeitures of lands and goods, as in cases of treason." Strype, Eccl. Mem. iii. 58. m Burnet, Hist. Ref. ii. 395. 86 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1553. the country. By the Lords this measure of indis- criminate abrogation was favourably received. But it excited a violent clamour out of doors, and the ministry became apprehensive that the bill would be lost in the Lower House. It was generally viewed as an insidious attempt to revive the papal power over England, an usurpation almost universally odi- ous n. Alarmed by the rising spirit of opposition, the Queen unexpectedly came down to the House, on the 21st of October, gave the royal assent to n " Adeo enim delegatio tua publica est suspecta, et nostris subditis odiosa, ut matiirior accessus, licet desideratissimus, plus praejudieii, quam auxilii fuerit allaturus. Fidele testimonium nobis praestat Comitiorum indictorum series et progressus ; in quibus plus difficultatis fit circa auctoritatem sedis Apostolicae, quam circa verae religionis cultum : adeo falsis suggestionibus sunt alienati subditorum animi a Pontijice." (Maria Polo, Ep. iv. 119.) Noailles appears from the following passage to have thought that the Queen's affection, and the nation's hatred for Popery, would infallibly cause a rebellion. " Et de moy, je fais compte que bientost apres elle y voudra entendre comme a sa principale affection, et qui ne se conduira aisement sans quelque desordrc,j)Our la ?nauvaise inclination que je vois en cestc nation a se vouloir reduire a une taut louable volontc de leur Roync, ne declairant rien moins sinon qxCil movrra plus de vingt mil hommes avant que de changer leur nouvellc institution. ." (M. de Noailles a M. le Connestable : 13. Aout, 1553. Ambass. ii. 1 1 0.) This passage follows that which relates the particulars of the tumult caused by the celebration of mass at St. Bartholo- mew's, soon after Mary's accession. It places in a most satis- factory point of view the success which had flowed from the evangelical labours of England's Reformers, And it accounts for the vindictive tyranny, and base intrigues to which Mary's go- vernment unremittinalv resorted. 1553.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 87 the three bills which had been passed, and prorogued the Parliament for three days. When the legislators met again, a greater degree of caution was observed in proposing ecclesiastical subjects to their consideration. A bill was intro- duced confirming the marriage between the Queen's parents, and it passed without any difficulty : the mention of a papal dispensation being avoided in it. Greatly to the disgrace of such as drew this bill, or of those who directed them ; the preamble contains the following passage : " That Thomas Cranmer did most ungodly, and against law, judge the divorce upon his own unadvised understanding of the scrip- tures, and upon the testimonies of the universities, and some bare and most untrue conjectures ." Corruption is charged upon such universities as ap- proved the divorce. Henry's marriage with Catha- rine is said to have been contracted under the advice of able and virtuous men, and those evils which had befallen England since the rupture of his connexion with her are represented as judicial visitations sent by Providence on that account. Gardiner, the Chancellor, it is to be hoped, approved not the wording of this bill. It is very little to his honour that he did not exert himself to prevent it from pass- ing as it stands. He had been a zealous agent in forwarding the divorce before Cranmer, probably, was known even by name to King Henry, his acti- vity in the cause never ceased until his patron was 0 Strype, Mem. Cranm. 458. 88 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1553. gratified, and he then published a book in vindica- tion of the courses that had been adopted. By another act, all King Edward's laws relating to religion were repealed. In the Upper House this measure appears to have been received with the most obsequious apathy. But among the Commons, there were those who thought that an English liturgy, strictly conformable to scripture and to ecclesiastical antiquity, was better suited to the spiritual wants of themselves and their constituents, than a Latin ser- vice, patched with fictions and absurdities which gradually sprang up during the very worst ages of the Christian asra. Those who held this opinion made a vigorous opposition, of six days' continu- ance, to such as advocated the propriety of using at church a language which the people do not under- stand, and of mixing up in the manual of a Chris- tian's prayers various reveries, contemptible every where, and most objectionable in a book of devotion. At last, however, the party prevailed which in spiri- tual things preferred the guidance of the dark ages to that of Holy Scripture. It was enacted, accord- ingly, that after the 20th day of December next ensuing, no other service should be allowed than that in use at the death of King Henry . The Romanists, having thus obtained the legal re-instatement of their religious rites, were not for- getful of the conduct adopted by some among the grosser elements of their party during the season ' Burnet, Ilibt. Ref. ii. 399. 1553.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 89 of its depression q ; and they now naturally feared reprisals. An act, accordingly, was passed, inflict- ing an imprisonment of three months upon such as should disturb clergymen in using the Romish ser- vice, or should molest them on account of any sermon, or should break altars, consecrated wafers, or crucifixes. Not contented with this measure of precaution, the dominant party persuaded the House of Commons to pass a bill by which an attendance at church was in future to be made compulsory. But the Lords appear to have been more tolerant, for they rejected the bill. Both Houses, however, concurred in reviving, even with new clauses render- ing it more severe, a statute extorted from King Edward's government by an alarming summer of in- surrection r. It was pronounced felony in all persons met together for the purpose of making innovations in religion, if they should refuse to disperse, having been required to do so by any one properly autho- rised for such purpose. The provisions of this act were also extended to those who might assemble for objects unconnected with religion s. Thus the mer- ciful intentions displayed by the legislature in the act of repeal which graced its first session were ren- dered in a great measure nugatory. It now ap- peared that the government was so far from an inclination to mitigate the rigour of ancient statutes, that it even sought to arm itself with powers un- " See Hist. Ref. under King Edward VI. 700. * Ibid. 438, 517. 5 Burnet, Hist. Ref. ii. 399. 90 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1553. known till very lately, and under ordinary circum- stances both indefensible and unnecessary. No tumult had, however, arisen to justify such a severe measure of precaution. This anxiety, therefore, apparently so superfluous, to stifle opposition in the bud, looks as if a resolution had been taken to pur- sue a particular line of policy whatever might be the feelings of the nation. In the House of Commons an animated debate was excited by a motion to repeal the act which legalised the Marquess of Northampton's divorce \ The object of those who sought this repeal was evidently to support the papal doctrine which holds the marriage tie to be indissoluble. But the Com- mons were not yet prepared to go all lengths with the advocates of such opinions. In the bill, accord- ingly, which passed, nothing is inserted condemna- tory of Northampton's divorce as an act sinful in itself. It is merely set forth that in the particular instance under consideration, untrue surmises and private influence had led to a decision likely to injure public morals by undermining the stability of the conjugal state u. During this session of Parliament x an act of at- tainder was passed against the persons already con- * Hist. Ref. under King Edward VI. 219. u Burnet, Hist. Ref. ii. 400. x The Parliament was dissolved on the 6th of December. In the writs of summons the Queen was styled Supreme Head of the Church of England. Note to the translation of God- win's Annals in Rennet's Hist. Engl. ii. 337. Burnet, Hist. Ref. ii. 394. 1553.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 91 demned for treason, and also against the Lady Jane, her husband, the Lord Ambrose Dudley, and Archbishop Cranmer. The four individuals last named were arraigned in Guildhall, on the 13th of November, when they pleaded guilty. By thus ex- hibiting Cranmer to the world as a malefactor, his feelings were deeply wounded, and he appealed to his judges for their testimony as to the reluctance with which he had consented to exclude the Queen. He had acted, he said, in that unhappy business, under the advice of eminent lawyers, against his own conviction, and he therefore expressed an earn- est hope that he might obtain the royal mercy y. This boon could, indeed, scarcely be denied with any shew of decency, for Mary knew herself to be under no small obligations to Cranmer. Probably, however, she never even intended that he should suffer as a traitor ; and her object in putting him upon his trial for a political offence might arise from a determination to attaint him, and thus to take at once the archiepiscopal jurisdiction out of his hands 2. This jurisdiction was in fact exercised shortly after y Burnet, Hist. Ref. ii. 402. Godwin, Anna). 112. r It has been generally believed, that Mary prosecuted Cran- mer because she longed to take vengeance upon the judge who annulled her mother's marriage, and to her, in consequence, has been usually applied the passage in which Virgil ascribes a similar feeling in Juno. ■ " Manet alta mente repostum Judicium." JEn. i. 30. 92 HISTORY OB' THE REFORMATION [1553. his attainder, by the dean and chapter of Canter- bury, as is usual during a vacancy of the see \ Cranmer, being returned to his prison, became anxious to make his peace with the Queen. Few men have lived so unhappily, or so virtuously that they can look upon imminent death with perfect in- difference. It may, therefore, be supposed, without any derogation to his character, that the Archbi- shop, in supplicating for mercy, might partly be actuated by a wish for longer life. He naturally shrank also from the disgrace of perishing as a civil delinquent, and he was anxious, besides, to furnish Mary with some explanations which he had good reason to believe she was little likely to hear from her actual advisers. He had been her father's con- fidential friend during many years, and he had like- wise been the principal agent in the religious affairs of King Edward's reign. He was, therefore, qua- lified, beyond any one then in the royal councils, to supply correct information as to recent ecclesias- tical arrangements. He was also versed in theology far more completely than any person about the Queen. Hence he might reasonably calculate upon 3 " On the 10th of December following the dean and chapter of Canterbury gave out commissions to several persons to exer- cise archiepiscopal jurisdiction in their names, and by their authority." In such commissions it is stated that the sec was vacant, Thomas Cranmer, the last Archbishop thereof, having been convicted of high treason, and attainted!. Collier, ii. 354. II aimer, 128. 1553.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 93 lightening her prejudices and misconceptions, if she would only permit him to communicate with her. He wrote, accordingly, both to Mary and to the council b, in the hope of obtaining his pardon, and b Strype, Mem. Cranm. 459. Cranmer's letter to the Queen is subjoined on account of its historical importance. " Most lamentably mourning and moaning himself unto your Highness, Thomas Cranmer, although unworthy either to write or to speak unto your Highness, yet having no person that I know to be a mediator for me, and knowing your pitiful ears ready to hear all pitiful complaints, and seeing ^o many to have felt your abundant clemency in like case, am now constrained most lamentably, and with most penitent and sorrowful heart to ask mercy and pardon for my most heinous folly and offence in consenting and following the testament and last will of our late Sovereign Lord K. Edward VI. your Grace's brother. Which will, God he knoweth, I never liked, nor any thing grieved me so much that your Grace s brother did. And if by any means it had been in me to have letted the making of that will, I would have done it. And what I said therein, as well to the council, as to himself, divers of your Majesty's council can report : but none so well as the Marquess of Northampton, and the L. Darcy, then Lord Chamberlain to the King's Majesty. Which two were present at the communication between the King's Majesty and me. I desired to talk with the King's Majesty alone, but I could not be suffered : and so I failed of my purpose. For if I might have communed with the King alone, and at good leisure, my trust was, that I should have altered him from his purpose ; but they being present my labour was in vain. Then, when I could not dissuade him from the said will ; and both he and his privy council also informed me that the judges and his learned counsel said, that the act of entailing the crown made by his father could not be prejudicial to him ; but that he, being in possession of the crown, might make his will thereof. This seemed very strange unto me. But being the sentence of the judges, and other his counsel, learned in the laws of this realm, 94 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1553. of being encouraged to submit the results of his ex- as both he and his council informed me, methought it became not me, being unlearned in the law, to stand against my Prince therein. And so at length, I was required by the King's Ma- jesty himself to set my hand to his will ; saying that he trusted, that I alone would not be more repugnant to his will than the rest of the council were : which words surely grieved my heart very sore. And so I granted him to subscribe his will and to follow the same. Which when I had set my hand unto, I did it unfeignedly and without dissimulation. For the which I submit myself most humbly unto your Majesty, acknowledging mine offence with moat grievous and sorrowful heart, and beseeching your mercy and pardon. Which my heart giveth me shall not be denied unto me, being granted before to so many, which tra- vailed not so much to dissuade both the King and his council, as I did. " And whereas it is contained in two acts of Parliament, as I understand, that I, with the Duke of Northumberland, should devise and compass the deprivation of your Majesty from your royal crown, surely it is untrue. For the Duke never opened his mouth to me to move me any such matter, nor his heart was not such toward me, seeking long time my destruction, that he would ever trust me in such a matter, or think that I would be persuaded by him. It was other of the council that moved me, and the King himself, the Duke of Northumberland not being present. Neither before, neither after had I any privy commu- nication with the Duke of that matter, saving that openly at the council-table, the Duke said unto me, that it became not me to say to the King as I did, when I went about to dissuade him from his said will. " Now as concerning the state of religion, as it is used in this realm of England at this present, if it please your Highness to license me, I would gladly write my mind unto your Majesty. I will never, God be willing, be author of sedition, to move sub- jects from the obedience of their heads and rulers ; which is an offence most detestable. If I have uttered my mind to your Majesty, being a Christian Queen and governor of this realm, 1553.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 95 perience to the royal consideration. But his urgent applications wholly failed of success. He was not even gratified by any assurance of pardon ; al- though it has generally been supposed that Mary had resolved to shew him this favour, as an acquit- tance of those obligations under which he had laid her. In the writs for summoning the Convocation, her Majesty was styled, according to law, Supreme Head (of whom I am most assuredly persuaded, that your gracious intent is, above all other regards, to prefer God's true Word, his honour and glory,) if I have uttered, I say, my mind unto your Majesty, then I shall think myself discharged. For it lies not in me, but in your Grace only, to see the reformation of things that be amiss. To private subjects it appertaineth not to reform things, but quietly to suffer that they cannot amend. Yet ne- vertheless to shew your Majesty my mind in things appertaining unto God, methink it my duty, knowing that I do, and consi- dering the place which in time past I have occupied. Yet will I not presume thereunto without your Grace's pleasure first known, and your license obtained. Whereof I, most humbly prostrate to the ground, do beseech your Majesty ; and I shall not cease daily to pray to Almighty God for the good preservation of your Majesty from all enemies bodily and ghostly, and for the increase of all goodness heavenly and earthly, during my life, as I do, and will do, whatsoever become of me." (Strype, Mem. Cranm. Appendix, 919). Dr. Lingard (vii. 140) is pleased to insinuate a doubt as to the truth of that statement in this letter which establishes the reluc- tance of Cranmer to sign King Edward's will. He says, " The Archbishop, if we may believe his own statement, had requested a private interview with the King." No doubt a Romish parti- zan would desire that the whole letter should be disbelieved, for it vindicates the memory of Cranmer, and shews the baseness of Mary's government, in a manner which those who desire to vin- dicate her and her advisers, cannot find \ery agreeable. 9G HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1653. of the Church of England6. The ecclesiastical estate of the southern provinces being assembled, Bishop Boner presided, and his chaplain, Harpsfield, preached. Even this divine's bidding prayer offered many extraordinary features. The hearers were de- sired to pray for the Queen upon several accounts. To her justly might be applied, it was said, the ad- dress of Ozias to Judith : " O daughter, blessed art thou of the most high God, above all the women upon the earth; and blessed be the Lord God, which hath created the heavens and the earth, which hath directed thee to the cutting off of the head of the chief of our enemies d." She hath also, it was added, gladdened the hearts of her afflicted people, as Esther did those of the Jews. Her situation might be de- scribed in the words, slightly varied, which Deborah used in her own case e : " Religion ceased in Eng- land, until that I, Mary, arose, a virgin in England." Her choice of religion might be fitly characterised as our Saviour characterised that of an illustrious female who bore her name : " Mary hath chosen that good part which shall not be taken away from herf." She might fairly exult as did the blessed Virgin herself, and say, " Behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed ; for He that is mighty hath done to me great things, and holy is his name8." The Lady Elizabeth was then commended to the c Heylin, Hist. Ref. 199. a Judith xiii. 18. e Judges v. 7. f St. Luke x. 42. B Ibid. i. 48. 15.53.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 97 people's prayers, but of her nothing laudatory was added. When, however, the prelacy was mentioned, Gardiner, Tunstall, Heath, and Day, were eulogized at considerable length. Upon his own patron, Bo- ner, probably by desire, the preacher uttered no encomium. The sermon, which was preached from St. Paul's exhortation, " Take heed unto yourselves, and to all the flock h," contained the following matter. " The apostle took heed to himself by keeping his body under, and by avoiding flattery, covetousness, and vain-glory. He took heed to the flock by preaching sound doctrine, by diligently preserving it from wolves, and by providing it with fit ministers. Now those who have lately tended the flock of Christ among us are belly-gods, given up to junketings, and to the pampering of their carcases. They are unchaste, taking unto themselves wives, even some who had lived single for threescore years. They are flatterers, insinuating themselves into the favour of courtiers. They are covetous, keeping no hospi- tality. They are vain-glorious, vaunting themselves as able to understand holy Scripture not less com- pletely than did the ancient fathers. Some of them from a shop, endued with no liberal discipline, not so much as grammar, would mount the pulpit, and there pass as learned men, if they did but rail against whatever is holy, and boast that they had the Spirit. There is no vice of the laity, but these men are guilty of it. As for their doctrine, they may well repent, 11 Acts xx. 28. VOL. IV. H 98 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1553 and be ashamed of it. How did they tear the Lord's flock ; how many souls did they send to hell ; how many pernicious novelties did they bring into the kingdom ! As for the instructors provided by these men for the Lord's flock, it is notorious that many of them were coolers, dyers, weavers, fullers, barbers, apothecaries, beggars, jesters ; people fitter for the plough-tail, than for the ministry of God's word i." 1 Strype, Mem. Cranm. 462, Eccl. Mem. iii. 60, from a con- temporary publication printed by Cawood, the Queen's printer. Harpsfield's assertion, that some clergymen, recently ordained, had exercised secular employments, is correct ; but it should be observed, that the persons generally who had lately taken orders were not of that description ; that there is no sufficient reason why such persons, if sufficiently qualified, should absolutely be excluded from the ministry at any time ; and that the difficulty of finding unexceptionable men for ecclesiastical appointments was, in Edward's reign, very great. Dr. Martin, the violent con- troversialist against clerical marriages, attributes the recent eclipse of his own church, to the unworthiness of her ministers. The following extract is made from his address to the Queen, prefixed to his Treatise against the marriage of Priests : " It is to be la- mented, to see so honourable an office, by the unworthiness of the ministers, so greatly abused, and through the lack of reputa- tion in the ministers, both the heavenly mysteries profaned, the holy word despised, and God himself highly dishonoured. For doubtless it is an assured token, the fear of God there to have no place, where the love of his ministry is not; as the Gospel affirm- eth Christ there to be nothing regarded, where his ministers be despised. But if a man will diligently examine the ground here- of, and see whose contempt first drew with him the despising of the other; I think, if one examine the matter well, he shall find the contempt of Christ's true religion to have issued forth of the contempt of his ministration. But yet if you will search nearer, what was the cause of this loss of estimation in the whole order ; I take it to have risen chiefly of the (inability and unworthiness 1553.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 99 Besides hearing this discourse, the Convocation transacted no business, during its first session, beyond the choice of a prolocutor. This fell upon Dr. Hugh Weston, the new Dean of Westminster k, a forward immoral man l, of shewy parts and attain- of priests. For first, where is unability, there is none auctority ; where lacketh auctority, there doth contempt consequently arise. Then the unworthiness of priests have caused, through the mis- living of the evil, the good to be slandered, and not only the per- sons, but also the office itself to be evil reported of such which have sought rather to pick quarrels unto their wealth, than ten- dered the redress of the evils wherewith they were charged. The cause of this unworthiness, I judge to have proceeded of the co- vetousness of patrons ; which, either for friendship more than for learning, or for goods more than goodness, elected many into that holy orders, not of age, nor of learning, nor of discretion worthy to take so high a function upon them. Many so chosen and elected, passing more of the fleece than for the flock, not able to rule for lack of age, not able to preach for lack of learning, not able to counsel others for lack of wit in themselves, lived so dis- solutely, that they did more hurt with their evil example in infect- ing others, than in their evil doing wherewith they did hurt them- selves. For the heretics, when all other persuasions failed, took hereof, as it were a ready demonstration, to seduce the simple and silly people, in noting to them the dissolute life of the spi- rituality, and pretending thereby a medicine to heal the said sore, gave them present poison to destroy the whole body." k Dr. Weston was installed, on the deprivation of Cox, the late king's tutor, on the 18th of September. In 1556, he vacated this deanery, and received, in exchange for it, that of "Windsor. Feckenham, having under him a society of Benedictine monks, then took possession of Westminster Abbey. Le Neve, 364. 1 Weston's profligacy became, at length so notorious, that, after about a year's possession of his deanery of Windsor, Car- dinal Pole found it necessary to deprive him of that preferment. (Strype, Eccl. Mem. iii. 174. Le Neve, 376.) In an intem- H 2 100 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1553. ments ; then a considerable favourite with the Queen"1. He possessed, indeed, a claim upon Mary's good opinion which few of her advisers could advance, for he had never complied during the last reign ". To this recommendation, Pye, soon afterwards in- stalled Dean of Chichester °, adverted in presenting him to the Upper House. He likewise characterized the new Prolocutor as a man deeply versed in Holy Scripture, of singular experience, prudence, and wisdom, and of a pious, flowing elocution p. Wym- mesley, Archdeacon of London, who shared with Pye the honour of offering Weston for approval by the prelacy, described the object of the clergy's choice as one certain of approbation from their Lord- perate publication wrung from some Protestant during the fury of the Marian persecution, occurs the following; coarse language respecting this unworthy clergyman : " As for Dr. Weston, that bawdy ruffian, of his shameless and abominable living it is not unknown. And whether he were wont to go in mummeries and masks among the merchants of London, he himself cannot deny it, or at the least, his companions that were in his company at those times can testify. Is he meet to be a commissioner in matters of weight, or to be the Prolocutor in the Convocation House ?" (A Supplication to the Queen's Majesty, Lond. 1555, p. 12.) The name of Cawood, the royal printer, is affixed to this pamphlet, but most probably without any authority. The piece, in fact, could not fail of being considered as a libel by the ruling powers. Nor can it be altogether justified. But great allowances are fairly demandable for the exasperation of men who are groaning under the most intolerable oppression. m Strype, Eccl. Mem. iii. 65. n Ibid. ° December 21, 1553. Le Neve, 60. p Strype, Eccl. Mem. iii. 66. 1553.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 101 ships ; a man, indeed, wonderfully and notably pru- dent, of much quickness and dexterity, famous for all virtue, and renowned through Britain q. Weston replied to this profusion of unmeasured eulogy by a declamatory speech composed in elegant Latin. Among his rhetorical flowers, as might be expected, some of the gayest specimens were showered upon the Queen. " O ! the unheard-of, the admirable goodness of God !" rapturously exclaimed the elo- quent Prolocutor : " Did ever any thing happen more wonderful in so great a mass of sorrows, in such a swarm of afflictions, in so complete a ruin of the church, in such an utter shipwreck of the faith, the concerns of religion having heen reduced to all but desperation, than that a virgin queen, as if sent down from heaven, like some propitious deity, be bestowed upon the virgin church, under whose auspices and guidance these things so miserable, so calamitous, and iniquitous are repressed, dissipated, expelled." Encomiums were then passed upon Mary's erudition, courage, constancy, diligence, and magnanimity. " Nor," it was added, " is it a slight omen or presage of happiness to the church, that by some fate, assuredly not by design, her Majesty's brows were graced by the royal diadem on the very day which is ordinarily devoted to the dedication of churches." No one of Mary's qualities, however, is extolled more highly than her favour towards the bishops of her own party. England is pronounced most happy in having such a queen, supremely blest * Strypea Eccl. Mem. iii. 67, 102 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1553. in having such bishops. Of these prelates, it is said, under a very liberal use of the rhetorical figure, called hyperbole, that her Majesty had drawn them " from the foulest dungeons and squalidness ; that they had been no-wise alarmed by the judgment- seat, the executioner, the multiplied torments, the menaces which announced innumerable deaths, the judge who breathed fire from his mouth, the adver- saries who gnashed with their teeth and were eagerly bent upon numberless other modes of insulting, the so great calumnies, the most impudent accusations, the death which stared them daily in the face." They were then exhorted to rejoice, exult, be strong, and acquit themselves like men. They were entreated to restore the clergy of England to their ancient im- portance, not allowing the learnedest men in the country to come together, and then to find their suffrages of no weight ; as had been, it was inti- mated, the recent usage." " All things have been effected," said the orator, " without our advice, much more then, without our consent. How piously and happily the end will shew. I cannot, however, easily describe how greatly we have reason to con- gratulate ourselves, that no vote of ours obtruded upon men the book of Common Prayer, as they called it, besprinkled, as it is, all over with blas- phemies, crammed full of errors, which, under the name of religion, takes away religion, which, by diminishing the sacraments, condemns the whole world1." r Strype, Eccl. Mem. Appendix, 182. 1553.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 103 Among the assembled clergy, no individuals were present, as it seems, favourable to the Reformation, who were not either deans or archdeacons, digni- taries entitled to seats in the lower house. From this it has been inferred, that pains were taken to prevent the return of any delegates adverse to Romanism. The members who discovered this feel- ing were Walter Philips, Dean of Rochester ; James Haddon, Dean of Exeter ; John Philpot, Archdeacon of Winchester; John Aylmer, Archdeacon of Stow; Richard Cheney, Archdeacon of Hereford ; and ano- ther, said to be Thomas Young, Precentor of St. David's s. Business was begun on the 18th of Octo- ber, by the Prolocutor Weston, who said that her Majesty desired the clergy to discuss the state of religion, and that she, together with the parliament, would ratify their decisions. The first questions proposed for discussion were the forty-two articles, and the book of Common Prayer. Of these, the former were designated, as " pestiferous and full of heresies ;" the latter, as " very abominable." With the mention of the articles was joined inaccurately, perhaps invidiously, that of the catechism, published with them, under royal authority, a short time be- fore King Edward's death'. Weston appears to I Foxe leaves the sixth Protestant un-named. Burnet says that Young was the man, but he cites no authority. The state- ment, however, is upon the face of it highly probable, for Young- resigned the precentorship of St. David's before the end of this year, and in 1559, he was advanced to the see of David's. Le Neve, 514, 515. 1 Hist. Ref. under King Edward VI. 756.J 104« HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1553. have represented that the two pieces, as printed, equally pretended to have been sanctioned by the Convocation". He then informed his hearers that they would be called upon, in the first place, to dis- cuss the doctrine of transubstantiation, and he named the following Friday, being the 20th, for considering that question. On the appointed day, Dr. Weston offered to the House two bills, already signed by himself; one affirming transubstantiation, the other condemning the Catechism and Articles as unsound, and unau- thorised by any Convocation. Excepting the six individuals mentioned above, these bills were sub- scribed unanimously. Philpot, in vindication of him- self and his five friends, first gave some explanation as to the volume containing the Catechism and Arti- u Foxe's relation as to this preliminary business is involved. An inaccuracy has, indeed, evidently been fallen into by either him or by Weston or both of them. The following is the title of the book offered by Weston to the consideration of the House : " Catechis- mus brevis, Christiance disciplinse summam continens, omnibus ludimagistris authoritate regia commendatus. Huic catechismo adjuncti sunt articuli, de quibus in ultima Synodo Londinensi, Anno Dom. 1552, ad tollendam opinionum dissensionem, &c. inter episcopos, et alios eruditos viros convenerat, regia similiter authoritate promulgati." The title-page, therefore, of this book does not assert that the catechism had any pretension to synodical authority. That Weston's attention was chiefly directed to the articles, which do make this claim, must be inferred from these words of his which follow. " I thought it best first to begin with the Articles of the Catechism, concerning the sacrament of the altar, to confirm the natural presence of Christ in the same, and also transubstantiation." Foxe, 1282. Archbishop Laurence's Bamp. Lect. 224. 1553.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 105 cles. " As for transubstantiation," he added, " it is unreasonable, unworthy of learned men, and injuri- ous to the cause of truth, that such a doctrine should be affirmed without a full examination and discus- sion. This House, however, as at present consti- tuted, scarcely perhaps affords the means of duly arguing the question. Here are assembled many divines of advanced age and extensive acquirements, who have adopted a belief in the corporal presence. We who deny that doctrine are in number no more than five or six, and neither in age nor in learning are we fairly matched with the contrary side. I pro- pose, therefore, that the Prolocutor be instructed to request their lordships to procure the attendance here of such as compiled the Catechism and Articles, in order that we may hear from their own mouths the grounds of those doctrines which they have set forth in these pieces. I propose also, that he re- quest the attendance of Dr. Ridley, Mr. Rogers, and two or three more, able to render effective assistance in arguing the point upon which the House is ex- pected to deliver an opinion." These propositions appearing reasonable, an application, founded upon them, was made to the Upper House. The bishops replied, that they had no power to command the at- tendance of the parties named, some of them being in custody ; but that they would communicate the clergy's desire to the council v. Upon the receipt of v Another portion of the reply made by the bishops must be given in Foxe's own words, the sense of it not being clear. "And in case any were absent that ought to be of the house, they (the bishops) willed them to be taken in unto them if they listed." 106 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1553. this answer, a debate was immediately proposed. A messenger, however, entered, signifying that the Earl of Devonshire, and the Lord Great Master, de- sired to hear the disputation. The House, in conse- quence, adjourned until the following Monday, at one o'clock. On that day a very large and distinguished audi- tory having assembled, the Prolocutor asked Haddon, whether he would argue in defence of his avowed opinion. The Dean answered, that he would not, inasmuch as the assistance craved by his party had been refused. Aylmer gave a similar answer, add- ing, that the majority, by subscribing without any discussion, had already prejudged the question. Cheney said, that he admitted the real presence, but denied transubstantiation ; grounding his opinion upon St. Paul, Origen, Theodoret, and other an- cients, who speak of the sacramental elements as if unchanged in substance. To these objections it was replied, that St. Paul, in terming the Eucharist bread, means, " that it is the sacrament of bread, that is, in the form of bread ;" and interpretations upon logical principles were put upon a passage alleged from Theodoret. Against this mode of ex- tracting senses from ordinary works of theology, by This passage looks as if representations were made that some undue influence had been used to prevent the return of members obnoxious to the court party, or even to prevent such persons, though returned, from taking- their seats. .Foxe's account, it should be observed, appears to have been copied verbatim from a relation furnished by some member of the Convocation actually present, for in one place we find the phrase " our house." 1553.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 107 means of dialectic subtleties, first Aylmer, then Phil- pot argued. The latter, indeed, placed in so clear a light the folly and the fallacy of that logical exposi- tion which had been advanced, that Moreman, from whom it proceeded, was fairly reduced to silence. The Archdeacon, seeing this, said, " Well, Master Moreman, if you have no answer at this present ready, I pray you devise one, if you can conveniently, against our next meeting here again." This sarcasm irritated Weston, who thus addressed the speaker : " Do not brag here ; you shall be fully answered." The other replied, " That is all I require ; but I feel perfectly sure that you will never be able to answer me, if you confine yourself to the plain sense of The- odoret's words." He was then ordered to keep si- lence. Philips, Dean of Rochester, alleged against transubstantiation, that our Lord said, " Ye have the poor always with you, but me ye have not always V Weston replied, " That text means, Christians will always have opportunities of bestowing alms upon the poor, but they will not always have such oppor- tunities with respect to their blessed Master." " Nay," rejoined the Dean, " St. Austin expounds our Lord's words differently. He says, that Jesus then spake of his presence in the body." An at- tempt was made to answer this by citing other pas- sages from St. Austin, which purport that we have not Christ upon earth now as he was before his pas- sion. " Undoubtedly not," was the reply ; " Jesus was corporally present in the world before he suffer- w St. Matt. xxvi. 11. 108 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1553. ed. His presence now is spiritual ; and such is the whole scope of St. Austin's words." A desultory conversation followed, which was ended by the fol- lowing question put by Philips to Moreman : " Do you believe that our Lord, at his last paschal supper, ate his own natural body ?" The other answered, " Yea." The Dean merely said, " You have grant- ed a great absurdity ;" and immediately sat down. Philpot, however, arose, and advanced the following syllogism, in confutation of Moreman's absurd con- cession. " To the receiving of Christ's body is an- nexed the promise of remission of sins : Christ eating the Sacrament had no promise of remission of sin : ergo, Christ, in the Sacrament, did not eat his own body." Moreman replied to this by denying the first proposition. " The following," said Philpot, " are our Lord's own words : This is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins V His opponent objected, " These words are not a promise." " Well then," asked Philpot, " what say you to this speech of our Lord's : The bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world? J* Moreman endeavoured to evade a direct considera- tion of this text ; on which Harpsfleld said, " Ye mistake the promise annexed to the receiving of Christ's body. This appertaineth not to our Savi- our, but to his disciples. His words are, ' This is my body which is given for you V " " The very • x St. Matt. xxvi. 28. » St. John vi. 51. 1 St. Luke xxii. 10. 1553.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 109 text," said Philpot, " most completely for my pur- pose. The promise as to Christ's body took no effect in himself: ergo, he ate not his own body." The Prolocutor then interposed, saying, " That ar- gument is good for nothing. If it had any weight, you might use it to prove that Christ was never bap- tized ; for to baptism is annexed the remission of sins. Our Lord, however, was free from sin." Phil- pot added, " The principle upon which Jesus was both baptized and ate the Sacrament, was to set an example to his Church. He had no need of either ordinance." It was now night, and therefore an ad- journment was proposed until the following Wednes- day, when Philpot undertook to bring forward fresh arguments against transubstantiation. He came, on that day, provided with a declaration as to the true manner of Christ's presence in the Eu- charist, and with a dozen arguments against tran- substantiation ; the whole being composed in Latin, according to the orders heretofore given. When, however, he proposed to deliver his declaration, Wes- ton forbade him ; saying, that he could not be suf- fered to make an oration upon any subject, and that he must argue in English. " All this is somewhat hard upon me, Master Prolocutor," said Philpot; " for you told me openly in this house, that I had no learning. I have, therefore, drawn up a brief declaration of my opinions, in order that, wherever I am wrong, I may be corrected by those who are more learned than myself. I have also prepared all my arguments in Latin, in obedience to your former injunctions, and I am sorely disappointed in finding 2 110 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1553, that you now refuse to hear me in that language. However, I shall conform to your orders. I will lay my oration aside, and come to my arguments, which I shall endeavour to put into as good a form in Eng- lish, as the suddenness of the call will allow." The Archdeacon then proceeded to say, that he denied not Christ's presence in the Sacrament duly adminis- tered, but only that gross and carnal presence which his adversaries maintained. Before he had finished this explanation, Weston interrupted him, and de- sired that he would begin at once upon his argument. Philpot then fell upon his knees, and turning to the persons of distinction, who were present as auditors in considerable numbers, besought their interposition for gaining him a patient hearing. This was readily granted, but the Prolocutor proved inexorable. " Hold your peace,'" said he, "or else make a short argument." The Archdeacon replied, " I will do so immediately, but first I would just learn from Dr. Chadsey, my re- spondent, exactly what he means, when he speaks of the sacrament of the altar." Chadsey said, that he understood that phrase as synonymous with the sacra- ment of the mass. " Then," said Philpot, " I will speak plain English, as Master Prolocutor orders me. And I say that this sacrament of the mass, once justly abolished, and now put into full use again, is no sacrament at all. Nor is Christ present in it in any wise. These mine assertions I am ready to prove before the whole house. Or I will under- take to prove them before the Queen's grace, and her most honourable council, against any six of the learncdest men in this house, who hold a contrary 1553.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. Ill opinion. And if I shall not be able to maintain by God's word what I have said, and to confound the six who may take upon themselves to withstand me; then let me be burned before the palace gates with as many faggots as there are in London." This ebul- lition excited a considerable clamour, and Weston said that the Archdeacon was mad, and must be committed, if he did not hold his peace. A debate followed, in which Philpot, with unfailing spirit and acuteness, answered every objection that was brought forward against him. At last Pye whispered some- thing in the Prolocutor's ear ; on which that officer said ; " Master Philpot, you have argued long enough. Let another now come, and take your place." The Archdeacon replied : " Why Sir, I have a dozen arguments to bring forward, and I have yet scarcely gotten through one. I have not yet brought forth any confirmations of my arguments out of ancient writers ; whereof I have many." Weston was, however, determined upon putting him down, and after some altercation, he threatened him with a prison, if any more were said by him. A discus- sion followed between other speakers, which led to nothing remarkable. The day, however, closed with a circumstance highly mortifying to the Romish party, for Perne, who had already subscribed to the article in favour of transubstantiation, publicly re- tracted that opinion. After an interval of two days the debate was resumed, as it was again on the following Monday. Nor even then did the contention cease, but fresh objections to the Romish doctrine were brought for- 112 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1553. ward from day to day, until the Convocation was dissolved. Philpot appears to have been present only upon the first two days in this series. He seems to have attended the House without the ordi- nary habiliments of his profession, and upon this ground to have been excluded from his seat. After an arduous disputation, on the 30th of October, one of the Romish party whispered in Weston's ear. The Prolocutor immediately thus addressed Philpot : " Lest you should slander the House, and say that we will not suffer you to declare your mind, we are content you shall come into the House as you have done before, so that you be apparelled in a long gown and tippet, as we be, and that you shall not speak but when I command you." The Archdeacon replied, " Then I would rather be absent altoge- ther." During the two days in which he attended, he maintained his opinions with all his former inge- nuity, heat, and vehemence. For his conduct in the last two particulars an excuse may be found, how- ever, in the treatment which he received. It had evidently been determined by the dominant party to break down opposition by browbeating and inti- midation. This policy naturally hurried a man of Philpot's temperament into bursts of feeling which gave an advantage to his opponents. But it was an advantage flowing from his manner alone. In his arguments he constantly shewed himself more than a match for any of his adversaries a. At last, in the Upper House of Convocation, in wliich no prelate * Foxc, 1288. 1553.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 113 adverse to Romanism had then an opportunity of sitting, four points were defined bearing upon the question which had been discussed by the inferior clergy. First, it was decided that, in the sacrament of the altar, rightly administered, the Lord's body is truly, really, and substantially present under the appearances of bread, and of wine mingled with water ; that, in either the bread, or the cup, separately, Christ is completely contained, and re- ceived ; that, therefore, the usage of administering in one kind only to laymen, and to clergymen not consecrating, is to be retained in the English church, as having been introduced for important reasons, and very long observed. Secondly, was affirmed the substantial transition of the bread and wine into the substance of Christ's body and blood, " the accidents of the bread and wine remaining, on account of human infirmity, and the signification of the mystery :" a transition believed from ancient times in the Catholic church, and aptly called by the Lateran fathers transubstantiation ; a new word to which they gave currency, as the Nicene fathers did to the word consubstantiation. Thirdly, it was asked as to adoring the Eucharist, since we confess the corporal presence of Christ in that sacrament, how shall we refrain from adoring it ; the Lord him- self having received adoration from his disciples, as was justly his due ? It was added, that authors and councils of very high antiquity mention the reser- vation of the Eucharist for the use of sick persons, and that the Lord's body and blood remain in the elements thus reserved, so long as they defy corrup- VOL. IV. I 114 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1554. tion . Fourthly, it was affirmed that, as on the holy table is placed the lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, so an unbloody sacrifice is offered there for the whole body of Christians, whether dead or living, absent or present ; and also for the particular benefit of individuals c. During the winter, much speculation arose as to a suitable marriage for the Queen. Bishop Gardiner advocated the pretensions of Courtenay, Earl of Devonshire; and his endeavours were not only backed by the influence of France, but also by a great majority at home. The young peer, however, seems early to have lost his hold upon the affections of Mary. Nor, in truth, does it appear that he pos- sessed any attractions beyond the accidental advan- tages of illustrious birth and personal comeliness. He was addicted to low dissipation, and was, besides, suspected of some leaning towards the Reformation11; a bias most odious to the Queen. She must, indeed, " It does not seem to be asserted that ancient authorities maintain the latter part of this article. The following are the original words : " Et cum semel consecratum hoc saeramentum in usum infirmorum, ne sine communione discedant, (quod ex vetustissimis authoribus et conciliis constat antiquitus fieri con- sueyisse,) manet tamen, quandiu incorrupte supersunt species, sacramentum et corpus et sanguis Domini donee sumatur." c " These four points were defined by the Upper House, as I transcribed them out of a record of this Convocation, which Archbishop Parker, as it seems, communicated to Mr. Foxe : to be sure, the paper was in the possession of the said Archbishop, on which are inserted these words by his own hand, //,<<.• in synodo ephcoporum." Strype, Eccl. Mem. iii. 73. d Godwin. Annnl. 113. Noailles. ii. 219. 1554.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 115 have resolved soon after her accession to marry the prince of Spain. For an address voted by the Com- mons, at the end of October, which intreated her to seek a husband among her own nobility, drew forth immediately a decided, though a secret, avowal of her intentions as to Philip. She clandestinely sent, on the same evening, for the imperial minister, con- ducted him into her private oratory, knelt before the consecrated wafer there, recited the hymn, Come Holy Ghost, in Latin, and then called God to wit- ness that she solemnly pledged herself to her cousin Philip °. As this romantic incident was only known to the favoured individual invited to witness it, to the regular depositaries of his diplomatic secrets, to Mary herself, and to her most intimate confidants, intrigue and importunity in favour of a native hus- band, continued to disquiet the royal breast. At length her Majesty, after an interval of indisposition, designedly prolonged, received the Commons f, and in answer to their address, informed them, that as her predecessors had been used to select their own spouses, she must be allowed the same privilege. Opposition to her will was now found to be hopeless, and on the 2nd of January an embassy from the court of Austria, charged with the conduct of a matrimonial treaty, landed at the Tower-wharf, under a very honourable salute from the batteries. The Lord Deputy of Calais attended the strangers into England, and rode with them through the ' Lingard, vii. 197. from Griffet. f November 17. Noailles, ii. 256. I 2 116 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1.554. metropolis. In Fenchurch-street, they were met by the Earl of Devonshire, and several other persons of quality, who conducted them to their lodgings, at Durham House, in the Strand. On the following day they received a visit from the Lord Mayor and Chamberlain of London, who pre- sented them with viands and wine. The 9th of the month was occupied by a splendid banquet given to the foreigners, and to the council, by the Lord Chancellor Gardiner. When the next morning dawned, the party took to horse, and with more spirit than humanity plied the chace at Hampton Court g. In that place, a magnificent display of convivial hospitality awaited their return from the hunting-field. On the 15th of January, the busi- ness which this embassy had come over to effect, was announced, at Westminster, to the Lord Mayor and Aldermen. The Chancellor, who addressed the civic authorities with his usual eloquence, spoke of her Majesty's marriage as likely to prove highly ad- vantageous to England, and he added, that due precautions should be taken against Philip's inter- ference in the national affairs h. The matrimonial treaty is, indeed, highly honour- able to Gardiner as an English statesman. It was agreed in it, that Philip should bear the title of King, and should have his name joined with the Queen's on coins and seals, and in writs ; but that 6 " As the journal-writer exprcsseth it, they killed tag and rag with hands and swords." Strype, Eccl. Mem. iii. 91. h Ibid. 1554.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 117 Mary's hand, without her husband's, was to be a sufficient authority. Spaniards were to be excluded from civil offices, and from situations about the court. The laws were to continue unaltered, and pleadings were still to be in English. The Queen was not to be taken out of England without her con- sent. Any children born from the marriage were not to be sent abroad without permission from the nobility. Should the Queen survive Philip, she was to receive from his hereditary dominions an annual pension of sixty thousand pounds. To male issue arising from this marriage was assigned the rever- sion to England, the Netherlands, and Burgundy. Should Philip lose his only son, Charles, the progeny sprung from his marriage with Mary was to inherit all the dominions of both father and mother. If Mary should bear daughters only, they were to in- herit her own dominions, and also the Netherlands, provided that they married with the consent of their half-brother. If no issue should arise from this mar- riage, Philip was not to pretend to any of the Queen's dominions ; but these were to devolve upon her heirs, according to the laws of England \ Upon the fairness of these terms there could be no doubt, but that consideration was not sufficient to satisfy the English people. It was evident that all hope of religious toleration must be abandoned, if this marriage should take effect. No man of sense could persuade himself that even the mitigated Ro- manism of King Henry's reign would seem endura- * Burnet, Hist. Ref. n. 419. 118 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1554. ble to the Austrian family ; hence a general convic- tion prevailed that papal myrmidons and inquisitors would come over in Philip's train. Against these evils the Queen's character was thought to offer no security whatever. She had already broken, it was said, the promises as to religion, which she made while her possession of the throne appeared insecure ; it is, therefore, to be expected that when her power is thoroughly cemented by means of this foreign alli- ance, she will readily give ear to every suggestion of tyrannical bigotry. The popular discontent was also increased by considerations merely political. Men viewed the proposed marriage as a fatal blow to the national independence : which could never be maintained, it was thought, against the whole strength of the Austrian monarchy. Nor was it doubted that Philip was equally ready to grasp and to abuse any power that might come within his reach. His family was, indeed, represented as noto- rious for the most arbitrary conduct. In Europe the Austrian government was painted as bad enough, but in America no man doubted that it was infamous and intolerable. This general feeling of uneasiness incited people to think that the throne was impro- perly filled. It was even currently reported that King Edward still survived. In some companies, the Lady Jane's pretensions were canvassed with unusual interest. Others looked upon the Lady Elizabeth as the sheet-anchor of England's hope k. • k Burnet, Hist. Rcf. ii. 419. Godwin. Annal. 114. Heylin, Hist. Ref. '202. Proceedings of Privy Council, 53. 1 1554.] UNDER QUBEN MARY. 119 The popular mind being thus prepared for change, an insurrection was concerted among a few persons of distinction. The Duke of Suffolk engaged to raise the standard of rebellion in the midland coun- ties, Sir Thomas Wyat undertook a similar enter- prise in Kent, and Sir Peter Carew was to do the same in Cornwall. Carew's operations were, how- ever, discovered in the outset, and he saved himself by a hasty flight to France. Wyat, being apprised of this untoward circumstance, resolved upon trying the effect of promptitude, and he quickly found him- self at the head of a formidable assemblage. At Maidstone he issued a proclamation, in which he stated himself to have no other object than to pre- serve the national independence, by setting aside that insidious foreign connexion, against which all the council, with only two or three exceptions, had contended. As to religion he said nothing ; but private assurances were given to some who enquired his sentiments upon that head, that he was favour- ably disposed towards the Reformation. In the hope of arresting his progress, the Duke of Nor- folk was hastily despatched from London, but finding his troops unequal to face the rebels, he soon retraced his steps. Intelligence of this retreat having arri- ved in the capital, and a great ferment being ex- cited there, Mary went to Guildhall ; and after painting the revolt in the blackest colours, she said, that as her intended marriage was made the ostensi- ble pretence for it, she was willing to forego that measure, if such a sacrifice should appear advantage- ous to her subjects. At the same time five hundred 120 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1554. men, chiefly foreigners, were posted on the Surrey side of London -bridge. These troops prevented Wyat's entrance into the city. He marched to Southwark without opposition, and remained there two days, hoping- that the citizens on the opposite side of the river would make some active demon- strations in his favour. Being disappointed, how- ever, in this expectation, he advanced to Kingston, for the purpose of crossing the river there. Having reached that place, he found thirty feet of the bridge broken down. A hasty repair soon overcame this difficulty, and no farther impediment arrested his progress towards London. It was about nine o'clock in the morning of Ash- Wednesday when he arrived at Hyde Park. The Queen awaited his approach with a degree of firmness that does her credit. Some of her friends advised her to take refuse in the Tower, but she refused to remove from White- hall, or even to intermit the customary devotions there. Some of Wyat's principal companions wished him to march onwards by the upper road, through Holborn, as being the less frequented way to the city ; but he chose rather to parade his men by Charing-Cross, along the Strand, and Fleet-street ; within a stone's cast of the royal palace, and past the very portals of the chief nobility. This march, however, effectually blighted his hopes. At Charing- Cross, he found a body of men posted to guard the avenues of the palace. Another troop hung upon his rear. He reached Ludgate attended by not more than five hundred followers, and they were in great disorder. The gate being closed and guarded, 1554.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 121 his courage wholly failed him. He stopped awhile by the entrance to the Belle Sauvage Inn, and then mournfully retreated towards Temple-bar. The cla- renceux king at arms there persuaded him to sur- render, by representing to him the hopelessness of resistance, and the additional guilt that he would contract by causing a needless effusion of blood K 1 Ibid. Stow. Holinshed. Wyat surrendered on the 7th of February. Stow and Heylin say that Poynet, the displaced Bishop of Winchester, was with Wyat, until the time when a cannon broke down, between Kingston and London ; which causing a delay, some of the insurgents took to flight, and among them the prelate. Dr. Lingard has adopted this state- ment. After mentioning the accident which happened to the cannon, he says, " The chief of his (Wyat's) advisers aban- doned him in despair. Among these was Poynet, the Protestant Bishop of Winchester, who now hastened to the continent." (Hist. Engl. vii. 217.) Bishop Burnet observes as to the current account of Poynet's presence in Wyat's army : " This is certainly false, for so many prisoners being taken, it is not to be imagined but this would have been found out and published, to make that religion more odious ; and we cannot think but Gardiner would have taken care that he should be attainted in the following Par- liament." (Hist. Ref. ii. 423). It is not improbable, that the report of Poynet's presence arose from the fact that a book, attributed on good grounds to him, was subsequently published, but without his knowledge or consent, as it seems ; in which po- litical questions are very freely handled. The piece is entitled, A Treatise of Political Power, and of the True Obedience which Subjects owe to Kings and other Civil Governors. The author pronounces arbitrary power an invention of the devil, and cites the Spartan Ephori, and the Roman Tribunes, (he might have added the Aragonese Justiza,) as precedents for imposing checks upon the exercise of the supreme authority. He maintains, that " in all Christian realms, and dominions, God has ordained means that the heads, the princes, and governors should not op- 122 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1554. Upon the first appearance of Wyat's success in Kent, the Duke of Suffolk repaired to the district assigned to his care, and endeavoured to raise the peasantry by circulating inflammatory representa- tions against the Spanish match. His exertions, however, proved unavailing ; and the Earl of Hun- tingdon approaching with a troop of horse, he distri- buted his money among his followers, which were about fifty in number, and consulted his own safety by flight. He sought concealment in the house of one who had been in his service, but the man be- trayed him, and on the 11th of February he arrived at the Tower, in custody m. Unimportant as this rebellion had proved, it gave occasion to frightful severities. When first esta- blished upon the throne Mary had humanely refused to sacrifice the Lady Jane, although that measure press the people after their lusts." He therefore imputes negli- gence and breach of trust to inferior authorities, if they do not rise upon tyrannical sovereigns, and rescue the people from their oppressions. This reasoning he applies to England, and he glances intelligibly enough at the Queen. The tract undoubtedly contains indefensible positions, such, it may be hoped, as the author would never have allowed to appear, had he published his work himself. But great allowances are justly demandable for the acts of a man reduced for conscience' sake alone from opu- lence to beggary. Nor is it to be forgotten that Queen Mary's government was such as could hardly fail to hurry free reasoners upon politics into speculative indiscretions. The talents and attainments of Bishop Poynet were of no mean extent. He died in exile, at Strasburg, in August, 1556, being only forty years of age. Strype, Eccl. Mem. iii. 535. Collier, ii. 363. God- win, de Prsesul. 238. m Godwin, Annal. 116. 1554.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 123 had been strongly recommended by the imperial mi- nisters n. On the day, however, following that of Wyat's caption, warrants were signed for the execu- tion of both Jane ° and her husband. Intelligence of her approaching fate was communicated to the former by Feckenham, the Queen's chaplain, who zealously laboured to bring about her apostasy from a scriptural faith. But Jane was neither alarmed nor distracted by the prospect of imminent dissolu- tion. She received Feckenham's announcement with perfect equanimity ; her powers of arguing even not suffering, as it seems, the slightest interruption. She reasoned upon justification by faith, and de- fended that doctrine from the imputation of encou- raging immorality, with all the acuteness of one whose mind was mature, and whose anticipations were unclouded. Feckenham then turned his atten- tion to transubstantiation, uncritically pressing her, according to custom, with Christ's words at the Last Supper. Jane replied, " Our Lord also called him- self a door, and a vine ; but in truth he was neither the one nor the other of these things." Her oppo- nent urged, that in persisting to interpret figura- tively the Saviour's words in instituting the Eucha- rist, she grounded her faith upon uncertain authori- ties, and not upon the Church. The youthful dis- putant answered, " I ground my faith upon God's • n Lingard, vii. 172, from Griffet. ° " Though no part of the late conspiracy was imputed to her. See her letter to the Queen, copied from the original, in the Bri- tish Museum, and communicated by the Rev. Dr. Birch." Neve's Animad. 485. 124 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1564. word, by which the faith of the Church must be tried ; and not God's word by the Church, or my faith either. Shall I believe the Church because of antiquity ? or shall I give credit to that Church which taketh from me one half of the Lord's Sup- per ? I say, that is an evil Church, not the spouse of Christ, but the spouse of the devil, which both taketh from the Lord's Supper, and addeth to it. To that Church, I say, God will add plagues, and he will blot it out of the book of life." At last, after repeated endeavours, all hope of perverting Jane being abandoned, Feckenham thus uncharitably took his leave of her. " Madam, I am sorry for you ; I am sure that we two shall never meet hereafter." The following was her reply : " True it is, we shall never meet, except God turn your heart. For I feel well assured, that, unless you repent, and turn to God, you are in an evil case ; and I pray God, in the bowels of his mercy, to send you his Holy Spirit. He hath given you a great gift of utterance, and you might do him good service, if it pleased him also to open the eyes of your heart p." On Monday, the 12th of February, Jane and her husband met their unmerited and untimely fate. The Lord Guilford would fain have had a parting interview with his youthful spouse on the previous evening ; but Jane declined the melancholy pleasure. They soon should permanently rejoin each other, she said, in a better place. While on the very brink of their awful struggle into this unseen abode of peace, «• Foxc, F290. 1554.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 125 it was better, therefore, that they should remain at a distance from each other : a meeting might un- nerve and distract them both. Guilford suffered on a scaffold without the Tower, and as he passed on- ward to it, his admirable wife indulged herself with a dying gaze upon his form from the window of her prison. For a moment the mournful spectacle over- came her fortitude, but she quickly rallied, and again displayed that enviable composure by which Provi- dence had so kindly mitigated her sorrows. On her way to the place of execution she met the cart which conveyed her husband's headless trunk to the cha- pel ; but she had ceased to think on the departed youth as a sojourner upon earth, and she passed by his mangled remains without any visible emotion. Jane paid the forfeit of follies not her own upon a scaffold erected within the Tower. She mounted it with intrepidity, and thus addressed the persons assembled to witness her departure : " I am come hither, good Christian people, to die for the commis- sion of an unlawful act. I consented to take that which belonged to the Queen's Highness ; but as to the desire or procurement thereof, I do wash my hands in innocency, this day, in the sight of God, and before you all. Bear me witness, I beseech you, good friends, that I die a true Christian, and that I hope for salvation only through the blood of Jesus. I confess that I have known the Word of God, and yet that I have at the same time neglected it, loving myself and the world, rather than the health of my own soul. Worthily and happily, therefore, has this plague and punishment overtaken me. I thank, 120 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1554. however, most heartily, my gracious God, that he has allowed me time for repentance. And now, good people, assist me, I beseech you, with your prayers." She then knelt down, and repeated the fifty-first Psalm in English. Having finished it she arose, gave her gloves and handkerchief to a female attendant, and untied her gown. The executioner would have helped her off with this, but she gently put him aside, and accepted the assistance of two gentlemen who stood by. Her neck being bared, the executioner knelt down, and entreated her for- giveness. " You have it most willingly," she re- plied. He then begged her to step into some straw, which stood before her. Having complied, she saw the block, but nothing moved, she merely said, " I pray you, despatch me quickly ;" and immediately she knelt down. " Will you," she then said to the executioner, " take it off before I lay me down ?" He replied, " No, Madam." Her next care was to bind a handkerchief over her eyes ; which being effected, she bent her body forward, and groped about for the block. She now evidently became agi- tated ; for not readily meeting with the object of her search, she said, " What shall I do ? where is it ? where is it ?" Immediately her neck was guided to the point ; on which she stretched her frame along, and said, " Lord, into thy hands I commend my spi- rit." In an instant after this the uplifted axe and gushing blood informed every streaming eye around that the youthful victim was no longer within reach of earthly griefs q. q Foxc, Burnet, Godwin. 1554.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 127 On the day preceding that of Jane's execution, the Chancellor Gardiner preached at court. In his dis- course he exhorted the Queen to rigorous proceed- ings against the captured insurgents'. Fearful de- monstrations of a hearty disposition to follow this inhuman advice, were exhibited on the following day s ; twenty gibbets being then erected in different quarters of the metropolis, and its outskirts \ Upon these, fifty of Wyat's unhappy followers expiated their offences. Others were sent down into Kent for this purpose. Altogether, sixty individuals perished in consequence of Wyat's insurrection, by the hands of justice, upon this occasion. Those who suffered were, however, only a selection from the crowd of prisoners ; the more undistinguished of whom were paraded through the streets of London, bound toge- ther in pairs, with halters round their necks, to the palace u. In the court-yard there, they were directed to kneel down, and the Queen, looking from a bal- cony, pronounced the pardon of their delinquency. r Strype, Eccl. Mem. iii. 140. s Ibid. 143. 1 Godwin, Annal. 118. John Knox, as cited by Strype (145), thus mentions this disgusting parade of vindictive cruelty. " I find that Jezebel, that cursed idolatress, caused the blood of the prophets of God to be shed, and Naboth to be martyred unjustly for his own vineyard. But I think she never erected half so many gallows in all Israel, as Mary hath done in London alone." u As to the number of those who formed this melancholy spec- tacle, there is a considerable discrepancy among historians. Ac- cording to Stow there were four hundred and more ; according to Holinshed, two hundred and forty. Godwin makes them four hundred. 128 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1554. They naturally received this clemency, ungracious as was the mode of their deliverance, with shouts of God save Queen Mary! They then were con- ducted to Westminster Hall, and there allowed to cast away their halters. Their riddance from these ominous appendages excited a new burst of loyal exultation. They cast their caps into the air, and made the spacious hall resound with cries of God save the Queen ! Nor did they fail to stimulate the loyalty of such as met them, by repeating this cry in their joyous passage homewards, through the streets of London v. The 17th of February was devoted to the Duke of Suffolk's trial. Being convicted, he was be- headed on Tower-hill, in the morning of the twenty- third. His fate was but little commiserated, be- cause he had been the means of prematurely cut- ting off his daughter Jane ; whose excellent quali- ties had excited general admiration. If Suffolk, however, had not been tempted to crime and folly by his unfortunate connexion with the royal family, he would, probably, have passed through life in comfort and respectability. For he possessed a con- siderable share of personal virtue, a disposition to encourage learning, and a thorough sensibility to religious impressions. In his attachment to the Re- formation he continued unshaken to the end x. On the day of his execution, Mary pardoned some Kentish men, detained prisoners in Southwark ; who v Strype, Eccl. Mem. iii. 14(5. x Ibid. 147. 1554] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 129 were introduced into her presence in the same igno- minious manner that had been adopted when the royal mercy was dispensed before. This act of clemency served, like its precursor, to make London echo with loyal acclamations, the delivered rustics raising the usual cry, and tossing their halters into the air, when they had gained the street y. On the 9th of March, the Lord Thomas Grey, Suffolk's brother and fellow- conspirator was convicted of high treason z. He was beheaded on the 27th of April a. Sir Thomas Wyat underwent the same punishment on the 11th of that month b. He had intreated for his life in the most abject terms, and at one time, with a view of obtaining favour from the Queen, he had inculpated the Lady Elizabeth, and the Earl of Devonshire ; both of whom were in custody. Before his death, Wyat retracted the greater part, if not the whole of his accusations against these two dis- tinguished persons ; and, in consequence, they were released from the Tower, though not set at large. Elizabeth was transferred to Woodstock ; Courtenay to the castle of Fotheringay c. They seem, in fact, ' Strype, Eccl. Mem. iii. 147. * Ibid. " Godwin, Annal. 119. b Strype, Eccl. Mem. iii. 149. William Thomas, a writer against Popery, who had filled a subordinate official situation under King Edward VI. was among the conspirators executed at this time. He had conceived the atrocious design of assassinat- ing the Queen, greatly to Wyat's disgust and abhorrence. While in prison, Thomas made an attempt upon his own life. Collier, ii. 362. e Godwin, ut supra. VOL. IV. K 130 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1554. to have been acquainted with Wyat's treasonable in- tentions, but not to have committed themselves by any overt act, in his favour. The popular excitement at this time occasioned an artifice, which requires notice on account of the tri- umphant manner assumed in relating it by certain Romish writers. About the 14th of March, some extraordinary sounds were heard from a wall in Al- dersgate-street, and considerable crowds were soon collected, in consequence, around the spot. An address to the bystanders was evidently meant by the invisible agent, but unfortunately, the sounds uttered were somewhat inarticulate. There were, however, persons in the street who professed them- selves able to distinguish the words which thus mysteriously fell upon the ear. These interpreters informed such as listened to them, that the voice de- nounced innumerable woes to the nation, if the Spanish match, the mass, auricular confessions, and other Romish usages were not immediately aban- doned. In this world all impositions are certain of a temporary success, for none are ever set on foot which some people do not feel an interest in for- warding, and many men appear to find the moments in which the ingenuity of another is exerted in de- ceiving them, among the happiest in their lives. The wonder of Aldersgate-street, accordingly, known as the spirit in the wall, and pronounced of an ori- gin undoubtedly angelic, speedily became the talk of London. At length, the Lord Mayor found himself called upon to interfere, and the whole affair imme- diately assumed a very intelligible characters Eliza- 1554.] UNDER QUEEN xMARY. 131 beth Crofts, a girl of eighteen, had undertaken, it appeared, to deliver these oracular denunciations through a tube applied to a fissure in the wall. Among those who favoured the crowd with informa- tion as to the precise import of her half- articulate effusions, were, of course, individuals concerned in arranging the plot. The principal, with seven ac- complices, were committed to prison, and the girl did public penance for her imposture at St. Paul's Cross d. This contemptible fraud appears to have given much satisfaction among the more artful and violent Romanists e ; who represented it as an exact counterpart of such admitted impositions as have brought discredit upon their own sect. Especially was it used as a parallel to the case of Elizabeth Bar- ton f. But there is an important difference between the two ; as also between the deception practised in Aldersgate-street, and the various miracles of Ro- manism. The London impostor was, indeed, proba- bly a Protestant ; but no clergyman, or other person of any note, attached to the Reformation, was found among her advisers or supporters. Nor have Pro- testant authorities encouraged an expectation of in- terruptions in the ordinary course of nature as authentications of their opinions. In Barton's im- posture, on the contrary, several ecclesiastics were implicated ; while two papal agents countenanced it, and even Bishop Fisher allowed it to tarnish his high d Strype, Eccl. Mem. iii. 153. Burnet, Hist. Ref. ii. 428. e Sanders, 255. Ribadeneyra, 216. f Burnet, ut supra. See Hist. Ref. under King Henry VIII. i. 409. K 2 132 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1554. reputation. Such humiliating instances, indeed, may ever be expected to occur in a Church which has canonized a multitude of individuals, all of whom, it is pretended, have established their claims to saintly honours, by the working of miracles. A succession of extraordinary statements is thus connected inse- parably with the Romish religion, affording not un- reasonably to its professors a ground for believing and representing that especial manifestations of hea- venly favour are the peculiar privilege of their sect. The weaker minds, nurtured in such a system, are naturally prepared for delusion, the more unprinci- pled ones for imposture. Protestants, however, are not instructed by their spiritual guides to credit any accounts of miracles unrecorded in Scripture. An imposition, therefore, occurring among them, is in no degree the fault of their system ; it is entirely chargeable upon individual baseness and folly. Among the various indications of the Queen's re- solution to restore Popery, no one wore a more un- gracious appearance than her treatment of Sir James Hales, one of the justices in the court of Common Pleas. At the last autumn assizes, in Kent, that judge felt himself called upon, in the discharge of his duty, to say from the bench, that mass could not legally be celebrated in churches ; no act having then passed -to authorize it. This unpalatable doctrine, of which, however, no man could deny the soundness, instantly cancelled Mary's obligations to the consci- entious magistrate. That he alone,, of all the per- sons urged to concur in disinheriting her, should have persisted in refusing his signature to King Ed- 1554.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 133 ward's devise, was at once forgotten. An official statement of an undoubted fact offensive to the royal ears, was deemed unpardonable. When Hales pre- sented himself in Westminster-hall to take the oaths, at the beginning of October, the Chancellor Gardi- ner accordingly repulsed him, as having, by his late declaration at the assizes, disobliged her Majesty. Vainly did the judge urge his obligation to speak according to his conscience. He was a Protestant, and Gardiner impudently derided his plea of con- science8. The Chancellor, indeed, admitted that what he called " the rigour of the law," was upon the judge's side ; but he found the face to add ; " Ye might have had regard to the Queen's High- ness's present doings in this case." He adverted also to Mary's favourable opinion of Hales, on ac- count of his refusal to sign her brother's will. As, however, the judge's constancy proved immoveable, Gardiner, at length, thus uncourteously dismissed him ; " Ye may depart, as ye came, without the oath ; for as it appeareth, ye are scarce worthy the place." Not contented with dismissing this upright magistrate from his office, the bigoted and vindic- tive government on the 26th of January, committed E " Hales. I have professed the law ; against which in cases of justice, I will never, God willing, proceed, nor in any wise dissemble, but with the same shew forth my conscience : and if it were to do again, I would do no less than I did. Gardiner. Yea, Master Hales, your conscience is known well enough. I know you lack no conscience. Hales. My Lord, ye may do well to search your own conscience ; for mine is better known to my- self than to you." Foxe, 1392. 134 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1554. him to the King's Bench prison h. He remained there until the beginning of Lent, when he was transferred *o Bread- street counter. Thence, he was conveyed to the Fleet ; in which prison Bishop Day of Chichester, and some other able adherents of Romanism importuned him to recant. Unhap- pily for his peace, Hales yielded at length to the sophistries and solicitations of these advisers. A horrid fit of despondence immediately overwhelmed him, and life itself became insupportable. While thus agonised by remorse, he received one evening a call to supper by saying that he was ill, and must go without delay to bed. Through the night he sobbed and groaned incessantly. On the following morning, about six o'clock, he complained of thirst, and ordered his servant to procure him a draught of ale. On the man's return, he found that his un- happy master had attempted his life with a pen- knife. Gardiner soon afterwards mentioned this lamentable event in the Star-chamber, unfeelingly h Foxe (1392) says that Sir James Hales was committed a few days after the conversation with Gardiner in Westminster-hall ; which took place on the 6th of October. In another part of his work, the martyrologist has preserved a sort of diary, (1333) in which occurs the following entry : " Upon the Saturday follow- ing, being the 26th of January, Justice Hales was committed to the Marshalsea." This date appears the more probable one, be- cause it is found in a document which seems to have been written at the very time ; and also because Wyat openly took the field on the 25th of January. Hales, probably, was suspected, or at least accused of a participation in Wyat's treasonable enter- prise. 1554.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 135 and insultingly adding, that poor Hales 's mind had been imbued with a doctrine of desperation. To this uncharitable commentary, the persecuted judge eventually supplied a farther confirmation. His ene- mies possessed the power to restore his liberty, and they did restore it. But their ill usage, importuni- ties, and artifices had undermined his confidence in the steadinsss of his faith, and had tarnished his reputation for integrity. To repair these losses was beyond their power. Their victim's tranquillity was^ accordingly, gone. After wearing away some mise- rable months at his house in Kent, he was driven to seek a guilty refuge from his anguish, by drowning himself in the shallow waters of a neighbouring stream . On the 4th of March, the Queen exercised her prerogative as earthly head of the national church, according to precedents in the reigns of her father and brother, by issuing injunctions to the prelacy. She prefaced this instance of her interference in ecclesiastical affairs with the following description of English society under the late monarch. " Hereto- fore, in the time of the late reign of our most dearest brother King Edward VI. (whose soul God pardon,) divers notable excesses and faults, with divers kinds of heresies, simony, advoutryk, and other enormities, have been committed within this our realm, and other our dominions ; the same con- tinuing yet hitherto in like disorder, since the begin- 1 Foxe, 1282, 1333, 1392. k Adultery. 136 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1554. ning of our reign without any correction, or refor- mation at all ; and the people both of the laity and clergy, and chiefly of the clergy, have been given to much insolence and ungodly rate \ greatly to the displeasure of Almighty God, and very much to our regret and evil contentation, and to the no little slander of other Christian realms, and in a manner to the subversion and clear defacing of this our realm m." In order to remedy these disorders, her Majesty enjoined, that ecclesiastical canons used under King Henry VIII. should be put in full force ; that ordinaries should leave out of official instruments all mention of the royal authority ; that they should cease to require the oath of supremacy ; that they should carefully exclude from ecclesiastical offices all Sacramentaries, or persons charged with any kind of heresy, or other great crime ; that they should diligently labour to repress heresy, and nota- ble crimes, especially in the clergy ; that they should exert themselves to destroy pernicious opinions, books, ballads, and other devices engendering ha- tred and discord ; that they should remove and punish all schoolmasters and preachers who set forth evil doctrine ; that they should deprive all married ecclesiastics ; that they should divorce such persons from their wives ; that they should make arrange- ments for the serving of churches destitute of incum- bents, or at least take care that the parishioners, in 1 Manner ot' living. "' " Parturiunt montes ; naseetur ridiculus m'us." Hor. A. I\ 139. 1554.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 137 such cases, should resort to a neighbouring church. Besides these expedients for repressing the frightful immorality and heresy, which, according to the pro- clamation, had overrun the country, the following were also enjoined : processions and the Latin litany were to be restored ; all ceremonies, formerly used, were to be observed ; children were to be baptised and confirmed as they had been anciently ; clergymen lately ordained, and thought fit to minister still, were to have such things supplied as had been wanting in their ordination ; homilies inculcating an uniform doctrine were to be prepared ; parishioners were to be forced to attend their several churches, and to hear service there devoutly ; all schoolmasters and teachers were to be examined, and being found any way suspicious, they were to be removed, and Ca- tholics placed in their appointments, with an espe- cial injunction to prepare their scholars for taking part in the celebration of mass ; and finally, clergy- men of every degree were to set good examples, and to repress vice n. Within a few days after this exercise of the supre- macy, Mary made use again of her ecclesiastical powers, schismatical as she considered them. On the 16th of March, was issued a royal commission empower- ing the Chancellor, together with his brethren Tun- stall, Boner, Parfew, Day, and Kitchen ; to deprive Archbishop Holgate, and the Bishops Ferrar, Bird, and Bush, as being regulars who had broken their n Burnet, Hist. Ref. Records, ii. 345. 138 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1554. vows of celibacy0. Another instrument, dated on the preceding day, authorised the same commission- ers to cashier from their several sees, for other alleged misdemeanors, the Bishops Taylor, Hooper, and Harley. Of these, the two latter were also married men, but never having entered into any monastic order, they had not, by choosing the con- jugal state, violated any express obligation. Their dismissal, accordingly, appears to have been chiefly grounded upon the fact that they held their bishop- rics during pleasure, which was treated as a defect in their several titles ; and her Majesty thus ac- counted for this ungracious exercise of her discre- tion : " It hath been credibly brought to our know- ledge, that, both by preaching, teaching, and setting forth erroneous doctrine, and also by inordinate life, and conversation, contrary both to the laws of Almighty God, and the use of the Universal Chris- tian Church, they have declared themselves very un- worthy of that vocation and dignity in the Church p. Six, of the seven prelates proscribed in these two instruments, were deprived of their sees by a formal act of the commissioners, on the 20th of March. Bush, of Bristol, upon some unknown account, escaped this humiliation. He, probably, professed contrition and conversion ; offering at the same time ° Burnet, Hist. Ref. Records, ii. 350. Harmer, 130. r Ibid. 352. Their consecrations were also represented as null. Taylor, Bishop of Lincoln, was deprived " ob nullitatem consecrationis ejus, el defectum tituli sui quern habuit a B. Edv. vi., cum hac clausula, Dum bene sc gcsserit." Harmer, 134. 1554.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 139 to resign his see. This he actually did after a very short interval ; and thus seven bishoprics awaited the acceptance of Romish incumbents q. Goodrich, of Ely, at the end of a few weeks, made, by his death, another vacancy r. So many of the chief ecclesiastical appointments being placed at the Queen's disposal, care was now taken to remove clergymen of Protestant principles from inferior situations in the Church. This ejec- tion was effected pretty speedily and completely by proceeding against all persons in holy orders who had contracted matrimony. Bishop Boner had un- dertaken to enforce this kind of discipline in his own diocese, during February . The other bishops ap- pear to have waited until they had received the Queen's injunctions. Every secular married priest was then required to put away his wife within twelve months, and undergo penance. If he consented, he was admitted, on his petition, to minister again. To the regulars no such indulgence was allowed. " " The reader may observe, these bishops, excepting Bush, were all turned out upon the strength of the Regale : for though the sentence of deprivation was pronounced by bishops, and none but those of that order are named in the commission ; yet they acted purely upon the Queen's authority, as appears both by the instrument, and the Canterbury-register." Collier, ii. 365. r Ibid. Bishop Goodrich died either on the 9th, or the 10th of May. The precise ground of Bp. Day's restoration to the see of Chichester, is not evident from the register ; which seems to insinuate, that Scory voluntarily resigned that bishopric. Bar- low is said to have resigned freely and spontaneously the see of Bath and Wells. Harmer, 134, 135. ' Strype, Mem. Cranm. 471. 140 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1554. They were rigorously excluded from all hope of professional employment \ These harsh measures gradually spread a great mass of misery over the country ; great numbers of families used to comfort and respectability, being turned adrift to struggle with poverty and obloquy u. Mary having completed all the political arrange- ments necessary for her marriage, desired to have them sanctioned by the legislature ; and accordingly, writs were issued for the assembling of a new Par- liament. London, probably, stood somewhat low in the royal favour, on account of the discontent, and heresy, as a faith undoubtedly Apostolical, was called 1 Wharton's Observations upon Strype's Cranmer. Append. 1058. u It is reported by a contemporary author, whose work in de- fence of clerical marriages was published by Abp. Parker, that twelve thousand persons were reduced to indigence by this cruel measure ; but that statement is, undoubtedly, an exaggeration. The sufferers, however, must have been numerous ; and when Romanists paint the hardships undergone by the monks and nuns ejected under King Henry, they may fairly be reminded of the clerical families plunged in unmerited distress by Queen Mary's proscription of married clergymen. A pittance, it is true, was usually granted to these unfortunate individuals, as one had been to the monastic inmates. But in the former case as in the latter, complaints were made upon the insufficiency of this allowance, and it is added, in many instances, ecclesiastics ejected at this time were iniquitously deprived of that provision which the go- vernment intended for them. Some judgment may, perhaps, be formed as to the number of clergymen ejected at this time l>y the number of processes instituted in the diocese of Canterbury. In this are about 380 spiritual promotions. The deprivations amounted to 73. Harmer, 138. 1554.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 141 at court, which extensively pervaded its population. With a view to overcome the holders of these ob- noxious opinions, the gibbets which had served for the punishment of Wyat's followers, yet frowned upon the citizens in every quarter of the metropolis, and in order to humble farther these refractory spirits, it was determined that the more obedient towns-people of Oxford should enjoy the benefit of that expenditure which necessarily attends the great national council. The Queen's more prudent ad- visers, overruled, however, this unpopular intention, and although preparations had been already made, at Oxford, for the meeting of Parliament, that im- portant body was at length directed to assemble in the usual place, at Westminster, on the second of April x. It is asserted, that experience of the diffi- culties encountered by the court in the last Parlia- ment led to much infamous corruption among those who were returned at this time : pensions of one hun- dred, or two hundred pounds a year, being promised to the more active and venal members y. In this disgraceful statement, undoubtedly, there is much x Foxe, 1296. The disgusting spectacles every where meeting the eye, of gibbets and human heads are thus mentioned by the French ambassador : " Vous pouvant asseurer, monsieur, mon compaignon, que les plus beaulx spectacles que Ton puisse veoir en ceste ville, et par tout ce pays, ce sont gibetz accom- paignez des plus braves et vaillantz hommes qu'elle eust poinct en son royaulme." (Noailles, iii. 77.) " II n'y a par toute ceste ville triomphe que de gibetz, et testes de justiciez par-dessus les portes." Ibid. 83. 7 Burnet, Hist. Ref. ii. 434. 142 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1554. probability both from the conduct of the Lower House, and from preparations made some time be- fore by the Austrian family for bribing the more mercenary spirits among Englishmen of influence z. The first act passed was one to declare that the royal prerogatives were inherent in the crown, whe- ther possessed by a male, or a female. In the debate upon it, some clauses were added, reasonably enough, declaring that every occupant of the throne, although raised to that dignity by common law, was bound by such constitutional limitations as had been estab- lished at various times. The statute was framed, according to the conceit of some visionaries, with a view to enable Mary, as the first female occupant of the throne, to rule in defiance of such limitations as had been imposed upon her predecessors ; all of them having been of the other sex. The true reason of this enactment was, however, most probably, to provide against the crude and seditious doctrines broached by some of the Reformers a ; who had in- cautiously maintained that females are incapacitated upon constitutional, and even upon religious grounds, from assuming the sceptre. Another act confirmed the Queen's matrimonial treaty, and thus gave legis- lative authority to Gardiner's judicious and patriotic * The Emperor appears to have borrowed no less than 400,000/. at Gardiner's suggestion, for buying down opposition to his son's marriage. (Burnet, Hist. Ref. ii. 409.) It will be seen hereafter that Philip actually brought over into England a vast mass of treasure. 8 Such reasoners maintained that their arguments were more than ordinarily conclusive in cases where female sovereigns were idolaters. i 1554.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 143 stipulations for guarding the national independence. By another act, the bishopric of Durham was restored to the state in which it stood before Northumber- land's project for its dismemberment. Attainders were also voted against those who had suffered on account of Wyat's rebellion. The Commons then began to discover a violent antipathy against opinions termed heretical by those who were admitted to the wealthy Spaniard's confidence. A bill passed their House to revive the repealed statutes against Lol- lardy, and another to render more effective some particulars in these statutes. The Lords, however, rejected these bills. The Commons also entertained another bill intended to repress erroneous opinions and books ; but this was laid aside on the third read- ing. Amidst this display of zeal for Romanism, it seems to have occurred to such members of the Lower House as had been enriched by the Reforma- tion, that their measures might lead to a call for the surrender of abbey-lands. Now this was a mode of shewing their abhorrence of Protestantism, which, although magnanimous, was repugnant to the feel- ings of the members. They passed, accordingly, a bill to prevent the Bishop of Rome, or any other person, meaning, probably, any legate of the papal see, from troubling individuals possessed of estates, once conventual. This bill also the Lords rejected as unnecessary ; the Bishop of Rome having no authority in England. Assurances were at the same time given, that there existed no intention to disturb individuals in the enjoyment of properties formerly 144 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [1554. belonging to monasteries b. At this disposition of the Lower House to discuss questions bearing upon the papal authority, the court appears to have been displeased c. The objects, therefore, which particu- larly required the legislative sanction having been attained ; the Parliament was dissolved upon the 25th of May d. b Burnet, Hist. Ref. ii. 438. e Strype, Mem. Cranm. 478. d Burnet, ut supra. CHAPTER II. Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer removed to Oxford — Their assent is required to three Romish articles — Cranmer s answer — Ridley,s answer — Cranmer" s disputation — Ridley's disputa- tion— Latimer brought forward to dispute — Cranmer 's oppo- nency — Condemnation of the three Prelates — Cranmer s letter to the Queen — Ridley's letter to the Prolocutor — Debate as to disposing of the three Prelates — Their condition at Oxford — Their occupations there — Abortive proposals for a dispzitation at Cambridge — The Queen s marriage — Bishop Boner's visi- tation— His articles of enquiry — Preparations for a new Parliament — Reversal of Pole's attainder — Bulls authorising the Cardinal to act as Legate — His letter to the King — De- termination to bring him into England — His arrival there — His speech to the Parliament — Submission cf England to the Papacy — Bishop Gardiner's Sermon at St. Paul's Cross — Dispensation for the holding of ecclesiastical estates — Acts passed in Parliament. The Romanists had found their conduct in the last year's convocation injurious to their credit. The opposite party complained every where of having been unfairly treated ; adding, that, although deprived of that assistance which they had anxiously and justly required, they had, nevertheless, completely baffled their opponents a. No man acquainted with the facts could deny that these statements rested upon very plausible grounds, and therefore, it was deter- • Collier, ii. 367. VOL. rv. L 146 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1554. mined to concert measures for silencing such objec- tions to the dominant ecclesiastical system. Cran- mer, Ridley, and Latimer, accordingly, received in their prison, a summons to come forward, and argue in defence of their opinions. When first committed to the Tower, these holy men appear to have been allowed separate chambers, and to have been treated commonly, with reasonable indulgence b. Wyat's rebellion, however, caused every prison to overflow, and the three prelates, together with Mr. Bradford, were, in consequence, all confined in a single room. From this inconvenience they resolved immediately to extract a solid advantage. Expecting daily to be called in question for their faith, and knowing that transubstantiation is the palladium of Po- pery, they read over together, with great attention, the whole New Testament, for the purpose of b Latimer was, however, kept for some time, at the approach of winter, without a fire. This hardship caused him to say that " if the lieutenant of the Tower do not look better after me, per- chance I shall deceive him." That officer, alarmed by this intimation, asked the old man whether he had used these words, and what he meant by them ? He was thus answered ; " Yea, master lieutenant, 1 so said indeed : for you look, I think, that I should burn; but unless you let me have some fire, I am like to deceive your expectation ; for I am like here to starve for cold." Ridley thus describes his treatment in a letter to Grindal. " I was in the Tower about two months close prisoner, and after that had granted to me, without my labour, the liberty of the Tower, and so continued about half a year, and then, because I refused to allow the mass with my presence, I was shut up in close prison again." Letters of the Martyrs. 1564; p. 32. 1554.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 147 detecting, if possible, any grounds in it for the Ro- mish Eucharistic doctrines. The result of their study was a renewed conviction that the sacred pen- men afford no reason for believing either the corporal presence, or the propitiatory character attributed to the mass c. Oxford was the place appointed for a disputation between the three prelates, and some of the abler Romanists ; it being considered that an uni- versity was best adapted for a scholastic encounter. To this ancient abode of learning, accordingly, a committee, selected from the Convocation, was charged to repair ; an order having been issued, on the 8th of March, that the three prelates should pro- ceed thither in the custody of Sir John Williams d. Two days afterwards the illustrious prisoners, being allowed to carry nothing with them besides the clothes which they wore, were conveyed from Lon- don to Windsor ; whence they were transferred to Oxford6, and lodged in the common gaol there as the vilest criminals. The Convocation decided, that the positions for discussion should be the following. 1. In the sacrament of the altar, by virtue of the di- vine word uttered by the priest, the natural body of Christ, conceived of the Virgin Mary, is really pre- sent, under the species of bread and wine ; also his natural blood. 2. After consecration there remains not the substance of bread and wine ; nor any other substance, unless the substance of Christ, God and c Protestation of Mr. Hugh Latimer, rendered to Dr. Weston. Strype, Eccl. Mem. Append, iii. 292. d Proceedings of Privy Council, 54. e Foxe, 1299. Letters of the Martyrs, nt supra. L2 148 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1554. man. 3. In the mass is a vivifical propitiatory f sa- crifice of the Church for the sins as well of the living as of the dead 6. These articles were transmitted to Cambridge by the Lord Chancellor Gardiner, in order that the aca- demic body there might solemnly approve them, and might delegate certain disputants of ability to defend them at the sister-university. No difficulty being made as to either of these matters, the Vice-chan- cellor, attended by four assistants, arrived in Oxford on Friday, the 13th of April. On the following morning the delegates from Cambridge paid a visit to Dr. Weston, the Prolocutor of the Convocation, at Lincoln College ; and thence a solemn procession moved to St. Mary's. The forenoon being consumed in religious rites, and in formal preliminaries for the business in hand, the commissioners repaired, after dinner, to St. Mary's again ; and, taking their seats in front of the altar, they desired the Mayor of Ox- ford to bring Dr. Cranmer forth. The Archbishop entered surrounded by javelin-men ; and, leaning upon his staff, made a low obeisance to the court. A seat was offered to him, but he declined it. Dr. Weston then began to harangue in commendation of unity ; an excellence of which, he observed, the pri- soner had formerly been duly sensible ; but having of late broken it, and having taught a new faith every year, the Queen had been graciously pleased to charge those before whom he stood, with the task of ' " Vivificam, prepitiabile." « Strype, Mem, Cranm. 479. 1554.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 149 endeavouring to bring him back to unity again. Cranmer modestly, but firmly and collectedly, re- plied, that he highly valued unity ; and, after citing some historical instances to shew its advantages, he concluded by declaring, that lie should gladly em- brace it, provided it were in Christ, and agreeable to his holy word. The three propositions, to which he was required to subscribe, being then placed in his hands, he read them over three or four times. At last he asked, " Does the word natural, in the first article, mean organic P" A considerable confusion followed from this enquiry, different terms being used by those who undertook to answer it ; but the con- struction which appeared to prevail was, that the word natural asserted the identity of our Lord's body in the Eucharist, with that body which was born of the Virgin Mary. " The first proposition then," said Cranmer, " I utterly deny." After this he looked attentively for a time at the remaining two articles. At length he thus broke silence : " These propositions also are false, and contrary to God's holy word. If, therefore, by the unity which you recommend, it is meant that I should join in approv- ing these doctrines, I must wholly decline to follow your advice." The Prolocutor then said, " You must write your mind upon these articles this night, and you must maintain your opinions in a public dis- putation on Monday next. Meanwhile you will be supplied with any books that you may require." The illustrious prisoner was then conducted back to the common gaol, followed by general sympathy and admiration. His humble yet undaunted carriage 4 150 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1554. had, indeed, excited violently the best feelings in every ingenuous breast around him ; and the eyes of several masters of arts, who disapproved his princi- ples, were suffused with tears as they rested upon this impressive spectacle of fallen greatness, and Christian meekness h. On the day in which the deputation from Cam- bridge had arrived at Oxford, the Bishops Ridley and Latimer were removed from Bocardo, as the gaol was called, to private houses l. Ridley was lodged with one of the aldermen of the city, and from that abode he was brought into St. Mary's church, where the three propositions were immediately shewn to him. Having read them, he said at once, " They are all false ; they spring from a sour and bitter root." He was then charged with having maintained transubstantiation in a sermon which he preached when Bishop of Rochester. " That I deny," he said ; " can you bring forward any who heard me ?" He was next asked, " Did you not advise my Lord Chan- cellor that now is, to stick to the mass, and other things ?" He replied, " Surely my Lord hath not so reported of me ; if he hath, he has uttered that which is not true/' It was then demanded of him, whe- ther he would maintain his opinions in a disputation ? " While God gives me life," he replied, " he shall not only have my heart, but also my tongue and my h Foxc, 1300. 1 " Bocavdo is a stinking and filthy prison for drunkards, whores, and harlots, and the vilest sort of people." Note by Coverdale upon a letter written by Bp. Ridley to Mr. Bradford. Letters of the Martyrs, ."> ». 1554.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 151 pen to defend his truth. Let me, however, have my books, and sufficient time to prepare myself for this disputation." He was answered, that he could not be supplied with his own books and papers ; nor allowed longer time for preparation than the interval between that day and the following Tuesday ; but that he might have the use of such authors as he should require. On this he observed, that it was hard to be deprived of helps prepared by his own in- dustry, and to be called upon for a defence of impor- tant truths on so short a notice. He was then de- sired to prepare a written answer to the three pro- positions in the course of the night. After which the officers were ordered to remove himk. The venerable Latimer was then introduced, bend- ing under the weight of years and infirmities. On his head were two or three caps, together with a handkerchief; a pair of spectacles hung by a string upon his breast, and in his hand was a staff. Being seated, the three propositions were shewn to him, and he pronounced them false. On this the Prolo- cutor informed him, that he must dispute in defence of his opinions on the next Wednesday. The old man replied, " From age, lack of books, and sickness, I am almost as meet to be captain of Calais, as to dispute. But I will declare my mind as to these arti- cles either in writing, or by word of mouth ; and I will stand to all that you can lay upon my back. I must, however, complain of ill usage. I have been allowed to have neither pen nor ink ; nor any book, k Letters of the Martyrs, 59. 