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BS  455  .A54  v. 2 

Anderson,  Christopher,  1782- 

1852. 

The  annals  of  the  English 

Bible 


THE 


annals  of  tlje  €ngltJb  ^tble 


IN   TWO    VOLUMES 


VOL,     II. 


MDXXXVIII  — MDCCCXLIV. 


"  Thou  haft  magnified  thy  word  above  all  thy  name." 

The  Psalmist. 

"  Oh  how  unlike  the  complex  works  of  man. 

Heaven's  eafy,  artlefs,  unincumber'd  plan ! 

No  meretricious  graces  to  beguile. 

No  cluftering  ornaments  to  clog  the  pile  ; 

From  oftentation  as  from  weaknefs  free. 

It  ftands  like  the  casrulean  arch  we  fee, 

Majeftic  in  its  own  fimplicity."  Cowper. 


THE   ANNALS   OF 


€1)0  Cnjjlifl)  MUt 


BY 


CHRISTOPHER    ANDERSON 


VOL.  II. 


ALDl 


Itontion 

WILLIAM    PICKERING 

1845- 


CONTENTS 

OF 

THE    SECOND    VOLUME. 


THE   ANNALS 

OR 

HISTORY  OF  THE   ENGLISH   BIBLE. 

BOOK  II.— ENGLAND. 

Hftgn  0f  l^cnrg  f^t  etgljtl)— continued. 


SECTION    I.— 1538. 

Introductory  paragraph — Crumwell's  policy  with  Henry — IMatri- 
monial  alliances — ISTegociatious  with  France  and  Sj^ain — Gardi- 
ner recalled — Bonner  sent  to  France — The  German  States — 
Gardiner,  Norfolk,  and  Tunstal  met — The  first  articles  in  their 
natural  consequences — Persecution  resumed. 

The  second  year  of  triumph — The  English  Bible  printing  in  Paris 
— Press  interrupted — Inquisition  overmatched — The  Bible  fin- 
ished in  London — First  injunctions  for  Tyndale's  Bible — New 
Testaments,  fresh  editions — Coverdale's  Testaments — The  des- 
titute state  of  England — Joy  over  the  Scriptures — Retrospect, 

SECTION  II.— 1539. 

Eventful  year — State  of  parties — Henry  still  a  widower — Dis- 
turbed from  diflerent  quarters — Norfolk  beguiling  Crumwell — • 
German  States — Parliament  and  Convocation — Royal  message 
— Mitred  abbots — Dissolution  of  Monasteries — New  articles — 
Bills  of  attainder — The  six  articles  applied — Frustrated — 
Cranmer  safe — Latimer  imprisoned — Alexander  Ales  escajjes — 
Constantyne  in  danger — The  tide  turning — Execution  of  Ab- 
bots— Crumwell's  policy — ]Monastic  spoils. 
VOL.    II.  b 


Page 


CONTENTS. 


Pa^c 


The  Scriptures  printing  in  various  editions — Cruuiwcll's  remark- 
able energy  in  this  department — The  King  swayed  once  more — 
The  cause  in  progress — Cranmer  busy  in  prospect  of  his  first 
edition,  next  spring — It  is  distinctly  sanctioned  l»y  Henry — 
singular  proclamation — Henry  now  commanding  all  his  sub- 
jects to  use  the  Scriptures  in  English,  ....        44 

SECTION  III.— 1540. 

Political  afl'airs — Henry's  fourth  marriage — Jealousy  of  Francis 
— Alliance  with  the  Emperor — Gardiner  against  Barnes  and 
Garret — Parliament  opened — Crumwell  now  Earl  of  Essex — 
The  use  ail  along  made  of  him  by  Henry — Crumwell's  last  de- 
mands in  Parliament  and  Convocation — Henry  has  taken  offence 
— Crumwell  ai)prehcnded — Parties  opposed  to  him — Cranmer's 
letter — First  charges — Bill  of  attainder — Henry's  fourth  mar- 
riage annulled — Final  charges  against  Crumwell — His  death 
and  character — The  King  and  his  two  Vicars-general  in  review 
— More  executions — Henry's  fifth  marriage — The  old  learning 
party  in  triumph. 

Retrospect — Common  mistake  as  to  the  Crown — The  large  folio 
Bibles,  in  six  editions — The  first  of  Cranmer's — A  different 
edition — The  second  of  Cranmer's — The  third  preparing,  to  be 
issued  next  year,  but  with  a  different  title — One  in  five  volumes, 
small  size — Quarto  New  Testament,      .....        92 

SECTION  IV.— 1541. 

European  jiowers  verging  to  hostility — Scotland — Henry  at  York, 
in  vain — Queen  already  in  disgrace — Norfolk  family  implicated 
— The  third  large  Bible,  with  Tunstal's  name,  by  command — 
The  fourth,  in  May,  with  Cranmer's  name — Expense  of  these 
large  undertakings — The  memorable  proprietor,  Anthony 
Marler — Bonner's  feigned  zeal — Earnest  reading  and  listening 
— The  fifth  great  Bible,  with  Tunstal's  name — The  sixth,  with 
Cranmer's  name — Gardiner  returned,  to  witness  the  progress 
now  made  during  his  absence,     .  .  .  .  .  .135 

SECTION  v.— 1542. 

The  enemy  on  the  rack — Parliament  opened — The  fifth  Queen 
executed — Henry  bent  on  war  with  Scotland — Negociatiug 
with  France  and  Spain. 

Convocation  met — The  Bible  introduced  there  for  discussion  at 
last — Singular  display — Gardiner's  grand  effort  in  opposition 
— Cranmer  informs  the  King — They  are  all  dis^comfitcd,  though 


CONTENTS. 


Pafic 


yet  sitting,  or  before  the  bishops  left    London — Progress   of 

the  truth  in  England, 147 


SECTION  VI.— 1543. 

Parliament  opened — The  Convocation  baflled,  acknowledge  their 
inability  to  stay  the  progress  of  divine  truth  by  applying  now 
to  Parliament — Parliament  disgraces  itself  by  malignant  but 
vain  opposition — Bonner  withdrawn  or  sent  abroad — Extraor- 
dinary arrangement  of  all  the  European  powers — Henry's  sixth 
marriage,  .....•••• 


155 


SECTION  VII.— 1544. 

Parliament  assembled — Henry's  style  and  title — Longs  to  be  King 
of  France  ! — War  with  Scotland — Henry  in  France — Gardiner 
— Cranmer — Henry's  confession  of  impotence  in  all  his  injunc- 
tions to  his  bishops — His  inconsistency — New  Testament  of 
Tyndale's,  a  foreign  print,  .  .  .  .  •  .162 

SECTION  VIII.— 1545. 

\Yar  with  France — Exhausted  state  of  England — Undermining 
Ci-anmer — His  enemies  covered  with  shame — Henry  addressing 
his  privy  council — His  deliberate  opinion  of  its  character — Ad- 
dressing his  Parliament  for  the  last  time,       .  .  .  .169 

SECTION  IX.— 1546. 

War  with  Scotland — Peace  with  France  and  Scotland — England 
exhausted  as  the  result  of  war — Persecution  revived — Anne 
Askew — Her  heroic  conduct  under  illegal  persecution — Shock- 
ing Cruelties  inflicted — Her  martyrdom,  along  with  three  other 
individuals — Latimer  still  in  prison — Enmity  to  English  books. 

The  impotence  of  human  malice — The  supplication  of  the  poor 
Commons — Their  grievances — Tunstal  and  Heath  exposed — 
The  Queen  in  danger — Gardiner  in  trouble — Norfolk  and  his 
son,  Surrey,  arraigned — Duke  of  Norfolk  and  his  family — 
Execution  of  Surrey — Norfolk  doomed  to  die,  and  only  escapes 
by  the  death  of  the  King  himself — Henry  and  his  courtiers — 
Henry  VIII.,  Francis  I.,  Charles  v., — Retrospect,  .  .181 


viii  (((NTENTS. 

Book    III.  — ENGLAND. 
JTrDm  (SUtoarU  ©fi.  to  tl^e  C0mmoniucaItf). 

SECTION   1.— 1547-155:3.     11P:IGN  OV  EDWARD. 
A  reign,  however  brief,  distinguislied  us  having  no  parallel  in 
Briti.sh  history,  with  regard  to  the  printing  and  publication  of 
the  Sacred  Scriptures  in  the  language  of  the  people,         .  .     233 

SECTION  II.— 1553-1558.     REIGN  OF  QUEEN  MARY. 

A  reign,  discovering  the  actual  state  of  the  nation,  as  such  ;  but 
one,  however  painful  in  its  details,  which  so  far  from  retarding 
the  progress  of  divine  truth,  only  deepened  the  impression  of 
its  value  ;  and  as  it  became  the  occasion,  so  it  afforded  the 
opportunity  for  the  Saci'ed  Scriptures  being  given  afresh  to 
England,  more  carefully  revised — the  exiles  from  the  kingdom 
proving,  once  more,  its  greatest  benefactors,  .  .  .     253 

SECTION  III.— 1558-1603.     REIGN  OF  ELIZABETH. 

A  reign,  extending  to  more  than  forty-four  years,  but  however 
powerful  in  every  other  department,  having  no  actual  control 
over  the  choice  or  preference  of  the  people  of  England,  with      ^ 
regard  to  the   Sacred  Scriptures  in  their  native   tongue,  and 
thus  presenting  the  only  exception  to  unlimited  sway,     .  .313 

SECTION  IV.— 1603-1650. 

JAMES  I.  TO  THE  COMMONWEALTH. 

Accession  of  James — His  journey  to  London — Ilis  strange  pro- 
gress through  the  country — His  heedless  profusion — Confer- 
ence at  Hampton  Court  explained — Revision  of  the  Scriptures 
— Our  present  version — Consequent  letters — The  revisers — In- 
structions given — Progress  made — Revision  of  the  whole — 
IMoucy  paid,  but  not  by  his  Majesty,  nor  by  any  Bishop,  after 
the  King's  application,  but  by  the  patentee — The  present  ver- 
sion i»ublished — No  proclamation,  no  order  of  Privy  Council, 
or  any  act  of  the  Legislature  upon  record,  on  the  subject — Did 
not  become  the  version  generally  received  throughout  England, 
Scotland,  and  Ireland,  till  about  forty  years  afterwards — The 
Lonilon  Polyglot  Bible  published  by  the  people,  for  the  people 
— The  last  attempt  to  interfere  with  the  English  Bible  by  a 
Committee  of  Parliament,  representing  England,  Ireland,  and 
Scotland — Utterly  in  vain — That  acquiescence  of  the  people  at 
large  in  the  existing  version  of  the  Scriptures  soon  followed, 
which  has  continued  unbroken  ever  since,       ....     364 


CONTENTS.  IX 

Page 

SCOTLAND. 
^ntvatimtian. 

Brief  notice  of  Scotland  during  tlie  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  cen- 
tui'ies — The  opening  of  the  sixteenth  before  the  Sacred  Scrip- 
tures in  print  were  first  imported,  .  .  .  .  •      395 


BOOK  IV.  — SCOTLAND. 

JFrDm  SlanTE^  tfjc  iFiftlj  t0  tlje  (!i:omm0utoealt5. 

SECTION  I.— 1526.  REIGN  OF  JAMES  V. 
State  of  Scotland— The  first  introduction  of  the  Sacred  Volume 
in  print,  that  is,  of  the  New  Testament  in  the  English  lan- 
guage— Earliest  arrivals  at  Edinburgh  and  St.  Andrews — Sin- 
gular condition  of  the  country,  and  especially  of  its  Primate, 
at  the  moment,  ........     403 

SECTION  II.— 1527-8. 

Anno  1527-1528 — Consternation  of  the  authorities  in  Scotland — 
The  New  Testament  soon  followed  by  one  living  voice,  that  of 
Patrick  Hamilton — His  martyrdom — Alexander  Seton,  the 
next  witness,  persecuted — He  escapes  to  England — The  New 
Testament  goes  on  to  be  imported,         .  .  .  •  .412 

SECTION  III.— 1529-34. 

From  1529  to  1534 — All-important  period,  hitherto  unnoticed — 
Alexander  Ales  or  Aless — Cruelly  persecuted  by  Hepburn,  the 
Prior  of  St.  Andrews — At  last  escapes  by  sea,  from  Dundee,  first  to 
France,  and  then  to  Germany — His  epistle  addressed  to  James 
V. ;  or  the  commencement  of  the  first  regular  controversy  in 
Britain  respecting  the  Scriptures  printed  in  the  vulgar  tongue 
— The  abusive  publication  of  Cochla;us  professedly  in  reply — 
The  representations  of  Ales  confirmed  by  the  state  of  the  coun- 
try, and  the  second  martyrdom — Answer  of  Ales  to  the  calum- 
nies of  Cochlseus — Ales  pleads,  most  earnestly,  for  the  New 
Testament  to  be  read — But  especially  in  families — Extols 
divine  revelation,  and  as  to  be  found  in  the  English  version 
now  importing — Cochla;us,  quite  enraged,  addresses  James  V. 
— And  is  rewarded — Had  mendaciously  averred  that  the  writ- 
ings of  Ales  proceeded  from  Melancthon — The  persecutions 
and  martyrdoms  of  1534  again  confirm  the  statements  of  Ales 
— Who  is  now  standing  by  himself  alone,  in  defence  of  the 
truth,  or  the  Scriptures  in  the  vernacular  tongue,  .  .     425 


CONTKNTS. 


SKCTION   IV.— l.')3.'i-37. 


Page 


From  l.O.'J.'j  to  LOIiT — The  future  exertions  and  writings  of  Ales, 
till  his  death  in  15G5 — State  of  Scotland — Provincial  council 
of  the  prelates — Agitation — Reading  of  the  New  Testament 
forbidden  Ity  prochunation — Progress  of  the  cause,  .  .      476 

SECTION  v.— 1538-42. 

From  l/iSS  to  1542 — State  of  the  country — Beaton  a  Cardinal,  and 
persecution  revived — The  martyrdoms  of  1538 — Dean  Forret 
— The  cause  of  all  the  tumult  in  opposition  traced  to  the  New 
Testament  in  the  native  tongue — Another  martyrdom — Men 
escaping — The  cruel  progress  of  Cardinal  Beaton — Death  of  the 
King  James  V. — Gloomy  state  of  the  country  as  to  its  Govern- 
ment at  this  moment,         .....  495 

REIGN  OF  MARY  QUEEN  OF  SCOTS.— 1543. 

The  year  1543,  a  memorable  one — Critical  state  of  the  Govern- 
ment— Remarkably  sudden  change — The  Primate  of  St.  An- 
drews, though  a  Cardinal,  in  prison — Ilis  clergy  in  mourning, 
and  all  their  churches  closed,  when  Parliament  assembled,  and 
by  a  bill  and  proclamation  throughout  Scotland,  sanctioned  the 
general  perusal  of  those  Scriptures,  which  had  been  reading  in 
secret  for  sixteen  years — Contrast  with  England  at  this  mo- 
ment— Extent  to  which  the  Scriptures  had  been  possessed,  and 
therefore  perused  in  Scotland — The  Earl  of  Arran,  the  Gover- 
nor, very  soon  abjures,  and  falls  under  the  power  of  Beaton,  now 
enlarged — The  singular  existing  position  of  all  the  European 
sovereigns,  with  the  Pontiff"  and  the  Turk  included — ]\Iore  mar- 
tyrdoms by  hanging,  drowning,  and  the  flames — The  death  of 
Beaton — Peculiarity  in  the  history  of  the  Bible  in  Scotland,  515 

QUEEN  MARY,  JAMES  VI.,  TO  THE  COMMONWEALTH. 

1543-10)50. 

From  1543  to  1650 — Singular  history  of  the  Scriptures  in  Scot- 
land, during  this  entire  period — Not  supplied  from  its  own  na- 
tive press,  but  by  importation,  for  more  than  a  hundred  years 
— State  of  literature  and  education — The  Apocrypha. 

The  present  version  of  the  Biljle  become  the  only  one  in  use,  and 
at  a  period  indisputably  significant  of  Divine  superintendence 
over  the  entire  kingdom,  ....  532 


CONTENTS.  XI 

Pago, 

BOOK  v.— GREAT  BRITAIN, 
dfiom  tijc  <!romin0iiU)caltfj  to  H^mm  i!Fict0ria. 

SECTION  I.— 1G50-1780. 
THE  COMMONWEALTH  TO  GEORGE  III. 