152 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1554. save this New Testament, which I have read over deliberately seven times. But I can find no mass in it, nor yet the marrow-bones, nor sinews of the same V* This ludicrous mode of referring to Romish definitions of high authority, disconcerted the assem- bled doctors. At length Weston said, "I will make you grant, that, in the New Testament, the mass hath both marrow-bones and sinews." Latimer re- torted, i( That you will never do, Master Doctor;" and he then began upon a defence of the language which he had used. A violent rush towards the place where he sat immediately followed ; it not being doubted that his criticisms upon transubstantiation would prove both acute and amusing. He was, how- ever, abruptly stopped ; and the court adjourned m. On the following day, being Sunday, the commis- sioners attended, in the morning, a sermon preached by Harpsflekl, at St. Mary's. From church they went to a grand dinner, provided for them at Mag- dalen College. In the evening they supped with the Prolocutor, at Lincoln College, and there were re- 1 The Trentine catechism directs the Romish clergy to teach, that in the Eucharist is truly present whatever is found in a real human body, as bones and nerves. (See Hist. Ref. under King Edward VI. iii. 140, note.) Latimer, therefore, in mentioning " the marrow-bones and sinews of the mass," merely glanced, in one of his habitual veins of homely pleasantry, at a doctrine truly Romish. There is reason for believing that he had used this ludi- crous image not unfrequently in his sermons ; for Persons tells us, that " boys, when he was going up to the pulpit, would cry, Now, father Latimer, at the marrow- bones of the mass." Three Conv. iii. 223. m Foxc, ut supra. 1554.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 153 ceived, as it seems, the required answers, in writing, from Cranmer and Ridley n. The former of these papers is to the following purport. " Our Lord, on the eve of his passion, lest we should ever become unmindful of the benefits which he was about to pur- chase for us, enjoined us perpetually to commemorate the breaking of his body, and the shedding of his blood, by the eating of bread, and the drinking of wine. Hence those who deny the cup to laymen, in obedience to some human tradition, are manifestly repugnant to Christ, and obnoxious to those rebukes which he addressed to the Scribes and Pharisees, Ye have made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition °. But in vain do ye worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of ??ien?. The mystical bread and wine, received ac- cording to Christ's institution, are not only sacra- ments of his body wounded, and his blood shed for our sakes, but they are also seals, as it were, of the Divine promises and gifts. Faithful Christians hold fellowship with Jesus, and with all his members. From this communion they derive a heavenly food, nourishing them unto life eternal, a living stream quenching the thirst of their labouring consciences, an ineffable joy diffusing itself over their hearts, and strengthening them for all the offices of piety. / am the living bread, said Christ, which came down n Foxe mentions only the receipt of Cranmer's answer ; but as Ridley's is likewise extant, it was, probably, sent about the same time. 0 St. Matt. xv. 6. i" Ibid. 9. 154 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1554. from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever*. In the Eucharist, therefore, the ele- ments continue mere bread and wine, until they have been received by the faithful. Christ then leaves not the communicant so soon as the Sacrament has been consumed ; according to his promise r, he re- mains in them so long as individuals continue his members. I acknowledge no such natural body of Christ as is purely an intellectual object, being not discernible by the senses, nor distributed into differ- ent members s. I venerate and acknowledge only that body which was born of the Virgin, which suf- fered for us, being visible, palpable, and complete in all the forms and parts of a human and organic body. When Christ said, Eat and drink, he referred not to any uncertain substances, but to material bread and wine ; the sensible qualities of which are unde- niable, and the component parts of which are ob- noxious to no dispute. "He called, therefore, these objects his body and blood, say the ancients, by a mode of expression which is figurative, tropical, ana- gogical, allegorical. Hence we are not to under- stand the Sacraments carnally, but spiritually. Our senses are not to be fixed upon the visible elements, but our minds are to be so exalted, that we may dis- i St. John vi. 51. r Ibid. 56. s " Nullum agnosco corpus naturale Christi, quod solum spiri- tuale sit, intellectuale, et insensibile, quod nullis raembris, aut partibus sit distinctum." It is obvious that metaphysical refine- ments, or rather fallacies and absurdities, such as are mentioned in this passage, must enter into all copious and scholarly defences of transubstantiation. 15 1554.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 155 cern the body and blood of Christ with the eye of faith, may come in contact with him mentally, may drink his blood in the inward man, may soar like eagles from earth to heaven, and fix our hearts upon the place where, at the Father's right hand, sits the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world, by whose stripes we are healed. In the holy Sup- per we become the guests of Christ, and are admo- nished that the crucifixion of his body, and the shed- ding of his blood, are no less necessary for our spiri- tual nutriment unto life eternal, than are ordinary food and drink for the sustenance of our mortal bo- dies. Of this spiritual nutriment the mystical bread and wine received at the Lord's table are a memorial, a pledge, a symbol, a sacrament, and a seal. " The single oblation made by Christ upon the cross was of so great efficacy, that no farther sacrifice was needed for the redemption of men. All the sacrifices of the old law were henceforth taken away, the ob- ject being accomplished which they figured and pro- mised. Whoever, therefore, fixes his hope of salva- tion upon any sacrifice, save that of the cross, has fallen from the Saviour's grace, and offers an affront to his blood. The Lord hath laid on him the ini- quity of us all '. By his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us u. By one offering he hath per- fected for ever them that are sanctified^ . Their sins and iniquities will 1 remember no more. Now 4 Isaiah liii. 6. u Heb. ix. 12. v Ibid. x. 14. 156 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1554. where remission of these is, there is no more offer- ing for sin w. He, therefore, who seeks any other sacrifice for sin, save that of the cross, makes the propitiation of Christ invalid and inefficacious. For if this be sufficient to obtain the remission of sins, there is no need of any other. The necessity of another argues the weakness and insufficiency of this. Almighty God grant that we may truly rest upon the one sacrifice of Christ, and that we, in turn, may repay to Him our sacrifices of thanksgiving, praise, the confession of his name, real amendment and re- pentance, beneficence to our neighbours, and all other offices of piety. For by such sacrifices we shall shew ourselves neither ungrateful towards God, nor un- worthy of our Saviour's sacrifice. " Thus you have, from holy Scripture, and from ancient doctors of the Church, a true and sincere account of the uses for which Christ instituted his holy Supper, and of the fruits properly flowing from it. Whosoever shall wilfully strive to change or transubstantiate, by forced interpretations, or human traditions, what Christ has ordained, he shall answer for such conduct at the last day, and shall understand but too late, that so far from having any part with the Saviour's body and blood, he has eaten and drunk eternal perdition from the supper of eternal life V Bishop Ridley commences his reply by comment- ing upon the unscriptural phraseology, and the ver- bal ambiguities, in which the first proposition is ■ ■ Ileb. x. 18. * Cullier, Records, ii. 82. Foxc, 1301. 1554.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 157 couched. He then thus proceeds : " No dogma is to be established in the Church, which is at variance with God's Word, and with the analogy of faith ; and which draws with it many absurdities. Now such is the dogma contained in this first proposition : there- fore it is not to be established in the Church of God. The carnal presence is contrary to several passages of holy Scripture ; it is at variance with the articles of our faith ; it evacuates and takes away our Lord's institution from his own Supper ; it prostitutes pre- cious things to the profane, casting that which is holy to dogs, and pearls before swine ; it brings before men many monstrous miracles without any necessity, and without any authority from God's Word ; it gives a handle for the defence of their errors to such heretics as think untruly of the two natures of Christ ; it impairs a belief in the reality of his human nature ; lastly, it falsifies the testimony of orthodox fathers, and also that catholic faith of the Church, which apostles have delivered, which martyrs have confirmed, and which the faithful, according to an- cient authors, even now protect. Our Saviour said, speaking of himself, It is expedient for you that I go away : for if I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you ; but if I depart I will send him unto you y. The days will come when the bride- groom shall be taken from them z. If any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there ; believe it not a. St. Peter said of his blessed Mas- y St. John xvi. 7. » St. Matt. ix. 15. n Ibid, xx iv. 23. 158 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1554. ter, Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things b. The articles of our Creed assert of Christ, He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father Al- mighty ; from thence, and not from any other place, as Austin says, he shall come to judge the quick and dead. It was an object in the institution of the holy Supper, that we should shew the Lord's death till he come °. Hence, if Christ be corporally pre- sent, this Supper ought to cease. A thing present is not commemorated, but one that is past and ab- sent. Some of the fathers observe, a figure is vainly used in the presence of that which is figured. Tran- substantiation asserts, that adulterers, homicides, the impenitent and impious, infidels, mice, and dogs can receive the body of Him in whom dwelleth fhe ful- ness of light and grace : which assertion is contra- dicted by six plain texts in one chapter of St. John's Gospel d. This doctrine imposes the necessity of believing many monstrous, needless, and unautho- rised miracles ; as, that accidents exist without their proper subjects, the Lord's body descends without its essential qualities. Some say, that if the Sacra- ment be kept until it has become mouldy and bred worms, the substance miraculously returns. Others deny this. Some say, that Christ's body descends into the stomach of the communicant, and remains there until the species be consumed by the natural heat. Some say, that it remains in good men so b Acts iii. 21. ' 1 Cor. xi. 26. il St. John \i. 1554.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 159 long as they continue good. Others assert, that Christ's body is rapt into heaven immediately that the species are bruised by the teeth. O, miracle- mongers ! I fear, indeed, that in them has been ful- filled the prophecy of Paul : Because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie. That they might all be damned who believed not the truth . The carnal presence has led to that device, which abrogates our Lord's injunction, in denying the cup to the laity. It affords a handle to heretics for de- fending their errors ; as to Marcion, who said that Christ had only the shadowy form of a human body; to Eutyches, who confounded the two natures of Christ. Lastly, it falsifies the words of Justin, Ire- naeus, Tertullian, Origen, Eusebius of Emissa, Atha- nasius, Cyrill, Epiphanius, Jerome, Chrysostom, Austin, Vigilius, Fulgentius, and Bertram. Besides these, I know that I have read places to the same purport in others of the most ancient fathers ; and if the use of my books were allowed me, I would undertake to produce such testimonies at the risk of forfeiting my life, and every thing else which can be lost in this world. " Think not, however, brethren, that because we disapprove the doctrine of your first proposition as a visionary figment, perniciously introduced into the Church of Romanists, without authority from God's Word; that we therefore wish to take away that true e 2 Thess. ii. 10, 11, 12. 160 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1554. presence of Christ's body in his holy Supper, which is founded in God's Word, and illustrated by the commentaries of orthodox fathers. With Luke the Evangelist, and Paul the Apostle, I say, that the bread with thanksgiving is the body of Christ for celebrating a continual remembrance of himself and his death until his coming f. I also say, that the bread which we break is the communion of the body of Christ g. With the orthodox fathers I thus speak, and I think, that not only a signification of the Lord's body is made in the Sacrament of his Supper ; but I also confess, that together with that Sacrament is offered to pious and faithful persons the grace of Christ's body, life, namely, and the nutri- ment of eternity h." On Monday, the 16th of April, soon after eight in the morning, the commissioners proceeded with the customary formalities from Exeter-college to the 1 " Cum Luca Evangelista, et Paulo Apostolo, dico panem in quo gratise actse sint, esse corpus Christi ad memoriam ipsius, et mortis ejus usque ad adventum ejus perpetuo a fidelibus cele- brandam." e 1 Cor. x. 16. h " Cum orthodoxis patribus sic loquor, et sentio non solum significationem corporis Dominici fieri per Sacramentum sure Coense, sed una cum illo exhiberi quoque fateor piis et fidelibus gratiam corporis Christi, vitam scilicet, atque eetemitatis alimo- niam, idque cum Cypriano." (Collier, Records, ii. 85.) Several citations from the fathers follow, which have been omitted for the sake of avoiding unnecessary prolixity. It might appear that Ridley did not discuss at this time the propitiatory character at- tributed by Romanists to the mass. He, probably, found himself unable to accomplish this within the hours allotted for the prepa- ration of his answer. 1554.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 161 Divinity-school. Thither Cranmer was brought, guarded as before. He was placed in the desk ap- propriated to respondents, and near him were ranged the Mayor and Aldermen of Oxford. The Prolo- cutor opened the business of the day in a set speech, which thus began : M We are assembled, my bre- thren, to confound that detestable heresy concerning the verity of Christ's body in the Sacrament." As it might hence be inferred that the speaker consi- dered transubstantiation a detestable heresy, his exordium excited a loud burst of laughter. Order being restored, Weston continued his speech : of which the main purport was, that it is against the Divine laws to question transubstantiation, and that those who entertain such a question may well be thought to doubt the truth and power of God. Cranmer then, after requesting permission to offer a few remarks, thus spoke. " We are assembled to discuss, and to lay before the world, certain contro- verted matters ; of which, we are told, it is unlawful to dispute. If, however, that opinion be correct, or if these matters be not in controversy, surely mine answer is expected in vain." Of these words no no- tice appears to have been taken. Dr. Chadsey com- menced the disputation by reading the three articles upon which Cranmer had already written. He then said, " Reverend master Doctor, you have given up unto us your opinion upon these conclusions. I term it your opinion, because it disagreeth from the Ca- tholic. Thus I argue : your opinion differeth from the Scripture ; therefore you are deceived." The Archbishop replied, " Your former assertion I deny." VOL. IV. m 162 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1554. Chadsey now resumed his argument by reciting the institution of the Lord's Supper according to the Evangelists ; by maintaining that the term, " body" used by them in these passages, is to be understood literally ; and by asserting that the Church has assigned this meaning to that term. In reply, Cranmer insisted, that our Lord's words, in insti- tuting the Eucharist, are figurative, and that the Church had so understood them. In confirmation of his arguments, he produced a written paper, which was handed to the Prolocutor with a request that it might be read aloud. Weston assented to this re- quest, but it was, nevertheless, eluded. A tedious and disorderly disputation was then maintained between the Archbishop and several opponents, until near two o'clock in the afternoon. In conducting this, Latin was used sometimes, at others, English. Cranmer experienced in the course of his arduous conflict, great interruption and rudeness. Even the Prolocutor so far forgot himself as to call him an unlearned, unskilful, and ignorant man. This inde- cency on the presiding officer's part naturally led to much contumelious turbulence among the less con- spicuous persons around. The school, accordingly, re-echoed, at intervals, with hissing, hooting, and the clapping of hands. At length, Dr. Weston dis- missed the assembly by directing his auditors to shout, " The truth prevails l." Cranmer had taken 1 Foxe, 1310. As a specimen of the arguments by which Romanists puzzle themselves into a belief of transubstantiation, it may be worth while to subjoin the criticism of Persons upon 1554.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 1G3 the precaution to charge two friends with the office of committing to paper the particulars of this dispu- tation. These were Jewel, afterwards illustrious as the apologist of the Church of England, and Gilbert Mounson : two faithful notaries, who also discharged the same office, at his own request, for Ridley. The Archbishop likewise intreated for sufficient time to consider all the questions at issue, and for other op- portunities of encountering his adversaries, in order that he might come prepared with such authorities, and dialectic weapons as his experience of the pre- sent day had shewn to be necessary. Nor did he forget to require, that he, with his friends, should be permitted to oppose, as well as to respond ; that is, that they should be placed in a situation to press the Romish disputants with arguments and citations of Cranmer's assertion that Christ is not organically present in the Eucharist. " We may perceive that this great doctor, who had written a great book against the real presence, by which Latimer, among others, was made a Sacramentary, and stood therein unto death upon the credit of this book, understandeth not the very state of the question between us ; for that we hold not Christ's body in the Sacrament to be organical, in that manner as Cran- mer here imagineth, with external dimensions and proportions of members, as he lived upon earth, though truly organical in an- other manner, without extension to place." (Three Conv. hi. 272.) Any readers who wish for more information of this kind may find an abundance of it in Foxe and Persons. As, however, such matter is not likely to prove generally acceptable, it ap- peared desirable to pass cursorily over these wearisome disputa- tions : especially, since ample means of ascertaining the opinions of the parties respectively, upon the points at issue, have already been supplied. M 2 164 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1554. their own choosing. To these reasonable desires, however, but little attention was paid k. On the following day, Bishop Ridley was brought into the Divinity-school, and he met there with the same kind of treatment that Cranmer had encoun- tered on the preceding day. In his opening address to the auditory, he thus adverted to the change which had taken place in his opinions : " I have thought otherwise in times past than I do now, yet, God I call to record unto my soul, I lie not, 1 have not altered my judgment, as now it is, either by con- straint of any man, or laws ; either for the dread of any dangers of this world ; either for any hope of commodity ; but only for the love of the truth, re- vealed unto me by the grace of God, as I am undoubtedly persuaded, in his holy Word, and in the reading of the ancient fathers." He then pro- ceeded to comment upon the verbal ambiguities of the articles upon which he was required to dispute. Of his criticism that portion is especially worthy of notice which treats of the phrase, " By the virtue of God's Word ;" because Romanists habitually use such terms to entrap the unwary by mere sophistry. According to their own assertions they receive no articles of faith which are not derived from God's Word. But they generally forget to add that among them, the phrase, God's Word, means both Scripture and unwritten tradition. Ridley thus handled this equivocation. " There is a double • k Strype, Mom. Cranm, 41 1554.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 165 sense in these words, By the virtue of God's Word, for it is doubtful what Word of God this is : whether it be that which is read in the Evangelists, or in Paul ; or any other. Or if it be that which is in the Evangelists, or in St. Paul ; what that is. If it be in none of them, then, how it may be known to be God's Word, and of such virtue, that it should be able to work so great a matter." The disputation was, of course, conducted, as had been that of the former day, with the intricate technicalities of mode and figure. Perhaps, it may be thought that both Cranmer and Ridley would have done more wisely, if they had wholly refused to concern themselves- with these frothy subtleties, and had rested their case upon a critical comparison of texts, and upon the testimony both direct and inferential, which establishes the novelty of a belief in transubstantia- tion. But this obvious mode of arguing was not in accordance with the habits of the age ; and it was no doubt satisfactory to the Reformers that their prin- cipal champions were able, under extreme disadvan- tages, to defend their opinions in the manner which had long been agreeable to popular prejudice \ 1 Strype, Mem. Cranm. 485. Foxe, 1322. Bp. Ridley's treatment at this time will best appear from his own account of it, which he prepared by way of preface to his published dispu- tation. " I never yet in all my life saw or heard any thing done or handled more vainly or tumultuously than the disputation which was had with me of late, in the schools, at Oxford. And surely I could never have thought that it had been possible to have found any within this realm, being of any knowledge, learn- ing, and ancient degree of school, so brasen-faced, and so 166 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1554. On Wednesday, the venerable Latimer was shameless, as to behave themselves so vainly, and so like stage- players as they did in that disputation. The Sorbonical clamours which, at Paris, when Popery most reigned, I, in time past, have seen, might be worthily thought, in comparison of this Thrasonical and glorious ostentation, to have had much modesty. Howbeit, it was not to be wondered at, for that they which should there have been moderators, and rulers of others, and which should have given a good example in word, gravity, &c. as Paul teacheth, gave the worst example of all, and did, as it were, blow the trumpet to other to rage, rail, roar, and cry out. By reason whereof, good Christian reader, it is manifest that they never sought for any truth, but only for the glory of the world, and a bragging victory. But besides the innumerable railings, rebukes, and taunts wherewith I was baited on every side, lest our cause, which, indeed, is God's cause, and his Church's, should also by the false examples of our disputations, be evil-spoken of and slandered, and so the verity sustain hurt and hindrance thereby, I have thought good to write my answers myself, that whosoever is desirous to know them, and the truth withal, may thereby perceive those things which were chiefly ob- jected against me, and also in effect, what was answered of me to every of them. Howbeit, good reader, I confess this to be most true, that it is impossible to set forth all that was, God knoweth, tumultuously spoken, and like as of madmen objected of so many, which spake often-times huddle, so that one could not well hear another: either all that was answered of me briefly to such and so divers opponents. Moreover a great part of the time appointed for the disputations was vainly spent in most con- tumelious taunts, hissings, clapping of hands, and triumphs more than tolerable even in stage-plays, and that in the English tongue to get the people's favour withal. All which things, when I with godly grief did suffer, and therewithal did openly bewail and witness, that that company of learned men, which were appointed to grave men and to grave matters, were conta- minate and defiled by such foolish and Robiu-llood pastimes, and that they which were the doers of such things, did but 1 1554.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 167 brought into the schools, amidst the taunts, hisses, and laughter of every unfeeling spectator. He was thereby openly shew their vanity ; I was so far, by much humble complaint, from doing good, or helping any thing at all, that I was enforced, what with hissing and shouting, and what with authority, to hear such great reproaches and slanders uttered against me, as no grave man, without blushing, could abide the hearing of the same spoken of a most vile knave against a most wretched ruffian. At the beginning of the disputation, when I should have confined mine answer to the first proposition in few words, and that after the manner of disputations, before I could make an end of my probation, which was not very long, even the doctors themselves cryed out, He speaketh blasphemies, blasphemies, blasphemies. And when I, on my knees, most humbly and heartily besought them, that they would vouchsafe to hear me to the end, whereat the Prolocutor, somewhat moved, as it seemed, cryed out, Let him read it, Let him read it ; yet when I again began to read it, there was by and bye such a cry and noise, Blasphemies, Blasphemies, as I, to my remembrance, never heard or read the like, except it be one which was, in the Acts of the Apostles, stirred up by Demetrius, the silversmith, and others of his occupation, crying out against Paul, Great is Diana of the Ephesians, Great is Diana of the Ephesians ; and except it were a certain disputation which the Arians had against the Orthodoxes, and such as were of godly judgment in Afric : where it is said, that such as the presidents and rulers of the disputation were, such was also the end of the disputation. All was done in hurly burly, and the slanders of the Arians were so outrageous, that nothing could quietly be heard. So writeth Victor in the second book of his history. And thus the cries and tumults of these men against me now so prevailed, that whe- ther I would or no, I was enforced to leave off the reading of my probations, although they were but short. And of the truth hereof I have all those that were present, being of any honesty or discretion, my witnesses. But hereof will I cease to complain any farther." Letters of the Martyrs, 76. 1G8 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1554. very feeble, and begged that he might not be long detained, as he felt himself wholly unequal to bear any considerable degree of fatigue. He requested also, that the business of the day should be con- ducted entirely in English, the disuse of twenty years having rendered him unable to speak Latin with fluency or propriety. He must decline, he added, the respondent's place, being totally unfit for a scholastic disputation ; and he, therefore, ten- dered an exposition of his opinions upon paper ; written, he declared, with great difficulty, his usual aid, an amanuensis, having been denied him. " Af- ter you have read this protestation of my faith," the good old man then nobly said, " you may do your pleasure with me." In his writing, Latimer observed upon the first article, asserting the corporal presence, that it was obscurely and unscripturally worded. He denied, however, plainly any other Divine pre- sence in the Eucharist than a spiritual one, confined to the faithful. The second article, asserting tran- substantiation, he flatly pronounced unscriptural, absurd, false, a mere invention of man, the mother, and the nurse of other errors, and akin to Nesto- rianism. The third article, assigning a propitiatory character to the mass, he treated as presumptuous, derogating from the dignity and efficacy of Christ's sacrifice, unauthorised by Holy Writ, and even plainly repugnant to it. The paper concluded with the following address to Dr. Weston : " O Sir, you may chance to live until you come to my age and weak- ness. I have spoken in my time before two kings, more than once, two or three hours together, with- 1554.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 169 out interruption. But now, that I may speak the truth by your leave, I could not be suffered to de- clare my mind before you, not by the space of a quarter of an hour, without snatches, checks, rebukes, taunts, such as I have not felt the like in such an audience, all my life long. Surely it cannot be but an heinous offence that I have given. But what was it ? Forsooth I had spoken of the four marrow- bones of the mass. The which kind of speaking I never read to be a sin against the Holy Ghost. I could not be allowed to shew what I meant by my metaphor. But, Sir, now, by your favour, I will tell your mastership what I mean. The first, is the Popish consecration ; which hath been called a God's body-making. The second, is transubstantiation. The third, is missal oblation. The fourth, adora- tion. These chief portions and points incident to the mass, and most esteemed in the same, I call its marrow-bones. I have heard much talk of Master Doctor Weston in my time, but I never knew your person till I came before you as the Queen's Majes- ty's commissioner. I pray God send you so right a judgment, as I perceive you have great wit and learning, with many other good qualities. God give you grace ever well to use them, and ever to have in remembrance that He who dwelleth on high looketh on the low things of the earth ; that there is no counsel against the Lord ; as also, that this world hath been, and yet is, a tottering world. And yet again, that though we must obey princes, yet are we limited how far ; that is, so long as they do not command things against the manifest truth. But 170 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1554. now they do. Therefore, we must say with Peter and John : We ought to obey God, rather than men m. I mean none other resistance, but to offer our lives to the death, rather than to commit any evil against the majesty of God, and his most holy and true Word. But this I say unto you, if the Queen have any pernicious enemies within her realm, those they be who cause her to maintain idolatry, and to whet her sword of justice in the blood of her people. There be some so corrupt in mind, the faith being taken from them, that they think gain to be godliness ; great learned men, and yet men of no learning, but of railing, and raging about questions and strife of words. I call them men of no learning, because they know not Christ, how much else soever they know. It is nothing but plain ignorance to know any thing without Christ ; whereas, whoso knoweth Christ, the same hath knowledge enough. It is not out of the way to remember what St. Austin saith : where, I now well remember not. Whosoever teacheth any thing as necessary to be believed, which is not contained in the Old or New Testament, the same is ac- cursed. Oh, beware of this curse, if you be wise. I am much deceived if Basil have not such like words : Whatsoever is taught, as necessarily to be believed, besides the Holy Scrijjfh're, that is sin. Oh, take heed of this sin. You have changed the most Holy Communion into a private action, and you deny to the laity the Lord|s cup, contrary " Acts v. 29. 1554.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 171 to Christ's commandment ; and you blemish the annunciation of the Lord's death till he come, for you have changed the Common Prayer, with the administration of the sacraments, from the vulgar and known tongue, into one that is foreign and un- known, contrary to the Lord's will revealed in his Word. God open your heart to see the things which you should see herein. I would as fain obey my sovereign as any in this realm ; but in these things I can never do it with an upright conscience. God be merciful unto us. Amen." The Prolocutor having read a part of Latimer's paper, thus addressed him : " Then you refuse to dispute ! Will you subscribe ?" The aged prisoner again excused himself from disputing, on the grounds of his age and debility ; and he repeated his refusal to subscribe. Weston told him, on this, that they would find the marrow-bones of the mass in his New Testament. Latimer asserted that a Communion only could be found there. The Prolocutor asked, " Which Communion ; the first, or the last ?" sarcas- tically referring to the alterations which had been made in the service. A frivolous conversation fol- lowed upon St. Paul's account of the institution of the Holy Supper. Latimer's opponents, in this en- deavoured to embarrass him by citing words from the original Greek; a language not commonly stu- died when he was young, and of which he professed himself ignorant. He was then asked whether he had not devoutly said mass himself. His answer was, " Yea, and I cry God's mercy heartily for it." Weston's next question was : " Where learned you 172 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1554, this new fangleness ?" Latimer replied : " I have long sought for the truth in this matter of the Sa- crament, and have not been of this mind past seven years. My Lord of Canterbury's book hath espe- cially confirmed my judgment herein. If I could remember all therein contained, I would not fear to answer any man in this matter." These words drew the following arithmetical criticism from Dr. Tres- ham. " There are in that book six hundred errors." It was then said to the prisoner : " You were once a Lutheran." His reply was : " No. I was a Pa- pist. For I never could perceive how Luther could defend his opinion without transubstantiation." Weston now adverted to some of those morbid hal- lucinations which Luther foolishly committed to paper, thus taking care, that at least some portion of his writings should afford intense delight to Ro- manists : " Luther," said he, " in his book, De Privata Missa, tells us, that the devil reasoned with him, and persuaded him that the mass was not fi-oocl." Latimer answered : " I do not take in hand here to defend Luther's sayings or doings. If he were here, he would defend himself well enough, I trow." A desultory conversation followed, in the course of which, the prisoner expressed his convic- tion that the Popish Church had erred as to the Eucharist within the last five hundred years. At one time, Weston, adverting with indecent levity to the substitution of a table for an altar, said that Austin proves " a propitiatory sacrifice, and that upon an altar, and no oyster-board." At another time, he declared that the recent changes had all 1554.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 173 one end in view, namely, to spoil and rob the Church. As the rapine which gave occasion to this reflexion was disapproved by the clerical Reformers, Latimer thus met Weston's assertion : " These things pertain nothing unto me. I must not answer for other men's deeds, but only for mine own." The Prolocutor then, affecting an air of kindness, re- peated the silly, presumptuous assertion that Popery and salvation are inseparably connected. Those who brought Protestant opinions to England, he continued, were mere apostates running away from Germany for fear of the faggot, " a sort of apes who could not tell which way to turn their tails," stand- ing at the table first on one side, then on another n : people, who came to the Communion with no reve- rence ; who made, as Hilary says, a faith every year, and every month. A runagate Scot ° had sufficient authority with them to procure the insertion in the last Communion-book of an heretical censure upon the adoration of Christ in the Sacrament p. You n In King Edward's first service-book, the priest, in the Com- munion-office, was to stand, as heretofore, in front of the altar. The second book directed him to stand on the north side. ° " Weston alludes to Alexander Ales, or Alesius, a Scottish exile, who translated the first Liturgy of Edward VI. into Latin. He was a man of considerable learning, and became professor of theology at Leipsic, where he died in 1556. While in England, he lived at Lambeth, on terms of great friendship with Latimer, which, perhaps, was the occasion of Weston's abuse." Note to Dr. Watkins's Life of Latimer prefixed to his sermons, ciii. p Reference here is made to the rubric placed at the end of the reviewed Commnnion-office, which declares, that the reci- 174 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1554. never agreed with the Swiss, or with the Germans, or with the Church, or with yourselves q. Your stubbornness cometh of a vain glory, which will do you no good when a faggot is in your beard. And we all see by your own confession, how little cause you have to be stubborn, for your learning is in feoffor's holdr ? The Queen's Grace is merciful, if ye will turn." To this volley of rudeness and ab- surdity, the abused prisoner thus replied : " You shall have no hope of me to turn. I pray for the pients are directed to kneel as a mark of humility, not with the view of paying divine honours to the elements. q This was a customary taunt of the Romanists founded upon the variations from King Edward's first service-book, which ap- peared in his second. But nothing can be more absurd ; as these alterations affected not matters of faith. The non-essen- tials of public worship are open to ecclesiastical regulation, and have been, very allowably, ordered variously, not only in different churches, but also in the same church. Romish liturgists will inform us that their own service has not always been exactly in its present state ; and likewise, that the Ambrosian, Gallican, Mozarabic, and other missals have been lawfully used among religious societies which they courteously describe as Catholic. Cardinal Bona decides, accordingly, that the faith alone admits of no mutation, while rites, ceremonies, and discipline may blamelessly be varied upon good grounds, by competent autho- rity. " Solus fidei canon, ut supra diximus, inconcussus, et im- mutabilis est ; caetera quae ad ritus et disciplinam pertinent, justa interveniente causa, sine reprehensione mutari possint." Rerum Liturgicarum Libri Duo : auctore J. Bona, S. R. E. Card. Par. 1672. p. 37. r This appears to be a proverbial expressiqn, denoting the ab- sence of something valuable. A feoffcr is one who gives to another the possession of any property ; thereby, of course, allow- ing it to go from his own grasp. 1554.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 175 Queen daily, even from the bottom of my heart, that she may turn from this religion s " At eleven o'clock, in the forenoon, this disgraceful attempt to browbeat and embarrass one despoiled by age and infirmity of almost every weapon, except an invincible constancy, was brought to a close. The results of this exhibi- tion must have been foreseen, for Latimer was now completely broken, and at no time had he been esteemed an able scholar. He was known merely as a zealous, artless, upright, and effective preacher of the Gospel. He was, indeed, far from indifferent to professional information. But his object in read- ing appears chiefly to have been the preparation of matter for the pulpit. He left polemical labours to others, probably better adapted for them ; and it is likely less fitted than himself for the important work of dispensing orally popular instruction. On the day following that of Latimer's appearance in the schools, Harpsfield went through the exercises prescribed to candidates for the degree of doctor in divinity. The opportunity seemed favourable for making some shew of fairness towards the illustrious prisoners ; and Cranmer, accordingly, was now brought forward from his dungeon to act as oppo- nent. Harpsfield commenced the business of the morning by commendations of the Scriptures, ob- serving, that our Saviour enjoined his disciples to " search the Scriptures ' ;" that the Psalmist said, " the law of the Lord is perfect, converting the s Foxe, 1326. 1 St. John v. 39. 176 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1554. soul u ;" that St. Paul wrote to Timothy, " all Scrip- ture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruc- tion in righteousness"." The cautious disputant took care, however, to introduce these texts by assert- ing, that such as examine the sacred volume without deferring implicitly to the judgment of the Church, will find the employment lead them into error, and not into truth. How Romanists understand the word " Church," is well known, and it is therefore not surprising that Harpsfield, in displaying the dan- gers of biblical reading, should have thus expressed himself: " If the often reading of Scriptures, and the never so painful comparing of places, should bring the true understanding, then divers heretics might prevail even against whole general councils." This indeed is a brief, but a very correct mode of account- ing for the anxiety discovered by the Roman Church, during six hundred years, to withdraw from general inspection the record of our holy faith. Honest men of competent intellect and information, who should carefully compare one text with another, and deduce the sense of the inspired volume from a skilful con- sideration of parallel passages, would easily prevail against all those combinations of worldly men, intent upon securing their own interests, and upon riveting the prejudices of their age, which, under the name of general councils, have moved obediently at the papal will. Cranmer remarked at once the injudi- " Psalm xix. 7. * 2 Tim. iii. 16. 1554.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 177 cious concessions with which Harpsfield opened his disputation, and thus addressed him : " I have heard you right learnedly and eloquently treat of the dig- nity of the Scriptures ; which I do both commend and have marvelled thereat within myself. But whereas you refer the true sense and judgment of the Scrip- tures to the Catholic Church, you are much deceived ; especially for that, under the name of the Church, you appoint such judges as have judged corruptly, and in contradiction to the sense of Scripture. I wonder likewise, why you attribute so little to the diligent reading of Scripture, seeing the Scriptures do so much commend the same, as well in divers other places, as also in those which you have your- self alleged." The Archbishop then remarked of the carnal presence, which was to be the subject of dis- cussion, that it seemed to him destitute of any foun- dation in Scripture, or ecclesiastical antiquity, and that even the schoolmen had treated of it in no uni- form or satisfactory manner. He apologised also for any inelegancies which might be remarked in his Latin, saying, that he had been unused to speak that language during many years. He then asked, " In what manner, according to your mind or determina- tion, is Christ's body present in the Sacrament ?" One of the doctors immediately pressed forward with this answer : " He is there as touching his substance, but not after the manner of his substance." Perhaps Harpsfield's reply was something more luminous. It was this : " He is there in such sort or manner as that he may be eaten." Cranmer next enquired, " Has our Lord's body in the Sacrament its proper VOL. IV. n 178 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1554. quantity and qualities, its form, figure, and so forth ?" This question staggered the assembly, and occasioned an universal buz. Harpsfield sought to elude it, by desiring his interrogator's opinion upon a senseless and indecent doubt agitated among the schoolmen as to the effect of Christ's birth upon Mary's virginity. But Cranmer troubled himself with no such fooleries. He merely said, " You answer me with a question, and not with a reply. I must therefore ask again what I asked before." While the respondent stood mute in anxious search for his logic, Tresham ha- zarded the following answer : " Christ's body in the Sacrament hath not all the quantities and qualities belonging to a body." This hasty reply, savouring more of common sense than of Romish orthodoxy, Smyth immediately thus corrected it : " Stay you, Master Tresham, I will answer you with the words of Damascene : The bread is transformed. But if thou wilt enquire how, the manner is impossible? This quotation, however, appeared to be generally considered as none of the happiest, for murmurs were heard throughout the school, and two or three other answers were supplied. At last Harpsfield said, " Such questions are vain ; it is not meet to spend time upon them." Weston also thus cut the knot : " Lanfranc, once Archbishop of Canterbury, answered in the following manner similar questions asked by Berenger, These things may safe/;/ be believed, but not faithfully asked." Still Cranmer insisted upon a reply. The respondent therefore found himself driven to say, "Christ is present in the Sacrament, as it pleaseth him to be present there." 8 1554.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 179 His illustrious opponent immediately rejoined/' With that answer I should be very well contented, if your tenet of the carnal presence did not oblige me, for the sake of disputation, yet to press my question." Many and contradictory answers were now supplied. Some affirmed that our Lord's body in the Eucharist had quantity, but not according to the manner of quantity: others pronounced it quantitative7: others again denied these assertions. At length an eminent dialectician, named Ward, arose, and spoke very learnedly for a considerable time. But his harangue proved so very obscure, that the most expert scho- lastics among his auditors were unable to discover his precise object. Quantity and quantitativity seemed, however, to be the beacons by which he guided his wits through this thorny maze. " We must remember," said he, " that there are two posi- tions ; the one standeth by the order of parts, with respect of the whole ; the other in respect of that which containeth. Christ is in the Sacrament in respect of the whole. This proposition is in one of Aristotle's predicaments, called situation. I remem- ber I did intreat these matters very largely when I did moderate the philosophical disputations in the public schools. This position is sine moclo quanti- tative) : as by an ensample, you can never bring heaven to a quantity. So I conclude, that he is in the Sacrament quantum sine moclo quantitativo." Foxe adds to this explanation : " These words he amplified very largely, and so high he climbed into y Quantitativnm. N 2 180 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1554. the heavens with Duns his ladder, and not with the Scriptures, that it is to be marvelled how he could come down again without falling." There was now a tangible point presented to the opponent, and Cranmer thus made use of it : " In heaven, it is affirmed, Christ's body hath quantity, but on earth it hath none ; therefore he hath two bodies, the one in heaven, the other on earth." Some of those about the respondent would have persuaded him to answer, that Christ's body has quantity in both places ; but he contented himself with simply denying the sound- ness of the argument. On this, Cranmer said, " My reasoning is good ; it standeth upon contradictions ; as thus : to have the mode of quantitavity, and not to have it, are contradictories : but Christ, as you say, has the mode of quantitavity in heaven, on earth he has it not : therefore he has two bodies, for these contradictories cannot happen to the same body." Harpsfield endeavoured to overthrow this syllogism by logical refinements. Weston imitated his exam- ple, concluding with the following illustration : " One body may have wounds, and not wounds." The Archbishop replied, " This cannot be at one time." Weston rejoined, " I will prove what I say by the ensample of a potter, who, of that which is clay now, maketh a cup forthwith." Cranmer, after observing that this instance was nothing more to the purpose than to confound raw meat with sodden meat, be- cause every piece in the latter state had once been in the former one, proceeded to ask, whether bad men, as well as good ones, eat Christ's body in the Sacra- ment. " Yea, bad men do so," Harpsfield answered, 1554.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 181 " even as the sun doth shine not only upon kings' palaces, but also upon dung-heaps.'' Cranmer then enquired, " How long tarrieth Christ in the eater V* The respondent said, " These are curious questions, unmeet to be asked." His interrogator observed, " I have taken them from your schools and school- men, authorities most in use among yourselves, and from these quarters have also learned to enquire, how far Christ goeth into the body." Harpsfield replied, " The body goes as far as the species go." " And how long does it stay ?" resumed Cranmer. One of the doctors now said, that it is unimportant to know how far Christ's body goes, and whither it is con- veyed. Two others deprecated all questions of this nature. Harpsfield complained, that his opponent, after charging them with adding to Scripture, and asserting that men must thence only seek the truth, was now himself moving questions out of the school- men. Cranmer said, " I am constrained to ask these questions, because of this carnal presence which you imagine. And yet I know right well, that these questions be answered out of the Scriptures. As to my last question, How long he abideth in the body ? the Scripture answereth plainly, that Christ doth so long dwell in his people as they are his members. Whereupon I make this argument : they which eat the flesh of Christ, do dwell in him, and he in them. But the wicked do not dwell in him, nor he in them. Therefore the wicked do not eat his flesh, nor drink his blood." This syllogism being met by mere verbal quibbling, the Archbishop offered the following one to the same effect : " Only they who partake of Christ 182 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1554. are of his mystical body ; but evil men are not of his mystical body; therefore they do not partake of Christ." By this time it became evident that the disputation might be spun out indefinitely ; because Cranmer possessed not only an acute understanding-, great self-possession, and an extensive acquaintance with sound theology, but he was also deeply versegl in the recorded dreams of schoolmen, and in all the frivolous technicalities of their cherished dialectics. It was therefore deemed expedient to dispense with his farther opponency; and, accordingly, Weston thus courteously addressed him : " Your wonderfully gentle behaviour, good Master Doctor Cranmer, is worthy much commendation ; and that I may not deprive you of your right and just deserving, I give you most hearty thanks in mine own name, and in the names of all my brethren." The doctors then, turning towards the reverend prisoner, civilly put off their caps ; giving him at least the satisfaction of re- turning to his cell after witnessing something of those humanised manners, which scholars have a right to expect from each other, and which the cultivation of literature is justly believed to spread among man- kind z. On Friday, the 20th of April, the three sufferers for conscience' sake were again brought to St. Mary's, before the commissioners. Dr. Weston then addressed them severally, intreating them to sign the articles, and asserting that they had been over- come in disputation. When he had ended his Foxi I 1554.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 183 speech, they would fain have entered into some far- ther explanation of their opinions ; but this liberty was utterly refused to them. They were told that they must directly and peremptorily say whether they would subscribe, or no. Cranmer answered : " You have asserted, Master Prolocutor, that I have both answered and opposed ; and that I can neither maintain my own errors, nor impugn the verity. All this is untrue. For I was not allowed to oppose as I would, nor could I answer as I desired, unless I had chosen to brawl with your party ; so thickly, one upon the other, did their reasons come. Ever did four or five interrupt me, so that I could not speak what I would." Ridley and Latimer merely replied to Weston's address by saying that they would stand to the opinions which they had already delivered. The three were then placed together, and a written sentence was read, pronouncing them excommuni- cated, and condemning as heretics themselves, their fautors, and patrons. Before he had completed his task, the reader stopped, and it was asked of the prisoners whether they would recant. " Read on, in the name of God :" was their noble and unani- mous reply. When the reading was concluded, Cranmer said, " From this your judgment and sen- tence, I appeal to the just judgment of Almighty God, trusting to be present with Him in heaven, for whose presence in the altar I am thus condemned." Ridley thus addressed his judges, "Although I be not of your company, yet doubt I not that my name is written in another place, whither this sentence will send us sooner than would, in all probability^ 184 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1554. the common course of nature." The venerable Latimer's answer was characteristic of the man, and worthy of his cause. " I thank God most heartily," said that admirable example of holy zeal and un- bending integrity, " that he hath prolonged my life to this end ; that I may in this case glorify God by this kind of death." Weston then said, " If you go to heaven in this faith, then I shall never come thi- ther, as I am persuaded V However willing these three most illustrious members of the English pre- lacy were to confirm the nation's faith, by the sacri- fice of their lives, they complained loudly of the treatment which, as scholars, they had received. The insults and interruptions which they experienced were, indeed, most disgraceful to the University, and to the commissioners. But the prelates appear to have been most concerned because no opportunity was allowed them of affording a sufficient explana- tion of their principles. Upon the corporal presence alone was there even an appearance of a disputa- tion. Transubstantiation and the mass were passed over without the slightest notice. Yet they were required peremptorily to affirm all the three ques- tions b. A promise also was publicly given to Ridley, a Foxe, 1330. b " When Master Prolocutor did put forth three propositions, he did command us to answer particularly to them all. After our answers, neither he, nor his fellows did ever enter into any dis- putation of any one of them, saving only the first. \ ea, when he had asked us after disputations of the first whether we would subscribe to the whole, in such sort, form, and words as they are set forth, without farther disputation, (which thing we denied) 1 1554.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 185 that he should be allowed an opportunity of bring- ing forward new proofs in support of his opinions. Of this pledge, however, the fulfilment was wholly overlooked c. The Protestants generally exulted in the noble conduct displayed by the three of their most distinguished champions. " I thank God heartily in Christ," wrote Dr. Rowland Taylor to them, " for your most happy onset, most valiant pro- ceeding, most constant suffering of all such infamies, hissings, clappings, taunts, open rebukes, loss of living and liberty, for the defence of God's cause, truth, and glory d." The very conduct of the dis- putations at Oxford was, indeed, an advantage to the Reforming party. By it, not only the bigoted and arbitrary disposition of those who were in power was glaringly displayed ; but also men of candour saw that the principal Romish doctrine could only be defended by means of embarrassing logical refine- ments, and that even these could easily be rendered ineffective by an able disputant on the contrary side. This week of injustice was concluded by a grand mass, celebrated on Saturday morning, and attended by one of those shewy processions, which form part of the machinery that enables the Roman Church to delight the senses of men, without enlightening their minds. Dr. Weston, upon this occasion, carried by and by he gave sentence against us all." Bp. Ridley's ad- dress to his readers, Letters of the Martyrs, 112. c Ibid. d Ibid. 171. 186 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1554. the consecrated wafer, and four doctors held a canopy over it. While this impious pageantry was slowly winding through the streets of Oxford, Arch- bishop Cranmer was compelled to remain at the gratings of his cell in Bocardo. Ridley was also made to present himself at a window of the house in which he was detained. The bailiff, under whose roof Latimer lived a prisoner, appears to have been situated so as not to command a view from his apartments of the unchristian spectacle. His vene- rable charge was, accordingly, desired to follow him into the street. The good old man, being left un- acquainted with the object of this summons, naturally supposed that he was immediately to glorify God at the stake. He, therefore, said, " Make a quick fire ;" and followed cheerfully at his keeper's bid- ding. Having reached Carfax, his eye caught the cherished object of a Romanist's adoration. Latimer had, however, with honest, humble diligence pon- dered the recorded Word of God, and hence he had become aware, that to lavish upon the petty produce of a baker's ordinary toil the honours due alone to Omnipotence is plain impiety and folly. Nor could he forget that as a Christian is to shine like a light in the world c, he is bound to rebuke by example at least, if not by words, the spiritual blindness of all around him. He, therefore, suffered no weak indul- gence for prevailing prejudices to wrest from him even any appearance of worshipping the uplifted bread to which the bended knee* was rendering Si Matt. v. 16. 1554.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 187 homage on every side ; but abruptly turning round on the first sight of it, he retreated with as much speed as his infirmities allowed into a neighbouring shop. Nor would he look towards the street until the procession had entirely passed f. On the following Monday, the learned strangers who had been commissioned to attend the disputa- tions, departed from Oxford. Before he went Wes- ton was requested to carry the following letter from Cranmer to the Council, and he consented to take charge of it. " In most humble wise sueth unto your most honourable Lordships, Thomas Cranmer, late Archbishop of Canterbury, beseeching the same to be a means for me unto the Queen's Highness for her mercy and pardon. Some of you Jenoiv by what means I was brought and trained unto the will of our late sovereign lord, King Edward the vi., and what I spake against the same : ivherein I refer me to the reports of your honours g. Fur- f Foxe, 1330. 8 " The Archbishop (Cranmer) if we may believe his own statement, had requested a private interview with the King," &c. (Lingard, vii. 140.) The historian here cites the letter written by Cranmer to the Queen immediately after his condemnation as a traitor. He was not very likely, even had he been as bad as Romish malignity has painted him, to offer a false account to Mary ; for she was surrounded by persons capable of exposing such a statement immediately. We hear not, however, any thing of such an exposure. Cranmer evidently was under no apprehension of this disgrace ; for we find him here appealing to the very persons, now his persecutors, who knew the facts to which he refers, for a confirmation of them, Assuredly, there- 188 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1554. thermore, this is to signify unto your Lordships, that upon Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday last, were open disputations, here in Oxford, against me, Master Ridley, and Master Latimer, in three matters concerning the Sacrament. First, of the real presence, secondly, of transubstantiation, and thirdly, concerning the sacrifice of the mass. How the other two were used, I cannot telly for we were separated ; so that none of us knew what the other said, nor how they were ordered. But as concerning myself, I can report, that I never knew, nor heard of a more confused dispu- tation in all my life. For albeit there was one appointed to dispute against me, yet every man spake his mind, and brought forth what him liked, without order ; and such haste was made, that no answer could be suffered to be given fully to any argument, and in such weighty and large matters there was no remedy, but the disputations must needs be ended in one day, which can scantly well be ended in three months h. And when we had an- fore, we may, and very safely too, believe the Archbishop's " own statement." b Dr. Lingard, in a note, (vii. 272.) after citing the chief part of this passage, adds the following words : " This is an exact counterpart to the complaints of the Catholics respecting similar disputations in the time of Edward." Where these " com- plaints" are to be found, we are not informed. Sanders, un- doubtedly, tells us, in his very brief account of the disputation with Peter Martyr, at Oxford, that Dr. Co.v, finding the Learned Florentine severeh pressed, broke o*T the discussion, " an impru- dence which gained him universal infamy*" Then after saying 1554.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 189 swered them, then they would not appoint us one day to bring forth our proofs, that they might answer us that Martyr published a false account of his disputation, and that he was twice overcome at Oxford, he thus intelligibly closes his notice of these matters : " Similar was the end of that disputation which the Cambridge theologues held with Bucer." (De Schism. 224.) The passage, probably, which Dr. Lingard had in view when he penned his note, is the following one, which occurs in the preface affixed by Persons, the Jesuit, to his Review of Ten Public Disputations, (1603, p. 17.) " You shall see complaints on both sides of inequality used." In the next page, after some immaterial flourishes, this author says, " Albeit there want not complaints of the Protestant party, for that divers sometimes are said to have spoken together, and one man to have put himself into the prosecution of another man's argument, somewhat dis- orderly, as to them it seemed ; yet touching the things them- selves, to wit, the arguments and proofs there laid forth and pro- secuted, there were so many clear, weighty, and substantial, as the reader will confess there was no time lost in those three days' disputations by the Catholic party." Respecting the conduct of the first disputation, under King Edward, Persons only complains that the question of the real presence was discussed before that of transubstantiation. His words are these : " This manifest fraud was used, that whereas the first, about transubstantiation, dependeth of the second, of the real presence, it should have been handled in the second place, and not in the first," (p. 37.) A fraudulent arrangement of the questions for discussion is also charged upon the second disputation holden at Cambridge, (40.) This is described as " a very cold and trifling thing, much of the time being spent in ceremonial words of courtesy, much in im- pertinent excursions from the purpose, out of all scholastical form of disputing, or straining the defendant, and when any thing drew near to urge or press, either the moderator would divert the same by intruding himself, or the proctors, by their authority, would interrupt it," (44.) With respect to the third disputation, Per- sons quotes the following passage from Langdale, who was pre- sent : " All that were indifferent did see matters to be handled 190 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1554. again, being required of me thereunto ; whereas I myself have more to say than can well be discussed in twenty days. The means to resolve the truth had been to have suffered us to answer fully to all that they could say, and then they again to answer to all that we could say. But why they would not answer with great inequality, for that whosoever spake for the Catholic side, presently his speech was either interrupted, or for brevity shifted off to another time ; and Ridley, that was captain of all, stepping in at every turn to assist his defendant, did either with threats or fair words, or by scoffs and bitter taunts, seek to divert the Catholic disputers," (49.) Of the fourth disputation Persons thus speaks : " It had neither order, method, nor substance in it, but was a most ridiculous colloquy of one to another, without urging or answering any one argument substantially; but as little beagles lying together, one starteth up and giveth a bark or two, and lieth down again ; so these disputers, answerers, and mode- rator handled the matter," (52.) Again, it is said of Ridley's moderating, that " at every turn he made himself defendant," (53.) What is entitled the fifth disputation is in fact a comment upon Bp. Ridley's judgment, and the complaint here is, that the prelate " pretermitted the very chief and principal question in- deed, whereof all the rest dependeth, which is the real presence." Under the sixth disputation we read nothing but an invective against Bucer and his opinions. Now this whole mass of matter contains, it should be observed, no complaint from any one pre- sent at the scenes under consideration, excepting Langdale ; and his complaint amounts to this : with the Romish disputants some management was used by the other party, and they met with some interruption ; the only person, however, who grossly mis- behaved himself was Bp. Ridley ! He threatened, scoffed, and taunted ! Let Langdale's account of this Cambridge disputation be compared with the complaints made by both Cranmer and Ridley as to their treatment in the schools at Oxford, and then let it be determined whether the two cases are exactly, or even nearly parallel. 1554.J UNDER QUEEN MARY. 191 us, what other cause can there be, but that either they feared the matter, that they were not able to answer us ; or else, as by their haste might well ap- pear, they came not to speak the truth, but to con- demn us in post-haste before the truth might be tho- roughly tried and heard ; for in all haste we were all three condemned of heresy upon Friday. This much I thought good to signify unto your Lordships, that you may know the indifferent handling of matters, leaving the judgment hereof unto your wisdoms ; and I beseech your Lordships to remember me, a poor prisoner, unto the Queen's Majesty, and I shall pray, as I do daily, to God, for the long preservation of your good Lordships in all godliness and feli- city \" This letter did not, however, reach its des- tination ; for when the Prolocutor had accomplished the half of his journey, he determined to read it, and having done so, he rudely returned it to the writer k. Before his former University acquaintances pro- ceeded homewards, Bishop Ridley had the satisfac- tion of receiving a visit from Dr. Young, who suc- ceeded him in the mastership of Pembroke-hall, Dr. Glyn, the President of Queen's College in Cam- bridge, and Dr. Oglethorpe, the President of Mag- dalen College in Oxford. Ridley having been upon terms of friendship with Glyn, was extremely hurt by the conduct pursued towards him in the schools by that individual. The President himself was • Letters of the Martyrs, 16. k Foxe, 1331. 192 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1554. pained by a review of it ; and, much to his honour, he came to apologise. The imprisoned prelate readily admitted his excuse, assured him of his cor- dial forgiveness, prayed God to enlighten his mind with a just perception of divine truth, and expressed his earnest hope that both of them, their offences of all kinds being mercifully remitted, would eventually meet in heaven '. Before the Prolocutor set off for London, Ridley wrote an expostulatory letter to him, reminding him that he had promised to submit his disputation to his own perusal, for the purpose of re- ceiving at his hands such corrections or additions as in this revision it might seem desirable to make. He says also, that having professed his ability to allege many confirmations and arguments which were not produced in the schools, he was informed both by Weston and his brother commissioners, that he should have another opportunity for thus strengthen- ing his case. " Now that this was not done," mo- destly adds the oppressed prelate, " but so suddenly sentence given, before the cause was perfectly heard, I cannot but marvel." He concludes by charging the Prolocutor, in God's name, to exhibit his written answers to the three articles, together with that letter, to the Upper House of Convocation, especially taking care that the Lord Chancellor, and the Bishops Tunstall, Goodrich, Thirlby, Heath, and Day should see these papers m. Ridley contrived also the means of sending his answers to the three articles to Cran- • 1 Life of Bp. Ridley, 510. m Letters of the Martyrs, 79. 1554.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 193 mer, together with a letter. In this he regrets that he had been deprived of an opportunity to submit the replies to his reverend metropolitan before they were presented to the commissioners ; but he expresses his trust, that he and his friend had in substance agreed with each other. He thought evidently that the termination of his earthly trials was at hand, and as his mind was fully prepared for the passage to a Christian's everlasting home, he was anxious to be gone. " I trust," he piously says, " the day of de- liverance out of all miseries, and of our entrance into perpetual rest, and to perpetual joy and felicity, draweth nigh. The Lord strengthen us with his mighty spirit of grace n !" The court, however, in its eager thirst for inno- cent blood, had outrun its powers, and the principal victims, in consequence, though now ready for im- molation, were long kept in suspense. Mary had denounced her ecclesiastical prerogatives as schis- matical, and had ceased to claim them, unless tacitly, for the purpose of oppressing her Protestant subjects. Bishop Boner, accordingly, omitted, in his instrument for summoning the Convocation, any mention of the authority by which he acted °. In n Foxe, 1331. ° Life of Bp. Ridley, 513. The insufficiency of existing laws to furnish authority for burning the prelates who lay under con- demnation at Oxford, appears to have been a matter of notoriety during the whole summer ; for Ridley, writing to Bradford about the close of autumn, thus expresses himself: " Before the Par- liament began, it was a rumour here, that certain from the Con- vocation-house was appointed, yea ready to have come to Oxford, VOL. IV. O 194 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1554. fact, as the papal authority was contrary to statute, and as the Queen had unconstitutionally pretended to relinquish her controling power over the national church,, England was now left ostensibly, without any paramount ecclesiastical jurisdiction. This am- biguous posture of affairs naturally embarrassed Mary's advisers, and on the 3rd of May, the three prisoners at Oxford occasioned some discussion at the council-board. It was then determined, that the Mayor of Oxford should be desired to present a statement of expences incurred on account of the prelates, " and farther it was resolved by their Lord- ships, that the judges, and the Queen's Highness' counsel, learned, should be called together, and their opinions demanded what they think in law her Highness may do touching the causes of the said Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer, being already by both the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge judged to be obstinate heretics ; which matter is the rather to be consulted upon, for that the said Cran- mer is already attainted p." From this entry it and then was spied out one thing to lack for want of a law to perform their intent." Letters of the Martyrs, 67. p Proceedings of Privy Council. Collier observes that the sentence passed against the three prelates was irregular because pronounced only by priests; whereas, it was established as a maxim of ecclesiastical jurisprudence ever since the council of Carthage, holden in 419, that bishops are to be tried by those of their own order. " However," he adds, " I do not find cither Cranmer, or the other two bishops insisting upon the privilege of their character, and moving for judges of their own degree." (Eccl. Hist. ii. 369.) Cranmer and Ridley, probably, thought very little of their eases in any legal point of view. They seem, 1554.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 195 might seem that very serious doubts were enter- tained among her Majesty's advisers as to the possibility of burning the three prelates, under the sentence recently passed upon them, without setting every received maxim of English jurisprudence ut- terly at defiance ; and that, consequently, some members of the board had suggested that it would be expedient to get rid of Cranmer by executing him as a traitor. But this course was completely in the teeth of that sweeping and fierce intolerance by which it was desired that the national councils should be henceforth directed : it was obnoxious also to the manifest imputation of gross injustice ; be- cause Cranmer 's political delinquencies had been lighter than those of many among Mary's cherished councillors, and because every man knew that her Majesty was under personal obligations to the Arch- bishop. As might be expected, therefore, it was not deemed advisable to single him out for punish- ment as a traitor. The result, indeed, of the deli- berations upon his case, and upon those of his partners in condemnation, appears to have been indeed, to have been merely anxious to exhibit the strength of their principles, and to have felt a magnanimous contempt for all considerations merely personal. But it is not unlikely, that this, among other objections to the validity of the proceedings at Ox- ford, might be agitated at the council-board. As for Latimer, he had long zealously served God in the pulpit, and being now inca- pacitated from continuing in that vocation by age, infirmity, and the blind rage of deluded men in power, he was perfectly willing to give an attestation to the honesty of bis labours by the sacrifice of his life. O 2 196 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1554. merely a conviction, that the whole affair called for delay. Until, in fact, England again underwent the yoke of papal Rome, holocausts were only prepared by domestic intolerance. The lurid glare of mur- derous pyres affrighted not every corner of the land ere the national authorities received encouragement from Italian auxiliaries. During their protracted imprisonment at Oxford, the three prelates were treated capriciously, but usually with considerable rigour q. Even before they were called upon to dispute, their own servants were taken from them, and they were attended by persons appointed for that purpose by their enemies r. Cranmer's keeper executed his office with unnecessary harshness, refusing to messengers from Latimer or Ridley the liberty of communi- cating with him personally s. Another aggravation of their sufferings was the denial of pen and ink ; so that commonly, they had no means of writing, unless by underhand means1. Ridley's discomforts were augmented also by the bigotry and ill temper of his hostess. The Bishop had spent his life in celibacy, at a period too when men of his own order were usually single. He had, therefore, seen but little, probably, of a conjugal life ; and his close ob- servation of it under the roof of his Oxford gaoler, q " The manner of entreating doth change, as sour ale doth in summer." Ridley to Bradford, Letters of the Martyrs, 58. " The same to Grindal, 53. , ' The same to Cranmer, Foxe, 1331. 1 The same to Grindal, ut supra. 1554.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 197 appears to have occupied his mind at intervals, with reflections upon the hazard of marrying. "Of us three concaptives, at Oxford/' he wrote to Grindal, (using Latin, for fear, perhaps, lest Mrs. Irish should gain a sight of his letter ;) " I am kept most straitly, and with the least liberty ; either, because in the house where I am detained, the wife rules the hus- band, (although he is Mayor of the city,) a morose and most superstitious old woman ; who even thinks it for her credit to have it reported that she guards me most closely and cautiously : but the husband, Irish by name, is mild enough to every body, though to his wife more than too obsequious. Although I never had a wife, as you know, yet from my daily intercourse with this married couple, I think myself enabled to form some judgment, as to how grievous is the evil, and intolerable the yoke of one who is joined in wedlock with a bad wife. Rightly, there- fore, said the wise man, A prudent wife is from the Lord", and again, A virtuous woman is a crown to her husband x. Or this, I say, is the reason, because it has been commanded them from the higher powers, for what cause I know not, that such should be my usage : which, indeed, is the reason given to me, whenever I complain of the des- potic treatment to which I am subjected in their house y." At times, all the three prelates appear to have been confined in Bocardo ; but in separate u Prov. xix. 14. x Ibid. xii. 4. 3 Ridley to Grindal, lit supra* 198 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1554. cells. While lodged in this miserable gaol, Bishop Heath, of Worcester, passed through Oxford, and Ridley naturally looked for a visit from him. Heath was considered a man of gentle disposition, and moderate principles ; and during his hour of adver- sity, under King Edward, he had been lodged in easy durance at the Bishop of London's hospitable abode. But he now seemed to have forgotten his fallen entertainer's kindness, and passed his prison, without deigning to take any notice of him. Indeed the recollection of Heath's journey through Oxford was rendered painful to his former friends, not only by his unfeeling, though politic neglect of them, but also by additional rigours then first imposed. Hi- therto, their hours had been occasionally beguiled, and their devotions aided, by the use of the Commu- nion-book. On the very day in which the Bishop of Worcester was travelling onwards within a few paces of their cells, the bailiffs required them, by an order from the Mayor, to give up this volume. At that time, also, they were restrained from walking upon a wall, from which they had been used to in- hale, occasionally, the pure and refreshing air, as well as to hold some intercourse with individuals in the street. These scanty privileges were now, how- ever, barbarously retrenched, and three men, scho- lars, gentlemen, of unblemished morals, and recently of elevated condition, were closely secluded in offen- sive dungeons. Their imprisonment was somewhat embittered by the prejudices of those around them. As the gaoler's underlings were sitting on one even- ing about the fire, a coal flew from the hearth, and 8 1554.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 19D burnt a hole in the floor. When this trifling acci- dent was known out of doors it was magnified into a desperate attempt of the prelates to break prison. On another evening a drunken fellow was brought into the gaol amidst a considerable clamour. Imme- diately an idle rumour ran about the town and neighbourhood, that the bishops had nearly suc- ceeded in making their escape, and that the officers had not been able to disappoint them until after a very severe struggle. Their gaolers officiously ac- quainted the prisoners with these absurd reports, and thus gave them the mortification of knowing that the populace denied them even the credit of patience under their sufferings z. Their concern, however, was most excited by the conduct of those learned persons who lived in lettered ease, and abundance, all around them. " As yet," writes Ridley, " there was never learned man, or any scholar, or other, that visited us since we came to BocardoV In another letter, he thus reverts to the same subject. " The scholars, as we hear, bear us more heavily than the townsmen. A wonderful thing, among so many, never yet scholar offered to any of us, so far as I know, any manner of favour, either for or in Christ's cause"." This disgraceful spirit of enmity or apathy was not, however, univer- sal among the more unlettered and undistinguished inhabitants of Oxford. Honest townsmen contrived z Ridley to Bradford, Letters of the Martyrs, 58. a Ibid. b The same to the same, Gl. 200 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1554. the means of keeping up some communication be- tween the prisoners and their friends without, and also gladly rendered them any other little services that lay in their power c. Nor again were they ever left without a reasonable supply of necessaries ; as it seems likely that they would have been at one time, had they completely depended upon the mercy of their persecutors. Provisions, money, and shirts reached them from London ; being kindly provided to relieve their wants, not only by acquaintances, but also by total strangers. Ridley's heart over- flowed with pious gratitude when he reflected upon these alleviations of his trials. " It is God's work, surely," he wrote, " blessed be God for his unspeak- able goodness." Again, he says, when speaking of his kind friends : " I know for whose sake they do it : to Him, therefore, be all honour, glory, and due thanks*.'' c Ridley to Bradford, Letters of the Martyrs, 58. d Ibid. The necessity for these supplies appears not to have existed uniformly. Towards the close of the year, it might seem, from the following passage in one of Ridley's letters to Bradford, that new cloaths were sent down, with some degree of publicity, to the incarcerated prelates : " I am sure you have heard of our new apparel, and I doubt not but London will have their talk of it. Sir, know you that although this seemeth to us in our case much thanks-worthy, yet have we not that apparel that we look for, fur this in time will wear, and that we look for, rightly done on, will endure, and is called the robe of immor- tality." (Ibid. 68.) That the cloathing which had reached the prelates in this notorious manner was furnished at the public ex- pence appears from a passage in another of Ridley's letters to Bradford, in which it is asked, " Do you not know, that we have food and raiment from the royal store-house ?" (Ibid. 69.) The 1554.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 201 Amidst all their troubles, however, neither Cranmer nor Ridley found in general their spirits flag, or health decline e. At intervals, indeed, the solitude, sus- pense, confinement, and other hardships, to which they were abandoned as a prey for so long a period, afflicted them with a season of depression. Ridley complains, accordingly, of having felt sometimes " a lumpish heaviness in his heart f." But these gloomy hours quickly passed away, and again returned those cheering anticipations to which the sufferers were indebted for habitual equanimity. The good old Latimer, having brought to the conflict the mere wreck of his corporeal frame, appears to have been injured more severely than his fellow victims. A fit of insanity clouded for awhile his honest mindg; but reason soon returned, and his mental eye was firmly case of the three prelates as to these matters appears, therefore, to have been parallel with that of Bp. Fisher, under King Henry VIII. At first, no care was taken to supply necessaries, after- wards, attention was paid to this matter. • " Sir, blessed be God, with all our evil reports, grudgings, and restraints, we are merry in God, and all our care is, and shall be, by God's grace, to please and serve Him, of whom we look and hope, after these temporal and momentary miseries, to have eter- nal joy and perpetual felicity with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Peter, and Paul, and all the blessed company of the angels in heaven, through Jesus Christ our Lord." (Ridley to Bradford, 59.) " Know you likewise, that we all here be, thanks to God, in good health and comfort, watching with our lamps light, I trust in God, when it shall please our Master, the bridegroom, to call us to wait upon him unto the marriage." The same to the same, 67. f The same to the same, 69. fc' The same to the same, 62, 202 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1554. fixed once more upon that enduring inheritance of rest and purity, which had ever been the pole-star of his earthly course. Whenever opportunity was not absolutely denied them, the prelates contrived to make their hours pass with rapidity and interest by means of literary occu- pations. Latimer, indeed, was now altogether un- equal to the labour of composition ; but he repeatedly read over the whole New Testament with eager and delighted attention. His time, however, was chiefly spent in earnest prayer. So long was it his habit to remain thus engaged, that, without help, he was often unable to rise from his knees. His entreaties were especially directed to the strengthening of his own resolution, the restoration of a scriptural faith to the Church of England, and the Lady Elizabeth's safety. In praying for the scriptural renovation of his coun- try, he was in the habit of repeating, with vehement emphasis, " once again, once again." When implor- ing Elizabeth's preservation, his aged cheeks were commonly bedewed with tears, and in his own alli- terative language, he besought God to preserve her for " a comfort to the comfortless realm of Eng- land1'." Cranmer employed himself in vindicating his Catholic Doctrine against the attack made upon it by Gardiner, under the name of Marcus Constan- tius l. Ridley also engaged in the Eucharistic con- troversy, animadverting upon Tunstall's Work ; upon h Dedication to the Duchess of Suffolk, by Augustine Bernher, once Latimer's attendant, afterwards a minister of religion, pre- fixed to the second volume <>f I /atimcr's Sermons, w. * Strype, Mem. Cranm. 191. 1554.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 203 the first book of it fully, upon the second sparingly. These annotations he seems to have considered as finished, and he was therefore anxious to have them transcribed, " lest perchance, together with himself, they should suddenly become the food of Vulcan k." Another of his occupations was the composition of a work in Latin, upon the Abominations of the Ro- man See and Pontiff's K This piece appears to have been somewhat roughly put together m ; but he con- sidered the subject of great importance, and he felt anxious therefore to have his treatise fairly written out, and circulated. He, accordingly, entrusted his papers to Bernher for these purposes, and the move- ments of that faithful agent being for some time un- known to him, the prelate became uneasy as to the fate of his literary labours". It was indeed his opi- nion, that controversialists engaged in exposing Ro- manism, ought to direct their attention mainly against transubstantiation, and the papal pretensions ; as being the principal supports of that unscriptural sys- tem °. Hence he desired earnestly to leave behind * Ridley to Bernher, Letters of the Martyrs, 71. 1 Ridley to Bradford, ibid. 67. m Ridley to Bernher, ibid. 71. n Ridley to Bradford, ut supra. ° " Sir, considering the state of this chivalry and warfare, wherein I doubt not but we be set to fight under Christ's banner and his cross against our ghostly enemy the devil, and the old ser- pent Satan, methink I perceive two things to be his most perilous and most dangerous engines which he hath to impugn Christ's verity, his Gospel, his faith ; and the same two also to be the most massy posts, and most mighty pillars whereby he maintained) and upholdeth his satanical synagogue. These two, Sir, are they 204. HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1554. him, when called upon to suffer, attacks upon Popery in these two particulars, as his legacy to Christen- dom1'. Ridley's intellectual activity, and zeal for divine truth also, led him to form designs for render- ing accessible to mere English readers various testi- monies against Popery, which medieval authors fur- nish. His own situation admitted not extensive undertakings, and even forbade the hope that such would ever be within his power. His expectations of literary usefulness were, therefore, chiefly fixed upon others ; especially upon Grimbold, once his in my judgment : the one his false doctrine, and idolatrical use of the Lord's Supper ; and the other the wicked and abominable usurpation of the primacy of the see of Rome. By these two Satan seemeth to me principally to maintain and uphold his king- dom : by these two he driveth down mightily, alas ! I fear me, the third part of the stars in heaven. These two poisonful, rotten posts he hath so painted over with such a pretence and colour of religion, of unity in Christ's church, of the catholic faith, and such like, that the wily serpent is able to deceive, if it were possible, even the elect of God. Wherefore John said, not without great cause, if any know not Satan's subtleties and the dungeons thereof, (Apoc. ii.) I will wish him no other burden to be laden withall. Sir, because these be his principal and main posts whereupon standeth all his falsehood, craft, and treachery, there- fore, according to the poor power that God hath given me, I have bended mine artillery to shoot at the same. I know it to be but little, God knoweth, that I can do, and of my shot I know tiny pass not. Yet will I not, God willing, cease to do the best that lean to shake those cankered and rotten posts. The Lord -rani me good success to the glory of his name, and the furtherance of Christ's Gospel. I have now already, I thank God for this pre- sent time, spent a good part of my powder in these scribblings." Ridley to Bradford, 63. r Ridley to Bradford, and the living in it unto a sleep ? For as darkness covereth all things in the night, and men cannot walk safely for want of light : so ignorance prevaileth in Popery, and the people are misled therein, so that they cannot see which way they ought to walk, because they are not permitted to exercise themselves in the Word, which is a lantern to our feet, and a light unto our steps : and as in sleep, the hungry man dreameth that he eateth, but when he awaketh his soul is empty ; so in Popery the people being fed with men's traditions, think themselves in good plight, but when they are truly waked, as Jonah, by God's Spirit, they perceive that they were hunger-starved, for wrtnt of the true food of their soul, the Word of God." Apology or Defence of toe Watch-word, 112. 1554.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 273 Apostolic see, there being no realm in Christendom like her. In sleep also, men are used to dream, and their visions commonly turn upon various cru- elties and abominations. Persecutions, violences, and evils of all kinds were perpetrated during the recent sleep of England. When people begin to sleep, their senses are no longer in exercise. When the ceremonies instituted by the Church to move our senses were abolished, we, in like manner, were overcome by sleep. When a man desires to sleep he puts the candle out. And of late among our- selves all writers agreeing with the Apostolic see were condemned and forbidden ; images too, which are laymen's books, were defaced and broken. This sleep of ours hath now continued for twenty years, and during all that time our Church hath been with- out a head. In truth when King Henry first under- took to be head of the Church, it was no church at all. After him King Edward was only the shadow of a head, for he was under tutors and governors who ruled him as they listed. Then came our pre- sent Queen, who was precluded by reason of her sex from being head of the Church. So that, when she came to the throne, we had no head but the two archbishops, and they, being both convicted of one crime, were soon deposed. Thus it came to pass, that while we desired to have a supreme head among us, we had no head at all. Long ago, during th^ tumult in the North, King Henry, I am sure, was determined to restore the Pope's supremacy. But the time was not come. Had he then done as he wished, it would have been said that he acted from VOL. IV. T 274 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1554. fear. After that, Master Knevet and I were sent to the Emperor for the purpose of engaging his media- tion between England and the Apostolic see d. But still, the time was not come. Had King Henry then reconciled himself, his act would have been attributed to worldly policy. Nor was the time come when the question was moved again, at the beginning of King Edward's reign. It would have appeared as if our sovereign, being but a child, had been bought and sold. Nor again, was the time come when our present Queen first took possession of the throne. That was a season of weakness. Nor was the time come even when the King first came among us. It might have been said, that we yielded to force and violence. Now, however, the time is come, and the Pope's Holiness has kindly sent our countryman Cardinal Pole with blessings for those who long have cursed and reviled his per- son and authority. That we may be meet to receive this benediction, we must acknowledge our past offences against his Holiness. I do not exclude my- d This was in the year 1541, when King Henry was again ha- rassed by the machinations of Popish emissaries in the North, and when, by means of Catharine Howard, the leading men of that party had acquired a considerable influence over him. The instructions given to Gardiner and his colleague were secret, and proved abortive. It is probable, indeed, that Charles was rather to be sounded as to his disposition to obtain such terms for Eng- land from the Pope as Henry could accept without dishonour ; than requested to pave the way for an unqualified submission, such as disgraced the reign of Queen Mary. A submission of that kind needed the good offices of no third party to render it palatable at Rome. 1554.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 275 self from the number of such offenders. I am willing to rejoice with them that do rejoice e, and to weep with them that weep. Let us not defer this any longer. The hour is now come. Their Majesties have already restored our holy father the Pope to his supremacy. The three estates of the realm have submitted themselves to his Holiness and his suc- cessors. Wherefore, let no man any longer tarry. As St. Paul said to the Corinthians that he was their father, so the Pope may say to us, that he is our father. For we received our faith first from RomeV But whatever might be the gratification received by the exhibitants and the populace from all this declamation and magnificence, the holders of eccle- siastical property were still uneasy. They had ob- tained, as yet, no absolution for the canonical offence of increasing their estates at the expense of the Church, and hence the papal benignity hitherto vouchsafed to them was found altogether unequal to render them sufficiently pliant. It was, in fact, evident that until some satisfactory recognition of their titles had allayed the apprehensions of such as had been enriched by the recent spoliations, the go- vernment could not venture upon a single auto da fe. Thus not only must bigotry and vengeance continue unsated, but also Romanists of good in- formation knew that the triumph of their traditions over God's undoubted word, would prove only ephe- ' Rom. xii. 15. ' Foxe, 1344. T 2 276 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1554. ineral. It was, indeed, true that a large proportion of the less enlightened persons in every rank, and especially in the remoter parts of England, were yet enthralled by the grovelling superstitions which had amused their grandfathers under the name of religion. But most men of cultivated intelligence had long risen superior to this pernicious and de- grading bondage ; and in London, even persons in the humbler stations, having acquired a knowledge of Scripture, were fully prepared to turn away with merited contempt from teachers bold enough to tell them of articles of faith which the inspired founders of the Catholic Church have omitted to record. In the hope of obtaining such powers from Rome as would fully satisfy the holders of ecclesiastical estates, and thus induce the legislature to revive all that sanguinary code by which Henry IV. had bought over the clergy to patronise his usurpation, a courier was despatched to the Papal court early in December. He bore a communication from the Parliament, apprising the Pope that farther concessions in favour of his see were not to be expected, unless a con- firmation of their titles was granted to all who had acquired estates lately set apart for clerical uses g. The clergy themselves appear to have been fully sensible, that this sacrifice must be made by their order, or Popery would most probably fail of ac- complishing a lasting establishment in the country. The convocation of the southern province presented, accordingly, a supplication to the King and Queen • ' Foxe, l i I ■ 1554.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 277 in behalf of such as were " detainers of ecclesiastical goods." In this paper they declare it to be their duty to strive with all their might against alienations of ecclesiastical estates, but they add, that in this particular case they were justified in declining the exercise of this duty, because multiplied and almost inextricable contracts and dispositions had rendered any attempt to reinstate the Church in all her an- cient opulence difficult, and as it were impossible \ The clergy assembled in convocation also set an ex- ample to the rest of their order by going to Lam- beth, on the 6th of December, for the purpose of being reconciled, as the phrase went, by the Cardinal. They were there absolved, in all due solemnity, from the guilt of their perjuries, heresies, and schisms '. Meanwhile the Parliament proceeded slowly and cautiously in gratifying the court : a bill to repeal all King Henry's acts in prejudice to the Papacy, not having passed the Lords before the 25th of Decem- ber k. On the preceding day Cardinal Pole, acting probably under authority of the bull which was granted a short time before his departure for England, issued his dispensation in favour of those who were possessed of ecclesiastical property, and of those who had contracted uncanonical marriages. By this in- strument all the possessors of such property, whether moveable or immoveable, were to hold it both then and for the future without molestation, disquiet, or disturbance. An admonition was, however, added h Strype, Eccl. Mem. Append, iii. 250. 1 Foxe, ut supra. 1 Burnet, Hist. Ref. ii. 459. 278 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1554. to those who might possess immoveable goods once belonging to the Church, that, remembering the fate of Belshazzar \ they should restore articles in their possession, originally meant for sacred uses, to the churches whence they came, if yet remaining, if not, to some other churches. An intelligible hint was also very fairly given to lay possessors of tythe estates, that they ought not to shew themselves wholly regardless of the claims upon such properties which ministers, officiating within their limits, could justly prefer m. This long-desired concession having been formally promulged, the bill of repeal rapidly passed the Commons. Objections urged against it in both houses appear, indeed, chiefly to have con- cerned its operation upon the interests of individuals. It was upon this principle, that Bishop Boner pro- tested against it. The Lord Wentworth had ac- quired certain lands, formerly belonging to the see of London, and the prelate, therefore, considered himself obliged to protest against a legislative con- firmation of this acquisition n. This act enumerates and repeals all the statutes passed against the Roman see, since the twentieth year of King Henry VIII. It recites, that appre- hensions as to the titles of properties once ecclesi- astical, had been already removed by the Legate's decree, but that, inasmuch as questions arising out of such possessions are triable only before the civil 1 Dan. v. m Strype, Eccl. Mom. Append, iii. 251. ■ Burnet, ut supra. 1554.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 279 authorities, it legally recognises these titles, and renders all who should attempt to disturb them by- ecclesiastical processes, either at home or abroad, liable to a praemunire. It provides, however, that this act should not be construed so as to prejudice any authority or prerogative belonging to the crown before the twentieth of King Henry VIII., and it restores the Pope to the same powers, neither dimi- nishing nor enlarging them, that he might law- fully have exercised before that year. It also places the bishops in the same situation as to ju- risdiction that they occupied in that year, and it denies that the title of Supreme Head ever belonged of right to the crown °. ° Ihid. " Most readers have, very confused and inaccurate notions of the jurisdiction which the pontiff, in virtue of his supremacy, claimed to exercise within the realm. From this act, and the statutes which it repeals, it follows, that that jurisdiction was comprised under the following heads : 1 . He was acknow- ledged as chief bishop of the Christian Church, with authority to reform and redress heresies, errors, and abuses within the same. 2. To him belonged the institution or confirmation of bishops elect. 3. He could grant to clergymen licences of non-residence, and permission to hold more than one benefice with cure of souls. 4. He dispensed with the canonical impediments of matrimony. 5. He received appeals from the spiritual courts." (Lingard, vii. 248, note.) This account may be sufficiently correct as to the claims which the English legislature allowed to the Pontiff", but it is no true statement of the jurisdiction which that personage " claimed to exercise within the realm, in virtue of his supre- macy." One pontiff" claimed the right of dethroning King- Henry VIII., and of releasing his subjects from their oaths of allegiance. Another claimed this right as to Queen Elizabeth. But to say nothing of these things, which are represented by 280 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1554. But notwithstanding that their acquisitions were now secured both by legatine and parliamentary au- thority, there were individuals among the holders of ecclesiastical estates who continued to feel some de- gree of uneasiness as to the security of such acqui- sitions. Among these persons was Sir William Petre, who could not accordingly rest until he had obtained an especial confirmation from Rome for his share of the recent spoliations. He had lent the aid of his legal and political talents in most of the re- forms which had signalised the two last reigns, and his services had been very liberally requited by grants, or advantageous purchases of ecclesiastical estates. He had now relapsed into Popery, like most persons who had any thing of importance to lose. He resembled also the great mass of such in- dividuals, in clinging pertinaciously to the fortune which the Reformation had put into his hands. Ap- Romish partisans as the mere excesses of individuals, (although such is not the truth,) it is evident that the claims conceded by this Parliament, are alike insulting and dangerous to the state. Ecclesiastical and civil questions are often blended so intimately together, that he who exercises the privilege of deciding finally on the former, will assuredly find opportunities, in the lapse of years, for interference in the latter. But even were it possible to guard against this intolerable evil, the prosecution of English appeals before an Italian tribunal, must be felt as a crying grievance by the appellants. It may be added too, that the Roman bishop can make out no title whatever, from the earliest records of the Catholic Church, to any jurisdiction over our island. Upon the whole, therefore, Queen Mary's legislators, in passing this general act of repeal, committed a most shameful breach of their trust. 1554.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 281 prehensive that this valuable property might here- after be wrested either from him, or from his heirs, under some disingenuous pretence, he made an appli- cation to the reigning Pope, during the year 1555, for the pontifical authority to retain his lands, hypo- critically professing himself willing, if so required, to make them over to spiritual usesp. The papal power had been so recently revived over England, that it was deemed expedient to aid its exercise by every facility ; and, accordingly, Petre's application was favourably received at Rome. The desired bull was issued ; and thus it has happened, that a family, continuing in the profession of Romanism, is main- tained in splendour, chiefly from the produce of estates obtained from the Church, as a compensation for services rendered to the Reformation, and con- firmed to its use by an especial grant from Rome. p Strype, Eccl. Mem. iii. 256. That Sir William Petre judged correctly, as to the principles of that ecclesiastical despotism which he had so long politically opposed, but which he was now inte- rested in supporting, is obvious from the following extract. " In a bull of his, addressed in 1712 to the King of the Romans, his Holiness cancels all promises and oaths made in favour of Pro- testants ; declaring them null and void whenever they are pre- judicial to the Catholic faith, the salvation of souls, or to any of the rights of the Church ivhatsoever, even though such engage- ments have been ever so often ratified and confirmed. (Neve's Animadv. 501.) Ridley, in his review of Phillips, (280.) has printed the original words of this infamous decree, which has been cited on account of its recency. Some affairs of this kind, which occurred about the time of Petre's application, are mentioned by Ridley. The English knight, therefore, had good reason to guard the permanency of his fine fortune, by taking every precaution which his ingenuity could suggest. 282 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1554. The act restoring an Italian prelate to an autho- rity which his see had gradually usurped over Eng- land, was sufficiently disgraceful to Queen Mary's third Parliament, but that corrupt and servile assem- bly lent itself to a measure even more infamous. The Lower House of Convocation requested the prelates to exert themselves for the revival of those laws against Lollards, and other opponents of Po- pery, which were passed in the reigns of Henry the Fourth, and his son q. This hint proved sufficient to set on fire the base spirit of sanguinary bigotry, or subserviency, which prevailed in the packed House of Commons ; and, accordingly, a bill to revive these iniquitous statutes was sent from thence to the Lords on the 15th of December. It had been read for the first time so lately as the twelfth of that month. Their Lordships passed it on the eighteenth. They rejected, however, another bill for the voiding of leases granted by married ecclesiastics, which the Commons also sent up, after much debating. It was evident, that if this bill had passed into a law, many of the legislators would have been subjected to pecuniary loss, as the holders of leases granted by married incumbents. Another act passed at this q Burnet, Hist. Ref. Records, ii. 364. This address also prays that measures be taken for driving heretical preachers to a recan- tation, for condemning the English Liturgy and Cranmer's book upon the Eucharist, for suppressing the sale and importation of all such books, for obtaining some satisfactory arrangement as to the statute of provisors, and for accomplishing other objects of some importance to the clergy, especially' under their existing" state of relapse into Popery. 4- 1554.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 283 time, protecting King Philip's existing relations with England. Any lay persons who should deny his right to share the throne with the Queen, or who should endeavour to deprive him of this right, were for the first offence to forfeit all their goods, and to suffer perpetual imprisonment. Clergymen thus offending were to undergo deprivation. The second offence was to be treason ; as was also to be the crime of compassing the King's death during his marriage with the Queen, or during the time that he might exercise the guardianship of any issue arising from such marriage r. The last act passed by this Par- liament was for the punishment of such preachers as should pray in their conventicles, that God would either turn the Queen's heart from idolatry to true religion, or take her quickly out of the way. Such offenders, if obstinate, were to suffer as traitors ; if penitent, they were to undergo some corporal punish- ment, short of death, at the judge's discretion. This bill passed through all its three stages in the Upper House on the 16th of January, when the Parliament was dissolved 8. It is gratifying to have some rea- son for believing, that an assembly which had run its brief career in a manner so eminently discredita- ble, was not wholly destitute of enlightened and ho- nourable minds. Thirty-nine gentlemen, however, appear to have vindicated the character of their sta- tion, by maintaining an independent course amidst r This was to be until such issue had attained the age of eigh- teen, being a male ; or fifteen, if a female. » Burnet, Hist. Ref. ii. 464. 