Brief  survey — Downward  progress  of  the  Stuart  dynasty — Oppo- 
sition at  home  ineffectual — League,  in  which  even  the  Pontiff 
and  Germany  concurred  and  assisted — The  line  of  succession  in 
Britain  broken— The  Revolution  of  1688-9— Preceding  opposi- 
tion to  the  Scriptures  by  James  II.,  an  adherent  of  the  old 
learning — Consequences  of  the  Revolution — State  of  the  Bible 
press  in  England — Canne's  Bible — Guy's  Bibles — Baskerville's 
— Blayney's  Bible — State  of  the  Bible  press  in  Scotland — James 
II.  equally  busy  in  opposition  there — The  number  of  Bibles  is 
now  past  all  human  computation — The  results,  if  but  too  feeble 
in  Britain,  must  be  looked  for  elsewhere,     .  .  •  549 

SECTION  II.— NORTH  AMERICA.— 1620-1780. 

THE    REIGN    OF  JAMES    I.    TO    GEORGE    IIL 

New  movement  in  reference  to  the  English  Scriptures — The  Bible 
first  beheld  by  the  natives  in  America,  an  English  one — Copies 
carried  away  to  New  England  by  the  refugees  and  following 
settlers — No  individual  ever  specified  as  particularly  zealous 
in  the  transit  of  copies — Yet  were  they  sent  across  the  Atlan- 
tic Ocean  for  above  a  hundred  and  sixty  years  ! — A  movement 
such  as  never  distinguished  any  other  European  version,  and 
now  never  will — The  extraordinary  results  during  this  long 
period — Williams,  Eliot,  Mather,  Edwards,  Brainerd,  and 
many  thousands  beside — The  restrictive  and  unnatural  po- 
licy of  Britain — She  must  be  overruled,  as  her  monarchs  had 
been  in  England — In  justification  of  its  continued  independence 
of  all  human  authority,  the  English  Bible  is  at  last  printed  in 
America — No  consultation  of  the  mother  country — The  first 
edition  only  in  1782 — The  independence  of  America  acknow- 
ledged by  Britain,  Holland,  &c. — The  first  Bibles  in  octavo, 
quarto,  and  folio,  printed  there  in  1791 — The  second  in  duode- 
cimo not  till  1797,  .....  504 


XII  CONTENTS. 

PaKc 

III.— OR   FINAL  SECTION.— 17«(»-1H4-J. 
REIGN  OF  GEORGE  III.  TO  QUEEN  VICTORIA. 

The  last  sixty-four  t/inrs. 

The  commencement  of  a  greater  movement  than  ever  before — To 
be  undcrstoocl  only  by  first  looking  abroad — The  Revulutiun- 
ary  times  in  Fi-ance — The  agitation  extends — Neither  Britain 
nor  her  colonies  remain  unscathed — The  sagacity  of  English 
authors  in  every  form  of  composition  is  exhausted,  without 
averting  or  even  allaying  the  storm — Action  is  called  for — But 
the  obstacles  to  united  action  appear  to  be  insuperable — The 
Sovereign  Disposer  of  all  events,  as  a  secret  mover,  unobserved 
— In  secret  he  must  be  acknowledged — The  first  feeble  move- 
ment taking  its  name  from  the  Bible — The  second — Its  entire 
failure  no  ground  for  discouragement — Ten  years  before.  Divine 
Providence  had  fixed  on  one  young  man — Reading  the  English 
Bible  in  obscurity,  his  mind  is  ripe  for  action — A  new  feeling, 
or  spirit  of  enlarged  benignity  is  imbibed — In  maturer  years, 
his  history  and  exertions  gradually  interpret  the  beneficial  re- 
flex influence  of  foreign  operations — Two  other  men  go  to  his 
aid — These  efforts  much  impress  a  few  powerful  minds  at  home 
— The  Bible  without  either  note  or  comment  draws  more  at- 
tention— The  destitution  of  it  in  Wales — The  British  and 
Foreign  Bible  Society  with  its  auxiliaries — their  exertions  up 
to  the  present  day — The  United  Kingdom  and  her  colonies 
embrace  above  four  thousand  similar  assistant  or  independent 
unions — These  form  only  an  inferior  division  of  the  vast  field 
of  action — After  a  distribution  and  sale  of  so  many  millions  of 
the  English  Scriptures,  there  occurs  an  extraordiuai-y  and  un- 
precedented fall  in  the  price  of  the  Sacred  Volume — Thus 
lending  to  the  present  history,  its  last  providential  movement, 
or  a  conclusion  as  cheering  as  it  was  unanticipated. 

Britain  at  the  height  of  a  responsibility  not  easily  conceived,  as 
it  baffles  all  adequate  description — On  the  summit  of  her 
highest  privilege  there  is  no  repose,  no  release  from  far  greater 
exertions  throughout  her  foreign  dependancies,  or  the  world  in 
general — The  present  history  indicates  a  course  of  action,  if 
not  the  only  one,  which  involves  her  future  welfare  and  stabi- 
lity— A  path  of  duty  which  cannot,  with  impunity,  be  evaded,       574 

CoxoLUSioxs  drawn  from  the  preceding  history,  .  .  .     629 

Appendix.     The  family  of  Tyiiflalc.     Fac  Simile  of  liis  Prologue  and  first  two  New 
Testaments.    Clironological  Index  List  of  Dibles  and  Te.stameiits. 


THE  HISTORY  OF 

THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

BOOK  II -ENGLAND. 
^ti^n  Of  feenrp  tin  (Biv^M. 


SECTION   I. 

INTRODUCTORY  PARAGRAPH — CRUMWELL's  POLICY  WITH  HENRY — MATRI- 
MONIAL ALLIANCES — NEGOCIATIONS  WITH  FRANCE  AND  SPAIN GARDINER 

RECALLED BONNER  SENT  TO  FRANCE — THE  GERMAN  STATES — GARDINER, 

NORFOLK,  AND  TUNSTAL  MET — THE  FIRST  ARTICLES,  IN  THEIR  NATURAL 
CONSEQUENCES — PERSECUTION  RESUMED. 

THE     SECOND     YEAR     OF     TRIUMPH THE     ENGLISH     BIBLE      PRINTING     IN 

PARIS PRESS   INTERRUPTED INQUISITION   OVERMATCHED THE   BIBLE 

FINISHED  IN  LONDON — FIRST  INJUNCTIONS  FOR  TYNDALe's  BIBLE — NEW 
TESTAMENTS,  FRESH  EDITIONS — COVERDALe's  TESTAMENTS — THE  DESTI- 
TUTE STATE  OF  ENGLAND JOY  OVER  THE  SCRIPTURES RETROSPECT. 

'^r^  iiRouGHOuT  the  preceding  volume,  the  reader  found 
himself  obliged  to  travel  for  j'cars,  contentedly,  by 
^t  the  margin  of  what  might  be  compared  only  to  a 
rivulet,  patiently  fighting  its  way  with  the  rocks 
and  obstructions  of  every  description  which  lay  right  before 
it,  and  seeming  to  forbid,  by  a  sort  of  authority,  all  passage 
or  progress.  Still  no  returning  season  passed  away,  without 
bringing  fresh  tokens  that  all  opposition  was  not  only  vain, 
but  actually  helpful ;  and  the  event  of  last  year  must  have 
rewarded  the  expectation  of  all  who  had  waited  for  it.  Nor 
ever  let  the  lone:  «irid  well-sustained  conflict  be  forgotten. 
It  must  be  measured  by  its  consequences ;  for  though  but  too 

VOL.   ]I.  A 


•2  SKt.'UM)    VKAK    OF   THl  I'M  I'll.  [lioOK   11. 

tnif  a  Jcsoription  of  the  past,  it  was  the  positive  I'oreruniiei- 
of  all  that  is  to  come.  In  the  following  pages,  if  we  continue 
to  abide  by  the  self-same  stream,  not  omitting  to  observe  as 
we  pass  on,  whatever  scenes  may  open  to  view  on  either  side 
of  the  current ;  it  will  bring  us  ere  long  to  a  river,  broad  and 
deep,  which  no  man  can  pass  over.  At  last  should  it  rise,  and 
overflowing  its  banks,  baHle  every  attempt  at  any  adequate 
description,  it  will  then  at  least  be  evident,  that,  in  point  of 
magnitude,  the  mind  of  England  in  our  own  day  can  be  directed 
to  no  greater  object ;  while  with  reference  to  the  stability  and 
vital  interests  of  this  kingdom,  it  will  bow  to  no  other. 