284 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [1554. the degeneracy displayed all around them. It had been usual for the Houses to adjourn during the customary festivities of Christmas, and horses from the country arrived in town about that time for the purpose of carrying several members of both Houses to their family mansions. Unexpectedly, on the 22d of December, an order came down from the court, prohibiting any member to absent himself from the metropolis until the Legislature should have ac- complished its business \ To this order obedience was paid until the 12th of January, when thirty-nine members absented themselves wholly from the Lower House. Proceedings were instituted against these individuals in the court of King's Bench, during the next Easter term. Fines were then imposed upon them ; and of the number, six submitted to their sentences without any farther struggle. The others were not thus intimidated ; but, availing themselves of such defensive processes as the law allowed them, they continued to baffle the court. Probably as the objects which had occasioned the calling of this Par- liament were fully carried before its dissolution, there was no great activity used in prosecuting these re- fractory members ; for, at the Queen's decease, their case was yet undecided. It is considered that they were attached to the Reformation u. * Contemporary Diary, Strype, Eccl. I\ltin. iii. 328. u Such is the representation of Lord Coke, and it certainly wears an air of probability. The names of thirty-eight of th< se members may be seen in Strype, Eccl. Mem^iii. 262. CHAPTER III. Papal ■persecution — Principles of persecution in the Reformatio Legum — The Marian persecution begun — Public celebrations of the papal triumph over England — Bp. Gardiner's first session at St. Mary Overy's — Condemnation of the first vic- tims— Rogers — Martyrdom of Bp. Hooper — Rowland Taylor — Laurence Saunders — First condemnations of Bp. Boner — General horror of the nation — Death of Julius III. and accession of Paul IV. — F error — Outrage of William Flower — Marsh — Controversy upon persecution — The royal circu- lars— The Queen's imaginary pregnancy — Cardmaker — Brad- ford— Further proceedings against the prelates imprisoned at Oxford — Degradation of Bp. Ridley — Martyrdom of the Bishops Latimer and Ridley — Conversion of Julius Palmer — Proceedings in Parliament — Death of Bp. Gardiner — Phil- pot — Queen Mary's Primer. When Christianity first obtained protection from imperial Rome, numerous wild and even pernicious opinions brought obloquy and trouble upon the Church. The converted emperors endeavoured, by means of civil penalties, to wipe away these re- proaches from their faith ; and at length, in an evil hour, the elder Theodosius awarded the punishment of death to certain branches of the Manichean sect 3. Honorius was equally severe upon the Donatistsb. a Bingham, upon the authority of Gothofred, who published the Theodosian code, says, that this sanguinary law w#s pro- mulged in 382. Antiqu. ii. 99. b Ibid. 27. 286 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1555. In both these cases it is not to be denied that the civil magistrate's interference was urgently required, and that considerable severity might justifiably be used. There was among the Manichees a disposition to revolting obliquities, and with the Donatists was connected a band of ruffianly partizans , who perpe- trated intolerable outrages. Youth and ignorance obviously demanded protection against the assaults of principles, which had not unfrequently furnished excuses for the commission of such enormous crimes, perhaps even incentives to the criminals. Nor if in- dividuals, infected with such errors, had been re- strained discreetly by the temporal authorities from activity in spreading their own poisonous delusions, would the laws, visiting such aberrations penally, have been censurable. On the contrary, they would have performed their proper office as the guardians of the public peace and morals. The penalty of death, however, though justly due to certain crimes committed by individuals under colour of the repro- bated opinions, was tyrannical and excessive as a measure of precaution levelled against the tenets themselves. It is indeed satisfactory to know that this penalty was very rarely inflicted, and that the most eminent Christian divines condemned the de- nunciation of itd. But the very name of such a punishment was disreputable to the Church ; and the insertion of it among the earliest codes of eccle- siastical jurisprudence appears to have exerted a c Called Circumccllioiit >. d Biiisfham, ii. 28. 1555.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 287 most injurious influence upon the subsequent legis- lation of western Europe. The laws of her several states have been moulded more or less upon those of imperial Rome ; and hence probably arose the legal maxim, which has disgraced them all, that heretics are to be proscribed as capital offenders. Heresy was anciently understood to mean a denial of the Nicene faith, or, more properly, of the reli- gious principles agreed upon in the first four general councils as the sense of Scripture in the leading arti- cles proposed to a Christian's belief6. When, how- ever, the Roman bishops had succeeded in obtaining the general admission of their pretensions, it was found necessary to brand as heretics all who resisted that usurpation. In the eleventh century this de- testable policy appears to have left a stain of blood upon the annals of Europe ; some individuals being then inhumanly massacred, as unsound members of the Christian Church, of whose belief in the Nicene faith there can be no reasonable doubt f. The known e " Secundum Apostolicam disciplinary Evangelicamque doc- trinam Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti unam Deitatem sub parili majestate, et sub pia Trinitate credamus ; hanc legem sequentes, Christianorum Catholicorum nomen jubemus amplecti, reliquos vero dementes vesanosque judicantes heeretici dogmatis infamiam sustinere. Cod. Theod. lib. 16. de fide Catholica, leg. 2. A.D. 380." Ridley's Review of Phillips, 303, note. See also Sir Roger Twisden's Historical Vindication of the Church of Eng- land. Lond. 1675, p. 136, et sequ. f See Hist. Ref. under King Henry VIII. i. 49. That the reli- gionists burnt all together in a house at Orleans, in 1017, were not justly chargeable with a departure from the Nicene faith, ap- pears from Peter de Vaux Sernay, who confounds them with the 288 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1555. orthodoxy of their opponents in general seems in- deed to have rendered the ruling ecclesiastics rather unwilling broadly to pronounce them heretics in the earlier part of the struggle between Rome and the Albigenses. A council accordingly, holden at Tou- louse, in 1119, Pope Calixtus II. being present, which delivered over to secular coercion the holders of opinions resembling those of the modern Quakers, only ventured to treat these sectaries as if they were heretics s. This canon was repeated, with merely some trifling verbal variations, by the second council of Lateran, holden under Innocent II. in 1139 h. A council, however, holden at Tours, in 1163, Alexan- der III. being present, abandoned all reserve respect- ing the Albigenses, pronouncing them heretics in unqualified terms ; anathematising all who should receive them in their territories, or afford them pro- tection ; forbidding all dealings with them, and sen- tencing them to imprisonment, with the confiscation Albigenses. Historical Defence of the Waldenses, Lond. 1826, p. 27. g " Porro eos qui religionis speciem simulantes Dominici cor- poris et sanguinis sacramenturn, puerorum baptisma, sacerdotium, et cseteros ecclesiasticos ordines, et legitimarum damnant fcedera nuptiarum tanquam haereticos ab ecclesia Dei pellimus et dam- namus, et per potestates exteras coerceri preecipimus. Defen- sors quoque ipsorum ejusdem damnationis vinculo, donee resi- puerint, mancipamus." Cone. Tol. can. iii. Lab. et Coss. x. 857. h Cone. Lat. can. xxiii. Ibid. 1008. The variations from the canon cited above are the following: for "religionis," is read " religiositatis ;" for " mancipamus," is read " innodamus;" and the clause " donee resipuerint," is altogether omitted. I 1555.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 289 of all their goods1. These denunciations, with the exception of confiscation and imprisonment, were repeated under the same pontiff at a synod which he held at Rome in 1179, known as the third council of Lateran, and ordinarily termed general by Romish authorities. This assemblage abstained from enact- ing inferior penalties against the anti-papists of southern Gaul, obviously because it was bent upon the flagitious design of exterminating these reli- gionists by fire and sword. It artfully and invi- diously joins them with the troops of banditti, and mercenary soldiers, who, under different names, roamed about the country, and it encourages fero- " In partibus Tolosca damnanda heeresis dudum emersit, quce paulatim, more cancri, ad vicina loca se diftundens, per Guas- coniam, et alias provincias quamplurinios jam infeeit. Quce, dum in modum serpentis intra suas evolutiones abscondilur, quanto serpit occultius, tanto gravius Dominicam vineam in sim- plicibus demolitnr. Unde contra eos, episcopos et omnes Domini sacerdotes in illis partibus commorantes vigilare prcecipimus, et sub interminatione anathematis prohibere, ut ubi cogniti fuerint illius heeresis sectatores, ne receptaculum quisquam eis in terra sua prsebere, aut preesidium impertire preesumat. Sed nee in venditione aut emptione aliqua cum eis omnino commereium babeatur : ut solatio saltern humanitatis amisso ab errore vitee suae resipiscere compellantur. Quisquis autem contra hrec venire tentaverit tanquam particeps iniquitatis eorum anathemate feria- tur. 1 11 i vero si deprehensi fuerint per Catholicos principes custodiee mancipati omnium bonorum amissione mulctentur. Et quoniam de divcrsis partibus in unum latibulum crebro con- veniunt, et preeter consensum erroris nullam cohabitandi causam habentes, in uno domicilio commorantur ; talia conventicula et investigenlur attentius, et si vera fuerint, canon ica sevcritate vetentur." Cone. Huron, can. iv. Ibid, 1419. VOL. IV. U 290 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1555. cious fanatics, or mere plunderers, to undertake a sanguinary crusade against these religionists and free- booters, by the offer of such indulgences as were the usual meed of a pilgrimage to Palestine k. This h " Sicut ait beatus Leo, licet ecclesiastica disciplina sacerdo- tali contenta judicio cruentas non efficit ultiones ; Catholicorum tanien principum constitutionibus adjuvatur, ut sa?pe queerant homines salutare remedium, dura corporale super se metuunt evenire supplicium, Ea propter quia in Gasconia, Albigesio, et partibus Tolosanis, et aliis locis, ita hsereticorum, quos alii Ca- tharos, alii Patrinos, alii Publicanos, alii aliis nominibus vocant, iavaluit daranata perversitas, ut jam non in occulto, sicut aliqui, nequitiam suam exerceant, sed suum errorem publice manifestent, et ad suum consensum simplices attrahant et infirmos : eos, et defensores eorum et receptores anathemati decernimus subjacere, et sub anathemate piohibemus ne quis eos in domibus, vel in terra sua tenere, vel fovere, vel negotiationem cum eis exercere prcesumat. Si autem in hoc peccato decesserint, non sub nostro- rum privilegiorum cuilibet indultorum obtentu, nee sub alia- cumque occasione, aut oblatio fiat pro eis, aut inter Christianos recipiant sepulturam. De Brabantionibus, et Aragonensibus, Navariis, Bascolis, Coterellis, et Triaverdinis, qui tantam in Chris- tianos immanitatem exercent, ut nee ecclesiis, nee monasterii3 deferant, non viduis, et pupillis, non senibus, et pueris, nee cui- libet parcant eetati, aut sexui, sed more Paganorum, omnia pcr- dant et vastent; similiter constituimus, ut qui eos conduxerint, vel tenuerint, vel fovcrint per regiones in quibus taliter debac- chantur, in Dominicis et aliis solemnibus diebus per ecclesias publice denuncientur, et eadera omnino sententia et poena cum preedictis hsereticis habeantur adstricti, nee ad communionem recipiantur Ecclesise, nisi soeietate iila pestifera, et hscresi abju- ratis. Relaxatos autem se noverinl a debito fidelitatis, et hominii, ac totius obsequii donee in tanta iniquitate peimanseriat qui- cunque illis aliquo peccato (pacto) tencntur anncxi. Ipsis anion, cunetisque Jiddtbus in remission'em peccatorum nyun- (jimus, ut t pro- nuuuced " ever a virgin." Excepting these things; and perhaps. 1555.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 297 in the third canon, heresy is described as that which raises itself above the faith expounded before. Thus the denial of a mere tradition was formally erected into a heresy. The vindictive intentions of the Roman Church against her opponents being thus openly avowed, and being rendered effective by the arms of interested warriors, she soon ventured upon an indiscriminate proscription of her enemies. The council of Toulouse, accordingly, holden under a papal legate in 1229, enacted seventeen canons against heretics, but it abstained from any definition of their character farther than by enjoining, that it was to be left to the judgment of the ecclesiastical authorities n. Thus were the official members of a likewise, the mention of human merit in the last clause, this con- fession is irreprehensible. It even affords a negative testimony against that presumptuous and detestable doctrine, adopted by the council of Trent from the schoolmen, that attrition, attended by confession, is sufficient for obtaining the pardon of sin. This Lateran formulary very truly says, that iniquity committed after baptism may be remitted by means of " true repentance." But there, the canon stops. It says nothing of that infamous pretence by which the later Romanists have claimed for their clergy the power of forgiving sins. " Et si post susceptionem baptismi quis- quam prolapsus fuerit in peccatum, per veram poenitentium semper potest reparari." Nor does the 21st canon, which enjoins con- fession universally, give any hint of the object which modern Romanists chiefly have in view in submitting periodically to that degrading discipline. On the contrary, it speaks of confessors merely as physicians of the soul ; a sound view of their office, Which is unfolded in the decrees of former councils, and winch places the occasional use of such persons in a light at once ho- nourable, safe, and advantageous. n Cone. Tol. can. viii. Labb. et Coss. xi. 4'29. 298 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1555. triumphant, and exasperated party, freely permitted to single out their adversaries for death and confis- cation. To search for such unhappy persons, one priest, with two, three, or more laymen were to be bound by an oath in every parish °. Landowners were enjoined also carefully to examine even the woods and caves upon their estates, in order to pre- vent them from affording shelter to the proscribed opponents of papal Rome p, and if any gentleman were found to have permitted the residence of such individuals upon his estate, he was not only to lose that property, but also his superior lord was to ac- quire the power of taking away his personal liberty q. A house in which a heretic was found, was to bq demolished, land upon which he lived was to be confiscated \ Magistrates residing in places against which the Church entertained presumptions, and not exerting great diligence in the detection of her enemies, were to lose their goods, and their offices, and to be rendered incapable of ever taking a similar office again 9. Even territorial rights were to be disregarded by those who might undertake to hunt for heretics, and any prince was not only to be ° Cone. Tol. can. i. p Ibid. can. iii. 'l " Amittat in pcrpctuum tcrram snam, ct corpus suura sit in manus domini ad faciendum hide quod debebit." Ibid. can. iv. r Ibid. can. vi. 3 " Bailivus vera qui semper est in terra residens, in loco contra guern prasumitur, nisi contra hsereticos valde solicitus inveniatur etdiligens, bona sua amiit.it, el de ca tero, nee ibi, nee alibi, con- stituatur bailivus." Ibid. can. vii. 1555.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 299 allowed the liberty of entering freely the dominions of another, upon this errand, but even also to claim assistance there from the constituted authorities l. These severities were scarcely qualified by any sem- blance of mercy. Enemies to the Roman Church, voluntarily seeking reconciliation with her, were to be removed from the place of their former abode, if any suspicion of heresy attached to it ; to be sta- tioned in some place not so suspected ; to wear two crosses of a different colour to that of their clothes, one on their right side, the other on their left ; and to be rendered incapable of holding any office, unless by the especial favour of the Pope, or of his legate a latere u. Heretics recanting from the fear of death, or from any other evident compulsion, were to be retained in custody as penitents, and if they had been possessed of property, they were only so far to recover it, as to be supplied from it with necessaries, under the bishop's direction x. The following canons enacted by this legatine council may be termed preventive. All persons, both male and female, having attained the age of fourteen, were to be called upon to abjure every heresy raising itself against the Roman Church, swearing at the same time, that they would ever maintain the faith of that Church, persecute heretics to their power, and discover them with good faith y. This oath was 1 Cone. Tol. can. ix. " Ibid. can. x. * Ibid. can. xi. y " Ilcereticos pro viribus persequentur, et co^. bona tide niam- festabnnt." Ibid. can. xii. ;300 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [15.35. to be administered at the end of every two years, and that none might elude it, a register was to be prepared containing the names of all the residents in every parish. Any absentee at the time of this triennial swearing, who should not take the oath within fifteen days of his return home, was to be considered as suspected of heresy. Clergymen were to ascertain, from an inspection of these parochial registers, whether all their parishioners confessed and communicated thrice in a year. Those who should be found to have neglected these things were to be considered as suspected of heresy \ But the most judicious measure of precaution was the pass- ing of a canon which could not be obeyed without reducing the whole population within a few years to a state of stupid ignorance as to religious truth. It was enacted, that laymen should not be permitted to possess either the Old, or the New Testament. Any devout persons might, however, be indulged with a psalter, the breviary, or the hours of the Vir- gin. But it was most strictly enjoined, that even these books should not be in the vulgar tongue a. Such were the canonical sanctions, following closely upon a sanguinary war, undertaken under the name of religion, which established Popery in z Cone. Tol. can. xiii. a " Prohibemus ctiam, ne libros Veteris Testamenti aul Novi laici permittantur habere : nisi forte psalterium, vel breviarium, pro divinis ofliciis, aut horas beatse Mariee aliquis ex devotione habere velit. Sed >tc prcemissos libros habeant in vulgari trans- lates arctissimc inhibemus." Ibid. can. xiw 1555.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 301 southern France. Other councils b in that unhappy country imitated the example set them at Toulouse, and the various acts of atrocious intolerance pre- scribed in these assemblies, together with the thick night of spiritual blindness which was industriously spread over the land, at length induced a general belief in a once enlightened -population, that the denial of principles unknown to Scripture, and to the primitive Church was properly branded with the odious name of heresy. While this iniquitous policy was running its hateful course in France, a similar spirit of persecution extended itself to Germany. The thirteenth century saw the Roman Church at- tain the summit of her political pretensions, and it also saw the religion which she teaches moulded very nearly into its actual form. Upon the banks of the Rhine, as elsewhere, arose a violent opposition to the claims of the papal see, and the principles of the Roman religion. A Dominican friar was, in consequence, despatched, under pontifical authority, to that region, in 1232, and in the following year, this agent was enabled, at an assembly of prelates and princes, holden at Mentz, to commence a san- guinary persecution. Innumerable heretics, as these enemies to Popery are called, were immediately committed to the flames, not only around the city in which their tenets had been formally condemned, b As that of Narbonne, holden under the archbishops of three provinces, in 1235 ; that of Beziers, under the archbishop of Nar- bonne only, in 1246; and that of Alby, under the bishop of Avignon, many prelates of southern France being present, in 1254. 302 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1555. but also in other parts of Germany c. These vic- tims, were, probably, far from uniform in their reli- gious opinions. But heresy was now denned in such a manner as to leave none of them any room for escape. iZtlrai (Tvvt'iffaKTOv iyeiv ~^lv ei f") ",oa A"?7E>0a> '*' dceX- 2. 1555.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 389 Rome, on the 5th of June u, the day of this haughty pontiff's coronation x. Among their papers was a letter of Pole's, which strongly marks the degrading nature of their errand. Henry VIII. had exchanged, under Parliamentary authority, the title of Lord of Ireland, for that of King ; and this title had been borne by his successors. This alteration in the royal style had been made, however, since England emancipated herself from Rome, and as, according to the doctrines current in that city, the conferring of royal dignities was a papal privilege y, it was thought highly probable that the King and Queen of Ireland would receive some sort of a rebuff at the court of his Holiness. In order to guard against this mortification, their Majesties desired Pole's in- terference. The Legate, accordingly wrote to the reigning Pope, requesting his approbation of the change introduced, of late years, in the royal style of England, so that the princes of that country might call themselves Kings of Ireland, under authority of the Holy See z. Before the bearers of a As appears from a papal brief printed by Raynaldi, (No. 28.) Note to Le Courayer's Fr. Transl. of F. Paul, ii. 20. * Lingard, vii. 254. 7 Pallavicino represents the exercise of this privilege as a matter of so much historical notoriety, that all reasoning upon it is a mere waste of time. " Certo il possesso de' Papi in conferire il titolo regio appare nell' istorie cosi frequente, che '1 referirle ad occasioni accidentali e contra la trita dottrina del filosofo, non avvenire per accidente cioche avviene spesso." ii. 55. 2 " Cum superioribus annis Hiberniae dominium, inducto jam schismate, in regnum fuerit erectum, nunc serenissimi hi Reges, 390 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1555. this epistle reached the place of their destination, the pontiff to whom it was addressed had ceased to breathe. The reigning Pope, however, made no difficulty in acceding to Pole's request. But he did not forget to accompany his compliance by such a display of arrogance as was thoroughly merited by the sovereigns who condescended to ask this boon at his hands, by the Englishman who penned the letter to him, by those who bore it, and by the mer- cenary legislature which had betrayed its trust in sanctioning such insults upon the country. At a private3 consistory holden on the 7th of June, Paul " erected Ireland into a kingdom," thereby con- firming the title used by Henry VIII. and his successors, " tinder pretence of an Act of Par- liament*? On the 10th, and again on the 21st of ob eorum pietatem, cupiunt, ut quemadmodum Sanctit. vestrsc et Sedis Apostolicae authoritate reliqua confirmata sunt quae per id tempus acta fuerant, ita hanc ipsam erectionem ante suorum oratorum ad Urbem adventum ipsa comprobet, ac denuo, qua- tenus sit opus, instituat, ne hoc ipsi titulo sine ejusdem Sanctit. vestrae, et istius Sanctae Sedis authoritate utantur. Itaque nie- cum egerunt, ut pro munere protectionis apud Sanctit. vestram quod eis placuit mihi deferre, quemadmodum ei ante significan- duin curavi, hac de re ad ipsam S. V. scriberem, eamque, sicuti facio, ipsorum nomine, id rogarem." Polus Julio P. 111. Ep. v. 6. " Pallavicino, ii. 53. b " Ex actis consistorialibus. " Romse die vii. mensis Junii, 1555, apud Sanctum Marcum l'nit consistorium ; in quo, referente reverendissirao Putco, erexit insulam Hiberniae, cujus ab eo tempore q\io illius dominium pi i Sedem Apostolicam adepti suut Reges Angliae qui pro tempore 1555.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 391 June, the English embassy was formally admitted to a consistory, and went through the ceremony of con- fessing, as crimes needing the papal forgiveness, the various legislative and theological acts by which Eng- land had recently shaken off the Pope's yoke, and exposed his traditional creed. These offences were, of course, gladly remitted c. But there were other causes of dissatisfaction against England, which Paul was precluded from alleging openly. He could by no means approve of the manner in which estates, once ecclesiastical, had been applied to secular uses ; and he was impatient to receive remittances from England, under the name of Peter-pence. In pri- vate conferences with the English agents, he de- fuerunt, se Dominos tantum nuncupare consueverant, et cujus regium titulum quondam Henricus VIII. postquam ab unitate Catholicse Ecclesiae, et obedientia Pontificis Romani secessit, ■prcetextu cujusdam legis per Parliamentum ejusdem insulce, ut prcetenditar , latae primo, et deinde ejus natus Edvardus VI. eorum nominum, qui dum viverent pro regibus Angliae se gesse- runt, de facto usurpaverant, in regnum ad instar aliarum insula- rum regio titulo, dignitate, et honore fulgentium, sine praejudicio jurium S. R. E. et cujuseunque alterius in ea, vel ad illam jus habere prsetendentis, ac attenta dignitate, juribus, insignibus regiis, quibus alia Christifidelium regna utuntur, insignivit et decoravit." Inter Ep. Pol. v. 136. c Pallavicino, ii. 53. The reason why these absurd and de- grading ceremonies were gone through by the ambassadors upon two several occasions, was the arrival at Rome of new credentials addressed to the reigning Pope. Viscount Montague bore no part in this second submission : he had set off, on his return to England, previously to it. Bp. Thirlby did not long continue at Rome; on his departure Sir Edward Carne remained as English resident. 392 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1555. clared repeatedly, that alienations of ecclesiastical property were absolutely void, and that they ren- dered all concerned in them obnoxious to the curse of heaven. Upon the subject of Peter-pence, he asserted himself to have been much edified in Eng- land, many years ago, in observing the alacrity with which even the poorest people paid that impost ; and lie added, that St. Peter could scarcely be expected to open the gates of everlasting life to such as usurped his revenues upon earth. By way of con- firming these communications, Paul issued, on the 12th of July, a bull revoking generally all alienations of ecclesiastical property. This instrument makes no mention of England expressly, but it pronounces null and void, " in the plenitude of the apostolical power," all arrangements whatever injurious to the temporal interests of the Roman Church d. Its renewed subjection to this intolerant and en- croaching Church daily spread grief and horror over the English nation. The surprise occasioned by De Castro's discourse against persecution was yet fresh in the public mind, when another victim of note left his London dungeon for immolation in a distant country. Robert Ferrar was a Yorkshireman, born within the vicarage of Halifax c, the bounds of which d Burnet, Hist. Ref. Records, iii. 4. This bull is a strong con- firmation of what Father Paul (392) has related respecting; the Pope's private conversations with the English ambassadors. Pal- lavicino is wholly silent upon this subject, which he certainly would not have been, if he could have fastened the slightest im- putation of inaccuracy upon the taten I irpi. • Godwin, tic Praesul. 585, note. Bishop Ferrar wa (5 1555.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 393 are so extensive, that they enclose a district rather than a parish f. Having partly received his acade- mical education at Cambridge, he left that Univer- sity for a seminary belonging to the canons regular of St. Austin, at Oxford. Into this order he entered when a young man g, and he soon became eminent for his learning and piety \ He was the last prior of Nostel, in Yorkshire, surrendering that house in 1540, and receiving as a provision an annual pension of 100/ l. Probably he was resident at Nostel when he accompanied Bishop Barlow to Scotland, in 1535, on an embassy meant to enlighten the mind of James V. as to the propriety of emancipating himself from Rome k. . Another proof of Ferrar's reputation is drawn from the patronage of Archbishop Cranmer, who selected him for his chaplain. While in this situation, it is thought, he privately married \ Soon after King Edward's accession, he was appointed to born at Evvood, near Halifax, where lived a gentleman's family of his name, in the reign of Henry VIII. (Watson's Hist, of Hali- fax, Lond. 1775, p. 244.) His name was, as usual, differently spelt, being written Faner, Feror, Ferrowr, and Fcrrar. The lost spelling appears to be the best, as being nearest to the roots ferrier, and ferrarius. Families distinguished by this name bear horse-shoes in their arms. f The parish of Halifax is about as large as Rutlandshire, or perhaps it is even larger than that county. Watson's Hali- fax, 1. g Watson's Halifax, 468. h Godwin, de Prsesul. 585. 1 Browne Willis's St. David's, cited by Watson, ubi supra. k Hist. Ref. under King Henry VIII. ii. 81. Strype, Mem. Cranm. 262. 1 Watson's Halifax, ubi supra. 394 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1555. attend, as English preacher, the royal commissioners charged with visiting Wales, and the bordering dio- ceses m. He now became chaplain to the Protector Somerset, and, by that nobleman's interest, he was advanced to the see of St. David's". Nothing could be more unfortunate to him than this preferment. His good qualities appear to have been alloyed by an intractable disposition : hence, if his conscience admitted the integrity of his aims, he stopped not to consider whether his means were discreetly chosen °. This temperament generally renders men unfit for leading situations, and it was particularly unsuited to the circumstances in which Bishop Ferrar found himself placed on arriving in Wales. Among the evils calling for his interference were certain irregu- larities committed by members of the chapter of St. David's. Plate, jewels, and other valuable property, used in the exploded Popish service, had been appro- priated by Young p, the chanter of that church, and m See Hist. Ref. under King Edward VI. iii. 52. n Consecrated September 9, 1548. Godwin, de Preesul. 585, note. ° " Homo rigid us, et moribus aliquanto incomptior, quod mul- tum ill i molestise peperit, Edvardo adhuc regnante." (Godwin, Annal. 125.) " A man he was of an unsociable disposition, rigidly self-willed, and one who looked for more observance than his place required, which drew him into great dislike with most of his clergy, with none more than the canons of his own cathedral." Hcylin, Hist. Ref. 120. p Thomas Young, who was consecrated to the see of St. Da- vid's, in 1559, and translated to the archiepiscopal see of York, in the following year. Godwin, de Praesul. 58b. 710. 1555.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 395 Meyrick9, one of the residentiaries, in a manner which demanded enquiry at least, perhaps also re- prehension'. Ferrar appears to have assumed to- wards these clergymen something of a menacing air \ This failing of its object, he determined upon visiting the chapter of St. David's. He was now re- sisted as infringing the privileges of that church. Irritated by this obstacle, he rashly undertook to dismiss his opponents from their offices. A malicious and vexatious conspiracy was immediately organized against him, highly unworthy of some individuals implicated in it, however just might be their causes of dissatisfaction l. Hugh Rawlins, a clergyman well beneficed, of light and suspicious habits u, and q Rowland Meyrick, who was consecrated to the see of Ban- gor, in 1559. Ibid. 627. r Bp. Ferrar in his own vindication, from a Foxian MS. enti- tled Adversaries principal against Ferrar, Bishop of St. David's. Strype, Eccl. Mem. Append, iii. 355. 8 The Bishop says of these persons, that he " first with gentle- ness sought their reformation, whereunto they would nowise in- cline ; and thinking then to fear them with the law, as the father doth fear the children with shaking the rod, to make them obe- dient, (through which attempt they became worse ;) and so he at last put them out of office." Ibid. * As both Young and Meyrick afterwards rose to distinguished preferments in the reformed Anglican Church, and Constantine, registrar of the diocese of St. David's, another of Bp. Ferrar's principal adversaries, was a zealous Protestant ; it was suggested to Foxe, that he ought, in prudence, to suppress his information relative to the part taken by these persons in this affair. The honest martyrologist, however, very properly followed not this advice. Strype, Eccl. Mem. iii. 430. u The following is Bp. Ferrar's own description of Rawlins, in 9 39C HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1555. Thomas Lee, a bankrupt trader, presented, with the privity and encouragement of Young, Meyrick, and Constantine, a memorial to the privy council, in which fifty-six allegations were brought against Bishop Ferrar. In this paper he was charged with abuse of authority, maintenance of superstition, avarice, wilful negligence, and folly. Nothing can be more frivolous than this multifarious mass of ac- cusation, or more satisfactory, in a moral point of view, than Ferrar's answers to it. Unhappily for his bill of exceptions : " The said Rawlins hath four or five bene- fices, above the value of 200 marks a year, and is resident upon none of them, but spendeth his living to the hindrance of other men, going about here and there, wandering to and fro, without either man or boy waiting on him, more like a light person, than a man of such livelihood, and of his vocation, being a preacher. And indeed he is taken for a lewd fellow of all that know his be- haviour ; insomuch that when a certain man objected to the adversaries, that it was ill done to put so lewd a fellow as Raw- lins to promote their cause, they answered and reported his ho- nesty in these words, We kncnv Raiulins to be a very knave, and so meet for no purpose, as he is to set forward such a matter : of which report there is sufficient witness." (Foxe, 1408.) In the royal visitation, which employed Ferrar as English preacher, one Hugh Rawlins was assigned to the same circuit as Welch preacher. If this clergyman were Ferrar's adversary at St. Da- vid's, which appears highly probable from his preferments and his designation as " a preacher," the characters of the two men will account for the hostility of Rawlins. That the Bishop's accuser was a specious man, at bottom frivolous and dissipated, there can be no doubt. Ferrar was in the highest degree strict and un- bending. Two such men could not come into daily contact with each other without the cngciidcrment of hatred on the une hand, contempt on the other. 1555.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 397 him, however, he had, either by negligence or con- tempt of forms, laid himself under the lash of ex- isting laws. Some of his commissions appear to have been worded in a defective manner, the royal supremacy not being set forth in them in such terms exactly as parliamentary statutes enjoined. His chancellor had drawn these instruments, and the Bishop admits, that he was not certain as to their strict accuracy in point of form. Upon this diffi- culty his enemies fastened, representing their diocesan as a prelate who pretended to derive his episcopal jurisdiction from a foreign usurped authority, not from the prerogatives of his native prince. Thus to charge a leaning towards the papal pretensions upon a man of Ferrar's known principles was a monstrous act of injustice ; but it is probable, that his confidential officer really had afforded some sort of colour for it, and his adversaries would not re- linquish their hold. Proceedings, accordingly, were instituted, intended to bring him under the penalties of a praemunire. These ruined his affairs irre- trievably. The charge, indeed, Was never brought to an issue, but in preparing for his defence, he fell into embarrassments which incapacitated him from remitting into the royal exchequer, at the proper time, some subsidies and other payments clue from the clergy of his diocese. He was now thrown into prison, and his case became hopeless from the want of powerful friends. His patron Somerset had fallen, and Cranmer appears either to have been an indif- ferent spectator of his misfortunes, or incapable of 398 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1555. aiding him \ On Mary's accession he was in prison. No pretext, therefore, existed for charging him with political offences ; nor, indeed, does he seem ever to have broken through his obscurity, unless when he signed, in common with other Protestant prisoners of eminence, the paper defining their tenets, and refusing the proposed disputation at Cambridge. Ferrar's inactivity, however, during the present reign, afforded him no protection ; he being among those who were brought before Gardiner, at St. Mary Overy's, to answer for their opinions. The Chancellor treated him with the most unfeeling coarseness, receiving his plea of ignorance as to Pole's arrival and mission, as if it had been the impudent pretence of some vile impostor. He was then charged with defrauding the royal exchequer, and told, that notwithstanding, her Majesty would be favourable to him, if only he would return to the Catholic Church. Ferrar answered, that no person could prove against him the peculation of a single penny ; and that having once sworn to renounce the Bishop of Rome, he could not now promise to ac- x Strype, Mem. Cranm. 263. The biographer has, however, to offer as to Cranmer's feelings respecting Ferrar little better than mere surmise. Probably, nothing but the crown's especial clemency, or an act of indemnity could have effectually relieved the unfortunate Bishop of St. David's. The succession of fac- tious intrigues which occupied Edward's interested courtiers is a sufficient reason why neither of these remedies was applied to the necessities of a powerless man. Cranmer, possibly, might be lukewarm in Ferrar's case, because he could not wholly acquit that prelate of indiscretion, and because he found him intractable. 1555.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 399 knowledge his pretensions. He was then told, that he had broken his vow to live without a wife. Ferrar answered, that he never made any such vow ; that he had, indeed, engaged to live chaste, but that such engagement did not preclude him from marrying. Gardiner said : " You are a froward knave, and we will have no more to do with you. We will be short with you, as you shall know within this se'night." The prisoner replied ; " I am as it pleaseth your honour to call me ; but I cannot break my oath, which your Lordship yourself made before me, and gave me an example ; the which confirmed my conscience. That oath can I never break, whilst I live to die for it." Such a resolute display of honesty seems to have rendered even Tunstall impatient ; for he said ; " Well, he standeth upon his oath. Call another." The Chancellor then rang a little bell, and Ferrar was led away, saying as he departed, " I pray God to save the King and Queen's Majesties, and all your honours." He was not, however, called again before this tribunal, being sent down into Wales uncon- demned, on the 14th of February y. On the 26th y After mentioning de Castro's sermon at court on the 10th of February, Dr. Lingard continues : " It made, however, a deep impression; the execution of the prisoners was suspended; and five weeks elapsed before the advocates of severity could ob- tain permission to rekindle the fires of Smithfield. It is not improbable that the revival of the persecution was provoked by the excesses which were at this time committed by the fanaticism of some among the gospellers, and by the detection of a new conspiracy, which had been organised in the counties of Cam- bridge, Suffolk, and Norfolk." (vii. 265.) For these " excesses of the gospellers" the reader is referred to Strype, pp. 210. 212. 400 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1555. of that month, he was brought before Henry Morgan, the Bishop of St. David's, in the church of Caer- marthen, and required to answer certain interrogato- ries. This he refused, as having seen no lawful commission on the part of Morgan. This refusal being repeated upon the same ground, on the last day of the month, Ferrar was pronounced contuma- cious, and was told that he would be treated as having confessed the heresies imputed to him. Four days afterwards he was brought up again, and he then The former of these pages relates, that a statue of Archbishop Becket, or St. Thomas of Canterbury, as Romanists ridiculously call him, was placed over the gate of Mercers' chapel, in Cheap- side, on the 14th of February. In the second night afterwards, two of the figure's fingers were broken off. On the following night the neck and crosier were mutilated. The figure being repaired, was deprived of its head and arms on the 14th of March. On the 14th of February, Bishop Ferrar left London, probably long before Becket's image was set up. Strype's 212th page relates the insane outrage committed by Flower, on the 14th of April. This, therefore, could certainly have nothing to do with the revival of the persecution. In fact, the persecution cannot be said to have ever ceased. For Bishop Ferrar's departure from town followed closely upon the first martyrdoms, and his death took place as soon as the necessary forms, and his appeal to Car- dinal Pole, would allow. The conspiracy to which Dr. Lingard alludes, appears to have been very obscure and unimportant. Nor is it likely that it was detected before Bishop Ferrar was sent into Wales; for the diarist in Strype (Eccl. Mem. iii. 335.) in- forms us that three gentlemen implicated in it were brought out of Cambridgeshire to the Tower, on the 18th of March. Probably the sole reason why some of the parties condemned early in February received a respite for a short time, was merely a desire to see whether the burning of individuals who held their opinions would shake their resolution. ' 1555.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 101 said, that he would return an answer to such ques- tions as might he submitted to him, if they were given in writing, and a sufficient time were allowed to him. These demands being granted, his assent was required to the following six propositions. 1. The unlawfulness of marriage in priests. 2. Tran- substantiation. 3. That the mass is a propitiatory sacrifice for the quick and dead. 4. That general councils lawfully congregated never erred, and never can err. 5. That men are not justified by faith only, but that hope and charity are also necessary to their justification. 6. That the Catholic Church, which alone hath authority to expound Scripture, decide controversies, and regulate ecclesiastical dis- cipline, is visible, and like a city set upon a hill, which all men may perceive. To these articles Ferrar absolutely refused his assent, saying that they were all excogitated by man, and pertained nothing to the Catholic faith. Persisting in this refusal, he was excommunicated, and degraded from the priest- hood, on the 14th of March ; when he appealed to Cardinal Pole. This appeal, probably, procured for him a short respite from death ; for he did not suffer until the 30th of March. He was burnt in the market-place of Caermarthen, exhibiting to the last that unshrinking constancy for which his whole life appears to have been remarkable. Within a few days of his death, a young gentleman named Jones expressed much concern on account of the painful fate reserved for him. " If you see me once stir, while I am in the flames/' said Ferrar, " then give no credit to my doctrine." The martyr afforded vol. iv. d d 402 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1555. that confirmation to his principles which these words led his visitor to expect. He took his station upon the pyre with outstretched arms, and his position continued immoveably the same, even after his hands had dropped off. At length a spectator, in pity, probably, for his sufferings, struck a violent blow upon his head, and he fell instantly lifeless into the blazing mass z. ' Foxe, 1413. In order to vindicate completely Bishop Fer- rar's integrity with respect to the crown's claims upon him, no- thing more is required than the following extract from a letter which he wrote to the Lord Chancellor Goodrich : " As touching the certificate, the King's subsidy being due at Michaelmas last, and forborne till after Christmas, and lawfully demanded afore, they did utterly refuse to pay both to my vice-collector, and to myself, except I would take it of them in portions ; not knowing where to ask the rest, and it is committed unto me in the King's roll a whole sum in gross, to be received of the canons residen- tiaries for their dividend ; who, because they cannot agree in di- viding, would have the King's Majesty to tarry for his money, till they can agree to make division ; and I cannot demand it of any particular person, nor at any particular place." (Foxe, 1414.) This difficulty, therefore, like all Ferrar's other troubles, arose from his unhappy quarrel with the chapter of his cathedral. The crown looked to him for a gross sum due from this body. He was, however, unable to collect more than a part of the money, and he could effect no satisfactory arrangements as to the re- mainder. His own resources were, probably, unequal to the ad- vance of such a sum as the case required, and men of his temper will rarely stoop to any expedients, however allowable. It should perhaps be added, that Persons utters not a word of suspicion against Bp. Ferrar's integrity. Any thing very decisive certainly is not to be inferred from the silence of that notorious Jesuit ; for although he has undertaken to follow Foxe step by step, he is more intent upon lowering the characters of the martyrs bty 8 1555.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 403 On the 14th of April, being Easter-day, an incident occurred which brought temporary discredit upon the Reformation. As a priest was administering the Eucharist in St. Margaret's church, Westminster, a man drew a hanger, and wounded him upon the head, hand, and other parts of his body. The of- fender, being immediately apprehended, proved to be a person named William Flower, alias Branch. This unhappy man had been, in his youth, a monk in the monastery of Ely, and he had there entered into priests' orders. Having embraced, however, the monastic life unwillingly, he gladly quitted it, when King Henry's visitors came to his house, and he assumed immediately the habit of a secular priest. He then obtained a livelihood partly by officiating as a clergyman, partly by teaching children the first rudiments of learning in different villages of Cam- bridgeshire and Suffolk. He seems to have im- bibed, at an early period of his life, an aversion for popery, and on the passing of the infamous act of Six Articles, he withdrew to Tewksbury. In that place he married, and he subsequently practised medicine in Gloucestershire. He did not, however, long remain in that part of England, but removed first into Northamptonshire, then into his native county of Cambridge, and afterwards into Essex, libellous and indelicate buffoonery, than upon examining their cases critically. Upon the whole, however, it appears manifest enough, that Bp. Ferrar, though imprisoned under the rule of his own party, and in fact abandoned to his fate without any friendly interference, so far as we can see, was a man of unsullied repu- tation, as well as of unshaken constancy. D D 2 Wl HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1555. subsisting generally as an instructor of youth. At last he hired a house at Lambeth, but it seems rather to have been for the accommodation of his family than of himself, he being most commonly away from home. It is far from improbable, that the horrid proceedings of the present year had given an unusual energy to the morbid temperament of this roving and impatient enthusiast. For on Easter-day he repaired early to St. Paul's, intending to assault some one of the officiating ministers. In that cathedral either his courage failed him, or what is more likely, some sudden impulse diverted him from his purpose. But although he left, unstained in reputation, the scene originally marked out for his mad enterprise, his heated imagination would not allow him quietly to return home. He fancied himself called by the Spirit to rebuke, in some signal manner, the idola- trous usages which were spreading contamination all around him, and to offer himself as a martyr to the truth. While haunted by these gloomy delusions, he passed the Gate-house, in Westminster, and giving two groats to the prisoners there, he said, " I shall very soon come among you myself." His outrage at St. Margaret's having realised this antici- pation, he remained in that prison, heavily ironed, until towards the end of the week ; when he was brought before Bishop Boner, upon a charge of he- resy. So little was he disposed to evade this kind of responsibility, that he had purposely left his house provided with a written statement of his opinions ; in order, that if instant death had followed his medi- tated assault, evidence might be found upon his per- 1555.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 405 son to shew the nature of his principles. He now denied transubstantiation unhesitatingly, and upon this ground he was doomed to the death which his insane fanaticism had courted. On the 24th of April he was brought to the stake without St. Mar- garet's church-yard, Westminster ; his right hand being stricken off before the fire was kindled, as an especial punishment for his violence in the neigh- bouring church. He bore this preliminary torture with unshrinking firmness, shewing no sense of it except by a slight contraction of the shoulders. Nor, although his agonies were shamefully protracted and aggravated by an unpardonable deficiency in the fuel provided for his burning, did he discover the least impatience : on the contrary, he met his end with fervent piety and heroic resolution. His con- duct in St. Margaret's church occasioned general concern and offence among the Protestant party. It was, however, nothing more than the act of a luna- tic, and Flower himself admitted to Bp. Boner, that he had been hurried by his zeal into an excess, which he regretted, as being wicked and pernicious a. On the day in which this maniacal enthusiast for- feited his life, a clergyman received the crown of martyrdom at Chester. The sufferer's name was George Marsh ; his original calling was agriculture. Having married at about the age of twenty-five, he hired a farm in his native county of Lancaster, and maintained himself for several years by the cultiva- • Foxe, 1433. 406 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1555. tion of it. At length his wife died b, leaving him several children ; and he then entered himself in the b It does not appear that Marsh married again ; in fact the con- trary must be inferred from his remains, in which no mention is made of a wife among his friends. He was, therefore, in the same condition, as to matrimony, with Cardinal Campeggio, and with numerous other Romish dignitaries; that is, he had married, and had a family, before he took holy orders. Persons, however, whose object it is to represent that marriage, or " the having of women," as he coarsely expresses himself, was the sole object with Romish priests in embracing a scriptural faith, thus manages to conceal Marsh's real condition from careless readers of the Three Conversions. " Marsh was indeed but a common minis- ter, made of a husbandman, or labourer of the fields, in the parish of Dean, in Lancashire ; and there had wife and children, as Foxe confesseth. And when afterward he came unto the highest ecclesiastical state, he was but a curate, under the foresaid mar- ried priest, Laurence Saunders." Afterwards the Jesuistic com- mentator says, " So this fellow, being first but a husbandman, and then a minister, and under-curate." (Three Conv. ii. 422.) Superficial readers, contented with knowing just so much of Eng- lish history as Romish partizans are willing to inform them, would naturally conclude from these words, that Marsh was originally a common labourer, who, being smitten by fanaticism, became a preacher, and lived as such with his wife. Now the facts really are, that he was a farmer, who did not take orders until after the loss of his wife, nor until he had studied at Cambridge. Of this last particular, in his history, Persons says nothing. It may perhaps be thought needless to take any notice of such an author as Persons. But the truth is, that modern English Romanists make great use of him, as well as of Sanders. They suppress the more monstrous and offensive statements recorded by these headlong partizans, and dress up for present use such of their matter as would be likely to pass without much animadver- sion. It becomes, therefore, necessary to expose these early Ro- 1555.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 407 University of Cambridge, with a view to the sacred profession. Having taken holy orders* he became the curate of Church Langton, in Leicestershire, under Laurence Saunders. Like his rector, Marsh cowered at first before the rising storm of persecu- tion ; and, on retiring from his curacy among his friends in Lancashire, the impulse of his mind led him to exile in either Denmark or Germany. At last, after a severe conflict with his love of life and of his family, he determined neither to flee, nor to cease from inculcating his opinions. This resolve speedily consigned him to the merciless grasp of persecution ; the Earl of Derby, a nobleman who had constantly withstood, as a lord of Parliament, King Edward's reforms, taking the lead in this hateful work. From the bigotted peer Marsh was transferred to Bishop Cotes, of Chester, and by him he was condemned as a disbeliever in transubstantiation. He had endea- voured to evade the particular declaration of his sen- timents upon this tenet, but his iniquitous oppressors would not rest until they had extracted from him sufficient for his condemnation. When fastened to the stake, a barrel of pitch was suspended over his head, it may be hoped, with a view to shorten his mish authorities in all their native deformity. This exposure is indeed important even in an historical point of view. Englishmen are often astonished that any considerable portion of their ances- tors could have clung to a religion so palpably absurd, and utterly baseless, as is Popery. If, however, men are so blinded by pre- judice, or party, that they are satisfied with such historians as Persons and Sanders, their continuance under any delusion is in- telligible enough. 408 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1555. sufferings. It had, however, an opposite effect ; for an insufficient supply of fuel being provided, the martyr's agonies were frightfully protracted, and the bituminous matter, slowly melting above him, lent unusual horrors to the scene. At length the object seen amidst the flames had lost all semblance of the human form, and every feeling spectator gladly be- lieved that death had come to the sufferer's relief; but this anticipation was miserably belied. Long after consciousness appeared to have fled, the victim, by a dying effort, spread abroad his arms, and ex- claiming, " Father of heaven, have mercy upon me," he yielded up his breath c. Intelligence of these atrocities having reached the continent, it filled the pious exiles with grief and amazement. In the hope of stemming the sangui- nary torrent, they printed, accordingly, an address to the Queen and nation. In this piece, Mary was exhorted to beware of being led away by a blind zeal, as St. Paul was before his conversion ; and she was reminded of services rendered to her by the Protes- tants, especially by Cranmer. As a reason for dis- trusting either the soundness of her principles, or the honesty of her advisers, the Queen's attention was requested to a copious collection of passages in con- futation of the papal pretensions, heretofore pub- lished by Gardiner, Boner, and Tunstall. She was also intreated to recollect, that even the Turks allow Christians to reside in their states, notwithstanding the invincible discrepancy which exists between the e Foxe, I 1555.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 409 Gospel and the Koran. The tract then proceeded to awaken the fears of the landed interest, by advert- ing to the noble properties now become lay fees, but lately possessed by ecclesiastical corporations. The nation at large was earnestly admonished to flee from iniquity with speed and sincerity, that thus the wrath of heaven might be propitiated, and a season which filled the country with astonishment and mourning might quickly reach its termination. In reply to this address, a piece was published advocating the cause of persecution. The Mosaic law, it was said, awarded capital punishment against blasphemers, and persons were justly so designated who called our Lord's body in the Eucharist a piece of bread. Hea- thens also, it was urged, from zeal for a false reli- gion, persecuted Christians ; much more then ought these to signalise their affection for their own true religion, by the punishment of its foes. Our Lord, it was observed, in one of his parables, uses the phrase, " Compel them to come in d ;" and St. Paul says, " I would they were even cut off which trouble you e." St. Peter struck Ananias and Sapphira dead, and St. Austin was brought to approve the penalty of death in the case of the Donatists. Another argument in favour of persecution was drawn from the conduct of the Protestants themselves, who burnt heretics while they were in power ; and it was added, the persons burnt at that time, encountered death with a St. Luke, xiv. 23. e Gal. v. 12. 410 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1555. no less constancy than had been displayed by the recent sufferers f. Nothing was more evident than the determination of the government to act upon the principles advo- cated in this piece. On the 25th of March a royal cir- cular was addressed to the magistracy of the different counties, enjoining a most intolerable system of bigotted tyranny. These local authorities were di- rected to distribute themselves into ten or twelve committees, according to the extent of their re- spective counties, and upon each of these commit- tees was to devolve the especial care of a particular district. Observation was to be made of such indi- viduals as absented themselves from their churches, and if admonition were found ineffectual, these ab- sentees were to be reprimanded, bound in securities, or imprisoned. Especial severity was to be used against preachers and teachers of Protestantism, and against procurers of secret meetings of Protest- ants. Provision was to be made for the punishment of those who spread false tales and seditious ru- mours, also for that of vagabonds, and of disorderly persons of every kind. Amidst these regulations stands the following article : " Item. They shall pro- cure to have in every parish, or part of the shire, as near as may be, some one or more honest men, secretly instructed to give information of the be- haviour of the inhabitants amongst, nigh, or about them8." The next article joins honest and Catholic ' Burnet, Hist. Ref. ii. 480. e Void. Records, 390. 1555.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 411 together, and no doubt these two were deemed con- vertible terms by the approvers of this circular. The whole plan, therefore, resolves itself into a de- sign to set up a species of Inquisition in all parts of the kingdom, and to furnish every parish with one or more concealed spies, who were to betray their unsuspecting neighbours into the fangs of this horrid tribunal h. It might seem as if this display of into- lerant despotism was no sooner approved, than it was thought, in prudence, to need some sort of quali- h " The magistrates received instructions to watch over the public peace in their respective districts; to apprehend the pro- pagators of seditious reports, the preachers of erroneous doctrine, the procurers of secret meetings" (for religious purposes, it is expressly said, no others being even hinted at) " and those vaga- bonds, who had no visible means of subsistence ; to try, by virtue of a commission of oyer and terminer, the prisoners charged with murder, felony, and other civil offences ; and with respect to those accused of heresy, to reform them by admonitions, but if they continued obstinate, to send them before the ordinary, that they might, by charitable instruction, be removed from their naughty opinions, or be ordered according to the laws provided in that behalf." (Lingard, vii. 266.) By the term " vagabonds'' in this order, there is reason to believe, such persons principally were meant, as went about the country with Protestant tracts, and with a view to confirm the people verbally in a scriptural faith. The whole document obviously relates to religion, and it has, accordingly, been generally treated by historians as little else than a preliminary to the establishment of a regular incmisition. Dr. Lingard has supplied a note to repel such an imputation upon this order, but if he had not suppressed all mention of the clause which directs an organised system of espionage, even the more rational of his Romish readers would have been likely to confess that the' judgment of Protestant historians as to the inquisitorial character of this circular is sufficiently fair. 412 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1555. fication. For within two days of its date, another circular was issued to the magistracy, headed with the names of the King and Queen, and confirming, in a general manner, the instructions already given, but placing the necessity for them upon grounds almost entirely political '. It looks, however, as if the government had over-rated the good qualities of the justices. A large proportion of them cordially executed the hateful task imposed upon them. Of political delinquency little or nothing, indeed, ap- pears to have been discovered, nor have we any reason to believe that England's criminal police was now rendered unusually effective. But the prisons became every day more and more crowded with in- mates who passed for heretics. The bishops were confounded by the numbers who awaited their man- dates for the stake, and eagerly availed themselves of any subterfuge by which they could escape from pronouncing these revolting sentences. The san- guinary fanaticism which guided the helm of state immediately took alarm at this lukewarmness in its chosen instruments. Those who have wealth at their disposal, and are likely to encounter no effec- tual opposition in their aims, rarely want agents or advisers in any designs, however base or guilty. The deluded individuals, accordingly, who now were daily crimsoning the throne of England with a deeper stain of innocent blood, had not the mortifi- cation of looking long among their courtiers for a counsellor agreeable to their wishes. The lord ' Strype, Eccl. Mem.iii 1555.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 413 treasurer, William Paulet, Marquess of Winches- ter k, a statesman eminent for accommodating his politics to his interest, recommended that a circular letter of admonition, or rather of rebuke, should be directed from the crown to the prelacy, expressing the " no little marvel" of their Majesties, that ordi- naries should dismiss individuals whom magistrates had consigned to their correction !. This admonitory communication immediately revived the deadening energies of Bishop Boner. In his diocese was fixed the principal seat of population ; it comprised also an extensive rural district, which in common with the other eastern counties, had extensively embraced a scriptural faith. Prisoners from other parts of England were likewise detained in London, and k Strype, Eccl. Mem. iii. 345. 1 This infamous circular is printed at length by Bishop Burnet, (Records, ii. 391,) from that copy of it which was sent to Boner. From this circumstance it has commonly been supposed, that the Bishop of London alone received this admonition. Dr. Lingard (vii. 266.) has adopted this popular notion, and he has built upon it a note exculpatory of Boner, as being incited to his disgraceful career of cruelty, not by his own disposition, but by the man- dates of superior authority. Strype, however, (Eccl. Mem. iii, 345.) says that a letter, of which he gives an extract, and which extract forms a part of the letter to Boner, was addressed gener- ally to the episcopal bench, and the letter bears internal evidence to the correctness of this statement. Boner's reputation there- fore remains exactly where it was. He might, indeed, have drawn back for a little space from the horrid employment ex- pected from him ; but having received a rebuke from court, he resumed his sanguinary avocations with a degree of zeal which no other prelate displayed. The letter addressed to the prelacy upon this occasion bears date May 24. 414 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1555. were thus considered as holding heretical opinions within Boner's jurisdiction. In disposing of these numerous cases, that unhappy prelate now went recklessly forward, nor did his activity relax until the sun of persecution had ceased to shed its lurid beams over England. The great pretence for this miserable carnage was a denial of transubstantiation. A disbelief of other Romish tenets might be dis- sembled, or explained away. But the papal priest- hood, wherever it is dominant, obtrudes upon the public eye, at every turn, this leading doctrine. Zealous opponents of it are, therefore, certain of detection in a community of Romanists, and their consciences will not readily allow any disguise or equivocation in a question involving so many prin- ciples of the last importance. In the spring of this year, public expectation was generally fixed upon the Queen's imaginary pregnancy. At intervals, rumours flew abroad that she was actually delivered ; and Hopton, Bishop of Norwich was so persuaded of this, at the beginning of May, that he caused Te Deum to be sung in his cathedral, and in other churches of the city, as a joyous celebration of the great event m. Nor when it was found, that Mary had disappointed her friends, did they lay aside their hopes. They merely considered their impatience to have been mocked by a premature report, and they doubted not that the zealous restorer of English m The Bishop of Norwich to the Earl of Sussex, dated May 3, 1553. Strype, Mem. Cranm. Append*. 968. 1555.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 415 Romanism was the destined mother of a royal line, contented to rule in strict alliance with the papal see. Food for these anticipations was abundantly supplied at court. Midwives, nurses, and rockers were appointed n. On the 16th of May, some per- sons of high rank were nominated, with suitable emoluments, as ambassadors extraordinary to an- nounce the birth of the expected heir at the principal foreign courts °. On the 23d of the same month an order of council enjoined " the Lord Treasurer to cause preparation to be made of such money as is appointed for such persons as shall carry the joyful tidings of the Queen's Majesty's good delivery to divers princes, so as they be not driven to tarry for the same, when the time shall come p." This decisive step allowed none to doubt that their sove- reign was upon the point of realizing their expec- tations, and at the beginning of June, it was univer- sally believed in London that she had given birth to a prince. Immediately the bells rang, bonfires blazed, processions were arranged, and Te Deum was chanted q. This, however, proved a final disap- pointment to the Romish party. A general opinion n Strype, Mem. Cranm. 527. 0 Proceedings of Privy Council, 52. >' Ibid. 60. '< Strype, Mem. Cranm. 527. Burnet, Hist. Ref. ii. 488. It appears, that the Romanists commonly appealed to the Queen's pregnancy, as a proof of God's favour towards their doctrine : saying, among other things of a like kind : " How hath God blessed our Queen with fruit of womb." Bradford to his fellow- sufferers. Letters of the Martyrs, 439. 416 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1555. now prevailed, that there was very little probability of issue from the Queen, and Philip, accordingly, finding few inducements for prolonging his stay in England, sailed for Flanders, in the beginning of September r. Amidst her exulting anticipations of an heir, Mary did not forget to scatter disgust and misery among her people3. On the 30th of May, John Cardmaker, alias Taylor, lately Chancellor of Wells, and vicar of St. Bride's, in Fleet-street, London, together with John Warne, an upholsterer, in Walbrook, expired in the flames of Smithfleld. Cardmaker, when under age, had become a friar among the Franciscan Observants. He seems to have married in King Edward's reign \ and being known for his zeal and ability as a teacher of scrip- tural truth, he was then appointed reader at St. 1 Burnet, Hist. Ref. ii. 489. 8 There is even reason to believe, that this unhappy princess was stimulated in her unfeeling career by her imaginary situa- tion. It is asserted in a letter from Peter Martyr, that she thought and said, " she could not be safely and happily deli- vered, nor that any thing could proceed prosperously with her, unless all the heretics in prison were burnt to a man." Strype, Mem. Cranm. 528. * This appears from Cardmaker* s answer to the article in which he was charged with breaking his vow by marriage. " To the second part of the same article he answereth and saith, that in marriage he brake no vow, because he was set at liberty to marry, both by the laws of the realm, and also by the laws and ordinances of the Church of the same." (Foxe, 1434.) A man who had been a professed friar, and who had married befi re King Henry's death, could scarcely use this language with strict accuracy. ' 1S65.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 417 Paul's. In this office he gave violent offence to the Romish party, but his doctrine was approved on the other side, and accordingly, he obtained preferment. Soon after Queen Mary's accession, he was sent up to London in custody, together with his diocesan Bishop Barlow ; and he was, in common with many others, detained in prison until the Parliament had basely consented to unsheath the sword of persecu- tion. Cardmaker was among the prisoners brought before the commissioners at St. Mary Overy's ; when both he and Barlow answered in such a man- ner as to encourage a general expectation that they would recant u. Cardmaker, however, was careful " The following extract from the judiciary acts of January 28, exhibits the nature of Cardmaker's submission. "To him then did the Bishop of Winton repeat the counsel he lately gave him in the presence of some of the Privy Council, for the reduction of him to the unity of the Catholic Church, which Cardmaker then refused to do. Now the Bishop again asked him, whether he would from his heart, and from an humble spirit, submit him- self, and arise from his former spot of heresy ; signifying to him, that if he would, he should be freely received. In conse- quence whereunto, the said John Cardmaker humbly submitted himself, as it appeared, promising willingly to yield to such things which should be appointed him by my Lord, in this be- half. Thfcn my Lord kindly admitted his submission, together with the congratulation of all that were present, and it was en- tered into the acts of the day." (Strype, Eccl. Mem. iii. 432.) Cardmaker, probably, professed himself willing to receive in- struction ; for he was visited in the course of the spring by several eminent clergymen of Romish principles. Bishop Barlow seems either in court, or afterwards in prison, to have made some farther submission, for he was allowed to pass over into Germany ; where he remained until Mary's death. VOL. IV. e e 418 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [155.-;. to commit himself as to no point of doctrine x, nor was it subsequently found possible to bring about his relapse into Romanism. He was, therefore, con- demned as an impugner of transubstantiation y. x The following are his own words in a letter to a friend. " You shall right well perceive, that I am not gone back, as some men do report me, but as ready to give my life as any of my brethren that are gone before me, although by a policy I have a little prolonged it, and that for the best, as already it appeareth unto me, and shall shortly appear unto all. That day that I recant any point of doctrine, I shall suffer twenty kinds of deaths, the Lord being mine assistance, as I doubt not but he will." Foxe, 1436. y The article upon this tenet proposed to him was the follow- ing. Item : " That Christ at his last supper, taking bread into his hands, blessing it, breaking it, giving it to his Apostles, and saying, Take, eat ; this is my body, did institute a sacrament there, willing that his body really and truly should be contained in the said sacrament, no substance of bread and wine there re- maining, but only the accidences thereof." Cardmaker's reply is : " He answereth and doth believe, viz. That it is true, that is to say, that Christ taking bread at his last supper into his hands, blessing it, breaking it, giving it to his disciples, and saying, Take, eat ; this is my body, did institute a sacrament there. And to the other part of this article, viz. willing that his body, &c. he answereth that he doth not believe the same to be true." He subsequently thus farther explained himself as to this clause: " Where in my answer to your articles, I deny the presence of Christ in the sacrament, I mean not his sacramental presence, for that I confess ; but my denial is of his carnal pre- sence in the same. But yet farther, because this word is often- times taken of the holy fathers, not only for the bread and wine, but also for the whole administration and receiving of the same, according to Christ's institution; so I say, that Christ is spiri- tually to and in all them which worthily receive the sacrament : so that my denial is still of the real, carnal,' and corporal pre- 1555.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 419 Upon the same ground rested the condemnation of his fellow-sufferer, Warne. This pious artificer was first fastened to the stake ; and the fuel was com- pletely arranged around him, while Cardmaker held a long conversation with the sheriffs. The people meanwhile looked on with disappointment, suspect- ing that he meant to confirm the rumours, long- spread abroad, of his insincerity, by declining the fiery trial prepared for him. At length, he turned from the sheriffs, and knelt, for a considerable time, absorbed in prayer, at the edge of the pyre. This confirmed the popular apprehensions of his con- stancy, and a general whisper ran through the sence in the sacrament ; and not of the sacramental, nor spiritual presence." (Foxe, 1434.) The following is the comment of Persons upon this matter. " The friar (Cardmaker) did greatly vary also therein (the opinion of Zuingle and Calvin) granting the sacramental and spiritual presence of Christ, and denying only carnal and corporal presence, as appeareth by his schedule written to B. Boner. Which in effect is as much as the Catholic faith doth teach, if he had meant sincerely, and not used this equivocal exposition for an heretical shift and evasion." (Three Conv. ii. 470.) Such is the mode in which artful Romanists disguise from superficial observers, willing to be deceived, the revolting absurdities of their creed. They suppress some things, and then assert that what remains amounts in effect to their own doctrines. In nothing does this management appear more glaringly and offensively than in the treatment of the Eucharistic question exhibited above. Protestants maintain that the Saviour is mystically present with faithful communicants. Romish au- thorities tell us, that He is corporally present with all communi- cants, that he remains thus present in every unused consecrated wafer so long as it resists corruption, and that, therefore, such wafers are entitled to that worship which belongs to God alone. e e 2 420 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1555. crowd, that Popery was about to gain a signal tri- umph. While the spectators generally were musing over this prospect with concern, they saw the martyr strip himself to his shirt, walk up to the stake with dauntless tread, kiss it, and then shake his fellow- sufferer kindly by the hand. A shout of exultation instantly rent the air. As it died away, voices eja- culated on every side ; " God be praised : the Lord strengthen thee, Cardmaker : the Lord Jesus receive thy spirit." Fire was now communicated to the heap, and the victims quickly passed beyond oppres- sion's reach \ The next conspicuous victim immolated by Ro- mish bigotry and infatuation, was John Bradford. This able, eloquent, and zealous advocate of a scrip- tural faith was born at Manchester. He received a good education, being well grounded in the Latin language, and thoroughly instructed in accounts. This last accomplishment procured for him an en- gagement under Sir John Harrington, who was treasurer of the royal camps and buildings. Har- rington's confidence in him was unbounded, for he found him active and intelligent in the highest degree, and he was entirely satisfied as to the strictness of his integrity. Unhappily for Bradford's peace, his patron somewhat over-rated here his superiority to temptation ; as he appropriated to his own use one hundred and forty pounds bclong- z Foxe, 1434. Warne had been condemned as a disbeliever in transubstantiation, soon after Anne Askew's martyrdom. But he was then pardoned, 1.55.3.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 421 ing to the crown. He most probably meant to replace this sum at an early opportunity, and the prevailing habits of peculation might easily persuade a young man, that his act was chargeable with little or no criminality. But the reformed preachers were fast enlightening the public mind as to morals, and the base itch for sordid gain which infected all classes escaped not their admonitory voice. Lati- mer especially reprobated the vile avarice of his contemporaries, and he repeatedly declared in all the fervour of his homely eloquence, that if men omitted not only to forsake their dishonourable practices, but also to make restitution to those who had suffered by them, infernal torments would be their everlasting portion. In these invectives, the venerable preacher forgot not to include public de- faulters ; justly warning such offenders, that their peculation was nothing the less guilty because it had been confined to the national purse. Awakened auditors trembled under the weight of these terrible denunciations, and they hastened, either at once, or by instalments, as their circumstances would allow, to place their ill-gotten gains in the holy preacher's hands, begging him to transmit them into the royal exchequer3. Bradford being aroused by Latimer's 3 " At my first preaching of restitution, one good man took re- morse of conscience, and acknowledged himself to me, that he had deceived the King, and willing he was to make restitution : and so, the first Lent, came to my hands twenty pounds, to be restored to the King's use. I was promised twenty pounds more the same Lent, but it could not be made, so it came not. Well, the next Lent came three hundred and twenty pounds more. I 422 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1555. instrumentality, looked with horror and remorse upon his " great thing/' as he sorrowfully termed his act of peculation. His agony was rendered more intense by his inability to make instant restitution ; and he thought of raising the required sum by sell- ing his services for a stipulated period, or even per- manently ; as it was not unusual among the ancient Israelites b. While racked by these melancholy deli- berations, he besought a friend to wait upon Latimer, to bewail, in his name, the dishonourable fact, to state the present impossibility of restitution, and to request an opinion as to the alarmed sinner's inten- tion of selling his body for the purpose of liquidating the claim. While the honest preacher was receiving this gratifying attestation to the effectiveness of his ministerial exertions, his mind was intent upon pre- paring a sermon for delivery before tbe King. He said, therefore, little to Bradford's messenger, farther received it myself, and paid it to the King's council. So I was asked, what he was that thus made restitution ? But should I have named him ? Nay, they should as soon have this wesant of mine. Well, now this Lent came one hundred and fourscore pounds, ten shillings, which I have paid and delivered this pre- sent day to the King's council : and so this man hath made a godly restitution. And so, quoth I to a certain nobleman that is one of the King's council, if every man that hath beguiled the King should make restitution after this sort, it would cough the King twenty thousand pounds, I think. Yea, that it would, quoth the other, a whole hundred thousand pounds. Alack, alack ! make restitution; ye will cough in hell else, that all the devils there will laugh at your coughing. There is no remedy but restitution open or secret, or else hell." Latimer's Sermons, i. 239. b Levit. xxv. • 1555.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 423 than that he could not advise an expedient so un- usual as the personal sale proposed to his considera- tion, and that he thought the case submitted to him one which might contentedly be left in the hands of God, who would not fail, in his own good time, to bless such a tender conscience with the means of ob- taining the desired relief. Bradford, however, was but imperfectly appeased by this consoling reply. He was haunted by the fear of dying before he could make restitution, and his hours were miserable c. At last his employer, Sir John Harrington, consented to satisfy the crown, and to accept his dependent's security for repayment to himself d. His peace of c Imperfect letter from a person unknown, but probably from Travers to Bradford. (Strype, Eccl. Mem. iii. 285, Append.) The pious writer of this consolatory letter was the individual who consulted Latimer, on Bradford's behalf. Bradford himself ap- pears, from what his correspondent says, to have previously laid his case before the venerable preacher. Persons omits to men- tion this blot upon Bradford's reputation, contenting himself with representing the martyr as a mere " serving-man," who turned preacher after one year's study at Cambridge. Having thus given to the readers, whom his book was intended to delude, rea- son for believing that Bradford was an ignorant person, who had spent his youth as a domestic servant, the Jesuistic commentator goes on to perplex his admirers by a long rhodomontade about Lutherans, Zuinglians, and Calvinists. The object of all this nonsense is, as usual, to persuade the reader, that if he turn his back upon Popery, he will have the mortification to discover that Protestants are not uniform in defining the manner of Christ's presence in the Eucharist. u This arrangement was made in May, 1548. Sir John bound himself under his hand to pay the money before Candlemas next ensuing. Strype, Eccl. Mem. iii. 367. Bradford to Travers, Foxe, 1510. 42 A HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1555. mind being thus happily restored, Bradford immedi- ately took leave of secular pursuits. He had been a student in the Temple, with a view to the practice of the law ; but his religious impressions appear to have altered the current of his thoughts, and he re- solved upon devoting his future life to the preaching of God's word. He entered, accordingly, at Catha- rine-hall, in Cambridge, and was thence elected to a fellowship of Pembroke-hall. As his attainments before he went to the University were highly re- spectable, as his abilities, energy, and industry were at all times conspicuous, he quickly made his way to academic honours. At the termination of a year's residence in Cambridge, that University compli- mented him with the degree of Master of Arts. Bishop Ridley now ordained him deacon, dispensing in his case with some formality, probably as to ha- bits e, for which Bradford had conceived a violent repugnance. The prelate also appointed him one of his chaplains, and preferred him to a prebend of St. Paul's. Bradford now rapidly obtained a very high c Foxe does not specify the ground of Bradford's scruples. He merely says: (1456) " Dr. Ridley, that worthy Bishop of London, and glorious martyr of Christ, according to the order that then was in the Church of England, called him to be deacon. Which order, because it was not without some such abuse as to the which Bradford would not consent, the Bishop, yet perceiving that Bradford was willing to enter into the minis- try, was content to order him deacon without any abuse, even as he desired." Now it is known that exceptions were taken against the Romish habits in 1549, and some such objectors were, not- withstanding, ordained by Abp. Cranmcr, and Bp. Ridley. See Hist. Ref. under King Edward VI. 536. 1555.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 425 degree of popularity, and Romish prejudices conti- nually gave way under the force of his fervid elo- quence f. Obnoxious as he thus had necessarily become to Queen Mary's courtiers, it might have been expected that his services in saving the life of Bourn would have disarmed their resentment. They proved, however, intent upon removing by any means an adversary who was known as one of the most eloquent and influential men in London. Hence, as his conduct was blameless ; and as his discourses, both immediately after Bourn was driven to close abruptly the offensive sermon, and on the afternoon of the same day, at Bow-church, were levelled against popular licentiousness ; his enemies hesitated not to charge him with contriving the tu- mult which he had appeased. Upon this iniquitous and absurd accusation, within three days of the out- rage which Bourn's time-serving indiscretion had provoked at St. Paul's Cross, Bradford was com- mitted to the Tower, and lodged in a dungeon under ground g. After spending three quarters of f Bp. Ridley said of him : " He is a man by whom, as I am assuredly informed, God hath and doth work wonders in setting forth his Word." Strype, Eccl. Mem. hi. 365. H Bradford to W. P. Letters of the Martyrs, 305. Bp. Gar- diner said, at St. Mary Overy's, on the 22d of January, that Bradford " had been of long time imprisoned justly for his sedi- tious behaviour at St. Paul's cross, on the 1 3th of August, in the year 1553, for his false preaching and arrogancy, taking upon himself to preach without authority. Bradford. My Lord, and Lords all, I confess that I have been long imprisoned, and with humble reverence be it spoken, unjustly ; for that I did no- thing seditiously, falsely, or arrogantly, by word or fact, by 4*26 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1555. a year in that fortress, during which time he was inhibited from the use of pen, ink, and paper, he preaching, or otherwise ;• but rather sought truth, peace, and all godly quietness, as an obedient and faithful subject, both in going about to save the B. of Bath, then M. Bourn, the preacher at the Cross, and in preaching for quietness accordingly. At these words, or rather before he had fully finished, the said Lord Chancellor something snuffed, and spake with an admiration, that there was a loud lie ; for, quoth he, the fact was seditious, as you, my Lord of London, can bear witness. Boner. You say true, my Lord ; I saw him with mine own eyes, when he took upon him to lead and rule the people malapertly, thereby declaring that he was the author of the sedition. Bradford. My Lords, notwithstanding my Lord Bishop's seeing and saying, yet the truth I have told, as one day my Lord God Almighty will reveal to all the world, when we shall all come and appear before him. In the mean season, because I cannot be believed of you, I must, and am ready to suffer, as now your sayings be, whatsoever God shall licence you to do unto me. Gardiner. I know thou hast a glorious tongue, and goodly shews thou makest ; but all is lies thou speakest. And again, I have not forgotten, how stubborn thou wast when thou wast before us in the Tower : whereupon thou wast committed to prison concerning religion. I have not forgotten thy behaviour and talk, where thorough worthily hast thou been kept in prison, as one that would have done more hurt than I will speak of. Bradford. As I said, I say again, that I stand, as before you, so before God, and one day we shall all stand before him. The truth then will be the truth, though now ye will not so take it. Yea, my Lord, I dare say, that my Lord of Bath, Master Bourn, will witness with me, that I sought his safeguard with the peril of mine own life. I thank God therefore. Boner. That is not true ; for I myself did see thee take upon thee too much. Bradford. No : I took nothing upon me undesired, and that of M. Bourn him- self, as if he were here present, I dare say he would affirm. For he desired me both to help hjm to pacify the people, and 1555.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 427 was removed to the King's bench prison, and de- tained there under a restraint which his own admi- rable conduct, acting upon worthy keepers, appears to have rendered tolerably easy. Unless labouring under illness he constantly preached twice in the day, and he frequently administered the Holy Com- munion. Visitors to form a congregation eagerly sought the privilege of passing the prison- gates, and frequently did a crowded chamber hang upon the suffering preacher's lips. His conscientious keepers were not contented with allowing even this indulgence to such as thirsted for the living streams which Bradford's eloquence could unlock. He was frequently permitted, under night's friendly cover, to visit sick persons in the neighbourhood of his prison. He knew himself destined to the stake, and he was no stranger to that shuddering recoil from such a fate which is natural to man. But he scorned to escape it by forfeiting his word, and his gaoler was so convinced of his integrity, that he consented to his undertaking secretly a journey into also not to leave him till he was in safety. And as for my beha- viour in the Tower, and talk before your honours, if I did or said any thing that did not beseem me, if your Lordships would tell me wherein it was, I should and would shortly make you answer." (Foxe, 1458.) This last application was eluded, Gar- diner abruptly turning the discourse to an offer of the royal mercy in case of the prisoner's apostacy to Romanism. Enough, however, has been said to shew that there were no grounds for charging Bradford with seditious behaviour at St. Paul's Cross, and that his adversaries, though resolute in clinging to this charge, had failed of substantiating it, in the Tower. Hence his detention not as a political, but as a religious delinquent. 4 428 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1555. Oxfordshire, upon a visit to a friend. This excur- sion, however, was prevented by a fit of illness which overtook him, and Bradford continued in his prison, intent, as heretofore, upon improving to the utmost there, that residue of life which might be committed to his trust. Prayer, religious argu- ment, admonition, reading, and meditation occupied the whole of his days. In general, he conceded only four hours of the night to sleep, and he sought his couch with a book in his hand, which he ceased not to read until drowsiness overpowered him. He ate but once in the day, and then very sparingly. He deemed, in truth, every waking hour mis-spent, which had not produced some spiritual benefit either to himself, or to others. Once in the week it was his usage to visit the degraded malefactors who justly tenanted the dungeons near his own apart- ment ; and he sought, by earnest exhortation, to wean their perverted affections from crime. Nor did he forget the temporal necessities of these miser- able outcasts, but liberally dispensed among them such sums of money as the care of his friends sup- plied ''. While he was in prison, Bradford never allowed his attention to the state of religious opinion without to flag for a moment. He wrote numerous letters to those who were disquieted by the persecution, and to confirm men in the faith which they had once embraced. Especially did he labour to with- stand that dissimulation which was undermining .-> " Foxe, 1457. Strypc, Eccl. 31em. iii. 367. 1555.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 429 sound scriptural principles. Men lately known as zealous Protestants, were now seen at mass, although among their confidential friends they declared them- selves unchanged in belief; averring that their out- ward conformity was extorted from them by the fear of bringing ruin upon their families, or by an overpowering horror of an early death upon the blazing pyre. In the homely phraseology of his day, Bradford designated such religionists as " mangy mongrels," and he pronounced an unqualified con- demnation of their worldly prudence1. He even wrote a short treatise, attacking the mass, and shew- ing the mischief of affording to it any degree of countenance. This piece appears to have been cir- culated privately in manuscript, being lent by the zealous author to such as were thought to need it, and then returned to him again k. With a view of escaping the manifest impiety of a service, in which, after certain words are spoken, the congregation kneel before a wafer, as if the mighty God had descended from on high ; some timorous Protestants absented themselves from mass, and affected a seem- ing conformity with prevailing usages by attending only matins and vespers. This policy drew down also Bradford's unsparing reprehension1. In addi- tion to the calls upon him from without, his fellow- prisoners found employment for Bradford's active mind. It might have been supposed, that commu- nity of sufferings, community of opinion respecting 1 Letters of the Martyrs, 345. 360. k Ibid. 385. 1 Ibid. 401. 480 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1555. the main points at issue between themselves and their oppressors, would have extinguished all petty animosities between the incarcerated assertors of scriptural truth. Their grated chambers often ex- hibited, however, that picture of contention which unhappily seldom fails to disturb the tranquillity of man. A source of interest was found in ardent dis- cussions upon the most mysterious dispensations of providence ; free will and predestination furnishing topics whereby the suffering Protestants beguiled the gloomy monotony of their prison hours. In examining these questions, arguments were used, and conclusions drawn which led to perplexity and irritation. The disputants eventually ranged them- selves in parties, viewing each other with consider- able aversion. Bradford was actively engaged in these unhappy dissensions. He took the predesti- narian side, but he kept clear of its exceptionable features ; maintaining that the final condemnation of individuals, though everlastingly decreed, results from their own refusal of redemption, by means of an obstinate perseverance in iniquity m. This rational m " I believe, that Christ for man, being thus fallen, did oppose himself to the justice of God a mediator, paying the ransom and price of redemption for Adam, and his whole posterity that refuse it not finally" (Bradford to R. Cole, and N. Sheterden, Letters of the Martyrs, 409.) " God's foresight is not the cause of sin, or excusable necessity to him that sinneth. The damned, there- fore, have not, and shall not have any excuse, because God, fore- seeing their condemnation through their own sin, did not draw them, as he doth his elect, unto Christ ; but as the elect have cause to thank God for ever for his great mercies in Christ, so the other have cause to lament their own wickedness, sin, and 1555.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 431 mode of treating the controversy, probably, did not satisfy some over-heated assertors of the predesti- narian hypothesis, and an appeal, accordingly, was made upon this subject to the prelates imprisoned at Oxford'1. Ridley, collected, in consequence, those passages of Scripture which bear upon predestination and election, accompanying them with some com- ments of his own. He judiciously forbore, how- ever, from dogmatizing upon these abstruse ques- tions, but strictly confined himself within the limits marked out for such enquirers in the Sacred Vo- lume °. During their progress, an attempt was made to terminate these contentions, by the preparation of articles which appeared likely to shock the pre- judices of neither party. This expedient, unfor- tunately, failed ; the more violent predestinarians, after giving hopes that they would thus unite with their brethren, refusing their signature to the pro- positions awaiting that attestation p. After vindicating his conduct at St. Paul's cross, from misrepresentation, Bradford thus received, at contumacy of Christ, which is the cause of their reprobation." Bradford's Meditations upon the Lord's Prayer, p. 270 ; cited by Archbishop Laurence, Damp. Lect. notes, 461. n Signed by Ferrar, Taylor, Philpot, and Bradford. ° " Know you, that concerning the matter you mean, I have, in Latin, drawn out the places of the Scripture, and upon the same have noted what I can for the time. Sir, in these matters I am so fearful, that I dare not speak farther, yea, almost none otherwise, than the very text doth, as it were, lead me by the hand." Ridley to Bradford, Letters of the Martyrs, 64. p The particulars of these disputes have been discovered by Archbishop Laurence among the Bodleian MSS. 432 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1555. St. Mary Overy's, the hackneyed offer of her Ma- jesty's mercy: " I desire mercy with God's mercy, but mercy with God's wrath, God keep me from." Gardiner then tried the effect of intimidation, assur- ing him that " the Queen was minded to make a purgation of all such as he." The prisoner said, that God's favour was sweeter far to him than life ; and that having sworn six times to renounce the Roman bishop, he could not now safely consent to acknowledge that personage's claims. " Tush," answered Gardiner, " Herod's oaths a man should make no conscience at." Bradford replied, that his oath was not like that of Herod, but on the con- trary, an obligation entered into upon the solidest grounds, as my Lord Chancellor himself, he added, had excellently proved in his book De Vera Obe- dientia. This rebuke reduced Gardiner, as usual, to temporary confusion, and his coadjutors pressed forward to his relief by charging the prisoner with having written, during his confinement, a multitude of seditious letters. Bradford denied that he had ever written any thing liable to such an imputation, and he defied those who charged him with sedition to prove him guilty of it. Of this challenge, how- ever, no notice was taken ; an altercation merely fol- lowing, which ended in an order that he should be re-conducted to prison, and there prevented from using his pen. Being brought up again, on the 29th of January, the royal mercy was offered to him once more, in a long speech from the Chancellor. Bradford said, that he now stood before the court,' cither innocent 1555.'] Ux\DER QUEEN MARY. 433 or guilty, and he demanded that judgment should be given upon his case according to its actual complex- ion ; adding, that captious questions likely to bring some new liability upon him ought, injustice, to be asked of no man. As for himself, he resumed, he was precluded from answering any such queries, because in so doing, he should submit to the papal authority, which he could not do without committing perjury. It is to be regretted, perhaps, that Bradford allowed himself to be dislodged from this position ; both upon his own account, and because he would thereby have pointed out a strong and honourable ground of resistance to persons unendowed with abilities like his own. His impatient courage was not, how- ever, proof against Gardiner's artful assertions that his silence was a mere subterfuge, assumed because he dared not to speak his mind. Spurning this in- sult, and more especially, fearing lest his apparent timidity should prejudice the cause of truth, Brad- ford thus addressed his unmanly judge : " Where your Lordship saith, that I dare not answer you : that all men may know, that I am not afraid, saving mine oath, ask me what you will, and I will plainly make you answer by God's grace, although I now see my life lieth thereon. But O Lord, into thy hands I commit it : come what will, only sanc- tify thy name in me, as an instrument of thy grace. Amen. Now ask what you will, and you shall see that I am not afraid, by God's grace, flatly to an- swer." Gardiner of course eagerly followed up his infamous advantage by interrogating the prisoner as to the corporal presence. Bradford warily replied, VOL. IV. f f 434 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1555. that he believed Christ to be " corporally present in the Eucharist, unto faith." This answer, he was told, needed a good deal of explanation, and as the dinner-time arrived, before any thing criminatory could be drawn from him, he was remanded. On the following day, Bishop Bourn was present, and although, greatly to his disgrace, he said not a single word in his deliverer's behalf, yet the expressive silence with which he received that oppressed individual's appeal to him forced Gardiner to abandon the charge of sedition q. An a As many readers of the new Romish history may feel dis- posed to suspect Bradford of having1 been privy to the outrage at St. Paul's Cross, Dr. Lingard's account of that affair, and the authentic statement of Bradford's acquittal upon that charge are subjoined. " Bourn, one of the royal chaplains, had been ap- pointed to preach at St. Paul's Cross. In the course of his sermon, he complained of the late innovations, and the illegal deprivation of the Catholic prelates. Ptdl him down, suddenly exclaimed a voice in the crowd. The cry was echoed by several groupes of women and children : and a dagger, thrown with con- siderable violence, struck one of the columns of the pulpit. Bourn, alarmed for his life, withdrew into St. Paul's church, under the protection of Bradford and Rogers, two reformed preachers. This outrage, evidently preconcerted, injured the cause which it was designed to serve." (Hist. Engl. vii. 183.) Upon this statement, which is not authenticated by any reference, it is only necessary to observe, that there is no reason for believing the outrage in question to have been " preconcerted." Foxe in- forms us, that " the matter of his (Bourn's) sermon tended much to the derogation and dispraise of King Edward." (1281.) Now, unless it is known that the auditory was previously apprised of the preacher's intention to insult the memory of that promising young prince, so recently and prematurely topi from his admiring people, it is not at all " evident" that this outrage was " precon- 1555.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 435 altercation then arose respecting the corporal pre- sence, in which Bradford maintained his view of the ceiled." In the following manner was Bradford vindicated as to the share which he took in this transaction. " Bradford. 1 have been a year and a half in prison. Now, before all this people, declare wherefore I was imprisoned, or what cause you had to punish me. You said ; the other day, in your own house ; my Lord of London witnessing with you, that I took upon me to speak to the people undesired. There he sitteth by you, I mean my Lord of Bath, which desired me himself, for the passion of Christ, I would speak to the people. Upon these words, J, coming into the pulpit, had like to have been slain with a dag- ger, which was hurled at him, I think, for it touched my sleeve. He then prayed me, I would not leave him, and I promised him, as long as I lived, I would take hurt before him that day, and so went out of the pulpit, and intreated with the people, and at length brought him myself into an house. Besides this, in the afternoon, I preached at Bow-church, and there, going up into the pulpit, one willed me not to reprove the people, for, quoth he, you shall never come down alive, if you do it. And yet, notwithstanding, I did in that sermon reprove their fact, and called it sedition, at the least, twenty times. For all which, my doing, I have received this recompence, prison for a year and a half and more, and death now which you go about. Let all men be judge where conscience is. In speaking of these words there was an endeavour to have letted it : but Bradford still spake on, and gave no place till he had made an end, speak what they would. And then the Lord Chancellor said, that for all that fair tale, his fact at the Cross was naught. " Bradford. No, my fact was good, as you yourself did bear witness with me. For when I was at the first before you in the Tower, you yourself did say that my fact was good, but quoth you, my mind was evil. Well, quoth I, then, my Lord, in that you allow the fact, and condemn my mind ; for so much as otherwise I cannot declare my mind to man but by saying and doing, God, one day, I trust, will open it to my comfort what F f 2 436 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1555. question with great spirit and acuteness. At length, however, enough was extracted from him to prove that he wholly disbelieved the Ptomish Eucharistic doctrines r, and he was, accordingly, condemned as my mind was, and yours is. Gardiner. I never said so. I had not so little wit, I trow, as not to discern betwixt meaning and doing. And so brought forth, little to the purpose, many exam- ples to prove, that men construe things by the meaning of men, and not by their doings. But when this would not serve, then Cometh he to another matter, and said, that Bradford was put in prison at the first, because he would not yield, nor be conform- able to the Queen's religion. Bradford. Why, my Lord, your Honour knoweth, that you would not then reason with me in re- ligion : but said, a time should afterward be found out when I should be talked withal. But if it were, as your Lordship saith, that I was put in prison for religion ; in that my religion was then authorised by public laws of the realm, could conscience punish me, or cast me in prison therefore ? Wherefore, let all men be judges in whom conscience wanteth." (Foxe, 1463.) No notice was taken of this speech ; a desultory conversation immediately arising in which Bradford was accused of having defrauded Har- rington. The prisoner met this, by denying stoutly that he had ever defrauded that officer, and he required Gardiner, as Chan- cellor of England, to punish, as libellers, any who should im- pute such an offence to him. This spirited language put an end to the accusation of dishonesty, and caused Bradford's judges to talk of the letters which he had written in prison, and of which the bigoted Earl of Derby had complained in Parliament. 1 The following were Bradford's definitions upon this subject, at his last examination. " I never denied nor taught, but that to faith, whole Christ, body and blood was as present as bread and wine to the due receiver. I believe Christ is present there to the faith of the due receiver. As For transubstantiation, I plainly and flatly tell you I believe it not. I deny that he (Christ) is in- cluded in the bread, or that the bread lis tiaiisubstantiate." Being asked whether the wicked receive Christ's body, he an- 1555.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 437 a heretic. In this process he was treated as a mere layman, the orders conferred by Bishop Ridley being, swered at once, " No. He further said, that as the cup is the New Testament, so the bread is Christ's body to him that re- ceiveth it duly, but yet so that the bread is bread.'' (Foxe, 1463.) In a letter, which he found the means of writing, after his con- demnation, to the Protestants of Manchester, he thus expresses himself: " In the Supper of our Lord, or sacrament of Christ's body and blood, I confess and believe that there is a true and very presence of whole Christ, God and man, to the faith of the receiver, but not of the stander-by, or looker-on ; as there is a very true presence of bread and wine to the senses of him that is partaker thereof." (Letters of the Martyrs, 265.) " I cannot, dare not, nor will not confess tran substantiation, and how that wicked men, yea, mice and dogs, eating the sacrament, (which they term of the altar, thereby overthrowing Christ's holy supper utterly) do eat Christ's natural and real body born of the Virgin Mary. To believe and confess, as God's word teacheth, as the primitive Church believed, and all the Catholic, and good holy fathers taught for 500 years at the least after Christ, that in the Supper of the Lord, (which the mass overthroweth, as it doth Christ's priesthood, sacrifice, death, and passion, the ministry of his Word, true faith, repentance, and all godliness,) whole Christ, God and man, is present, by grace, to the faith of the receivers, but not of the standers-by, and lookers-on, as the bread and wine is to their senses ; will not serve, and therefore, I am condemned, and shall be burned out of hand as an heretic." (Bradford to the Faithful at Walden. Ibid. 270.) The following is his advice to a friend as to the answer proper to be given upon this subject. " If they talk with you of Christ's sacrament instituted by him, whether it be Christ's body or no, answer them, that as to the eyes of your reason, to your taste and corporal senses, it is bread and wine, and therefore the Scripture calleth it after consecration so ; even to the eyes, taste, and senses of your faith, which ascendeth to the right hand of God in heaven, where Christ sitteth, it is in very deed Christ's body and blood, which spiritually your soul 438 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1555. as least in this particular case, wholly disallowed. After condemnation Bradford was carried to the Clink-prison, and thence he was transferred to the Poultry-counter. He was long respited from the stake, and great exertions were made to wring from him a recantation. Archbishop Heath, the Bishops Boner and Day, De Castro with another Spanish divine attached to the King, and several eminent ecclesiastics besides visited his cell. He would fain have declined these attentions, saying that his span of life was now drawing to a close, and that he, therefore, was anxious to spend the whole of it in the care of his own soul. Nor would he have con- sented at all to receive the distinguished individuals who desired a conference with him, had he not been willing to take away all pretence for denying his candour, and his capacity for investigating the ques- tions upon which he was committed to jeopardy his life. The subjects argued in these conversations were chiefly the visibility of the Church, and tran- substantiation. In answering what was advanced upon this latter question, Bradford repeatedly men- tioned Bishop Tunstall's admission, that before the fourth council of Lateran, Christians were not bound to receive the Eucharistic doctrine exactly as it is now taught in the Roman Church3. The Romish arguments are supported by the hackneyed course of assertions and fallacies ; nor do these conferences feedeth on to everlasting life, in faith and by faith, even as your body presently feedeth on the sacramental bread and sacramental wine." Ibid. 391. ■ De Ver. Cor. el Sang. Do. in Euch. 46. 1555.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 439 altogether present any thing remarkable, excepting a slight expression of regret from Bishop Day that his Church had denied to laymen the sacramental cup, and an observation from Archbishop Heath that Bradford rested upon obscure texts of Scrip- ture : a strange objection certainly from one who seeks support for his own opinions from passages which are obviously difficult '. It was long expected by Bradford, that he would suffer in his native town of Manchester. On the first day of July, however, he met his death in Smithfield. His protracted expectancy of this event had occasioned to him, at intervals, a good deal of suffering ; his imagina- tion being often haunted during sleep, by fright- ful pictures of the horrors which awaited him. The Marian martyrs not uncommonly dreamt, that the * Thus the papal primacy is defended by means of the text, " Thou art Peter," &c. (St. Matt. xvi. 1 8.) The language here, is evidently metaphorical ; and even eminent Romish divines have differed as to its precise meaning. Transubstantiation is defended by means of passages considered as metaphorical by a large proportion of the Christian world, and which learned Romanists are compelled to consider as difficult, because their insufficiency for the proofs mainly built upon them has been ac- knowledged by many high authorities in the papal Church. The sacerdotal absolution of attrite persons, confessing sins auricu- larly, rests upon the text " Whose soever sins" &c. (St. John, xx. 23.) An explanation of this text, certainly accurate, is very far from obvious. Purgatory is thought by Romanists generally to be revealed in the text, " So as by fire," &c. (1 Cor. hi. 15.) When Bradford cited the context of this passage to prove that a belief in the main articles of the Christian faith is sufficient for salvation, Archbishop Heath ranked his citation among the " hard and dark places of the Scriptures." 440 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1555. chain which was to confine them amidst the flames had actually arrived. Bradford's earthly tenement was occasionally a prey to such nightly terrors, and he never suffered from them more severely than when upon the edge of martyrdom. A frightful dream that a man bearing the fatal chain was knock- ing loudly at the Counter-gate, aroused him from his couch, in extreme agitation, on the last Saturday night of his life. Resorting, however, immediately to reading and prayer, his usual remedies under these morbid uneasinesses, he quickly became tranquil, and even cheerful. Having spent the morning in excel- lent spirits, that anticipation which had mingled bitterness in his night's repose, and which pro- bably he had good grounds for entertaining, was realised towards the close of day. " Oh, Mas- ter Bradford," said the keeper's wife, approaching with agitated countenance, and hasty step, " this night you must leave us for Newgate, and to- morrow you will be burned." The martyr instantly put off his cap, thanked God for the news, ex- pressed his readiness to take leave of mortality, and prayed that he might act worthily of the end to which heaven had called him. He was not removed until between eleven and twelve o'clock at night, and as he passed through the yard the miserable inmates of the gaol, crowding around the grated apertures of their cells, wept at his departure, and warmly bade him farewell. Late as was the hour, on entering the street, he found a multitude of people waiting for a sight of him: nor did sobs, prayers, and affectionate adieus, intermit for a moment during Iris progros to 1555.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 441 Newgate. A rumour had gone abroad, that he was to suffer by four o'clock on the following morning ; and, accordingly, Smithfield was crowded at that hour. He did not, however, appear in that scene of Romish infamy, and Protestant triumphs, before nine o'clock. The concourse was immense, and the pre- cautions against popular violence were much more extensive than any that had been taken upon a former occasion. A second victim was provided in the person of John Leafe, a tallow-chandler's appren- tice, of nineteen, who refused his assent to transub- stantiation, and to the Romish doctrine of sacra- mental absolution. On reaching the pyre, both the sufferers fell upon their faces, and remained for a short space engaged in prayer. They were, how- ever, quickly disturbed by the sheriffs, who seem to have been somewhat alarmed by the multitudes which poured down upon the spot. Being fastened to the stake, Bradford said with a loud voice, " O England, England, repent thee of thy sins : beware of idolatry, beware of antichrists, take heed that they do not deceive thee." Hearing these words, one of the sheriffs said, that if Bradford were not quiet, he would have his hands tied. The martyr immediately replied, " O master sheriff, I am quiet : God forgive you this." He then declared himself in perfect cha- rity with all the world, asked forgiveness of any who might complain of him, intreated the spectators to aid him with their prayers, while his soul was in parting, and addressed a few words of encourage- ment to the youth who was chained at his side. Having thus taken leave of his fellow-men, he em- 442 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1555. braced the reeds around him ; and after saying, " Straight is the way, and narrow is the gate that leadeth to eternal salvation, and few there be that find it," his voice was heard no more u. Among the persons who perished in the Marian persecution, Bradford certainly was one of the most remarkable. When the Reformation first beamed benignly over England, he was a mere boy; nor was he from either learning or station ever qualified to share the coun- sels of those who vindicated the independence, and obliterated the doctrinal blemishes of their national Church ; but he was admirably qualified for popula- rity as a preacher. His numerous epistolary remains prove him to have been pious, eloquent, zealous, and energetic, in a very high degree. His breach of in- tegrity in youth, and that appetite for worldly grati- fications, which appears to have produced it in his case, as probably it does in all cases, were in his powerful hands additional holds upon popular atten- tion. He never hesitated to confess his errors, to paint the horror which overspread his mind upon the thought of them, and the unutterable ruin which must have overtaken him, had he not been awakened in time to a just sense of his condition. Such pic- tures come home, more or less, to every human heart, and in a large assembly they are likely to re- veal both a gaping wound and a practicable cure to many breasts, where hitherto the evil has been but slightly known, and the remedy hardly thought essential. ■ u Foxc, 1471. 1555.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 443 Public attention was turned again, at the begin- ning of autumn, to the prelates imprisoned at Oxford. Weston's condemnation of them was notoriously in- effective, because pronounced at a time when an Eng- lishman might deny, without incurring the risk of being burnt alive, that a few words muttered by a Romish priest over a diminutive cake would infallibly draw down the Saviour sensibly into the midst of any assembly whatsoever. This omission in the national jurisprudence having been supplied in the last Par- liament, it was now determined that the distin- guished prisoners should no longer continue unvisited by the penalty which had been provided for their opinions. The national authorities were not, how- ever, primarily to take cognizance of their cases, but were merely to act in subordination to powers trans- mitted from Rome \ With such credentials James x This contemptible subserviency to a foreign usurpation is lauded by Sanders and Ribadeneyra ; both of whom, it may be noted by the way, have the face to mix up their brief notices of the Marian persecution with accounts of the Queen's political difficulties : thereby giving ignorant foreigners reason for fancying that the martyrs were, in fact, conspirators as well as Protest- ants. " Erant qui cum cseteris conspiravenmt, varii pseudo- episcopi, lsesee majestatis condemnati ; sed hoc nomine noluit in quemquam ipsorum Maria secundum leges civiles animadvert!, sed ad Ecclesise judicium eorum causam prorsus deferri mandavit ; preesertim in causa Cranmeri, Archiepiscopi Cantuariensis, in quern, non nisi secundum mandata Apostolica inquiri, et sen- tentiam dici permisit; ubi non ipsa, nee suse Majestatis maritus, Rex vere Catholicus, judicum, sed accusatorum, coram commis- sario Apostolico, pulcherrimo exemplo ct ordine partes egerunt, sicut ipsi vidimus." (De Schism. Angl. 246.) Now, of the bishops who perished in the flames under Queen Mary, what 414 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1555. Brookes, formerly chaplain to Gardiner, now Bishop of Gloucester, proceeded to Oxford, as papal sub- delegate y, accompanied by Martin and Story, two civilians, who were to act as the royal proctors. Brookes opened his commission in St. Mary's church, on the 12th of September, being seated on a scaffold, ten feet in height, erected over the high altar : a dis- tinction paid to him as the pontiff's representative. Beneath him sat the two civilians, one on either hand ; and lower still were seated various other doc- tors. Before this assemblage Archbishop Cranmer, habited respectably in a black gown, with a doctor's hood over his shoulders, made his appearance, guard- ed by the officers of justice. On entering he sur- colour is there for charging Latimer, Hooper, and Ferrar with conspiracy? And with what face could Mary have executed Cranmer and Ridley upon such a charge ? Ribadeneyra, however, hesitates not to spread among his own countrymen in particular, the vague calumnies which Sanders insinuates for the purpose of misleading unsuspecting foreign scholars generally ; and he thus compliments Philip and Mary for proceeding, at Oxford, under papal authority: " Dieron en esto los reyes maravilloso exemplo de religion y de modestia, y mostraron el respeto que a las per- eonas ecclesiasticas se deve, aunque sean tan malas como era Cranmero." Hist, del Schism. 230. y The business was committed by the Pope to Cardinal Puteo. (Strype, Mem. Cranm. 53'2.) " James Brookes was born in Hampshire, and had his academical education at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, of which he became a fellow, but afterwards was chosen master of Balliol College. He was chaplain to Bishop Gardiner, by whose interest he was promoted to the see of Glou- cester. He died in February 1559-60, and was buried in his cathedral." Watkins' Life of Latimer prefixed to his Sermons, cxii. note. 1555.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 445 veyed the preparations before him, and then stood at some distance, without exhibiting any mark of re- spect or civility. His reason for this discourtesy must, probably, be sought in the position of Bishop Brookes, whom he recognized immediately as the Pope's representative, by the seat blasphemously assigned to him over the altar, with its accompany- ing wafers, the cherished objects of Romish idolatry. An officer soon called out, " Thomas, Archbishop of Canterbury, appear here, and make answer to that which shall be laid to thy charge for blasphemy, in- continency, and heresy, before the Bishop of Glou- cester, representing the Pope's person." The Arch- bishop was then brought farther forward, and now observing the royal proctors, he respectfully bent his knee, and put off his cap, first to the one, and then to the other. He looked also Brookes in the face, but took no notice of him whatever. The Bishop was piqued at this, and said, that his present situa- tion obviously entitled him to more courteous usage. " I have advisedly and solemnly sworn," answered Cranmer, with an amiable expression of modest firm- ness, " never to consent again to admit the Bishop of Rome's authority within this realm of England. This oath, by God's grace, I mean to keep ; I can- not, therefore, do any thing which may bear even an appearance of my consent to the re-admission of this foreign authority. Solely to this scruple of mine I pray you to refer my present conduct. It is not from any contempt for your lordship's person that I treat you thus. Had your commission come from as 446 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1555. good an authority as that of the two proctors, I should have been well contented to shew you the re- sj^ect which I have shewn to them." Bp. Brookes then addressed the prisoner in an absurd and insult- ing- speech; charging him with heresy, perjury, trea- son, and adultery ; and exhorting him to repent of his defection from the papacy. Dr. Martin followed up this opening harangue by another nearly as ridi- culous and unfeeling ; and he concluded by exhibit- ing an instrument, under the great seal, empowering himself and Story to act as royal proctors ; also cer- tain articles of accusation against the prisoner, and certain books either written by him, or published with his authority. Cranmer now demanded, whe- ther he might be allowed to enter upon his defence, and permission being granted, he knelt down towards the west, and repeated the Lord's Prayer. At the conclusion of this, he rose and recited the creed. As a preliminary to his defence, he required that a note should be made of his absolute refusal to recognise the Bishop of Rome's claims over England. The note was made accordingly, and Martin then desired him to remember, that he was an attainted traitor, and a dead man in law. Cranmer said, that he was no traitor, although undoubtedly the matters con- tained in his arraignment at Guildhall were true, and as such had been admitted by him when put upon his trial there. As for obedience to the Pope, he denied his power to yield it without injury to his soul, he having solemnly forsworn it ; and he argued that it was an obedience which no Englishman could 1555.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 447 yield, without prejudice to the civil authorities of his native country z. He then inveighed against the practice of saying public prayers in a foreign lan- guage, as leading to the people's ignorance of reli- gious truth ; and he maintained that the doctrines * Cranmer exemplified this position by the following instances. " A priest indebted, by the laws of the realm, shall be sued before a temporal judge: by the Pope's laws contrary. " The Pope doth the King injury in that he hath his power from the Pope. The King is head in his own realm : but the Pope claimeth all bishops, priests, curates, &c. So the Pope in every realm hath a realm. " Again, by the laws of Rome, the benefice must be given by the bishop. By the laws of the realm the patron giveth the bene- fice. Herein the laws be as contrary as fire and water. " No man can by the laws of Rome proceed to a prcemimire, and so is the law of the realm expelled, and the King standeth accursed in maintaining his own laws. Therefore, in considera- tion that the King and Queen take their power of him, as though God should give it to them, there is no true subject, unless he be abrogate, seeing the crown is holden of him being out of the realm." Foxe, 1701. The pontifical distinctly asserts the superiority of the Church over temporal authorities by the question which it prescribes to metropolitans, on the coronation of princes. The illustrious ob- ject of this ceremony is to be conducted between two bishops to the officiating prelate, who is to be thus addressed : " Most reverend father ; holy Church demands that you should raise the excellent knight, here present, to the royal dignity." The me- tropolitan is then directed to ask : " Do you know him to be worthy, and useful for this dignity ?" (Pontif. 77.) This form is very nearly the same as that prescribed in the office for ordain- ing priests, an occasion in which a discretionary power as to the admission of candidates is vested in the bishop. Obviously such a form in a coronation-service is repugnant to the constitution of every kingdom. 4 448 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1555. inculcated in his book upon the Eucharist were con- formable to all the decisions of the Church, during more than the first thousand years of her existence. " If from any doctor who wrote within that pe- riod," he added, t( a passage can be brought proving the authorised prevalence of a belief in the corporal presence, I will give over. My book was written seven years ago, and no man yet hath brought any authors against it." Afterwards he argued, that the Pope was antichrist from the intolerable arro- gance of his pretensions ; and from his patronage of unscriptural usages ; and he concluded by charging Brookes with perjury. The Bishop endeavoured to shift the blame of this upon the prisoner, by saying that he was himself the cause why the nation had allowed the royal supremacy. Cranmer averred, that such was not the fact ; his predecessor Warham having decided that the supremacy was inherent in the crown a, and the Universities having confirmed that decision. " You were then," said the Archbi- shop to Brookes, " Doctor in Divinity, and your consent was thereunto, as by your hand doth appear. Wherefore, you misreport me that I was the cause of your falling away from the Pope. It was your own act. All this was in Bishop Warham 's time, and three quarters of a year before I had the see of Canterbury. So that here ye have reported of me what ye cannot prove ; which is evil done." Brookes pettishly met this merited rebuke by say- ing: " We come to examine you, and you, methink, 4 See Hist. Rcf. under King Henry VIII. i. 280. 5 \o55.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 449 examine us." Dr. Story then made a speech gar- nished with offensive personalities, of which the pur- port was, that the accused ought to be compelled to answer, in spite of the objections alleged by him against the judicature commissioned to take cog- nizance of his facts. The Archbishop was next charged by Dr. Martin with perjury, upon the ground that he forswore the Pope, after having taken an oath in that dignitary's favour at his con- secration to the see of Canterbury. Cranmer answered, that his oath at that time was taken under protest, and with the best legal advice. His accuser now charged him with having travelled post-haste from Germany for the sake of taking the archbi- shopric ; it having been offered to him upon condi- tion of his authorising the King's adultery. This infamous accusation was indignantly repelled, as false in all its parts f. He was then charged, after some abusive declamation, with having taught three contrary doctrines of the Sacrament. He denied this, by declaring that he had taught only two con- trary doctrines upon this subject ; one being that of the Romanists, the other, that wrhich he had main- tained in print, and which was first proved to his satisfaction in conferences with Bishop Ridley. After this Martin asked, " Whom do you take for supreme head of the Church, since you deny that character to the Pope V The answer was, " Christ." " But who is Christ's vicar upon earth?" rejoined the ques- tionist. " Nobody," was the reply. This was de- ' See Hist. Ref. under King Henry VIII. i. 358. VOL. IV. G g 450 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1555. clared inconsistent with the allowance of King Henry's supremacy. But the Archbishop explained his assertion of ecclesiastical rights for temporal princes, as merely extending to the secular concerns of religious bodies existing within their respective territories. In this sense he conceded a supremacy over the Roman Christians to Nero, and over the Greek Church to the Grand Seignior. This admis- sion occasioned a murmur of disapprobation among the auditors, and it was followed by certain interro- gatories offered to the prisoner. These related to his two marriages, his publications, his compelling men to subscribe the forty-two articles, his " enorme and inordinate crimes," for which he was cast into the Tower ; his public denial of transubstantiation ; his " schismatical" defection from Rome ; his oath to the Pope under protest ; his exercise of ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and of episcopal ministrations, without papal authority; and his refusal to recognize that authority, now that the realm generally had con- sented to its re-admission. Of these allegations he admitted those which concerned his two marriages, maintaining at the same time that his conduct in having a wife of his own was far better than that of many priests, who corrupted the wives of other men. For the Catechism, the book of Articles, and the book against Gardiner, he confessed himself entirely responsible. Peter Martyr's book upon the Sacra- ment, he said, was never seen by him before its pub- lication; but, he added, that he liked and approved it. He denied that he had ever eoinpelled any man to subscribe the articles. As for " enorme and inordi- 1 1555.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 451 nate crimes," he replied, that he knew of no such ever committed by him. That he had publicly main- tained a doctrine of the Sacrament, which the Uni- versity of Oxford had condemned, he admitted ; but he denied that either he had been convicted of any error, or that his opinions were heretical. In aban- doning the papacy, he declared himself to have done nothing schismatical ; and in the matters concerning his oath on consecration, as well as concerning the discharge of his functions, he said that he had always acted in conformity with his country's laws. In conclusion, he maintained, that in refusing his con- sent to the Pope's re-admission into England, he had committed no error. The sub-delegate now made a speech for the purpose of weakening the effect of Cranmer's defence upon the minds of the auditors. This is a vituperative and inconclusive attempt to palliate the perjury of himself and others who had apostatized to Popery, also to defend the papal su- premacy, public prayers in a dead language, half- communion, and transubstantiation. Story followed with a quibbling construction of the oath acknow- ledging the royal supremacy ; maintaining that it extended only to the prince under whom it was taken. The reigning sovereign, therefore, he said, having dispensed with such an obligation, had re- leased the subject's conscience from adhering to the principle of it. The Archbishop now replied ; but the Romish reporter of this day's proceedings has omitted every syllable that he uttered. What he said, however, was evidently far from satisfactory to the triumphant sophists, who sat in judgment upon Gg2 452 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1555. him ; for Story thus cut him short : " Hold your peace, Sir, and so it shall right well become you ; considering that I gave you license before to say your fancy. Your oath was no oath at all, for it lacked the three points of an oath, justice, judgment, and truth." Witnesses were then sworn to give evi- dence against the accused, who being asked whether he objected to any of them, challenged them all as perjured men, who had once sworn to renounce the Pope, and who, notwithstanding, now came forward in his cause g. Soon after this the court broke up, Cranmer at his departure again making a low obei- sance to the two royal proctors, and treating the papal sub-delegate with total neglect. On the next E " These (witnesses) were, Dr. Marshall, Dean of Christ- church, a most furious and zealotical man ; and who, to shew his spite against the Reformation, had caused Peter Martyr's wife, who deceased while he was the King's professor, to be taken out of her grave, and buried in his dunghill ; Dr. Smyth, public pro- fessor, who had recanted most solemnly in King Edward's days, and to whom the Archbishop was a good friend, yet not long afterwards he wrote against his book, and was now sworn a wit- ness against him; Dr. Tresham, a canon of Christ-church, who was one of the disputers against Cranmer, and had said, in his Popish zeal, that there were six hundred errors in his book of the Sacrament ; Dr. Crook ; Mr. London, a relation, I suppose, of Dr. London, who came to shame for his false accusation of Cran- mer and others in King Henry's reign, and now this man, it is like, was willing to be even with Cranmer, for his relation's sake ; Mr. Curtop, another canon of Christ-church, formerly a great hearer of Peter Martyr ; Mr. Ward ; Mr. Series, the same, I sup- pose, who belonged to the church of Canterbury, and had been among the number of conspirators against him in King Henry's days." Strype, Mem. Cranm, 536. 1555.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 453 clay the court resumed its session, and most probably received evidence as to the allegations against the prisoner. The conclusion of its proceedings is, how- ever, the only part of them of which any particulars have reached posterity. Cranmer was cited to make his appearance at Rome within eighty days, prece- dents forbidding the condemnation of a metropolitan without the Pope's especial cognizance. He received this notification by saying, that he would willingly go thither, if their Majesties would allow him the means. Instead of receiving any such facility, he was remanded to his old quarters in the city gaol, kept there, and deprived of pecuniary resources, as heretofore. Of course the eighty days expired, and no appearance either in person, or by proctor, was made by the Archbishop of Canterbury. He was then pronounced contumacious, and sentence was passed upon him accordingly \ h Foxe, 1707. It should be observed respecting the proceed- ings against Archbishop Cranmer, on the first day of his appear- ance before Bp. Brookes, that, satisfactory as they are to those who venerate the martyr's memory, they have probably suffered something in the hands of their Romish reporter. The court did not break up on that day before about two o'clock in the after- noon. It could scarcely have sitten, at that time, for less than five or six hours, and yet the whole account of it only occupies about eight of Foxe's pages. In these, too, the Romish speeches take up a disproportionate space. Now Cranmer's answer to Story's construction of the oath against the papal supremacy is confessedly omitted. Nor can we doubt that other things are either omitted, or incompletely related. Protestants are indeed greatly obliged to the reporter of this memorable day's business, at St. Mary's ; for he has preserved much valuable matter in vin- 454 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1555. On the last day of September, Bishop Brookes, together with John White, Bishop of Lincoln ', and John Holiman, Bishop of Bristol k, acting under a commission from Cardinal Pole, as legate a latere, summoned before them in the divinity-school the Bishops Latimer and Ridley. The right reverend prisoners were styled in the commission addressed to dication of Cranmer's personal character. A more full report, however, would have still farther extended, it is likely, the grounds for venerating the memory of that illustrious prelate. 1 " John White was born at Farnham, in Surrey, and received his education at Winchester-school, after which he became fellow of New College, Oxford. About 1534 he was appointed master of the school where he had been bred, and next succeeded to the wardenship of Winchester-college ; but in the reign of Edward VI. he was sent to the Tower, for his secret practices in favour of Popery. On the accession of Mary he was advanced to the see of Lincoln, and afterwards translated to Winchester. He was, says Wood, a man of austere life, and much more mortified to the world than Gardiner, his predecessor. Of his austerity we have a proof in his conduct to the Protestant bishops, and his morti- fied spirit appeared in the funeral sermon which he preached for Queen Mary, after praising whom for her piety, he said, she had left a sister, a lady of great worth, whom they were now bound to obey, for that a living dog is better than a dead lion. Notwith- standing this he only suffered deprivation in 1559 ; and, dying soon after, was buried in his cathedral." Watkins's Life of Lati- mer, prefixed to his Sermons, cxi. note. k " John Holiman was a native of Buckinghamshire, and was bred at Winchester-school, from whence he removed to New Col- lege, Oxford, where he obtained a fellowship. Afterwards he became a monk of the abbey of Reading; from whence he was ejected, on its dissolution. In 1554 he was made Bishop of Bris- tol, which see he held till his death, in 1558. He wrote a tract against Luther, and another in defence of "the marriage of Henry VIII. and Catharine of Aragon; both in Latin." Ibid. cxii. 1555.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 455 their judges " pretensed Bishops of Worcester and London;" and the specific ground of accusation against them was the doctrine which they had main- tained in open disputation more than twelve months before. Ridley was first brought into the school. His venerable associate quickly followed ; but he had no sooner appeared than orders were given to re- move him ; it being determined to hear the two cases separately. The deprived Bishop of London stood before the court bareheaded, with that air of polished courtesy, which had attended him through life. The commission was now read, of course re- citing its authority from the pontiff and the legate. On hearing this clause the prisoner immediately put on his cap, and he continued covered until the officer had ceased to read. Bishop White now remon- strated with him, saying, that neither he nor his bro- ther commissioners desired any token of respect, so far as they were personally concerned ; yet inasmuch as they represented the pope and the cardinal, it was fitting that they should receive the customary marks of honour. It was replied by Ridley, taking off his cap, that he would willingly treat Pole with all humility, reverence, and honour, upon account of his royal birth, and his manifold graces of learning and virtue ; but he added, again covering his head, "As legate to the Bishop of Rome I may in no wise give any obeisance or honour unto the Cardinal, lest my behaviour in doing thus should be prejudi- cial to mine oath, and in derogation to the verity of God's Word." He was answered, that no reverence was claimed fpr Pole, upon the ground of his per- 456 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1555. sonal qualities, however worthy of respect these might be thought, but solely inasmuch as he repre- sented his Holiness ; upon which account, if the pri- soner would persist in remaining covered, his cap should be removed by force ; unless illness were al- leged as a reason for keeping it on. Ridley said, that he could assign no such reason, being then sufficiently well at ease ; that the sole motive of his present con- duct was a desire to shew his contempt for the Bishop of Rome's usurpation ; and that as for plucking the cap from off his head, whether it was done or not, was a matter to which he was utterly indifferent. After three admonitions, this icas done, and White exhorted the prisoner to resume the pro- fession of Popery, as being the religion planted at Rome, by St. Peter, shortly after Christ's ascension ; as having been renounced by him within a very short period ; and as being under the guidance of a prelate, who is the lineal successor of that Apostle, upon whom, as a rock, Christ built his Church : a fact recognised by the fathers. In reply, Ridley maintained, that Christ promised to build the Church not upon St. Peter's person, but upon his confession ; also that the deference paid to the Roman see in early times resulted from its position in the capital of a mighty empire, and from the sound opinions maintained by its prelates. He like- wise shewed, that a passage cited from St- Austin, in support of the papal claims, will not bear the in- terpretation assigned to it ; and he gave such expla- nations of his own conduct upon some occasions of recent date, as proved him to have been misrepre- 1555.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 457 sented by the Romish party, at those times. After more conversation, chiefly of a critical nature, the prisoner said, that he had conformed himself to the advice of Vincent of Lerins, who recommends us to follow the majority, when a particular portion of the Church is corrupted by heresy, but if the majo- rity be thus infected, then to follow antiquity. That the Roman Church was corrupt, he said, was evident from her injunction of half-communion. " Wherefore," he added, " I prefer the antiquity of the primitive Church, before the novelty of the Ro- mish Church." An attempt was now made to defend half-communion, which ended in submitting five articles to the prisoner, and requiring him to sub- scribe them. Of these, three were merely formal, the remaining two charged him with denying tran- substantiation, and with maintaining that the mass is no propitiatory sacrifice for quick and dead. These charges he admitted ; giving, at the same time, some explanations as to his precise meaning, and repeating that he spoke under a protest against any recognition of the court's authority '. Ridley being withdrawn, Latimer was introduced, evidently suffering under fatigue from the length of time during which he had been kept in attendance. His dress evinced, as usual, an utter disregard of appearances, presenting to the spectator's eye an old thread-bare gown of Bristol frieze confined about the hips by a leathern girdle of a penny's price, a nightcap rendered warmer by the addition of a 1 Foxc, 1599. 458 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1555. handkerchief, and over that an ordinary townsman's cap with flaps buttoned under the chin. From his girdle hung a Testament by a long string of leather, a pair of spectacles without any case was suspended from his neck, and in his hand he held his hat. Having come forward, he made a low obeisance, and thus addressed the court : " My Lords, if I appear again, I pray you, send not for me till you be ready. For I am an aged man, and it is a great hurt to mine old age to tarry so long gazing upon the cold walls." Bishop White humanely answered this ap- peal, by expressing his regret for its necessity, laying at the same time, the blame upon the bailiffs, and assuring the prisoner that he should not again have occasion to complain of such an inconvenience. He then apprised him of the legatine commission under which the court had met, and exhorted him to a reconciliation with Rome. Latimer, having re- quested liberty to sit, answered this address, by controverting White's exclusive application of certain scriptural passages to the Roman Church ; and he instanced an unwarrantable artifice used of late in advancing that Church's cause, by citing a passage from a published sermon. In this it was asserted, that the Mosaic priesthood possessed the right of deciding controversies independently of Scripture ; and it was inferred, from this assumption, that the sacerdotal order among Christians is endued with the same privilege. The preacher had, however, omitted to mention, that all these Israelitish contro- versies were to be decided according to God's law. " What clipping of God's coin is this ! " added the 1555.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 459 venerable prisoner. A laugh arose upon the deli- very of this homely censure, and the auditors were farther diverted by the discovery, which was quickly made, that Latimer had unknowingly quoted a ser- mon written by Brookes, one of his judges rn. That m The piece to which Latimer alludes is thus entitled : " A Sermon very notable, fruitful, and godly, made at Paul's Cross, the 12th day of November, in the first year of the gracious reign of our sovereign lady, Queen Mary, by James Brookes, Bishop of Gloucester." The particular passage to which the aged martyr refers is the following one : " The Catholic Church hath authority to judge and decide all matters of controversy in religion. For if the Scripture of the old law, in Moses' time, was not made the high judge of controversies, being a thing it- self in divers points called in controversy, but authority in judg- ment was given always by God's own mouth to the learned and elders in the synagogue, to whose judgment all were bound to stand, and that under pain of present death, as appeareth in the book of Deuteronomy : if we Christians will not be counted in a worse state and condition than the Jews were, needs must we grant to the Catholic Church like authority for the decision of all controversies in our religion ; when, if God did not assist ever- more with the true intelligence of Scripture, then should the Scripture stand the Church in as good stead, as a pair of spec- tacles should stand a blind friar." (Watkins' Life of Latimer prefixed to his Sermons, cxxxvi. note.) The passage upon which Bishop Brookes built this inference is found in the 17th chapter of Deuteronomy, and it is expressly limited to questions of crimi- nal and civil law. When such questions were found to baffle the ordinary jurisdictions, they were to be submitted to the prin- cipal ecclesiastical and civil authorities of the land, by whom the enquiring parties were to be taught " the sentence of the law." In other words, the supreme court of judicature was to decide as to the application of the law to particular cases. In what man- ner such a right of deciding upon appeals resembles a right to enforce the reception of speculative points in theology, unknown 460 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1555- prelate, indeed, now felt himself called upon to avow his production, and Latimer immediately said : " Was it yours, my Lord ? Indeed, I knew not your Lordship, neither ever did see you before, neither yet see you now, through the brightness of the sun shining betwixt you and me." This artless address again elicited a burst of laughter, something, it might seem, to the discomposure of the aged pri- soner, who thus rebuked his unfeeling auditors : " Why, my masters, this is no laughing matter. I answer upon life and death. Woe unto you that laugh 7ioiv ! for ye shall mourn and weep "." Meanwhile Bishop Brookes appears to have been fretting over the recent exposure of his published sermon, and at last he thus gave his vexation vent : " Master Latimer, hereby every man may see what learning you have." The old man thus met this reflection : " Lo, you look for learning at my hands which have gone so long to the school of oblivion, making the bare walls my library, keeping me so long in prison without books, or pen and ink ; and now you let me loose to come and answer to articles. You deal with me as though two were appointed to fight for life and death, and over night the one, through friends and favour, is cherished, and hath good counsel given to him how to encounter with his enemy. The other, for envy or lack of friends, all the whole night is set in the stocks. In the to the Record, or not probably deduciblc from it, must be left to the consideration of uVsc who choose tradition for a guide in questions of vital importance. ' •St. Luke.vi. 25. 1555.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 4G1 morning, when they shall meet, the one is in strength and lusty, the other is stark of his limbs °, and almost dead for feebleness. Think you, that to run through this man with a spear is not a goodly victory?" Regardless of this appeal, Bishop Brookes proceeded to justify his sermon, by saying that he did not mean, in the passage cited, to allege any precise words of Scripture, but only to point out a portion of the Sacred Volume evidently making for the principle which he was labouring to establish. Anxious to close this unfortunate discussion, Bishop White now said abruptly, that they came not to argue with the prisoner, but only to demand his an- swer to certain propositions. Latimer, however, again turned to the Bishop of Gloucester, and thus addressed him : " Well, my Lord, I could wish more faithful dealing with God's word, parts of it not being left out, while one thing is snatched here, and another there. The whole ought to be faith- fully rehearsed." He was now required to pronounce an opinion upon the five articles which had been already submitted to Bishop Ridley. His answers were similar to those of that prelate, and were given too, under a protest against the court's authority, as professedly derived from a foreign source. On the following morning, Ridley was again brought before the court, and continuing covered, his cap was removed from his head in consequence of an order from the Bishop of Lincoln. That prelate then resumed his critical argument in favour of the 0 The other's limbs have lost their pliancy. 462 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1555. papal supremacy, and asserted that Melancthon had understood a passage in Cyrill, relating to the Sa- crament, differently from the prisoner. In the course of these observations, he remarked briefly upon the recent substitution of tables for altars, terming the former " oyster-boards," and upon the cessation of that idle superstition which requires men to commu- nicate fasting, " People," he said, " lately came from puddings at Westminster to receive the sacra- ment." After answering these arguments and scoffs, Ridley was required to give a definitive opinion upon the articles which had been submitted to him on the day before. He produced immediately a sheet of writing, and began to read. He was, however, stopp.d at once, and a bedell was ordered to take the paper from him. This was handed to the dele- gates, who, having looked at it, and consulted toge- ther, refused to have it read, alleging that it con- tained blasphemy. The five questions of yesterday having been again proposed to the prisoner, and he having referred for answers to the paper which he had brought into court, Bishop Brookes admonished him to recant, in a speech immoderately exalting ecclesiastical privileges, and charging him with re- nouncing popery from evident self-conceit. Ridley shortly replied to this harangue, and then finally refusing to recant, he was excommunicated as an obstinate impugner of the corporal presence, tran- substantiation, and the propitiatory character of the mass. Latimer was now brought in, and he complained immediately of the inconvenience which his aged 1555.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 4G3 and shattered frame had sustained in his way, from the throng which pressed upon him. Bishop White pledged himself that he should not be thus incom- moded on his departure, and he then exhorted him once more to return into the bosom of the Catholic Church. The venerable prisoner denied that he had ever placed himself without her pale ; and after briefly reprobating the artful manner in which his opponents confounded Catholic with Romish, he added, that the latter society ought to be termed diabolic rather than Catholic. He then likened his case to that of Cyprian, who was persecuted for his adherence to the truth, and he urged it as a strong scriptural presumption in favour of his own opinions, that they had continually been exposed to persecu- tion, and as an equally strong one against the Church of Rome, that she had been a persevering persecutor. In the end, the five propositions of yesterday were again submitted to him for his defi- nitive answers, and these being merely a repetition of those which he had already given, he was for- mally excommunicated, and delivered over to the secular arm. Before he left the court, he appealed to the next general council truly called in God's name. " It will be a long season, Master Latimer," said White, " before the calling of any such convo- cation as you mean p." Earnest endeavours were now used to wring a recantation from the two prelates. For this pur- pose the places of their confinement were sought p Foxe, 1603. 464 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1555. by Peter cle Soto, a learned Dominican, long em- ployed as confessor to the Emperor, who had been lately called over from Flanders for the avowed pur- pose of confirming Oxford in Popery q. Latimer declined the fatigue of a conference with this offi- cious foreigner. Ridley admitted him, but as it might be expected, proved invincible by his argu- ments. These facts are considered by Pole, with his usual degree of charity and good sense, as evidences that " no man can save those whom God has cast away r." The next step in this atrocious tra- gedy was the insulting ceremony of degrading the victims from their holy orders. Of the manner in which Latimer underwent this vexatious interrup- tion we have no particulars. To Ridley's apartment in the house of Irish, then Mayor of Oxford, Bishop Brookes, Dr. Marshall, the Vice-chancellor, and other leading members of the University repaired in the morning of the 1 5th of October. Brookes intro- duced himself by offering again the royal pardon to the prisoner, upon condition of his recantation, ob- serving that thereby " he would win many, and do q Ribadeneyra, 232. r " A Rev. P. Soto accepi literas Oxonio datas, quibus me certiorem facit, quid cum duobus illis heereticis egerit, qui jam erant damnati ; quorum alter ne loqui quidem cum eo voluit, cum altero est locutus, sed nihil profecit, ul facile intelligatur a nemine servari posse quos Deus projecerity (Polns Phflippo R. Ep. v. 47.) The clause of this passage which communicates the fact is given by Dr. Lingard, in a note. (vii. '273.) The succeeding clause, containing Pole's ration;:! and charitable inference, has been judiciously suppressed by1 the historian. 1555.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 465 much good." This offer being firmly refused, the sufferer was told that he must now be degraded from the priesthood ; it being considered sufficient to do so, inasmuch as his episcopal cousecration was not recognised. He was then desired to array him- self in the vestments of a Romish officiating priest, and having declined this compliance, he was informed that he would forcibly be thus exhibited. He meekly replied, that " the disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord 3," and that, accordingly, Christ having submitted to be mocked by his persecutors, no follower of his ought to shrink from undergoing the same indignity. His visitors having completed their offensive task, Ridley would fain have discoursed with Brookes ; but that prelate repulsed his overtures as coming from one with whom it was unlawful to hold communication. The prisoner, however, insisted upon being heard so far as to recommend the perusal of Retramn's impor- tant tract upon the Eucharist. Of this advice no notice was taken, the party merely turning round to go away. Ridley prevented the immediate execu- tion of this purpose by promising to mention only worldly affairs, and by producing a supplication which he begged Brookes to present to the Queen. The prayer of this was in behalf of persons to whom he had granted leases while he possessed the see of London, and in behalf of a sister with three father- less children, for whom he had provided by marrying her to an officer of his household. All these ar- ' St. Matt. x. 24. VOL. IV. II h 466 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1555. rangements had been illegally set aside by Boner, and the amiable suppliant only besought of her Majesty, that she would cause compensation to be made to the injured parties, out of the effects which were left at his houses, on his imprisonment. In order that Brookes might not think himself en- trusted with matter likely to offend the royal ears, Ridley read the paper to him, and when he came to that part which stated the case of his sister and her offspring, tears gushed abundantly from his eyes, and strong emotion choked his utterance. At last he said : " This is nature that moveth me. But now I have done." Having concluded his reading ; and delivered the supplication into the hands of his brother-in-law, he was consigned to the officers of justice, with an injunction, that until execution he should not be suffered to hold intercourse with any visitor. " God, I thank thee," said the martyr, " and to thy praise be it spoken, that there is none of you all able to lay to my charge any open or noto- rious crime. If you could, I see very well, it would surely be laid in my lap." Brookes hearing this, told him that he played the proud Pharisee, praising and exalting himself. " No, no," replied Ridley, " to God's glory be it spoken what I said before. I confess myself a miserable sinner, having great need of God's help and mercy ; for which I daily cry. I pray you, therefore, have no such opinion of me." The ecclesiastical authorities having withdrawn* cheerfulness and tranquillity shed a modest lustre over the last evening of Ridley's blameless life. He paid some little attentions to his person, talked of 1555.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 467 the morrow as liis wedding-day, and at supper, invited his hostess, Mrs. Irish, to be present at his death. That lady's bigotry had long maintained within her breast a formidable mass of annoying prejudice against her illustrious guest, but the illu- sion gave way, at length, before his consistent excellence, and she now received his invitation with a flood of tears. " Oh, Mrs. Irish," said the mar- tyr, " you love me not now, I see well enough. For it appeareth, by your weeping, that you will not be at my marriage, and that you are not content therewith. Indeed, you are not so much my friend as I thought you had been. But quiet yourself. Though my breakfast shall be somewhat sharp and painful, yet I doubt not that my supper shall be sweet and pleasant." On retiring for the night, his brother-in-law offered his services to watch by the side of his bed. But Ridley declined this kind at- tention, expressing himself assured of passing the night in peaceful and refreshing sleep. On the following morning l, he proceeded be- tween the mayor and one of the aldermen of Oxford to the place which was to be signalised by the escape of his pious spirit from its earthly tenement. He was handsomely dressed in a black gown, such as he used to wear in the days of his worldly pros- perity, a velvet tippet ornamented with fur over his shoulders, a cap of black velvet upon his head, and over it the square cap usually worn by clergymen. As he passed Bocardo, he looked up to its gloomy \ October 16, Hh 2 468 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1555 windows in the hope of being indulged with at least a transient sight of his loved associate, Cranmer. But the Archbishop was then deeply engaged in controversial discourse with de Soto, and some others ; nor was he aware of the mournful proces- sion until it had passed beyond his prison. He then ascended, as there is good reason for believing, to the roof, sank upon his knees, and earnestly prayed that his suffering friends might be endued with strength from on high sufficient for their last appalling conflict with the powers of darkness u. While u " Master Doctor Ridley, as he passed towards Bocardo, looked up where M. Cranmer did lie, hoping, belike, to have seen him at the glass window, and to have spoken unto him. But then Master Cranmer was busy with Friar Soto, and his fel- lows, disputing together, so that he could not see him through that occasion." (Foxe, 1065.) " Interea Ridleius atque Lati- merus una combusti sunt : quod funestum lugubreque spectacu- lum ex summo carceris sui loco conspiciens Cranmerus, idem brevi expectans hujus vita? exitum, genibus flexis palmisque ad sidera tentis, sociis suis spei fideique constantiam in tarn hor rendo mortis tormento precatus est." (Parker, 511.) Bp. God- win's words (Annal. 125) are nearly the same, and have evidently been borrowed from these. They give, however, this relation as a report merely. " Cranmerum fcrunt , &c." Archbishop Par- ker also was evidently Heylin's authority. " Cranmer was pri- soner at that time in the North-gate of the city, called Bo- cardo, from the top whereof he beheld that most doleful spectacle ; and casting himself upon his knees, he humbly beseeched the Lord to endue them with sufficient strength of faith and hope; which he also desired for himself whensoever he should act his part on that bloody theatre." (Hist. Ref. 223.) One contemporary authority, therefore, contents himself with relating that Cranmer, being otherwise' engaged, did not see Ridley pass onwards to the stake. Another contemporary an- 1555.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 4-69 walking onwards, Ridley heard a noise behind him; and looking back, his eyes rested on the venerable thority tells us, that the Archbishop afterwards went upon the prison's roof, in order to catch a sight of the horrid immolation, and earnestly prayed for the victims. Authors of the next age have combined these two accounts, both of which, indeed, were then probably current traditionally. Dr. Lingard has presented us with the following new version of these affairs. " From the window of his cell the Archbishop had seen his two friends led to execution. At this sight his resolution began to waver ; and he let fall some hints of a ivillingness to relent, and to confer with the legate." (Hist. Eng. vii. 274.) The authorities for these statements are the following : " Is non ita se pertinacem ostendit, aitque se cupere mecum loqui. — Magnam spem initio dederat, eique veniam Polus ab ipsa Regina impetraverat." The former of these sentences occurs in one of Pole's epistles, and succeeds, after the relation of a report, that the burning of Ridley and Latimer was not disagreeable to the populace, that very candid observation upon the cases of these two martyrs which has been already cited as an authority for De Soto's con- ference with Ridley. The passage, therefore, does not connect in any manner the state of Cranmer's mind, with the spectacle of his friends proceeding towards the scene of their martyrdom. It merely states, that the Archbishop entered into controversy with his usual candour, and expressed a desire to confer with Cardinal Pole. The other quotation advanced by Dr. Lingard is taken from Dudith's Life of Pole, and is nothing more than a vague, improbable assertion, that Cranmer, when first talked with, seemed inclined to recant. The precise date, however, of this assumed inclination is not supplied. Historical authorities, therefore, for Cranmer's sight of his friends through the window of his prison, and for the immediate " wavering of his resolution," there appear to be none whatever. Hence, these anecdotes of the Archbishop must be considered as Romish traditions, and no doubt, they are fully as worthy of belief, as the account of St. Nicholas's voluntary fasts on Wednesdays and Fridays, while he was an infant at the breast, and as many other circumstances authenticated by the Breviary. 470 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1555. form of Latimer. " Oh, be ye there ?" he asked. " Yea," said the aged martyr, * I am after yon, as fast as I can follow." The pyre was prepared in the old city-fosse, opposite Balioi College, and Ridley having reached its edge, raised his hands, and turned his eyes with earnest gaze towards heaven. His fellow-sufferer having now arrived, he ran up to him, embraced him tenderly, with a cheer- ful countenance, and thus addressed him : " Be of good heart, brother ; for God will either assuage the fury of the flame, or else strengthen us to abide it." The two martyrs then walked to the stake, kissed it, knelt for awhile in earnest prayer, and afterwards conversed together. Dr. Smyth, whose pliancy of conscience had ever placed him at the service of any party having preferment in its dis- posal, now mounted a pulpit, and preached from this text : " Though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it proflteth me nothing V He mocked the sufferers during scarcely one quarter of an hour, but that time sufficed for the delivery of much absurd and calumnious matter. He told his auditors, that a good cause, not contempt of death, lent dignity to a voluntary departure from the world. If it were not thus, he added, Judas Iscariot, and a woman, who lately hanged herself in Oxford, might pass for righteous persons. Especially he warned the people against allowing themselves to be seduced by the spectacle of death about to meet their eyes. The parties, he said, were heretics, without the pale • x 1 Cor. xiii. 3. 1555.'] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 471 of the Church, and therefore ought not to be con- sidered holy, because they might, as he feared they would, desperately sunder their lives from their bodies. He then proceeded to exemplify the danger of renouncing Romanism, by mentioning the dis- crepancies of opinion, as to the sacramental pre- sence, which prevailed among Protestants. The sufferers he pronounced Zuinglians, and he main- tained, that their doctrine was very wide of the Catholic faith, and of the principles inculcated in the fathers. Among his auditors none listened with more fixed attention than the two victims, their eyes often shot expressive glances, and their uplifted hands attested, at intervals, how keenly they were alive to the falsehood, the folly, and the cruelty of this parting insult. Smyth's degrading office being discharged, Ridley said to Latimer, " Will you begin to answer him, or shall I V The old man replied, " Begin you, I pray." Both martyrs then knelt towards the Lord Williams, of Thame, the Vice- Chancellor, and other commissioners entrusted with the care of their immolation, Ridley, at the same time, intreating permission to speak. He was in- formed, that his request would be gladly granted, and her Majesty's pardon besides, if he would re- cant ; but that, otherwise, he must be silent. " So long as the breath is in my body," he answered, " I will never deny my Lord Christ, and his known truth. God's will be done in me." Orders were then given, that the prisoners should make them- selves ready for death. Ridley immediately divested himself of his apparel, and took from his pockets 472 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1555. various little articles. These, together with some of his garments, he distributed to different acquaint- ances around, and highly gratified, though melan- choly, was the countenance of every one who walked away from the pyre with a relic, however insig- nificant. Latimer gave nothing, but he quietly allowed his worn-out external clothing to be re- moved. A new shroud was now seen to envelop his aged frame, and he stood erect to a degree long unobserved in him, a majestic image of senility clad in the weeds of death. Ridley having prepared himself for his mortal agony, thus ejaculated : " O heavenly Father, I give thee hearty thanks, that thou hast called me to be a professor of thee, even unto death. I beseech thee, Lord God, to take mercy upon this realm of England, and to deliver the same from all her enemies." A smith now ap- proached to make the martyrs secure by means of an iron chain. " Good fellow, knock in the staple hard," said the deprived Bishop of London, " for the flesh will have its course." He requested after- wards the Lord Williams to represent at court the cases of those individuals who had suffered from Boner's refusal to recognise the leases granted by him when in the see of London. A lighted faggot being, then thrown by his feet, Latimer turned to him, and said, in the full assurance of faith : " Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man ; we shall this clay, by God's grace, light in Eng- land such a candle, as, I trust, shall never be extin- guished." Bags of gunpowder were disposed about the persons of the victims by the kind care of Rid- 1555.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 473 ley's brother-in-law y ; and in Latimer's case, proba- bly, this precaution shortened the final struggle : for when the flame approached, the good old man was observed to spread his arms, as if embracing the fiery visitor, and having loudly cried, " O Father of hea- ven, receive my soul," he seemed to find a speedy deliverance from the pangs of death. His compa- nion was far from being thus favoured. At first he stood in momentary expectation of his end, repeating both in Latin and in English, " Into thy hands, O Lord, I commend my spirit ; Lord receive my soul." At length, however, excruciating torments extorted from him anxious appeals to the humanity of those around him. Furze formed the basis of the pyre, and it burned at first with crackling impetuosity : above it were heaped faggots of wood, in injudicious abundance, and these long presented to the specta- tor's eye a dense and smouldering mass. Hence com- bustion struggled for a vent beneath the victim's feet, while every vital part preserved its energies unim- paired. The frightful agonies which racked his frame y Dorman, afterwards a polemic upon the Romish side, who was present at this martyrdom, represents this employment of gunpowder as derogatory to the dignity of character assigned by their friends to the sufferers. He tauntingly says, that the mar- tyrdom of Polycarp was attended by no such timid precautions against its severity. Dean Nowell, however, in answer to this unfeeling reflection, justly observes, that the writer might take shame to himself for witnessing such a horrid spectacle with this cavilling indifference ; and he reminds him, that Ignatius ex- pressed his determination to provoke the wild beasts which were to be his executioners, in order that they might the sooner termi- nate his sufferings. Strype, Eccl. Mem. iii. 387. 474 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1555. now forced him to cry, with thrilling importunity, " Oh, for Christ's sake, let the fire come unto me." Scarcely master of himself, on hearing this distress- ing exclamation, his brother-in-law ran to the pyre, and heaped more faggots about the martyr. This unhappy error lent new horrors to the scene. The sufferer was hardly visible, but a voice of intense emotion sounded incessantly from amidst the smok- ing pile of unconsumed fuel, now ejaculating, " I cannot burn ; oh, let the fire come unto me :" now, " Lord, have mercy upon me." At length a by- stander cleared away the faggots, and opened a pas- sage for the flame. It was now seen that the vic- tim's lower extremities were wholly consumed, while the fire had so little injured the trunk, that even his shirt on one side was not materially discoloured. A vent, however, was no sooner opened on that side, than the flame rushed fiercely upwards. The tor- tured martyr eagerly turned himself that way, the gunpowder immediately exploded, and he was ob- served to move no more. His frame supported for awhile its position at the stake, and then fell amidst the heap of ashes in which it had been marked were to be sought the remains of Latimer \ Among the spectators of this barbarous immola- tion was Julius Palmer, a fellow of Magdalen-col- lege. From that house he had been expelled in the " Foxe, 1 607. Mr. Butler (Book of the Roman Cath. Church, p. 222.) asks the following question respecting- Latimer : " Was he not actively and prominently engaged in the treasons against Mary ?" To this calumnious enquiry, the negative monosyllable is a sufficient answer. See p. 49, of this volume. 1555.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 475 last reign as an obstinate and offensive assertor of Romish principles. He had, however, no sooner lost his fellowship in this cause, than he began to doubt its goodness ; and when restored soon after Mary's accession, his religious opinions had become nearly identical with those of his recent adversaries. Inte- rested hypocrisy was a charge which he commonly brought, in King Edward's time, against the Re- formers. If these men, he said, were once exposed to persecution, all the world would quickly see the slightness of their characters. The noble resolution with which they had undergone imprisonment and poverty, gave a new shock to his yielding prejudices; but he still doubted, whether Protestant principles would support their holders at the stake. His train of thought often leading him to such speculations, he paid the travelling expences of a pupil, who was willing to witness the martyrdom of Bishop Hooper. This youth's account, on returning from Gloucester, strengthened Palmer's belief in the soundness of the Protestant cause. He now determined to watch with his own eyes the dying behaviour of Latimer and Ridley, and he returned from the heart-rending scene totally overpowered. " O raging cruelty ; O tyranny, tragical, and more than barbarous ;" were the exclamations which the morning's horrors repeat- edly wrested from him. Henceforward Palmer was a decided Protestant ; and after various attempts made by his friends to recover him for Popery, he again lost his fellowship. Being an excellent scho- lar he obtained the situation of school-master at Reading, but this appointment he was quickly forced 4 476 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1555. to relinquish; and in July, 1556, he was hurnt as an heretic, together with two other impugners of Ro- mish opinions \ On the 21st of October the Parliament met, and held a short but stormy session. Mary had already resigned to ecclesiastical uses the lands once belong- ing to the Church, but actually vested in the crown b. She was now bent upon abandoning her claim to the first-fruits and tenths of benefices, considering this impost as intended to support the dignity of Su- preme Head, which she had renounced as schisma- tical. This liberality, however, was far from agree- able to the people generally ; with whom, indeed, the government and the clergy were daily becoming more odious and contemptible c. When it was pro- posed, accordingly, to vote supplies, a violent oppo- sition agitated the Lower House. " What justice is there," it was asked, " in taxing the subject to re- lieve the sovereign's necessities, when she refuses to avail herself of funds legally at her disposal ? Rather should the clergy, to whom flows this royal profu- sion, sacrifice largely from their own resources for the relief of their benefactress." It was urged in reply, that the Convocation actually had voted a subsidy of six shillings in the pound. At length supplies were carried considerably below those origi- nally proposed. Mary's resignation of the first-fruits and tenths, and of impropriations vested in the crown, was also legalised, after a serious opposition in the ■ Foxe, 1761. b March 28. Burnet, Hist. Ref. ii. 483. r Ibid. 504. 1555.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 477 House of Commons. It was, however, found impos- sible either to carry a bill of penalties levelled against the Duchess of Suffolk, and some others, who had taken refuge abroad against the persecution raging in England ; or another bill for incapacitating cer- tain persons to act as justices of the peace ; it being known that the individuals whom it was intended to remove were obnoxious upon the score of their dis- inclination to aid the court's intolerance. The whole conduct of this Parliament was indeed unsatisfactory to the government, and it was accordingly dissolved upon the 9th of December d. Never were Bishop Gardiner's abilities and energy displayed to greater advantage than at the opening of this Parliament e ; but these powerful and splen- did efforts exhausted his physical strength. After two days' attendance in the House, death summoned him away in a tone which allowed him no hope of escape. His mortal seizure is said by some to have been a suppression of urine*; by others, a violent attack of gout g. Probably it was that complication of disorders, under which the human constitution often unexpectedly gives way. Gardiner's bodily sufferings, during his final struggle with mortality, seem to have been intense ; but his mental anguish was infinitely more severe. The spirit passing from a virtuous life, spent amidst few temptations, may reasonably feel anxious at the prospect of a speedy a Burnet, Hist. Ref. ii. 508. e Polus Philippo R. Ep. v. 46. f Foxe, 1622. s Godwin, Annal. 126. 478 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1555. reckoning with infinite purity and intelligence. Gardiner's earthly course had, however, abounded with temptations, and he certainly had yielded to them with a facility far from satisfactory to a vigor- ous intellect hovering upon the verge of eternity. The well-founded indignation of his Protestant con- temporaries has probably exaggerated his moral obli- quities ; but worldliness like Gardiner's is seldom un- sullied by private vices, and therefore, in charging him with licentiousness h, it is likely that his political enemies have done him no injustice. In public life he certainly trifled lamentably with his responsibility as a Christian. Men who rise, like him, from obscu- rity to splendour, not uncommonly have aided their advancement by devices far from strictly conscien- tious. Even if Gardiner's rise, however, had escaped this contamination, his day of prosperity was abun- dantly fruitful in causes to disquiet the bed of death. Under King Henry nothing could be more contemp- tible than his conduct ; under the present Queen, nothing more hateful. It was a miserable allevia- tion of his guilt, as first minister of the crown, that he was able and active in mere politics, both foreign and domestic. He had other duties to perform, and he basely overlooked them. His eye was fixed, it was believed, upon a cardinal's hat, upon the arch- bishopric of Canterbury ', and upon the office of h Contemporary Letter, cited by Strype, (Eccl. Mem. iii. 465.) attributing Gardiner's illness to his notorious intemperance and incontinence. The Bishop was reported to have kept a mistress named Godsalve, and other women. Ibid. IT ■'!. ' Godwin, Annal. 125, 1555.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 479 legate a latere, now possessed by Pole. Probably from anxiety to possess himself of these idle gratifi- cations, undoubtedly from a desire of retaining his present power, he became the blood-stained tool of Mary's unrelenting fanaticism. The Queen had ob- stinately shut her ears against religious knowledge k, and went probably to her grave in perfect ignorance of the principles which caused her to shed a torrent of the best blood in England. But Gardiner was considerably versed in the questions which agitated his time : he had examined the papal pretensions, to which every thing Romish mainly looks for support, and he had found them utterly untenable. He had also studied the doctrines of the Reformers suffi- ciently to know, that they rest upon grounds far from easy to overthrow. That he should have lent himself, therefore, to the sanguinary persecution which raged during the last ten months of his life, could hardly fail of strewing gall and wormwood along his passage to the tomb. Those who marked the conflict of his soul endeavoured, vainly, as it almost seemed, to allay its bitterness, by the healing balm of religious consolation. When he sorrowfully adverted to the sinful character of his life, they ex- horted him to reflect, that even St. Peter had grossly fallen, but was, notwithstanding, graciously re- ceived. " Alas !" replied the agonised prelate, " I have indeed erred with Peter ; but I have not, like him, gone out and wept bitterly '." This distressing fc See Hist. Ref. under King Edward VI. 615. 1 St. Matt. xxvi. 75. 480 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1555. scene was, however, of no long continuance. Gar- diner died at Westminster on the 12th of November. His body was then conveyed by water to his house in Southwark. His bowels were interred in the neigh- bouring church of St. Mary Overy ; the final resting place of his other earthly remains was a vault in the cathedral of Winchester m. To the Protestants his death appeared a seasonable relief, and they calcu- lated immediately upon some respite from those horrid sufferings, which his administration had en- tailed upon themn. But this expectation was fatally deceived. Gar- diner left the world amidst preparations for new holocausts of human victims, and his departure sus- pended not this murderous activity. John Philpot was the most remarkable individual now spurred forward to the crown of martyrdom. He was the son of an opulent gentleman seated near Winches- ter, and he received his education in the two St. Mary Winton colleges. His abilities and applica- tion being of no common order, he made a great proficiency in his favourite study, that of languages, especially in the Hebrew °. He farther improved his m Strype, Eccl. Mem. iii. 449. n Bp. Boner thus adverted to the expectation of relief, in which the Protestants indulged, on Gardiner's death : " Nay, you think, because my Lord Chancellor is gone, that we will burn no more. Yes, I warrant thee, I will despatch you shortly, unless you do recant." Examination of the constant martyr of Christ, John Philpot, &c. p. 61. No place, date, or printer's name. It is a small 12mo. printed from Philpot's MS. and most probably during Mary's reign. 0 Philpot's original intention was to follow the civil law. This 1555.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 481 mind by means of foreign travel, and taking abroad a disbelief of Romanism, in Italy he narrowly escaped the Inquisition p. His examination, however, of po- lemics led him, for some time only, to a conclusion that the papal religion is false : it sufficed not to render him a pious disciple of the Reformers. At length his indifference, or doubts, being removed, he took holy orders, and became a zealous preacher of scriptural principles ; aline of conduct which involved him in serious disputes with his ordinary, Bishop Gar- diner, at the beginning of King Edward's reign q. That prelate had granted him the archdeaconry of Winchester in reversion, a nomination which took effect under Bp. Poynet r. Archdeacon Philpot gave violent offence to Mary's government by his spirited advocacy of the reformed faith in the Lower House of Convocation : and he rendered himself still more obnoxious by publishing a written account of that fact, joined to that of his proficiency in Hebrew, draws the fol- lowing reflection from Persons: " Foxe noteth that he gave him- self to the study of tongues, especially to the Hebrew tongue, which, he being a lawyer, doth well shew, that even then he was touched with some humour of new fancies, the Hebrew tongue being little needful to that profession." (Three Conv. iii. 287.) This is, however, an idle surmise ; for Philpot thus answered a question put to him by Boner, as to his faith twenty years be- fore : " Indeed, my Lord, to tell you plain, I was then nullius jidei, of no faith, a neuter, a wicked liver, neither hot nor cold." (Examinations, &c. ut supra, 13.) Philpot was forty-four years old at the time of his examinations. p Examinations, &c. 35. « Strype, Eccl. Mem. iii. 438. r Examinations, &c. 2. VOL. IV. I i 482 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1555. famous debate. This relation was resolutely charged with falsehood by the Romish party, and even to the reporter's face upon more than one of his examin- ations. But Philpot dared his accusers to the proof of their assertions, and they declined his challenge s. Shortly after his appearance in the Convocation House, he was excommunicated as contumacious, without any personal citation, illegally deprived of his archdeaconry, and committed to the King's Bench prison t. On the 2d of October, he was brought to the sessions-house, by Newgate, before the Queen's commissioners, and after receiving very brutal incivility from Story, who was one of this board, he was committed to Bishop Boner's custody, and lodged in the coal-house attached to the epis- copal palace. This was a dark and miserable hovel, communicating with another shed, in which was a high pair of stocks, contrived for confining both hands and feet u. The days were now short, and the season inclement, yet the persons confined in this vile abode, seven in number, were allowed neither fire nor candle, nor any bed but straw \ > Examinations, &c. 55. 100. 1 Ibid. 8. 100. 90. 113. u Ibid. 10. x Ibid. 14. 42. One of Philpofs fellow-prisoners was a clergyman from Essex,, who had been before confined as a heretic, and was then alarmed into a recantation. He had no sooner, however, purchased his liberty by this compliance than his misery became extreme, and having-, under some pretence, desired subsequently to see his recantation, he tore it in pieces. " Of the which, when my Lord of London had understanding, he sent for him, and fell upon him like a lion, and like a manly 1555.'] CINDER QUEEN MARY. 483 They reclined, however, upon this wretched couch, we are assured by Philpot, as cheerfully as others do upon beds of down ; and the tuneful voice of psal- mody oft resounding from their murky den, admo- nished every listening ear, that external evils fall powerless before the testimony of a good conscience. With the exception of consigning him to such a lodging, Boner at first treated Philpot with cour- tesy, and he did not neglect to supply him occa- sionally both with food and wine. He complained, moreover of the hardship of being called upon to decide cases properly cognisable by other bishops, and he expressed his fears lest this necessity should bring upon him a degree of obloquy which he did not merit y. The pretences for requiring Boner's bishop, buffeted him well, and plucked away a great piece of his beard. But now, thanks be to God, he is as joyful under the cross as any of us, and very sorry for his former infirmity." Examinations, 10. 7 Boner said to Philpot, on the Archdeacon's first appearance before him : " I am right sorry for your trouble. And I promise you, before it was within these two hours, 1 knew not of your being here. I pray you tell me what was the cause of your sending hither: for I promise you, I know nothing thereof as yet : neither I would you should not think, that I was the cause thereof. And I marvel that other men will trouble me with their matters. But I must be obedient to my betters. And I wis (fancy) men speak otherwise of me than I deserve." (Ibid. 12.) The phrase " other men" probably refers to Gardiner, for Philpot thus introduces the account of his second appearance before the royal commissioners, in Newgate sessions-house : " At my coming, a man of Aldgate, of mine acquaintance, said unto me : God have mercy on you, for you are already condemned in this world ; for D. Story said, that my Lord Chancellor hath i i 2 481- HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1555. interference in this instance were Philpot's utter- ance of language, termed heretical, in the Convo- cation-House, which is within the diocese of London, and his subsequent adherence to the same senti- ments when a prisoner in the same diocese. Both these grounds were treated as manifestly unjust by the accused. The debate which brought him into trouble, was not, he said, moved by himself, but by the Prolocutor, and he insisted upon his right to speak freely upon every subject which came before the House, inasmuch as the Convocation is a part of Parliament. Lord Rich very justly denied this character to the Convocation z ; but that assembly must, notwithstanding, obviously possess the par- liamentary privilege of guaranteeing to the members freedom of debate. As for the sentiments which he maintained in prison, Philpot argued that Boner had no right to sit in judgment upon them, because he was confined both against justice and his own will within the diocese of London. He, therefore, declined the jurisdiction before which he was brought, maintaining, that if he had committed any canonical offence, it was cognisable only by his own ordinary, the Bishop of Winchester. He was also very unwilling to commit himself by answering questions intended to entrap him into an avowal of opinions deemed heretical. As his examinations, commanded to do you away." (Examination*. 6.) Tin's con- versation took place on tin- 24th of October, probably the very day of Gardiner's mortal seizure. Who can wonder at the agonies of such a man's parting spirit I ' ■ Ibid. 44. 1555.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 485 however, were numerous, and some of them con- ducted before prelates, and other individuals of eminent attainments, a considerable mass of theolo- gical matter was extracted from him. In these encounters Philpot's learning- and acuteness appeared to great advantage. The general return of Eng- land to Romanism, and the multitudes elsewhere professing that religion were urged upon him as evidences of its truth. He replied, that in Elijah's time, only that prophet, and a very small propor- tion of the Israelites retained the true Mosaic faith a. Controversies, he maintained, were to be decided by the Word of God, and difficulties of expounding this, by the voice of the primitive Church b. According to custom, the text Thou art Peter, &c. was alleged as an irrefragable ground of the papal supremacy. Philpot answered, that this argument must go for nothing, unless it ex- tended to a proof of our Lord's intention to build his Church upon Rome c. The Church now deno- minated from that city, was, he maintained, no more doctrinally similar to that established by St. Peter there, " than an apple is like a nut d." Being required to state the particulars of this alleged discrepancy, he cited transubstantiation, and the papal supremacy, as its most conspicuous features. The former of these doctrines, it was admitted, had a 1 Kings, xviii. xix. b Examinations, &c. 25. c Ibid. 31. d Ibid. 33. 486 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1555. been defined by the Roman Church at a period comparatively recent, but it was asserted that such had been the papal faith from Apostolic times. This assertion Philpot defied the maker of it, Cur- top by name, to prove, and that individual disposed of the challenge by quietly leaving the room0. Upon another occasion, Philpot offered to prove the catholicity of his Church and faith by the three fol- lowing marks, antiquity, universality, and unity. Boner treated this offer as an idle boast, and asked, " By what doctor art thou able to prove this Church ? Name him, and thou slialt have him." The reply was : " My Lord, let me have all your an- cient writers with pen, ink, and paper ; and I will prove both my faith, and my Church out of every one of them." On this Bishop Boner immediately retracted his promise, and flew off to a vague asser- tion, speedily refuted on the other side, that Cyprian furnishes an authority for the papal supremacy f. On a subsequent day, Philpot was asked : " How old is your religion ?" He answered : " Older than yours by a thousand years and more." Its visibility in recent times, he added, was proved by the preach- ing of Wickliffe, Huss, and others g. At length all hopes of perverting Philpot either by means of argu- c Examinations, &c. 34. ' Ibid. 64. 8 Ibid. 108. 116. Philpot scribbled in the best manner al- lowed by the want of sufficient light, and proper materials for writing, this interesting account of some of his last troubles. The writing he contrived to secrete about his person, although searched for the purpose of being deprived 6fany papers. 1555.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 487 ment, or of intimidation were abandoned, and Bishop Boner proceeded to give judgment upon him, in the consistory of St. Paul's. He was condemned as one who obstinately continued at variance with the Catholic Church, especially with regard to tran- substantiation, and the missal sacrifice. Sentence having been passed upon him, he was delivered to the sheriffs, and by their orders lodged in Newgate. In passing through the streets he said to the crowd : "Ah, good people, blessed be God for this day."' In his way to death h he was not only resigned, he was even cheerful ; and on entering the place appropriated to his exit from a persecuting world, he piously dropped upon his knees, and said, " I will pay my vows in thee, O Smithfield." As was usual upon these me- lancholy occasions, he kissed the stake ; and he then thus gave utterance to his thoughts ; c ' Shall I disdain to suffer at this stake, seeing my Redeemer did not disdain to suffer most vile death upon the cross for me ? Before he prepared for his final agony, he enquired of the officers around what ser- vices they had severally rendered in making ready for his burning. Having received the required an- swers, he gave to each of them money. Of his last sufferings the particulars are unrecorded : hence it may reasonably be presumed, that his tortured frame did not long impede the soul from winging her joyous flight to the realms of everlasting peace l. Atrocious as had been the domestic administration h December IS. ' Foxe 16G1. 488 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1555. of England during this memorable year k, no reserve was used to hide for a while the speculative defor- mity of the principles which had overspread the land with horror and indignation. So confident were the ecclesiastical authorities in the ultimate success of their seductive principles, gaudy services, and unsparing cruelties, that they ventured to pub- lish a manual for popular instruction, than which few things could be more insulting and intolerable to minds imbued with scriptural knowledge. Queen Mary's Primer, which made its privileged appearance in this year, is a book embodying, with infatuated fearlessness, a large proportion of the folly and the poison offered by the Roman Church to her unsus- pecting children. In this little work, it is of course professed that the Ten Commandments are to be found, and for their original authority the reader is referred to the fifth chapter of Deuteronomy. But bibles were now sealed books, and those who go- verned the church forgot or cared not how lately it had been otherwise. Among the Ten Command- ments, accordingly, the scriptural reader will look in vain for any trace of the second '. A similar dis- k " So this year ended, in which were sixty-seven burnt for religion : and of these four were bishops, and thirteen were priests." Burnet, Hist, Ref. ii. 515. 1 The following is Queen Mary's Decalogue: " 1. Thou shalt not have strange gods in my sight. 2. Thou shalt not usurp the name of thy God in vain. 3. Observe the Sabbath-day. 4. Honour thy father and mother. 5. Thou shalt not kill. 6. Thou shalt not do adultery. 7. Thou shalt do no theft. 8. Thou shalt not speak false witness against thy neighbour. 1555.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 489 regard of the sound religious information afloat in all parts of the country is shewn in a succession of prayers addressed to the saintly mediators of Romish creation, especially to the Virgin Mary. Perhaps, however, no one of these departed spirits figures more offensively in this publication than Archbishop Becket ; for it is blasphemously assumed, that through his blood individuals may attain the joys of heaven m. With equal freedom does the compiler draw upon the legendary theology of Romanism. St. Nicho- las's voluntary abstinences from his mother's milk on fasting days are intelligibly, though delicately brought 9. Thou shalt not desire the wife of thy neighbour. 10. Thou shalt not desire the goods of thy neighbour." " The Primer in Latin and English, after the use of Sarum, with many godly and devout prayers, as in the contents doth appear. Whereunto is added a plain and godly treatise concerning the mass, and the blessed Sacrament of the Altar, for the instruction of the un- learned and simple people. Imprinted at London, by John Waylande, at the sign of the Sun in Fleet-street, over against the great conduit. Anno Domini MDLV. Cum privilegio per septennium." The book is not paged. m " Of Sainct Thomas, Archbishop of Canterbury. Anthe?n. " We pray thee, through Sainct Thomas' blood, Which he for thee did spend. O Christ to cause us thither climb, Whither Thomas did ascend." The following is the Latin original of these verses : " Tu, per Thomee sanguinem, quern pro te impendit, Fac nos, Christe, scandere quo Thomas ascendit." 490 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1555. to the reader's notice ". The body of St. Catharine, we are told, was carried by angels to Mount Sinai. St. George saved a despairing princess from a ter- rible dragon °. It is not, indeed, to be denied, that n The following is the anthem in which this portion of me- dieval mythology is related in monkish rhyme : " Beatus Nicolaus Adhuc puerulus Multo jejunio Macerabat corpus." This metrical specimen is rendered into the following plain prose : " Blessed Sainct Nicholas, being yet a child, did subdue his body with much fasting." The collect is this : " O God, which hast glorified blessed Nicholas, thy holy bishop, with innumer- able miracles, grant, we beseech thee, that by his merits and prayers we may be delivered from the fire of hell. By Christ our Lord. Amen." 0 The following devotional pieces celebrate this gallant and redoubtable knight. " Georgi, martyr inclyte, te decet laus et gloria, Perdotatum militia, quern puella regia cxiens in tristitia, Coram dracone pessimo, Salvata est ; ex animo — te rogamus corde intimo Ut cum cunctis fidelibus, coeli jungamur civibus, Nostris ablutis sordibus ; Et simul cum lsetitia, tecum simus in gloria, Nostraque reddant labia, laudes Christo cum gratia. " O George, the famous martyr, laud and glory becometh thee, adorned with knighthood, through whom the King's daughter, going forth in heaviness, was saved from fear of the terrible dra- gon : with heart and mind we beseech thee, that by thy prayer we, being clean from all filthiness, may be united to all the faith- ful citizens of heaven, and with joy may be witli thee in glory, so that our lips may give thanks to Christ with favour. 1555.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 491 even the larger portion of this primer is unexcep- tionable. Several psalms, and many prayers worthy *' Let us pray. " 0 Almighty and everlasting God, which being benign and gentle dost ever hear with favour the call of them that pray unto thee, we humbly beseech thy Majesty, that like as thou causedst the fearful dragon to be overthrown by a maid in the honour, and at the prayer of thy blessed and glorious martyr, George : even so now, through his intercession and supplication, grant us, O Lord, to overcome all our enemies visible and invisible, that they be not hable to hurt us, through our Lord, Jesus Christ, thy Son, which liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, very God, world without end. Amen." " St. George, among the Papists is a renowned saint. But such a saint, as they report George to be, was never in the world. First, it is said, that he conquered Palestine. Palestinam, saith he, Christo favente devici. Secondly, that a dragon did eat up daily two sheep, and afterward, a child and a sheep, and in the end, that the King's daughter of Silena was to be given to the dragon. Thirdly, that the dragon kept (lived) in a lake. Belike it was a flying fish. Fourthly, that St. George made the dragon to follow this maiden like a gentle dog: sequebatur earn velut mansuetissimus canis : that St. George killed the dragon, and that he was so big that uneth (not less than) four yoke of oxen could draw him out of the city. Finally, that this conqueror of kingdoms and dragon-queller, after he had converted Queen Alexandra, should be tormented and slain by Datianus, an ob- scure king of an unknown kingdom. Matters not only without all ground or testimony of story, but most absurdly and ridicu- lously devised. Baronius himself confesseth, that the killing of the dragon is symbolical, that is, a signification of something re- presented by this similitude." Sutcliffe's Threefold Answer to Persons' Three Conversions. 155. It is obvious, that the legend of St. George is a mere naturali- sation among Christians of the Pagan allegories which symbolise the deluge. A formidable sea-serpent called Typhon, or what 492 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [1555. of a Christian are intermingled amidst the mass of silly fictions, and impious departures from apostoli- cal truth. As a whole, however, this publication is highly disgraceful, both to the theological repu- tation and to the worldly discretion of those who authorised it. After infinite pains had been taken, during several years, to wean the people from medie- val corruptions, it surely was most injudicious ab- ruptly to recall the public attention to the most absurd and offensive features in the melancholy pic- ture of Europe's intellectual eclipse. not, was vanquished by some heaven-assisted personage. In other words, the Divine favour, extended to pious Noah and his family, enabled them to ride securely over the flood which arose to sweep away a race of men wholly corrupted by the Old Serpent's temp- tations. The gigantic St. Christopher, who is said to have car- ried Christ safely over a mighty flood, is another instance in which the same heathen allegory has enriched the stores of Ro- mish mythology. CHAPTER IV. Archbishop Cranmer's letter to the Queen — Cardinal Pole's letters to Archbishop Cranmer — Degradation of Archbishop Cranmer — Artifices used to work upon his feelings — His dis- svnulation — His martyrdom — Consecration of Cardinal Pole — His canons — Continuance of the persecution — Supplication from Norfolk and Suffolk — The English exiles — Knox — Troubles at Francfort — Recantation of Sir John Cheke — Visitation of the Universities — Revival of English monachism — Commission of enquiry into cases of heresy — Execution of the Lord Stourton — Papal attack upon Cardinal Pole — The loss of Calais — Extent of the Marian persecution — The Queen's death — Her character — Death of Cardinal Pole. Having been withdrawn from the presence of his judges, Archbishop Cranmer determined upon ad- dressing the Queen. His object in forming this resolve was not to seek for life or favour, but merely to do his obvious duty in attempting to furnish Mary with some of that information which she so lamentably needed. He wrote, accordingly, two letters to her, and sent, besides, a sealed packet with strict injunctions that it should be delivered into none other than the royal hands a. In his manly and dignified epistles, he assures her Majesty, that he refused to recognise the commission of Bishop Brookes, merely because that prelate acted under * Abp. Cranmer to the Doctors Martin and Story. Foxe, 1717, 494 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1555. an authority which he had solemnly sworn to re- nounce, and which, as he proves at some length, is repugnant to the constitution of England. The proof's of this latter fact, he charitably assumes, could not have been considered in the course of recent parliamentary proceedings, when England formally owned the supremacy of Rome. A colla- teral reason for resisting the papal pretensions is urged by the Archbishop from the spiritual evils undeniably flowing from them. Religion was re- vealed from above for the purpose of enlightening the human mind. Romish policy, however, pro- motes intellectual darkness, as is most plainly shewn by its obstinate adherence to a liturgy popularly unintelligible. The magnitude of this abuse was denied, Cranmer says, by none of the scholars em- ployed in liturgic labours by King Edward's govern- ment. All these eminent persons, however other- wise differing, agreed that public prayers ought to be in the vernacular tongue, and admitted that the contrary usage was forbidden by St. Paul b. Other b " When a good number of the best learned men reputed ■within this realm, some favouring the old, some the new learn- ing, as they term it, (where, indeed, that which they call the old is the new, and that which they call the new is, indeed, the old) but when a great number of such learned men of both sorts were gathered together at Windsor for the reformation of the service of the Church ; it was agreed by both, without contro- versy, not one saying contrary, that the service of the Church ought to be in the mother-tongue ; and that St. Paul, in the 14th chapter to the Corinthians was to be so understood." (Abp. Cranmer to Queen Mary. Foxe, 1*715.) Bp. Ridley 1555.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 495 reasons for declining the Pope's authority are drawn from that dignitary's refusal of the sacramental cup to laymen, and from his pretensions to the right of absolving subjects from allegiance to their princes. It is also said, that the Roman see cannot be safely followed, because it maintains transubstantiation ; a doctrine incapable of proof by means of any authen- tic monuments of the Catholic Church, during the first thousand years of her existence. Finally, the Queen is intreated to consider, whether any engage- ment to obey the Pope on her part, is compatible with her coronation oath c. These letters were submitted by Mary to Cardi- nal Pole, who undertook to answer them. Of the spirit in which he was likely to accomplish this, a judgment may be formed from the manner in which, writing to King Philip, he designates Cranmer. "He that formerly presided over the church of Can- terbury V is Pole's mode of describing a man every also thus wrote from Bocardo, in Oxford, on the 18th of April, 1554, to West, once his chaplain. ft When I was in office, all that were esteemed learned in God's Word, agreed this to be a truth in God's Word written, that the common prayer of the Church should be had in the common tongue. You know I have conferred ivith many, and I ensure you I never found man, so far as I do remember, neither old nor new, Gospeller, nor Pa- pist, of what judgment so ever he was, in this thing to be of a contrary opinion." Letters of the Martyrs, 43. c Foxe, 1717. Strype, Mem. Cranm. 541. d " Qui olim Cantuariensi ecclesise prcefuit, cujus damnationis sententia Roma nunc expectatur, is non ita se pertinacem osten- dit, aitque se cupere mecum loqui ; si ad poenitentiam revocari possit ex proximis Uteris Patris Soti expectamus, et Majes- 4 496 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1555. way his superior, excepting in the accidental advan- tage of birth ; a matter, however, in which the indi- vidual thus pointed out by a contemptuous peri- phrasis, was far from unfortunate. It appears likely that the Cardinal's authority had been alleged by the foreign friars, who haunted Cranmer's cell, as a rea- son why he should resume communion with the Ro- man Church. Now the Archbishop was among the most candid and modest of mankind : hence he was ever willing to consider the arguments of an oppo- nent. He was also well aware, that many active Romanists were acquainted but imperfectly with existing controversies : he, therefore, naturally ex- pressed a desire to confer with Pole. The Legate, ever intent upon display, could not resist this new opportunity of exercising his polemical abilities. The gist of Cranmer's letters to the Queen is the in- consistency of modern Popery with the English con- stitution, with the words of Scripture, and with the decisions of the Catholic Church for more than a thousand years. Pole meets these questions by a diffuse and feeble tissue of vague assertions, capable of bringing satisfaction to no well-informed, acute, and enquiring mind. For authorities as to the anti- quity of transubstantiation, Cranmer is referred to Bishop Tunstall's book upon the Eucharist. The Cardinal does not, however, forget to season his epistle with some of those personalities, which never failed to flow from his pen when his passions were tatcm Vestram certiorem faciemus." Polus Philippo R. Ep. y 47. 84. 1555.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 497 excited. Especially is Cranmer's oath to the Pope, on consecration to the see of Canterbury, made a heavy ground of accusation against him ; but it is worthy of remark, that his correspondent charges the Archbishop with incurring thus the guilt of per- jury from desire of obtaining a station, which would enable him to reform the national Church e. Having finished this epistle, Pole appears to have been unable wholly to conceal a suspicion of its in- anity even from himself; he determined, therefore, upon sending it to Oxford, in the company of ano- e " But here you deceive yourself again, and would deceive other, making your defence of your simulate oath, that you did the same so for the more service of God, having in your mind then to reform the Church ; to the which being no way, but to make that oath for a countenance ; this you thought, for such a purpose, might be acceptable before God." (Strype, Mem. Cranm. Append. 983.) In another passage, Pole asks, " What more plain sentence can be against you, if you have a thousand reformations in your mind?" (Ibid. 974.) From this, and many other similar passages, it may be inferred perhaps, not unreason- ably, that the Romanists were loud in their accusations of perjury against Cranmer, and that some of his own party defended him by saying, that he had no means of obtaining a situation in which he meant to confer extensive benefits upon his country, but by some rather disingenuous management respecting the oath at consecration. The reason why this imputation of perfidy was so much charged upon Cranmer by his enemies, is obvious enough : the whole body of Romish clergy was glaringly perjured. We know that the Protestants did not forget to upbraid their perse- cutors with this blemish, and individuals thus assailed would naturally look out for recriminations. It should be observed, that Pole represents Cranmer's protest to have been made privately ; but little attention is due to the statements which an angry partizan may relate at second hand. VOL. IV. K lv 498 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1555. ther communication yet more bulky f. Some of the sycophants about him affected to represent, that nei- ther as a Christian, nor as a judge, ought he to hold any intercourse with a lost offender like Cranmer. This advice, however, merely served to administer that food to his vanity, which it was intended to sup- ply. He launched out immediately into a descrip- tion of the character which he was bound to main- tain as the representative of him who is the earthly vicar of a mighty King ; incarnate to save, not to condemn e. With this flattering view of himself he f Pole's first epistle is in English, and is dated from " the court, at St. James's, November 6, 1555." The second epistle, or, more properly, treatise, is in Latin, and is preserved, though not in a complete state, among the Harleian MSS. (No. 417.) in the British Museum. Le Grand (Hist, du Divorce, i. 260.) has printed a French translation of this piece, from a MS. in the royal library at Paris. His object in this publication appears to have been to support his own abuse of Cranmer by the contemporary authority of Pole ; otherwise he probably would not have chosen to draw from obscurity this specimen of the Cardinal's temper and talents ; for he is driven to confess, that his style is some- what declamatory : " Quoique ce style de Polus sente un pen le declamateur." From Le Grand's work, this French translation has been transferred to the fifth volume of Pole's epistles. The English writers have neglected this piece, as it might seem, from its prolix, feeble, declamatory, and virulent character. A short abstract of its contents may, however, be seen in Neve's Animad- versions upon Phillips, 517. e " Omnis qui recedit et non permanet in doctrina Christi, Dcum non habet. Qui permanet in doctrina, hie Pa (rem it Filimn habet. Si quis venit ad vos, et heme doctrinam non affert, nolite recipere cum in domum, ucc Ave ii dixcris. Qui cnim dicit ei Ave, communicat operibus ejus malignis. Hceo ille dilectus Chiisto discipulus. Quid, igitur, ego ad te scribens, 4 155.3.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 499 commenced a tedious and declamatory address to his insulted correspondent. He then insists, but with- out even a pretence of offering1 any proof, that Cran- mer had forsaken that doctrine of the Eucharist, which the universal Church had ever maintained, and which all his predecessors in the see of Canter- bury had uninterruptedly taught. So criminal, we are told, is this alleged departure, that Pole declares himself justified, as a mere private member of the Church, in calling down a consuming fire from hea- ven upon the Archbishop's head. In vindication of a judgment so severe, he charges Cranmer with ejecting a zealous prince from the Church ; not indeed by force, but by crafty counsel : the very quern a doctrina Christi et Ecclesiae jampridem recessisse tarn aperte constat, qui earn omnibus mod is oppugnare pergis, an contra hoc prgeceptum facio ? Hoc equidem nolim ; etsi non defuerunt qui, hoc meo ad te sciibendi consilio cognito, his Joannis Apostoli verbis auctoritateque studerent me ab eo dedu- cere ; cum dicerent hoc ipsum ad te scribere plus esse quam si te in domum reciperem ; perinde enim esse ac si ipse in domum ad te accederem, tuoque hospitio uterer ; quod si cseteris non liceat, multo minus mihi convenire, qui in hoc regno ejus personam sus- tirteo ad quern de te judicandi jus spectat : neque enim si sequum non est, inquiunt, judicem apud reum diversari, sequum videri debet, ab eo alias ad reum mitti literas nisi quae ilium ad judi- cium ipsum citent, et ad judicii terrorem incutiendum pertineant. At ego me ejus judicis personam gerere intelligo, qui in terris vicarius est magni illius Regis, qui m n ad damnandum venit, sed ad servandum, et a Deo judex omnium constitutus, ante supremi illius judicii diem, ejus periculum, ut ab eo nos liberaret, expo- nere, omnesque servandi modos experiri voluit." Polus Cran- mero, Bibl. Had. 417. Kk 2 500 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1555. weapon by which Satan ejected man from paradise. After this rhetorical effusion, the writer seems to have recollected, that other individuals, besides the object of his address, had actively concurred in this ejection of King Henry from the Roman Church. But as most of these persons had now come over again to his own side, he was anxious to make some shew of shielding them by a passing apology. He therefore says that they, having been attacked on the right hand and on the left, at length assented, after a long resistance11. Cranmer is then charged with accepting the primacy upon an understanding that he was to annul the Aragonese marriage l ; with arrogating to himself the right of deciding a cause then pending before the pontiff; with mocking the h " Qui tecum velit comparare cseteros qui in eadem causa fue- runt, eorum vicem commiserans, merito doleat, tibi graviter suc- censeat, atque indignetur: illi enim magnis tcntationibus et a dextris et a sinistris oppugnati, cum iis diu restitissent, tandem impio consilio assensi sunt." (Ibid.) This brief and vague apo- logy for the tergiversation of the Romish party, is, however, ma- nifestly false. Warham conceded the supremacy, and Gardiner advocated the divorce, when Cranmer was merely an obscure scholar. Nor did Tunstall, or any other leading ecclesiastic, dis- sent from most of the reforms effected in King Henry's reign. Nor were these eminent persons assailed by any temptation in their anti-papal career, except the prospect of advancing them- selves in the royal favour : no very satisfactory ground certainly for the adoption of principles wholly or partially disapproved, especially by men who had already attained the summit of their profession. 4 See the passage in a not<'. Hist. Ref. under King Henry VIII. i. 358. 1555.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 501 King, by pretending to force him into a divorce, under the threat of ecclesiastical censures k ; and with dismissing the Queen, by a most iniquitous sentence. He is said to have highly offended God by the pride and ambition which led him to broach a new opinion upon the Eucharist. Afterwards he is charged with a longing desire for honours and riches, and with keeping a concubine in the place of a wife. The railing accuser then returns to the divorce once more, and asserts it as a notorious fact, that the k " Quid enim aliud nisi illusio fuit, cum pluribus eum horta- bare ut, quod ipsmn constabat omnibus modis conari, uxorem a se dimitteret? Deinde quasi diffideres boc te ill L persuasurum, additis censurarum minis, nonne magis ei illudebas, quern scirent omnes neque divinarum neque humanarum legum metu, ut earn diutius retineret adduci posse ? Quid vero an non tecum ipse ridebas cum tanquam severus judex Regi minas intentares ?" This passage is a proof of Pole's utter worthlessness as an histo- rical guide respecting transactions with which he had no personal acquaintance. The application here referred to is the letter ad- dressed by Cranmer to Henry, immediately before the proceed- ings at Dunstable. This interesting document has been pub- lished by Mr. Todd, in his excellent Historical and Critical Intro- duction to Cranmer's Catholic Doctrine, (xlvi.) It contains not the least hint of any censure, but merely represents that the peo- ple were dissatisfied with the unsettled aspect of the royal family, and blamed the clergy for allowing this inconvenience to pass unheeded : hence he (Cranmer) as the head of the ecclesiastical body, would be glad, under his Majesty's permission, to take cognizance of the affair in question. Very probably the Primate's letter was represented ordinarily, and especially among the Ro- mish party, in the odious and ridiculous colours here given to it by Pole. Nothing, however, can be more false and absurd than the Cardinal's painting in this instance. See Hist. Ref. Under King Henry VIII. i. 385. 