In  resuming  this  history,  notwithstanding  what  occurred 
last  year,  it  would  be  a  great  mistake  to  imagine,  because 
Henry  the  Eighth  and  all  around  him  had  been  overruled, 
that  any  visible  change  of  character  had  taken  place,  either  in 
him,  or  in  them.  On  the  contrary,  they  will  go  on  in  such 
a  manner,  and  to  such  an  extent,  as  to  render  the  interposi- 
tion already  described,  only  the  more  striking.  It  must  ever 
stand  out  in  bold  relief,  among  the  current  events  of  the  time. 
Men  overruled,  in  any  rank,  occupy  very  humble  ground ; 
but  the  higher  their  station,  or  the  greater  their  influence, 
the  ground  is  lower  still ;  and  the  King  himself  will  immedi- 
ately satisfy  us  that  there  was  no  change  upon  him.  Nor 
will  this  be  less  apparent  in  the  servants  of  the  crown.' 

The  Sacred  Scriptures,  however,  in  the  English  tongue, 
had  now  been  introduced,  and  in  a  manner  so  remarkable  as 
to  excite  curiosity  with  regard  to  the  sequel.  The  victory 
already  recorded,  great  as  it  was,  would  not  yet  suffice.  If 
there  was  any  spot  on  the  Continent,  where  opposition  to 
Divine  Truth  had  been  most  of  all  virulent,  that  will  be  the 
proper  place  in  which  to  complete  the  triumph  of  the  English 

'  Trivial  Incidents  often  stronRly  mark  the  character.  The  very  next  month  after  the  ar- 
rival of  the  Hiblc,  thoUKli  the  iilnpiic  was  ra^inij  still,  his  Majesty  presents  us  with  one  incident 
chnrmtcrislic  of  liis  own  iileas  res|)cclinR  that  Hody  of  which  he  was  now  the  determined  Head. 
t<ir  William  I'itzwilliam.  on  the  point  of  lieinR  created  Earl  of  Southampton,  is  writing  to 
Cromwell,  and  amont;  other  passages,  there  is  the  followioK — "  .My  Lord,  one  thing  there  is, 
that  the  Kiiig's  lliiihness,  at  my  last  resort  unto  your  Lordship,  willed  me  to  speak  to  your 
Lordship  in;  and  at  my  return  to  his  Grace,  his  Highness  a.skcd.  whether  I  had  remembered 
the  same  or  not :  which  is-  His  Orace  hath  a  Prirst.  that  yearly  maketh  his  liatckf,  and  this 
year  hath  made  him  tico.  which  tly,  and  kill  their  game  very  well,  to  his  Highness"  siiiijlier  plea- 
sure anil  coiilniliiliiiii.  And  fur  the  pain  which  tlie  said  Priest  taketh  abouts  the  same,  his  Ma- 
jesty would  that  lie  should  have  one  of  .Mr.  Hedcll's '<<wrfiY.«,  if  there  be  any  ungiven,  besides 
that  which  his  Grace  hath  already  gi«'en.  And  if  there  be  none  of  the  said  benefices  ungiven, 
that  then  your  Lordship  should  have  him  in  rcmtnihrancf,  that  he  may  \\n\c  some  oilier,  when 
it  shall  fall  void  !— At  Hampton  Court,  this  Wednesday,  the  l:?th  day  of  September— Yonr  own, 

Wvl.l.M  FiTIWVI.I.JI." 


15.38.]  CRUMWELL'S    I'OMCY    WITH    IlENHV.  3- 

Bible.  Before  the  printing  ut"  the  Sacred  Oracles  is  to  be- 
come by  fiir  the  most  conspicuous  or  distinguishing  feature 
of  our  own  country,  another  conquest  had  been  determined. 
Tyndale  had  toiled  and  died  on  the  Continent,  and  that  must 
be  the  scat  of  this  second  achievement.  It  comes  like  a 
double  testimony  to  the  Avork  of  his  hands ;  but  the  story 
will  appear  in  its  proper  colours,  after  we  have  glanced  over 
other  national,  though  to  us  now,  subordinate  aft'airs. 

In  the  various  transactions  of  the  present  year,  there  is 
such  an  intricacy,  that  without  taking  a  three-fold  view  of 
them,  it  seems  to  be  impossible  for  any  one  to  arrive  at  the 
truth :  one  connected  with  the  Kmg  personally,  another 
associated  with  Crumii'ell  and  Cranmer^  and  the  third  having 
reference  only  to  the  Scriptures.  In  a  history  such  as  the 
present,  the  year  derives  all  its  importance  from  its  being  that 
which  immediately  followed  the  public  sanction  of  the  Sacred 
Volume  in  England,  In  order,  therefore,  to  ascertain  the 
relative  position  of  the  reigning  authorities,  it  becomes  neces- 
sary to  observe  first,  the  general  procedure  of  the  King  him- 
self on  the  one  hand,  and  then  that  of  Crumwell  and  Oranmer 
on  the  other.  After  such  a  memorable  event  as  that  of  last 
August,  should  the  reader  be  anticipating  any  decided  change 
of  character,  he  will  thus  be  able  to  judge  for  himself. 

With  regard  to  the  leading  sovereigns  of  Europe,  Henry,  Charles,  and 
Francis,  they  come  before  us  precisely  the  same  men  they  have  ever 
been.  The  two  latter,  whether  as  rulers  or  as  men,  had  been  chastised  and 
hmnbled  in  succession,  by  their  endless  conflicts  ;  and  Henry,  too,  since 
the  rebellions  of  Lincoln  and  Yorkshires,  had  by  no  means  sat  so  easy  on 
his  throne.  As  for  his  being  now  a  widower,  we  shall  find  that  this,  in 
no  sense,  lay  heavy  on  his  spirits.  The  Emperor  and  the  King  of 
France  were  still  at  war  ;  and  being  as  nearly  balanced  in  point  of 
power  as  ever,  the  King  of  England,  by  throwing  his  influence  into 
either  scale,  might  still  change  the  current  of  European  affairs  ;  but  the 
steps  he  had  already  taken,  rendered  him  an  awkward  or  ticklish  ally 
for  either  party.  This,  of  course,  was  owing  to  a  fourth  power,  once  the 
most  formidable  in  the  world,  that  of  the  Pontiff",  to  whose  temporal 
sovereignty  at  least,  Henry  was  as  much  opposed  as  ever  ;  but  whom 
neither  Charles  nor  Francis  would  disregard,  whenever  it  seemed  likely 
to  serve  their  respective  political  purposes. 

The  same  outrageously  crooked  policy  was,  therefore,  still  keenly 
pursued  by  all  these  men,  every  one  of  them  being  engaged  more  or 
less,  in  playing  a  double  game  ;  while,  situated  as  Henry  was,  he  ran 


4  fKlMUKI.I/S    POLICY    WITH  [nOOK   II. 

grcnt  liazard  of  l»cinf^  l)cfoolc(l.  Turner,  who  is  sufficiently  measured 
in  ]un  tonus  of  censure,  has  naiJ,  in  reference  to  the  days  of  Wolscy — 
'•  Tlic  only  extraordinary  fact  in,  that  f^neat  and  aide  men  should  then 
have  hahitually  acted  like  scoundrels,  without  suspecting  that  they 
were  bo  ;  and  with  their  sword  ready  for  any  man's  throat,  that  should 
link  the  term  for  a  moment  to  their  names."  Whether  the  same  re- 
mark he  ecjually  apjdicahlc  to  the  councils  and  policy  of  England,  France, 
and  Spain,  at  the  present  period,  will  hccome  apparent  as  we  proceed. 

Ahout  ten  years  ago,  we  have  seen  that  the  overthrow  of  Cardinal 
Wolsey  was  owing,  in  no  small  degree,  to  his  interference  with  Henry's 
passion  for  a  second  Queen.  So  now,  the  third  having  died  suddenly, 
the  critical  period  of  Crumwcll's  life  was  come.  It  will  be  remembered, 
that  he  had  acciuiesced  in  Henry's  determination  to  get  rid  of  Anne 
Boleyn,  though  by  that  base  step  he  incurrc<l  no  risk  whatever,  as  the 
passion  of  his  imi)eriou8  master  was  then  already  fixeil ;  but  now,  the 
King  was  in  a  new  and  unwonted  situation.  The  policy  of  Crumwell, 
therefore,  when  dealing  with  his  Sovereign  throughout  the  whole  year, 
will  serve  to  illustrate  his  character  as  a  man.  Cautious  of  any  sug- 
gestion, he  will  leave  the  IMonarch  to  the  full  freedom  of  his  own  caprice, 
and  for  some  time  to  come  go  in,  or  seem  to  do  so,  most  cordially,  with  all 
his  whimsical  proposals  for  a  fourth  Queen.  Never  will  he  venture  even 
to  whi.spcr  a  choice,  till  his  Majesty  has  literally  wearied  himself  out, 
in  search  of  a  wife  ;  and  they  will  only  be  pressing,  or,  in  his  apprehen- 
sion, desperate  circumstances,  which  shall  urge  him  into  a  different 
course  ;  but  not  till  next  year. 