502 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1555. prostrate object of his abuse was called to the arch- bishopric for the sole purpose of cloaking the foul lust of an individual, under the name and appearance of justice '. Amidst this torrent of scurrility Pole renders justice to the Archbishop in one remarkable instance. It has of late been the usage to paint Cranmer as a persecutor ; and to represent, that however shameful might be the conduct of his ene- mies towards him, he had the less reason to complain 1 " Quod si ad hoc munus ob earn rem te vocatum inveneris, ut foedam hominis libidinem juris nomine ac specie praetexeris, quis dubitat, quin per ostium non sis ingressus ? Eccpjis autem ignorat, te ob hanc unam causam archiepiscopum esse factum V It is worthy of remark, that Pole does not here vouch his own authority for the truth of this imputation ; he only represents it as undeniably correct, on account of its public notoriety. This interrogative appeal to common fame is followed by a vague re- mark upon the obscurity of Cranmer previously to his obtainment of the archbishopric. Upon this, and other such passages, is founded the current Romish representation, that Cranmer was suddenly introduced to Henry by the Boleyns, for their own pur- poses. " Qui ante cum paucissimis notus esses, nulli magis eras ignotus quam illi cpai hunc honorem tibi detulit, de quo tantum aberat, ut cseteri cogitarent, ut ne tibi quidem ipsi in mentem venire posset, alia via, nisi hac, in ovile Domini intrare posse ad officium primi pastoris in hoc regno fungendum." It is not a little curious that Pole should charge Cranmer with accepting the archbishopric upon a corrupt understanding with the King ; and yet admit, in another letter, sent together with this, that his ob- ject in stooping to this baseness was the attainment of a situation in which he might reform the Church. Such pure ends are very seldom proposed to themselves by those who resort to such dis- reputable means. In another place, undoubtedly, the Cardinal briefly charges his insulted correspondent with a hankering after riches and honours. 1555.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 503 of it, because he had himself treated opponents in a similar manner, and would have continued this cru- elty had power remained in his hands. His contem- poraries, however, appear to have thought of his case very differently. Those who respected him alleged his own kind and merciful exercise of authority as an additional ground for reprobating the severity which he had encountered. In his day of prosperity, said such reasoners, " the Archbishop caused no man's death, but treated all persons with good- nature and benignity." This testimony, so honour- able to Cranmer's character, found its way even to the ears of Pole ; and that ecclesiastic, unfriendly as he was to the imprisoned prelate, dared not to deny that in this his friends had done him no more than justice. He seems to have discovered no other mode of parrying an argument, so mortifying to the papal party, than by comparing the Archbishop to Satan, who destroys men by means of worldly and sensual gratifications. " Persons who defend you upon the ground of your own merciful character," writes the Cardinal to his correspondent, " know not what they say : nor do you, perhaps, know whether you may have slain any man, because you neither entered the sheep-fold of Christ with this intention, nor subsequently to your entrance have been conscious of seeking any man's blood. But here your conscience is deceived by Satan, who, homicide as he has been from the beginning, and daily as he slays men by his counsel, yet if he had to plead his cause before a human tri- bunal, he could easily prove to the very men whom 504 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1555. he is murdering that he is far from this crime ; inas- much as he persuades nothing to any person but such things as are pleasant to man in this life, things which every one especially desires, and which are eminently calculated to render a passage through the world agreeable. For what else has Satan ever proposed except honours, except riches, except plea- sures, except, in fine, all things which seem to render life pleasant and plainly blest. Now if this defence by no means acquits Satan from the guilt of homi- cide, neither will it avail you, who have been his minister in fulfilling the King's lust and covetous- ness, in the base love of a woman, in honours that were unlawful (the supremacy, probably) in gaining riches and wealth unjustly (by suppressing monas- teries, &c.) whom you, although you sought not his death, yet by this means killed in a most cruel man- ner, and through him a great many others. For you offered to him that kind of poison which defies all human aid, and you acted thus while you were cloaking his desires under the appearance of justice ; in this manner, truly, you more destroyed his mind by lust, than if, pandar-like, you had brought immo- dest women to him ; in rapine, more than if you had been his attendant and guide upon an undisguised marauding expedition"1." The alleged end of all m " Nee vero Mud ad te excusandum quicquam valet te ncmi- nem ?nactasse, sed benignum facilemque erga omncsfuissc. Hoc enim audio a quibusdam de te jprcedicari. Sed hi ncseiunt quid dicant, nee tu quidem fortasse nosti, an quenquam occideris, quia, neque hoc animo in ovile Christi sis ingressus, ncc post- quam ingressus fucris tibi conscius sis ullitts te sanguincm i.'pp*~- 1555.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 505 this calumnious declamation is, that Cranmer should imitate the penitent thief in the Gospel, and acknow- ledge his present sufferings to be the just reward of his former delinquencies. Amidst his offensive ad- monitions and imputations, the Cardinal intersperses controversial matter bearing upon the Eucharistic question, and with a considerable mass of arguments, tisse. At hie conscientiam tuam decipit Satan, qui, etsi homi- cida fuit ab initio, quotidieque homines suo consilio occidit, tamen si causa ei ad hominum tribunal sit dicenda, facile, etiam apud eos ipsos quos occidit, probet longe se ab hoc crimine abesse, qui nihil cuique persuadeat nisi ea quee homini in hac vita jucunda sunt, quasquisque raaxime expetit, etquse ad vitamcum voluptate traducendam in primis faciunt. Quid enim aliud Satan proposuit, nisi honores, nisi opes, nisi voluptates, nisi denique omnia, quee jucundam vitam ac plane beatam efficere videantur ? Quod si heec defensio Satanam ab homicidii culpa minime liberat, nee tibi quidem proderit, qui ejus minister fuisti ad libidinem et cupidita- tem Regis explendam in turpi mulieris amore, in honoribus non legitimis, in divitiis atque opibus injuste comparandis, quern tu, etsi mortem ejus non appetebas, tamen hac ratione crudelissime omnium necasti, et per eum quamplurimos alios. Hoc enim veneni genus ei porrexisti, cui nulla humana ope occurri posset ; idque fecisti, cum has illius cupiditates juris specie tegeres ; in quo sane ejus animum per libidinem magis corrupisti, quam si leno impudicas mulieres ad eum deduxisses, in rapina autem magis, quam si comes ejus et dux ad apertum latrocinium fuisti." Le Grand thus renders the passage in this extract, which shews that Cranmer's friends urged his own kind and bloodless use of power as an aggravation of the treatment which he received from his triumphant enemies : " Ne dites point pour votre excuse que vous n'avez tue personne, que vous avez traite tout le monde avec beaucoup de douceur, et de bonte : car je scais que e'est ainsi que Ton parle." Pol. Ep. v. 344. See also Burnet, Hist. Ref. hi. 365. 506 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1555. or more properly assertions, relating to this point, he closes his prolix communication. But nothing can be more feeble and unskilful than his mode of handling the weapons of controversy. He insists, as matters indisputable, that the Scriptures, the fathers, and the Catholic Church, unanimously con- firm transubstantiation. Yet, (so blundering is his management,) he makes copious mention of Berenger, or the Angevin Archdeacon, as he contemptuously calls him : asserting that the opposition to transub- stantiation arose from that eminent divine. Now a good papal tactician would obviously beware of placing the calumniated and oppressed Angevin con- spicuously in the fore-ground of the struggle against transubstantiation. It is, indeed, raising a violent presumption against the antiquity of such a doctrine, to make it appear that there is no trace of any op- position to it until the middle of the eleventh cen- tury. Such communications as those of Pole to Cranmer, could act upon a serious and enlightened mind only as new proofs that weakness and heartlessness exten- sively pervade the human race. The pretended Roman process was accordingly permitted quietly to run its course. But the Pope seemed unwilling to wait for the regular time of his appearance in this cruel and in- sulting farce. Eighty days had been formally allowed to the venerable prisoner for making his personal de- fence in the pontifical city. Long before these days had elapsed, Paul sent letters executory to the King and Queen, condemning him, and delivering him over to the secular arm. A subsequent commission, 1556.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 507 issued on the 14th of December, authorised certain individuals to degrade him from holy orders n. For this purpose the Bishops Boner of London, and Thirlby of Ely, together with some other persons of less distinction, sat in the choir of Christchurch, on the 14th of February. On Cranmer's appearance, the commission was read, reciting in the usual form the equity and impartiality of the papal judicature, and its condemnation of the accused, after ample means allowed to him of prosecuting an appeal, and of making his defence. " My Lord," said the Arch- bishop, unable to contain his indignation, " what lies be these : that I, being continually in prison, and never suffered to have counsel or advocate at home, should procure witness, and appoint counsel at Rome. God must needs punish this open and shameless falsehood." After this interruption the reading proceeded, and the instrument was found to state, that his Holiness, in the plenitude of his power, supplying all manner of defects in law, or in the process, authorised the commissioners to degrade the party without appeal. All the various robes of Romish priests and prelates were now produced, but made of canvas, and other materials yet more worth- * Foxe, 1707. Parker, 511. Cranmer was condemned in a consistory holden at Rome on the 4th of December, and " Paul had by a bull, dated December 11, 1555, collated or provided Pole to the Archbishopric of Canterbury, constituting him ad- ministrator of the archbishopric till he should be ordained priest, and after that, appointing him archbishop with full power and jurisdiction." Harmer, 145. Note of Le Courayer upon F. Paul, ii. 28. Note upon Godwin, de Prcesul. 143. 508 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1556. less, instead of the gay and costly fabrics usually applied to such purposes. In these derisory habili- ments the defenceless prisoner being forcibly ar- rayed, the caricature of a mitre being also placed upon his head, and of a pastoral staff in his hand, Boner's vulgar exultation could no longer be re- strained. " This is the man," exclaimed that un- feeling prelate, " who hath ever despised the Pope's Holiness, and is now to be judged by him. This is the man who hath pulled down so many churches, and is now to be judged in a church. This is the man who contemned the blessed sacrament of the altar, and is now come to be condemned before that blessed sacrament hanging over the altar. This is the man who, like Lucifer, sat in the place of Christ upon an altar to judge others, and is now come be- fore an altar to be judged himself." At this point Cranmer thus interrupted the string of invectives which assailed his ears : " You do in this belie me, as in many other things. If that which you now charge upon me were any man's fault, it was your own. You speak of the time when I sat in com- mission in Paul's church ; where was a scaffold erected by you and your officers ; but whether or not there was an altar under it, I knew not, nor did I ever once suspect that there was." Unabashed by this rebuke, Boner immediately resumed his un- mannerly railing, beginning every sentence by the insulting phrase, " This is the man." Such a dis- play of brutality filled every breast around with pain and disgust. Especially did Bishop Thirlby smart under his coadjutor's gross insensibility to every 1556.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 509 thing that renders individuals amiable and society pleasant. He repeatedly pulled Boner by the sleeve, and as they were leaving the church, he reproached him with having broken a promise that he had made, to behave with decent respect towards the Arch- bishop. Thirlby, indeed, it is to be hoped, would have been deeply pained by the office which he was called upon to discharge, even if it had not been rendered much more intolerable by the coarseness of his brother-commissioner. For he had lived much with Cranmer, had been highly valued by him, and had received from him many of those delicate atten- tions, and substantial kindnesses by which such a man ever distinguishes .those whom he loves. As the first step in the formal degradation, an attempt was made to take from Cranmer's hands the simu- lated crosier. But the Archbishop held it fast, and refused to deliver it. He then drew from his sleeve a written appeal to the next free general council, assembled in a secure place, and he desired several of the by-standers by name, to witness this act °. ° Cranmer declares, in a letter secretly written to a lawyer upon the subject of his appeal, that he was induced to think of that measure, partly because Luther, in similar circumstances, had thus appealed, and partly because he desired time to finish his answer to Gardiner's reply to his book upon the Eucharist. The grounds of his appeal are, 1. Because, after his citation to Rome, " he was kept in prison with most strait ward, so that he could in no wise be suffered to go to Rome, nor to come out of prison ; and in so grievous causes concerning state and life no man is bound to send a proctor ; and though he would never so fain have sent his proctor, yet by reason of poverty he was not 510 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1556. When this paper was handed up to Thirlby, he re- fused, at first, to receive it, because the commis- sioners were empowered to proceed without appeal. At last, however, he did receive it, and he then ad- dressed his former friend with great earnestness, and many tears, intreating him to recant, pledging him- self to intercede for him at court, and affirming that nothing short of an express command from their Majesties, could ever have induced him to undertake a commission so distressing as the degradation of one who had such large claims upon his gratitude and affection. When Cranmer observed Thirlby's internal struggle, his gentle spirit melted, he kindly assured the agitated prelate, that the proposed degradation was by no means mortifying to him, and he calmly submitted to it as a proof of his per- fect unconcern. Fie did, indeed, just ask when they came to strip off his pretended pall : " Which of able, all that ever he had, wherewith to bear a proctor's costs and charges, being quite taken from him." 2. Because, being cited to appear before Bp. Brookes, counsel was denied him, although such aid was necessary for his defence in consequence of his own ignorance of law. 3. Because, refusing to admit the power of Bp. Brookes, and answering extra-judicially to the royal proctors alone, he had not received copies of such answers for amendment, if necessary, as it was promised that he should. 4. Because, he could not admit the papal authority over Eng- land, as having sworn to the contrary, and inasmuch as that au- thority is at variance with the English constitution. 5. Because, the papal authority drains England of large sums of money. 6. Because, that authority is not only prejudicial to the English constitution, but is also repugnant to Scripture, and to the de- cree* of general council?. Foxc, 1708. 1717. 1556.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 511 you heath a pall to justify you in taking off this of mine ?" He was answered that the commissioners, as being bishops only, were certainly to be consi- dered as his inferiors ordinarily, but being now delegates of the Pope, they were competent to de- grade a metropolitan. This insulting imitation of an archiepiscopal ornament was then unconcernedly permitted to go, and the whole ceremony was con- cluded by a barber, who clipped the Archbishop's hair round his head, and scraped the tops of his fingers, where they had been anointed. He merely said, " All this needed not. I had done with this gear long ago." Being now apparelled in a thread- bare gown and cap, such as were worn by people in humble life, Boner was again unable to control his delighted feelings. " Now you are no longer my Lord :" said he to the venerable prisoner. Nor did he cease to speak of him sarcastically as " This gen- tleman here," so long as the Archbishop remained in his presence. When Cranmer left the scene of insult, sadness was painted upon almost every coun- tenance around ; and a gentleman of Gloucester- shire, grieved to see him in such miserable attire, managed to procure the gown, of which he had re- cently been divested, and kindly brought it to him. The feeling stranger also walked by his side in his way back to prison, and endeavoured to make some apology for Thirlby's appearance in the offensive ceremony just concluded. " My Lord of Ely," he remarked, " was very far from insensible either to your present situation, or to his former friendship with you, as his tears and protestations amply 512 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1556. shewed." Cranmer answered : " He might have discovered, though, a great deal more friendship for me, and have been never the worse thought of. I have well deserved it at his hands." On arriving at the prison, his Gloucestershire friend asked the Archbishop whether he would like something to drink. The reply was : " No. I would rather eat. Being troubled with the prospect of this morning's uneasiness, I had little appetite before I left my cell. But it is all over now, and my heart is at ease." Enquiries were then made as to the state of Cranmer's finances, and it appearing that he had not one single penny in his purse, money was imme- diately supplied to the bailiffs for the relief of his necessities, with a strict injunction, that they should faithfully deliver it to their prisoner. The liberal provider of this seasonable supply was afraid of ren- dering such assistance directly to the Archbishop, lest he should bring himself into trouble. His pre- caution, however, proved effective but imperfectly. Towards the close of day he was brought before the Bishops Boner and Thirlby, and reprimanded for affording pecuniary relief to an excommunicated and degraded heretic. Nor, if his connexions had not been of more than ordinary influence and respecta- bility, would he have escaped the inconvenience and agitation of a journey to London, in custody, to answer for his humanity before the council p. p Foxe, 1709. The martyrologist well remarks concerning the danger to which this kind gentleman of Gloucestershire in- curred: " Such was the cruelty and iniquity of the time, that men could not do good without punishment." 1556.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 513 The formal degradation of Cranmer was far from satisfying the Popish party. Experience had plainly shewn, that the blazing pyre availed neither to shake the sufferer's constancy, nor to intimidate the people from fondly cherishing an admiration of his principles. It had, on the contrary, hallowed the memory of men pronounced accursed by the ruling ecclesiastics, and every new immolation had strength- ened the cause which it was intended to overthrow. No sound observer could, therefore, conceal from himself, that all the insults already heaped upon the Archbishop's head were, in fact, the means of raising his character in the popular estimation, and that if he were led immediately to the death upon which his mental eye had long been fixed, his tri- umph as a religious leader would be complete. Great exertions, accordingly, were made to evade a result so mortifying to the government. The vene- rable prisoner was no sooner replaced in his gloomy cell, than his reflections upon recent insults, and his anticipations of approaching tortures were inter- rupted by an unusual display of interest in his fate. He received visits of civility and condolence from persons of consideration in the University. Dr. Marshall, the Dean of Christchurch, asked him to the deanery, and this insidious invitation being ac- cepted, treated him there with all that grateful hospi- tality to which he had long been a stranger. Frank, cheerful, and unsuspicious, Cranmer saw in these attentions merely indications of the sympathy and courtesy due from one scholar to another. The verdant lawn stretched beneath his entertainer's vol. iv. l 1 5U HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1556. windows, and he was urged to forget awhile the troubles of his latter years over a cheerful game at howls. He had often thus relaxed his mind in hap- pier times, and he now consented to enjoy again this long intermitted amusement. While his spirits were thus refreshed by the innocent pleasures of society, the conversation was occasionally turned to his peculiar circumstances. Remarks were inter- posed upon the horrors of that public death which probably awaited him. It was, however, intimated, that the Queen warmly compassionated his case, being anxious either to restore his preferment, or to provide for him in retirement, and that the nobility generally were his friends. But then it was added, " her Majesty will have Cranmer a Catholic, or she will have no Cranmer at all." These intimations and assurances were strengthened by appeals to the physical weakness of man. The Archbishop was reminded, that his age, though advanced, was far from extreme, that his constitution was not mate- rially impaired, and that he might reasonably cal- culate upon several years of utility and happiness. In this artful and ungenerous temptation John de Villa Garcia, a Spanish Dominican friar, nominated about this time regius professor of divinity in Ox- fordq, sustained a conspicuous part. At length, in an evil hour, Cranmer yielded to these arts, and made, dissemblingly, some concession in favour of the Roman Church r. i " John Fraterculus, or de Villa Garcia, S. T. B. succeeded in 1556, on the resignation of Smyth." Le Neve, 171. * Foxe, 1710. The following: are other ancient accounts of 1556.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 515 Precisely to what extent his weakness reached, is a point involved in much obscurity. This unhappy Cranmer's temptation. " Verum ilia literarum consolatoriarum consuetudine cum jam Cranmerus caruisset, irrepsit ei sxibdoli cujusdam fratris Hispani, qui Joannes dictus est, ex pontificio- rum blanditiis tentatio didbolica ; ut proposita vitse spe mortis- que terrore, ea quoe antea de religione sensisset atque docuisset, scriptis et chirograplio retractaret." (Parker, 511.) '* Thomas Cranmerus, Henrici Octavi, et Edouardi Sexti fidelissimus con- siliarius, Archiepiscopus Cantuariensis, qui Pet. Martyri et aliis in defensione approbate et receptee religionis operam suam con- dixit, qui Oxonise hanc ob causam in carcere Bocardico detentus fuit, qui cum hostibus acerrime conflixit, suasu falsorum, fratrum inductus, terrore cruentce legis adactus, blandis promissis illec- tus, post tot ac tantas dimicationes, non utraque sed altera manu, eaque vacillante, articulis quibusdam Papisticis subscripsit." (Joannis Juelli, Angli, Episc. Sarisb. vita et mors. Laur. Hum- fredo, auctore. Lond. 1573. p. 85.) " Dies aliquot ante (mor- tem sc.) quum vitse spes queedam ei facta fuisset, urgentibus non- nullis, revocaverat (Cranmerus) pleraque doctrinse capita, neque constantiam praestitit." (Sleidan, 454.) Camerarius relates, that Cranmer was reported to have been brought from his prison at the martyrdom of Ridley and Latimer, in the hope that his constancy would give way under a spectacle so distressing. This experiment having signally failed, he was again, we are told, im- mured in his cell : " Ubi primum in squalore, et mox spe quadam bona, et commodis quorundam sermonibus inductus, traditur ali- quantulum vacillasse, et nomen suum subscripsisse,nescio quibus aberrantibus a simplici veritate ccelestis doctrinae, quam ipse esset professus." (Vit. Phil. Melancthon, 340.) This unanimous testimony of contemporary Protestant authorities has naturally led subsequent writers of that communion to represent Cranmer's fall as consequent upon an artful temptation. Bp. Godwin says, " Per Hispani cujusdam fraterculi vafriticm et assiduas suasioiies labefacta viri constantia, diuturnioris vitae cupiditas Cranmero irrepsit." (Annal. 126. Id. de Praesul. 143.) Heylin says the same, but more at length. (Hist. Ref. 225.) Burnet, (Hist. Ref. l12 516 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1556. passage in his life occasioned disappointment to both the parties which divided England, and, to one of them, grief besides. Hence the particulars of Cran- mer's fall have been contemporarily detailed by nei- ther Romanists nor Reformers with that fulness, ii. 522.) Collier, (Eccl. Hist. ii. 391.) Strype, (Mem. Cranm. 549, and Eccl. Mem. iii. 390.) all ascribe Cranmer's fall to the arts of Romanists about him. Nor, indeed, from the firmness which he is known to have displayed up to this time, is it proba- ble that he would have so suddenly yielded to the assaults of his enemies, unless they had taken more than ordinary pains to under- mine his constancy. That Cranmer was thus assaulted, appears farther from the silence of Persons, whose Three Conversions was written as an answer to Foxe. Upon that part of the mar- tyrologist's account which relates the Archbishop's temptation, Persons says nothing. (Three Conv. ii. 378.) Sanders, however, (De Schism. Angl. 246.) makes no mention of the arts used in Cranmer's case; nor does Ribadeneyra, (231.) Dr. Lingard is almost equally reserved upon this subject, abstain- ing from any allusion to the Archbishop's temptation until he comes to his appearance in St. Mary's, immediately before his martyrdom. In a note (278.) the historian then says : " To ex- tenuate the fall of Cranmer his friends have said, that he was seduced to make these recantations by the artful promises of per- sons sent from the court for that purpose. But this pretence is refuted by his last speech : he there makes no such apology for himself, but owns that his confessions proceeded from his wish to save his life." Of this extract it is sufficient to remark, that it is a curious specimen of a partizan's readiness to place the same person in different lights, according to the exigencies of the case advocated. Cranmer's own account of the difficulty with which he was persuaded to concur in the disherition of Mary, is introduced to the readers of the new Romish history with an expression of doubt as to his veracity ; but no sooner can the Archbishop's tes- timony be made available for any Popish purpose than it is unhc- tatingly admitted- ' 1556.] . UNDER QUEEN MARY. 517 clearness, and consistency, which a critical enquirer seeks in relations of importance. It seems, however, not altogether improbable, that two papers passed under his pen, capable of receiving a Romish co- louring, before his appearance at Christchurch, for the sake of undergoing degradation 3. If such be ■ The following are copies of these papers: 1. " Forasmuch as the King's and Queen's Majesties, by consent of their Parlia- ment, have received the Pope's authority within this realm ; I am content to submit myself to their laws therein, and to take the Pope for the chief head of this Church of England, so far as God's laws, and the laws and customs of this realm will permit. Thomas Cranmer." It is evident that the saving clause in this concession reduces it to little or nothing in effect. It must, however, have been sub- scribed, if it were subscribed at all, with a disingenuous intent ; and Cranmer soon after setting his hand to it, we are told, desired to retract it, as if ashamed of his weakness ; but it now seems' to have been too late to repair the mischief; the paper had gone up to court, being sent thither probably by the persons who had ad- vised, and it may be, even prepared the document. From the seat of government an answer appears to have been returned, pro- nouncing the concession already received unsatisfactory : for the following more unequivocal paper, it is stated, was next sub- scribed by the unhappy prisoner. 2. " I, Thomas Cranmer, doctor in divinity, do submit myself to the Catholic Church of Christ, and unto the Pope, supreme head of the same Church, and unto the King's and Queen's Ma- jesties, and unto all their laws and ordinances. Thomas Cranmer." This again is evasive, for well-informed persons do not usually confound the Catholic Church with the Roman Church ; and as for admitting the Pope's supremacy, an European Protestant might unhesitatingly do it, in one sense, with a safe conscience. If a congress of the western bishops were to assemble, plainly the Bishop of Rome might challenge to himself, as filling the see 518 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1556. the fact, his object, it is likely, was to render these affected symptoms of a wavering opinion subsidiary to his plan of gaining time by means of that appeal to a general council, upon which he had resolved. Another paper, evasive, like its precur- sors, but more comprehensive, inasmuch as it pledges the subscriber to exert himself in rendering anciently most important, the first place in such an august body. We are told, that this paper was not retracted. Both it and the foregoing one are undated ; but it might seem, from the date of the fourth paper, that they must have been prepared before Boner and Thirlby came to Oxford. It is, however, very extraordinary if such papers really were known to have been signed by Cran- mer, that Boner should have treated him as he did at Christ- church, and that no remark should have been made by Thirlby, at all events, upon the prisoner's known disposition to relent. Nor, again, do these indications of wavering opinion, slight and evasive as they are, at all agree with the firm and uncompromising character of Cranmer's appeal before his judges to a general council. Such very suspicious circumstances can hardly fail of engendering doubt as to whether the Archbishop ever consented at all to these two papers. The truth may be, that they were proposed to him by some insidious adviser, and that the unhappy desire, which now possessed him, of lengthening his life, had prompted him to go so far as to abstain from expressing a positive disapproval of them. If they had been truly sanctioned by him, they would hardly have been published within a few weeks, by authority, without even the authentication of a date. That they might have been transmitted to London, and noticed by the council, even in that imperfect state, is nowise improbable. The persons who laboured to shake Cranmer's resolution would be eager to blazon the first dawning of hope as to their ultimate suc- cess to the principal depositaries of ecclesiastical patronage : and Mary's government was so essentially popish, that it was keenly alive to every movement likely to overcome the prevailing English abhorrence of Rome. 1J56.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 519 recent ecclesiastical arrangements palatable to the country ', was exhibited, we are told, to the Bishops Boner and Thirlby, during their stay in Oxford. This, however, might seem to have been deemed unsatisfactory by the two prelates, and accordingly, it is asserted, Bishop Boner drew up a fourth form, which Cranmer subscribed on the 16th of Febru- ary u. Thus, for the first time we meet with a date, 1 3. " I am content to submit myself to the King's and Queen's Majesties, and to all their laws and ordinances, as well concerning the Pope's supremacy, as others. And I shall from time to time move and stir all others to do the like to the utter- most of my power ; and to live in quietness and obedience unto their Majesties most humbly, without murmur or grudging against any of their godly proceedings. And for my book which I have written, I am content to submit me to the judgment of the Catholic Church, and of the next general council, " Thomas Cranueu." u 4. " Be it known by these presents, that I, Thomas Cran- mer, doctor in divinity, and late Archbishop of Canterbury, do firmly, steadfastly, and assuredly believe in all articles and points of the Christian religion and Catholic faith, as the Catho- lic Church doth believe, and hath ever believed from the begin- ning. Moreover, as concerning the sacraments of the Church, I believe unfeignedly in all points as the said Catholic Church doth, and hath believed from the beginning of Christian religion. In witness whereof, I have humbly subscribed my hand unto these presents, the xvi01 day of February, MDLV. " Thomas Chanmer." Of all the papers ascribed to Cranmer, during the unhappy period of his dissimulation, this is the one bearing about it the most satisfactory marks of genuineness. It is, however, no re- cantation; although, among the more uninformed, it might pass for one. It is, in fact, merely a declaration of the subscriber's 520 ' HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1556. and we also find it affixed to a piece which any Pro- testant, unless under circumstances likely to place his conduct in a disingenuous point of view, might unhesitatingly sign. But this fourth concession was likely to serve the ends of those in power much less completely, than any one of the three which, it is believed, had preceded it. If these three, there- fore, had really been signed by the Archbishop, the fourth was worse than useless, and that Boner should have drawn it up, under such circumstances, is very far from credible. Hence it may be not un- reasonably conjectured, that the two prelates being informed of Cranmer's apparent disposition to make some concessions, and of his insurmountable objec- tions to the papers hitherto offered for his signa- ture ; Boner undertook to prepare a form equivo- cally worded, which he would be likely not to refuse. Ignorant persons would be easily brought to look upon such a document as a recantation ; and moreover, a decided breach in the prisoner's inte- grity having been thus effected, an advantage would be given to emissaries employed in tampering with him. Nevertheless he seems to have remained tolerably firm against his insidious assailants, and accordingly, on the 24th of February, a writ was issued directing the municipal authorities of Oxford willingness to be guided by antiquity in bis religious belief. All Protestants profess to be so guided, and appealing to antiquity for the truth of their own opinions, pronounce that Popery is made up of innovations gradually and surreptitiously introduced into the Catholic Church. ' 1556.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 521 to burn him as an heresiarch, a man accursed, and a manifest heretic x. Intelligence of this decisive step had no sooner, as it seems, arrived in Oxford, than it operated violently upon the Archbishop's physical infirmity, and inclined him to receive with apparent complacency a recantation prepared for his signa- ture by some of the scholars who plied him inces- santly with their importunities. This paper is an unequivocal assent to Popery, and is therefore, such an instrument as no Protestant could sign without either abandoning that name, or incurring the guilt of undisguised falsehood y. That Cranmer thus lost x Burnet, Hist. Ref. Records, ii. 413. 7 5. "I, Thomas Cranmer, late Archbishop of Canterbury, do renounce, abhor, and detest all manner of heresies and errors of Luther and Zuinglius, and all other teachings which be con- trary to sound and true doctrines. And I believe most constantly in my heart, and with my mouth I confess one holy and Catholic Church, visible, without the which there is no salvation, and thereof I acknowledge the Bishop of Rome to be supreme head in earth, whom I acknowledge to be the highest bishop and pope, and Christ's vicar, unto whom all Christian people ought to be subject. "And as concerning the sacraments, I believe and worship in the sacrament of the altar the very body and blood of Christ, being contained most truly under the forms of bread and wine ; the bread, through the mighty power of God, being turned into the body of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, and the wine into his blood. " And in the other six sacraments, like as in this, I believe and hold as the universal Church holdeth, and the Church of Rome judgeth and determineth. " Furthermore, I believe that there is a place of purgatory, where souls departed be punished for a time, for whom the 1 522 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1556. himself is very far from clear. Foxe, indeed, intro- duces this recantation as having been subscribed Church doth godly and wholesomely pray ; like as it doth honour saints, and make prayers to them. " Finally, in all things I profess, that I do not otherwise believe than the Catholic Church and the Church of Rome holdeth and teacheth. I am sorry that ever I held or thought otherwise. And I beseech Almighty God, that of his mercy he will vouch- safe to forgive me whatsoever I have offended against God, or his Church, and also I desire and beseech all Christian people to pray for me. " And all such as have been deceived either by mine example or doctrine, I require them by the blood of Jesus Christ, that they will return to the unity of the Church, that we may be all of one mind without schism or division. " And to conclude, as I submit myself to the Catholic Church of Christ, and to the supreme head thereof, so I submit myself unto the most excellent Majesties of Philip and Mary, King and Queen of this realm of England, &c. and to all their laws and ordinances, being ready always as a faithful subject ever to obey them. And God is my witness, that I have not done this for avour, or fear of any person, but willingly, and of mine own mind, as well to the discharge of mine own conscience, as to the instruction of others." The original of this recantation is in Latin, and the translation above is transcribed from Foxe. (1710.) The martyrologist has not inserted, or indeed mentioned the preceding four papers. They are taken from Strype, (Eccl. Mem. iii. 392,) who trans- ferred them from a very scarce tract, published immediately after Cranmer's death, with this title; All the Submyssyons and Re- cantations of Thomas Cranmer, late Archebyshop of Canter- burye, truly set forth both in Latyn and Englysh, agreeable to the originates, wrytten and subscribed zvith his own hands. Visum et examinatum per Reverendum Patrem ct Dominum, Edmundum Episcopum. London. Todd's Historical and Criti- cal Introd. cviii. 4 1656.] UxNDER QUEEN MARY. 523 by the Archbishop. But he has not subjoined his name at the end of it, nor is the paper au- thenticated by a date. He says, moreover, that the signature, " Thomas Cranmer," was added by those who published this record of his humiliation z. Ano- ther cause for doubting that Cranmer signed this recantation, is drawn from the subscribing witnesses, De Villa Garcia and Henry Sydal ; the former a Spanish friar, the latter an obscure member of the university, now a violent friend to Popery, but sub- sequently, under Queen Elizabeth, a conformist to a different creed a. It was evidently proper that the Dean of Christchurch, or some other individual of a similar condition should formally witness the sign- ing of an instrument so important. It is also wor- thy of remark, that this recantation being printed as the Archbishop's, immediately after the time as- signed to his signature of it, was hastily suppressed by an order of the privy council, dated on the 13th 31 The martyrologist thus prefaces the document : " The form of which recantation, made by friars and doctors, whereto he subscribed was this." The piece then follows. At its close, we are told : " This recantation of the Archbishop was not so soon conceived, but the doctors and prelates, without delay, caused the same to be imprinted and set abroad in all men's hands. Whereunto for better credit, first was added the name of Tho- mas Cranmer, with a solemn subscription, then followed the witnesses of this recantation, Henry Sydal, and Friar John de Villa Oarcina." (1710.) An acute author who could insert these two sentences in the same page must surely have had his reasons for doubting whether the subscription referred to was ever truly made, a Strype, Eccl. Mem. iii. 394. 524 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1556. of March b. These very suspicious circumstances naturally encourage an opinion that Cranmer never b " On the 13th of March, the privy council were concerned when they heard his paper of recantation was printed. Rydall and Copeland, two printers, were required to deliver to Cawood, the Queen's printer, the books of his recantation to be burned by him." (Burnet, Hist. Ref. iii. 365.) By another entry in the council-book, it appears that the two printers entered into a re- cognisance to obey this order, on the 16th of March. (Todd's Hist, and Crit. Intr. cvii.) The following are Dr. Lingard's modes of accounting for these orders : " Perhaps it was incor- rectly printed : perhaps they waited for that which he said, God would inspire him to make." (Hist. Engl. vii. 276, note.J " It was (the tract, namely, published after Cranmer's death, with Boner's name in the front of it, entitled All the Submijssyons, &c.) printed by Cawood, cum privilegio ; that is with a patent securing to him the copy-right. Now it appears to me, that this single circumstance will furnish a more probable explanation of the two entries in the council-book of the 13th and 16th of March, than has yet been given. The first is an order that Rydall and Copeland should give up the printed copies of Cran- mer's recantation to be burnt : the second, a recognisance by the same printers that they will deliver to Mr. Cawood all such books as they of late printed, concerning Cranmer's recantation, to be by the said Cawood burnt. By the dates, it appears that these orders refer to the recantation of doctrinal errors made on the 25th of February." (No. 5. The ground for assigning this date to that paper does not appear : but it probably was under Cranmer's consideration at that time.) " But at that time, as appears from the letter of the French ambassador, he was ex- pected to make another recantation of erroneous conduct ; and this he accordingly did make, on the 18th of March. Hence as the book of Rydall and Copeland was evidently imperfect, we may conclude that it was published without licence, which would subject it to seizure ; and as it was, moreover, an infringement of Cawood's copy-right, the reason appearq why the books delivered to Cawood himself to be destroyed." (Vindic. of C< i- 1556.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 525 did really subscribe this recantation. The two wit- nesses, probably, merely saw him copy it, and they might also hear him profess a readiness to bestow upon it his unprejudiced attention. So complete, moreover, is this disavowal of his lately-cherished faith, that there seems no reason why his adversaries should have required any farther concession of him, if this had truly received his subscription. He was, however, importuned to sign another paper, bearing strong internal evidence of coming from the tedious and unfeeling pen of Cardinal Pole c. In this, how- tain Passages, &c. 56.) Now there is no ground for pronoun- cing this publication imperfect. It was " set abroad by the doc- tors and prelates," we are told by Foxe. Hence it was no doubt as perfect as the case admitted, and for the same reason it was probably licensed. As for its imperfection upon the ground of its wanting something not then in existence, the notion is plainly untenable. Nor again, is there any appearance of an in- fringement of Cawood's copy-right by means of this publication. Two of the recantations, afterwards printed by Cawood, were not then in existence. He could, therefore, have no copy- right in them ; since no man had engaged to write them for his profit. It seems, therefore, reasonable to believe, that this recantation was promptly suppressed, because it was published as a piece formally signed by Cranmer, a character which did not belong to it, and which, being thus assigned to it, would be likely to draw down a disavowal from the prisoner, or his friends, to the utter destruction of the hopes, not unreasonably formed, that he would eventually be intimidated and cajoled into a complete renun- ciation of his principles. c Strype (Eccl. Mem. iii. 395.) says that this sixth paper, " by the tedious prolixity and style of it, seems to me to be drawn up by Cardinal Pole, as he drew up such another for Sir John Cheke." Another reason for believing this piece to have been of the Car- dinal's composition is the identity of the ideas, and even of the 526 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [155G. ever, is no formal retractation of doctrinal opinions. It is, in fact, an inflated string of self-accusations. The harassed individual, for whose subscription it is intended, is made to say, that he had grievously sinned against heaven, England, and the Church ; that he had been a more cruel persecutor than Paul, a blasphemer, and contumelious ; that he had ex- ceeded Saul in malice and wickedness ; that reflec- tion upon the penitent thief's case was the chief comfort to his mind ; that he was worthy not only of human and temporal, but also of divine and eternal punishment : that he had exceedingly offended against King Henry, more still against Queen Ca- tharine, in being the cause and author of the di- vorce, the fountain of innumerable ills ; and that he was exceedingly tormented by the recollection of his blasphemies and exertions against a belief in the real presence. As a disavowal of Protestant senti- ments, this paper is far less important than its im- mediate predecessor. In this, it resembles the fourth concession, and it is therefore probable that the circumstances under which it was drawn up were similar. Now Boner is the acknowledged author of the former piece, and as there seems to be no cause why he should thus have retrograded in his expecta- tions of the Archbishop's constancy, unless inferior agents had hitherto been foiled ; so it is reasonable to imagine, that Pole, who has taken care to mark language with those which we read in his epistle to Cranmer, before cited, of which the Latin original is among the Harleian MSS. and a French translation in Le Grand, and Pole's epistles. 1.356.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 527 the sixth submission for his own, abstained from doc- trinal particulars, because it had been found impos- sible to wring from the unhappy prisoner an explicit assent to the complete recantation by which he had been recently assailed. The Cardinal tendered, therefore, to his victim such a general admission of weakness and iniquity, as a pious and sensible man, oppressed with a conviction that if he lived, it must be under great humiliation, and expecting rather to appear shortly before the awful tribunal of God, would be likely to sign. To this paper, as to all the former ones, Cranmer's signature is appended, and it moreover offers the authentication of a date d, but it wants that of witnesses. This omission is important, and besides, Foxe has taken no notice of the piece, which is a plain proof either that he con- sidered Cranmer's assent to it doubtful, at best, or that he viewed it as no recantation. That, indeed, the Archbishop's insidious advisers were still dissatis- fied with the success of their importunities is plain from the fact, that notwithstanding the six submis- sions attributed to him, one of them too being a full disavowal of the tenets which he had so long and laboriously maintained, he was urgently solicited to sign another paper. These unremitting exertions on the part of his tempters cast a very strong shade of suspicion upon their claims to success ; to say nothing of collateral difficulties affecting their testi- mony. The known facts bear greatly the appear- ance of a substantial failure in the solicitations which d March 18. Strype, Eccl. Mem. iii. 397. 528 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1556. harassed the last days of Cranmer, and which have tended to tarnish the lustre of his reputation. Un- deniably the stake, the chain, and the devouring blaze, hourly haunting his imagination, impelled him to feed the hopes of those around him, that an unambiguous disavowal of his declared opinions would eventually attest the skill of their artifices ; but that he so far degraded himself as to sign a formal recantation, is hardly to be credited without more satisfactory evidence ; especially since there are many known circumstances which render it im- probable that he thus completely forfeited his in- tegrity. At length, the government appears to have become convinced, that although the fallen prelate might dissemble for an indefinite period, in the hope of pro- tracting life, an unequivocal assent to Romish doc- trines was not to be expected from him e. Orders This is not only agreeable to probability, but plainly the pur- port of the statements furnished by Sanders and Ribadeneyra. The former of these authors, it may be observed by the way, informs us, as an embellishment to his narrative, that Cranmer signed seventeen recantations. " Deinde spe vitse Catholicum se fingens, ac septies et decies se palinodiam canere proprio chi- rographo attestatus ; demum in ilia hypocrisi deprehensus, ab episcopis Catholicis de gradu omni dejectus ecelesiastico, et brachio sseculari traditus, Oxonii postea comburitur impoenitens." (De Schism. Angl. 246.) " Porque aunque con la esperanca del perdon y de la vida, al principio se fingio Catolico y peni- tente, y jxrmb de su propria mano, que estava presto y aparejado para abjurar las heregias una y muchas vezes, pero no le valio, porque f ue descubierto sujingimiento e hypocrcsia." (Ribad. '231.) Thus we are informed by the original Romish historian of the English Reformation, that Cranmer was burnt, " having at length 1556.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 529 for burning him, accordingly, were issued ; but a hope, yet lingering among the papal party, that the desired recantation might eventually crown their endeavours with success, caused them to keep him in ignorance of his approaching fate. Dr. Henry Cole, Provost of Eton, was appointed to preach at his death, and he visited him on the day preceding it ; but he did not mention what awaited him on the morrow. He asked, " Have you continued in the Catholic faith, wherein I left you V Cranmer answered; " By God's grace, I shall be daily more confirmed in the Catholic faith :" an evasive reply, such, indeed, as might have been expected from the Archbishop under his existing circumstances, but cer- tainly not sufficiently explicit for the satisfaction of his interrogator. On the following morning, it being Saturday, the 21st of March, Cole visited the prisoner again, and enquired of him whether he had been detected in the hypocrisy which he had adopted in the hope of life." Now this detection, according to the tract published under Boner's sanction immediately after the event, never took place until the martyr was actually in St. Mary's church, in his way to the pyre. Up to that very time, we are informed, he had con- tinued to sign recantation after recantation, and it was now ex- pected that he would publicly deliver another production of this kind. Ribadeneyra, however, is yet more fatal to the credit of Boner's publication than Sanders. Cranmer " signed with his own hand that he was ready and prepared to abjure his heresies, several times, but it did not avail him, because his feigning and hypocrisy were discovered." Here it is not asserted that the Archbishop ever abjured, only that he repeatedly expressed him- self, in writing, ready to do so, and it being discovered that he was dealing disingenuously, he was committed to the flames. VOL. iv. M m 530 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1556. any money ? A negative answer being returned, fifteen crowns were given to him. The provost also exhorted him to constancy in the faith, and he, pro- bably, acquainted him that a public profession of his opinions was about to be required from his lips. These indications of some concealed purpose opened Cranmer's eyes, and he began to suspect that his unhappy tergiversation would no longer avail to save him from the stake. He had yielded, however, so much to the physical recoil of his own feelings, and to the temptations of his enemies, that he could not at once, a ray of hope still seeming to glimmer, completely strip off his assumed willingness to con- sider principles which laborious and dispassionate enquiry had taught him to despise and abhor. De Villa Garcia besought him earnestly to transcribe and sign another submission, or recantation, which was prepared for his public delivery. Cranmer, seemingly assenting, transcribed a copy of this paper for his own use ; and afterwards another, by parti- cular desire, which he gave into the Spaniard's hands. He declined, however, so far to gratify his insidious visitor as to sign these papers f. The doctrinal portion of this new writing, was an acknow- ledgement of his belief in the articles of the Chris- tian faith, as contained in the Scriptures, and as ex- pounded by the principal councils ; an expression of f This appears from the fact, that in the published account of Cranmer's Subrmjssions, &c. authenticated by Boner, the seventh does not bear his signature. Reply to Dr. Lingard's Vindication, by the Rev. H. J. Todd, .M.A. London, 1827, p. 1'25. 1556.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 531 his grief on account of his having published erro- neous doctrine in books, especially as to the sacra- ment of the altar ; a renunciation of the doctrines inculcated in such books, together with a warning against them, and a brief assertion of the corporal presence 6. This piece, as a recantation, is, there- fore, much less full and explicit, than the fifth paper that passed under his pen ; which is an additional reason for doubting the genuineness of his signature to that paper. He had also committed to writing, probably at some former opportunity, a prayer, and a practical exhortation. These he now contrived to secrete in his bosom, being possessed by a strong suspicion, that he was upon the point of going forth to die h. s Strype, Eccl. Mem. iii. 398. h " The Archbishop being not ignorant whereunto their secret devices tended, and thinking that the time was at hand, in which he could no longer dissemble the profession of his faith with Christ's people, he put secretly in his bosom his prayer with his exhortation, written in another paper, which he minded to recite to the people, before he should make the last profession of his faith, fearing, lest if they had heard the confession of his faith first, they would not afterwards have suffered him to exhort the people." (Foxe, 1711.) From this passage it must be collected, that Cranmer had no certain information of his death when he was importuned to write the seventh submission. If such in- formation had been given to him, there is, indeed, no reason to believe that he would have gratified his visitors by undertaking this transcription. The prayer and exhortation he had, probably, provided before, in expectation of the scene upon which he was now immediately to appear, and he secreted them at this time in his bosom, because he suspected that the moment for using them was hourly to be expected. Mm 2 532 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1556. Between nine and ten o'clock, the Lord Williams, with other individuals of fortune, seated in the county, having arrived in Oxford for the purpose of presiding at the mournful ceremony in preparation, Cranmer was removed from Bocardo. The weather proved extremely rainy ; but notwithstanding, a very large and anxious crowd was assembled. The Ro- manists flattered themselves that this interesting day would not only attest the fearfulness of their revenge, buf also the profound skill of their artifices, or it might be, the seductive nature of their principles. The grieved Protestants, on the contrary, encouraged expectations that their venerated leader would nobly redeem his fame, when he found his eager hopes of lengthened life abruptly frustrated1. The pyre was raised upon the spot already consecrated by the martyrdom of Latimer and Ridley, but the morning was such as forbade any needless exposure to the elements, and accordingly, arrangements were made for preaching the customary sermon in St. Mary's church. Thither the martyr was conducted between 1 Foxe, 1711. This general prevalence of anxious expectation is an additional reason for disbelieving the statement as to Cran- mer's recantation. If he had been known, with a reasonable degree of certainty, to have signed the paper (No. 5.) there could have been little speculation as to the faith which he was likely to profess at last. Since we are. no where informed, that he re- tracted this recantation until he was actually in St. Man's church. The sudden suppression of this paper must, however, have engendered a general suspicion that, hi* assent to it was not capable, of proof; and it is probable that the rumours aflofet tended but little to allay such a suspicion, among people of dis- cernment. 1556.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 533 two friars, who mumbled responsively certain psalms, as they walked along* the streets. On reaching the church-door, they began the hymn of Simeon, Nunc dimittis*, and the Archbishop was then led to a raised platform facing the pulpit, which he had no sooner ascended, than his appearance excited universal commiseration. His apparel was of the meanest description, but a long* white beard rendered his aspect highly venerable, and on his countenance was plainly marked an expression of the deepest sorrow. Having fallen upon his knees, he con- tinued for some time absorbed in mental prayer, a copious flood of tears all the while pouring down his cheeks. His emotion proved infectious, eyes on every side, which rested one minute upon his dejected figure, being in the next turned away to weep '. In the sermon Cole assigned several rea- sons why, in the present instance, a heretic who had repented, should, notwithstanding, expiate his offence at the stake. The prisoner, he said, was the chief cause of recent alterations in religion ; he had irre- gularly divorced King Henry from Queen Catharine, v " Lord Jettest thou thy servant," &c. St. Luke, ii. 29. 1 The Romanist, from whose letter nearly all the particulars of Cranmer's martyrdom are taken, ascribes the tears of the congre- gation to the interest felt in the Archbishop on account of his supposed relapse into Popery. " And when he had ascended it (the platform) he kneeled down and prayed, weeping tenderly; which moved a great number to tears, that had conceived an assured hope of his conversioyi and repentance." (Strype, Mem. Cranm. 552.) This is not the language of an intelligent Romish observer, who had entered the church under a full conviction that Cranmer had really signed the recantation, No. 5. 534 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1556. not however of malice undoubtedly, but under the advice of various learned men ; he had written, dis- puted, and, in fine, exerted himself in every way to favour heresy, and " had continued in it even to the last hour"." No heretic, the preacher asserted, having so long maintained his errors, had ever been pardoned in England, unless in the time of schism. It was besides, the congregation was told, necessary to use severity in this case, for the sake of example ; and it was added, " there are other reasons which have moved the Queen and council to order the exe- cution of the individual present, but which are not meet and convenient for every man's understand- ing"." After some practical reflections addressed to m This is a vague and cautious assertion, which looks very much like an intimation on the preacher's part, that Cranmer had evaded the attempts made to draw him into a recantation, rather than that he could be proved to have committed himself decidedly by their means. n It seems hardly doubtful, that these " other reasons" were the fact that Cranmer had dissembled, but never recanted. Hence Cole was obviously bound, for the sake of his own credit, to introduce some such saving clause in his sermon ; because it was intended to call upon the Archbishop for an address, and it could not be known, whether, if a sweeping falsehood had been uttered, it would not have elicited an unequivocal contradiction. By admitting, however, that there were circumstances in Cran- mer's case not fit for the public ear, the martyr was relieved from the necessity of entering into a detailed account of the transac- tions which had lately undermined his peace. For his friends would be likely to build upon Cole's intimation an assured belief that his alleged recantation, which had been so hastily sup- pressed, was undoubtedly spurious ; and accordingly, that their leader, though infatuated by the awakened love of life to the ex- 1556.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 5*35 the hearers, and bearing upon the case before them, the preacher exhorted Cranmer himself. He pressed upon his attention several texts of Scripture suitable for inspiring him with patience under his approach- ing death ; he cited the case of the penitent thief in the Gospel, as an encouragement to him in believing that he should that day be with Christ in paradise ; he reminded him that the three faithful Jews, con- signed to the fiery furnace by Nebuchadnezzar, suf- fered not by the fury of the flames ; he then made a shew of strengthening this consolation by relating, from legendary lore, the patience of St. Andrew upon the cross, and of St. Laurence upon the gridiron. Finally, he glorified God in his conversion, assuring the people that great pains had long been taken in- effectually for that purpose, and that there appeared no hopes of success, until at last a merciful Deity re- claimed the sinner. Many flattering observations were then applied to Cranmer, the severity with which his acts had been described in a former por- tion of the sermon was greatly softened down, and he was assured that, after his death, masses and dirges should be chanted for the repose of his soul. An tent of ceasing to defend the truth, had never formally abjured it. On the other hand, it might be hoped, that the Archbishop, being satisfied with discovering a loop-hole through which some part of his credit might be saved, would gratify the party, which had lately beset him, so far as to deliver the mitigated recanta- tion prepared for this occasion: especially since it was hoped that he was taken completely by surprise, and therefore would probably find himself unable, in the hurry and agitation of the moment, to vindicate his principles and conduct in a manner satisfactory to himself and his friends. 536 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1556. address was even directly made to the priests pre- sent, charging them thus to assist, during its deten- tion in purgatory, the spirit now about to leave the world. The sermon being concluded, Cole intreatcd his hearers to pray for the prisoner. Immediately the whole congregation obeyed the call, and never did a large assembly exhibit more evident marks of earnest devotion, Some individuals, probably, supplicated the Father of mercies from a generous compassion for the sufferer before them ; but party-feelings lent fervency to the prayers of the congregation generally. The Romanist and Reformer equally claimed the victim as his own ; both, accordingly, felt deeply in- terested in the mitigation of his sufferings, and each of them clung to the hope that he would leave the world with a full avowal of adherence to his own pe- culiar creed °. During the whole sermon Cranmer's 0 " They that hated him before, now loved him for his conver- sion and hope of continuance. They that loved him before could not suddenly hate him, having hope of his confession again of his fall. So love and hope increased devotion on every side." (Letter from a Romanist, at Oxford. Strype, ut s«pra.) This prevalence of hope and fear among the congregation is an addi- tional reason for doubting the common accounts of Cranmer's recantation. The people at St. Mary's could surely never have thought upon this subject as posterity has b.en led to believe. Again, Cole's encomiums upon Cranmer, and his care to qualify, before he concluded, some of the severe observations inserted iu the beginning of his discourse, look very much like a desire, on his part, to cajole the Archbishop into a concession of which he had good reason to despair. The. Provost, we are told by a grave contemporary who had very good opportunities of knowing the truth, was a man very little likely to do kind things, unless he 1556.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 537 grief appeared to have undergone no abatement : at times he raised his eyes to heaven, at others he fixed them on the ground, but they were constantly suf- fused with tears. His demeanor generally, however, was quiet and grave. When Cole desired the con- gregation to pray for him, he too knelt, and re- mained for some time engaged in secret prayer. He then arose, and having obtained leave to speak, he thus began his eagerly-expected address. " Good people, I had intended myself to desire your prayers, but because master doctor hath already done so, and you have yielded to his request, I have now only to thank you most heartily for the same. I will, however, pray for myself in the best manner that I could devise for mine own comfort, repeating the prayer, word for word, as I have here written it. — O Father of heaven; O Son of God, Redeemer of the world; O Holy Ghost, proceeding from them both ; three persons, and one God, have mercy upon me, a most wretched caitiff, and miserable sinner. I, who have offended both heaven and earth, and more grievously than any tongue can express, whi- ther may I go, or whither should I flee for succour ? To heaven I may be ashamed to lift up mine eyes ; and in earth I find no refuge. What shall I then do ? Shall I despair ? God forbid. O good God, thou art merciful, and refusest none that run unto thee for succour. To thee, therefore, do I run. To thee do had some particular object in them. " Johannes Colus, vir non -modo Pontificia pravitate, sed in omni vita? actione, perversus ac difficilis." Parker, 511. 538 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1556. I humble myself ; saying, O Lord God, my sins be great, but yet have pity upon me, for thy great mercy's sake. O God, the Son, thou wast not made man, this great mystery was not wrought for few or small offences. Nor didst thou give thy Son unto death, O God, the Father, for our small iniquities only, but also for all the greatest sins committed in the world : so that the sinner return unto thee with a penitent heart ; as I do at this present. Where- fore have mercy upon me, O Lord, whose property is always to have mercy. For although my sins be great, yet thy mercy is greater. I crave nothing, O Lord, for mine own merits, but only for thy name's sake, that it may be glorified thereby : and for the sake of thy dear Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ.'* This affecting address to the never-failing source of mercy and consolation was read by the martyr stand- ing. Having concluded it, he knelt, and repeated the Lord's Prayer. His example was simultaneously followed by the congregation : every knee was bent upon the pavement, every lip poured heaven-ward that admirable form by which Jesus taught his disci- ples how to pray. The voice of supplication being hushed, Cranmer rose, and thus unburthened his la- bouring mind to the throng of anxious listeners : " Every man, good people, at the time of his death is desirous of giving some good exhortation, that others may remember it after he is gone, and be the better thereby. So I beseech God to grant me grace, that I may speak something at this my de- parting, whereby God may be glorified, and you edified. I shall first call your minds to the manner 1556.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 539 in which so many people are infatuated by the love of this false world. Oh, it is a heavy thing to see men so careful for the things of this perishable state, that the love of God, or the love of the world to come, seems to find no place among their thoughts. My first exhortation therefore to you is, that you set not overmuch by this false glosing world ; but fix your minds upon God and the world to come ; learn- ing to know what truly meaneth this lesson taught us by St. John, that the love of this world is hatred against God. My second exhortation is, that next unto God you obey your King and Queen willingly and gladly without murmur or grudging ; and not for fear of them only, but much more for the fear of God : knowing that they be God's minis- ters, appointed by Him to rule and govern you. And therefore whosoever resisteth them resisteth the ordinance of God. My third exhortation is, that ye love one another like brethren and sistern. For alas ! pity it is to see what contention and hatred one Christian man hath to another ; not taking each other as sisters and brothers, but rather as strangers and mortal enemies. But I pray you learn, and bear well away this one lesson. To do good to all men as much as in you lieth, and to hurt no man, any more than you would hurt your own natural and loving brother or sister. For of this you may be sure, that whosoever hateth any person, and goeth about maliciously to hinder or hurt him, assuredly, and without all doubt, God is not with that man, although he think himself never so much in God's favour. My fourth exhortation shall be to them 540 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1556. who have great riches and substance in this world, that they well weigh these sayings of Scripture, one of them from our Saviour Christ himself, It is hard f oi" a rich man to enter into the kingdom of heaven ; a sore saying, but spoken by Him who knew the truth : the other from St. John, He that hath the substance of this world, and seeth his brother in necessity, and shutteth up his mercy from him, how can he say, he loveth God? Much more might I speak of every part ; but time suf- ficeth not. I do but put you in remembrance of things. Let all them that be rich ponder well these sentences : for if ever they had any occasion to shew their charity, they have now at this present, the poor being so many, and victuals so dear. For though I have been long in prison, yet I have heard of the great penury of the poor. Consider, that what is given to the poor, is given unto God : whom we have not otherwise corporally present with us, but in the poor. " And now, forasmuch as I am come to the last end of my life whereupon hangeth all my life past, and my life to come, either to live with my Saviour Christ, in heaven, in joy ; or else to be in pain for ever with wicked devils, in hell ; and I see before mine eyes presently either heaven ready to receive me, or hell ready to swallow me up ; I shall, there- fore, declare unto you my very faith, how I believe, without colour or dissimulation : for now is no time to dissemble, whatsoever I have written in times past. First, I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, &c. and in every article 1556.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 541 of the Catholic faith, in every word and sentence taught by our Saviour Christ, his Apostles and Prophets, in the Old and New Testaments. And now I come to the great thing that troubleth my conscience more than any other thing that ever I did or said in my life : and that is, the setting abroad of writings contrary to the truth. Which here I now renounce and refuse, as things written with my hand, contrary to the truth, which I thought in my heart, and written for fear of death, and to save my life, if it might be. I mean all such bills as I have written or signed with mine own hand, since my degradation ; wherein I have written many things untrue p. And forasmuch as my hand offended in writing contrary to my heart, therefore, my hand shall first be punished : for if I may come to the fire, it shall be first burned. And as for the Pope, I refuse him, as Christ's enemy, and Antichrist, with all his false doctrine." These words were no sooner uttered, than mur- murs arose on every side. The martyr was reminded of his recantation, and reproached as a dissembler. In these upbraidings, Lord Williams having taken a part, Cranmer thus addressed him : " Alas ! my Lord, I have been a man that all my life loved p It is worthy of remark, that Cranmer speaks of these papers as having passed under his pen " since his degradation," a clause which throws an additional difficulty over the first two or three of them. He speaks of them also as " written or signed :" words intimating, it might seem, that he did not affix his signa- ture to all of them, although he might have carried his dissimu- lation so far as to transcribe them. 542 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1556. plainness, and until this time never did I dissemble against the truth. I am most sorry for this my fault, but now is the time in which I must strip off all disguise. I say, therefore, that I believe con- cerning the Sacrament, as I have taught in my book against the late Bishop of Winchester." The mar- tyr was not allowed to proceed intelligibly farther, noise and agitation prevailing throughout the church. At length Lord Williams, raising his voice, exhorted him to remember himself, and play the Christian man. " I do so," was the reply, " for now I speak the truth." To protract this scene would evidently add to the mortification of the Romish party. Cran- mer was, accordingly, removed in haste from the platform, and led to the fatal pile. In his way thither he was assailed unceasingly by the taunts and importunities of various zealots, especially of De Villa Garcia ; but nothing now sufficed to disturb his equanimity. He had undergone the merited humiliation of avowing the disgraceful artifices ex- torted -from his awakened love of life, and he had obliterated the evils of his unhappy dissimulation by a public profession of his real sentiments. Hence he felt not only composed, but also happy. The settled grief, which marked his countenance in St. Mary's church, wholly disappeared when he reached the stake. His interesting features there were those of one who has accomplished an arduous pro- bation, and now feels himself upon the point of at- taining a splendid inheritance. He looked cheer- fully and benignly all around, kindly shook several persons by the hand, and put off his garments with 1556.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 543 alacrity. When divested of his outward clothing, the shirt was observed to reach his feet, now bare, and the removal of his cap exhibited a head com- pletely bald. But his long white beard flowing ma- jestically downwards, lent to his whole figure an air indescribably venerable q. Fire being added to the pile, his eye no sooner caught the mounting flame, than he stretched his right hand over it, loudly say- ing, " This hand hath offended." Nor, unless once for a moment, when he used that hand to wipe his face, did he withdraw it from the fire ; no small exertion of self-command, inasmuch as it was evi- dently burning, while other parts of his frame were comparatively uninjured. His left hand was immo- veably directed upwards, as if pointing to a celestial home Cranmer's firmness, indeed, in his mortal agony, was fully worthy of his exalted character. His eyes were sometimes raised to heaven, and then he cried, " Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.'' At other times he turned them towards his fast-con- suming hand, exclaiming, " Oh, this unworthy hand." But his body generally was motionless, not swerving once from its position, and appearing no more sensible of pain than the stake to which it was attached. Happily his sufferings were of no long s The venerable aspect of Cranmer appears to have been re- membered among his enemies. Of course they accompanied the mention of it by some gratuitous calumnies. Thus the Jesuit Campian describes him, " Thomas Cranmerus, aspectu vene- rabilis, caetera levissimus, et corruptissimus regiae libidinis et voluntatis assecla." Narrat. Divort. Henr. VIII. Antv. 1631. p. 179. 4 544 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1556. continuance, a furious fire soon arising, and setting his invigorated spirit free r. On disturbing the ashes of the pyre, his heart was found among them unin- jured s : a statement hardly worth recording, did not every particular of such a man as Cranmer in- terest his grateful countrymen, and had not some of the more superstitious among his admiring contem- poraries inferred from this fact, that Providence meant thereby to testify the inflexible constancy of his heart, amidst the recent aberrations of his lips and hand *. " Letter of a Romanist from Oxford, signed J. A. and dated March 23. Strype, Mem. Cranm. 559. Foxe, 1714. " Parker, 512. Godwin, Annal. 127. de Praesul. 144. The Archbishop very truly observes, that if this had happened in the case of any Romish martyr, it would undoubtedly have been proclaimed as a miracle, and the sufferer's pretensions to saint- ship would have been deemed incontestable. * Heylin, Hist. Ref. 226. Before the mention of Cranmer is dismissed from these pages, it may be worth while to answer some questions which Mr. Butler has asked, (Book of the Rom. Cath. Church, 219.) concerning the Archbishop. Q. " Although he adopted the Lutheran principles so early as his residence in Ger- many, on the business of the divorce, yet he continued, during the fifteen subsequent years of Henry's reign, in the most public profession of the Catholic religion, the article of the supremacy of the Pope alone excepted : was this justifiable before God or man ?" A. Cranmer never adopted Lutheran principles com- pletely, for he never assented to the doctrine of consubstantiation. In other respects, he laboured unremittingly, and with very con- siderable success, to bring about a religious conformity between England and Saxony, during the fifteen years alluded to. He professed the Catholic religion at every period of his life, merely turning his back upon Popery. Q. " Although, when he was consecrated Archbishop of Canterbury, he took the customary 1556.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 545 On the very day of Cranmer's martyrdom, Pole, having recently taken priest's orders, said his first oath of obedience to the see of Rome, did he not, just before he took it, retire into a private room and protest against it ? Was this honourable ?" A. Cranmer's protest against the oath in question was public. It was most honourable in him to make such a protest, because the oath is capable of two different inter- pretations. He protested that he never would interpret it in any manner at variance with his duties as a Christian and an English- man. Let Romanists come forward and say that his protest is inconsistent with his oath ; if they dare. Q. " Although he subscribed, and caused his clergy to subscribe the Six Articles, the third and fourth of which enjoin celibacy to the clergy, and the observance of the vow of chastity, was he not married, and did he not continue to cohabit with his wife : was not this dissi- mulation?" A. Cranmer never subscribed the Six Articles, nor did his clergy, nor any other man, or body of men. He spirit- edly opposed that tyrannical statute, and never ceased to express his disapprobation of it. When it passed he was undoubtedly married, using the liberty allowed to him by the laws of God and of his country ; but he ceased immediately to cohabit with his wife, sending her away to Germany. Q. " Although he knew Anne Boleyn was under no pre-contract of marriage, did he not, to use Bishop Burnet's expression, extort from her, standing as she then did, on the very verge of eternity, a confession of the existence of such contract. Was not this culpable subser- viency to his master's cruelties ? Was it not prevailing on the unhappy woman to die with a lie upon her lips ?" A. The precise ground upon which Cranmer pronounced Anne Boleyn's marriage null is unknown. It was, however, something admitted by herself. Hence the judge had no discretion in the case. That he extorted this admission from her there is neither evidence nor probability. Q. " Was he not instrumental in bringing Lambert, Anne Askew, Joan Bocher, Van Parr, and others, both Catholics and Anabaptists, to the stake?" A. As a judge, he necessarily condemned Joan Bocher and Van Parr. His instrumentality in VOL. IV. n n 546 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1556. mass in the church of the Franciscan Observants, at Greenwich : those friars having been lately restored the other cases named and unnamed, awaits the researches of some person desirous of charging it upon him. Authentic ac- counts, hitherto before the public, acquit him of any such instru- mentality in the cases of Lambert and Askew. Q. " Did he not make too successful exertions to induce the infant Edward to sign the sentence for Joan Bocher's condemnation ?" A. There is no sufficient evidence that he ever made any such exertions, and the silence of Edward's journal renders it improbable that he did so. Q. " Was he not in all these instances guilty both of the theory and the practice of religious persecution ?" A. Two of the in- stances named have no bearing upon the question. In the other two, it cannot be proved that he acted in any degree otherwise than judicially. Q. " Did he not previously to Henry's mar- riage with Anne of Cleves, declare, that the negociations for her marriage with a prince of the house of Lorraine, were not a lawful impediment to her marriage with Henry ? Yet, did he not, within six months after the marriage, declare that they had created such an impediment ? Was not this a deliberate and so- lemn untruth ? Did he not then solemnise the monarch's adul- terous marriage with Lady Catharine Howard ? Was not this a sacrilege ?" A. Cranmer, in conjunction with Tunstall, argued in the privy council, against the Lorraine pre-contract as a ground for invalidating a marriage between Henry and Anne of Cleves. The Archbishop afterwards also, assented, in a committee, to a proposal for annulling that marriage; the other episcopal mem- bers of such committee being Boner, Tunstall, Gardiner, and Bell : all prelates attached to the Romish party. The Lorraine pre-contract was alleged among the causes for annulling the mar- riage in question; but there were also other causes alleged, and there can be little doubt that the averment upon which the com- mittee most rested, was the physical impossibility of consum- mating the marriage which was reported, upon evidence to exist. The whole aft'uir was a party-artifice, purely Romish, and Cran- mer's concurrence in it was probably given under legal advice, to 1556.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 547 to their old quarters in that place ". On the follow- ing day, the Cardinal was consecrated, in the same church, to the archbishopric of Canterbury : Heath, Boner, Thirlby, Pates, White, Griffith, and Gold- well, being the officiating prelates x. Three days which, from his professed ignorance of law, he was accustomed to defer implicitly, during the agitation of all legal questions. That he married Henry to Catharine Howard is utterly improbable. That marriage appears to have been solemnised secretly, and Cran- mer was not at all likely to have been thought of as the officiating minister. Q. " And finally, notwithstanding the undoubted rights of the Princesses Mary and Elizabeth to the throne, did he not, on the death of their royal brother, strive to exclude them from it, and to place Lady Jane Grey upon it ? Was not this both ingratitude and high treason?" A. Cranmer was informed by the highest legal authorities, that the two Princesses were in- capable of the throne, as being illegitimate. He notwithstand- ing, stoutly resisted the attempt to exclude them from it, because they possessed statutable and testamentary claims to it. He did not, indeed, like so many of Mary's Romish friends, first conspire to deprive her of the throne, and then, within a few days, con- spire to place her upon it. Having been overcome by legal arguments, and the dying King's earnest persuasions, he honestly prepared to fulfil his engagements ; but he transferred his alle- giance to Mary upon the first occasion which allowed him to do so with honour, and it is stated, that he refused to follow certain Romanists in swearing allegiance to Jane. " Nay, he refused to swear to the Lady Jane, as Queen, though divers Papists before him had done so." (SutclifFe's Answer to Persons' Three Conv. Lond. 1606. p. 53.) Q. " Can you justify his conduct in any one of these instances, without incurring the flagrant guilt of making vice virtue?" A. Cranmer might easily be justified, more at length, and more completely, in all these instances, both to the credit of his own character, and to that of his apologist u Stow. * Registrum Poli. n n 2 548 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1556. afterwards, it being the feast of the Annunciation, he attended high mass, in great magnificence, at Bow-church, and was there invested with the pall. Having received this ensign of archiepiscopal dig- nity, he mounted the pulpit, and made it the subject of a sermon. An historian, or an antiquary might indeed, write a disquisition upon such a theme, though he would hardly think of delivering it in a church. But Pole does not appear to have been versed in history or antiquities, and the pall was not likely to supply hints for puerile declamation, or virulent invective. His genius, accordingly, failed of producing a single flash upon this occasion ; the sermon proving one of the most idle and jejune com- positions ever heard from a pulpit y. Pole's conduct in selecting the very time of his predecessor's mental agony, and violent death for his own formal assump- tion of the primacy has been severely, but justly censured. To this act of his life has been applied the interrogative reproof addressed by Elijah to Ahab : " Hast thou killed, and also taken posses- sion z ?" But the death of Cranmer was not needed to place him in possession of the archbishopric : the papal bulls investing him with that dignity being no sooner arrived and published in England, than he came into full enjoyment of it. Now, as these in- struments made their appearance in our island about the beginning of March, Pole might have de- ferred the splendid ceremonies attending his formal y Parker, 527. z 1 Kings, xxi. 19. Burnet, Hist. Rot'.' ii. 533. 1556.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. o!9 assumption of the see,, until a decent time after Cranmer's death, "without any diminution of his own power, or any shew of disregard to the wants of his diocese a. His consecration also inflicted another wound on his reputation. A committee of cardinals and prelates, of which he was a member, assembled at Rome, in 1537, under pontifical authority, for the preparation of a plan to reform the Church, recom- mended that the offices of cardinal and bishop should be separated in future, as being incompatible with each other b. Pole now, however, himself, retained his cardinal's hat in addition to the episcopal mitre. But he seems to have thought that the two dignities could not be properly supported upon the funds provided for only one of them. The wealthy bishop- ric of Winchester was vacant, and accordingly, under favour of the Pope's indulgence, he applied its reve- nues to his own use. Nor did White, Bishop of Lincoln, who vehemently coveted the see of Win- chester, as having been first schoolmaster, and after- ward's warden of Wickham's college there, obtain the splendid object of his ambition until he had simoniacally contracted to pay the Cardinal an annual pension of one thousand pounds, and moreover, to leave him a thousand pounds by will c. Besides 4 Harmer, 145. b M'Crie's History of the Progress and Suppression of the Reformation in Italy, 84. c Parker, 527. Godwin, de Prcesul. 238. Abp. Parker says that this simoniacal agreement was excused at Rome for a pecu- niary consideration. " Qua? conventa, quia simoniam redole- bant, utrique a Papa non sine remuneration e absolvenda fuerunt." 550 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1556. this important addition to his ordinary resources, Pole received from the Queen several valuable landed estates belonging to the crown, for the maintenance of his dignity d . The last Convocation agreed to a body of canons, laid before it under legatine authority, which were published in February of the present year. In order to remove any doubt as to the legality of his proceedings, and the consequent validity of his de- crees, Pole obtained a license under the great seal empowering him to hold synods and to enact canons in them ; and protecting the clergy attending such synods from penalties attached to the breach of any existing law e. Of the decrees now published, the second is of some importance, because it is a formal assent of the Anglican Church, as existing under Queen Mary, to the doctrines of modern Popery. Nothing being more obvious than that a system of comparative recency, which pretends to the highest antiquity, and that principles professedly divine, which are incapable of proof from the only known record of heavenly knowledge, have no chance of maintaining their ground were the channels of in- formation unobstructed ; the Cardinal provided strictly against the circulation of books adverse to Romanism. His second decree, accordingly, con- demns, anathematises, and consigns to punishment, A Strype, Eccl. Mem. iii. 474. These properties reverted to the crown under Queen Elizabeth. • This license is dated November 2, 1*556. Burnet, Hist. Ref. ii. 508. 1566.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 551 all who should read, keep, print, import, sell, defend or praise, either publicly or privately, license from the Apostolical see not having- been obtained, any books written by heretics, or such works as are in any manner suspected concerning the faith. Every thing, however, which the Roman Church has ap- proved and received, or shall hereafter approve and receive is indiscriminately admitted. The fourth council of Lateran, termed general, is cited as an authority for the condemnation of all who believe, hold, and teach doctrines at variance with those which are sanctioned by the Church of Rome. The council of Florence is cited as an authority for the pretensions of the papal see, and for the doctrine of the seven sacraments ; which are explained in detail. The other decrees in this collection chiefly relate to discipline. A solemn procession is ordered for St. Andrew's day, in every year, as a commemoration of England's formal return to communion with Rome, upon that day. Provision was to be made for reserving consecrated wafers in churches ; with the customary marks of honour. Coarse revelry was not to be allowed on days devoted to celebrating the dedication of churches. Residence upon eccle- siastical benefices of all kinds was to be enforced, bishops, and incumbents with cure were to preach, and parochial ministers were to instruct the younger members of their congregations in the rudiments of religious knowledge. Clergymen were to lead ex- emplary lives, to go canonically habited, to avoid ostentation in their tables and establishments, to abstain from marriage, if single, and to live apart 552 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1556. from their wives, if married. Due care was to be taken in examining candidates for holy orders, and in the filling of vacant benefices. Simoniacal bar- gains of all kinds were strictly forbidden. All alien- ations of ecclesiastical property were interdicted. Schools were to be attached to cathedrals, and ordi- naries were to visit with regularity and care f. These arrangements, as to discipline, are indeed, for the most part, highly commendable, but unless the Car- dinal was considered as above the laws imposed upon his order generally, his condemnation of osten- tatious establishments, and. simoniacal contracts appears like a severe satire upon his own practice. Death and exile had now removed the principal English Protestants beyond the reach of their per- secutors. The malice and bigotry, however, of these infatuated persons was yet unsated. A scrip- tural faith was firmly rooted in the land, and every new display of sanguinary hatred to it only served to augment the popular contempt for that traditional f Reformatio Anglise, ex decretis Reg. Poli, Cardin. Sed. Ap. Leg. A. D. 1556. Labb. et Coss. xiv. 1733. Cabrera says, that Carranza was concerned in the preparation of these canons. He adds, that many of the Bibles chained to desks, in churches, were burnt about this time. Of course, he represents these Bibles as corrupted by the heretics. " En el synodo se estable- cieron, con intervencion de Frai Bartolome de Carranca, decretos convenientes a la estirpacion de las eregias, i reformacion de lo espiritual. Quemaron muchas Biblias, viciades por los ereges, en lengua Inglesia traducidas, pendientes de cadenas en los asientos de los tcmplos." (Felipe Segundo, 29.) Llorente, (Hist. Inqu.) informs us, that Carranza revised the canons which had been decreed in this national synod. 1556.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 553 creed which lent activity to the hand of powerful oppression. As if enraged by this result of its fla- gitious policy, the government proceeded to sacrifice victims of obscure condition upon a scale of frightful magnitude. Seven martyrs, two of whom were females, cheerfully encountered death, by fire, in Smithfield, on the 27th of January8. On the last day of that month, four women and one man were burnt at Canterbury h. About the time of Cran- mer's departure, two females received the crown of martyrdom at Ipswich \ The same distinction fell to the lot of three men, in humble life, at Salisbury, on the 24th of March k. Within a month of that time, six individuals, of whom two were clergymen, and four were artisans, expired amidst the flames of Smithfield . Another week had not elapsed before the same fate overtook six religionists, following inferior occupations at Colchester. On the 15th of May a blind man and a cripple were burnt at Strat- ford-le-Bow, near London m. On the following day three women were thus murdered in Smithfield n. Atrocities of the same kind were perpetrated in other parts of England at this time. But the horridest spectacle which this unhappy season pro- duced was exhibited at Stratford-le-Bow. Thither, g Foxe, 1687. h Ibid. 1688. 1 Ibid. 1718. k Ibid. 1719. 1 Ibid. 1733. m Ibid. n Ibid. 1734. 554 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1556. on the 27th of June, three carts proceeded from Newgate, laden with eleven men and two women. On arriving at this place, the prisoners were divided into two companies, and kept for a while apart, for the purpose of persuading them, as it seems, to a recantation. This, one division was informed, had actually been obtained from their fellows, whose lives, accordingly, would be spared. " We build not our faith upon man, but upon Christ crucified," was the noble answer returned to this false assurance. A similar stratagem was tried with the other divi- sion, and it met with a similar reproof. The thir- teen willing victims were then led to the scene of their fiery triumph, where, amidst an immense heap of fuel, four stakes reared their heads. Around these the men were distributed and chained. The two women braved the flames without the confine- ment of a chain. It was computed that nearly twenty thousand persons gazed upon this execution, so glorious to the sufferers, so disgraceful to the government °. Of this enormous concourse, a very large proportion undoubtedly left the fatal field, execrating the ruling powers, venerating the mar- tyrs, glorying in their constancy, and unfeignedly respecting the principles which had led them to such an honourable end. This was the general effect of these atrocious proceedings ; the young especially returning to their homes impressed with a generous admiration of the victims, and an irre- pressible abhorrence of their persecutors. Such an • 0 Foxe, 1738. Strype, Eccl. Mem. iii. 494. 1556.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 555 operation of their gloomy tyranny upon the youthful mind, escaped not the notice of those unfeeling bigots who so shamefully abused their trust as rulers. When preparations accordingly, were making for burning the six martyrs in Smithfield, precepts were issued from the civic authorities, in obedience to an order of council, enjoining that young persons should be kept at home. The charge was vainly given. London poured forth, as usual, her youthful popu- lation to see and profit by the martyrdom. It might, indeed, have been no easy task to restrain within doors the eager curiosity of early years upon such an occasion. Nor were the seniors generally displeased to mark the consequences of the guilty folly which retained the public mind in a state of feverish excitement. The ever-blazing fires of per- secution confirmed, rather than intimidated those who brought reformed opinions to this bloody time, and they fast undermined, in many breasts, a con- fidence in Romanism hitherto firmly seated. There were even persons zealous for popery when the mar- tyrs first willingly offered their lives at the stake, who thus perished themselves, for the profession of a scriptural faith, before Queen Mary died p. The p Strype, Eccl. Mem. iii. 470. The following extract from this page in Strype, contains, probably, the substance of the order of council already mentioned. " January 14, came a letter from the Queen and council, to the Lord Mayor and sheriffs of London, to give substantial order, that when any be delivered to be burned, there be a good number of officers and others ap- pointed to be at the execution : who may be charged to appre- hend, and commit to ward, all such as shall comfort, aid, or 556 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1556. government, however, appeared immoveably bent upon pursuing its atrocious course ; and as if dis- satisfied with the number of victims procured by ordinary means, it sent boards of commissioners into different parts of England for the purpose of seek- ing persons liable to a charge of heresy q. To the commissioners, thus employed in Norfolk and Suffolk, some of the parties likely to suffer from their enquiries, addressed a supplication, worthy of attention from the pious spirit pervading it, but more so still from its exhibition, in true colours, of the political character generally maintained by the Reformers under Queen Mary. The memorialists begin by citing passages from Scripture which enjoin obedience to the ruling powers, fully admitting that they consider such texts binding upon their con- sciences : but they add, the knowledge of these precepts, and the consequent benefit derived from them, would not have been communicated to their minds, had they not been allowed an opportunity of reading the Bible in English. A similar advantage they declare themselves to have received from the public service of the Church in their native tongue ; and hence they deprecate the use of the Latin liturgy, as being utterly unprofitable to all who are ignorant of the language in which it is composed. As an obvious example of the mischiefs which had flowed from the long establishment of a service praise those that are executed. And to charge all householders not to suffer any of their servants to be abroad then, other than such as they will answer for." « Foxe, 1726. 8 1556.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 557 popularly unintelligible, the memorialists state, " it is not unknown what blindness and error we were all in, when not one man, in all this realm, unlearned in the Latin, could say in English the Lord's Prayer, or knew any one article of his belief, or could re- hearse any one of the Ten Commandments." To this prevailing ignorance are ascribed the idolatrous usages which once overspread the land, the detestable impurities of monks, and the lewd concubinage of secular priests. Against the mass a particular ex- ception is taken, as having superseded the Commu- nion service established under King Edward, which was found highly beneficial and consolatory, and as offering nothing in its room but a succession of cere- monies and gestures, of which ignorant persons can- not comprehend the meaning. Such substitutions of that which is unintelligible to the bulk of men, for that of which all can see the excellence, is attri- buted to evil councillors about the Queen, who con- cealed sound information from their sovereign, be- cause they were interested in maintaining the papal supremacy, and the unwritten traditions sanctioned at Rome. The memorialists, however, declare them- selves unable, consistently with a well-grounded hope of salvation, to turn their backs upon the spi- ritual light which they had received. Hence they humbly pray for toleration in the profession of that religion which they learnt in King Edward's reign, and they attribute to their instruction in that pure and rational faith, their exertions in the Queen's favour, on her accession to the throne. " We pro- test before God," say they, " we think if the Holy 558 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1556. Word of God had not taken some root among us, we could not in times past have done that poor duty of ours which we did, in assisting the Queen, our most dear sovereign, against her Grace's mortal foe, that then sought her destruction. It was our bounden duty, and we thank God for the knowledge of his Word and grace, that we then did some part of our bounden service r." r Foxe, 1728. It is well observed by Strype, (Eccl. Mem. iii. 17.) that this passage is a direct and satisfactory refutation of the following' assertion made by Persons, (Three Conv. i. 263.) " The only zeal of the common Cath. people for recovering the use of the Cath. religion again, overthrew all, and placed Q. Mary, as is notorious to the world." The truth is, that the reli- gious system of King Edward's reign was more than ordinarily acceptable in the eastern counties, where Mary first established herself; and therefore, if she had not been supported by the Pro- testants of those parts, her chance of success would have been greatly diminished. Fortunately for her, or at least she and her partizans thought so* the Protestants of that district espoused her cause at once : principally from a sense of duty, and from a con- fidence in her tolerant intentions ; but also partly, it is probable, from a hatred of Northumberland. From this petition, Dr. Lingard (vii. 493.) has inferred, with great probability, that Queen Mary did not pledge herself to to- lerance to the people of Suffolk, on her accession. He takes this document as a proof that no such promise was made, concluding, not unreasonably, that had the memorialists known of such a pro- mise, they would have hardly failed to mention it. This, how- ever, is perhaps going something too far. The memorialists were anxious to mollify the spirit of triumphant oppression : an end not likely to be answered by reminding the oppressor of broken faith. Foxe (1279) not only asserts positively, that Mary gave the pledge usually ascribed to her, but adds, that an inhabitant of Wymondham, named Dobbs, or Cobb, reminded her of it soon 11 1556.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 559 While intolerance was carrying grief, horror, and ferocity into all parts of England, those who had escaped from the scene of carnage were aggravating the evils of exile by their own dissensions. Some of the refugees had established themselves at Emden, in East Friesland ; others in Switzerland, at Aran, and Zurich ; others at Strasburg, and others at Francfort on the Maine. At these places they sub- sisted by means of funds saved from the wreck of their own properties in England, by means of edu- cation, the press, occasional relief from continental Protestants, and remittances from home \ This last resource occasioned violent indignation in those cruel and arbitrary minds, which directed English affairs. Bishop Gardiner, in conversing upon the case of his expatriated countrymen, even said, " I will make them so hungry, that they shall be reduced afterwards, in a petition which he brought up from his neighbour- hood. Dr. Lingard says, upon what authority does not appear, " It was proved that Cobb was an impostor, and that the signa- tures were forgeries." He then adds, that tin's person was set in the pillory for his offence, on the 24th of November, 1554. Foxe says, that he was set in the pillory " three sundry times ;" but the martyrologist expresses no doubt of his integrity. As this man's case is obscure, the fact of his having been pilloried throws a shade of suspicion over Foxe's relation ; and therefore the inci- dent was not mentioned in its proper place in this work. But it should be observed, that the pillory was in constant requisition under Queen Mary, and that the date assigned to Dobbs's pu- nishment is that of a time when her Majesty considered herself able to crush the religious liberties of her people, without any danger to herself. s Fuller, 26. 560 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1556. to eat their fingers' ends*." Nor did he fail to take measures for the realising of this unfeeling threat, by cutting off supplies from England to the utmost of his power. Happily his malice proved ineffectual, commercial transactions never ceasing to furnish means for the transmission of assistance from wealthy persons at home, to their exiled friends. There were indeed conformists outwardly to Popery, who consi- dered themselves, on that very account, especially bound to make provision for the wants of the refu- gees. On the other hand, these excellent persons were ever watchful of their oppressed and degraded country ; keeping up constantly, though secretly, an intellectual communication with it both by letters, and by the supplying of such books as were suited to preserve from extinction the religious light hap- pily spread over it in better times. At Francfort a church was assigned to the English refugees in com- mon with a congregation of French Protestants. The two nations were to use this edifice on alternate days in the week, and on Sundays, in different por- tions of the day. Unhappily a very considerable de- gree of intolerance then prevailed among Protes- tants. All of them had been reared with a Church before their eyes, having exclusive possession of Eu- rope, and they could not generally look upon their own opinions except as entitled to the same rights of exclusion. In conformity with this narrow spirit of prejudice, it was stipulated by the magistracy of Francfort, in their assignment of a church to the in- * Strypc, Eccl. Mem. iii. 403. 1556.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 561 sular strangers, that they should make some liturgi- cal concessions to the feelings of the French worship- pers who were to share the building with themselves. In consequence the English ceased to use at church the surplice, responses aloud, and the Litany. They substituted for the general confession of the Com- mon Prayer-book, another, judged better adapted for their peculiar circumstances, and they re-arranged the whole service. Having thus innovated upon the religious system which they had used at home, the congregation at Strasburg would fain have brought over the other English refugees to its own practice. Letters, accordingly, were written to the brethren in other places, but with various success. The general tenour of these replies appears to have been procras- tinatory. At last a celebrated man, in whose cha- racter a degree of intemperance was mingled with admirable zeal and ability, drew from the English exiles decided opinions as to King Edward's Li- turgy. John Knox was born of respectable parentage, in 1505, and having been admitted master of arts in the University of St. Andrew's, he was engaged for some time in teaching philosophy there. About the year 1535 he began to suspect the soundness of Ro- manism. He did not, however, hastily abandon it ; but continued for seven years to deliberate and en- quire. His investigation having convinced him that the established religion was unworthy of his reliance, lie ceased to profess it, and by consequence, although in holy orders, he gave up all thought of employment in the Church. For a subsistence he went as tutor vol. iv. o o 562 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1556. into the family of gentlemen like himself, Protes- tants, and the only exercise of his ministry for some time was the public catechising of his pupils, in a chapel, followed by the reading of a chapter in the Bible, which also he explained. Having excited animosity among his clerical neighbours by these practices, he retired into the castle of St. Andrews, then possessed by the murderers of Cardinal Bea- toun. He there catechised, and expounded Scrip- ture, as before ; but he declined an invitation to act as regular assistant to Rough, the chaplain of the garrison. That ecclesiastic, however, repeated this invitation from the pulpit, and the congregation joining in it, Knox considered himself obliged in conscience to resume his clerical functions. After a short interval the castle capitulated to an over- whelming French force, all its inmates having bar- gained for a passage to France, where they were to be set at liberty. This treaty was violated when the French ships arrived off the coast of Normandy ; and Knox, together with others, was sent on board the gallies. In this miserable captivity he continued for nineteen months, greatly to the injury of his health. In 154-9 he was allowed to pass over into England, where his principles and talents immediately gained for him an honourable employment, being commis- sioned to reside at Berwick, and to itinerate in the north. In 1551 he was appointed one of the royal chaplains in ordinary, and he occasionally displayed his pulpit oratory before King Edward. It was in- tended to reward his exertions by the, rectory of All- hallows, Bread-street, in London ; but Knox had 11 1556.