By  the  death  of  Jane  Seymour,  the  King  had  been  stunned  for  the 
moment.  Turner  represents  him  as  shutting  himself  up  in  his  palace, 
lamenting  the  unexpected  blow.  Unexpected  it  certainly  was  ;  for  only 
the  day  before,  Henry  was  entertaining  thoughts  of  leaving  the  spot 
where  the  Queen  lay,  and  not  till  the  morning  of  the  24th  of  October, 
was  death  certainly  anticipated.^  In  the  evening  of  that  day  she  ex- 
pired. The  Court  was  ordered  into  mourning  till  Candlemas  thisye.ar — 
the  Christmas  holidays  were  dispensed  with ;  but  his  Majesty  had  already 
been  bu.sy  enough.  The  truth  is,  that  the  mournings  were  worn  but  a 
few  fl'f i/'i,  when  Henry's  spirits  were  recovering  ;  and  before  they  were 
put  off,  he  had  been  in  pursuit  of  more  than  one  successor  to  the  mother 
of  his  only  son.  Jane,  it  is  true,  has  been  represented  as  the  most 
beloved  of  all  his  Queens,  chiefly  from  the  circumstance  of  its  being 
above  two  years  before  the  King  was  married  again  ;  but  certainly  this 
was  not  his  intention  ;  and  whether  there  was  affection  shewn,  or  even 
common  respect,  for  her  memory,  can  only  be  gathered  from  the  pro- 
cedure of  his  Majesty. 

2  Oor.  St.ntc  PnpiTS.  i..  p.  .'72. 


1 538,]  HENRY  AS  A  WIDOWER.  5 

Last  year,  while  the  Emperor  and  Francis  were  meditating  a  truce,  as 
Katherine  and  Anne  Boleyn  no  more  stood  in  the  way,  Charles  seemed 
nmch  disposed  to  court  friendship  with  England.  Sir  Thomas  Wyatt 
had,  therefore,  been  sent  to  Spain,  to  succeed  Richard  Pate  as  ambassador, 
and  certain  communications  had  passed  between  the  two  Courts.^  The 
truce  referred  to,  was  concluded  in  July  ;  but  the  month  before  that, 
Mendoza,  the  Spanish  ambassador,  had  arrived  in  England,  with  proposals 
for  the  mai'riage  of  Henry's  eldest  daughter  Mary,  with  Prince  Louis  of 
Portugal ;  and  in  July  Crumwell  informs  Wyatt  that  "  there  are  hopes 
of  good  success  as  to  the  marriage."'*  By  the  beginning  of  October, 
however,  the  French  Government  had  insinuated  charges  against  the 
Emperor's  sincerity  ;^  so  that  by  the  10th  of  that  month,  while  Henry 
oft'ers  his  mediation  for  peace  between  these  two  powers,  Wyatt  is  in- 
structed by  the  King  himself,  as  well  as  Crumwell,  to  "  fish  out  the 
truth,  whether  the  Emperor  do  indeed  love  him  (Henry)  so  well  as  he 
pretends  to  do."** 

Meanwhile,  Henry  lost  his  Queen  on  the  24th  of  that  month,  and  his 
first  offer  for  another  was  made  to  Francis.  "  Queen  Jane,"  says  Carte, 
"  had  scarce  been  buried,  (8th  November,)  when  the  King  entertained 
thoughts  of  another  marriage  ;  and  being  more  inclined  to  cultivate  a 
friendship  with  the  King  of  France  than  with  the  Emperor,  proposed  to 
take  a  French  lady."  According  to  Le  Grand,  the  King's  first  proposal 
was  made  in  November  to  Francis,  for  Marie,  the  Dowager  Duchess  of 
Longueville,  or  Mary  of  Guise ;  but  she  had  been  pre-engaged  to  James  V. 
of  Scotland,  who  had  lost  his  Queen  in  July.  Not  at  all  fond  of  such 
an  alliance  as  might  another  day  be  tvirned  against  himself,  Henry  was 
also  pic[ued  at  the  idea  of  James  being  preferred  to  him,  after  he  had 
made  the  proposal  ;  but  there  was  no  remedy.  Mary  of  Guise,  indeed, 
had  two  sisters,  and  Henry  might  have  had  either ;  but  Francis  would 
not  bow  to  the  humiliation  of  sending  them  to  Calais  for  Henry's  in- 
spection. He  behoved  now  to  turn  to  the  Emperor,  or  rival  of  the 
King  of  France,  and  in  order  to  secure  him  in  his  favour,  so  early  as  the 
23d  of  December,  Henry  was  writing  to  Spain. 

Thus  matters  stood  at  the  close  of  last  year.  The  truce  between  the 
two  rival  i)owers  had  been  renewed  in  November,  but  the  Emperor  and 
Francis  were  still  but  too  eyual,  and  therefore  mutually  afraid.  The 
latter  had  counted  falsely  upon  Henry  and  the  German  States  being 
with  him,  and  found  himself  left  to  wage  war  alone.  Charles  was  in 
apprehension  of  Francis  uniting  with  the  Turk,  and  so  invading  Ger- 
many ;  while  the  Pontiff",  in  like  fear,  imagined  the  coasts  of  Italy  might 
thus  be  invaded  by  the  Tm-kish  unbelievers.  In  his  letter  of  December, 
therefore,  Henry  had  offered  to  assist  Charles  in  his  war  with  the  Turk, 


3  Hailcian  MS.,  No.  282,  fol.  7.      i  Idem,  fol.  203-205.     ^  Idem,  fol.  208.      «  Idem,  fol.  M. 


f{  .MAIKlMitNIAI,    ALLIANCES.  [»OoK   II. 

oil  condition  tlmt  lie  would  accept  of  bis  aiil  in  uiediutiug  peace  with 
Frunco,  and  "  so  join  him  as  a  principal  contrahent  in  the  treaty."  ^ 
The  Emperor  certainly  sighed  for  peace  with  France,  though  it  was 
chioHy  in  order  that  he  might  liavc  lci.surc  to  chastise  the  refractory 
States  of  Germany;  but,  to  understand  this  urgency  of  the  King  of 
England,  it  is  only  necessary  to  observe,  that  the  Pontifl'  and  Henry  had 
started  in  the  same  race  ;  each  of  them,  in  order  to  serve  his  own 
ends,  alike  eager  to  be  the  mediator.  In  writing  to  Charles,  therefore, 
Henry  objects  to  the  Pontiff's  Council  summoned  to  meet  at  Vicenza, 
and  uses  many  arguments  with  him  to  oppose  it. 

Proceeding  in  the  same  course,  by  the  commencement  of  this  year, 
so  far  from  weeping  over  his  lost  Queen,  matrimonial  alliances  had  be- 
come, with  Henry,  the  order  of  the  day.  Thus,  on  the  22d  of  January, 
and  before  the  mournings  for  Queen  Jane  were  laid  aside,  he  commands 
his  ambassador,  Wyatt,  in  conference  with  the  Spanish  ministers,  "  to 
let  fall  some  speech,  as  from  himself,  touching  his  wishes  that  he  (the 
King)  would  marry,  so  that  the  Imperial  Court  may  be  thereby  induced 
to  ojf'er  him  the  Duchess  of  Milan,  whom  percasc,  he,  the  King,  may 
honour  by  marriage,  her  virtue,  qualities,  and  behaviour,  being  reported 
to  be  such  as  is  worthy  to  be  much  advanced."^ 

This  suggestion  served  for  himself,  but  his  Majesty  had  a  child  by 
each  of  his  deceased  Queens  ;  and,  in  the  frenzy  of  the  moment,  they 
are  now  to  be  treated  as  so  many  chattels,  for  political  purposes  ;  a 
degradation  from  which  the  children  of  the  humblest  peasant  are  hap- 
pily exempt.  In  this  part  of  the  strange  procedure,  however,  the 
King's  Council  must  now  go  along  with  him  ;  though  not  one  of  them 
dared  even  to  whisper  about  a  Queen.  We  have  spoken  of  Crumwell,  as 
chiming  in  with  his  Master's  movements  ;  and  as  one  of  the  first  proofs 
of  this  we  have  a  very  curious  document,  in  his  own  hand-writing,  ap- 
plicable to  the  present  moment.  It  is  entitled  "  Things  to  be  treated  of 
in  Council." 

"  Item,  .SjH'fiall^'  to  note  in  what  state  tlie  King's  affairs  stand  in,  and  to  pro- 
vide so  tliat  Ills  Grace  may  at  the  least  liavcowe  friend,  and  now  tlic  case  stimd- 
ing  as  it  doth,  to  accelerate  that  matter,  so  tliat  it  may  be  done  in  time. 

"  Wlilrli  be  the  wavs  and  means  for  tlie  King  to  acquire  this  friendship,  and 
upon  wliat  grounds.  Fii*st,  his  Higliness  Jiath  two  daughters,  tliowjh  not  Imrjul, 
yet  K'lnifs  daugliters,  and  forasmuch  as  princes  commonly  conclude  amities, 
and  tilings  of  great  importance,  liy  alliances,  it  is  thought  necessary  that  these 
two  daugliters  sliall  be  made  of  .«(•)«(  estimation,  without  the  which  no  man  will 
have  any  groat  respect  unto  them. 

"  And  fora.smuch  as  the  one  of  them  is  of  more  age  than  the  other,  and  more 
apt  to  make  a  present  alliance  than  the  other  for  want  of  age  is,  if  it  might  please 
the  King's  Highness  to  declare  lier  according  to  his  laws,  which  to  her  estima- 


"  Harlciaii  MS.,  Nc  282,  f..I.  .17.  «  Idem.  fnl.  l.".. 


l5:iS.2  GRAVELY   CONTEMPLATED.  7 

tion  is  thought  will  be  a  groat  thing,  or  else  otlicrwise  to  advance  her  to  some 
certain  living,  decent  for  such  an  estate,  whereby  she  may  be  the  better  had  in 
reputation  ;  it  is  thought  the  moi-e  acceleration  would  be  made  for  her :  and 
then  a  hke  direction  to  be  taken  for  my  Lady  Elizabeth,  whereby  as  his  Grace 
by  the  one,  may  provide  him  with  a  present  friend,  so  he  may  liave  the  other 
in  store  hereafter,  at  his  pleasure,  to  get  also  another  friend,  as  the  commodity 
of  his  affairs  shall  require ;  for  as  we  think  the  only  sheet-anchor  the  French 
King  hath,  is  to  compass  the  marriage  between  tlie  Duke  of  Orleans  and  the 
Duchess  of  Milan,  which  in  estate  were  not  to  be  compared  with  any  of  the 
King's  daughters,  if  she  wanted  that  endowment  of  Milan,  which  the  French 
King  thinketh  by  that  means  to  get  into  his  hands, —  and  if  that  should  happen, 
then  shall  not  only  the  French  King  and  the  bishop  of  Rome  wyre  together,  by 
all  likelihood  against  us,  so  that  the  King's  Highness  shall  be  destitute  of  friend- 
ship on  all  sides  ;  but  also  his  daughters  shall  as  well  remain  unprovided  for, 
as  be  left  in  such  case  as  no  prince  of  honour  shall  be  left  to  desire  the  King's 
amity,  by  mean  of  either  of  the  same."!* 

Royal  blood  has  been  often  mentioned  as  a  subject  worthy  of  great 
veneration,  but  it  certainly  was  treated  here,  with  no  enviable  distinc- 
tion ;  nor  does  there  appear  to  have  been  any  hesitation,  for  a  single 
day,  before  the  wild  counsel  was,  at  least,  attempted  to  be  put  in  prac- 
tice. By  the  22d  of  February,  Henry  himself  is  writing,  in  cypher,  to  his 
ambassador  Wyatt,  and  the  old  amity  was  supposed  to  be  renewed,  and 
confirmed.  The  Spanish  ambassadors  seemed  to  accept  of  the  over- 
ture for  his  Majesty's  three  children,  including  the  infant  Edward  of 
four  months  old  !  Mary  to  be  given  in  mari'iage  to  Don  Louis  of  Portu- 
gal, Elizabeth  to  one  of  King  Ferdinand's  sons,  and  the  infant  Prince  to 
one  of  the  Emperor's  daughters,  born  or  to  be  born  l^^ 

It  was  but  a  few  days  after  this,  when  Francis  advanced  once  more, 
and  professed  to  agree  that  Henry  should  be  the  mediator  between  him- 
self and  Charles  ;  sending  at  the  same  time  his  ambassador,  the  Bishop 
of  Tarbes,  with  his  commission  to  the  English  monarch.  He  farther 
promised  that  he  would  make  no  -peace  otherwise,  and  that  as  to  the 
Pontiff's  Council  now  called,  he  would  show  all  friendship  to  Henry. 
The  ambassador  and  his  attendants  made  no  scruple  in  affirming  boldly, 
that  "  all  the  Emperor's  promises  had  no  good  faith  or  meaning  in  them, 
but  were  full  of  fraud  and  deceit."  To  all  this,  Henry  informs  Wyatt, 
he  had  replied  greatly  to  the  Emperor's  honour,  though  at  the  same 
moment  he  charges  his  ambassador  to  "  use  all  his  dexterity  that  the 
crafty  dealing  of  which  the  Frenchmen  spake,  might  be  discovered  in 
themselves."^^ 

Before  the  10th  of  March,  however,  and  as  if  the  Frenchmen  had 
spoken  truth,  Wriothsley,  the  English  ambassador  at  Brussels,  intimated 
a  sudden  change  in  the  Lady  Regent's  deportment,  immediately  after 
the  an-ival  of  two  couriers  from  Spain  ■}'^  and  by  the  4th  of  April,  Crum- 

9  Cotton  MS.,  Titus,  B.  i.,  fol.  481.  '"  Harleian  MS.,  No.  282,  fol.  i.,  and  fol.  17    Original. 

>>    Harleian  MS..  No.  2H2.  fol.  l?.";.  1H2.  '2  Idem.  fol.  18?. 


8  STUANCili  NEliOClATlONS    WITH  [uuoK  II. 

well,  in  writing  to  Spain,  inl'onns  Sir  T.  Wyatt,  that  iu  treating  with  the 
Spanish  ambassadors,  "  they  found  many  fair  words,  but  attended  with 
very  small  ettects."  Ho  then  blames  Wyatt  for  sendiiuj  his  lettern  open 
to  Oie  llisliop  of  Wiiichesler,  (Gardiner,  iu  Paris,)  and  intimates  that  Dr. 
T.  lleynes  and  Dr.  Kdniund  IJonncr  arc  coming  to  Barcelona  from  the 
King.'-'  Next  day,  or  the  5th  of  April,  the  King  himself  writes  also  to 
Wyatt,  that  the  Spanish  ambassadors  in  England  had  no  power  to  treat 
with  him  as  to  the  "  chicfcst  point  of  all," — his  marriage  with  the 
Duchess  of  Milan. '^  Bonner  and  Ileynes,  on  the  7th,  were  the  bearers 
of  these  letter.^;,  and  also  fresh  instructions,  to  co-operate  with  Wyatt, 
"  in  searching  out  the  bottom  of  their  hearts  in  Spain,"  as  Wriothslcy 
had  advised  ;'^  but  anxiety  being  still  on  the  increase,  by  the  l(Jth 
Crumwell  orders  Sir  Thomas  home,  since  "  he  had  matters  to  declare  by 
word  of  mouth,  which  he  could  not  do  by  writing,"  and  ]\Ir.  Pate  the 
bearer  is  to  be  his  successor."'  On  the  4th  of  May,  however,  Ilcnry  him- 
self writes,  informing  these  ambassadors  in  Spain  that  Francis,  through 
Gardiner  at  Paris,  had  now  offered  the  Duke  of  Orleans  to  the  Lady 
Mary  of  England,  in  hopes  that  the  Emperor  would  give  the  Duchy  of 
Milan  with  her  !  But  that  as  the  French  King  had  now  referred  all 
matters  of  controversy  between  him  and  the  Emperor  to  the  PontiiF, 
Ilenry  could  not  allow  h  im  to  be  a  meddler,  a  mediator,  or  a  principal 
coutrahent,  where  he  himself  should  be  a  party.'7 

What  then  must  have  been  the  mortification  of  the  English  monarch, 
when  he  found  that  he  had  been  deceived  both  by  France  and  Spain  \ 
For  after  all  this  tortuous  procedure,  the  Emperor  and  Francis  actually 
negociated  through  the  Pontiff,  and  that  by  his  request  also,  at  Nice. 
There,  Charles  appeared  as  though  he  would  not  bow  to  a  personal  inter- 
view with  his  rival,  which  was  only  a  secret  understanding  between  the 
parties  ;  while  the  Pontiff  managed  all  matters  between  them  so  dexter- 
ously, that  by  the  18th  of  June,  a  truce  of  ten  years  was  agreed  upon  ; 
both  powers  engaging  to  send  ambassadors  to  Rome,  and  there  discuss 
their  pretensions  at  leisure !  Upon  this  Paul  recalled  his  Legates  gone 
to  Vicenza,  and  deferred  the  Council  called,  till  April  next  year:  boast- 
ing, no  doubt,  in  the  meanwhile,  that  he  had  restored  peace  to  Europe. 