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 563 imbibed a prejudice against some parts of the Eng- lish ecclesiastical system, and he declined that bene- fice. Soon after Queen Mary's accession he itine- rated in Buckinghamshire, where very numerous congregations attended his preaching. In January, 1554, he made his escape into France ; and, after some wanderings, he settled himself at Geneva. Thence he was invited by the English exiles at Francfort to act as their minister : a call which he obeyed with reluctance u. Knox, having reached his new congregation, entered into its liturgical disputes with all his usual spirit. Desiring, however, to fortify his own opi- nion, he requested Calvin's judgment upon the Eng- lish Common Prayer. An answer from Geneva soon pronounced the volume defective in the requisite degree of purity, many unsuitable things being con- tained in it, which, though endurable for a time, demanded retrenchment upon the first favourable opportunity. This decision alienated the refugees, at Francfort, more than ever from the liturgy which they had used at home, and they determined upon the preparation of a new service, likely to satisfy u Life of John Knox by T. M'Crie, D.D. Edinb. 1818. Dr. M'Crie has furnished reasons for believing that Knox had the offer of a bishopric under Edward, and he conjectures that New- castle was the see in question. Grindal, however, appears to have been thought of for this intended see. The sanguine tern*- per of Knox, and the partiality of his friends have, probably, led to an estimate of his influence in Edward's court something above its reality. M'Crie, i. 101. Strype, Mem. Crania, 420, Eccl. Mem. ii. 72. Life of Abp. Grindal, 11. o o 2 564 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1556. the disciples of Calvin. This compromising dis- position was opportunely broken by the arrival, at Francfort, of Dr. Cox, the late King Edward's tutor, who, going to church with a party of his friends, repeated the responses aloud. A resolute stand was now made for the English liturgy. Knox's party, however, appears to have been the more powerful, for his opponents resorted to a disinge- nuous artifice, as the means of removing him out of their way. They selected from one of his publi- cations certain passages offensive to the imperial family. Knox had uttered these expressions from the pulpit, in Buckinghamshire, at the beginning of Mary's reign, when the public mind was agitated by rumours of the Queen's intention to marry the prince of Spain. Such a connection was designated in this discourse as a return of England into Egypt, and the Emperor's enmity to Christ was represented as no less than Nero's. Information of these pas- sages being formally laid before the magistracy of Francfort, that body felt itself obliged to command the departure of Knox from that city. The Scot- tish reformer returned immediately to Geneva, and the congregation at Francfort consented, at length, to receive King Edward's liturgy. A great space of time was consumed in these disputes, alike inju- riously to the comfort of the refugees, and to their respectability in the eyes of those among whom they had found an asylum \ The papal party was gratified in this year by a x Fuller, 34. Collier, ii. 396. 1556.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 565 victory gained over Sir John Cheke. That eminent scholar, having acted as secretary of state during Jane's usurpation, was imprisoned upon the success of Mary. His crime being aggravated by his reli- gious principles, he long found himself unable to obtain that pardon which was so freely bestowed upon Romanists and latitudinarians. After suffering very severely in his circumstances, he was, however, gratified by the royal clemency in 1554, and he then went abroad, upon a licence to travel. In the course of his wanderings, he visited Italy, and fixing himself for a time at Padua, he subsisted there by the teaching of Greek. Having visited such places as he had wished to see, he considered it inexpedient to return home, on account of the persecution which raged in England. He settled, therefore, at Stras- burg, where he had an opportunity of joining a congregation of his countrymen, and there is reason to believe that he gained his living in that city by reading a Greek lecture. His abode there was abruptly terminated by means of an invitation re- ceived from the Lord Paget and Sir John Mason, two old acquaintances of his, then at Brussels ; where the former had arrived with a view to the restoration of his health ; and the latter resided as English minister. Anxious as Cheke was for an interview with his ancient friends, he could not dis- guise from himself the danger of venturing into the imperial territories. But like most men of his age, he believed in astrology, and this weakness betrayed him to his ruin. The stars assured him, as he fancied, that lie might safely go to Brussels, but 566 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1556. between that place and Antwerp, his confidence in them was fatally deceived. He was waylaid, unhorsed, blindfolded, and conveyed bound in a waggon to the water's edge, where he was hurried on ship-Doard. The vessel immediately steered for England, but Cheke knew nothing of his course until he found himself within the Tower of London. He had travelled with Sir Peter Carew, the partizan who strove to raise the West, at the time of Wyat's insurrection : and Carew, together with himself, ar- rived a prisoner in England. Cheke, however, ap- pears to have been guiltless of any participation in that conspirator's designs. He was merely charged with settling upon the continent, having gone thi- ther with a license to travel only y. Being lodged in the Tower, he was assailed by incessant importu- nities to recant ; and finding that the stake awaited him unless he should comply, the flesh at length overcame his constancy. On the 4th of October, 1556, he publicly assented, in the Queens presence, to a recantation which had been prepared for him. This humiliation did not, however, satisfy his ene- mies ; and, accordingly, Cardinal Pole drew another recantation extremely full and prolix, to which also the unhappy prisoner gave his public assent. Under these miserable exhibitions of his weakness, Cheke's constitution wholly gave way : he pined, the victim of self-reproach, until the 13th of September, 15,") 7. and then, at the age of forty-three, he found a refuge in the grave z. y Strype's Life of Cheke, Oxf. 1821, p. 105. 1 st,ype's Cheke, 94. %. 104, 105, 106. 113. 117. 131. Sii 1557.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 567 In the course of the last year each of the Univer- sities had chosen Pole for its chancellor a ; and in the beginning of 1557 these two learned bodies were honoured by the Cardinal's especial interference. His principal confidant, Nicholas Ormaneto, an Ita- lian of intolerable arrogance b, afterwards Bishop of Padua, being joined in commission with Scot, Bishop of Chester, and other English dignitaries, arrived in Cambridge on the 9th of January. On the follow- ing day these persons laid the churches of St. Mary and St. Michael under an interdict ; the former being the place of Bucer's sepulchre, the latter of Fagius's. John Cheke was born at Cambridge, but his family was of ancient standing1 among the gentry in the Isle of Wight, where it was seated, at Motston. His academical education was received at St. John's College, in Cambridge, where he obtained high dis- tinction. He was the first regius professor of Greek in his Uni- versity, and was eminently successful in spreading a knowledge of that noble language among the students. He was also public orator, and eventually Provost of King's College. As an in- structor he distinguished himself by reforming, in spite of a vio- lent opposition, the pronunciation of Greek ; the old usage being to sound ai as e ; oi, si, ??, t, v, as i ; to say nothing of some ab- surdities in uttering the consonants. Cheke appears to have been recommended to Henry VIII. by Dr. Butts, the royal physician. He married the daughter of a wine-merchant in London, named Hill, who also held a place in the King's cellar. By this lady he left issue, and his descendants long occupied a place among the gentry of Essex. a Le Neve, 390. 443. . b "In Ormaneto nil aliud quam arrogantia intolerabilis emine- bat ; qua re tarn mirifice excellebat, ut ne fingi quidem aut cogi- tari quicquam possit arrogantius. Wood, Hist, et Antiqu. Univ. Oxon. 1. i. p. 279." (Neve's Animadv. 536.) Ormaneto died papal nuncio, at Madrid. Ribadeneyra, 232, 568 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1557. The University now, after a shew of deliberating upon the cases of these two deceased professors, pre- sented a supplication to the commissioners for a solemn enquiry into the doctrine of the parties whose remains had brought such disgrace upon two of the churches. This application being favourably received, Bucer and Fagius were cited to appear, either personally or by their proctors, before the Cardinal's representatives. The citations were duly published, being posted up on the doors of St. Mary's church, and of the schools, and in the market-place. These precautions proved, however, ineffectual ; for when the court assembled at the time appointed, it was attended neither by Bucer nor Fagius, nor by any person in their behalf. This neglect was very meekly borne by the commissioners, who at once ad- journed their business to a future day, and took measures, as before, for acquainting the deceased fo- reigners with the proper time for entering upon their defence. The second day, however, arrived, and it brought before the court neither dead man, ghost, nor proctor. Any farther forbearance being deemed unnecessary, Bucer and Fagius, after a formal con- demnation as obstinate heretics, were now delivered over to the secular arm. While the execution of this sentence awaited the arrival from court of the custo- mary writ, the commissioners applied themselves to the other objects of their mission. During this in- terval occurred the feast of the Purification, or Can- dlemas-day, as it is popularly called. The visitors, of course, attended the sermon, at St. Mary's, upon this occasion ; as did also a very large congregation 1557.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 569 of persons less distinguished. The preacher in- dulged, as might be expected, in a copious declama- tion against heresy and heretics ; but in some things he succeeded in surprising even the people who came prepared to commend his discourse. He told them, that on the day which had given rise to the present festival, both Joseph and the Virgin walked in pro- cessional order to the temple, with wax candles in their hands. This Romish tradition, being new, overset the gravity of many people in the church. Within four days after this c the condemned heretics underwent their sentence, the coffins being dug up, carried to the place of execution, amidst a great body of armed men, chained to a stake, and burnt. This operation, happily so novel in England, was accom- plished on a market-day, greatly to the surprise of the country people, some of whom looked on with contempt, and all with disgust. An attempt to ex- hibit the same spectacle in Oxford, wholly failed. Peter Martyr's wife, a very pious and charitable woman buried in the cathedral of Christ-church, was to have figured as delinquent upon this occasion ; but it was found impossible to obtain the requisite evidence against her. She had been incapable of conversing with the people around her from her ig- norance of their language, and accordingly certain testimony as to her religious opinions could not be collected. In this dilemma Pole was consulted, and he determined, that the deceased, having been a nun who had broken her vows, ought not, at any c February 6. 570 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1557. rate, to be deposited by the side of St. Frideswide. This answer caused the immediate transfer of the amiable foreigner's remains, from the church to a neighbouring dunghill. On Queen Elizabeth's ac- cession, the bones of Martyr's wife recovered their former position ; but they were so intermingled with the relics of St. Frideswide, that any future violator of their repose would be compelled to treat with equal indignity the remains of a Romish saint. In addition to their war upon the dead, Cardinal Pole's visitors occupied themselves in destroying English Bibles, with other books, termed heretical, in im- posing punishments upon members of suspected principles, and in line, in reducing the two Universi- ties to the standard of papal orthodoxy d. d Foxe, 1785. Mary's tranquillity was often disturbed by popular complaints of Spanish influence. To that source, it is certainly reasonable to trace the ridiculous and indecent war waged with corpses mouldering at Oxford and Cambridge. Such wretched exhibitions were far from unusual in the Penin- sula, and they have no doubt, contributed to lower the intellec- tual standard of its inhabitants ; thus reducing to political insig- nificance a region which nature formed for one of the most important in Europe. Spanish theologians, it should be recol- lected, were imported into England, by Philip, for the purpose of establishing their own opinions among the insular heretics, and Carranza, the most illustrious of these foreigners, is said to have been concerned in the insult offered to Buccr's remains. (Llo- rente, Hist. Inqu.) In Edward's reign an outcry was made by the Romish party, because a few learned foreign Protestants were patronised by the government. A similar policy pursued under Mary certainly seems to have produced very different fruits. While Martyr, Bucer, Fagtus, and other eminenl 1557.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 571 Among- Mary's cares for the complete restoration of Popery, monachism was not forgotten. The Franciscan Observants were established in their old quarters, at Greenwich, a house was provided in Smithfield, for a society of Dominicans, a Carthusian convent was founded, at Sheen, one of Brigittine's, at Sion ; in the abbey of Westminster was once more seated a community of Benedictines e, and the Hospitallers recovered their former abode on the northern edge of London f. These arrangements naturally called attention to the suppression under King Henry, a measure which had placed upon re- cord a great mass of matter highly unpalatable at this time. All the monastic bodies had unequivo- cally renounced the Pope, a considerable proportion of them lay under charges of the grossest immo- rality. The written evidence of these things was now pronounced at court, as rather tending to subvert re- strangers of similar principles, were possessed of influence with the English ministry, we hear nothing of citing and burning the dead. • Dr. Weston unwillingly resigned the deanery of Westmin- ster for that of Windsor. Feckenham was then transferred from the deanery of St. Paul's to the abbacy of Westminster. After Weston had filled his new deanery about twelve months, he was dispossessed of it for the crime of adultery, Heylin (Hist. Ref. 235,) conjectures, that this severity was used to a man so active as a papal partizan, because Pole was disgusted with his unwillingness to resign the deanery of Westminster. But Wes- ton was a man at once so profligate and conspicuous, that it wasy probably, found impossible to connive at his irregularities any longer. 1 Heylin, Hist. Ref. 236. 572 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1557. ligion, and religious houses, than to spread a know- ledge of the truth. A royal commission, accordingly, was issued to Bishop Boner, Cole, Dean of St. Paul's, and Martin, a civilian, authorizing them to search for all records relating to the dissolution of monas- teries, and to dispose of such instruments at their discretion8. A scrutiny of this description, con- ducted by such commissioners, could not fail to make important erasures among the national records. Sa- tisfactory, therefore, as an English Protestant finds the history of his Church's emancipation, it is highly probable that many interesting statements evincing the necessity of that important change, have been designedly suppressed. In one remarkable instance monkish auxiliaries were declined in England about this time. A letter from Loyola invited Pole to place some English students under Jesuitic tuition. s This commission is dated from Greenwich, December 29. The following are the grounds alleged for the issue of it. " Whereas it has come to our knowledge, that in the time of the late schism, divers and sundry accounts, books, scrolls, instruments and other writings, were practised, devised, and made concerning professions against the Pope 's Holiness, and the see Apostolic ; and also sundry and divers infamous scrutinies were taken in abbeys and other religious houses, tending rather to subvert and overthrow all good religion, than for any truth contained therein ; which writings, and other the premises, as we be informed, were delivered to the custody and charge of divers and sundry regis- trars, and other officers and ministers of this our realm of England, to be by them kept and preserved. And minding to have the said writings and other premises brought to knowledge, whereby they may be considered and ordered accordipg to our will and pleasure," &c. Burnet, Hist. Ref. Records, ii. 414. 1557.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 573 The Legate took no notice of this invitation, and thus the brief season of his authority passed over unstained by the patronage of that one among the organised combinations moving at the papal will, which is most active and insidious \ All the expedients, however, adopted for the ex- tirpation of a scriptural faith, backed as they were by that atrocious persecution, which incessantly de- luged the land with blood, wholly failed of success. The popular abhorrence of popery daily acquired force and extension. Even the public functionaries began to shrink from the hateful duties imposed upon them, and the government of England, like those of continental nations, imbibed a suspicion, that nothing short of the most scrutinising and un- relenting barbarity could shield the Roman Church from extinction. Her defence was entrusted, in Spain and Italy, to the Inquisition, an institution warmly recommended by the reigning pope1. In England, this tribunal had never been established, and it was obviously rather hazardous to force it upon the country without some preparation. This h Phillips, ii. 233. Neve's Animadv. 539. 1 " D'eterna lode lo fa degno il tribunal dell' Inquisizione, che dal zelo di lui e prima in autorita di consigliero, e poscia in po- desta di principe, riconosce il presente suo vigor nell' Italia, e dal' quale riconosce V Italia la conservata integrita della sua fede," (Pallavicino, ii. 128.) This passage is worthy of remark, pro- bably, even more on account of its concluding clause, than of its testimony to Paul's love for the Inquisition. It is undoubtedly an important admission from a Cardinal and a Jesuit, that with- out the systematic use of death and torture, Italy herself would have embraced the Reformation. 8 574 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1557. was made in a commission, issued on the 8th of Fe- bruary, directed to the Bishops Boner and Thirlby, the Lords Windsor and North, Cole, Dean of St. Paul's, and several other persons, either officers of state, common lawyers, or civilians. The whole, or any three of this board, were empowered to enquire, either by means of a jury, or " by any other means and politic ways they could devise, into all cases of heresies, lollardies, heretical and seditious books, concealments, contempts, conspiracies, false rumours, tales, seditious and clamorous words and sayings." The most ample liberty of search and of summons was conferred upon this formidable court. It was also to take cognizance of all offences and negligences connected with public worship, and of all embezzle- ments of ecclesiastical property. Especially was its attention to be fixed upon those who should refuse to preach transubstantiation, to hear mass, to go in procession, to take holy water, or holy bread. In- dividuals convened before it upon a charge of heresy and refusing to recant, were to be transmitted to their proper ordinaries. More tractable prisoners were to suffer fine and imprisonment at the court's discretion k. It is obvious, that this tribunal required little more than its peculiar prisons, and the power of awarding extreme penalties to obnoxious opinions, in order to establish its identity with the Inquisi- tion. A criminal prosecution which occurred in the early part of this year, reflected credit upon the k Burnet, Hist. Ref. Records, ii. 427, 1557.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 575 government. Charles, Lord Stourton, had been constantly a dissentient, when bills unfavourable to Romanism came before the House of Lords, in King Edward's reign. His widowed mother then resided in Somersetshire, with a gentleman named Hartgill, whose interference he vainly sought in order to ex- tort from the old lady an engagement to pay a large sum of money, in case she should marry again. His failure in this object enraged him, and being of a ferocious lawless disposition, he determined upon intimidation, if not upon revenge. He went, ac- cordingly, attended by a considerable retinue of armed men, to Kilmington, where Hartgill lived, and after forcing him to take refuge in the church- tower, with two or three servants, he kept him there besieged, during three days. Meanwhile, the younger Hartgill rode in haste to London, and representing to the council his father's case, an order was des- patched to the sheriff of the county, both to deliver the imprisoned gentleman, and to send up the peer a prisoner to London. Prompt obedience being paid to this mandate, Stourton was lodged, for a short time, in the Fleet. Having regained his liberty, he never ceased to annoy the Hartgills, taking every opportunity to plunder them of corn and cattle, during the whole of Edward's reign. As they fa- voured the Reformation, he seems to have thought that his vindictive outrages would safely bear an increase of audacity, upon Mary's accession. Hart- gill, however, appealed to the Queen, and under her mediation the parties apparently were recon- ciled. A violent assault committed upon the younger Hartgill, by some of the peer's ruffianly dependants, 576 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1557. quickly shewed, that on his part, no reconciliation was to be expected, and in consequence he was prosecuted before the Star-chamber, by which he was fined and imprisoned. Having obtained leave, under some pretence, of a temporary absence from the Fleet, where he was confined, he proceeded to his residence in Wiltshire. To this house, having first decoyed the Hartgills into his power, he con- veyed them prisoners, and there, four bravoes, in his employment, cruelly murdered them before his eyes. One of the miscreants, hired for this infernal pur- pose, was so much overcome by the horrors of the scene, that he said, * Ah ! my Lord, this is a piteous sight ; had I thought what I now think, before the thing was done, your whole land could not have won me to consent to such an act." Sectarian bigotry had, however, sharpened the miserable peer's evil passions, and he savagely replied : " What, faint-hearted knave, is it any more than the riddance of two scoundrels who, living, were troublesome both to God's law and man's ? There is no more account to be made of them, than the killing of two sheep." The heavy hand of justice quickly stopped the per- petrators of this atrocity in their mad career of crime and folly. Stourton, resolute as he had been in defending principles now dominant, in the hour of their depression, was hanged at Salisbury, together with the wretches whom his wealth had lured to an ignominious, premature, and guilty passage to another world '. 1 Strype, Ecol. Mem. iii. 600. This execution took place on the 6th of March. It appears from Bishop Burnet's supple- mental volume, (Hist. Ref. iii. 381.) that a story, traditionally 1557.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 577 In the spring- of this year Mary was gratified by a visit from her husband, the last that ever he paid to England. His principal object was undoubtedly to engage her in a war with France. Extreme as was the age which the Pope had attained m, his breast was ever abandoned as a prey to the most furious pas- sions. He was vain, self-opiniated, tenacious, osten- tatious, eager to advance his own kindred, lofty, impetuous, choleric, inflexibly severe, fool hardy, indiscreet, suspicious, and revengeful ; grossly ca- joled by flatterers before his face, derided by all the world behind his back n. This unhappy old man's current in Wiltshire, represents it as having been the intention of the government to reprieve Lord Stourton, and that instructions, which actually arrived from London on the night before the exe- cution, were kept from the sheriff, by means of a stratagem. This account, however, is vague and improbable : nor does the Bishop himself appear to have thought it of much importance. m Paul IV. was born in 1476. Phillips's Pole, ii. 259. n " Ricevette dalla natura una eloquenza mirabile, ma con soverchio appetito di viderla ammirata; il cpiale s' ando sempre aguzzando e non satollando col pasto frequente nell' altezza della fortune": ; e gli cagiono grand' adulazione in presenza, ma non minore irrisione in assenza. Largo estimator di se stesso, e stretto degli altri cosi nella potenza, come nel senno ; tuttavia buon eonoscitore e riconoscitore della virtu. Lo spirito della divozione in lui non valse ad estinguere altri spiriti derivati in esso 6 dalla patria, 6 dalla famiglia, 6 dalla complessione : dalla prima, ritenne una superstiziosa diligenza d' attillatura nel vestito, e una pompa piu ch' ecclesiastica nel trattamento ; dalla seconda, soverchio amore del sangue, e nel sangue soverchia stima di titoli, e di grandezze mondane ; dalla terza, una maniere di trattare solle- vata, impetuosa, collerica, e una sorte di severita che sembrava orgoglio. Hebbe maggior coraggio a punir le male opere in ogni gran personagGrio, che prudenza per impedirle. E s' aviso che vol. iv. r p 578 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1557. chief abhorrence was the Austrian family, of which he could not bring- himself to speak, even in public, with common decency. He reprobated it as enslav- ing Italy by force of arms, as circumscribing eccle- siastical privileges in Spain by policy, and as encou- raging heresy in Germany by means of diets. He was vainly reminded, that Italy seemed fated to bear a foreign yoke, that Spain was of all ultramontane countries the one most obedient to Rome, and that the imperial house had been incessantly engaged in strenuous opposition to the German heretics °. Paul would hear no councillors but his own vanity, or violence, or his interested relatives. It was to these last, indeed, that his antipathy for the Austrians was mainly owing. His own family was in constant col- lision with the Colonnas and Sforzas, two powerful houses, now especially patronised by the Imperialists as a counterbalance to the weight of papal influence acquired by the Carrafas from their partial and grasping kinsman's elevation to the popedom. En- raged by this opposition to his overweening selfish- ness, Paul would not rest until he had impelled the tutto l'ampiezza dello spiritual suo potere fosse anche la misura di saggiamente esercitarlo ; non avvertendo che na luogo nelle cose naturali, non nelle civili, la regola essere indamo quella potenza che non si riduce all' atto." (Pallavicino, ii. 128.) The other characteristics of Paul, mentioned in the text, are taken from the following passage, cited by Phillips, (ii. 248.) from Gra- ziani, Bishop of Amelia, a respectable contemporary authority. " Cujus erat ingenium elatum, vehemens, aero, et cum pronum ad suspicionem, turn ubi fides et religio ageretur, preeceps ad vindicandum." • • Pallavicino, ut supra. 13.37.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 579 King of France into hostilities with Spain, under a promise of assisting him in the obtainraent of Naples, a kingdom to which the French princes inherited a claim, and of Avhich they had several times unsuc- cessfnlly laboured to possess themselves p. Philip being thus involved in war, naturally desired assist- ance in the contest from his wife's resources. Mary could allege plausible grounds of complaint against France. Her infamous and unceasing cruelties had oversoread England with discontent, thus holding out constant allurements to those unprincipled and turbulent adventurers, who never fail to start from obscurity whenever political uneasiness affords them a hope of plunder. A succession of these desperate characters necessarily annoyed such a government as Mary's ; and although none of their attempts were important, yet all of them received some degree of encouragement from France. Henry's interference, however, in English affairs, though irritating, was hardly such as to call for war, and therefore the Queen's constitutional advisers agreed to a rupture, with great difficulty. Their consent having been extorted by means of Philip's influence over their mistress, no man in Europe heard the announcement with greater anger than the Pope. His violence received additional force on the receipt of an expos- tulatory letter from Pole. The Cardinal wrote, ac- cording to his habit, with a great parade of courtesy and reverence ; but amidst all these flattering forms it was intimated intelligibly enough, that papal in- p Phillips, ii. 238. p p 2 580 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1557. fluence had embroiled the courts of France and Spain q. Paul had already recalled his ministers from all the dominions of Philip, and he now caused a letter to be prepared, announcing that Pole's lega- tion was included in this hostile measure F. He was not even contented with pronouncing the Cardinal no longer legatus a latere ; in his ungovernable rage he sought also to take from him the title of legatus natus s, so long appended to the see of Can- terbury. Religious grounds, of course, were assigned for this offensive stretch of authority. Pole was de- nounced as a man suspected of heresy, and therefore unworthy of the papal confidence until his principles q Godwin, Afinal. 130. r Pallavicino, ii. 94. This page also informs us, what is suffi- ciently well known from other sources, that Paul made demon- strations of proceeding against the Emperor, and his son Philip, as heretics; talking of depriving them of their dominions. We also learn that he included them, intelligibly enough, among the excommunications of the annual bull in Coena Domini; and that in the papal mass of Good-Friday, the usual prayer for the Em- peror was omitted. s This appears from the following passages; the first occurring in an application made in Pole's behalf, to the Pontiff, by Philip and Marv ; the second, in a similar application from the privy council : " Atcpae ita revocari, ut legalionem sedi Cantuarien. innatam, ct penitus annexam, nm'.tor. retro suromor. pontificum actis confirmatam, multor. qui ante nos fuerant Angliae regum proerogativa usurpatam Via Stas non exciperet." — " Illud enim vehementer mirum in literis Sanctitatis V. et inaudituiu vide- batur, revocari non solum sanctissiinain illam a latere legation* m, sed etiam alteram, sedi Cantuariensi innatam, et cum ea ita con- junctara, ut disjungi non solum re et usu, sed ncc opinione quidem et cogitatione posvit." Strype, Ei;cl. Mem. Append, iii. 47.'.. -17!). 1.357.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 581 should be satisfactorily cleared from this imputation \ For it there was, indeed, a plausible colour. Pole's disgraceful services to the Papacy as a libeller, a po- lemic, and a political incendiary, had been requited by the government of Viterbo, in the papal states. He had lived there in comparative retirement, sur- rounded by books and literary men. Italian scholars had, however, extensively adopted a scriptural faith, and individuals thus enlightened associated habitually with the noble English exile. In this company there is reason for believing his own mind saw something of the truth; and in the article of justification by faith, he seems, like other eminent persons of his ac- quaintance, never any more to have erred with Rome u. As any thing of a dissentient from papal * Pallavicino, ii. 97. u Parker, 519. Ri iley's Review of Phillips, 139. Pole asso- ciated, at Viterbo, with Flaminio and Carnesecehi, two scholars of eminence, of whom the former is known to have entertained Protestant opinions, and it does not appear that he ever retracted them : the latter was beheaded as a heretic, and his body burnt, in 1567. (M'Crie's History of the Progress and Suppression of the Reformation in Italy, 174. 293.) Cardinal Morone, another of Pole's friends, had actually been taken into custody as a here- tic. (Pallavicino, ii. 97.) Pole's friend, Contarini, and also himself, appear to have thought with the Protestants upon justi- fication. (M'Crie, ut supra, 178.) Carranza, another indivi- dual at one time in Pole's confidence, was charged with having spoken in a sermon, preached in London before King Philip, " of the justification of men by a lively faith in the passion and death of Jesus Christ, in terms approaching to Lutheranism. ' (Llorente, Hist. Inqu.) Carranza was consecrated Archbishop of Toledo in 1558, but he was soon afterwards delated to the In- quisition as a heretic, and he died at Rome after an imprisonment 582 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1557. doctrines, his countrymen, however, were very far from thinking of Pole ; and, therefore, the Pope's attacks upon him were no sooner known in England than they were viewed merely as the effervescence of political animosity, and of that unfriendly feeling which had often alienated him from the English Car- dinal when they came into personal contact in former times. Anxious, accordingly, to prevent an unad- vised explosion offensive to themselves, painful to a man whom they valued, and injurious to the cause which they were labouring to promote, a remon- strance was addressed to Paul by the King and Queen \ Similar applications were also made to him by the council, and the nobility y. All these of eighteen years. Since Carranza was much about the person of Charles V. as were several others eventually denounced as heretics, that prince became suspected of heresy ; but the suspi- cion appears groundless. Charles was so thoroughly possessed by Romish opinions, that he even flogged himself violently before his death, in the hope of abridging his stay in purgatory. His choice of so many persons as instruments, doubting, if not disbe- lieving Romanism, arose probably merely from his anxiety to re- tain the services of able and upright men. A very huge pro- portion of such individuals in his day throughout Europ had imbibed a habit of looking with no friendly eye upon the papal claims and traditions. It is obvious, when the characters of some among Pole's ac- quaintances are considered, that there were grounds for suspt et- ing the precise complexion of his principles. These suspicions also were strengthened by some instances of lenity shewn to the Reformers in England, and more still by his general habits of tolerance while he lived at Viterbo. * Dated May 21, 1557. y Neither of these papers is dated. 1657.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 583 pieces represent the legate's conduct in very advan- tageous colours, and press upon his holiness the ex- pediency of proceeding with great caution in the management of a country so recently and imperfectly recovered for his see as England. The nobility even assume something of a menacing air, and talk of feel- ing themselves bound by solemn obligations to main- tain the privileges of their country z. Paul, however, seems to have become sensible, before any of these addresses could have reached him, that he was tri- fling dangerously with his interest. He strove, ac- cordingly, to consult the feelings of Mary and her subjects, without appearing to abandon the plans which he had previously announced. With this view he created a cardinal, and nominated to the English legation William Peto, the Franciscan ob- servant, who had so grossly insulted Henry VIII a. ' Strype, Eccl. Mem. Append, iii. 481. * See Hist. Ref. under King Henry VIII. i. 406. Cardinal Pallavicino glosses over this iusult by saying, that Peto ventured upon the apostolical liberty of pronouncing from the pulpit the reality of Henry's marriage with Catharine. Being justly driven from England for this " liberty," the seditious friar took refuge in Italy, and the reigning Pope saw him at Pole's house in that country. The high opinion which Paul there formed of his cha- racter and abilities was the reason alleged for his unexpected pro- motion to the cardinalate, and the legation. The true reason, however, of this preferment was obviously the hope of reconciling Mary to the attack upon Pole, when she should see another of her confidants elevated to the highest distinction. It is very little to the Queen's honour, that she should have chosen for confessor a man who had so publicly outraged the feelings of her father. Peto, it is true, had been a spiritual adviser to her mother, and had suffered as much as a man, who had vowed to live by beg- 584 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1557. and who now, much to her discredit, occupied the post of confessor to his daughter. Mary was, how- ever, unappeased by the compliment paid to her ghostly father ; and as formerly, when it suited her purpose, she had schismatically, according to her own notions, assumed the privileges of Supreme Ec- clesiastical Head ; so now, her passions again exciting her, she placed herself in an attitude of sulky defi- ance towards the Roman see. She suppressed the papal briefs recalling Pole, and refused to receive the messenger who brought the red hat to her confessor, Peto b. It was intended that Pole should remain ignorant of the disgrace into which he had fallen, or at least, by suffering no official communications on the subject to reach him, that he should have a pre- tence for feigning himself so, and should therefore unconcernedly continue to exercise the legatine func- tions. But he declined this course : he no longer allowed the silver cross to be borne before him, and he ceased to act as papal representative. He sent, moreover, his friend Ormaneto to Rome, as an apo- logist for his conduct, and he wrote a long justifica- tion of himself, garnished, according to his custom, with some stinging reflexions upon the tri-crowned gary, can suffer in the cause which had engrossed her own affec- tions. Old age also seems to have subdued his once fiery fana- ticism ; but still he was not likely to be a safe counsellor to Mary, and he could not be a creditable one. •? This latter fact was alleged to the Spanish ambassador by Queen Elizabeth, as one among other reasons, why she should refuse to receive a papal nuncio who desired admittance to her, PallavicinOj ii. 205. ' 1557.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 585 author of his trouble c. When Ormaneto reached Rome the papal troops had been defeated in Italy, and a splendid victory over the French had been gained at St. Quintin's, chiefly by means of Philip's English auxiliaries. The Pope was therefore mode- rate in his tone, and forbore to question the ortho- doxy of Pole. His countrymen indeed appeared re- solute in the Cardinal's defence, queries being even submitted to the lawyers as to the privileges consti- tutionally claimable by the Roman see over ling- land d. All these demonstrations of resistance, aided as they were by political events, admonished Paul that his ends were unattainable. He suffered, there- fore, Pole to act as legatus natus, and quietly per- mitted his other intended arrangements to remain unaccomplished e. * It might seem that Pole had by this time seen the folly of sending his insulting lucubrations to crowned heads, and that he, therefore, determined upon suppressing this attack upon the Pope ; for Pallavicino tells us, that when he took into his hand the fair copy of his memorial, he thought of the evil which over- took Ham, from his unseemly treatment of his parent, Noah, the common ancestor of mankind, (Gen. ix. 22. 25.) and saying, " I will not discover my father's nakedness," he threw the paper into the fire. The piece, however, appears to be still extant, most probably written from the original draught ; as Strype (Eccl. Mem. iii. 34) has printed extracts from such a production, which he found in MS. The whole seems to be, according to the Car- dinal's wont, intolerably tedious. d These queries, " together with their answers, are still extant in the Paper-house." Strype, Eccl. Mem. iii. part 2. p. 40. e Peto, whose conduct in this affair shews advantageously, be- cause he seems never to have moved in it at all, was now not less than eighty years of age. He was born of a gentleman's family, 586 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1558. In the beginning of the year popular discontent was augmented by the loss of Calais. This place, which was dear to the national pride, was unexpect- edly invested on the 1st of January ; and, being in- adequately provided with the means of defence, it soon surrendered to the French arms. Its depen- dencies were speedily involved in its fate ; and, be- fore the month closed, England ceased to hold a foot of land in France. This circumstance, probably, posterity has no reason to regret ; but those who were contemporary with the loss viewed it as a seri- ous misfortune and disgrace to the country. Calais was looked upon as a place betrayed to the enemy, alike by the imbecility of the government at home, and by the treachery of those who had been en- trusted with its defence. Amidst these murmurs the Parliament assembled f, having been called for the granting of supplies, a business little likely to seated at Chesterton, in Warwickshire. His promotion to the cardinalate took place on the 14th of June, 1557. On the death of Bp. Capon, which occurred on the 6th of October, 1557, the Pope appointed Peto to the see of Salisbury; but lie never ob- tained possession of that preferment, his death happening- in the following May. The bearer of his red hat appears to have been stopped at Calais. In fact, although nominated, at the close of a very long life, cardinal, legate, and bishop, he seems never to have assumed any one of these characters : a convincing proof, if this abstinence were voluntary on his part, of his good sense, and of his ripeness for a scene immeasureably above this world's vani- ties. Phillips, ii. 247. Note to Le Courayer's F. Paul, ii. 89. Godwin, de Prsesul. 353, 354. r The Legislature met on the 20th of January, and it was pro- rogued on the 7th of March. Subsidies were granted. Strype, Eccl. Mem. iii. part 2. p. 105. 5 1558.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 587 lighten the pressure of public dissatisfaction. Mary now felt her situation extremely wretched. To the detestation or apathy with which her government had been generally viewed, a high degree of con- tempt was now added. She was, besides, a prey to domestic uneasiness : her constitution was decaying ; and her husband, upon whom she doted, ever found excuses for denying her the pleasure of a visit. Under this constant indisposition and disappoint- ment her mind lost its vigour, and she wore away her melancholy hours in repinings on account of Philip's absence, and in fits of anger against her own sub- jects6. England, accordingly, while Mary lived, con- stantly presented those mournful spectacles which have justly brought everlasting infamy upon her memory. The murderous pyre never ceased to blaze while she remained on earth to kindle it. Within a week of her death five martyrs were burnt at Canterbury. Altogether, not fewer than two hundred and eighty-eight individuals appear to have perished at the stake during the time in which the country was abandoned to her unrelenting fanati- cism : a period short of four years h. When to this e Noailles, v. 362. 370. h " In 1555, were burnt 71 1556, 89 1557, 88 1558, 40 Total 288 besides those that died of famine in sundry prisons." (Strype, 588 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1558. mass of suffering are added the miseries inflicted upon English Protestants by means of confiscation, and other pecuniary losses, of imprisonment, and of exile, very sufficient grounds will appear for the popular execration which at length reached her ears, and helped to send her half broken-hearted to the tomb. Her administration was also rendered hate- ful by its natural tendency to produce insurrectionary Eccl. Mem. Append. 554, from one of the Cecilian MSS.) Dr. Lingard, (vii. 285) computes the sufferers at the stake at " almost two hundred ;" but he alleges no authority for this computation. In a tiact which Lord Burghley published in vindication of the severities against Romish traitors, to which Elizabeth was driven after the Pope's bull pretending to dethrone her was issued, is the following estimate of the numbers who perished in various ways under Mary's persecuting policy. " In the time of Queen Mary, there were by imprisonment, torments, famine, and fire, of men, women, maidens, and children, almost the number of four hundred, and of that number above twenty that had been archbishops, bishops, and principal prelates, or officers in the Church, lamentably destroyed ; and of women above three score, and of children above forty : and amongst the women, some great with child, out of whose bodies the child by fire was expelled alive, and yet also cruelly burned : extremes beyond all heathen cruelty. And most of the youth that then suffered cruel death, both men, women, and children, (which is to be noted,) were such as had never by the sacrament of baptism, or by confirmation, professed, nor were ever taught, or instructed, or ever had heard of any other kind of religion, but only of that, which, by their blood and death in the fire, they did as true martyrs testify." Execution of Justice in England, not for Religion, but for Treason, Dec. 17, 1583. Republished, with two other Treatises concerning the Penal Laws. 1688. p. 14. 1558.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 589 attempts ', and inflammatory publications k. These of course augmented the number of executions ; The only considerable attempt upon the public peace in this reign was that of Wyat. Of this it should be recollected, the sole ostensible cause, was a desire to prevent Mary from marry- ing the Prince of Spain. Romanists, accordingly, were among Wyat's partizans. Of the other conspiracies in this reign, we read of Dudley's first. This happened in the winter and spring of 1555-6, that is, after the nation was exasperated by an atro- cious persecution of a year's continuance, or more. In the following June, another plot, in which an obscure impostor, named Cleobury, acted as principal, occasioned some small de- gree of public excitement. In 1557, an adventurer of noble family, named Stafford, landed at Scarborough with a handful of foreigners, and seized the castle there. He was, however, quickly dislodged without having been able to find a single parti- zan in England. It is obvious that these contemptible move- ments offer no excuse for Mary's cruelties. If not provoked, they were at least encouraged by these cruelties. The truth is, that the government was highly unpopular, and there are very few persons who would venture to say, that it ever deserved to be otherwise. The people were extensively attached to the Re- formation, and they believed, on her accession, as they had good reason from Mary's declaration to the magistrates of London, and probably from other circumstances apparently satisfactory, that liberty of conscience would not be violated. It was, how- ever, immediately violated under various pretences; and the ministry never intermitted the employment of intrigue, corrup- tion, and intimidation, until it had restored the papal authority, and revived the sanguinary laws against Lollardy. From that time even the best friends to Mary's memory are compelled to speak of her conduct with regret and disapprobation. It could not fail to disgust and exasperate contemporaries. k Of these, the most important weie published in 1558, the last year of Mary's life. Knox then put forth a hasty tract enti- tled, The First Blast of the Trumpet against the monstrous 590 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1558. and thus the gibbet and the axe were associated with the pyre in violently removing individuals al- most universally pitied as the innocent victims of a bigotted and vindictive tyranny l. Minor personal Regiment (government) of Women. It was his intention to blow this trumpet thrice, but Mary died while he meditated future at- tacks upon her, and he was anxious to strengthen, rather than otherwise, the sceptre of her sister. Elizabeth, however, could not forgive this indiscriminate reprobation of female rule. A similar work was published at the same time by Goodman, an English ecclesiastic, residing, as Knox then was, at Geneva. These pieces, undoubtedly, somewhat altered Mary's situation. Hitherto her oppressed Protestant subjects had considered them- selves bound by their religion to bear with meekness her inexcu- sable cruelties ; but if individuals, whom they respected as teachers, were to arise, and argue that they would be justified in resisting the iniquitous policy which was straining every nerve to annihilate them, there could be no doubt that some of the des- perate characters who calculated upon the co-operation of an outraged people, would at last find their appeals not wholly in vain. This alarming symptom of a disposition to repel infamous injustice by force, at length excited among the victims marked out for slaughter, did not accordingly fail to strike terror into the English government. That body, however, proceeded, as usual, with the most sanguinary intemperance. A royal proclamation, issued on the6th of June, announced to the people that whosoever should, after that date, be found to have any books of late brought from abroad, " filled with heresy, sedition, and treason, or finding them, should not forthwith burn them, without shew- ing or reading the same to any other person, he should be reputed and taken for a rebel, and should without delay be executed for that offence, according to the order of martial laic." Strype, Eccl. Mem. iii. 131. 1 " Puisqu' elle se cognoist si negligee, et trouve si pen de cer- tainete aux promesses de son mary, et que pour luy asseurer sa d emeu re en ce lieu, il faille que par le feu, >t !■ glaive, et en 1558.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 591 inflictions too were frequent, especially the pillory, in this unhappy reign ; and the popular disgust was the more exasperated amidst all these severities, by a general belief, that the Queen's policy was not of English growth, but was degradingly forced upon the nation by Spanish influence. At last the tide of public opinion set in against Mary's government with a force under which it would, probably, have fallen, had not death opportunely removed her from the trust which she so lamentably abused. The term of its prorogation having expired, Par- liament met on the 5th of November. Financial difficulties were immediately pressed upon its consi- deration, but such topics were received with more than usual impatience. Disaffection stalked over every corner of the kingdom, and the Queen's em- barrassments were imputed to her extravagant and unpatriotic interference in Spanish politics, alien from the interests of England. As was to be ex- pected from such a state of public feeling, the Com- mons evinced a disposition to withhold the desired toute extremite de rigueur cle justice, elle fasse niourir tant de person nes, dont son peuple faict une grande clameur, estans en opinion que ces paulvres miserables, qui sont mesnez en tant de divers supplices, meurent tous innocens." (Noailles, v. 370.) " Before her never was read in story of any king, or queen of England, since the time of King Lucius, under whom, in time of peace, by hanging, heading, burning, and prisoning, so much Christian blood, so many Englishmen's lives were spilled within this realm, as under the said Queen Mary for the space of four years was to be seen, and I beseech the Lord never may be seen hereafter." Foxe, 1901. 592 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1558. supplies. On the 14th of November, the Chan- cellor, the Treasurer, and other Lords of Parlia- ment both spiritual and temporal, came down to the Lower House and endeavoured to reason it out of a subsidy. But the people's representatives were now fortified in their opposition to this demand, by a knowledge of the Queen's imminent danger, and accordingly, they came to no decision m. Mary, who had long been dropsical, was attacked in the course of the summer by a fever then extremely prevalent and fatal. Her recovery from the effects of this malady was rendered the more hopeless by dejection of spirits ; the loss of Calais especially ever preying upon her mind. Death came to her relief, at St. James's, early in the morning of the 17th of November : she having attained the age of forty- three years and nine months, and having reigned five years and four months. When her body was opened, a great degree of internal disease was dis- covered ; both the heart and the liver beino- much wasted, and the latter organ presenting an appear- ance so unnatural, that some of the more ignorant by-standers immediately attributed it to the destruc- tive action of a vegetable poison n. Queen Mary was thin, and low of stature. Her mouth was large, and although she was short-sighted, m Burnet, Hist. Ref. ii. 578. * Ribadeneyra, 241. This author conversed with the physi- cian who opened M.iry, by whom, however, the notion that the diseased state of her liver was occasioned by poison was treated with contempt. lo&Si] UNDER QUEEN MART. 583 her eyes were animated. Her warmest admirers forbore to claim for her the praise of beauty, but they attributed this deficiency to ill usage under- gone in her youth. Before her troubles, they said, she had been handsome. Her understanding being good, and having been well cultivated, she was pretty thoroughly mistress of Latin, and able to converse in both French and Spanish. Nor was she ignorant of Italian. Her father's love for music was a secu- rity against any neglect of her education in that point. She was, accordingly, a very respectable per- former both upon the harpsichord and guitar. In dis- position, she was bold and firm, even to obstinacy °. In religious observances she was most exact, never failing to hear mass once in every morning. Often, indeed, she heard it twice ; and in the after part of the day, it was her invariable habit to attend vespers and the complin. On the principal festivals, she regularly received the Eucharist, dressing herself upon such occasion in her jewels, and in her most splendid attire. She seems, indeed, to have imbibed the most complete veneration for the consecrated wafers of Romanism ; being upon her knees before such of them as were reserved in her own oratory, for a considerable portion of every day p. The last 0 " Ceste Princesse, qui est si obstinee en son opinion, qu'il n'y a peril qui luy puisse faire changer de volonte; mais an con- traire, tout cela la luy accroist avecques extresme oppiniastrete." Noailles, iii. 214. p " Tuvo grandissima devocion y reverencia a todas las cosas sagradas, y particularmente al santo sacramento del altar: estava muchas horas en oraeion prostrada delante de su divino acata- miento." Ribadeneyra, 237. VOL. IV. Q q 594 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1558. act of her life was the hearing of mass. She pro- bably found herself going fast, and therefore desired, that, early as the hour was, a priest should come and receive the sacrament in her presence. She continued to gaze upon him until he had accom- plished his task, and then closed her eyes to open them no more on this side of the grave. Mary's religious profession was not unproductive of its proper fruits. Her life was strictly moral, and she shewed a very commendable degree of feeling for the poor around her country residences ; often visit- ing their abodes, dressed as a private gentlewoman, and enquiring their wants, in order to relieve them. In the despatch of public affairs, she was, as in every thing else, perfectly methodical, regularly devoting to it her afternoons q. Any time that she found upon her hands after having attended to the calls of devo- tion and business, she spent ordinarily in needle- work ; furniture for the altar, or other things con- nected with religious worship, being the general objects of her manual industry r. Mary's habits, in q According to Pole, her Majesty enacted Mary in the morn- ing, being entirely occupied in her devotions ; in the afternoon she supported excellently the part of Martha, being engaged in business. " Sereniss. Regina antemeridianis horis Mariae partes agit, in preces et divinas laudes prorsus incumbens ; pomeridianas in rebus agendis consumit, et Martb.se personam egregie gerit." Polus Philippo, R. Sept. 16, 1555. Ep. v. 41. r " Quando avia complido con sus devociones, o con negocios publicos del reyno, se ocupava en hazer lavor con sus manos, y hazia la extrernada de buena y curiosa ; y comunemente eran las cosas cpie hazia para el culto divino, y servicio del altar." Ribadeneyra, '237. <> 1.358.] UNDER QUEEN MARY. 595 short, were those of a professed and sincere devotee. Hence, as an abbess she would have been admirable. But she was far too narrow-minded for the govern- ment of a kingdom, especially at the time, and under the circumstances in which she mounted the throne \ Within twenty-two hours of his royal kinswoman's demise l, Cardinal Pole, who had been suffering for some time under a severe attack of intermitting fever, expired at Lambeth, being in the fifty-ninth year of his age. This remarkable person was of mo- derate stature, and slender make. His complexion was fair, the colour of his cheeks fresh, and an expression of good nature beamed from his eyes u. Had he lived at an ordinary time, or perhaps at the actual period of his appearance, had he been born in a condition of mediocrity, Pole would have pro- bably passed through the world generally respected. 8 Dr. Lingard mentions, as a proof of Mary's care for the political interests of her people, that she concluded a commercial treaty with Russia, and overthrew a monopoly injurious to Eng- land, long enjoyed by a company of foreigners, under the names of Easterlings, or merchants of the Steel-yard. Her services in these respects are unquestionable ; but against them must be placed her impolitic expulsion of some settlements of industrious foreign Protestants, who were naturalising their manufactures in our island. * Mary died between five and six o'clock in the morning of November 17, Pole at about three o'clock on the following morn- ing. The Queen was buried in Westminster-abbey, in the north aisle of Henry the Seventh's chapel, the Cardinal was buried in the cathedral of Canterbury. u Parker, 532. Q q 2 596 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [1558. Being, however, unequal to a sound decision upon the delicate and important questions which arose abundantly around him, and in which, from acci- dental circumstances, he was called conspicuously to interfere, his posthumous reputation became at best equivocal. Nature, in truth, had denied him the firmness of temper, and vigour of intellect, which are indispensable in those who can honourably take the lead in very difficult times. THE HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION DURING THE REIGN OF QUEEN ELIZABETH. CHAPTER V. Accession of Queen Elizabeth — Her situation — Her council — Bishop White 's funeral sermon — Conduct of the Pope — Reli- gious movements — The Coronation — Meeting of Parliament — The royal supremacy — The High Commission Court — Con- ference at Westminster — Restoration of the English Liturgy — Other enactments — The Convocation — The non-juring pre- lacy— Reception of the English Liturgy — The royal visitatioii — Parker — Death of Bishop Tunstall — Consecration of Arch- bishop Parker — Legend of the Nag's Head Tavern — Re-organi- sation of the Hierarchy — Jewel's challenge — His apology — Harding's replies — Ecclesiastical regulations — Address to the Queen against images — Allowance of Lain offices — Publica- tion of Foxe's Martyrology — Calvin's approval of the English Reformation — Papal overtures — Final assembling of the Trent ine Council — The Convocation — Conclusion. Queen Mary's death was not publicly known for some hours after it had happened. Information of it got abroad by means of a communication made to the Lords, then assembled in parliament, by Arch- 598 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1558. bishop Heath, the Chancellor0; and the news at once drew from the House a full recognition of the Lady Elizabeth's title to the crown, under an act provided for that purpose in her father's reign. The Commons were now summoned, and acquainted, by Heath, with the recent royal demise ; it being added, that of the Lady Elizabeth's right to the succession, there neither was nor could be any doubt. This view of the question being cordially entertained by the legislature's inferior branch, Queen Elizabeth was proclaimed without delay, first before the door of Westminster hall, and afterwards at Cheapside Cross, amidst a deafening burst of popular exult- ation. The new queen was then residing in a house attached to the see of Ely, at Hatfield in Hertford- shire, and thither a deputation of the privy council proceeded with intelligence of her accession. She remained at Hatfield until the 23d of the month, when she removed, attended by a gay and joyous escort of more than a thousand persons, to London. At Highgate, all the surviving prelates met her, and she received them, Boner alone excepted, with graceful and obliging courtesy. To the blood-stained Bishop of London, she judiciously refused the honour of kissing her hand b. Apartments had been pre- pared for her reception at the Charter-house, on the northern extremity of London, then a mansion oc- a Archbishop Heath received the great seal January 1, 1556. llcirmer, 143. b Burnet, Hist. Ref. ii. 584. Heylin, Hist. Ref.274. Strype's Annals, Oxf. 1824, p. 14. Cambdcn's Elizabeth, ap Kennel, Hist. Engl. ii. 369. 1558.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. 599 eupied by the Lord North ; and there she staid until the 28th, when she went, in grand procession, to the Tower. Nothing could exceed the popular joy during the first days of her reign. Te Deam was chanted in the London churches on the Sunday which immediately followed her accession, as if the country had just escaped from some signal calamity. Nor, indeed, did people generally view this change in the national affairs, without encouraging a confi- dent expectation that the miseries and disgraces of recent years had reached at last the close of their ominous career. Elizabeth had no sooner taken possession of the throne, than her ecclesiastical policy naturally be- came an object of anxious speculation. Birth and education marked her for a Protestant ; but she had conformed during the greater part of Mary's reign to the established religion ; having been overcome, we are told, by the persuasions and menaces of Car- dinal Polec. Such conformity was, undoubtedly, necessary for her safety, and therefore Mary, mind- ful, it is thought, of her own dissimulation, when endangered under King Henry, suspected the sin- cerity of her sister's conversion d. It is even said, that the dying queen made two requests to Eliza- beth, one of them being that she would not overthrow Romanism e : a plain proof, if the relation be true, c Cambden, 367. d Ibid. * The other of these alleged requests is that Elizabeth would faithfully repay the sums which Mary had borrowed, or more properly extorted from her subjects under privy seals. But the 600 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1558. that she considered the Princess's profession of her own religion, as merely simulated from a regard to whole of this relation labours under important difficulties. The following is the form, in which it is exhibited by three of its prin- cipal disseminators. " Prudentissime fecit (Maria) ut instante mortis sure hora, certos principes viros ad Elizabethan! allegaret, qui turn alia qusedam, turn in primis hsec duo ab ea peterent : alteram, ut mutuum quod a subditis suis Maria sub fide regia reddendum sumpserat, inque publicam rem converterat, Eliza- betha reddendum curaret ; alteram, ut Catholicam religionem in Anglia jam constitutam et stabilitam subverti aut labefactari ne permitteret. Elizabetha, quae dum Maria regnabat, semper se Catholicam finxerat, ac ni vere ita esset ut tellus ipsi dehisceret, coram senatoribus aliquot aliquando optaverat, solita hypocrisi sua utrumque sanctissime promisit." (Sanders, 266.) " Em- biole a la hora de su muerte a rogar dos cosas. La primera, que todo que ella havia tornado prestado de sus subditos, y se avia obligado a pagar debaxo de su palabra real, y gastado en bene- ficio publico, lo pagasse Ysabel enteramente. La segunda que procurasse de conservar la religion Catolica, que estava ya con- firmada, y establecida en el reyno, y no permitiesse que se alte- rasse y mudasse. Oyo el recaudo de la hermana Ysabel, y prometio de hazer lo que se. le mandava." (Ribadeneyra, 236.) " During this long confinement, Mary edified all around her by her cheerfulness, her piety, and her resignation to the will of Providence. Her chief solicitude was for the stability of that Church which she had restored ; and her suspicions of Eliza- beth's insincerity prompted her to require from her sister an avowal of her real sentiments. In return, Elizabeth complained of Mary's incredulity. She was a true and conscientious be- liever in the Catholic creed ; nor could she do more now, than she had repeatedly done before, which was to confirm her asser- tions with her oath. To the Duke of Feria, who had come on a visit to the Queen from her husband, the Princess made the same declaration : and so convinced was that nobleman of her sincerity, that he not only removed the doubts of Mary, but 1558.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. 601 personal security. Philip, however, possessed con- siderable claims upon the new Queen's good opinion, assured Philip that the succession of Elizabeth would cause no alteration in the worship now established by law." (Lingard, vii. 329.) The authority cited is " MS. life of the Duchess of Feria, 156." To this reference is added the following passage, which answers to the conclusion of Sanders's account. " She prayed God that the earth might open, and swallow her up alive, if she were not a true Roman Catholic. Ibid. 129. See also Patenson's Image of the two Churches, 435." Thus Sanders informs us, that at the approach of death, Mary sent certain persons of distinction to make the two requests already men- tioned, to Elizabeth, who at once assented ; a compliance the less unexpected because, before some members of Parliament, she had already expressed a wish to be swallowed up alive, if she were not a Catholic. Ribadeneyra merely says that Mary sent a message to Elizabeth upon the subjects in question, and that Elizabeth gave the desired pledge. This account is, there- fore, less explicit than that of Sanders; a circumstance the more suspicious, because Ribadeneyra was living in London, at the time of Mary's death, in the house of Don Gomez de Fi- gueroa, then Count, and afterwards Duke of Feria, who had been sent by Philip upon an especial mission to the Queen, and who subsequently married Jane Dormer, one of her confidential attendants. This nobleman, therefore, possessed excellent op- portunities of knowing the truth, and could scarcely have been ignorant of the names of any persons of distinction sent by Mary, with an important message to her sister, had in reality any such persons been sent. The omission of this article, there- fore, in the relation of Feria's dependant, looks very much as if that writer had taken the story from Sanders, his general autho- rity, judiciously suppressing a particular, which obviously called for greater distinctness from such hands as his. The Duchess of Feria herself, however, appears to be equally cautious or, in some respects, even more so. Her unpublished MS. might seem to make no mention of Mary's request arising from the extortion 602 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1558. and his influence could not fail to be exerted in be- half of his late consort's ecclesiastical system. Eliza- beth had furnished a constant source of envy, vexation, and apprehension to her sister. She was highly popular throughout the country, and every political incendiary made abundant use of her name. Hence Mary's early dislike to her continually be- came more exasperated, and Elizabeth urgently needed for her protection both an unusual share of personal discretion, and the interference of powerful friends. In the quality first named she was never found deficient : nor happily, did she want a suffi- cient protector. It may be hoped, that her brother- in-law felt for the helpless situation of a young female, who could scarcely calculate upon security without his aid. Certainly, political considerations recommended Elizabeth to his vigilance, especially as soon as he lost all hope of issue from his own spouse. If the younger sister were removed, the Queen of Scots would have transferred, immediately upon Mary's death, the English sceptre to the royal practised to maintain Philip's foreign policy, nor of the precise time in which the alleged message was sent, nor of the descrip- tion of persons who conveyed it. But then, on the other hand, the Duchess appears to have learnt that Elizabeth sicorc that she was a Catholic, and stranger than all, that she prayed to be swallowed up alive, " if she were not a true Roman Catholic." It is obvious that this account has no just claim to a place in authentic history. It wants a precision which, if it were true, it might easily have possessed. It is probable, that it took its rise merely from the idle rumours of the day ; and presenting as it does, so little the character of verisimilitude, it has been properly passed over in silence by the bulk of English historians. 1558.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. 603 family of France, ever the principal obstacle to Aus- trian ambition. Philip was, therefore, bound as a politician, to provide for the safety of Elizabeth. Of this policy he never lost sight, and accordingly, the new Queen ascended the throne under great personal obligations to her brother-in-law. It had been proposed, while Mary reigned, to marry her abroad, and even to immure her in a Spanish con- vent f. But her Austrian friend would neither allow her inclinations to be forced, nor hear of any despotic expedients for depriving her of liberty. The friendly disposition towards the King of Spain which Elizabeth brought to the throne was carefully fostered by his agents at the outset of her reign. The Count of Feria was among the distinguished persons who lent splendour and importance to the joyous procession which accompanied her from the Charter-house to the Tower g. That nobleman soon afterwards made an offer of marriage to her, on his royal master's part, adding that the necessary dis- pensation could easily be obtained from Rome. Elizabeth hesitated to return an immediate refusal to this flattering proposal, and Philip, in conse- quence, plied her for some time, with letters and importunities h, thus keeping alive in her breast not only his own interest, but also that of the Romish religion. Cardinal Pole, too, within four days of his death, endeavoured to make his own peace and f Cabrera, 28. s Ribadeneyra, 245. h Cambden, 370. 604 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1558. that of his Church with her, sending to her his chaplain, Dr. Holland, the Dean of Worcester, with a respectful letter, and an injunction to furnish such verbal explanations as might be likely to re- move any impressions unfavourable to his character and conduct '. There were, however, plain indications from the first, of Elizabeth's intention to resume the religion which she had compulsorily renounced. One of her earliest cares was necessarily the appointment of a council, and in this was displayed unequivocally her determination to depart from the policy of her sis- ter's reign. Thirteen of Mary's counsellors she retained, and they were all of course considered firm Romanists. Most, or all of them, had indeed shewn before the late Queen's accession something of a disposition to make an amicable compact between religion and interest ; a shrewd line of policy which had rather broken the continuity of their Romish orthodoxy ; but then it was known, that few men could rise of late years without a sufficient degree of pliancy as to conscience; and it was justly consi- dered, that Mary's advisers were now so thoroughly committed in the papal cause, that they could scarcely veer completely round any more. The thirteen distinguished persons, therefore, selected by 1 " I do send to you at this present mine faithful chaplain, the Dean of Worcester : to whom it may please your Grace to give credit, in that he shall say unto you in my behalf. I doubt not but that your Grace shall remain satisfied thereby." Collier, Records, ii. 88. 1558.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. 005 the new Queen for advisers from her sister's council, might be fairly viewed as incapable of supporting the Reformation without a total sacrifice of cha- racterk. To them were added seven coadjutors, differently situated in this respect1. These new councillors had generally conformed, it is probable, to the established Church, under Queen Mary ; but none of them stood committed by the measures of her reign ; and it was notorious, that recent cases of conformity had frequently been nothing more than hollow expedients, adopted from a fear of the stake. Upon this principle was obviously to be explained the religious profession lately made by some individuals among the Queen's new advisers, and the introduc- tion of such persons into the council-chamber, was an earnest of her purpose to make innovations in ecclesiastical affairs. Especially was this to be anti- cipated from the influence of Cecil. That eminent statesman had been in the confidence of Elizabeth during the time of her adversity, and he was known k The old councillors were Nicholas Heath, Archbishop of York, William Paulet, Marquess of Winchester, Henry Fitz Alan, Earl of Arundel, Francis Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, Edward Stanley, Earl of Derby, William Herbert, Earl of Pem- broke, Edward, Lord Clinton, William, Lord Howard of Effing- ham, Sir Thomas Cheney, Sir William Petre, Sir John Mason, Sir Richard Sackville, and Dr. Nicholas Wotton, Dean of Can- terbury. Cambden, 369. 1 Viz. William Parr, Marquess of Northampton, Francis Rus- sell, Earl of Bedford, Thomas Parry, Edward Rogers, Ambrose Cave, Francis Knol.is, and William Cecil. To these was added, soon after, Sir Nicholas Bacon, who was also of Protestant prin- ciples. Ibid. 606 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1558. to possess talents for business of the highest order. He could hardly, therefore, fail of acquiring a de- cided ascendancy over his brother-councillors. Cecil, however, though a conformist in the late reign, was generally suspected of a rooted partiality towards the Reformation. That such a feeling would soon guide the council's deliberations, was expected ac- cordingly within a few days of Elizabeth's accession. Hence Sir Ambrose Jermin, a magistrate in Suffolk, while the Queen remained at the Charter-house, ventured to stop, upon his own responsibility, the persecution which was proceeding in his neighbour- hood under authority from the late government. A letter of approval was immediately forwarded to this humane gentleman, and he was desired to concert measures with other justices of the peace around him for terminating without delay the inquisitorial pro- cesses which harassed his part of the country"1. Within a few days after the transmission of this mer- ciful communication various prisoners confined in London as offenders against religion were discharged upon their own recognizances " ; and thus the cessa- tion of her sister's inhuman persecution was among the first acts of Elizabeth's domestic policy. Such a change of measures, however creditable to the royal feelings and sagacity, could not fail of m Strype's Annals, i. 36. n Ibid. 55. December 7 and 12. Some prisoners also ob- tained their liberty at Maidstone, on these terms, on the 4th of January. Certain individuals, confined at Colchester, refused for a time to enter into any recognizances, as being conscious of having committed no offence. 1558.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. 607 alarming and offending the more headlong and ill- natured admirers of the late Queen's administration. Her funeral gave occasion to the first conspicuous display of angry disappointment on the part of those who were deploring that their hour of fanatical re- venge had passed away. White, Bishop of Winches- ter, the prelate who had obtained that splendid pre- ferment under a simoniacal contract in favour of Pole, was appointed to preach at Mary's obsequies °. He produced a discourse utterly contemptible as to style and matter, but studiously prepared with a view to inflame the worst passions of his congregation. It was better, he said, never to have been born, than to be, like Judas, a traitor to one's Maker. " To be born in Christ's Church, and not to abide there- in ; to promise, and not to perform ; to promise pe- nance here, and not to practise ; to hear the truth, and not to believe ; to be daily taught, and never to learn ; ever to be warned, and never to beware ; this is horrible, execrable, cursed, and damnable." Lest any of the hearers should apply these words gene- rally, the following explanation of them was quickly supplied : " I was regenerate, and by a solemn vow became a member of Christ's Catholic Church, and have since divided myself from the unity thereof, and I am become a member of the new Church of Ge- neva, or did after lapse to actual and deadly sin ; reformed by penance, I am now relapsed again to sin, and dwell stubbornly therein. Mark my end, right honourable, and what shall become of me. I 0 December 13. 608 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1558. shall in the end be damned everlastingly." Again, the preacher says, " I warn you, the wolves be com- ing out of Geneva, and other places of Germany, and hath sent their books before, full of pestilent doc- trines, blasphemy, and heresy, to infect the people." As if to hint, that rulers who permit the ingress of these exiles are to be resisted by force, the sermon presents us with the relation of Trajan's address to one of his chief officers, when he delivered to him the sword of justice, If my commands are just, use this sword for me; if unjust, against mev. It was reasonably thought that such inflammatory matter was likely to have a mischievous effect, especially at a time when the government was bent upon a line of policy which, though just and conciliatory, was op- posed to this zealot's intolerance. Bishop White, accordingly, in token of her Majesty's displeasure at his sermon, received an order to keep his house : a mild restraint from which, after a reprimand, he was excused at the end of little more than a month \ News from Rome soon augmented the uneasiness of English Romanists. In that capital Mary's death was known on the 22d of December r. Elizabeth's intentions were conciliatory; and therefore, although determined upon abandoning her sister's ecclesiasti- cal system, she was anxious to effect this change in a manner as little offensive as possible to the Pope and his adherents in England. Instructions, accord- p Strype, Eccl. Mem. Append, iii. 542. q January 19. ' Pallavicino. ii. 122. 1558.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. 609 ingly, were sent to Sir Edward Carne, Mary's ambas- sador at Rome, that he should formally announce to his Holiness the new Queen's accession. Carne also received from home, and most probably at the same time, an order to refrain from exerting his influence in the prosecution of an appeal made to the Pontiff from two private English litigants \ This order was undoubtedly calculated to mortify the papal court, but it probably was not publicly known ; and be- sides, it merely raised such a difficulty as Roman negociation had often overcome. The aged Pope's inveterate antipathies and political schemes inter- posed, however, at once a formidable obstacle to con- cord between himself and the new sovereign. As a counterbalance to Philip's hold upon Elizabeth's affections, Henry of France had caused his daughter- in-law, the Queen of Scots, to claim the throne of England. Mary, accordingly, now laid the founda- tion of that rancorous enmity, which eventually brought her to the scaffold, by a public assumption of the English arms, as heir to Henry VII. Elizabeth being pronounced illegitimate, and hence incapable of inheriting. Not contented with awakening irri- tation and suspicion beyond the Channel by this offensive measure, Henry desired his agents at Rome to enlist the Pontiff on his side l. Any suggestions likely to mortify the pride, and cross the policy of 5 This was a matrimonial cause pending between two persons named Chetwood and Tyrrell. Carne was recalled on the 1st of January. Strype's Annals, i. 51. * " 11 Re Arrigo 1' havea prevenuto a favor della nuora." Pal- lavicino, ii. 123. VOL. IV. R r G10 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1558. Austria, were music in the ears of Paul u. He rea- dily, therefore, committed himself as Henry wished. When Carne announced to him the accession of Eli- zabeth, and her determination that no man should suffer violence on account of his religion, the Pope replied, " I cannot approve this change in your go- vernment, made, as it is, without authority from the Apostolical see, in favour of one illegitimately born ; nevertheless, if the cause be referred to me, I shall decide upon it in the most favourable manner possi- ble \" This insolent and Jesuitical reply was treated by the English government as it deserved. Carne had not received, together with his first instructions, any powers to act as ambassador from his new sove- reign. An intimation was now forwarded to him from the council, that he had better return home. He chose, however, to remain in Rome, and there he died about two years afterwards y. As the Queen evidently from her choice of a coun- cil and her especial confidence in Cecil had ascended the throne with a full intention to repair the Refor- u " Segnalatamente abboniva la nazione Spagnuola, e la casa d' Austria." Ibid. 128. x " Elisabeta fe consacrarsi da un vcscovo Catolico, e intento a spianare gli ostacoli da ogni lato, scrissc all' ambasciadore della morta sorclla in Roma, chc desse conto della sua assunzione al Papa, con significargli insieme, che a niuno sarebbesi fatta violenza per causa di religione. 11 Pontefice rispose alto, e ncg6 di poter approvarla surrogazione d' Elisabeta, come d' illogitima, ecome fatta senza 1' autorita della Sedia Appatottca: n< ndum-im, chc quando avessero a lui commesso 1' arbitrio della cairn, le harebbe usata qualunque grazia possibile." Ibid. Strype's Annals, i. 51 . 1558.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. Gil matron's fallen fortunes, it was early deliberated among those whom she valued most in what manner this purpose could be best accomplished. A scheme for effecting the end in view was drawn up by some unknown individual z, about the beginning of De- cember, and submitted to the consideration of Cecil. This paper suggests, that an alteration in ecclesias- tical affairs should be proposed to the next Parlia- ment ; that persons advanced to places of trust under Queen Mary, having all shewn themselves zealous Papists, should be deprived of their actual authority, and if they be found to have incurred any legal lia- bility, that they should be kept under the lash of the law until reduced to submission ; that those who had adhered to the Queen during her adversity, and ge- nerally persons well affected towards Protestant prin- ciples, should be promoted and encouraged ; that the bishops and others of the spirituality should be over- awed by means of the statute of prcemunire, pecu- niary compositions being exacted from some of them for the relief of the crown's necessities, a species of punishment which, it is represented, the late queen's liberality to them, and their own recent rapacity, would well enable them to bear ; that, according to prece- dents in the late reign, the present rural magistracy be generally replaced by other men of discretion, though z " I suspect it to have been either John Hales, a man of a politic and working head, and a zealous Protestant, and clerk of the hanaper to this Queen, as he had been to King Edward VI. or Sir Thomas Smyth, a very wise man, and secretary of state to King Edward : and I am rather inclined to think it the latter." Strype's Annals, i. 74. Rr 2 612 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1558. somewhat junior and less wealthy3 ; that a law be made against unauthorised assemblies; that persons desirous of an alteration, beyond that which may be resolved upon, be deterred from their opposition by a few examples made at first ; that the universities be visited, and that a committee of divines b meet at the house of Sir Thomas Smyth, for the purpose of preparing a book for the approbation of Parliament. Upon this last suggestion it was determined to act, and accordingly, preparations were made at Sir Thomas Smyth's town residence, in Cannon-row, for the accommodation of the parties named. The knight himself appears to have been intended for president of the board. The whole design, however, a " The third is to be amended even as all the rest above, by such means as Queen Mary taught, that none such, as near as may be, be in commission of peace in the shires, but rather men meaner in substance, and younger in years ; so that they have discretion to be put in place." The reason of this is to be found in a former article. " And no man but he loveth that time wherein he did flourish. And when he can, and as he can, those ancient laws and orders he will maintain and defend with whom, and in whom he was in estimation, authority, and a doer. For every one naturally loveth that which is his own work and crea- ture." Strype's Annals, Append, i. 395, 396. b The divines proposed were Dr. Bill, the Queen's almoner, Master of Trinity-college, in Cambridge, and afterwards Dean of Westminster ; Dr. Parker, late Dean of Lincoln, and soon after- wards Archbishop of Canterbury ; Dr. May, late Dean of St. Paul's, and soon afterwards elect of York ; Dr. Cox, late Dean of Westminster, and Christchurch, Oxford, afterwards Bishop of Ely ; Dr. Pilkington, late Master of St. John's college, Cambridge, and afterwards Bishop of Durham ; Mr. Grindal, late chaplain to Bishop Ridley, and soon afterwards Bishop of London ; and Mr. Whitehead, a grave and elderly divine, highly esteemed by Archbishop Cranmer. Strype's Smyth, Oxf. 1820, p. 56. 1558.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. 613 it was proposed to keep secret for a time from the body of the council ; no persons of quality being made privy to it excepting the Marquess of Nor- thampton, the Earls of Bedford and Pembroke, and the Lord John Grey c. The secresy and caution with which the govern- ment proceeded, kept both Romanists and Reform- ers in a state of feverish excitement. Many Pro- testant ecclesiastics, who had remained at home, and exercised their ministry privately, now came forward, and openly preached again. The exiles were in- tensely interested in the news of Mary's death, and they prepared immediately to revisit their native England. Some of them very soon arrived, and naturally began once more to instruct their country- men. The Reformers generally were in high spirits, and impatient for the destruction of a system which they considered as founded in falsehood and error, and as maintained by idolatry. This last character of popery stimulated violently the forward zeal of many persons professing a more scriptural faith, and they hastened to pull down images, together with other incentives to popular superstition, insidiously placed in the churches. All this activity on the part of their adversaries necessarily filled the Ro- manists with disgust and disquiet. Their more in- fluential men, accordingly, strained every nerve to stem the torrent of opposition. The pulpits every where echoed with the din of controversy, and the two parties, which had for thirty years agitated e Strype's Annals, Append, i. 392. Burnet, Hist. Ref. Re- cords, ii. 450. Cambden. 371. 614 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1558. England, again prepared for uncompromising colli- sion. Elizabeth's confidential advisers looked upon this picture of public irritation with uneasiness, and accordingly, they recommended that silence should be indiscriminately imposed upon the pulpit; a measure sanctioned by precedents in recent reigns. A proclamation, issued on the 27th of December, announced this exercise of the prerogative. It strictly forbade all preaching and teaching, both by clergymen and others ; likewise all innovations, for the present, upon the established form of public worship, beyond the reading in English of the Epis- tle, Gospel, Lord's Prayer, Creed, and Litany. These portions of the service, it seems, had already assumed a vernacular dress in the royal chapel, and they were thus heard in the London churches gener- ally on the new year's day. To this royal proclama- tion obedience was paid but imperfectly, neither party being disposed to keep silence. The Roman- ists, however, being sufficiently convinced that they had most to apprehend from the Queen's meditated purposes, appear to have transgressed her orders more frequently and offensively than their oppo- nents. Innovation had been forbidden only until its manner and measure could be decided in parliament. Such, therefore, as deprecated it altogether, felt ex- treme difficulty in refraining from endeavours to enlist the popular passions on their side. There were, accordingly, Romish ecclesiastics, who not only persisted in preaching, but who also used the pulpit for the dissemination, of libellous and treasonable matter. Among such unhappy zealots, 1558.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. 615 a few were necessarily punished as a terror to others d. The prelates naturally were among the most anxious observers of Elizabeth's measures, and it might seem from the unanimity which they soon displayed, that they consulted among themselves upon the best mode of encountering difficulties evi- dently about to press upon them. The episcopacy of England comprised, at this time, only sixteen individuals : several of that order having been re- moved by death within a short time, either before or after Mary's demise. Of the survivors, Heath, Archbishop of York, had gone with the members of his profession generally in renouncing the Pope, and in approving various ecclesiastical reforms under King Henry ; but he had refused to concur in all the changes of Edward's reign, and he had, accord- ingly, then lost his preferment. Boner, of London, and Tunstall, of Durham, were circumstanced in the same manner. Thirlby, of Ely, and Kitchen, of Llandaff, the two remaining bishops of Henry's ap- pointment, had hitherto complied upon every occa- sion ; but the former might possibly be considered, of late, as irretrievably committed on the papal side, inasmuch as he had gone ambassador to Rome, and had been employed to degrade Archbishop Cranmer. All the other prelates e owed their ad- *' Strype's Annals, i. 59, et sequ. Append. 391. e Viz. White, of Winchester ; Turberville, of Exeter ; Bayne, of Lichfield and Coventry ; Watson, of Lincoln ; Pole, of Pe- terborough ; Pates, of Worcester ; Oglethorpe, of Carlisle; Scot, of Chester ; Bourn, of Bath and Wells; Goldwell, of St. Asaph ; GIG HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1659. vancement to Queen Mary, by whom, undoubtedly, they never would have been selected for elevated posts in the Church, had not their adherence to popery been sufficiently established. A body of dis- tinguished public functionaries, thus pledged to a particular system, could not watch indications of its overthrow without feeling great uneasiness. Their dissatisfaction is thought to have first conspicuously shewn itself at the coronation f, when the honour of placing the crown upon his sovereign's head fell to Bishop Oglethorpe, of Carlisle. An undue de- gree of importance has, however, been attached, probably, to that circumstance. Archbishop Heath had resigned the seals towards the end of December, either, as it must be supposed, from some disgust that he had taken, or from finding his continuance in office unpalatable to the Queen. He could scarcely, therefore, fail to labour under a degree of irritation which would render his services at the coronation, within a few days afterwards, agreeable neither to the sovereign nor to himself. Bishop Boner was universally odious, and had been slighted in a very marked manner by the Queen. Bishop Tunstall had wholly passed the age for occupying the first place in any fatiguing ceremony. Bishop White, of and Morgan, of St. David's. Of these prelates, Richard Pates had long borne the title of Bishop of Worcester, having attended, under that designation, the council of Trent, in its first stage. At length, on Mary's accession, he returned from his long exile, and really obtained that see to which, under papal authority, he had so long advanced an empty pretension. Goldwell had been chaplain to Cardinal Pole. ' ' January 15. 1559.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. 617 Winchester, was under restraint on account of his sermon at the late Queen's funeral. No other pre- late could challenge precedence in right of his see, and for aught that appears, the Bishop of Carlisle was as properly selected for the office of crowning Elizabeth as any one of the less distinguished occu- pants of his bench g. The ceremony was conducted g " As for that some write, it ivas because they (the bishops) had evident probabilities, she (the Queen) intended either not to take or not to keep, the oath was the?i to be administered to her, especially in the particular of not maintaining holy Church's laws, in respect she had shewed an averseness to some ceremo- nies, as commanding the Bishop of Carlisle not to elevate the consecrated host, who stoutly refused her, and out of fear she would refuse in the time of her sacre the solemn divine ceremony of unction: these are certainly without any colour, and framed since. For as for the last, the ceremony of anointing, she had it performed ; as had King James, who succeeded her, who would not have his queen crowned in Scotland without it. For the other it is altogether improbable, that he, to whom the command was by her given, would of all the rest have assented to crown her, had he conceived that a cause why it might have been de- nied : neither, indeed, did she alter any thing material in the ser- vice of the Church, till after the conference at Westminster, 1559, the 31st March, and the Parliament ended." (Twisden's Histo- rical Vindication, 127.) The passage in Italics is extracted from Cardinal Allen's Answer to Lord Burghley's Execution of Jus- tice, p. 51. The same authority is cited by Dr. Lingard, (vii. 349) for a statement that Bp. Oglethorpe disobeyed an order to elevate the consecrated wafer ; but we are told, that it was in the royal chapel : of course previously to the coronation. This is also to be inferred from Sanders, who says, (272) that an order given " to a certain bishop, episcopo cuidam," to omit the eleva- tion was disobeyed, and that Heath, in consequence, as well from other indications of Elizabeth's insincerity, refused to crown her. Ribadeneyra does little else, as to these matters, than translate 618 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1559. in the manner prescribed by the Roman pontifical : hence no Romanist, as such, had any cause to absent himself from it. All the bishops, accordingly, who were at large, appear to have attended it h. The Sanders. Now the foreign Jesuit certainly possessed good means of information, for he was in London, living with the Spanish ambassador, at the time assigned to this prohibition of the eleva- tion, and his omission therefore of the bishop's name is injurious to the credit of the story. Cambden, however, (371) has adopted it, but he has not varied from Sanders. Thus the whole account appears traceable to some common origin, and that one which will not bear a close examination. It probably arose from a dis- like to the mass, which really does appear to have been expressed by Elizabeth, or by some of those who were in her confidence ; for in the Device for altering Religion, already mentioned, one article recommends that mass should be said before the Queen with less frequency than heretofore, for the sake of her High- ness's " own conscience." (Strype's Annals, Append, i. 397.) But that so cautious a sovereign as Elizabeth ordered the discon- tinuance of any ceremony legally established, is utterly improba- ble, and more so still, that the very bishop who crowned her should have received the order for such discontinuance. As for the oath taken by Elizabeth at her coronation, it could occasion no doubt to the bishops as to the propriety of their at- tendance upon that occasion, unless such oath were an engage- ment of submission to the Pope, on the sovereign's part. But no such thing is prescribed in the Roman pontifical, (f. 86.) Nor does Mr. Butler (Book of the Rom. Cath. Church, 229) make it appear that any such oath was required of Elizabeth : he says, that she swore " to maintain the laws, honour, peace, and privi- leges of the Church, as in the time of King Edward the Con- fessor." The best proof of Elizabeth's intention to observe such an oath as this, is the fact that she did observe it. Dr. Lingard merely says, that she " was compelled to take the accustomed oath, and to conform to all the rites of the Catholic pontifical." 351. h " On the 15th day she was crowned with the usual ccremu- 1559.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. 619 Spanish ambassador, indeed, refused to grace it with his presence ' ; but this denial could scarcely have flowed from an apprehension that his religious preju- dices were likely to receive any shock upon this occasion. Elizabeth anxiously sought to abstain nies at Westminster abbey. She first came to Westminster-hall. There went before her trumpets, knights, and lords, heralds of arms in their rich coats ; then the nobles in their scarlet, and all the bishops in scarlet ; then the Queen and all the footmen wait- ing upon her to the hall. There her Grace's apparel was changed. In the hall they met the bishop that was to perform the ceremony, and all the chapel, with three crosses borne before them, in their copes, the bishops mitred; and singing as they passed Salve festa dies." (Strype's Annals, i. 44.) Cambden, however, says, " the Archbishop of York, and some others, refusing to assist at the ceremony." (371.) But it is to be recollected, that the great English antiquary was a child when Elizabeth was crowned, and that he published his history of her reign long after the works of Allen and Sanders had appeared. Nor, besides, does he plainly assert that the bishops were absent from the coronation, but only that they refused to officiate. 1 Ribadeneyra, 245. The reason of Feria's absence is stated to be the result of an enquiry made by him as to the ceremonies of the day. He demanded, we are told, whether all things were to be done according to the usage of the Roman Church upon such occasions ; and finding that some alteration was intended, he refused to be present. But this is obviously a mere surmise of the writer's, suggested by books published after the event : there was no such alteration, and there is no probability that any such was ever intended. The Count was therefore absent, it is probable, from political considerations alone. He had seen, we may reasonably suppose, by this time, that there was very little chance of a marriage between Elizabeth and his master ; and he might, therefore, think it politic to shew signs of displeasure, in order to awaken the Queen's uneasiness at the prospect of being left to struggle with domestic difficulties, unaided by Spain. 620 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1559. from giving offence to either of the religious parties which divided the country. On the day before her coronation, in passing amidst an imposing display of royal parade, and the warmest greetings of popular enthusiasm from the Tower to Westminster, an alle- gorical personage, acting a part in a pageant at the end of Cheapside, offered to her an English Bible, splendidly bound. She received the volume with that winning air of courtesy and good-nature, which ever distinguished her public appearances ; saying at the same time, " I thank you heartily for your pre- sent ; I shall often read this book k." Nevertheless she would not hastily pledge herself to permit the circulation of Scripture, in English. On the morn- ing after her coronation, one of the courtiers jocu- larly said : " As this is a time when your Grace is releasing prisoners, I hope that you will not forget Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, and some others, who have been of late straitly locked up within this realm." Elizabeth gravely replied : " Before they are released, it will be better to enquire of themselves whether or no they would wish it1." Preparations for a new parliament were made, ac- cording to the bad precedents of recent reigns, by ministerial interference with the rights of electors. By this means, and by the creation of five new peers k Strype's Annals, i. 43. 1 Bacon's Apophthegms, cited by Miss Aikin. Memoirs of the Court of Queen Elizabeth, Lond. 1818. i. 254. Heylin says that the gentleman who made this jocular application to Elizabeth was named Rainsford. Hist. l\et\ '275. 1559.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. 621 attached to the Reformation m, a party was secured in both houses disposed to conciliatory and constitu- tional courses in matters of religion. The legis- lators were summoned for the 23d of January, but the Queen's indisposition caused their meeting to be deferred until the 25th. Sir Nicholas Bacon, who had been appointed Lord Keeper on Archbishop Heath's resignation of the seals, opened the business of the session in a long address. A principal object with her Majesty, he said, in assembling her parlia- mentary councillors, was to place religious questions upon a satisfactory footing ; and he assured his auditors, that she desired them, abstaining from irri- tating language and intemperance of every kind, conscientiously and coolly to consult upon such ec- clesiastical arrangements, as were likely to prove of lasting utility. The first bill offered to the upper house n, was for restoring to the crown the first fruits and tenths of spiritual promotions, which had been surrendered to the Church by Queen Mary. The " huge, innumerable, and inestimable charges," pressing upon her Majesty were alleged as her reasons for desiring this resumption, which was cor- m Viz. William Parr, restored to the marquessate of Northamp- ton, which he had lost by attainder as a partizan of the Lady Jane Grey ; Edward Seymour, son of the Protector, created Earl of Hertford ; Thomas Howard, son to Thomas, the late Duke of Norfolk, created Viscount Howard, of Bindon ; Henry Cary, the Queen's cousin-german, as being son to Mary Boleyn, created Baron Hunsdon ; and Oliver St. John, created Baron St. John, of Bletso. Cambden, 371. " January 30. Strype's Annals, i. 83. 622 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1559. dially approved by the lay lords, who voted for it without a single dissentient voice. It was opposed, however, by eight prelates, being all of their order in the house °. After a considerable interval, it was " Viz. Heath, Boner, Pates, Kitchen, Bayne, Turberville, Scot, and Oglethorpe. (Ibid.) Queen Mary gave up the first fruits and tenths of ecclesiastical benefices to the disposal of Cardinal Pole, who was to expend such sums in the augmentation of small livings, and upon other objects beneficial to the Church, at his discretion. At his death many of these payments were in arrear; a fact which drew a circular from the Queen in council, addressed to the several bishops, enjoining them to take measures for the immediate transmission of such sums, due from their respective dioceses, either to Pole's executors, or to receivers who might subsequently be appointed by the Archbishop of York, and the rest of her Majesty's council. This very handsome order appears to have caused the payment of various arrears to the Cardinal's executors, by which the memory of their deceased patron suffered rather severely. What Pole left behind him, he chiefly bequeathed among his Italian friends, saying, not un- reasonably, that as their country had solely supported him during a large portion of his life, it was entitled to such accumulation of property as his own compatriots might at length enable him to make. That this property should have received any degree of augmentation from an impost reluctantly and distressingly paid by an impoverished clergy, was much to be regretted ; as it gave those who disapproved the Cardinal's principles an opportunity of representing that after returning home in poverty, he had amassed, by no reputable means, within a very short time, a con- siderable fortune for his foreign sycophants. Such, accordingly, appears from the following extracts, . to have been the light in which his conduct was placed, even by contemporaries of respect- ability. " Ex quibus quidem primitiis atque decimis cum longe maximus uberrimusque proventus quotannis Polo invectus esset ; detrahi sane illis modicis monachorum fra,trumque stipendiis hand ita multum possit. quin ingen* hide ei thesaurus supcres- 4 1559.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. 623 returned passed from the Commons p ; but the delay- seems not to have arisen from any indisposition to the measure among the people's representatives q. This act restored to the crown not only the first fruits and tenths, but also the impropriate parsonages which Queen Mary had surrendered r. The second bill introduced had for its object the recognition of Elizabeth's title to the throne, upon the grounds of common and statute law, and hereditary succession. To this the bishops agreed, as well as their laical coadjutors'. Two other acts provided against trea- sonable and seditious attacks upon the Queen. By another, which passed unanimously, her Majesty's legitimacy was indirectly asserted. She was hence- set. Hinc ei a patrio more consuetudineque degenerate et ab- horrenti, frequentiores cum Italis atque peregrinis mercatoribus, quam cum Anglis contractus intercesserunt : quibus corrasas patriee pecunias sub usuris turpique foenore credidisse fertur. Cui rei argumento est, quod Roma venit in Angliam inops, scripsit- que Papce se egere ad tantam dignitatem sustinendam facultati- bus; moriens autem, ut dicemus, omissis in Anglia neglectisque suis necessariis, Italos mirum in modum locupletavit." (Parker, 528.) " Longe aliter de his primitiis decimisque percipiendis quam Regina dixerat, sensit Polus, nee eas clero relaxandas, sed a fisco regio in suum aerarium traducendas censuit. Retinuit ille vir cautus, et arte pontificia instructus decimas et primitias duobus amplius annis, ac perpaucis solutis pensionibus queestum ingentem conflavit." De Visibili Monarchia, contra Nic. San- deri Monarchiam TrpoXeyofXEvs libri duo. Georgio Acwortho, legum doctore, authore. Lond. 1573, pp. 127, 128. p March 22. Strype's Annals, i. 85. q Burnet, Hist. Ref. ii. 508. r Ibid. 509. ' Strype's Annals, i. 83. 624 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1559. forth " enabled in blood, and inheritable, according to the due order and course of the common law of the realm, to the late Queen Anne, her mother, and to all other of her ancestors and cousins of the part of the said mother V There were those who thought that Elizabeth ought rather to have imi- tated her sister's example, in obtaining the repeal of those enactments which declared her mother's mar- riage null, and her own birth illegitimate. But the course actually taken was that which comported best with the temperate and cautious character of her counsels. By being pronounced inheritable from her unfortunate mother, according to common law, the Queen was, in effect, legally relieved from the stigma of a spurious origin. At the same time, by resting contented with such a measure of relief, she evaded the necessity of provoking discussions injurious to the memory of her father. On the 9th of February, the royal supremacy was debated in the House of Commons. It appears to have been originally intended to do little or nothing more in this matter than revive the statutes enacted under King Henry for protecting the crown's eccle- siastical prerogatives u. But these enactments were unnecessarily severe, and besides they pronounced the sovereign Supreme Head of the Church ; a title deemed objectionable not only by many of her sub- jects, but also by the Queen herself; inasmuch as 1 Strype's Annals, Append. 398. u See Hist. Ref. under King Henry VIII. i. 377. 431. * This scruple appears to have been infused into Elizabeth's 1559.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. 