In  July,  the  Emperor  returning  home,  had  set  sail  for  Barcelona,  and 
drew  near  to  the  island  of  St.  Margaret  on  the  coast  of  Provence.  When 
Francis,  who  hui)pened  to  be  not  far  distant,  heard  of  this,  he  considered 
it  as  an  office  of  civility  to  invite  him  ashore,  and  proposed  a  personal 
interview  at  Aigucs-Mortes.  The  Emperor  seemed  to  hesitate  for  a 
moment,  but  then  repaired  thither.     "  As  soon  as  he  had  cast  anchor  in 

■3  Idem,  fol.  189.  Gardiner  had  his  iifphow,  Ofrmain  Gardiner,  with  him  in  Prance,  and  he 
was  ever  buoy  in  shuwiiiK  the  Kinu'a  Icttent  to  :>triiiiKers.  Tliis  iiuin,  who  printed  a  miserable 
mill  false  tract  against  Krytli.  dated  frniii  Kslier  Iht  AuKiist  l.VH,  was  afterwards  charged  with 
denyinK  Ufiirv's  Siipieniacv,  and  executed  at  Tyburn  so  late  as  the  7th  of  .March  I.V44. 

i«  Idem,  lol.  Jr;.  '•••  Idem,  fol.  .«,  b.  !'•  Idem.  fol.  1!»7.  "■?  Idem,  fol.  .■►4. 


1538.]  FRANCE  AND  srAIN.  9 

the  road,  Francis,  relying  implicitly  ou  the  Emperor's  honour  for  his 
security,  visited  him  on  board  his  galley,  and  was  entertained  with  the 
warmest  demonstrations  of  esteem.  Next  day,  the  Emperor  repaying 
the  confidence  which  the  King  had  placed  in  him,  landed,  and  met  with 
a  reception  equally  cordial,  lie  remained  ou  shore  duiing  the  night. 
After  twenty  years  of  open  hostilities,  or  of  secret  enmity — after  so 
many  injuries  reciprocally  inflicted  or  endured — after  having  formally 
given  the  lie,  and  challenged  one  another  to  single  combat — after  the 
Emperor  had  inveighed  so  publicly  (at  Rome)  against  Francis,  as  a 
prince  void  of  honour  or  integi-ity — and  after  Francis  had  accused  him 
of  being  accessary  to  the  murder  of  his  eldest  son — such  an  interview 
appears  altogether  singular  and  even  unnatural.  But  the  history  of  these 
monarchs  abounds  with  such  sui-prising  transitions.  From  implacable 
hatred,  they  appeared  to  pass  in  a  moment  to  the  most  cordial  recon- 
cilement ;  and  after  practising  all  the  dark  arts  of  a  deceitful  policy, 
they  could  assume,  of  a  sudden,  the  liberal  and  open  manners  of  two 
gentlemen."'*^  At  present,  however,  it  is  evident  that,  as  sovereigns, 
they  were  both  reduced  to  a  state  of  comparative  exhaustion  ;  or  alike 
wearied  "  in  the  multitude  of  their  counsels,  and  the  greatness  of  their 
way."  These  were  the  first  moments  of  a  breathing  time,  which,  after 
all,  so  far  from  extending  to  ten,  was  disturbed  in  two  years,  and  ended 
in  four. 

The  Emperor  has  been  represented  as  driven,  by  stress  of  weather,  to 
St.  Margaret's,  but  Lord  Herbert  affirms  that  this  meeting  was  by 
private  concert  between  the  two  sovereigns  ;  as  from  the  number  of 
their  attendants,  and  their  mutual  jealousy  of  Paul,  their  seeing  each 
other,  whether  at  their  respective  Courts,  or  in  the  Pontiff's  at  Nice,  was 
not  safe.  This  is  most  probably  correct  ;  for  the  truth  is,  that  the  am- 
bassadors of  England  also,  were  with  both  Charles  and  Francis.  Bon- 
ner's amusing  account  of  Wyatt,  Heyues,  and  himself,  being  at  Villa 
Franca,  is  given  by  Foxe  ;  while  Gardiner  also  was  with  the  French 
King.  But,  besides,  Cardinal  Pole  was  actually  with  the  Pontiff,  only 
two  miles  distant,  at  Nice  ;  where  he  had  been  most  courteously  treated 
and  caressed  by  all  parties.''' 

But  we  are  not  yet  done  with  the  Emperor  and  his  attendants  during 
this  meeting.  It  will  be  remembered  that  ou  the  16th  of  May,  Sir  T. 
Wyatt  had  been  recalled,  and  in  returning  he  proceeded  "from  Villa 
Franca,  in  post,  into  England."  In  order,  therefore,  to  prolong  the 
delusion,  it  will  scarcely  be  believed  that  Charles  had  made  proposals 
from  this  very  spot,  to  induce  the  King  of  England  to  join  him  in  a 
friendly  league,  which  might  be  made  effective  against  Francis !  !  It 
was  probably  this  step  which  led  Crumwell  to  suspect,  if  not  declare. 


'«  Robertson's  Cliarlcs  V.        '»  Sec  tlit-  letter  of  Thcobaltl,  already  fiuotccl,  i)af;e  Sa<i,  vol.  i. 


II)  CKOOKKI)    i'Ol.KV.  [book  II. 

that  "  the  Iriciulsiliiji  at  Aii/ims-Jfortes  would  not  last;"  but  his  royal 
Montor,  though  afTucting  to  be  gratified  by  this  overture,  did  not  then 
pay  any  attentiuu  to  it.*'  The  fact  was,  that  other  jtartics,  from  Ger- 
iiiaiiy,  of  whom  wc  shall  hear  presently,  were  now  in  England  ;  and, 
miller  the  |iressiire  of  circumstances  just  described,  Henry,  from  political 
motives,  was  now  disposed  to  turn  aside  from  his  matrimonial  excursions, 
and  see  whether,  by  some  friendly  co-operation  with  the  German  Princes, 
he  might  not  improve  the  security  of  his  kingdom,  and  be  ready  to  cope 
with  both  the  Emperor  and  Francis,  set  on  by  the  Pontiff,  should  any 
attem])t  be  made  upon  England. 

On  the  19th  of  July,  the  Emperor  had  re-cmbarked  for  Barcelona  ; 
and,  still  steadily  carrying  on  the  farce  with  England,  upon  reaching 
home,  he  immediately  despatched  a  commission,  dated  the  26th  of  the 
same  month,  to  his  sister  the  Princess  Regent  of  Flanders,  "  to  treat 
with  the  plenipotentiaries  of  Henry  VIII.  about  the  renewal  of  treaties 
and  marriages."  ^'  While  Francis,  who  did  not  arrive  in  Paris  till  the 
beginning  of  September,  found  upon  the  road,  that  a  change  must  take 
place  in  the  British  eml>assy  at  his  Court. 

All  this  was,  of  course,  no  welcome  news,  more  especially  to  the  King 
of  England,  for  certainly  he  had  now  been  out-witted  by  both  Sovereigns  ; 
while  such  an  assembly  as  had  now  been  held  at  Nice,  might  well  cause 
Henry  to  forbode  a  storm.  Marriage  with  any  foreign  party  must  be 
laid  aside  for  a  few  months,  and  another  course  of  policy  pursued. 
Meanwhile,  of  the  two  Sovereigns,  Henry  was  most  incensed  with  the 
King  of  France,  and  he  had  most  reason  ;  while  Gardiner's  procedure 
as  ambassador,  had  contributed  to  embaiTass  the  counsels  of  his  own 
Sovereign.  Though  living  in  Paris,  he  leaned  towards  the  side  of  the 
Emperor.  He,  as  well  as  Thirlby  his  coadjutor,  who  had  no  objections, 
niust  be  recalled,  and  the  Court  of  France  be  furnished  with  another 
man.  As  Bonner,  therefore,  with  Heynes,  had  returned  from  Villa 
Franca  to  Barcelona,  the  King's  letters  were  immediately  transmitted 
to  the  former;  ordering  him  to  proceed  to  France,  and  succeed  Gardiner. 
The  latter,  says  Lord  Herbert,  "  had  soured  all  things  ;  since  being  one 
who  both  disliked  his  own  King's  late  proceedings,  and  secretly  favoured 


2"  In  four  mnntlis  after  tlii»,  however,  lie  will.  Meanwhile,  let  it  only  be  observed  that  Wyatt 
had  arrived  in  London  with  the  overture  on  the  17th  of  June,  as  it  appears  by  the  account  of 
his  expenses. —  I'etjxu.  c.  xiv.,  fol.  19. 