025 it was thought that the bearer of it assumed thereby something of the priestly character. The bill, ac- cordingly, was lost, on the 13th of February, after much debating. On the following day, a committee was appointed to draw a new bill, and this object having been attained to the satisfaction of the Com- mons, the measure passed their House. When, however, it reached the Lords, it was judged to re- quire amendment, and therefore submitted to a com- mittee consisting of the Marquess of Winchester, Lord Treasurer, the Duke of Norfolk ; the Earls of Westmoreland, Shrewsbury, Rutland, Sussex, and Pembroke ; the Viscount Montague ; the Bishops Turberville, of Exeter, and Oglethorpe of Carlisle ; and the Barons Clinton, Morley, Rich, Willoughby, and North. These distinguished persons were gene- rally notorious for their adherence to Romish opi- nions. Yet they made very little difficulty in preparing for the House an amended bill declara- tory of the royal supremacy. Nor did the temporal peers, the Earl of Shrewsbury, and the Viscount Montague alone excepted, vote against this bill when it came before the House. The prelacy y, however, was unanimous in its opposition, and two of that body delivered speeches, yet extant, against it. Of these, one was spoken by Archbishop Heath, mind by Lever, a reformed clergyman of high reputation. Dr. Sandys to Dr. Parker : dated April ult. 1559. Burnet, Hist. Ref. Records, ii. 456. y The dissenting prelates were Heath, Boner, White, Pates, Kitchen, Bayne, Turberville, Scot, Oglethorpe, and Fecken- ham, Abbot of Westminster. Strype's Annals, i. 84. VOL. IV. S S 626 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1559. but it is very ill calculated to impress the speaker's views upon any assembly competently informed. The Archbishop admits, that it would be of no great importance to withdraw obedience from the reigning Pope, inasmuch as that pontiff had been " an aus- tere, stern father to England ever since his first entrance into Peter's chair ;" but he maintains, that by forsaking the see of Rome, his countrymen would relinquish all general councils, all the laws of Christ's Church, all the judgments of Christian princes, and the unity of Christ's Church. The last of these alleged evils he ridiculously represents as " a leaping out of Peter's ship, whereby we should hazard our- selves to be overwhelmed and drowned in the waters of schism, sects, and divisions." Nor is he much happier in any of his points, the whole argument merely resting upon misrepresentations easily refuted, puerile sophisms, assertions that preachers from Rome have in all ages inculcated the same doctrines, and appeals to the darkest portions of history z. The other speech remaining against the royal supre- macy came from Scot, Bishop of Chester, and it maintains, that as there is a gradation of authority in temporals from constables to kings, so must there be one in spirituals from curates to popes. The speaker then, confounding as usual an ecclesiastical establishment with a system of religious opinions, argues that those who represent the supremacy as an integral member of the sovereignty, must either admit the existence of Christ's Church with an iufi- Sfaype's Innals, Append, i, 399. 1559.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. 627 del head, or her total want of a head until the con- version of Constantine. That religious unity cannot consist in the mere holding of a scriptural faith is inferred from the statement, that there existed thirty-four sects, all differing both from each other, and from the Catholic Church, yet all, notwithstand- ing, constantly laying claim to such faith. These principles are enforced by an examination of various cases in which they have been denied ; and the speaker endeavours to make it appear, that impugn- ers of the papal supremacy have either penitently retracted that opinion, or have been reduced to ex- treme misery. The opinion itself, he says, was imported into England from Germany, and in that country it is traceable to Luther, who learned it, ac- cording to his own account, from the devil a. To the temporal peers, however, these arguments, or rather representations, were addressed in vain. The bill, indeed, underwent various alterations, and re- ceived several additions, both in the Upper House, and in the Lower, before it finally passed : a consummation which was delayed until Saturday, the 6th of May, two days only before the Parlia- ment was dissolved. At that time Anthony Browne, Viscount Montague, was the only laical opponent of the measure ; and his opposition appears mainly to have arisen from personal considerations. He had been one of the ambassadors despatched to Rome, on the reconciliation of England to the Papacy, and he now maintained that it would be neither honour- Strype's Annals, Append, i. 422. as 2 628 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1559, able nor politic suddenly to break asunder a con- nexion so happily renewed b. This important act was introduced to the nation as no measure of recent origin, but merely as a de- claration of the ancient law of England. It is entitled, accordingly, An act restoring to the crown the ancient jurisdiction over the estate ecclesias- tical and spiritual, fyc c. Before the reign of King Henry VIII. this jurisdiction, though demonstrably coeval with the monarchy, had become known but imperfectly, even to the generality of men in the better-informed circles. Habits of deference for the Roman bishop, originating in respect for the most dignified see and the most learned theologians of western Europe d, had gradually unfolded the papal 6 Twisden's Hist. Vind. 129. Cambden, 372. Strypers Annals, i. 84. e England's Independency upon the Papal Power historically and judicially stated, by Sir John Davis, Attorney General in Ireland, and by Sir Edward Coke, Lord Chief Justice in England : with a preface by Sir John Pettus, knight. Lond. 1674, p. 45. d " As of late times, when certain divines at Frankford, 1554, differed about the Common Prayer used in England, Knox and Whittingham appealed to Calvin for his opinion ; and receiving his 200 epistle, it so wrought in the hearts of many, that they were not so stout to maintain all the parts of the book as they were then against it. And Dr. Cox, and some other who stood for the use of the said book, wrote unto him excusing themselves that they put order in their Church without his counsel asked. Which honour they shewed him not as esteeming him to have any authority of office over them, but in respect of his learning and merits. As these, therefore, carried so much honour, and yielded great obedience to Calvin, and the Church of Geneva, 1559.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. G29 elaims to an authority over Christendom. Too commonly these pretensions were abetted by the secular clergy, either from conscientious or from in- terested motives. The regulars naturally bent all their energies to exalt the papacy. There could be no doubt that its advancement was identified with their own. Thus all the West became in time over- spread with a vast mass of shrewd intelligence, ever upon the watch to mislead the public mind as to the real character of the Roman see. Meanwhile, the different national legislatures did not always slumber, but asserted, at intervals, their superiority to this foreign authority. The records of English jurisprudence are abundantly fruitful in attestations of a jealousy so manifestly patriotic. A series of canons, statutes, and other evidences, establishing the crown's ecclesiastical supremacy, descends unin- by them then held the purest reformed church in Christendom : so it cannot be denied but our ancestors, the Saxons, attributed no less to the Pope and the Church of Rome, who yet never invaded the rights of this, as contrary to the council of Ephesus and the canons of the Church of England ; but left the govern- ment of it to the English prelates, yet giving his best advice and assistance for increasing devotion, and maintenance of the law ecclesiastical among them, in which each side placed the supe- riority. From whence it proceeded, that however the Pope was sought *o from hence, he rarely sent hither any legate. In the council of Calcuith, held about 180 years after Augustine, it is observed, a tempore Sancti Augustini, Pontificis sacerdos Ho- manus nullus in Britanniam missus est, nisi nos. And Ead- merus, that it was inauditum i?i Britannia, quemlibet hominum super se vices Apostolicas gerere, nisi solum Archiepiscopwn Cantuarice." Twisden, 10. 630 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1559. terruptedly downwards from the Heptarchy to the Reformation e. It is not uncommonly supposed, that * The earliest appeal from England to Rome upon record, is that of the turbulent, vain, and innovating Wilfrid, Bishop of York, about the year 680. The Saxons, however, refused to abide by the papal judgment in this case. The English princes, indeed, of that ancient race exerted, upon all proper occasions, that ecclesiastical character which they expressly claimed. They regulated the administration of baptism, and of the Eucharist, defined impediments to matrimony, dispensed with the vows of nuns, divided old, and erected new bishoprics, and in fine exer- cised all those prerogatives, with the concurrence of national au- thorities alone, which are said by papal partisans to need the Pope's especial cognizance. The Conqueror, though he under- took his enterprise under the pontiff's sanction, and though he used that dignitary's services in dispossessing the Anglo-Saxon clergy, yet was careful to have these deprivations conducted under his own eye and authority, thus evidently shewing that he merely meant to make a parade of taking the Roman bishop's advice, but that he had no thought of admitting his right of interference in English affairs. In fact, when the celebrated Hildebrand, presuming upon the services rendered by his see in the subjuga- tion of England, ventured to require an oath of fidelity from William, the proposal was indignantly rejected. Rufus too was resolute in maintaining England's ecclesiastical independence, in opposition to the Italian and monastic prejudices of Archbishop Anselm. Henry I. asserted that it was the custom of his king- dom, instituted by his father, and therefore of course derived from Edward the Confessor, that no man should appeal to the Pope without the king's license. Under the miserable usurp- ation of Stephen, however, appeals to Rome were allowetl. But in the next reign, by the constitutions of Clarendon, this conni- vance was absolutely forbidden ; and it was also made high treason to bring papal excommunications into England ; to bring other decrees for execution was made punishable by forfeiture of goods and imprisonment. The weak princes who immediately followed the second Henry, proved unequal to maintain the struggle against 1559.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. 631 to this latter period is to be referred the origin of such enactments as interdict England's dependence Rome and their own clergy. Even John, however, did not forget to assert his crown's prerogatives, although in the end he sur- rendered them more basely than any other occupant of the English throne. By the statute of Merton, 29 Henry III. the papal canons, regulating legitimacy of birth, were repudiated. Edward I. vindicated his country's laws, by ordering the execution, as a traitor, of a man who brought from Rome an excommunication levelled against a fellow-subject : an order, of which the revo- cation was obtained with extreme difficulty, upon condition that the offender should be banished for life. In this monarch's reign was also passed the statute of Provisors ; the first parlia- mentary enactment which interdicted papal interference in English affairs. Under the feeble rule of Edward II. the Pope again endeavoured to usurp over England, to the great disgust of the more independent classes. Under Edward III. an English ex- communication was maintained against a papal sentence to the contrary, the archdeacon of Richmond was exempted from epis- copal jurisdiction by royal authority, the right of the crown, as supreme ordinary, to present by lapse was asserted, and the sta- tute of praemunire was passed. Under Richard II. this statute was explained and enforced by farther enactments, which award the severest penalties to every one who should attempt to act upon any foreign jurisdiction within the realm of England. Under Henry IV. it was determined that papal bulls were in themselves of no force or authority in England ; and in the same reign it was unanimously decided by the judges, that the legal remedies provided against the Pope's interference were not pro- visions of recent origin, but mere affirmations of the common lawt In unison with this body of evidence, is a clause in a statute of the 10th of Henry VII., which declares that the king is a mixed person, having something of the priest in his character, inasmuch as he possesses an ecclesiastical as well as a temporal jurisdiction. De Antiqua Libertate Eccl. Brit. Brem. 1701. p. 133. Sir J. Davis, and Sir E. Coke, ap. Pettus, 11. 49. et sequ. Collier i. Innett's Oiig. Angl, i. Twisden. Archbishop Bramhall's Just Vindication. 632 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1559. upon Rome. But nothing can be more erroneous than such an opinion. The Reformation deprived the Pope of no privilege which had not been denied to him centuries before, both by the common and the statute law of the land. That important revo- lution acted upon the papal usurpation in a manner hitherto unknown, only by prescribing tests exclud- ing from offices of trust all persons who had ever been constitutionally disqualified for such offices by the holding of opinions in favour of a foreign eccle- siastical supremacy. Before the Reformation, no precautions were taken against the employment of functionaries theoretically favourable to the papal pretensions. But such persons no sooner began to act upon their principles, than they exposed them- selves to the severest penalties. It is true, that these denunciations, like a sword in the scabbard, usually slept harmlessly in the statute-book. The weakness, the connivance, and the express dispen- sations of princes allowed whole generations of men to live in obedience to Rome. But such obedience never ceased to be unconstitutional and illegal, nor even free from danger to individuals. The evils of a sys- tem in which the people habitually transgressed the law, and the prince overlooked their transgression, were strikingly exemplified when Henry VIII. proceeded against the clergy under the statute of prccmunire '. This system, in fact, gave to the crown a dangerous discretion which the subject was imperiously called upon to withhold. The acts of supremacy passed ' See Hist. Ref. under King Henry VIII. i. 279. 1559.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. 633 under Henry and Elizabeth conferred this benefit upon the country, by excluding from office all per- sons whose principles rendered them constitutionally incapable of it. The statute passed under the lat- ter sovereign, provides that " every ecclesiastical per- son, and every ecclesiastical officer, or minister, and every temporal judge, justice, and mayor, and every other lay or temporal officer and minister, and every other person having the Queen's fee or wages within the realm," were to take a prescribed oathg B Viz. " I, A. B. do utterly testify and declare in my consci- ence, that the Queen's Highness is the only supreme governor of this realm, and of all other her highness's dominions and coun- tries, as well in all spiritual or ecclesiastical things or causes, as temporal ; and that no foreign prelate hath, or ought to have any jurisdiction, power, superiority, pre-eminence, or authority ecclesiastical or spiritual, within this realm ; and therefore I do utterly renounce and forsake all foreign jurisdictions, powers, su- periorities, and authorities, and do promise, that from henceforth 1 shall bear faith and true allegiance to the Queen's Highness, her heirs, and lawful successors, and to my power shall assist and defend all jurisdictions, pre-eminences, privileges, and authori- ties granted or belonging to the Queen's Highness, her heirs and successors, or united or annexed to the imperial crown of the realm. So help me God, and the contents of this book." (But- ler's Hist. Mem. of the Engl. Cath. i. 156.) It is obvious, that this oath is in unison with the eighth canon among the Constitutions of Clarendon passed in 1164, under Henry II. and admitted by the prelates present to be nothing more than a declaration of the ancient law of England. (In- nett's Orig. Angl. ii. 255.) Const. Clar. viii. " In case of appeals in ecclesiastical causes, the first step is to be made from the archdeacon to the bishop ; and from the bishop to the archbishop ; and if the archbishop fails to do justice a farther recourse may be had to the king: by 634 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1559. declaratory of the sovereign's ecclesiastical suprema- cy, upon pain of forfeiting their respective offices, and whose order the controversy is to be finallij decided in the arch- bishop's court. Neither shall it be lawful for either of the par- ties to move for any farther remedy without leave from the crown." (Collier, i. 352.) Thus the decision of English appeals is ex- pressly claimed for the crown as a constitutional privilege ; but inasmuch as the Roman divines and canonists enjoyed the highest reputation, it was conceded, that their opinion might be asked, if the King thought fit to grant such indulgence to either of the litigating parties. The incessant attempts to evade the constitutional principles laid down at Clarendon made by papal emissaries, and their cle- rical co-adjutors in England, drew from the national legislature, at length, the following enactment. 16. Ric. II. " If any purchase or pursue, or cause to be purchased or pur- sued, in the court of Rome, or elsewhere, any such translations, processes, and sentences of excommunications, bulls, instru- ments, or any other things whatsoever, which touch the King, against him, his crown, and his regality, or his realm as is afore- said, and they which bring within the realm, or them receive, or make thereof notification, or any other execution whatsoever within the same realm, or without ; they, their notaries, procu- rators, maintainers, abetters, fautors, and counsellors shall be put out of the King's protection, and their lands and tenements, goods and chattels forfeit to our lord the King : and they be at- tached by their bodies, if they may be found, and brought before the King and his council, there to answer to the cases aforesaid." (Collier, i. 595.) By a former statute of this King (Ibid. 592.) the serving of foreign processes, citations, or excom- munications is made liable to the loss of life and member. It is demonstrable that these enactments harmonize with the whole course of previous English legislation. The oath of supremacy, therefore, enjoined under Elizabeth, was nothing more than a test, which experience had shewn to be necessary, whereby per- sons labouring under a constitutional disqualification were ex- cluded from offices of trust. It had ever been a maxim of 1559.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. 635 of being disabled from holding any office in future. Other clauses of the act awarded, as a punishment of the first offence, the forfeiture of goods and chat- tels, and a year's imprisonment to such as main- tained by writing, word, or deed, the authority of any foreign prince, prelate, or potentate ; the second English law, that the Roman bishop has of right no more power in England, than any other foreign bishop ; individuals, there- fore, who hold an opinion contrary to this principle, are neces- sarily objects of suspicion with those who value the constitution, and are, moreover, liable to heavy punishments, provided too in Romish times, if they attempt to follow up their conviction upon this subject. The question, accordingly, was no sooner exa- mined in the time of Henry VIII. than the Pope's pretensions were universally rejected ; as appears from the following passage cited by Abp. Bramhall from Bp. Gardiner, De Vera Obedien- tia. " No foreign bishop hath authority among us. All sorts of people are agreed upon this point with most steadfast consent, that no manner of person bred or brought up in England hath aught to do with Rome." (Just Vindic. of the Ch. of Engl. Lond. 1654. p. 42.) It may be added, the Convocation, recon- ciled, v as it was called, in December, 1554, apprehended that the Parliament, however subservient, would probably fail, as in fact it did, to overthrow completely the ancient bulwarks of the constitution, and hence, that papal partizans would still be left under the lash of ancient statutes. An attempt, accordingly, was made by the clergy to* obtain some modification of the sta- tute of provisors. This, however, failed, and thus the statute- book was yet allowed to raise its menacing voice against the papal supremacy, even by one of the most degraded Parliaments that ever sat in England. Indeed that interested and subservient body of legislators even indirectly confirmed the constitutional principle of proscribing appeals to Rome, by denouncing the penalties of a prcemunire against all who should attempt to dis- turb titles to property once ecclesiastical, by processes either at home, or abroad. 636 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1559. such offence was to be visited by the penalties of a praemunire : the third, by those of high treason. That such an act should have passed with so much unanimity, may fairly be attributed to its strictly constitutional nature. The ministers and their agents could bring abundant evidence from the sta- tute-book, and other incontrovertible authorities, to prove that the parties affected by this measure were actuated by principles at variance with the whole stream of English jurisprudence ; being therefore persons who never could, at any period, have been constitutionally admitted to offices of trust within the realm. Nor, it might be added, was the eccle- siastical supremacy a peculiar prerogative of the English crown h. It is notorious, that the Christian emperors of Rome exercised it, and that all Christian princes have exercised it more or less . Besides, no man in either House of Parliament could have for- gotten that the late Queen Mary, bigotted as was h The ecclesiastical supremacy of princes is admitted in the following passages translated by Abp. Bramhall, from Cardinal Pole, De Concilio : a tract printed in Labbe and Cossart's Coun- cils, (xiv. 1665.) and elsewhere. " God the Father hath assigned this office to Christian emperors, that they should act the part of Christ; the Son of God." (Respons. ad queest. 74. Lab. et Coss. 1715.) " The Pope, as a priestly head, doth ex- ecute the office of Christ, the true head ; but we may also truly say, that the Emperor doth execute the office of Christ, as a kingly head." (Respons. ad quccst. 75. Ibid.) Bramhall's Just Vindic. 34. 1 Of such interference in ecclesiastical affairs the Novels of Justinian, and the Capitulars of Charlemagne are instances. See Bramhall, 116, 117. 1559.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. 637 her adherence to Rome, had repeatedly assumed a discretion in ecclesiastical affairs \ In opposition to a case so plain, to talk of King Lucius, St. Peter's ship, Catholic unity, the miseries of Germany, the satanical temptations of Luther, and other such idle dreams, must have appeared to the generality of hearers a mere waste of time. It is, indeed, hardly to be supposed that the prelates would have opposed unanimously a measure capable in the main, theolo- gically, constitutionally, and historically of a defence so triumphant, as is the bill of supremacy, had they not felt themselves under circumstances of more than ordinary embarrassment. It appears, however, that such was actually their condition. Most of them had notoriously sworn different ways respecting the papal supremacy; greatly to the injury of their re- putations, it being now said, that their decision as to this matter was utterly unworthy of notice K To k Queen Mary not only ordered the celebration of mass in places where it could not be legally said, and exercised other eccle- siastical prerogatives, before the submission of England to Rome ; but also after that event, she granted a license to Pole, authorising him to act as papal legate (a plain proof that her ad- visers admitted the illegality of his character until sanctioned by the crown) evaded the recal of his legation, and refused to admit Peto's red hat into the kingdom. 1 " And where some here doth say, that they will never trust those men which once denied the Pope's authority, and now of the contrary, stand in the defence of the same ; in my judgment, their sayings be not greatly to be allowed. For it may happen, as oftentimes it doth chance indeed, that a man of honesty, worship, yea of honour, may commit treason against his prince, and yet by the goodness of the same prince be pardoned for that 11 638 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1559. this reflexion, probably, must their conduct be attri- buted upon the present occasion. They were fully sensible, that if they should forswear the Pope once more, they must go to their graves under the impu- tation of having lived indifferent to such perjuries as might secure their temporal interests m. offence : shall we determinately say that man is never after to be trusted in the prince's affairs ? Nay, God forbid : but rather think of the contrary, that he which once hath run so hastily and so rashly that he hath overthrown himself and fallen, and broken his brow or his shin, will after that take heed to walk more warily." Speech of Scot, Bishop of Chester, against the bill of supremacy. Strype's Annals, Append, i. 419. ra It may be added, that the papal claims to an ecclesiastical supremacy over England are at variance with the decision of the general council of Ephesus (A. D. 431.) upon occasion of an ap- peal from the island of Cyprus, against the encroachments of the Patriarch of Antioch. Abp. Bramhall thus translates this deci- sion : " If it be not the ancient custom that the bishops of An- tioch ordain in Cyprus, as the council is sufficiently satisfied ; the Cyprian prelates shall hold their rights untouched and unvio- lated, according to the canons of the holy fathers, and the ancient •custom, ordaining their own bishops. And let the same be ob- served in other dioceses, and in all provinces, that no bishop occtipy another province which formerly and from the beginning -was not under the power of him, or his predecessors. If any do occupy another province, or subject it by force, let him restore it, that the canons of the fathers be not slighted, nor pride creep into the Church under the pretext of worldly power; lest by little and little, that liberty be lost which Christ purchased for us with his blood. Therefore it hath pleased the holy synod, that every province enjoy its rights and customs unviolated, which it had from the beginning ." (Just. Vind. 94. Labb. et Coss. iii. 801.) Now it is notorious that there is no evidence whatever of a juris- diction over Britain exercised by the Roipan bishops from the beginning. On the contrary, it is known, that at the end of the 1559.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. 639 The act of supremacy corrected numerous anoma- lies introduced into English jurisprudence by the unpatriotic fanaticism of the late Queen's adminis- tration. A restraint was laid by this act upon the citation of parties before ecclesiastical authorities acting without the dioceses in which such parties dwelt. All appeals to a foreign jurisdiction were prohibited ; payments of first-fruits and tenths to the see of Rome were forbidden ; provision was made for enforcing the constitutional dependence of the clergy upon the crown ; also for the election and consecra- tion of the prelacy within the realm. All pecuniary exactions heretofore demanded by the Pope were henceforth to cease ; all dispensations and licenses obtained from him were to be sought from the na- tional authorities. The facilities provided under Henry VIII. for the appointment of suffragan bishops were revived ; pretended licenses and dispensations sixth century there existed a Church in our island wholly uncon- nected with that of Rome, and differing- from it in several parti- culars. It is true indeed that papal partizans endeavour to elude arguments drawn from such facts, by talking about King Lucius, and other personages, whose existence and exploits are equally easy to ascertain; but it is evident that they might as well appeal to Ovid's Metamorphoses. Hence Father Barnes, an English Benedictine monk, freely admits, that this country formerly pos- sessed the Cyprian privilege of an exemption from the jurisdic- tion of any patriarch. " Ex can. 8. Ephesino, debent conser- vari, imo et vi ablata repeti ecclesiarum antiqua privilegia. Insula autem Britannise gavisa est olim privilegio Cyprio, ut nul- lius patriarchse legibus subderetur." Joh. Barnesii Ben. Angl. sent, de Eccl. Angl. priv. ex Cath. Rom. Pacif. sect. 3. Inter Opusc. Var. Brem. 1701, p. 160. 640 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1559. from the see of Rome were annulled ; the law of marriage was restored to the footing upon which it had been placed in the reigns of Henry VIII. and Edward VI. Doctors of civil law, being married, were allowed to exercise ecclesiastical jurisdiction. Irreverent speeches against the Eucharist were made punishable, according to the statute of Edward VI.; and communion under both kinds was restored to the people. And, lastly, the persecuting statutes, re- vived under Queen Mary, were repealed n. That all these provisions in this excellent act were just and expedient, is sufficiently manifest ; that they were also strictly constitutional, is capable of demonstra- tion. Modern papal partizans maintain, that before the Reformation a distinction was accurately made in this island between the Pope's temporal and spi- ritual claims. The national records, however, prove, that the ancient English attempted not, as a body, to make any such distinction. They viewed, indeed, the Roman see with respect and deference, but their legislative voice was repeatedly raised to deny its right to any jurisdiction over their country. Eliza- beth's act of repeal, which abrogated her sister's arrangements in favour of the papacy, did therefore little more than ratify the solemn decisions of her remote progenitors. At the same time care was taken in thus asserting the crown's ancient and un- alienable prerogatives, to guard against offence and misrepresentation. It had been asserted, that the sovereign, in bearing the title of Supreme Head, had " Strype's Annals, i. 103. 1559.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. 641 assumed a character nearly or quite identical with that of the Pope, who is a priest as well as a judge. In order to disarm such objectors, it is stated, in the act of supremacy, " that the Queen's Highness is the only supreme governor of this realm, and all other her Highness's dominions and countries, as well in spiritual and ecclesiastical causes as temporal ; and that no foreign prince, person, prelate, state, or po- tentate, hath or ought to have any jurisdiction, power, superiority, &c. within this realm0." No- thing more is therefore claimed for the crown, under this act, than its inherent right to the supreme regu- lation of ecclesiastical affairs within the limits of its ordinary jurisdiction. For the future exercise of such right, this act em- powered the sovereign to nominate, by letters patent, under the great seal, certain commissioners, being- natural born subjects, for the decision of ecclesiasti- cal causes : also " to visit, reform, redress, order, correct, and amend all such errors, heresies, schisms, abuses, offences, &c. which by any spiritual or eccle- siastical power, authority, or jurisdiction can or may be lawfully reformed, ordered, redressed, corrected, restrained, or amended." It was, however, provided, that such commissioners should pronounce nothing to be heresy, which had not been heretofore so ad- judged : " by the plain words of the canonical Scrip- tures, or by any one of the first four general coun- cils, or by any other general council, wherein the same was declared heresy, by the express and plain 0 Strype's Annals, i. 101. VOL. IV. T t G42 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1559. words of the canonical Scripture, or that should here- after by the Parliament, with the assent of the Con- vocation p." This portion of the act led to the ap- pointment of the High Commission court : upon which were devolved the powers which Henry VIII. had entrusted to a Vicar-general. On the 15th of February a bill for the restoration of the English Liturgy was offered to Parliament q. It was, however, soon laid aside ; most probably in consequence of allegations, that the subject had not been duly considered by competent judges. The royal supremacy was obviously a question within the ordinary range of legal and political research. But it might be reasonably said, that liturgical matters demanded the intervention of professed theologians. Of such persons, however, none favourable to the Reformation were in Parliament ; and even those members of that body who held Romish opinions, would naturally desire to come into the House pre- pared for a debate of religious importance, with the best assistance that could be obtained from their party out of doors. In order to meet the just expec- tations of both parties, it was determined at the p Strype's Annals, i. 100. Twisden, 160. Cecil, one of the commissioners for compiling the Reformatio Legion, under Ed- ward, was now, it should be recollected, the Queen's most confi- dential adviser; and therefore, no doubt, he had been consulted in preparing the bill of supremacy. These circumstances afford an additional reason for believing, that the compilers of the Reformatio intended to restrict the penalties of heresy to opi- nions branded by that name, in the first four general councils. q Strype's Annals, i. 109. 1559.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. 643 council-board, that a public conference upon certain leading articles of controversy should be arranged between a defined number of select disputants. The Archbishop of York, accordingly, received a commu- nication from some of his brother councillors, ap- prising him formally of the design in view, and enjoining him, in concert with others of the prelacy, to nominate eight, nine, or ten Romanists, as anta- gonists to an equal number of Reformers at the pro- posed conference. The principles upon which the business was to be conducted were, that all the argu- ments should be in writing ; that they should also be in English, for the better information of numerous persons, especially members of the legislature, who desired to consider them ; that they should be pub- licly read at the times prescribed for that purpose ; and that the disputants on each side should deliver their writings to those on the other, in order to give them an opportunity of producing, upon a future oc- casion, such additions or corrections as might be found necessary. After the delay of a few days Archbishop Heath, having consulted his brethren, submitted to the council the names of four bishops, and four ecclesiastics of inferior station, as disputants on the Romish sider. The bishops were White of Winchester, Watson of Lincoln, Bayne of Lichfield and Coventry, and Scot of Chester. Their asso- ciates were, Cole, Dean of St. Paul's, Langdale, Arch- deacon of Lewes, Harpsfield, Archdeacon of Canter- r Declaration of the Proceedings of a Conference begun at Westminster, &c. Burnet, Hist. Ref. Records, ii. 474. T t 2 644 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1559. bury, and Chadsey, Archdeacon of Middlesex ; all men of considerable professional eminence. On the Protestant side were nominated Scory, late Bishop of Chichester, Whitehead, Jewel, Aylmer, Cox, Grindal, Home, and Guest5. As the balance of dignity lay on the Romish side, the order was, that its advocates should be first called upon for their papers'. The questions proposed were: 1. Whe- ther it is not against the word of God, and the cus- tom of the ancient Church, to use a tongue unknown to the people in the common prayers, and in the ad- ministration of the sacraments ? 2. Whether every Church has not authority to appoint, change, and take away ceremonies and ecclesiastical rites, so that the same be done to edification ? 3. Whether it can be proved from the Word of God, that in the mass there is a propitiatory sacrifice for the dead and living u ? About ten days were allowed for pre- paring the required writings, and it is probable that this space was industriously filled by the advocates on both sides. The Romanists are known to have been very much upon the alert, seeking assistance from the Universities, and from every other quarter whence it might be reasonably expected x. On Friday, March 31, the disputants met in Westminster-abbey, the Privy Council and both houses of Parliament being present. The liturgical use of a tongue popularly unintelligible, was to be Strype's Annals, i. 128. 1 Declaration, &c. 475. u Burnet, Hist. Rcf. ii. 605. * Juellus ad P. Martyrem, Ibid. Records, iii. 357. 1559.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. 645 the subject of discussion. An intelligent advocate would soon be reduced to utter despair in preparing for the defence of this usage against assailants of ability. The following, accordingly, was the miser- able device by which the Romanists endeavoured to escape from a contest so hopeless. When their papers were demanded, White, Bishop of Winches- ter, said that he and his friends, not having been allowed sufficient time for thinking upon a matter of so much importance, had brought nothing written with them, but that one of them would, if desired, allege extemporaneously some reasons for the conti- nuance of a foreign language in public worship. This speech occasioned general surprise and disgust among the auditors; it being notorious, that ample time had been allowed for preparing the expected argument, that great exertions had been made among eminent Romanists for the purpose, and that Archbishop Heath had expressly approved the plan of a conference in writing : observing, that " to contend with words is profitable to nothing, but to the subversion of the hearer y." Nevertheless, the Romish offer, evasive as it was, did not meet with rejection ; permission being given for the delivery of an extemporaneous address. Dr. Cole then stepped forward, and spoke with extreme vehemence, con- stantly referring to a mass of written authorities with which he had come provided, and being fre- quently prompted by his friends around him. In y Something much like this is found 2 Tim. ii. 14, and it is described as of apostolic origin, in the Declaration. 646 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1559. the course of his harangue, he stamped with his feet, tossed his arms about, incessantly shifted the position of his body, snapped his fingers, and worked his eyebrows up and down. His matter was in keeping with his manner. He never could mention the Reformers without loading them with abuse, as the firebrands of sedition, and the authors of all un- quietness. By way of introducing his arguments, he said, that England had received the Gospel more than thirteen hundred years before ; and he asked repeatedly, with triumphant emphasis : " From what literary remains, what annals, what monuments can it be made to appear, that the public prayers were then said in our island in the English tongue ?" After taking leave of this interrogation, he displayed one of his gravest looks, and enjoined his audience to mark with especial heed, that the Apostles had divided the globe into the East and the West : the latter being- assigned to the superintendence of Peter and Paul, the former to that of the remaining Apostles. The western division included, the speaker said, nearly all Europe, and its two apostolic teachers used, in its spiritual affairs, only the Latin tongue. In like manner, Greek alone was employed by those who evangelised the eastern half of Christendom. As reasons for following these apostolical precedents, he maintained with a solemn and magisterial air, that nothing is more inexpedient than to bring down religious rites to the level of vulgar understandings, for that ignorance is the mother of devotion \ * Juellus ad P. Martyrem, Burnet, Hist. Rcf. Records, iii. 357. The council of Trent decided on the 17th of September, 1559.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. 617 Cole having concluded, his associates were asked, whether they had any thing more to say ? and a ne- 1562, that mass should be said in a dead language, in the follow- ing terms ; " Etsi missa magnam contineat populi fidelis erudi- tionem, non tamen expedire visum est patribus, ut vulgari lingua passim celebraretur. Quamobrem retento ubiquecuj usque eccle- sise antiquo, et a sancta Romana ecclesia, omnium ecclesiarum matre et magistra, probato ritu, ne oves Christi esuriant, neve parvuli panem petant, et non sit qui f'rangat eis : mandat sancta synodus pastoribus, et singulis curam animarum gerentibus, ut frequenter inter missarum celebrationem, vel per se, vel per alios, ex iis quos in missa leguntur, aliquid exponant, atque inter csetera, sanctissimi hujus sacrificii mysterium aliquod declarent, diebus praesertim Dominicis et festis." (Labb. et Coss. xiv. 855.) In this canon, of which the former and more material part is sup- ported by no marginal reference whatever, both F. Paul (573) and Le Courayer (ii. 285) understand rightly enough as it seems, by the term patribus the fathers, or those Greek and Latin divines, who wrote in the earlier ages of the Christian eera. The assertion, however, thus interpreted, is a palpable falsehood. The fathers wrote for those who spoke Greek and Latin vernacu- larly, and to whom, accordingly, a liturgy in those tongues was an intelligible service. Besides, in the times of the fathers, Coptic, Syriac, and other liturgies were used by people who spoke those languages. In pronouncing this absurd canon, the Tren- tine council might therefore seem, as Le Courayer suggests (294) to have been merely actuated by a determination to change nothing, for fear it should seem to be admitted, that the Pro- testants ever could be right. Cardinal Pallavicino (ii. 492), de- fends this canon upon the following grounds: 1. The difficulty of translating accurately from one language into another; hence the propriety of using a single language in the divine offices, as a means of preserving a strict unity of faith. 2. That priests would often be prevented from officiating without their own par- ticular countries, if the service were every where in the vernacu- lar tOngue. 3. It is desirable, as a preventive against heresy, that heavenly things be accessible to ignorant cars only through 618 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1559. gative reply being returned, the Protestants were desired to begin. Robert Home, formerly Dean of Durham, and soon afterwards Bishop of Winchester, immediately arose, and produced the written argu- ment of his party upon the question under discus- sion. Before he read this paper he delivered a prayer invoking the Holy Spirit to guide him, and those around him, into all truth. He then protested in his own name, and in those of his friends, that they were all firm believers of the Catholic faith, as expressed in the three creeds, and that the whole controversy ought to be referred to the judgment of the Catholic Church : a designation, however, he said, by which not the Roman Church was intended, but that society which St. Austin and other fathers affirm is to be sought by means of Scripture, and which is governed and led by the Holy Ghost. From the faith of this Church, he maintained, that he and his friends had never departed ; and he also remarked, that several of their adversaries had once taught this faith, though they now opposed, and had lately persecuted it ; conduct which they were bound to explain, and, if possible, justify a. This temperate call upon his op- ponents appears to have been the principal, if not the only personality, contained in Home's discourse : offensive charges being judiciously excluded from the medium of judicious preachers. The written report of Dr. Cole's speech is printed by Bishop Burnet, (Records, ii. 464) but in this is not found the offensive matter, which, as we learn from Bp. Jewel, fell from the speaker's lips. a Dr. Home's preface to his discourse. Strype's Annals, Ap- pend, i. 465. 1559.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. 619 it b. His scriptural arguments were chiefly drawn from St. Paul to the Corinthians c, and they are, as in fact they could hardly fail of being, perfectly irre- fragable. Various authorities, establishing the same point, were then adduced from the fathers who wrote in the first five ages ; and the whole paper unfolded a mass of evidence against the modern Romish usage, which must have enforced conviction upon every im- partial hearer d. A general murmur of approbation arose from the audience when the reading of this moderate and scholarly piece concluded. Even the Earl of Shrewsbury could not deny, that the Protes- tants had gained an important advantage by so able a defence of their opinions e. Greatly disconcerted by such a demonstration in favour of their adversa- ries, the bishops now said, that they had much more to urge upon the morning's question. In order to give them an opportunity of thus reinforcing their h Juellus ad P. Mart, xit supra. c 1 Cor. xiv. The ordinary Romish mode of attempting- to evade the doctrine of this chapter is to represent it as applying to preaching only. Home combats this interpretation at length, and indeed it is manifestly untenable. The following is the judgment which Feckenham, once abbot of Westminster, was driven to pass upon it at a future period. " He doth believe in his conscience, and before God, that the fourteenth chapter of the first to the Corinthians is as truly to be understanded of the com- mon service to be had in the mother-tongue, to be understanded of the vulgar people, as of the preaching or prophesying in the mother-tongue." Strype's Annals, Append, i. 528. a The piece read by Dr. Home is printed by Foxe (1920), and by Bp. Burnet, Hist. Ref. Records, ii. 457. e Juellus ad P. Martyrem, ut supra. 650 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1559. arguments, it was agreed that Cole's discourse should be committed to writing, together with any addi- tional matter which it might seem advisable to pro- duce, and that the whole should be delivered to the opposite party as soon as possible ; that party sup- plying, in its turn to the Romanists, a copy of the piece read by Home. After such exchange, a future day was to be appointed for the reading of the amended Romish argument, and of the remarks which the Protestants might think proper to make upon it. Upon the following Monday it was ar- ranged that the conference should be resumed : the reading of written arguments upon the second pro- position being appointed as the business of the day. To this arrangement both parties publicly assented, and the assembly then quietly dispersed f. On the following Monday, according to appoint- ment, the disputants met . in the same place again ; being attended, as before, by a very large and distin- guished auditory. The Lord Keeper, Bacon, who acted as president, or moderator, in conjunction with Archbishop Heath2, opened the morning's business by a formal statement of the arrangements to which both parties had agreed before their separation on the last Friday. He concluded by desiring the bishops to begin their reading of the arguments pre- pared against the right of particular churches to f Declaration, &c. ut supra. g "Judex sit, si diis placet, Nicolaus Baconus, homo Uncus, liajrcticus, ac rerutn divinarum prorsus imperitos, assistente ad specie m tantum revcrendissimo Archiepiscopo BboracensL." Sanders, 284. 1559.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. 651 regulate their own rites and ceremonies. White, of Winchester, immediately answered this summons by expressing himself determined that nothing should be read upon that subject until after a reply to Home's discourse, delivered at the last meeting, had been heard. Astonished by such an announcement, Bacon asked the other bishops, whether their deter- mination was the same ? An affirmative answer was unanimously returned. Bishop Watson, of Lincoln, then eagerly pressed forward, insisted that his party would have to complain of partial usage, if now prevented from arguing against the Protestant paper heard on Friday, and asserted that Cole's ha- rangue upon that day was merely the unpremedi- tated effusion of an individual. This assertion marked almost every face in the church with an ex- pression of surprise and disgust ; it having been ob- served, that Cole made great use in speaking of a paper which he held in his hand, and that often the bishops around him directed his attention to particu- lar parts of it. Watson, however, heedless of the displeasure visibly provoked by his rash asseveration, proceeded with his complaints of unfair usage, and maintained that his party was precluded from aban- doning its ground because it was contending in the cause of God. He said also, that his friends had been grievously and most unjustly pressed for time, having had notice of the Friday's disputation only two days beforehand, and having been reduced to the necessity of sitting up all the last night for the purpose of preparing the paper which was now offered 652 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1559. to the consideration of the auditory \ The Pro- testants, he declared, had been allowed ample op- portunity for preparation. Vainly did Bacon endea- vour to overcome this unexpected opposition by appealing to the order of council by which the whole proceedings had been arranged, and to the members of that board who sat around him. This latter ap- peal merely caused the bishops to shift their ground. Sufficient time, it was now alleged, could not be found at any single sitting for hearing the argu- ments on both sides of such momentous questions. This objection was, however, met by an assurance from the Lord Keeper, which the auditory re-echoed on every side, that no difficulty would be made about the patient hearing of any matter which the disputants might produce. Bishop Watson then alleged a new subject of complaint. His party, he said, had been, by means of varying orders, prevent- ed from using to the best advantage even the short time which was allowed them : the Archbishop of York having first given them notice to dispute in Latin, an intimation next having reached them that h This account is directly contradictory to that of Bp. Jewel, which has been already used, and which informs us that the Ro- manists approached the contest after a notice of not less than ten days : a space of time too by no means indolently spent. Jewel's letter is dated April 6, three e!ays only after the conference was abruptly terminated. " Cum tamen habuissent plus minus decern dies, et interea copias auxiliares Oxonio et Cantabrigia, et undique ex omnibus angulis contraxissent." Juel. ad P, Mart. ul supra. t 1559.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. 653 they were to write in Latin, and lastly, a call having been made upon them for a writing in English. Though these allegations were immediately denied with Heath's concurrence, yet the prelates did not cease to wrangle. At length, the Archbishop told his brethren, that they were to blame, and he, there- fore, advised them to begin the reading of their argu- ments upon the second question without farther delay. As if embarrassed by disapprobation from such a quarter, the bishops instantly assumed a new defensive position. They maintained, it was urged, the negative of the question proposed for discussion. Hence, by the practice both of the schools, and of the courts of law, they were entitled to the second place in the debate. In answer to Bacon's observa- tion that they had willingly begun on Friday, they said, that then their argument was affirmative. This last assertion, however, the Protestants immediately denied, and obviously with justice. But nothing could overcome the pertinacity of the Romish dispu- tants. They found fault with their adversaries for professing themselves members of the Catholic Church, taunted them with the differences of opinion prevailing among the continental Reformers, and in fine omitted nothing likely to cause irritation and delay. At length they were successively summoned to begin, and having unanimously refused, the as- sembly broke up in displeasure. The reason assigned for this refractory conduct was that the Protestants, by reading last, would send away the audience fa- vourably disposed towards their own opinions '. Nor 1 Juellus ad P. Mart, ut supra. Foxo, 1924. Declaration of 654 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1559. can it be doubted that this was the real cause of the tergiversation displayed by the Romish party. The three questions appointed for discussion are among the most intractable which a Romish polemic is likely to consider. The view of them taken by his Church can, indeed, only be maintained by means of embarrassing sophistry. The delivery of such mat- ter, immediately followed by that of plain sense in opposition to it, could not fail of exerting a sinister influence over the Romish cause. As it was, the prelates injured their opinions severely in the public estimation by their mode of evading the proposed discussion \ With this penalty, however, the go- vernment did not rest satisfied. The Romish dis- putants were viewed as persons who had set lawful authority at defiance, and it was determined, accord- ingly, to proceed against them for a contempt. The Bishops White and Watson, as being the most guilty ', were committed to the Tower. Three other the proceedings, &c. signed N. Bacon, Cust. Sigill. F. Shrews- bury, F. Bedford, Pembroke, E. Clinton, E. Rogers, F. Knollys, W. Cecil, A. Cave. Burnet, Hist. Ref. Records, ii. 478. k " Ea vero res incredibile dictu est, quantum imminuerit opi- nionem populi de episcopis : omnes enim cceperunt jam suspicari, quod nihil dicere voluissent, ne potuisse quidem illos quicquam dicere." Juellus ad P. Mart. 359. 1 " De tarn aperto contemptu et contumacia." (Ibid.) " And afterwards, for the contempt so notoriously made, the Bishops of Winchester and Lincoln, who have most obstinately disobeyed both common authority, and varied manifestly from their own order; specially Lincoln, who shewed more folly than the other, Mere condignly committed to the Tower of London." (Declaration, drc.) Heylin (Hist. Ref. 284) says that these two 7 1559.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. 655 bishops, and the same number of inferior divines were bound in recognisances to appear from day to day for judgment. From every one of the six were eventually exacted considerable fines m. prelates threatened the Queen with excommunication. But this assertion is unconfirmed either by Jewel's letter, or by the Coun- cil's Declaration. It has, probably, no better foundation than the following vague passage supplied by Sanders. " Atque hie certe episcopi tantam animi magnitudinem ostendebant, quantam in tam repentina ha;resis irruptione optare quisquam poterat. Sua enim privata pericula adeo neglexerunt, ut eorum plserique excommunicationis censuram adversus Reginam aliosque nonnul- los adhibendam censerent, qui duces illi autoresque fuerunt tam periculosas defectionis, totique regno ignominiosae." De Schism. Angl. 284. ra Viz. From Bayne, of Lichfield and Coventry, 333/. 6s. Sd. from Oglethorpe, of Carlisle, 250/. from Scot, of Chester, 200 marks, from Dr. Cole, 500 marks, from Dr. Harpsfield, 40/. and from Dr. Chadsey, 40 marks. (Strype's Annals, i. 140.) The two Houses of Parliament, it should be recollected, had ad- journed for the purpose of attending this conference. The privy council was also present. The obstinate pertinacity, therefore, of the Romish party, bore very much the character of a con- tempt of court. The objection to the management. of this con- ference adopted by later Romanists from Sanders, is evidently of little value. The father of their history says that " unjust laws of disputation were prescribed by the heretics alone : iniquce. disputandi leges ab hcereticis tantum prcescribuntur." Now this is not true. For Abp. Heath, and most probably, others of the council addicted to Romanism, were concerned in arranging this conference. The real reasons of the conduct adopted by the Romish divines upon this occasion, were obviously the difficulty which they found at the outset in producing any specious defence of their Church in the points at issue, and their confusion on witnessing the applause excited by the Protestant discourse upon the first question. As for the advantage of priority in a debate, 65(3 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1559. The conference having terminated, parliamentary business was resumed, and on the 18th of April, a bill for restoring the English liturgy came to the Upper House from the Commons n. It was met among the Lords by a spirited opposition, the whole episcopal bench and several lay peers being arrayed against it. On the second reading °, as it is thought, Feckenham, Abbot of Westminster, attacked it in a long speech. His efforts, however, proved him ra- ther a zealous Romanist, than a wary scholar. He ran the hackneyed round of idle assertions respect- ing King Lucius, Catholic unity, the unvaried uni- formity of Romish usages, and the discrepancies of opinion existing among the Reformers. Bishop Ridley he pronounced " the notablest learned man" of Protestant principles among the English Reform- ers ; but he misrepresented the doctrinal declarations made both by that prelate, and by Archbishop Cran- mer in the reign of King Edward p. On the third reading of the bill q, Bishop Scot, of Chester, spoke against it. His arguments were chiefly meant to prove, that the English liturgy was rendered excep- it is probably very doubtful. A speaker ably advocating a strong- case would generally desire to prepossess his auditory on his own side as soon as he appears before them. The mere quibbling, declamation, or sophistry of a respondent would have very little chance of removing such prepossessions from the minds of judi- cious hearers. n Burnet, Hist. Ref. ii. 612. ° April 26. Strype's Annals, i. 109. p Strype's Annals, i. 110. Append. 431! Collier, ii. 42 I. •' April 28. Strype's Annals, i. 1 12. 1559.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. 657 tionable by several important omissions, that matters once determined ought not again to be called in question, and that laymen are insufficient judges of religious questions r. Of answers either to his speech, or Feckenham's, there are no traces extant. Nor, indeed, is it unlikely, that no elaborate replies to these effusions were addressed to the House. The prelates were unanimous in a desire to retain the Latin service, and the lay Lords, probably, were uni- versally unequal to the task of combatting their objections to a change. Information, however, out of doors could easily be procured, from which the peers might see that their ecclesiastical associates had urged nothing" but sophistries, assumptions, and misrepresentations. The Act of Uniformity, ac- cordingly, as this legislative measure is termed, passed the House, on the 28th of April ; Archbi- shop Heath ; the Marquess of Winchester ; the Earl of Shrewsbury ; the Viscount Montague ; the Bi- shops Boner, Thirlby, Pates, Kitchen, Bayne, Tur- berville, Scot, and Oglethorpe ; the Lords Morley, Stafford, Dudley, Wharton, Rich, and North ; and the Abbot of Westminster, dissenting 3. By this act it was provided, that King Edward's second ser- vice-book, as altered by the committee of divines appointed for that purpose, should be used in all places of public worship from and after the festival of St. John the Baptist next ensuing. r Strype, i. 112. Append. 438. Collier, ii. 426. * Strype's Annals, i. 113. Burnet, Hist. Ref. ii. 615. VOL. IV. U U 658 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1559. Another act, passed at this time, empowered the Queen, upon avoidances of bishoprics, to reserve for her own use landed estates attached to them, giving at the same time a full equivalent for such properties in impropriate parsonages and yearly tenths. This measure was resisted by the whole episcopal bench ; nor were the Commons easily brought to sanction it '. The experience of recent years had taught men to view such propositions as the mere devices of hungry courtiers, who represented them as advanta- geous to the national finances, but who were soon found to have swept into their own pockets all the benefits arising from them. This bill was followed by one for the suppression of monastic establish- ments, and the resumption of their endowments by the crown. Strenuous efforts were ineffectually made for negativing this motion also " : of its propriety, however, there can be no question. The monastic institutions of western Europe are organized confe- deracies, moved by an impulse communicated to them from Rome. Their continuance therefore in England was inconsistent with Elizabeth's intentions both to discard the religious innovations adopted under papal sanction, and to respect inviolably the 1 The bill passed the Lower House on the 1 7th of April, by a small majority. Burnet, Hist. Ref. ii. 615. u Feckenham, Abbot of Westminster, in defending monachism as a lord of Parliament, maintained that the Nazarites, the Pro- phets, the Apostles, and even our Saviour himself, might be reckoned among monks. Juellus ad P. Mart. Burnet, Hist. Ref. Records, iii. 360. ' 1559.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. 659 constitutional maxim which claimed for her crown a complete supremacy of every kind within its domi- nions. Another act, emanating from this Parlia- ment, empowered the Queen to make statutes for ecclesiastical and scholastic foundations, established in the last three reigns, and not yet sufficiently pro- vided with regulations for their governance. A mo- tion was also made and carried, after much opposi- tion, to declare that the episcopal deprivations effected under King Edward were valid. This act gave relief to many persons who had long been harassed in consequence of leases granted, and other transactions, accomplished by the Protestant prelates who superseded the disgraced Romish incumbents. Among the arguments in favour of this measure urged upon the Lower House, it was not forgotten to remind the hearers that Bishop Ridley had expressed himself anxious, even at the stake, on account of in- dividuals who had suffered from renewals effected while he held the see of London. The more active supporters of these motions would fain have carried other measures agreeable to the Protestants. They brought a bill into the House of Commons for the restoration to their sees of the Bishops Barlow, Scory, and Coverdale ; another for the revival of former statutes, authorising the crown to nominate thirty- two commissioners for digesting a body of canon law ; and a third for the restoration of all incum- bents deprived for marriage in the late reign. The last equitable measure was abandoned at the desire of Elizabeth herself, who had imbibed some sort of prejudice against married ecclesiastics. The two u u2 060 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1559. other motions also failed v. Romish principles in- deed seem to have been actively and even angrily defended in the Lower House during this session of Parliament. The revolting cruelties by which the papal party had been recently polluted could hardly fail of furnishing topics to debaters on the opposite side. Such upbraidings, however, were not heard in silent confusion by those who had borne a share in the guilt. Dr. Story, who had acted as royal proctor in the proceedings against Cranmer, and who had been conspicuous in other displays of atrocious intolerance under the late Queen, thus unblushingly received the reflexions cast upon his party's recent conduct : " I wish that I had done more than I have. It is to be lamented that I and others were not more vehement in executing the laws ; I did, however, enough to shew my hearty detestation of heresy : upon one oc- casion especially. An earwig was singing a psalm at the stake in Uxbridge ; but I cut him short ; for I threw a faggot in his face, and a bush of thorns at his feet. It was my counsel, that heretics of emi- nency should be plucked down as well as the ordi- nary sort; and I did bring into trouble both Sir Philip Hoby, and another Kentish knight. Nor do I see any thing in all these affairs which ought to make me feel shame or sorrow. My sole grief, indeed, is that we laboured only about the young and little twigs ; we should have struck at the root \" ' Burnet, Hist. Ref. Records, iii. 360. Strypc's Annals, i. 85. " Ibid. 116. By "striking at the root}" Story was under- stood to mean, thai his party bughl to. have removed Elizabeth 1559.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. 681 The Convocation endeavoured vainly to make a stand for the papal faith in the earlier stages of its existence. On the last day of February it offered to the bishops a solemn profession of belief in some im- portant particulars, digested under five articles, with a request that their Lordships would present this paper to the Upper House of Parliament. Of these articles, the three first affirming the corporal pre- sence, transubstantiation, and the propitiatory cha- racter of the mass, are the same that had been denied by Cranmer and his two friends at Oxford. The fourth is a loosely-worded assertion of the papal supremacy, founded upon the definition in which the council of Florence affirmed that prin- ciple y. The fifth maintains, that to clergymen alone belongs, and ever has belonged, the right of de- termining, not only matters of faith, but also of out of the way while her sister lived. This intemperate partizan soon afterwards went abroad, and obtained employment in the Spanish service at Antwerp. It was thought, however, advisable, to follow precedents in Mary's reign, and kidnap him from this place. He was, accordingly, brought over into England by stratagem, and executed as a traitor. y " 4. That to Peter the Apostle, and his lawful successors in the Apostolic see, as Christ's vicars, is given the supreme power of feeding and ruling the Church of Christ militant, and of con- firming their brethren." In this article, by li Peter's successors," the Roman bishops are no doubt intended, and their see is plainly that which is termed " Apostolic." But it is not capable of proof, that St. Peter was ever Bishop of Rome. It is rather probable that he, in concert with St. Paul, placed Linus in that see. (Pearson, de aim. prior. Episc. Rom. inter Op. Posth. 154.) Nor, again, was the term " Apostolic," anciently confined to the Roman see. 4 662 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1559. ecclesiastical discipline. These articles were pre- sented by Bishop Boner to the Lord Keeper Bacon, and were by that officer courteously received. No farther notice, however, appears to have been taken of them. Nor did the Convocation continue its activity ; a series of adjournments only following until its separation z. On the 8th of May, the parliament was dissolved, and on the 15 th of that month the bishops, with other ecclesiastics of note, attended, according to order, a meeting of the privy council, at which the Queen presided. They were admonished to obey the acts recently passed. Archbishop Heath replied, by reminding her Majesty of her sister's reconcilia- tion with Rome, and of her engagement to suppress heresy consequent upon it : an engagement, he said, from which neither Mary nor her successors could recede without incurring disgrace and malediction. Elizabeth spiritedly replied : " As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord*. Being resolved to imitate Josiah, who assembled the elders of Judea and Jerusalem, in order to make, under their advice, a covenant with God, I lately called together my clergy and my parliament. My object was to bind myself and my people unto the Lord, and not unto the Roman see. My sister's power extended not to contract the obligations which have just been mentioned. Our records shew that the papal juris- diction over this realm is an usurpation, and they 1 Strype's Annals, i. 82. * Josh. xxiv. 15. 1559.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. 663 fully justify the statutes which have lately been enacted. It is by diving into and following the pre- cedents which have come down to me from a long line of predecessors that I mean to rule. And I hope that in this my successors will follow my ex- ample. My crown is no way subject to any power whatever, save to that of Christ, the King of kings. I shall, therefore, esteem as enemies, both to God and myself, all such of my subjects as shall hereafter own any foreign or usurped authority within my realm." Such a declaration from a sovereign's lips could, under any circumstances, only be received in silence by objectors. In this instance, however, the resist- ing parties must also have felt themselves rather du- bious as to the prospect of justifying their conduct satisfactorily at a future period. They were not men who had grown grey amidst a continued stream of prejudices in favour of the papal see. They had, on the contrary, seen the pretensions of that see rigidly examined, and almost universally exploded. They knew, that in pronouncing these pretensions a bare-faced usurpation, Elizabeth spoke, indeed, no other than the language of the national records. They were also well aware, that the theological arguments of papal partisans are merely founded upon a scanty basis of obscure scriptural and histo- rical passages, and upon assumptions which many able and upright men had treated as unavailing. Most of the dignitaries now before the council had likewise affirmed, under the sanction of an oath, that the Pope was entitled to no power of any kind 664 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1559. in England. Yet they were now resolute in claim- ing for him a paramount ecclesiastical jurisdiction over the realm. This inconsistent conduct was, probably, in a great measure owing to the reproaches generally cast upon them in consequence of their former perjuries. Hence they could not find the face to forswear the Pope once more. They were also sensible that the changes effected, and in contem- plation, would reduce the Church very nearly to the condition in which it was left at King Edward's death. But they might esteem themselves not bound by their ancient oaths of renunciation to go thus far ; and therefore they might judge it best to place at once their opposition upon the reputable footing of a reluctance to forswear themselves again. It has likewise been imagined, that the bishops and other dignitaries hoped by the unanimity of their opposition to embarrass the government, and thus to extort from its fears some concession in favour of the Roman Church. Nor, indeed, did the ministers observe without uneasiness this unanimous disobe- dience of the hierarchy. As an expedient, accord- ingly, for intimidating the prelates in turn, the Earl of Sussex advised that use should be made of various papers which he had sealed up in the royal closet, at the late Queen's death. These documents proved, that in Edward's time Archbishop Heath, who then held the see of Worcester, as also the bishops Roncr and Gardiner had carried on secret intrigues with Rome, in the hope of undermining the Protector Somerset. Such treasonable communications were, indeed, satisfactory proofs that the three prelates 1559.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. 665 had no reason to complain of severe usage from the government of that period. But when the council met again, three days after its conference with the bishops b, it was determined that these evidences against certain of the body could not now fairly be acted upon to their prejudice : a general pardon from the crown, both in the last and in the present reign, having screened them from any such liability. It was, therefore, merely resolved, that the oath of supremacy should be tendered to the various parties from whom the legislature had exacted that test at such times as might appear expedient, and that such as might refuse it must abide the consequences of their denial0. Bishop Boner appears to have been the first indi- vidual required to take this oath. The demand was made upon him before the council on the 30th of May, and he refused to swear d. Such a man ob- viously merited no indulgence, and accordingly, on the 2d of June, proceedings were instituted, de- priving him of his bishopric \ This was effected on the 29th of that month *, by the Queen's commis- sioners. In the course of a few months afterwards, the oath was tendered to the whole body of bene- ficed clergy. Among the prelates, all refused it excepting Kitchen of Llandaff, who now, as here- b May 18. c Strype, Annals, i. 209. d Ibid. 205. e Harmer, 152. f Strype, Annals, i. 210. 666 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1559. tofore upon every change6, heard obediently the mandate of authority. A considerable number of dignitaries, and several parochial incumbents pos- sessed of respectable preferments, were also deprived by means of this test. But the great body of the clergy complied, and hence the acts recently passed were found to occasion much less confusion in the Church than could have been anticipated from alter- ations of so much importance b. The monastic esta- blishments, however, were universally broken up1, e Bp. Kitchen, who was originally a Benedictine monk, ob- tained the see of Llandaff in 1545, when mitigated Romanism was the established religion of England. This he consented to exchange for the complete Protestantism of Edward's reign, and that again for the Popery of Mary's. He now gave up that faith once more ; and accordingly he continued Bishop of Llan- daff. He died in the year 1563. Godwin, de Praesul. 612. h " In all, fourteen bishops were deprived, to whom may be added, one suffragan, Pursglove of Hull. The whole number of the clergy deprived at this time is thus described by a Romish dissenter, author of A sincere, modest Defence of the English Catholics that suffer, published in 1583. He saith, " that in England were deprived fourteen bishops, be- sides three bishops elect, the abbot of Westminster, four priors of religious houses, twelve deans, fourteen archdeacons, above sixty canons of cathedral churches, not so few as a hundred priests of good preferment, fifteen heads of colleges in Oxford and Cambridge, and above twenty proctors of divers faculties therein. I am willing to believe the computation of this author to be correct, because I find it to be so in the number of bishops and deans deprived. Of the three bishops elect deprived, I can recover the names but of two, viz. Thomas Rainolds, elect of Hereford, and Thomas Wood." Harmer, 152. ' " June the 12th, 1559, the friars of Greenwich were dis- charged, and went away." Strype, Annals, i. 210. 1559.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. 667 and Feria, the Spanish ambassador, endeavoured to prevent the several societies from dissolving, by re- questing permission to transmit them into his mas- ter's dominions. After some difficulty, this request was granted, and the noble Spaniard generously received in his own house a considerable number of these recluses until he could procure them a passage to Flanders. Eventually three whole convents of monks and nuns were transferred from England to the Continent k. The nuns, indeed, generally pre- ferred expatriation to the breach of their vows ; but many religious of the other sex returned to the habits of ordinary life '. Nor was the Count of Feria inattentive to the dispossessed secular clergy ; and, when he left England, he took many of them in his train. These unfortunate ecclesiastics were kindly and liberally treated at the court of Spain ; which thus obtained an additional hold upon the affections of English malcontents m. When first deprived, the bishops and clergy seem * Ribadeneyra, 255. 1 Burnet, Hist. Ref. ii. 619. m Llegado (Feria) a la corte del Rey, Don Felipe, procuro con su Magestad, que los (Ingleses) amparasse, y favoreciesse, y sus- tentasse ; y el Rey lo hizo con la liberalidad y piedad que a tan Catolico y gran principe convenia." (Ribadeneyra, 256.) Philip's liberality to these English refugees would merit unqualified praise, if England had not been much disquieted in Elizabeth's reign by the machinations of disaffected persons in correspondence with Spain. It being, however, the fact that Philip did thus em- barrass the Queen's government, his relief and encouragement of her expatriated subjects might seem to have been partly dictated by worldly policy. 668 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1559. to have been allowed the free use of liberty. But they were naturally something impatient under their losses, and it is not improbable, that they felt con- siderable regret in witnessing the overthrow of that religious system in which their prejudices had been formed, which had once placed them in affluence, and for which they had consented to make no com- mon sacrifices. On the 4th of December, accord- ingly, Heath, Boner, Bourn, Turberville, and Pool, gave vent to their feelings in an application to the Queen, signed with all their names. In this address, the subscribers entreat her Majesty's attention to them, as being Catholic clergymen of the realm, and they represent the changes accomplished under her father and brother as the fruits of schismatical and heretical advice. After the decease of Henry and Edward, say the memorialists, " your virtuous sister, Queen Mary, of happy memory, succeeded. Who, being troubled in conscience n with what her n Queen Mary's contemporaries were not, however, unani- mous in assigning her policy wholly to conscience. The follow- ing extract obligingly communicated by the Reverend Mr. Todd, from a MS. of Sir John Harington's in the library of York- minster, shews that some persons of discernment, living in her time, attributed that Queen's acts partly to policy. " Next after this (Edw. Vlth's reign) ensued a great change of religion by Queen Mary's time, and the Church of Rome restored again into England with all manner of ceremonies. But what ? Was this merely for zeal ? Loth I am to wrong the name and memo- ry of so noble a Queen, but I speak now in a cause that will suffer me to spare nobody. I say, therefore, that this change had a politic respect joined with it. I say, 'that the council and the chief of the clergy saw, that without the Pope's authority 1559.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. 669 father's and brothers advisers had caused them to do, most piously restored the Catholic faith" origin- ally planted in this realm by the motherly care of Rome. She extinguished also, it is added, " the schisms and heresies which at that time began to flame over her territories. For which God poured out his wrath upon most of the malefactors and misleaders of the nation" This impious libel upon the victims of an atrocious intolerance is fol- lowed by a reference to the case of Athanasius, by which it is absurdly sought to establish the papal su- premacy. The subscribers conclude by praying that God would turn the Queen's heart and preserve her life ; also that He would make her evil advisers ashamed, and repentant for their heresies °. This insolent, unfeeling, and futile address was brought to the Queen when presiding at a council, and before the assembly separated, a scornful and menacing answer was written to the discontented prelates. Englishmen, it was said in this, having been long under the tuition of Romish priests, " who were authentical again in England, their sovereign lady could never be thought legitimate ; and therefore, though the whole realm had been Protestant vi years, and the same Protestants brought in the queen, yet when the same matter came to so high a tenure not only in capite, but in corona, down again went the Protestants, married ministers banished and degraded, fifty thou- sand pounds rent restored to the Pope, and Gardiner, and his fellows did condemn to the fire a number of poor harmless souls that professed to believe as they were taught but three years before." 0 Strype, Annals, i. 217. 610 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1559. advised them to own a wolf for their head, in lieu of a careful shepherd," had been miserably led astray amidst heresies, schisms, and human inventions. Reference was then made to authentic history to shew the falsehood of such assertions as attribute the planting of Christianity in the island to mission- aries from Rome. As for the heretical and schis- matical character assigned to King Henry's assump- tion of the supremacy : " who, we pray," it was asked, " advised him more, or flattered him, than you, good Mr. Heath, when you were Bishop of Rochester ? And than you, Mr. Boner, when you were Archdeacon ? And you, Mr. Turberville ? Nay, farther, who was more an adviser of our father, than your great Stephen Gardiner, when he lived ? Are not ye then these heretics and schismatics ?" The late Queen's conduct arose, it was then said, not from her conscience, but from the bad advice of the memorialists and their friends. The resistance of Athanasius to the Roman see, it was observed, obviously made against the subscribers, who ad- mitted the creed passing under that father's name, and would, therefore, surely not charge him with schism. In fine, the prelates were admonished to behave themselves more circumspectly for the future, lest they should bring down upon their heads that punishment which was provided against impugners of the royal authority p. This admonition, however, failed of its object. The deprived clergy, mortified by seeing that their ■ p This reply is dated December 6. Strype's Annals, i. 219. 1559.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. 671 defection had not succeeded in disorganizing the na- tional Church, determined to try the effect of an active opposition. White, pontifically habited, began to preach sedition. Even Thirlby, though a man of peaceful temper, mounted the pulpit to denounce the Reformation q. Other movements, of which no par- ticulars are known, had probably rendered the dis- placed Romish ecclesiastics objects of just suspicion to the government in the early part of 1560 ; for in the spring of that year the most conspicuous among these non-jurors were taken into custody. Boner was placed in the Marshalsea on the 20th of April, and he seems never to have regained his liberty. Of this, perhaps, he had no great reason to complain ; for the popular abhorrence with which he was justly viewed, rather gained strength by time ; the parti- culars of his atrocities becoming daily better known, and the Romish bigotry which had once formed some sort of excuse for them losing ground very fast. If at large he might therefore, it is far from unlikely, have been sacrificed in some ebullition of public exe- cration. But although secluded from the public eye, the deprived Bishop of London lived in the free en- joyment of domestic comforts : the grosser convivial pleasures had, probably, been those at all times most agreeable to him, and amidst the unrestrained indul- gence of such sensual habits, he luxuriously drained life to the dregs within the Marshalsea r. At the dis- q Strype's Annals, i. 220. r " Num non potius dum fata Deusque sinebant lepide, laute, secure, plena mensa, refertis lagenis victitabat, potius ut videatur crapula aliqua, quam corporis aut animi dolore periisse V (Fide- 7 672 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1559. tance of a month after Boner's committal, Bishop Watson, as also the Doctors Cole and Chadsey, were imprisoned in the Tower. The same day consigned to the Fleet Dr. Story, the civilian ; a man rendered unworthy of commiseration both by his activity in the last reign, and by his inflammatory impudence in this. None of the parties, however, incarcerated about this time, excepting Boner, appear to have been long detained within the walls of a prison, seve- ral of them being entrusted, after a short interval, to the liberal custody of dignified churchmen. Watson thus lived in the houses of two bishops successively ; but his morose, unquiet disposition, effectually de- stroyed both his own happiness, and the confidence of the government in the peaceableness of his inten- tions. Hence it was found necessary, eventually, to deprive him completely of his liberty, and he died in Wisbeach Castle, in the year 1584 s. On different days in June, Thirlby, Heath, Bourn, and Turber- ville, were sent to the Tower. Of these prelates Thirlby, after his release from prison, resided seve- ral years under the hospitable roof of Archbishop Parker, at Lambeth \ Heath was allowed to spend the evening of his days upon an estate which he had purchased at Cobham, in Surrey, where he lived handsomely, and was even honoured occasionally by lis Servi Subdito infideli Responsio, una cum errorum et calum- niarum quarundam examine quae continentur in 7. 1. de Vis. Mon. Eccl. a N. Sandero conscripta. Lond. 1573.) Bp. Boner died Sept. 5, 1569. Godwin, de Prajsul. 192. * Godwin, de Praesul. 301. • • Bp. Thiriby died Aug. 26, 1570. Ibid. 273. 15o9.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. (>73 a visit from the Queen u. Bourn was quartered upon Dr. Carew, Dean of Exeter ; and in his house he died, in 1569 \ Turberville was allowed to occupy a residence of his own. Pool, of Peterborough, was favoured in the same manner. Pates, Goldwell, and Scot, retired to the continent. White, Oglethorpe, Bayne, and Morgan, survived deprivation but a very short time. Excommunications were after awhile denounced against some of these displaced ecclesias- tics ; but this severity was, most probably, owing to some act of their own. The Queen was bent upon conciliation to the utmost of her power ; and there can be no doubt, from the gentle usage experienced by all the non-juring prelates at first, and from the forbearance with which they were treated, even after they had provoked the government, that none of them would have been in any manner molested, could they have conformed themselves quietly to the circumstances in which they were placed by their own prejudices, or miscalculation. It may be said that they, probably, did nothing inconsistent with man's natural right to liberty of conscience ; but it should be remembered, that even if such be the fact, they acted upon a right which no party in their day had learned to recognise. Nor, again, were their exertions in favour of Romanism by any means above suspicion. They had possessed valuable preferments, of which they had been deprived by no competent authority, according to their creed. Obviously, u Abp. Heath died in 1579. Godwin, de Prsesul. 710. T Ibid. 388. VOL. IV. X X 674 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1559. therefore, in struggling to restore the former ascen- dancy of this creed, their conduct might be looked upon as partly suggested by considerations which can challenge no very high degree of respect. On the festival of St. John the Baptist, England was again and finally relieved from the mischief and disgrace of a Liturgy, which merely mocked an im- mense majority of her population y. Men went to church on that day to pray with the understanding, and they heard a service every way worthy of their grateful attention. It had originally been considered by the committee which reviewed the Common Prayer, whether, in kind consideration of Romish prejudices, the ceremonies abolished by King Edward's second book, should not now be restored ; whether the image of the cross should not be retained, proces- sions allowed, prayers for the dead introduced, and some other usages, grown venerable by time, yet be permitted to continue z ? The inexpedience, how- ever, of such concessions was quickly seen, and ac- cordingly the Liturgy, as existing at the late Queen's accession, was again authorised, with a few altera- tionsa. These were made chiefly with a view to 7 The English service was introduced into the royal chapel on the 12th of May, being the first Sunday after the dissolution of Parliament. The review of the book was completed in the begin- ning of April. * Strype, Annals, i. 120. ° " A table of proper lessons for all Sundays in the year was added, and that for holidays completed. In the reading of the first chapter of St. Matthew, or the third of St. Luke, the genea- logies were ordered to be omitted ; and in leap-year, the psalms and lessons for the 23d day of February were to be used again 1569.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. 675 conciliate the Romish party, and in that object their success was far from inconsiderable. No Romanist indeed could, consistently with his principles, except against any part of the service. It was translated, in a great measure, from liturgical books used in the papal church ; and those parts of it which are not found in any such volume, are either Scripture, or perfectly agreeable to the most approved models of devotion. Omissions were the sole occasions for Ro- the day following; except it were on a Sunday, which had pro- per first lessons appointed in the table. The habits enjoined by the first book of King Edward were restored ; and the morning and evening service were appointed to be said in the accustomed place of the church, chapel, or chancel ; and the chancels were to remain, as in times past. The petition in the Litany, to be de- livered from the Bishop of Rome, and all his detestable enormi- ties, was expunged, that no needless offence might be given to those of the Romish persuasion : and in that for the Queen, the words, Strengthen them in the true worshipping of thee, in righte- ousness and holiness of life, were added. At the end of the Litany was inserted a prayer for the Queen, and another for the clergy, with the collect, 0 God, whose nature and property, &c. and the blessing out of 2 Cor. xiii. 14. And the second of the collects, now appointed to be used in time of dearth and famine, was omitted. In the Communion office, at the delivery of the ele- ments, the form appointed in King Edward's first book, and that which was substituted in its stead in the second, were both joined together; and the declaration concerning the intention of the Church in requiring the people to receive it kneeling, was ex- punged. These were all the material alterations in the Liturgy during this reign. The correcting and perfecting the table of lessons for Sundays and holidays was indeed, in order of time, something later than the rest ; but I thought it would be most proper to give the whole in one view." Appendix to Bp. Spar- row's Rationale, cxcviii. xx 2 G7G HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1559. mish discontent in the English service-book. But these were obviously reasonable, not only because capable of solid justification by liturgical antiquaries, but also because necessary for the satisfaction of a large, well-informed, and pious party in the country, whose feelings demanded attention, not less than those of adherents to the papal system. Opposition, accordingly, to the new offices of religion was openly made at first by neither party. To which ever side men's prejudices inclined, they all joined in the ex- cellent service which was provided for their public worship. Nor did Englishmen who cherished a lingering affection for Rome desert their parish- churches until the Pope, by pretending to excommu- nicate and dethrone the Queen, infamously hurled the firebrand of fanatical sedition into the midst of the land . From that unhappy time Romish recusancy dates its origin. A royal visitation was another expedient adopted for the re-establishment of sound religion0. As under recent sovereigns, certain gentlemen, civilians b " Until the 11th year of Queen Elizabeth's reign, no person of what persuasion of Christian religion soever, at any time re- fused to come to the public service celebrated in the Church of England, being evidently grounded upon the sacred and infallible Word of God, and established by public authority within this realm. But after the bull of Pius V. was published against her Majesty, in the 11th year of her reign, all they that depended on the Pope obeyed the bull, disobeyed their gracious and natural sovereign, and upon this occasion refused to come to church." Lord Chief Justice Coke's judgment upon Caudrey's case, ap. Pettus, 77. c The commission for this visitation is dated June 24. Burnet, Hist. Ref. Records, ii. 485. 1559.j| UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. 677 and divines/ were commissioned by" the crown to travel over prescribed circuits for the purpose of in- specting ecclesiastical affairs, administering the oath of supremacy, enforcing the regulations promulged for governing the Church, and dispensing religious instruction. These commissioners were furnished with a series of injunctions, and with articles of in- quiry d : both formed upon models which had de- scended from King Edward's reign, and of which the principal objects were the extinction of Romish superstition, and the dissemination of elementary knowledge in religion. To the present injunction, was added an explanation of the oath of supremacy, intended to meet the Romish representation, that the sovereign assumed something of a papal charac- ter, in claiming an ecclesiastical superiority. This, in any layman, it was argued, is sufficiently incon- gruous, though it is more than ordinarily so in a child. Still, examples were numerous, and there- fore notorious, of the admission of children to spiri- tual promotions e, even of conspicuous dignity, in the Roman church. Hence it was easy to silence members of that communion who objected to King Edward's supremacy principally on account of his youth. But d Printed in Bishop Sparrow's Collection, 67. 177. c This abuse appears from the following article among the Queen's injunctions, to have been not unusual during recent years in England. " 43. Item. Forasmuch as in these latter days many have been priests being children, and otherwise utterly unlearned, so that they could not read to say matins or mass ; the ordinaries shall not admit any such to any cure or spiritual function." Ibid. 79. G78 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1559. with Elizabeth, the ease was different. Children, indeed, had been cardinals, and there seems no suffi- cient reason, therefore, why they should be pro- nounced absolutely incapable of the popedom. This dignity, however, had never been occupied by a female, and moreover, persons of that sex are ex- cluded from ministering in the Church by apostolic authority f. Thus an objection to the royal supre- macy absolutely irrefragable appeared to be supplied by the sceptre's descent into female hands. Eliza- beth prudently demolished such cobweb arguments, by declaring at the end of her injunctions, that she claimed no sort of jurisdiction which had not been exercised by her father and brother ; that the crown's ecclesiastical prerogatives by no means included the right of performing divine offices ; and that no supe- riority was now ascribed to the throne which had not been of ancient time its due. It was easy to supply proofs and illustrations of these principles. Nor can we doubt, that since Jewel, Sandys, and other such men itinerated among the royal commissioners, information of this kind was freely dispensed over the country. These able divines found, indeed, am- ple employment for all their energies. The late reign, brief as it was, had sadly undermined, in many districts, the labours of England's original re- formers, and strenuous exertions were now made by the Romanists in all directions to secure the ground which they had won by dint of so much artifice, industry, and cruelty. They considered that such f 1 Cor. xiv. 34, 35. 1559.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. 079 efforts were alike demanded by their present credit, and their future ease. For they sanguinely calcu- lated upon the speedy arrival of some political change which would restore their lost ascendancy g. As the most effectual provision against such a re- vulsion, was an early and judicious re-organisation of the hierarchy, this object was carefully considered among Elizabeth's more confidential advisers soon after her accession. For the see of Canterbury, Dr. Mat- thew Parker was selected. This eminent divine was born at Norwich in 1504, of parents descended from gentlemen's families, but his father was a wealthy manufacturer. The future Archbishop having reached the proper age, repaired to the university of Cam- bridge, and studying there at the time when Bilney, Latimer, Barnes, and other able men of scriptural principles were assaulting vigorously the Romish system, he too rose above the prejudices of his edu- cation. He did not, however, thus abandon early prepossessions until after a laborious course of theo- logical enquiry. He diligently read the fathers, considered the decrees of councils, and in fine, omitted no exertions likely to store his mind with sound reli- gious knowledge. His researches having led him to a firm conviction that the peculiar tenets of popery are the mere accumulation of medieval ignorance, he became a zealous advocate for the profession of such a faith as will bear to be fairly confronted in all its parts with Scripture and ecclesiastical anti- quity. This enlightened conduct recommended him s Juellus ad P. Mart. Burnet, Hist. Ret'. Records, lii. 363. G80 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1559. to the patronage of Archbishop Cranmer, and of Anne Boleyn. To that unhappy lady, he was ap- pointed chaplain, and by her means he obtained the deanery of Stoke-eollege, near Clare, in Suffolk. After the fall of his patroness, Parker was still honoured by royal favour ; the King procuring his advancement to the mastership of Bene't-college, in Cambridge, and to a prebend of Ely. Within a short time of Edward's accession he married, and during that monarch's reign he was appointed Dean of Lincoln. As he would neither consent to dismiss his wife, nor dissemble his principles, he was de- prived of all his preferments under Queen Mary, and compelled moreover to provide for his personal safety by keeping himself concealed. Upon one occasion, during that miserable reign, he found him- self able to elude the myrmidons of persecution only by a precipitate flight under the cover of darkness. That anxious night left an indelible mark upon his frame ; a severe injury then received by means of a fall from his horse proving incapable of a thorough cure. Elizabeth had no sooner ascended the throne than she determined upon raising Parker to some distinguished preferment, and he received a sum- mons to court. His obedience was tardy and reluc- tant, for he had reason to believe, that some post of high distinction awaited him, and he desired nothing more than the means of spending a scholar's life in comfort and respectability. A morbid shyness, in- deed, had ever rendered him averse from publicity, and the personal injury which he had received, joined to his inveterate appetite for literary pleasures, in- L559.J UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. G81 creased his natural desire to pass through the world away from the busier haunts of men. But his learn- ing and judgment were well known in his sovereign's cabinet. Such a man was urgently needed, and he found himself obliged to appear in the royal pre- sence, not as the nominee to some respectable ap- pointment in the University, which was the object of his wishes, but as the elect Archbishop of Can- terbury. New and embarrassing cares now crowded upon him. The statute empowering the crown to exchange episcopal lands for impropriate tythes was acted upon very soon after it had passed. The en- dowments of every vacant prelacy being accurately surveyed : nor could there be any reasonable doubt, that, under the name of exchanges, new schemes of spoliation were to be expected. Parker, according- ly, and others who were marked out for professional advancement naturally dreaded lest they should be placed in situations demanding an expenditure ut- terly disproportioned to their means of meeting it. Vain, however, were all attempts to preserve the Church's patrimony entire. Other sources of anx- iety were abundantly supplied to the Archbishop elect from the unsettled state of ecclesiastical affairs in all their bearings. The hierarchy was dissolved, and the current of religious opinions directed into a channel from which it had been laboriously diverted. Hence important difficulties presented themselves to those who held the helm of state, and their chief clerical adviser was necessarily called upon to en- counter great labour and responsibility. Happily, the prudence and other solid qualities of Parker 682 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1559. enabled him to discharge his arduous duties, in a manner which, though unostentatious, was admira- bly calculated for producing results of indefinite durability \ The designed primate, being seated at Lambeth, was required to receive the venerable and exem- plary Bishop of Durham, who had reached the age of eighty-five, but who did not see November to its close. Before he sank into the grave, he held much interesting converse with his excellent entertainer. Though Tunstall eventually chose to follow his bre- thren in refusing to forswear the Pope once more, yet he agreed with Parker that the Roman bishops ought never to have been permitted to extend their authority beyond the limits of their proper city and province. He admitted also that no divine law for- bids clergymen to marry ; but in several articles of the Romish creed he could not be brought to make any concession *. He seems, however, to have long entertained very moderate opinions upon many ques- tions which Romanists decide differently from other Christians. He took a Protestant view of justifica- tion k. He condemned also the precipitancy of In- h Strype, Annals, ch. vi. Life and Acts of Abp. Parker, b. ii. As some vindication of Elizabeth's government respecting the pecuniary spoliations of episcopal endowments, it should be re- collected, that the late Queen left considerable financial embar- rassments to her successor. 4 Parker, 552. k " As appears by a book that he wrote and published aim. 1555, in quarto, Contra Blaspltc/iia tores JoJui>niis Redmanni de Justijicatiunc. Which learned divine, Dr. Redman, did, an his 1559.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. G83 nocent III. in making transubstantiation an article of faith, imputing that judgment to the want of suf- ficient advice. " We ought/' he said, " to imitate the fathers in speaking reverently of the Holy Sup- per, but it would have been better to abstain from asserting a substantial change in the elements1." Nor did he disapprove the English Liturgy ; having pronounced it, in conversation with the learned Dr. Redmayn, " A holy book, and agreeable to the Gospel m." It had been hoped, that Tunstall would assist at the consecration of his excellent host. The royal death-bed, declare freely his judgment for justification by faith. For which, it seems, several Papists had railed against him after his death ; and occasioned this learned bishop, even under Queen Mary, to take his part in the said book." Strype's Par- ker, i. 94. 1 Letter from Bp. Tunstall's kinsman, Bernard Gilpin, cited by Strype, Annals, i. 213. m Letter from Bernard Gilpin. Ibid. i. 116. That truly Apostolical clergyman, Bernard Gilpin, also mentions other con- cessions of eminent Romanists which fell under his personal observation, or came to his knowledge, and which powerfully tended to wean him from Popery. Chadsey, he tells us, once said : " The Protestants must grant to us a real presence, of Christ in the Sacrament, and we must yield to them in the mat- ter of transubstantiation." Weston argued, upon one occasion, at great length, in favour of communion in both kinds. Mor- gan, a distinguished Romish scholar, informed Gilpin ; that Dr. Ware, a celebrated divine of the same party, answered a ques- tion as to the sacrifice of the mass, by saying, that the principal sacrifice of the Church was one of thanksgiving ; and that he likewise pronounced recent English confutations of the papal primacy perfectly satisfactory. G8<1< HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1559. letters patent empowering the dean and chapter of Canterbury to elect a new archbishop were issued on the 18th of July, and they charge that capitular body to choose " a pastor who should be devoted to God, and useful and faithful, both to the Queen, and the realm ;" but they recommend no particular individual n. The divine, however, intended by the court was, probably, sufficiently known, and there- fore, such members of the chapter as could not in conscience, or in unison with party-engagements, concur in his election, absented themselves at the time fixed for it. Dr. Wotton, the Dean, with four of the prebendaries attended at the time ° and place appointed, and having observed all the customary forms, they chose Dr. Matthew Parker for their new Archbishop. This election being approved at court, and the object of it having consented to fill the see, authority for his consecration was granted, on the 9th of September, under the Queen's letters patent. These were directed to the Bishops Tunstall, Bourn, Pool p, Kitchen, Barlow, and Scory : the first four n Strype's Parker, i. 102. 0 August 1. Ibid. p The oath of supremacy was not offered to the clergy simul- taneously, and it is not improbable, that with individuals highly preferred, who were thought likely to lake it, some delay was intentional. Bp. Tunstall was not deprived until the 29th of September, Bp. Bourn, not before the end of October, and Bp. Pool, not until about the same time. (Le Courayer's Defence of the Validity of English Ordinations. Loud. 1728. i. 47.) Stiypc says that he saw a draught of the commission for consecrating Parker, in the State-paper office, in which the names of the G 1559.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. G85 of whom are designated in the usual manner ; the remaining two are merely styled bishops, they having lost their sees in the late reign. This commission was never carried into execution. Of the failure no reason is certainly known, but it probably arose from an indisposition to the oath of supremacy en- tertained by three of the prelates nominated. An- other commission was, accordingly, issued on the 6th of December, enjoining Anthony Bishop of Llan- daff, William Barlow, late Bishop of Bath and Wells, now elect of Chichester, John Scory, late Bishop of Chichester, now elect of Hereford, Miles Coverdale, late Bishop of Exeter, John Bale, Bishop of Ossory, in Ireland, John of Bedford, and John of Thetford, suffragan bishops, or any four of them, to confirm and consecrate Dr. Parker q. This man- date, unlike the former one, contains an unusual clause, in which the Queen undertakes to supply, from her supreme authority royal, whatever legal deficiencies may attach to any of the parties offici- ating, from their condition, state, or powers r. Ob- bishops intended to officiate had not been supplied, excepting- that of Tunstall, which was inserted in the hand-writing of Abp. Parker : a plain proof that he calculated upon the venerable Bishop of Durham's services. Life of Abp. Parker, i. 107. q Le Courayer, Records, i. 357. r " Supplentes nihilominus suprema auctoritate nostra regia, ex mero motu ac certa scientia nostris, si quid aut in hiis qua? juxta mandatum nostrum proedictum per vos fient, aut in vobis, aut in vestrum aliquo, conditione, statu, facultate vestris ad prsemissa perficienda desit, aut deerit eorum, quoe per statuta 68G HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1559. viously this passage was inserted for the purpose of guarding against civil difficulties not unlikely to arise from the contemplated consecration. The pre- lates nominated were not merely called upon for the transmission of their own spiritual character to a particular individual, they were also to exercise this privilege in a case where a great mass of property, and numerous rights of great political importance were concerned. Now, the ecclesiastical persons officiating upon such occasions in England from time immemorial, had been themselves actual occupants of sees. If, therefore, in this particular instance, the whole course of precedents were heedlessly dis- regarded, it was highly probable, that legal objec- tions would eventually be started against the civil acts of a beneficiary who had taken possession of his preferment under circumstances so completely unknown to the law. The crown, however, was willing, in this case, to accept, as the occupant of its chief ecclesiastical benefice a certain individual, he being rendered spiritually competent to the office, who would, probably, derive such competency through parties not ordinarily recognised by the constitution as dispensers of it. Such proved to be the fact, Parker was confirmed at the church of St. Mary le Bow, in London, on Saturday, the 9th of December, by Barlow, Scory, Coverdale, and Hodg- hujus regni, aut per leges ecclesiasticas in hac parte requiruntur, aut necessaria sunt, temporis rationc, et rerum necessitate id postulante." Ibid. 358. 1.559.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. GST kins ; the first three of whom were bishops actually unbeneficed, and the last had never filled any other than the suffragan prelacy of Bedford. There is most probably no other instance upon the national records in which an individual, consecrated by prelates not in possession of sees, was admitted to any portion of the crown's episcopal patronage. Hence it was no more than a proper precaution, that the royal pa- troness, herself the supreme depositary of civil autho- rity, and the constitutional dispenser of relief in un- foreseen cases where the letter of the law might interfere with its spirit, should solemnly declare be- forehand, that she would invest the Archbishop elect with a vacant preferment which her ancestors had founded, and which was placed at her own disposal, even although he should obtain the necessary rank among Christian ministers from hands of which nei- ther the statute, nor the ecclesiastical law of the realm, makes any mention. In the instrument, ac- cordingly, which authentically records Parker's con- firmation, this dispensing clause is recited word for word, as in the original. The four bishops then acting were employed upon a measure preliminary to the occupation of a benefice by another party. They were, therefore, bound to proceed in strict accord- ance with the principles of civil jurisprudence. When they came, however, to consecrate the con- firmed elect, they took no notice of the Queen's dis- pensing clause s. Their business then was the s Le Courayer, i. 147. The clause Supplentes is inserted also in the record of Abp. Parker's inthronization. This again is an CSS HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1559. transmission of a spiritual trust, over which, as such, the crown has no control. This important consecration was solemnized in the archiepiscopal chapel, at Lambeth, on Sunday, the 17th of Decem- ber, Bishop Barlow being the principal officiating prelate; and the Bishops Scory, Coverdale, and Hodgkins, his assistants. The ceremony was per- formed according to King Edwards ordinal l. The Church of England thus having acquired a professional head, impediments in the way of com- pletely re-organizing her hierarchy were removed. Of such facilities advantage being immediately taken, the Anglican establishment soon presented the spec- tacle of a religious society, apostolical in its consti- tution, and tenacious of such civil advantages as had been gradually accumulated, and might be reason- ably retained ; but which, notwithstanding, rejected both the papal usurpation, and medieval errors. The party, reduced to insignificance by this consum- mation, soon became clamorous in its discontent. The hierarchy, which had succeeded the miscalcu- lating or conscientious non-jurors, naturally became the first object of attack, its members being repre- sented as mere pretenders to the episcopal character. This representation was variously supported. Some of the discontented Romanists maintained, that con- secrations effected in the time of schism, or, in other act concerning property and civil franchises. A precautionary clause of similar import was ordinarily inserted in papal instru- ments. An instance of this usage in Crannjer's ca^e may be seen in the present volume, p. 507. * 1 Registrum Parked. 1559.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. 689 words, in disregard or defiance of the papal autho- rity, are invalid, unless subsequently ratified through a reconciliation with Rome. Others objected to King Edward's ordinal, as insufficient for the trans- mission of episcopacy. Now this formulary had been used in consecrating Scory and Coverdale. The remaining two prelates were consecrated under King Henry VIII. of course therefore by the Roman pon- tifical ; but then their admission into the highest order of Christian ministers was posterior to their country's ecclesiastical emancipation ; and Barlow certainly seems never again to have undergone the ignominy of a foreign yoke. These objections, how- ever, to say nothing of their futility upon grounds acknowledged as conclusive against them by Romish divines, had been recently, to the apprehensions of all men not wilfully blind, refuted by the papal court itself. Heath, Boner, Thirlby, and other prelates of principles approved at Rome, had been consecrated since England renounced connexion with her. These dignitaries, however, were unreservedly recognised as bishops by the pontiff, and were only required to undergo a certain form of reconciliation. It is in- deed true, that no bishop consecrated by King Ed- ward's ordinal was thus admitted to minister episco- pally under the Roman see ; but this evidently arose from the fact, that no such prelate applied for recon- ciliation. Inferior ministers were indiscriminately reconciled upon their consenting to undergo the re- quisite formalities ; no exceptions being taken against such as might have been ordained by persons set apart for the episcopate according to the new ser- vol. iv. y y 690 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1559. vice-book. The undistinguishing admission, there- fore, of English ordinations on Pole's arrival among his countrymen, was a plain admonition to all con- temporaries, that Romish canonists pretended not to dispute the validity of consecrations effected in the latter part of Edward's reign. The lapse of a few years brought forward, however, another objection to England's Protestant prelacy. Home, Bishop of Winchester, acting upon the right to tender the oath of supremacy, statutably vested in his order, required that test of Boner, then confined in the Marshalsea, which is within his diocese. The requisition being- met by a refusal, legal proceedings were instituted against the deprived prelate. Boner defended him- self in the court of King's Bench as being incorrectly designated in the indictment, and as not bound to obey the summons which caused his trouble, inas- much as the prosecutor assumed a jurisdiction ap- pended to the see of Winchester, of which he was not the legal possessor. The grounds upon which Home's episcopal authority were denied were both canonical and statutable. The former rested upon Boner's own view of papal jurisprudence, and the latter upon an omission in the act of uniformity. That law restored the English Liturgy, but it did not expressly name the ordinal. It was hence argued that the ordinal, having been abrogated in Parlia- ment under Queen Mary, and not restored by name under her successor, plainly such ministers as had received their commissions by its means were not in a legal condition to exercise their functions. It was pretended, that all mention of the ordinal had been 1559.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. 691 designedly omitted in the act of uniformity ; the Queen desiring to have the new prelates conse- crated according to the Roman pontifical. But this view of the case is undoubtedly false. The ordinal was not mentioned in the act of uniformity merely because it was considered as an integral por- tion of the Book of Common Prayer. However, it was deemed expedient to obviate technical objections arising from this omission for the future, and accord- ingly, an act passed in 1566, recognising the vali- dity of all ministerial admissions, which had been and which should be conducted by means of the re- ceived English ordinal u. Difficulties as to the ex- ercise of rights contingent upon the possession of benefices were thus obviated. Questions as to the spiritual characters of the parties concerned were left by the act exactly where it found them. These, however, it was well known, were capable of an answer which a learned Romanist might be driven to admit as perfectly satisfactory. This fact, so mortifying and embarrassing to plot- ting Romish emissaries, produced, at a convenient distance of time, a new mode of attacking English ordinations. A Jesuit, named Holywood, found impudence enough to publish, in 1601 x, an account which denies that Parker and other clergymen, ad- mitted to the exercise of episcopal rights about this time, ever were consecrated at all, according to any ordinal. This absurd and libellous romancer affirms, u Heylin, Hist. Ref. 346. The prosecution against Boner was not allowed to continue. * Le Courayer, ii. 57. yy 2 692 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1559. that the individuals in question merely met at the Nag's Head tavern in Cheapside, and there received some sort of summary commission at the hands of Scory. Ridiculous, and manifestly senseless as was such an account, first related at the end of forty- five years, of an occurrence so important as Arch- bishop Parker's admission to the episcopate, it was greedily swallowed among the Romanists. Fitz- Simon and Persons, also Jesuits, immediately gave additional currency to it. Kellison, who had written against the English Reformation in 1603, and who, therefore, unfortunately for the amusement of his admiring readers, had been then unable to gratify them by this legend, introduced it into a controver- sial piece, which he published in 1608 y. Soon after him Champney gave a new version of it in a work which he. wrote against Mason2. The tale being y Kellison seems to have been half ashamed of Holywood's offspring, though he thought that policy required him to patronise it ; for he thus cautiously introduces it to his readers. " I have heard credibly reported, that some of them were made bishops at the Nag's Head, with no other ceremony than laying the English Bible on their heads." Le Courayer, ii. 146. z " In the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's reign," says Champ- ney, " upon the testimony of several writers, the Catholic bishops being deposed and imprisoned, as shall be seen hereafter, others were to be ordained and substituted in their places. They who were nominated and elected to this dignity, met at London, by appointment, at the sign of the Nag's Head, in Cheapside; thither likewise, upon invitation, came the Bishop of Llandaff, grown decrepid by reason of his age, and a simple, timorous man, from whom the new candidates expected ordination: but Boner, Bishop of London, then in prisoi^upon the account of religion, hearing of it, threatened LlandafF with excommuni- 1559.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. 693 fairly launched among bigots and libellers, found a reception which must have astonished all those who cation if he ordained them; who being terrified by this message, and perhaps being inwardly touched with the stings of conscience, drew back and refused to lay his hands upon them, alleging the weakness of his eyes as the cause. The new candidates, being thus deceived in their expectations, and thinking themselves im- posed upon, began to revile the old man, whom they had before treated with a great deal of reverence and respect, some of them saying, This fool believes we cannot be made bishops unless we are greased with oil, ridiculing as well the old bishop as this Catholic custom in consecration. But being thus deprived of a consecrator, they were forced to seek for a new expedient, and they had recourse to Scory, an apostate, monk, for their ordina- tion, who under Edward VI. had usurped a bishopric without any consecration, as shall be made to appear hereafter. This man, who had, together with his religious habit, put off all. con- science, soon performed what they desired, using this ceremony : they all kneeling before him, and he laying the Bible upon the head of each of them, said, Receive power to preach the Word of God sincerely : and thus they all rose up bishops. Champney adds, that he had this account from one named Thomas Bluet, who received it himself from Thomas Neal, then an officer of Bp. Boner's, who was sent by Boner to the Bishop of LlandafF, to forbid him to proceed further upon pain of excommunication, and to be a witness of what passed there : which was thus as it is here related." (Le Courayer, i. 32.) As usual among the retailers of such idle hearsays, the parties to whom Romanists owe the gratification of this legend, do not agree in the particulars of it. Holywood says, that Scory con- secrated the candidates by means of the imposition of hands. This, however, appears to have been subsequently considered as too near the customary form. Fitz-Simon, accordingly, relates, that Scory took the candidates by the hand, and bade them rise bishops. Champney's improved version has just been given at length, and it may be worth while to obserye, that there are no 694 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1559. were cognisant of its birth. Romanists repeated and Protestants refuted it, just as if it wore even a semblance of probability. Hence a story, which its inventors must originally have been hopeless of see- ing any where but in some angry ephemeral pamphlet, and perhaps in some jest-book besides, has obtained a prominent place in grave works of history and theo- logy. Romish authors, of any character, have in- deed been long since beaten into an abandonment of this contemptible fiction, and it is now, there- fore, become little more than a literary curiosity. As such, however, it may, possibly, be still worthy of a brief examination. The first stage of an enquiry into remote events small difficulties upon the very face of it. None of the Catholic bishops, as they are called, were in prison even at the real date of Parker's consecration in December. September is the month assigned to the Nag's Head consecration, and then some of the old bishops were not even deprived. Kitchen could have no great fear of a Popish excommunication, in September, for he had then either taken the oath of supremacy, or had no doubt made up his mind to take it. He, therefore, lived in daily danger of this penalty, from that cause. As for Boner's alleged wrath, it might easily have been eluded by pitching upon the chapel at Lambeth for the proposed consecration. The deprived Bishop of London could make no pretence to jurisdiction over that spot; the archiepiscopal residence being subjected to the see of Can- terbury. It is, besides, rather extraordinary, that the hostile Bishop's messenger should have been allowed to witness the pro- ceedings at the Nag's Head : especially since the parties con- cerned in them were so little scrupulous as to their character; and it is yet more extraordinary that this account should have been obstinately kept from the world during five-and- forty years of angry controversy. ' 1559.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. 695 of importance is obviously an examination of public records. These establish all the facts relating' to Archbishop Parker's consecration in the fullest and most satisfactory manner. Not only is the whole of these particulars recorded in his register at Lam- beth, but also another statement of them is pre- served among* the valuable collection of books which he bestowed upon Bene't college, in Cambridge. It is true, that appeals to these documents were answered, at the outset of the controversy, by bold imputations upon their genuineness. But these pre- tended doubts were, after a struggle, hushed in shame and silence. Both the archiepiscopal regis- ters, and the collection at Cambridge are open to inspection. They have, accordingly, been repeated- ly examined, and no scrutiny has ever detected in them the smallest appearance of unfair dealing. Archbishop Abbot a invited four Romanists, three of whom were Jesuits, to inspect Parker's register, in the presence of himself, and of certain other pre- lates ; and the hostile examinants found themselves unable to confirm the alleged suspicions of their party. An application made, indeed, soon after- wards for the temporary loan of the register, was very properly refused ; and that rebuff was artfully created into a pretence for continuing to throw doubts upon the integrity of the Lambeth records. This pertinacity, however, could only serve a tem- porary turn. It was obviously the duty of persons • Abp. Abbot filled the see of Canterbury from 1611, to 1633. Le Neve, 9. 696 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1559. entrusted with the custody of important records, to take care that they should not leave a place of secu- rity : those who desired to see them being bound to rest satisfied with an inspection in their proper receptacle. The manifest truth of this, and the re- peated examinations which Parker's register has satisfactorily undergone b, have at length extorted universally from Romanists an acknowledgment that the Archbishop's consecration was strictly conform- able to the statement of respectable writers. No author, indeed, whatever might be the profundity b Probably the last solemn examination of Parker's register was made for the satisfaction of Le Courayer, in February, 1722, in presence of four witnesses, two of whom were Romanists. This ended, like all former inspections, in the unanimous convic- tion of the parties present, that the entry in question was made at the time assigned to it. There is, indeed, no ground whatever for throwing the slightest shade of suspicion upon this. Abp. Parker's register is a book evidently written during his primacy, and the entry recording his consecration, is in the hand used at that period, and bears every appearance of having formed from the first an integral portion of the book. The objection made, at the outset of this ridiculous controversy, that the record of Par- ker's consecration was not produced until many years after the event, is plainly futile. There are no doubt many things re- corded in the archiepiscopal registers of higher antiquity than this famed consecration, of which no public notice has ever hitherto been taken. If, however, some particular circumstance were to draw any such entry from its obscurity, who would not laugh at an objector who should say, that the alleged fact must have happened, if at all, four centuries ago, and therefore, is in- capable of proof by means of a record produced now for the first time ? The reason why the Lambeth entry was produced bo lute was manifestly no other than because the Jesuits had nut invented earlier their ridiculous calumny. 1559.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. 697 of his impudence, would have ventured, it is proba- ble, upon such a senseless figment as the Jesuits set afloat in the reign of King James, had it not then been believed, that there was no longer any danger of contradiction from living witnesses of respectabi- lity. This belief, however, proved to have been rashly entertained. The legend of the Nag's Head tavern had no sooner been drawn from the Jesuitic arsenal, than a witness of high rank stepped for- ward to confound the calumnious caricaturists. The Earl of Nottingham, who was present at Arch- bishop Parker's consecration in the chapel of Lam- beth-house, had not departed from life on the appearance of Holy wood's figment, and he, of course, contradicted it immediately c. But this mortifica- tion did not for a long time abash the papal parti- zans, and they went on with their tale, until at last, no man could be found with face enough to profess a belief in it. Since that time Romish illiberality has been driven to other modes of attacking the va- lidity of English ordinations. It is no longer pre- tended in any quarter, that the Nag's Head tavern was otherwise connected, as to facts, with Archbishop Parker's admission to the episcopate, than as it might be the place appropriated to the dinner usually given upon such occasions. Nor is it alleged that Scory was the principal officiating bishop in the chapel at Lambeth. Authentic records have con- c Concio ad Clerum, liabita coram Acad. Cantab. Jun. 11, 1687, a T. Browne, S. T. B. Cant. 1688. p. 32. This state- ment is made upon the contemporary authority of Mason. 698 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1559- vinced all the world, that Barlow presided at the august solemnity which for the first time placed a declared Protestant in the see of Canterbury. But then, it has been said, Barlow was no bishop him- self, and therefore could not convey the episcopal character to another. For a proof of this new charge we are again referred to the records at Lam- beth. In them the entry of Barlow's consecration does not appear, and hence it has been assumed, that he never received that rite at all. But this argument is frivolous. It is well known that there are many omissions in ancient records for winch pos- terity cannot account, and yet no man doubts as to the reality of facts which ought properly to be regis- tered in such documents, but which, for some un- known reason, are not stated in their pages, if there be other proofs sufficient to establish them. Gardi- ner's consecration is not recorded in the Canterbury registers d ; yet no man doubts that the celebrated Bishop of Winchester was truly admitted to the episcopate. Any such sceptic might, indeed, soon be reduced to silence by a mass of irrefragable cir- cumstantial evidence. Barlow's case is the same. Proofs that he was recognised as a bishop are nu- merous, and perfectly irresistible. Indeed to sup- pose any thing else is a palpable absurdity : and Queen Mary's government, accordingly, admit his episcopal character without any reserve in the instru- * Le Courayer, i. 52. The Succession of Protestant Bishops asserted, by D. Williams. Lond. 1721, p. ,44. There are other such omissions in the registers. 5 1559.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. 699 ments connected with his resignation of the see of Bath and Wells e. Equally certain is the episcopal ordination of the three remaining individuals con- cerned in Parker's consecration ; and as this point has been established at very considerable length, no man now pretends to doubt it. The more ignorant and pertinacious papal controversialists are, how- ever, even yet inclined to impugn the sacerdotal character dispensed in the English Church. They represent that Parker's consecrators, as being three of them unbeneficed prelates, and the fourth a mere suffragan, whose see was not then in use, were dis- qualified from the due exercise of episcopal ordina- tion f. Now as to the employment of a suffra- gan, considered by itself, its perfect unimportance was demonstrated by a long course of precedents g. That any privilege of order belonging regularly to such a minister could be annihilated by his actual want of an episcopal appointment, is undoubtedly * See them among the records in Le Courayer's first volume, p. 378, et sequ. 1 This idle objection appears to have been lately revived in a controversial work published in France, by the Bishop of Aire, See Faber's Difficulties of Romanism. Lond. 1826, p. 318. g " The archbishops, in taking other bishops to their assistance in the consecration of bishops, or in giving commissions to the other bishops to consecrate in their stead, made no difference be- tween suffragan and diocesan bishops. So that I could produce above twenty examples of the consecration of diocesan bishops in England, within two hundred years of the Reformation, performed with the assistance of suffragan bishops, and that when the ca- nonical number of consecrators was not complete without them." Harmer, 156. 700 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1560. false. It is certain that neither Hodgkins, nor any one of his three coadjutors, was disqualified from ordaining a Christian bishop from the want of a be- nefice h. As no doubt could be entertained upon this head by any scholar acquainted even moderately with ecclesiastical affairs, the facilities offered by Ireland for the employment of beneficed prelates in Parker's h As the Bishop of Aire could not fail of knowing this, he has started another objection to the validity of Parker's consecration. The Archbishop, he says, was insufficiently consecrated, because " neither the patriarch of the West, nor the bishops of the pro- vince, acting by his authority, as required by the fourth canon of the first council of Nice, had ordained, and confirmed such conse- cration." (Faber, ut supra.) The canon mentioned declares it to be by all means proper, that all the episcopal suffrages in a province should concur in electing a new bishop, three prelates at least being present at the place of election ; and that the choice should await the metropolitan's confirmation. By the patriarch of the West, the Pope is no doubt intended. But it is contrary to all evidence to believe that the British Church had ever ad- mitted her inclusion within the Roman patriarchate during the first six centuries of the Christian sera. Now by the sixth canon of this first Nicene council bishops are interdicted from interfering in regions without the limits of the jurisdiction anciently appended to their sees. Within the province of Canterbury, however, the Roman bishop never had any authority compatible either with the laws of England, or with the early canons of the Catholic Church. His interference in our island was at all times, demonstrably, au usurpation. At the time when Parker was consecrated, all the bishops, except one, beneficed within the province of Canterbury were very properly deprived of their preferments, because they had refused a test alike in unison with the constitution of their own country, and with that of the Catholic Church. Still ancient usages were not neglected, for there were certain other bishops formerly ordained within that province, but then unbeneficed, and they concurred in the new metropolitan'* elevation. 15G0.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. 701 consecration were overlooked. In that island three of the archbishops, and five of the bishops, took the oath of supremacy, and conformed to the English Liturgy1. There could have been no difficulty in obtaining the services of a sufficient number of these prelates. But the constitution of the Catholic Church required not their intervention ; unbeneficed prelates, adequately numerous for the desired end, being upon the spot. By their means, it is undeni- able, that the Protestant prelacy of England has canonically derived its commission in one unbroken stream from the most venerable period of ecclesiasti- cal antiquity. Nor has either the Church of Rome, in her collective capacity k, or some of her most illus- i Viz. the Archbishops of Dublin, Cashel, and Tuam ; the Bishops of Ferns, Limerick, Cork, Waterford, and Killaloe. The Clergy of the Church of England truly ordained, &c. by the Rev. Thomas Elrington, D.D. late Senior Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin. Dubl. 1808, p. 54. Le Courayer, ii. 129. k This appears from the powers for reconciling the English clergy granted by Julius III. to Cardinal Pole, from an overture, hereafter mentioned, made by Pius IV. and from the absence of any solemn decision militating against the principle of these acts. A practice has indeed obtained among Romish prelates of re- ordaining English clergymen who pass over to the papal commu- nion ; but it is understood that this usage is chiefly cautionary. The legend of the Nag's Head tavern, and other such libellous absurdities, found in the writings of English incendiaries, who lived about the time of the Reformation, are all that the genera- lity of readers, professing Romanism, know respecting the eccle- siastical emancipation of our island. The heads, accordingly, of the papal Church admit, that they have not accurately studied the circumstances of the Anglican establishment, and that they are therefore unable to decide satisfactorily upon its usages. 702 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1560. trious members individually, ventured to question a fact so satisfactory both to the English clergy, and to those who value their professional services l. Within three days of their ministerial appearance at Archbishop Parker's consecration, Barlow and Scory were confirmed in the sees of Chichester and Hereford m. On the following day, being the festi- val of St. Thomas, these two prelates assisted their new metropolitan, in his chapel at Lambeth, at the Hence they re-ordain clerical converts from England, for the sake of escaping- the possibility of error. See Le Courayer, ii. 38, et sequ. 1 " As to the affair of England," says Bossuet, " besides the doubt concerning their first bishops, who were the authors of the schism, there is a great one arises from the time of Cromwell ; at which time, it is pretended, that there was an interruption in the succession of their ordination. The English maintain the con- trary ; and as to the succession at the beginning of the schism, they maintain that there is no difficulty, and therein they seem to be in the right." (Ibid. i. 5.) Upon another occasion the fa- mous Bishop of Meaux said, " If the episcopal succession in Cromwell's time be well proved, which is a point that has not been sufficiently examined by me, the English bishops and priests are as truly ordained as our own." (Ibid. ii. 36.) Cudsemius also, " a violent Papist, who came into England in the year 1608, much about the time when their famous Nag's Head story was invented, is so sincere as to own our ordinations to be regular. His words are these: As to the state of the Calvinistical sect in England, it is so formed as either to last a great while, or else to be changed on a sudden ; because of the Catholic order there is a -perpetual series of bishops, and a lawful succession of jms- tors received of the Church; for the honour of which we are wont to call the English Caluinists by a milder name, not here- tics, but schismatics." Williams's Success. ,of Prot. Bish. 53. "n Strype's Parker, i. 126. Godwin, de Pncsul. 513. 1560.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. 703 consecration of four bishops. The suffragan Hodg- kins again officiated upon this occasion. The indi- viduals now admitted to the episcopate were Ed- mund Grindal, appointed to the see of London ; Richard Cox, formerly King Edward's tutor, to that of Ely ; Edwin Sandys, to that of Worcester ; and Rowland Meyrick, to that of Bangor. These con- secrations being effected by means of beneficed pre- lates, all the requisites for which the law had been accustomed to look in persons advanced to bishoprics were observed, and consequently the dispensing- clause used in Parker's case was omitted ; nor did it appear in any subsequent appointment to the pre- lacy". On the 21st of January five more bishops n Le Courayer, ii. 359. Strype, (Parker, i. 109.) affirms, that the clause Supplentes was inserted in all the royal letters patent for the making of bishops until the year 1566, when the act was passed which recognized consecrations, effected by King Edward's ordinal, as valid for English purposes. But this appears to be a hasty notion adopted by the venerable biographer, from his im- pression that the clause was meant to supply any technical defects which might be alleged against the service. A suspicion of any such defects never could have been entertained by the profound theological critics to whom Elizabeth looked for ecclesiastical ad- vice. Their view of the case is not, however, matter of specu- lation. Le Courayer (ut supra) has published references to Rynier, from which it appears, that the clause Supplentes is only found in the instruments relating to Parker. The frivolous ob- jection to the ordinal started by Boner at a subsequent period, had most probably suggested itself to no man's ingenuity at the date of Parker's consecration.' It bears indeed every appearance of a device excogitated by legal subtlety for the purpose of a par- ticular forensic defence. Such a plea having, however, made its appearance, it was obviously required of the Legislature, that pre- 704 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1560. were consecrated ; namely, Thomas Young, to the see of St. David's ; Nicholas Bullingham, to that of Lincoln ; John Jewel, to that of Salisbury ; Richard Davis, to that of St. Asaph ; and Edmund Guest, to that of Rochester. On the 2d of March provision was made for the spiritual wants of the northern province, by the consecration of James Pilkington to the see of Durham, and of John Best to that of Car- lisle °. In the course of this winter also were solem- nized several ordinations of priests and deacons. Still it was found impossible adequately to supply the churches, and therefore it was deemed advisable to adopt an extraordinary expedient. In particular situations several cures were temporarily committed to the charge of a single clergyman, who was to di- vide his ministrations among them ; the churches from which he was absent being opened for the read- ing of the Common Prayer, and a homily, by a dea- con, if possible, or if not, by some grave layman. Such lay reader, however, was to be restrained from preaching, administering the sacraments, or marry- ing15. A short time before, Jewel, the learned, eloquent, and amiable apologist of the Church of England, obtained episcopal consecration, he preached at St. Paul's Cross, in presence of the civic officers, many persons of rank, and a very numerous assemblage of cautions should be provided against embarrassing questions likely to flow from it in future. 0 Strype's Parker, i. 127. . 9 Ibid. 131. 1560.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. 705 ordinary hearers q. His discourse was principally levelled against a belief in the antiquity of such prin- ciples and usages as distinguish Romanism from other forms of Christianity. He pursued this object with a degree of intrepidity, which occasioned sur- prise even to many whose opinions agreed with his own. Those who differed with him were naturally both startled and offended by the boldness of his lan- guage : nor could people generally avoid a suspicion, that his zeal had to some extent outrun his discre- tion. These murmurs of the one party and appre- hensions of the other, found their way to the spirited preacher's ears ; but he heeded them not. In the following spring he repeated his sermon, with the addition of some observations upon the sort of notice which it had received ; complaining, that although private assailants had extensively animadverted upon his arguments, no scholar had publicly encountered him in the lists of controversy r. The most re- markable feature in his discourse was a challenge to the Romish party. " If," said Jewel, " any learned man among our adversaries, or if all their learned men alive, be able to bring any one suffi- cient sentence out of any ancient father, or out of any ancient general council, or out of the Holy Scriptures, or any one example of the primitive Church, whereby it may clearly and plainly be proved, that there was private mass in the whole world within the first six hundred years after Christ, then «" November 26, 1559. Strype's Grindal, 40. r Ibid. VOL. IV. Z Z 706 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1560. I am content to yield and to subscribe. Also, if any such proof can be brought of communion ministered under one kind ; or that the people in their public prayers used a tongue which they understood not ; or that the Bishop of Rome was called an universal bishop, or head of the universal church ; or that the people were then taught to believe, that Christ's body is really, substantially, corporally, carnally, or naturally present in the Sacrament ; or that Christ's body is, or may be, in a thousand places, or more, at one time ; or that the priest did then hold up the Sacrament over his head ; or that the people did then fall down and worship the Sacrament with godly honour ; or that the Sacrament was then, or now ought to be, hanged up under a canopy ; or that in the Sacrament, after the words of consecra- tion, there remain only the accidents and shews, without the substance of bread and wine ; or that the priest then divided the Sacrament into three parts, and afterward received all himself alone ; or that whosoever had said the Sacrament is a figure, a pledge, a token, or a remembrance of Christ's body, had therefore been adjudged an heretic ; or that it was lawful then to have thirty, twenty, fifteen, ten, or five masses said in one church in one day ; or that images were set up in churches, to the intent that the people might worship them ; or that the lay people were then forbidden to read the Word of God in their own tongue ; or that it was then lawful for the priest to pronounce the words of consecration closely, and in silence unto himself;, or that the priest had then authority to offer up Christ unto his Father : 2 1560.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. 707 or that the priest had then authority to receive the Sacrament for others ; or that the priest had then authority to apply the virtue of Christ's death and passion to any man by means of the mass ; or that it was then thought a sound doctrine to teach the people, that the mass, ex opere operato, that is, even for that it is said and done, is able to remove any part of our sins ; or that then any Christian man called the Sacrament his Lord and God ; or that the people were then taught to believe, that the body of Christ remaineth in the Sacrament as long as the accidents of bread remain there without cor- ruption ; or that a mouse, or any other worm or beast may eat the body of Christ ; or that when Christ said, Hoc est corpus meum, this word Hoc pointed not the bread, but individuum vagum, as some say ; or that the accidents, or forms, or shews of bread and wine, are the sacraments of Christ's body and blood, and not rather the bread and wine themselves ; or that the Sacrament is a sign or token of the body of Christ that lieth hidden underneath it ; or that ignorance is the mother and cause of true devotion and obedience \" These twenty-seven s A Reply unto M. Harding's Answer ; by John Jewel, Bishop of Salisbury. Lond. 1566. Bp. Jewel was forty years of age on his advancement to the see of Salisbury. He was a native of Devonshire, and his academical education was received at Oxford. He was noted for his zealous attachment to scriptural principles under King Edward ; but his horror of the stake impelled him to a transient profession of Romanism in the next reign. This compliance was, however, merely the result of physical weakness, and he hastened to escape from a land, in which he could not live without renouncing his faith. Having reached the Continent, Z Z 2 703 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1560. articles, of which the bulk are authentically pro-^ mulged in the Church of Rome as incontestable re- velations from heaven, and of which there is no one that has not been maintained by papal writers of established authority, Jewel asserted were all. of them utterly unknown, or at least unacknowledged as any part of their creed, among Catholic Chris- tians during the first six centuries of our sera. Nor would he hesitate, he solemnly declared, if the con- verse of his assertion could be proved by means of undeniable evidence, to abandon the religious prin- ciples which he had adopted, and to sue for a re- conciliation with Rome. But he professed to feel himself bound, as a cautious enquirer into divine truth, to reject such articles of faith as he could neither find in the New Testament, nor among the earliest monuments of the Catholic Church. If, therefore, he argued, his choice was wrongly made, it was a diligent examination of authorities, appa- rently most worthy of his reliance, that had led him astray. "O Austin! O Jerome! O Cyprian! O Athanasius ! O Irenaeus ! O Polycarp ! O. Peter ! O Paul ! O Christ," he eloquently exclaimed, " if we are deceived, it is you that have deceived us '." So great was Bishop Jewel's well-founded confi- dence in his intellectual resources, that he closely followed up his famous challenge by another literary he resumed his Protestant character, and on his return to England, soon after Elizabeth's accession, his profound erudition and splendid abilities immediately recommended him to the royal patronage. • 1 Three Conv. ii. 29G. 1560.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. 709 assault upon Romanism yet more celebrated. His object in this new work was defensive, and he ac- complished his task with that modest brilliancy of style, force of argument, and judicious display of learning which can only result from a rare combi- nation of exalted genius, ably-directed industry, and sound discretion. The Apology for the Church of England, in which these eminent qualities are em- ployed to the best advantage, opens with some spi- rited observations upon the calumnies and opposition which truth has ever encountered in the world. It is hence argued, that Protestants ought contentedly to undergo the odious imputations which their ad- versaries incessantly cast upon them. Nor, it is added, ought these to remain riveted in their exist- ing opinions if they should see strong reasons ad- duced for thinking favourably of their opponents, their own unlimited claims to antiquity being at the same time dashed from their hands. The impro- priety of lightly branding men as heretics is shewn from what occurred in the early ages of the Church, when the principles of Christianity were denounced by Pagan enemies as nothing else than a pernicious heresy. Questions as to doctrine are to be decided, it is maintained, by the aid of citations from the fathers, by means of appeals to Scripture. Let enquiries be addressed to the Apostles, to the Pro- phets, to Christ himself. A conscientious reference to these authorities had guided, the apologist affirms, himself and those who shared his opinions, in de- fining the articles of their faith. These, every where citing Scripture and the fathers, he thus explains. 710 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1560. We believe the Trinity, and the Son's incarnation, sufferings, satisfaction, resurrection, and ascension ; by which last event, his body is withdrawn from earth until the final judgment, although his divinity and majesty overspread the whole face of creation. We believe a Church, not like that of Judaism, in- tended for a single nation, but destined to embrace the world, of which the ministers are bishops, priests, and deacons, all acting in subservience to Christ, the head ; who, being ever present with his faithful people, neither needs an earthly substitute, nor has appointed one. We believe that all the apostles were endued with equal power, and sent abroad with the same commission ; that, in like manner, all bishops administer a similar authority, neither the Roman nor any other see being justified in claiming a paramount jurisdiction. The privilege of minis- tering in the Church is restricted to such as have been lawfully called to it, all intrusions into sacred offices at the mere will of individuals themselves being condemned. A legitimate sacerdotal vocation is said to confer the rights of binding, loosing, opening, and shutting : these operations being understood to mean, not a power to act in the confessional, according to Romish usages, but to cheer true repentance by the offer of God's mercy ; to re-admit notorious offenders, now sincerely griev- ing for their faults, into communion with their bre- thren ; to denounce divine vengeance against ob- stinate wickedness, and unbelief; and to exclude persons obnoxious to these charges from the Church, by means of public censures. Knowledge of the 1560.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. 711 Scriptures is the key by which ministers are thus to shut and open the heavenly kingdom. In men of every kind and station, matrimony is pronounced holy and honourable. To the canonical Scriptures of both Testaments an unqualified assent is given, as the supreme arbiters of religious knowledge ; it being added, that against them is to be heard nei- ther law, nor tradition, nor custom, nor Paul him- self, nor even an angel from heaven. We receive, the apologist continues, certain sacred signs, termed sacraments, instituted by Christ as means of placing before our eyes, the mysteries of our salvation, of confirming our faith in his blood, and of sealing his grace in our hearts. These we call with Tertullian, Origen, Ambrose, Austin, Jerome, and other Catholic fathers, figures, signs, symbols, types, antitypes, forms, seals, resemblances, images, memorials. In the Lord's Supper we plainly declare, that the body and blood of Christ are truly presented to the faithful, being a food from above infusing life into the soul, affording the nutriment of immortality, and joining men with the Saviour, so that he dwells in them, and they in him. Of sacraments, two only are ac- knowledged as properly so called, namely Baptism and the Eucharist ; the former being for the remis- sion of sin, and therefore fitly open to all believers, and to their children also, as being born in sin ; the latter, for a memorial of Christ's death, and of our redemption, as well as for supplying a nurture to our faith, similar to that which bread and wine supply to our bodies. To this heavenly feast all are to be invited, nor is any one, according to the ancient 712 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1560. fathers, and the early bishops of Rome, to remain merely as a spectator during the administration of the Eucharist. In that heavenly mystery, although we admit the true receiving by faith of Christ's body and blood, yet we reject all those varying dreams, by which it has been asserted that the sacramental elements undergo a substantial change. We main- tain, on the contrary, that the bread and wine lose not their proper natures by means of consecration, the change effected being wrought in the believing com- municant, not in the substances which he receives. All trafficking in masses, together with the processional employment, and adoration of the bread, we utterly condemn as idolatrous, and blasphemous follies, in- troduced into the Church by the Roman bishops, without authority from Scripture, the fathers, or any ancient precedent. The practice of these prelates in going about preceded by the sacramental bread we can only compare to the heathen usages of car- rying in processions the sacred fire, and the emblems of Isis. We deride also the silly belief of a power in the priesthood to apply the merits of our Saviour's passion. It is our own faith, and not the sacra- mental act of another, which conveys this benefit to our souls. From this our opinion, that sacraments, unless faithfully received, profit not the living, it will follow, that we deny their beneficial operation upon the dead. Purgatory also, though long men- tioned among Christians, but in a various, hesi- tating, and contradictory manner, we reject as a senseless and anile figment. Unnecessary ceremo- nies we have retrenched, as being burthensome, and, 1560.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. 713 to some consciences, offensive ; but we have retained such as have apostolic authority, and such also as appear compatible with the Church's utility. Our prayers are offered in the language which is uni- versally understood, according to the direction of St. Paul, and to the usage of all antiquity. The only mediator whom we acknowledge is Jesus Christ ; addresses made to all others being an usage plainly heathenish, and a reproach to the Christian profes- sion.. To the sacrifice of Calvary alone do we look as the propitiation for our sins, and this, accord- ingly, we consider the sole ground of our faith ; but we are far from holding that we are thereby excused from moral obedience : on the contrary, we believe, that a true faith cannot be idle, and that he who possesses it is ever careful to perform good works. Having thus explained the leading principles of Protestant belief, Jewel proceeds to justify a se- paration from the Roman church. Objections urged against the separatists as a body, because among them existed not absolute uniformity of opinion, and because some of them held pernicious tenets, he proves to be destitute of solidity : a disposi- tion to range themselves under particular leaders, having prevailed even among converts in the apos- tolic age, and having ever prevailed to a very great, often, indeed, to an embarrassing extent, among professed Romanists. Fanatical or seditious prin- ciples entertained by a few of those who have de- serted the papal communion, can be no reproach, he argues, to the great bulk of such dissentients, inasmuch as they have notoriously disclaimed and 714 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1560. endeavoured to suppress the reprobated errors. The apologist then proceeds to touch upon admitted abuses in the Roman church, and upon the seeming hopelessness of adequate remedies for these evils within her pale. Hence he concludes, that England is manifestly justified in seeking, of her own autho- rity, conscientiously and deliberately exercised, that reform of her spiritual affairs, for which competent judges have long been impatient, but which appears impracticable under sanction of the papal see u. Dr. Henry Cole, lately Dean of St. Paul's, was the first antagonist called forth by Jewel's attacks upon Romanism. He made a shew of accepting the challenge, but he ventured no farther into the controversy than to write a few civil letters, which drew from the highly-gifted Bishop of Salisbury equally civil replies. After Cole, Rastall, Dorman, and Marshall severally attacked the learned chal- lenger. The most remarkable of his opponents, however, was Dr. Thomas Harding, like himself a native of Devonshire, a graduate of Oxford, and an active Protestant in the reign of King Edward x. Harding then was chaplain to the Duke of Suffolk, and he displayed all the zeal against popery which might naturally have been expected in one patronized by that reforming peer. In his sermons he ridiculed the paper walls and painted fires of purgatory ; in- veighed against Rome as the sink of Sodom, against the mass as a heap of idolatry, and the mystery of u The Apology appeared in 1562, but it was written in the pre* ceding- year. Strype's Annals, i. 424. • * Heylin, Hist. lief. 302. 1560.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. 715 iniquity ; and he once concluded these declamatory specimens of pulpit polemics, by expressing a wish for a voice powerful as the great bell of Oseney y, that he might ring the truth into the dull ears of deaf papists z. Up to King Edward's demise, this earnest affection for a scriptural faith discovered no symptom of abatement. A short time before Queen Mary's accession, he exhorted a London congregation by no means to waver in the profession of Protest- antism should persecution arise ; that being a mode which God uses to try the steadfastness of his people in the good principles which have been implanted in their hearts a. When, however, the new govern- ment, with the stake in one hand and preferment in the other, was firmly established, Harding quickly discerned the expedience of offering his rhetoric to the papal party. His conversion being favorably received, he was rewarded by the treasurership of Salisbury b. Unfortunately for him, and other such calculators, a very brief ascendancy was reserved for the principles which they had adopted under circum- stances of such strong suspicion. The course which they generally pursued in this dilemma has been y Formerly an abbey on the western side of Oxford. At the dissolution, its church was made the cathedral of the new diocese of Oxford. Harding appears to have delivered some of these rhetorical attacks from the university pulpit: others from that of St. Paul's Cross. z Conclusion to Jewel's Answer to Harding, upon the Challenge. . a Foxe, 1291. The martyrologist says, that when he published his book, many persons were alive who heard these words from Harding's lips. b To which he was collated July 17, 1555. Le Neve, 271. 716 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1560; already seen, and a most happy one it proved for the Church. Numerous important preferments pos- sessed by men, whose principles were at best equi- vocal, were thus left open for individuals who had exhibited more consistency. Harding, after the loss of his treasurership, retired to Louvain, and retaining there his mental activity, he gained a high reputation among English Romanists. He published replies both to the Challenge and to the Apology, and it is some credit to these pieces, that Jewel himself under- took a critical examination of them. The learned Bishop of Salisbury had, however, no very difficult task in exposing his opponent. Harding's attempt to prove, that the twenty-seven articles named by Jewel were admitted by the Catholic Church during the first six hundred years of her existence is a palpable failure. Nor is his Confutation of the Apology, although an easier subject on account of the greater latitude allowed to the writer, by any means happy. The expatriated divine's indifference as to the citation of authorities was, indeed, such as effectually to pre- clude his labours from attaining a lasting reputation. An author who misrepresents the sense of important passages, appeals to spurious works as if they were genuine, and employs assertions where discerning readers look for arguments or proofs, is very little likely to gain upon any mind unless it has previously received a powerful bias in his favour. While Romish polemics were meditating replies to the celebrated challenge, the English bishops assiduously laboured for the complete renovation of the Church. A great degree of incompetence noto- 1560.] : UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. 71-7 riou sly prevailed among the parochial clergy, and the facility with which they had generally received every creed imposed upon them by the government, had by no means tended to raise their reputation. There were individuals, probably such as had im- bibed Genevan principles during a recent exile, who would fain have remedied existing evils by suspend- ing from the ministerial office such ecclesiastics as were noted for repeated alterations in their religious profession ; provision being made against future ad- missions of insufficient pastors by requiring the parish to concur with the patron in nominating a clerk to a vacant benefice c. Such violent innova- tions were not, however, likely to meet an approval from the grave and cautious persons who had been wisely chosen to preside over the Church. They contented themselves with proceeding in the dis- charge of their important duties according to the tenour of the Queen's injunctions'1, not doubting that they would thus, in due time, effect such re- forms in the sacred profession as circumstances required and would allow. With a view of obviating objections to the principles of ministers, a brief de- claration of belief in some leading articles was drawn up in Latin, for their subscription. This contains an assent to the fundamentals of the Chris- tian religion, and a disclaimer of Romish and Ana- baptistical errors e. An English declaration of c See the proposal in Strype's Annals, i. 312. d Ibid, 318. e Ibid, 323. 718 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1560, similar import was also composed for clergymen to read on taking possession of their benefices, and twice in every year besides f. Farther provision was made for conciliating popular feeling in favour of the clerical order by refusing ordination to persons who had hitherto followed mechanical occupations. Apparent necessity had recently induced the bishops to ordain such individuals. But the experiment proved far from happy. Many of these new ministers were found to have imbibed in their former modes of life habits unfitted for acquiring, or even for meriting public respect. It was now, therefore, determined, that those who had been engaged in avocations alien from learning should not in future be admitted into holy orders g. Amidst their cares for the complete spiritual reno- vation of England, the bishops observed with con- cern, that Elizabeth clung to the gaudy decorations by which Romanists render edifices appropriated to religion attractive to the eye. She long persisted in retaining lights and a crucifix in her own chapel, and she maintained, that such ornaments, together, perhaps, with figures of the Virgin and St. John, the usual furniture of rood-lofts, might, excusably, and even advantageously, be suffered to continue in churches h. Vainly, for a time, did remonstrances from the prelacy against such relics of the former ' See Strype's Annals, i. 325. g Strype's Parker, i. 1 80. h Edwiuus Wigornensis (Sandys) ad P. Ma^t. Burnet, Hist. Rcf. Records, iii. 389. 1560.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. 719 system assail the royal ears. At last, however, the reasons urged for denying any farther toleration to them, procured the insertion of an order, among the injunctions recently issued, to remove from the house of God all objects that had been abused to superstitious and idolatrous purposes. Being armed with this authority, the visitors had generally cleared places of public worship of such insidious appen- dages ; and had even committed them publicly to the flames \ Elizabeth now desired, that a cross, at least, should be placed in every church, and when pressed with reasons against this ornament, she angrily talked of depriving the prelates who were most resolute in opposing her inclinations. But they knew that the concession of this point was fraught with danger to ignorant and superstitious minds ; a sense of duty, therefore, forbade them to give way. They addressed, accordingly, a long memorial to the Queen against any use of images in churches k, and Jewel, together with Grindal, argued, by appointment, before certain members of Parliament, against the proposed erection of crosses '. At last this honourable pertinacity was crowned with success ; the Queen consenting to the indiscriminate proscription of objects which her prelacy so justly deprecated as injurious to the progress of sound religion m. Burnet, Hist. Ref. Records, iii. 389. k Strype's Annals, i. 332. 1 Juellus ad P. Mart. Burnet, Hist. Ref. Records, iii. 387. m Strype's Annals, i. 332. 720 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1560, In another particular, Elizabeth afforded some degree of gratification to those who were prejudiced in favour of the Romish service. One might think upon slight reflexion, that few features in the papal system have so little chance of popularity, as prayers in a language which most men understand not at all, and which very few comparatively under- stand perfectly. The human mind, however, be- comes attached to every thing which is endeared to it by long familiarity, and the weaker intellects are never so well pleased as when under the supposed operation of something which, being unintelligible to them, is looked upon as a sort of charm. Hence the Roman Liturgy owes some degree of its popula- rity even to the sacred language, as the Latin has been absurdly called, in which it is composed. The remains probably of such a partiality excusably lin- gering among professed scholars, produced an appli- cation to the crown for permission to say the public prayers in Latin, in the two Universities, and in the colleges of Winchester and Eton. An anxiety to employ every expedient likely to familiarise the stu- dents with an important language, was the reason assigned for preferring this request. The desired boon, being obviously reasonable, was granted on the 6th of April, by royal authority. But the Queen, in thus gratifying the Universities, and the two colleges, added an exhortation, which rather savours of preju- dice, if not of superstition. She recommends clergy- men to read privately to themselves the Latin trans- lation of the daily prayers on those. days in which they celebrated not the English offices in their 1560.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. 721 churches. The volume containing this version of the Liturgy was also rendered acceptable to the lovers of former usages, by the insertion in it of a service for commemorating such as have founded, or benefited, public institutions, and of a form for ad- ministering the holy Communion at funerals. Both these offices are in Latin, and the use of them, as of the Liturgy in the same tongue, rests upon the Queen's exercise of her prerogative n. Of publications tending to wean Englishmen from Romish prejudices, no one probably had a more ex- tensive operation than Foxes Martyrology. The first portion of this important work, which is princi- pally an historical exposure of the papacy, was origi- nally printed in Latin on the continent, whither the author had fled from the Marian persecution. Hav- ing arrived at home soon after Elizabeth's accession, Foxe was encouraged by various members of the hierarchy to crown his former labours, by adding to them copious accounts of those who had perished as religious delinquents under the late Queen. Every facility was afforded to him for the completion of this task in the most satisfactory manner ; and he shewed himself fully worthy of the confidence reposed in him. Invariable accuracy is not to be expected in any historical work of such extent ; but it may be truly said of England's venerable martyrologist, that his relations are more than ordinarily worthy of reli- n Royal declaration prefixed to the offices for commemorating benefactors, and administering the Sacrament at funerals. Bp. Sparrow's Collection, 201. VOL. IV. 3 A 722 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1560; ance. His principal object being indeed to leave be- hind him a vast mass of authentic information re- lating to those miserable times which it had been his lot to witness, he printed a vast mass of original letters, records of judicial processes, and other do- cumentary evidence. The result of this judicious policy was a work which has highly gratified the friends of Protestantism, and successfully defied its enemies. Numerous attacks have been levelled at the honest chronicler of Romish intolerance ; but they have ever fallen harmless from the assailant's hand. Sound as was the discretion displayed by Eliza- beth's ecclesiastical advisers, there were individuals returned from an exile upon the continent who felt inclined to question the propriety of adhering so scrupulously to the principles which had guided King Edward's reformers. Such Englishmen would fain have seen their national Church closely resem- bling that of Geneva, and they wrote to Calvin with a view of obtaining the sanction of his authority for the scruples which they were disposed to entertain. But he gave them very little encouragement. They seem to have sought for confirmation in objections against the use of an absolution after the general confession, against separate addresses to communi- cants, against the Rubric enjoining communion at the three great festivals, and against administering the Eucharist to the sick. Calvin's answer approved a declaration of God's mercy after a public avowal of sinfulness ; accounted for his own omission of ad- dresses to communicants individually by the want of 1560.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. 723 sufficient time to officiate in that manner ; advised monthly sacraments, if the people could be brought to attend them without any violent interference with their established habits, if not, a contented acqui- escence in the existing practice ; and maintained, that sick persons ought not to be excluded from the Eucharist. Besides thinking thus favourably of An- glican usages, the great apostle of Geneva is also known to have admitted the antiquity and usefulness of episcopal government. It is therefore evident, that his own departure from practices which he knew to be sanctioned by the most venerable prece- dents, and which are happily naturalised in England, was the result of necessity rather than of choice °. A general approval of the English Reformation likewise indirectly proceeded from a foreign quarter, where apparently it was far less likely to seem en- durable than at Geneva. On the 18th of August, 1559, Paul IV. closed his turbulent pontificate, hav- ing first, with his dying breath, advised the cardinals to patronise the Inquisition, as the best preservative against surrounding heresies p. The triple crown remained without a wearer until Christmas, when it was placed upon the brows of John Angelo de' Me- dici, then seventy years old, a cardinal of acknow- ledged judgment, and of much official experience. The new Pope, who called himself Pius IV. soon be- came anxious to signalise his reign by the recovery of England. A letter was accordingly despatched ° Strype's Annals, i. 387. p Pallavicino, ii. 127. 3 v 2 724 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1560. to Elizabeth q, by means of Parpaglia, once known at the court of London as a dependant of Cardinal q " To our dearest daughter in Christ, Elizabeth, Queen of England. " Our most beloved daughter in Christ, greeting, and Apos- tolical benediction. How earnestly we desire, as by our pastoral duty bound, to take effectual care of your salvation, and to pro- vide for your honour, and the establishment of your kingdom, both God, the searcher of hearts, knows, and you may learn yourself from the instructions we have given to our beloved son, Vincent Parpaglia, a person not unknown to you, and well ap- proved of us, to be communicated to you. We do, therefore, most dear daughter, exhort and persuade your Highness again and again, that you would lay by those ill counsellors who love themselves better than your interest ; and that you would proceed in the fear of God, and acknowledge the time of your visitation, and yield obedience to our paternal and wholesome admonitions. By doing which you may promise yourself every thing at our hands that you can desire, not only towards the happiness of your soul, but the establishment also of your royal dignity, ac- cording to the authority, place, and function entrusted to us by God ; who, if you return into the bosom of the Church, as we hope and wish you may, are ready to receive you with the same affection, joy, and honour, wherewith the parent in the Gospel received the prodigal upon his return. Though our satisfaction will be so much higher than his, as he rejoiced for the sake of one child's salvation only, whereas you, as virtually containing all the people of England, will give us occasion to congratulate the happy conversion of yourself and the whole nation ; and the same will you minister to all our brethren in general, (whom, God willing, you will in a little time understand to be convened in an oecumenical and general council, for the extirpation of heresies,) as well as to the whole Church. Nay, you will fill heaven itself with joyful acclamations; and by so memorable an action, per- petuate the glory of your name, and purchase a much richer diadem than that which you now near. Buf of this, the above* 1560.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. 725 Pole's. In addition to the kind and conciliatory tone which pervades his epistle, Pius intimates in it, that the bearer was furnished with some especial au- thority for giving satisfaction to the Queen. These secret instructions empowered the messenger, it is said, to announce the pontiff's disposition not only to recognise Elizabeth's legitimacy r, but also to sanction the English service-book s ; upon condition, mentioned Vincent has directions to transact with you more at large, and he will declare to you our fatherly affection : whom we pray your Highness to treat with all possible candour, to hear him cheerfully, and repose as entire faith in what he says, as you would in ourself. " Given at Rome, at St. Peter's, &c. 15th of May, 1560, in our first year." Cambden, 384. r Sanders gives no hint of any farther concession to be hoped from Parpaglia's mission. " Nuncium interim suum, qui, per inferiorem Germaniam Angliam versus progrederetur, mox misit (Papa) ut Elizabetham erroris admoneret, et ne propter odium pontificis, se, regn unique nobilissimum perderet, suaderet : ac si quidem esset de quo sibi propter incertos natales ab ecclesia vel pontifice, quoad jus regnandi, metueret, sedis apostolicse benigni- tate facile transigi posse diceret." De Schism. Angl. 307. s We learn from the respectable contemporary authority of Dr. Clerk, who had excellent means of information, and who ap- peals to existing vouchers both documentary and personal, that some papal concession was to be expected beyond the recognition of Elizabeth's legitimacy. " Cum ita fortefortuna usuveniret, ut nobilis quidam Anglus in curia Romana ageret, coepit cum eo Pontifex iste Pius in multum sermonem incidere, quae causa esset cur Elizabetha Regina illius authoritatem, atque adeo supremae potestatis nomen e regno ejiceret. Respondit nobilis ille, ut erat homo sapiens et Uteris instructus, Anglorum Reginee tam sacrae Scripturae testimonies, quam regni legibus persuasum esse, nullam esse in terra aliena jurisdictionem. Vix adduci possum, ut illud 726 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1561. that her Majesty should formally acknowledge the papal supremacy. The overture, however, was de- credam, inquit Papa, cum sapiens et literata sit Regina vestra, sed illam suspicor Apostolicam sedem summo odio insectari, quod ilia cathedra contra matris illius nuptias pronuntiavit. Si id in causa est, ego ill! meam astringo fidem, me illam sententiam non modo tanquam injustam retracturum, sed in ejus gratiam quce- cunque possum prceterea facturum, dum ilia ad nostram Eccle- siam se recipiat, et debitum mihi primatus titulum reddat. Si me putes fingi, quod ipse (Sanders, sc.) soles facere, extant adhuc apud nos articuli, Abbatis Sanctse Salutis (Parpaglia) manu con- scripti, extant Cardinalis Moronse literse quibus nobilem ilium vehementer hortabatur ut earn rem nervis omnibus apud Regi- nam nostram sollicitaret. Extant hodie nobilium nostrorum ali- quot quibus Papa multa aureorum millia pollicitus est, ut istius amicitiee atque foederis inter Romanam cathedram et Elizabethan! serenissimam authores essent." (Fid. Serv. Subd. Infid. Resp.) The concessions intended by Pius, in addition to his acknow- ledgment of Elizabeth's legitimacy, are thus stated by the Lord Chief Justice Coke in a speech delivered at the Norwich assizes, on the 4th of August, 1606. " The Pope wrote a letter to Queen Elizabeth, in which he consented to approve the book of Common Prayer, as used among us, as containing nothing con- trary to the truth, and comprehending what is necessary to salva- tion, though not all that ought to be in it, and that he would authorise the use of it, if her Majesty would receive it from him, and upon his authority. This is the truth touching Pope Pius V. which I have often heard from the Queen's own mouth. And I have frequently conferred with noblemen of the highest rank in the state, ivho had seen and read the Popes letter upon this sub- ject, as I have related it to you. And this is as true as that I am an honest man." Robert Abbot, brother to the Archbishop of that name, and himself Bishop of Salisbury, affirms in his an- swer to the Apology for Garnet, that Elizabeth mentioned this letter in Parliament. Bp. Andrews also, in his answer to Cardi- nal Bellarmine, asserts that this papal overture hinged upon an 1561. ] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. 727 clinecl, and Parpaglia proceeded no farther than Brussels ' ; being informed that he would not be permitted to pass over into England u. Most probably Elizabeth rejected these advances with her usual courtesy and caution. For Pius evi- dently was not driven by the disappointment to despair of acquiring some influence over English affairs. He had entered upon the pontificate under an engagement to convene a general council, and express understanding, that the English Liturgy was to be ap- proved at Rome. (Le Courayer, iii. 365.) Sir Roger Twisden says of this account of the Pope's intentions : " I myself have received it, from such as I cannot doubt of it, they having had it from persons of nigh relation unto them who were actors in the managing of the business." Hist. Vind. 176. Yet notwithstanding this weight of testimony, the relation evi- dently labours under difficulties. Clerk, who probably obtained his information from Abp. Parker, only mentions some undefined offer of concession, in addition to an acknowledgment of Eliza- beth's legitimacy. Cambden, who received much of his most valuable matter from Cecil, Lord Burghley, mentions the current accounts of the Pope's intended concessions as mere reports. Upon the whole, it appears hardly doubtful, that Elizabeth was assured in writing of Pius's disposition to recognise some of her ecclesiastical arrangements, if she would only consent to admit his authority. But most probably, neither were the points in which concession was to be expected accurately defined, nor did the Pope distinctly pledge himself to any concession at all beyond the recognition of the Queen's legitimacy. If such be the case, the overture was nothing more than one of those old papal ma- noeuvres by which some gratification afforded to a sovereign was to be rendered available for undermining the religious liberties of a nation, ' Heylin, Hist. Ref. 304. u Sanders, 307. 728 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1561, every new month of his life increased his conviction, that this engagement could not safely be eluded. At last it was determined, that the proposed assem- bly should meet at Trent, thereby rendering itself a continuation of the famous body which had delibe- rated upon that spot in former years. Having de- cided upon this measure, Pius formally announced his intention to the princes of his communion. He then resolved upon communicating the same informa- tion to such potentates as had broken off connexion with the Roman see ; inviting them at the same time to take a part in the approaching council. This conciliatory compliment was represented by some of his courtiers as derogatory to the papal dignity. But the pontiff excellently replied : " I will readily humble myself to heresy. Whatever is done for the sake of gaining souls to Christ, is becoming of my station V The Abbe Jerome Martinengo was employed to visit England with this invitation, and his instructions were, that in the first instance, he should proceed to Flanders, and there await pass- ports for London, which it was hoped he would obtain by means of the Spanish ambassador. If this hope were realised, Martinengo was carefully to avoid every appearance of a close understanding with Philip ; he was to abstain for a while from soliciting the release of the imprisoned bishops ; and in fine, he was to make it appear, that his object at the English court was merely to engage Elizabeth's concurrence in a project which intimately con- x F. Paul. 436, 1561.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. 729 cerned the common interests of all Christendom. He was to admonish the Queen, that, in acced- ing to his Holiness's wishes, an important spiri- tual benefit would accrue both to herself and her subjects. Nor was he to forget an intimation, that her Majesty, in listening to the Pontiff's voice might calculate upon making with him very favourable terms y. Happily the English cabinet was proof against such insidious offers. When Philip's ambas- sador urged the propriety of receiving Martinengo, the Queen replied, " An invidious distinction has been made between me, and such other Catholic potentates as have been invited to this council some time ago. The proposed assembly, also, will not be y " Che le promettesse in tal caso qualunque favore del Papa." (Pallavicino, ii. 204.) These words are probably, pretty close to the truth. It is more likely that Martinengo was instructed to hold out some undefined expectation of concession, than that he was actually authorised to make such an offer as the Pope's re- cognition of the English Liturgy. At the same time, it may be reasonably believed that either he, in an unofficial manner, or some person in his confidence, endeavoured to work upon the English court by representing an approval of the national service as far from hopeless at Rome. Had Elizabeth's ministers taken this bait, a papal nuncio would again have been allowed to in- trigue in England. That he would have known very well how to make his residence in our island tell upon ignorance and dis- affection, all experience was a sufficient guarantee. As for any pledge, either directly or indirectly given, to procure for him an entrance into the kingdom, that could never occasion the least uneasiness at Rome. If such an engagement came through any indirect channel, it might be disclaimed by the nuncio ; if it came from that personage himself, it might be insisted by the Pope that his representative had exceeded his instructions. 730 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1561. free, pious, and Christian. Were it likely to possess these characters, I should send to it some religious and zealous persons to represent the Church of England. Any permission of the Nuncio's entrance into my dominions is not to be expected from me. His employment here would be, under cover of the council, to foment seditions among a party of my subjects." Vainly did the Spanish minister en- deavour to meet these objections, by representing the royal answer as unusual and discourteous. " To refuse such messengers," the Queen rejoined, " is no new thing in England. Recently, my sister Mary denied admittance into her territories to the late Pope's envoy, who brought a cardinal's hat for Father William Peto." Martinengo bore, apparently, his disappointment with great equanimity, observing, when informed of it : " His Holiness cannot fail of being deeply grieved on hearing of her Majesty's determination ; and I must think, that in coming to it she has not acted with that great prudence which has been displayed by her upon other occasions2." 2 Pallavicino, ii. 204. Le Courayer (B. v. ch. 3.) enters at great length into the question respecting the papal overtures to Queen Elizabeth, and he decides, undoubtedly with a great ap- pearance of probability, that Pius made the offer of confirming the Liturgy which many writers have attributed to him. The learned and candid Frenchman's inference from this view of the case is, that no doubt was entertained in the discreeter heads at Rome as to the validity of English ordinations. This, indeed, is evident, even if Martinengo did not commit himself to the extent alleged in several quarters. There can be no doubt, that the Italian agent was instructed to make some sort of terms with the English government. But obviously no man* of sense in Rome 1562.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. 731 The Trentine council proceeded for the third time to the despatch of business on the 18th of January, 1562. Gaspar del Fosso, Archbishop of Reggio, preached the sermon, which, much like the flowery theme of a clever school-boy, opens with mentioning the sources of the Nile, the flight of Darius, the philosophic reveries of Pythagoras, Empedocles, and Anaxagoras, together with other such classical com- mon places. The dense vapour which followed, as usual, these introductory flashes, was raised with a view to convince the world, that both the papacy and its agents, then in the preacher's eye, were infallible3. Infinite pains were taken to prevent the council from accomplishing any object affecting the papal claims to this exalted character. It seemed reasonable, both to many of the prelates who were assembled at Trent, and to the principal Romish potentates, that any member of the body should enjoy the privilege of proposing questions for dis- cussion b. But this claim was resolutely resisted by the legates ; who maintained, that to them exclu- sively belonged the right of indicating the matters which required decision. A pertinacious disposition to contest this point was, however, far from forming^ the only source of uneasiness at the court of Pius. Every Romish government loudly demanded a thorough reformation of ecclesiastical affairs. The could suppose it possible to carry on any such negoeiation, if the complete overthrow of all the Queen's ecclesiastical arrangements were insisted upon as a preliminary condition. * Labb. etCoss. xiv. 1249. b F. Paul, 469. 501. Pallavicino, ii. 254. 1 732 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1563. Pope's advisers were intent upon eluding these calls to the utmost of their power, and were anxious that any concessions which it might be found impossible to withhold, should wear the appearance of coming from pontifical, not from conciliar authority. The French and Germans were also desirous of commu- nion in both kinds, prayers in the vernacular tongue, and other such corrections of palpable abuses c. Even the Spaniards harassed the papal court by unpalat- able doctrines. They would fain have argued the council into a decision that bishops hold their autho- rity not mediately from the Roman see, but im- mediately from Christ himself01. Such an affirm- ation was, however, deemed highly prejudicial to the papacy, and great exertions were accordingly made to evade it. So many proofs of the Pope's deter- mination to hold an absolute mastery over the Tren- tine fathers occasioned general disgust. Italy, in- deed, having long paid implicit obedience to the popedom, being interested in its exaltation, and sup- plying the great majority of those who were now fighting its battles at Trent, was tolerably contented under its present selfish policy. But other countries in alliance with Rome were daily becoming more dissatisfied with a body which could hardly fail of mocking the hopes of Romanists, and of exciting the derision of their opponents. Alarmed by these increasing murmurs of disapprobation, and embar- rassed likewise by the difficulty of restraining the c F.Paul, 513. 527. 652. d Ibid. 5S\). 1563.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. 733 fathers completely from freedom of debate, Pius became impatient to dissolve the council. Nor as the year 1563 was hastening fast along its down- ward course, could he bear the thought of seeing it close without at the same time having to congra- tulate himself upon the separation of an assembly which caused him so much uneasiness. November, however, was on the wane, when not only many reforms in ecclesiastical affairs, long anxiously de- sired, remained undetermined ; but also some doc- trinal articles of especial prominence had not come under discussion. Indulgences, the origin of Luther's opposition, purgatory, the invocation of saints, the veneration of images and relics were yet unsanc- tioned by the Trentine fathers. Gladly, no doubt, would both these personages, and their master- springs at Rome have escaped from any formal notice of such hopeless questions. But this good fortune was evidently beyond the reach of either party. Had the council separated without affirm- ing the propriety of established Romish usages in these particulars, the papal system must have re- ceived a serious injury. More discerning Romanists think, probably, but lightly of these wretched inven- tions ; they entwine themselves however most tena- ciously around weakness and ignorance in every station. Hence it was obviously gross impolicy to leave unapproved these popular attractions. Their pretensions, accordingly, were confirmed, and in a manner worthy of them. Within one fortnight in- dulgences, purgatory, appeals to dead persons ho- noured with papal patents of saintship, religious 734 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1563. homage offered to images, and to objects known as relics, were all ranged among articles of the Catholic faith. This precipitate insertion is, however, made in a brief, unassured, unscholarly manner which forms a remarkable contrast to other decisions ema- nating from the Trentine council e. Having thus provided for continuing the papal empire over igno- rance and superstition, the fathers separated on the 4th of December, to the great satisfaction of Pius and his courtiers, but sorely to the disappointment of every other Romish government in Europe. While an examination of the papal faith was pro- ceeding at Trent, a review of their own doctrines occupied the principal English ecclesiastics. On the 12th of January, 1563, the Convocation assembled in the chapter-house of St. Paul's, and it held, until its prorogation on the 14th of April, thirty-six ses- sions. An attempt was made during its continuance, to obtain some better provision for incumbents of parishes in which the tythes, having been originally appropriated by monastic bodies, had now become secular estates. But private interests rendered this equitable motion ineffectual. A considerable party in the Convocation, chiefly composed of those who had taken refuge abroad from the Marian persecu- tion, was also desirous of reducing the public worship of England to a closer conformity with prcsbyterian e Labb. et Coss. xiv. 894, et sequ. It should be observed, that the 19th canon enacted in the first day of the last Trentine ses- sion, confirms the deposing doctrine asserted in the fourth council of Lateran, by decreeing that princes should forfeit the dominion of places in which they permit duelling. 1563.} UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. 735 usages. This object, however, was frustrated by the good sense of the majority, whose views in finally settling the national Church, were to do little else than restore the system which had been established under King Edward f. Upon this judicious principle was conducted the prescription of a religious test to the Anglican clergy. The forty-two articles compiled under Cranmer's authority, were carefully considered by his discreet and scholarly successor g. The re- results of this revision were the retrenchment of articles h, and parts of articles, which appeared super- fluous, or less needful, than they might have been ten years before; the addition of four new articles1, and of clauses in some of the old ones ; and the reduc- tion of the whole formulary into more perspicuous f See Hist. Ref. under King Edward VI. 652. e A MS. copy of King Edward's articles with numerous alter- ations made by Archbiship Parker's red-lead pencil, is yet pre- served in Bene't College library. Strype's Annals, i. 485. h Viz. the 10th, 16th, 19th, and the last four. Of these re- trenched articles, the substance of the 19th was incorporated in the 7th among the revised articles. The remaining six assert the compatibility of human free-will with Divine grace, define blas- phemy against the Holy Ghost, and deny the opinions of those who teach that the resurrection is past, that the human soul either sleeps after the body's dissolution, or is annihilated, that a mil- lennium is to be expected, and that all men indiscriminately will eventually be saved. * Viz. the 5th, T2th, 29th, and 30th. In these are taught the double procession, consubstantiality, and equality of the Holy Ghost ; the testimony necessarily afforded by good works to a true and lively faith ; the non-eating of Christ's body by commu- nicants void of such a faith ; and the obligation of administering in both kinds. 736 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1563. and scriptural language. Thirty-nine was the num- ber of the articles in this amended form, and they received an unanimous assent from the Convocation on the 31st of January, being its ninth session. The prelates immediately affixed their subscriptions to them ; but some delay was experienced in obtaining for them all the signatures of members of the Lower House. The whole body, however, seems eventually to have subscribed ; thus authenticating a doctrinal formulary, which has ever since guided the national belief of England. Besides accomplishing this im- portant object, the Convocation authorised the second book of Homilies, and a Catechism for the use of those above mere elementary religious instruction, compiled by Dr. Nowell, Dean of St. Paul's, chiefly from a similar production, which was recommended by royal authority within a short time of Edward's demised In submitting thus theological questions to domes- tic decision, Elizabeth really adopted the same policy with her Romish neighbours upon the continent. Italy and Poland indeed consented implicitly to take their divinity from Trent ; but Germany, France, and even Spain, were something less obsequious. All these countries were dissatisfied both with the conduct of the council while in existence, and with its abrupt termination. It is true, that they were not disposed to question its theology ; but this was only because they maintained, that it had inculcated no other articles of faith than such as they had them- j Strype's Annals, ch. xxviii. Churton's Nowell, sect. v. 1563.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. 737 selves admitted before it sat. They chose not, how- ever, formally to give these tenets any new authen- tication until after having passed the ordeal of their national tribunals. Philip of Spain, accordingly, assembled in 1 565 several provincial councils, which, among other things, introduced the Trentine doc- trines into confessions of faith lc. England only acted upon the same principle : she too summoned her clergy for the purpose of appeasing, by their inter- vention, the theological ferment which agitated her in common with the rest of Europe. Her ecclesias- tics, undoubtedly, trod not in the steps of their conti- nental neighbours. Instead of re-echoing the deci- sions of the Trentine fathers, they utterly rejected them. But an independent Church is plainly enti- tled to the exercise of this discretion. The English provincial council, for such is the Convocation, re- jected no doctrine which is capable of proof from Scripture, or which can with any certainty (Protes- tants add, with any probability) be traced to primi- tive antiquity. Nothing, therefore, was done in set- tling the English Reformation which those employed in that important work were not fully justified in ac- complishing. Less indeed than they effected would, probably, neither have satisfied the sovereign, nor the country. Elizabeth was bred a Protestant, and, from the circumstances of her birth, was necessarily interested in reformed opinions. It has indeed been k Append, a l'histoire du Concile de Trente, par Le Courayer, 685. Cone. Tolet. apud Labb. et Coss. xv. 756. The confes- sion of faith adopted by the council of Toledo, is that prescribed by Pope Pins IV. and ordinarily distinguished by his name. VOL. IV. 3 B 738 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION [1563. thought that her support of them was purely the result of policy, and that her own feelings rather attached her to the Romish creed, than to its rival. But this idea can only be entertained by those who consider her to have been destitute of religion, or nearly so. She seems not, however, to have been obnoxious to an imputation thus severe '. Again she had been brought up under a persuasion, that any foreign interference in the domestic affairs of England is contrary to the common and statute law of the realm. In the beginning of her reign it be- came the duty of her ministers to lay evidence before her, proving that such is indeed the fact. Hence she, probably, considered herself bound, as in truth she was, by her constitutional engagements, to deny the pretensions of any alien prelate to jurisdiction over England. The nation also was pervaded by a vast mass of active intelligence decidedly Protestant. Unfortunately for their credit, the nobility and gen- try had shewn of late years a greater anxiety Re- acquiring and retaining property, than for the pre- valence of any particular opinions. But the more intellectual classes below them were in a great mea- 1 Elizabeth fell upon her keees, and devoutly returned thanks to God both upon receiving news of her accession, and upon her entering as queen the royal apartments in the Tower. It was at no great distance of time when she entered that fortress as a pri- soner. Nor can it be denied, that even Mary's death must have been considered by her as a deliverance. During the whole of that princess's reign, she had lived in a very precarious, uncom- fortable state. Persons, however, whose first impulse, in think- ing of a providential escape, is one of pic'ty, are not commonly destitute of sound religious impressions. 1563.] UNDER QUEEN ELIZABETH. 739 sure weaned from Rome m. The peasantry indeed, excepting perhaps those of the eastern counties, were still attached to the papal system. It is obvious, however, that this lingering love of inveterate usages must soon have yielded to a general assault upon it from persons of wealth and information. Thus it would have been found impossible to stay the pro- gress of reformed opinions, unless by means of such atrocities as had brought inextinguishable infamy upon the reign of Queen Mary. Even France, Italy, and Spain, countries in which Protestantism had never been legally established, were restrained from the general profession of it only by means of a san- guinary persecution. England, therefore, which had learned from authority to spurn a foreign jurisdic- tion, and articles of faith unrevealed in Scripture, 111 Sanders computes, that if the English nation had been di- vided in the beginning of Elizabeth's reign into three equal parts, more than two of these would have been found attached to the Romish creed. This majority consisted, he says, in the nobility and gentry, and in persons connected with agriculture. The people of London, and of the neighbouring counties, also of the maritime towns generally, he admits, were extensively Protestant. Of course, he adds, that it was only the more light and worthless in these places who had adopted reformed opinions. (De Schism. Angl. 290. ) Now this is a plain admission, that nearly one-third of the nation was not likely to remain contented under a Romish establishment. When it is recollected, that this division em- braced a large proportion of the property and information, then rapidly upon the increase, which give to middle life so much im- portance in the political scale, it is obvious, that Elizabeth's eccle- siastical conduct was highly judicious even as a mere matter of worldly calculation. 3 b2 740 HISTORY OF THE REFORMATION. [1563. was most unlikely to recognise these things again until after an exterminating struggle. To the wisdom of Elizabeth's religious choice her native land has borne uninterrupted testimony ever since her auspicious occupation of its throne. From that celebrated epoch England has made a constant progress in all that gives dignity to men, and power to nations. That a scriptural faith is the main source of her glorious and happy pre-eminence, may fairly be inferred from the notorious facts, that coun- tries, like herself reformed, are more intelligent and flourishing than those which yet adhere to Rome ; and that, of these latter regions, those are most prosperous and enlightened in which this adherence is the loosest. Protestantism indeed, by teaching only doctrines unquestionable, excluding all usages that are not simple and rational, offering no hope of acceptance with God unless through genuine contri- tion, and opening unreservedly the channels of infor- mation, has an obvious tendency to nurture mascu- line intelligence and sound morality : the only secure foundations of individual happiness and national importance. ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS. VOLUME I. Tage 1. For icondulic read iconodulic. 17. For iconclast read iconoclast. 49. It is evident that the persons so cruelly destroyed at Or- leans, in 1017, held Albigensian, or, in other words, Protestant opinions. " Le Moine des vallees de Sernay, enemi mortel des Vaudois, ecrivant l'histoire de la guerre contre les Albigeois entreprise l'an 1209, dans laquelle il s'est trouve lui meme, dit dans sa preface, que Simon, Comte de Montfort, signala son zele en ce qu il eut soin d' exterminer cette pernicieuse secte et heresie qui deja des V an 1017 levait la tete a Or- leans." Historical Defence of the Waldenses. Lond. 1826, p. 27. 53. The Waldenses are now confined to the three vallies of Luzerna, Persosa, and St. Martin, situated about thirty- five miles from Turin. Within this interesting district are contained sixteen parishes inhabited, in 1825, by a population of primitive Christians amounting to 19,710 souls, among whom are intermingled 1785 Romanists. Ackland's Brief Sketch of the History and present State of the Waldenses. Lond. 1825, pp. 3. 51. Hist. Def. of the Wald. xix. 54. The Waldenses, though long persecuted in the most atro- cious manner in other parts of Western Europe, re- mained secure in their Alpine citadel until the year 1475. In that year were begun those insane and pro- fligate attempts to exterminate Christ's unpolluted 742 ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS. Page Church, visibly existing in its last western retreat, which have brought so much infamy upon the Roman see, and upon several infatuated sovereigns who have lent themselves to its ambitious purposes. 55. The Waldensian faith in the earlier ages appears from a confession preserved by Leger in his history of this most venerable community, and composed about the year 1 120 ; from the Nobla Leycon, a piece in the patois of the Valleys drawn up between the years 1170 and 1 190; from a statement inserted by iEneas Sylvius Piccolo- mini, afterwards Pope Pius II. in his History of Bohe- mia ; and from another printed by the centuriators of Magdeburg from an ancient manuscript. (Hist. Def. 19. 142. 147. Hist. Boem.Vineg. 1545, p. 39. Usser. de Success. 81.) All these documents express the be- lief of modern orthodox Protestants. 65. For Philip's son read Philip's grandson. 65. For 1823 read 1229. 69. Llorente assigns the establishment of the Inquisition to the year 1208. Hist, of the Inqu. of Spain. Lond. 1826. p. 14. 136. The Popes consecrated the golden rose on the fourth Sun- day in Lent. Urban II. is generally believed to have been the first pontiff who performed this ceremony. He presented the rose, in 1095, to Fulk, Count of Anjou. Hist, du Cone, de Pise, par Lenfant. Amst. 1724. i. 325. 176. The Lady Mary appears to have been born on the 18th of February. Ribadeneyra, 235. 181. The Boleyns appear to have been of French extrac- tion. Walter Boulen was vassal to Baldwin, Lord of Avesnes, near Peronne, in 1344. (Notice Historique sur Anne Boleyn. Lettres de Henri VIII. par Crape- let, Paris, 1.) The French call Henry's unfortunate Queen, Anne de Boulen. Her branch of the family, probably, came into England jabout the time of the Conquest. 1 84. The old Earl of Northumberland died on the 19th of May. 1527, probably soon after his angry interview with his ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS. 743 T;igc son. (Hist, of Henry VIII. by Sharon Turner, F.S.A. and R.A.S.L. Lond. 1827. ii. 194.) It is most likely that Anne Boleyn came over to England with her father in the beginning of 1527. Her patroness, then Queen of Navarre, going to reside in a distant part of France, Sir Thomas Boleyn must have considered that the ad- vantages which he had sought for his daughter, in edu- cating her upon the continent, were now at an end. 244. Greatly to Cromwell's honour, his elevation was unsullied by insolence and ingratitude. In his youth he had been driven by distress to leave unpaid a debt of forty shillings, contracted with a woman who kept a public house at Hounslow. Riding one day, when a minister of state, down Cheapside, with Abp. Cranmer, he saw this woman, and calling her up to him, he not only ac- knowledged his debt, but also, finding her sunk in indi- gence, he settled upon her a pension for life. During his wanderings upon the continent, he was reduced to ask alms at Florence. A merchant, named Fresco- baldi, generously supplied him with a new suit of clothes, a horse, and sixteen ducats, as the means of enabling him to reach his own country. When Crom- well was in the height of his prosperity, he saw the libe- ral Italian in London, whither he had come in the hope of retrieving his affairs, then fallen into a very embar- rassing condition. The minister immediately made himself known to his ancient benefactor, insisted upon entertaining him at his own house, gavataim thirty-six ducats as a payment for the advances made to himself at Florence, added a present of sixteen hundred more, by way of interest, as he said, and rendered him most important services in collecting his English debts. Upon another occasion Cromwell recognised, at the monastery of Sheen, where he was engaged in admi- nistering the oath of supremacy, a poor man from whom he had received many kindnesses in his youth. To the great surprise of his brother-commissioners, he called this humble individual to him, obligingly took him by the hand, mentioned the benefits which he had once 1 744 ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS. Page received from him, and promised to provide for him during life. Foxe, 1082. 272. The Pope's power to authorise a plurality of wives appears to have been admitted among Romish divines in the sixteenth century. The following words occur in a dis- putation upon clerical celibacy, delivered by Ludegna, a doctor in divinity, before the council of Trent : u Advertendum est, quod Apostoli dupliciter conside- rantur, uno modo, ut Apostoli, alio vero, ut rectores, et Ecclesise gubernatores : advertendum insuper, quod qucecunque Apostoli, ut sic, considerati prseceperunt, aut statuerunt, immutabilia, et indispensabilia sunt ; qua? vero ut rectores et gubernatores Ecclesire ordina- runt, aut statuerunt, pro ratione temporum, persona- rum, aut locorum, mutabilia sunt, aut dispensabilia. Verbi gratia, de polygamic* dispensabilia, inquam, per summum pontificein, aut Ecclesiam parem in guberna- tione cum eis habentem potestatem." Labb. et Coss. xiv. 1549. 277. Wolsey was arrested, because " it was discovered that he was forming conspiracies against the government, both in England, and with Rome." Turner's Henry VIII. ii, 297. 355. Cranmer's own account of himself is, that he shook off a belief in the corporal presence very gradually. " After it had pleased God to shew unto me by his holy Word a more perfect knowledge of his Son, Jesus Christ, from time to time, as I grew hi knowledge of him, by little and little I put away my former ignorance. And as God of his mercy gave me light, so, through his grace, I opened mine eyes to receive it, and did not Avilfully repugn unto God, and remain in darkness.'' Cranmer's Answer to Smyth's Preface, appended tu his Answer to Gardiner. Loud. 1580, p. 402. 357. Persons, the Jesuit, unable to deny that the supremacy was conceded to Henry by Romish ecclesiastics, thus expresses himself. The King " first began to shew his grief and displeasure against Cardinal Wolsey ; and, secondly, against the whole clergy of England, con- ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS. 745 Page demning the one and the other in the forfeiture of ■praemunire ; who, in their submission and supplication for pardon, either of fear or flattery, called him Supreme Head of their Church of England." Three Conver- sions, i. 235. 436. From a passage in the Collectanea Cambrica, there is rea- son for believing that Christianity was first preached in Britain, in the year 57, by Bran, father of the cele- brated Caradoc, or Caractacus, and three missionaries who came with him from Rome. Bran had passed the last seven years in that capital as hostage for his war- like son. An Essay on the Origin and Purity of the Primitive Church in the British Isles, and its Indepen- dence upon the Church of Rome, by the Rev. William Hales, D.D. Lond. 1819, p. 102, 455. It is worthy of remark, that although William availed him- self of papal assistance in dispossessing Stigand and other English dignitaries, yet these acts were accom- plished under his own eye, and by his own authority. " Jubente et prcesidente Rege Willehno Basiardo." He pretended to consult the Roman Bishop upon the deprivations which he meditated ; and that prelate giving by his legates the desired advice, William affected to be completely confirmed in his judgment; and ac- cordingly, the functionaries obnoxious to him were at once unhesitatingly removed. It was by such impolitic and dishonourable expedients, adopted by sovereigns for some temporary purpose, that they fostered the grasping spirit of papal Rome. The pontiffs occupy- ing a see anciently the most important in Europe, and being surrounded throughout the middle ages with di- vines and canonists of unequalled eminence, were con- sidered as useful referees. They gradually erected upon the habit of asking their advice a commonly ad- mitted claim to a paramount jurisdiction. 746 ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS. VOLUME II. Page 29. A contemporary writer says of the Charter-house monks, that they " went about with tooth and nail to defend and keep the same (their order), and therefore stirred the people to rebellion against the King." Gloss of Athanasius upon The seditious and blasphemous Ora- tion of Cardinal Pole, &c. 93. Yellow, the colour worn by Anne Boleyn on the death of Catharine of Aragon, appears to have been used as a mourning for queens in the court of France. Miss Aikin's Queen Elizabeth, i. 16. 93. Anne Boleyn's unfortunate premature delivery of a still- born male child, was occasioned, we are told by a con- temporary versifier, by a fright which she received from suddenly learning that the King had received an alarm- ing fall in hunting. " Ung temps apres ung enfant luy croissoit Dedans ^ ventre, dont fort s'ejoissoit, Plus que jamais estoit reconfortee, Prenant espoir du fruict de sa portee. Adonc le Roy s'en allant a la chasse, Cheut du cheval rudement en la place, Dont Ton cuidoit que par ceste aventure II deust payer le tribut de nature. Quand la Royne eut la nouvelle entendue, Pen s'en faillit que ne cheust estendue Morte d' ennuy, tant que fort esforca Son ventre plain, et le fruit advenca ; Et enfanta ung beau filz avant terme Qui naquit mort, dont versa mainte larme." Histoire de Anne Boleyn, ap. Crapelet, 1/8. 143. It is related of Anne Boleyn, that she required her chaplains plainly and freely to admonish her of any thing in her conduct, which they thought required amendment. The unsparing Latimer was one of these chaplains. ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS. 747 Page Her charity likewise almost exceeded her means; little short of fifteen thousand pounds having been distri- buted by her in alms within three quarters of a year. (Foxe, 988.) Such appears to have been this unfor- tunate lady in mature life. Her education, it should be remembered, was received under two princesses famed for virtue and piety. Her father too was a man of known religion and unimpeached morality. All these facts furnish certainly very strong presumptions against the truth of those foul imputations which hurried her to an unhonoured grave. 332. Persons, in the following passage, imputes Lambert's con- demnation to the King : " With whom (Lambert) in solemn public audience, he (Henry) disputed, in pre- sence of all his clergy, and nobility of the realm, and caused Cranmer to do the like, and in the end made Cromwell, as his Vicar-general, to give sentence of death against him, and burn him in Smithfield." Three Conv. i. 556. 368. Abp. Cranmer thus intimates, that the act of Six Articles was passed by undue means. " And what marvel was it, that those articles, notwithstanding divers learned men repugning, passed by the most voices of the Par- liament ; seeing that although the authority of Rome was then newly ceased, yet the darkness and blindness of ignorance and errors that came from Rome still re- mained, and overshadowed so this realm, that a great number of the Parliament had not yet their eyes opened to see the truth 1 And yet how that matter was en- forced by some persons, they know right well that were then present." Cranmer against Gardiner, 252. 378. After the resignation of his see Latimer came to London for surgical assistance ; the fall of a tree having recently inflicted a very severe injury upon him. It is not to be supposed that he had abandoned his old habits of ho- nest freedom, and therefore he could not fail of laying himself open to the lash of the act of Six Articles. 465. Loyola, whose real name was Iiiigo, was arrested at Sala- manca in 1527, as a fanatic, and one of the illiiminati, 748 ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS. or alumb) ados, also known as quietists. After a con- finement of about twenty-two days he recovered his liberty. Llorente, Hist. Inqu. 371. 481. Hamilton, the Scottish martyr, was son of Sir Patrick Hamilton, and grandson of the Lord Hamilton, who married a sister of King James III. His mother was a daughter of John, Duke of Albany, brother to the same monarch. He suffered on the last day of Febru- ary, in the year 1528, being then about twenty-four years of age. M'Crie's Life of Knox, i. 28. 30. VOLUME III. 35. For cution read curation. lb'8. Transubstantiation was broadly promulged from a high authority in the English Church soon after the date of the council of Oxford ; for Richard Poore, who filled the see of Salisbury with distinguished reputation, be- tween the years 1217 and 1225, or 1228, addressing a body of constitutions to his clergy, uses the very words in which this doctrine is maintained in Innocent's ca- non. Poore, however, shews an anxiety to have the doctrine implicitly received, which looks very much as if he felt a well-grounded suspicion that many would treat it as a novelty and an error. He pronounces, that communicants who do not believe transubstantiation will vainly say, Amen, and he directs the clergy to in- culcate this doctrine upon their parishioners at every Communion. " Vos igitur sic sacrosanctae mensae communicare debetis, ut nihil prorsus de veritate cor- poris Christi ambigatis. Hoc enim ore sumitur quod fide creditur; et frustra respondetur Amen, a quibus de eo quod accipitur aliter scntitur. Instruere insuper debetis laicos quoties communicant, quod de veritate corporis et sanguinis Christi nullo mo'do dubitent. Nam procul dubio hoc accipiunt sub panis specie quod pro nobis pepeodit in cruee ; hoc accipiunt dc calice ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS. 749 Pago quod efTusum est de Christi latere ; hoc bibunt, ut dicit Augustinus, quod prius fuderunt scevientes." (Labb. et Coss. xi. 257.) Of this passage it may be remarked by the way, that it is among the many proofs of the novelty of half-communion. The learned editors of the Councils refer Bishop Poore's constitutions to about the year 1217. That eminent prelate was not, however, translated to the see of Salisbury before the summer of 1217, and from the 70th constitution it appears that he did not issue this code until he had be- gun to rebuild his cathedral. The first stone of this noble church was laid in 1220. Moreover, from the last constitution it appears, that this code was published after the council of Oxford, holden in 1222. Poore's first episcopal promotion was to the see of Chichester. While Bishop of Salisbury he founded the present city, removing his episcopal see from Old Sarum, and he began the light and regular cathedral which remains to testify his taste and magnificence. He died Bishop of Durham in 1237. Godwin, de Preesul. 343. 740. 1 74. For as herself to read herself as to. 312. For q^-recurring read o/i-recurring. 340. For proposed him read proposed to him. 365. For Orienal read Oriental. 441. For Sapmford read Sampford. 446. For there read them. 476. Persons uses the word ivoodcock as Boner does. " If this vjoodcock, or any of his crew can shew any one novelty, as an article of faith, in our religion, which was not believed in the Apostles' time, and in all ages since by the professors of the Catholic faith, either cxplicite, or implicite, as divines term it, we shall yield in all the rest." The Warn-word to Sir Francis Has- tings, by N. D. p. 111. 508. For desirable read derivable. 532. For erdinal read ordinal. 617. For contended read contented. 750 ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS. Page 683. For grea read grea£. 758. Sir John Gates appears to have first suggested to King Edward, that he ought to exclude the Lady Mary from the succession. The Lady Jane Grey to Queen Mary. Pollini, 355. THE END. Printed by R. GILBERT, St. Jobn's-square, Lyndon. ':M W$$£ .Wfcl'ifc1 m -4^. 1 % ?*'' W '-J :<^&m&.. & m '$$'%9$& ^jyfe»* JCJvV *MK- '<•- , ^i%mfet ■ V* V. I *p ■ Z