*i  Cotton  MS.,  Vespa-s.  c.  vii.,  fol.  HO.  It  certainly  would  baffle  the  researches  of  the  most 
careful  observer,  to  a-nccrtain  which  of  these  Sovereigns,  or  their  advisers,  exceeded  in  duplicitv. 
Hut  the  reader  may  remark  that  while  Charles  was  in  the  very  act  of  necociatinf;  with  the 
King  of  France,  he  had  sent  by  WyatI,  in  Juno,  proposals  to  the  Kinn  of  Knpland  for  a  Icaf^ie 
.-iKainst  him.  The  proposals  reached  London  by  the  17th,  but  the  very  next  dai/  Charles  had 
agreed  to  a  truce  with  Francis,  for  ten  years  ;  had  exchantjed  civilities  with  him  after  this  at 
.Mgues-Mortes  ;  and  yet  here  is  a  mock  commission  for  the  riiiewal  of  treaties  with  Kngh-ind  ! 
«»n  the  other  hand,  Henry  was  busy  with  the  (ierman  Confederates,  and  we  shall  see  in  October, 
hiiw  fcc  .ictcd  towntds  Charles  in  ntum. 


lo3y.]  CtARDINER  recalled    from    FRANCE.  11 

the  Emperor,  he  did  his  master  little  service  in  that  Court."  ^^  Bonner 
set  off  immediately,  and  meeting  with  Gardiner  not  fiir  from  Lyon,  on 
the  7th  of  August,  when  slowly  following  the  French  King,  a  tremen- 
dous explosion  took  place  between  the  parties.  The  Bishop  of  Win- 
chester, who  had  evidently,  by  his  own  showing,  lived  in  great  style  at 
Paris,  as  ambassador,  felt  like  a  man  that  was  caught  in  an  evil  course, 
and  he  was  also  indignant  at  the  idea  of  Archdeacon  Bonner  succeeding 
him.  "  His  disdainful  nature,"  says  Foxe,  "  did  stomach  him  exceed- 
ingly," and  the  quarrel  continued  so  hot  between  them,  as  actually  to 
last  all  the  way,  like  a  running  fight,  from  near  Lyon,  through  Tararc, 
Varennes,  Moulins,  and  Bourges,  to  Blois.^"'  Francis,  however,  being  at 
the  village  of  Chambord,  ten  miles  eastward,  Gardiner  behoved  then  to 
introduce  his  successor,  and  the  King  having  left  on  the  1st  of  Septem- 
ber, Bonner  followed  him  on  the  third,  in  all  haste  to  Paris.  But  a  few 
days  elapsed  after  his  arrival,  when,  to  his  overflowing  joy,  he  found 
by  a  letter  from  CVumwell,  that  he  was  nominated  Bishop  of  Hereford. 
His  predecessor,  Edward  Fox,  a  very  different  man,  of  whom  we  have 
heard,  had  died  on  the  8th  of  May ;  and  Crumwell  as  well  as  Cranmer  being 
now  completely  deceived  by  Bonner,  they  at  once  elevated  this  monster 
in  human  shape.^'*  Gardiner,  before  leaving  Paris,  had  the  mortification 
to  hear  of  this  appointment,  and  in  the  end  of  September,  left  that  city 
for  England,  after  an  absence  of  exactly  three  years.  He  came  home, 
it  will  be  evident,  with  a  heart  full  of  mischievous  device,  and  as  full 
of  secret  revenge  against  Crumwell  ;  first  for  his  being  sent  abroad  at 
the  time  he  was,  in  1535,  and  now  for  his  being  recalled.^^ 


22  Herbert,  generally  very  correct,  has  however  by  mistake  placed  Bonner's  removal  from 
Spain  into  France,  in  15.'i7  ;  and  this  may  have  led  Liugard  and  other  historians  to  limil  the 
absence  of  Gardiner  to  two  years.  Gardiner  was  abroad  three  years  to  a  day,  as  will  be 
shown  presently. 

23  That  is,  if  we  can  trust  Bonner's  own  words.  The  scene  is  drawn  with  graphic  minuteness, 
and  forms  a  lively  picture  of  both  the  men.  Foxe  gives  it  entire,  as  sent  home  to  Crumwell. 
They  were  dear  friends  before,  when,  in  January  153fi,  Bonner  published  a  highly  eulogistic 
preface  to  Gardiner's  book  "  De  vera  obedientia ;"  and  they  will  be  cordial  friends  again,  when 
both  of  them  come  to  unite  in  shedding  the  blood  of  their  countrymen,  a  few  years  hence.  Bon- 
ner was  now  starting  in  that  deeply  hypocritical  career,  in  which  he  so  completely  deceived 
even  Crumwell. 

24  For  some  reason,  the  royal  assent  was  not  given  till  the  27th  of  November;  but  so  early  as 
the  12th  of  September,  when  Gardiner  was  still  in  Paris,  we  shall  presently  find  Coverdalc  and 
Grafton  referring  to  Bonner  as  Bishop  elect.  This  appointment  Crumwell  regarded  as  a  valu- 
able stroke  of  policy  at  the  moment,  but  it  turned  out  to  be  one  of  the  first  steps  to  his  own 
ruin.  Yet  what  could  he  possibly  do  ?  Gardiner  had  been  counter-working  him  on  the  Con- 
tinent, though  his  recall  was  most  probably  by  Henry's  desire.  He  might  wish  to  avail  himself 
of  this  Bishop's  counsel,  as  he  had  begun  to  desire  that  of  another— Tunstal. 

25  None  of  the  historians  furnish  any  precise  date  for  Gardiner's  departure  to  France,  or  his 
return  to  England  ;  some  rating  his  absence  at  two,  and  others  at  three  years.  But  the  uncer- 
tainty is  happily  removed  by  a  curious  original  document — "  the  account  of  his  expenses."  For 
his  diet  alone,  he  charges  "  from  the  1st  October  in  the  27th,  to  the  28th  September  in  the  .30th 
year  of  his  Grace's  reign,"  or  from  l.^'io  to  l.'j.lS,  viz.  Ktn4  days  at  A 2,  13s.  4d.  per  day!  Then 
there  was  posting,  &c..  and  .£5<X)  given,  out  of  £20fi(l  lent  to  him  by  the  King.  Altogether,  his 
embassy  cost  England  £4274,  6s.  8d.  This,  according  to  our  present  value  of  money,  w.is  equal 
to  about  ,£64.01X1 1  No  wonder  than  he  was  delighted  with  his  appointment,  reluctant  to  give  it 
u)i,  and  had  boasted  of  his  sliilc.     For,  besides  all  this,  there  was  the  See  of  Winchester,  valued 


12  LIMUASSY   FROM   UEUMAN   STATES.  [uuuK  II. 

Such  wcro  tlutsc  iiegociations  of  this  year,  up  to  the  present  moiueiit, 
ill  which  Hknky  himself  hud  taken  so  warm  an  interest,  as  to  write  with 
his  own  hand  to  Sir  T.  Wyutt,  as  frccjucntly  as  Crumweli,  or  rather 
more  so  ;  but  there  were  others,  of  a  diil'erent  character,  in  which 
CuANMKK  and  Cuumwkll  were  as  deeply  iutcrcstcd,  and  these  now  de- 
mand notice. 

To  both  Crumweli  and  Cranmer  the  present  year  could  not  fail  to  be 
one  of  f^eat  anxiety.  Their  imi)etuous  and  wayward  royal  Master,  re- 
lieved from  wedlock,  was  like  a  vessel  that  had  been  loosed  from  her 
mooring.  We  have  seen  how  eagerly  he  was  bent  on  alliance  with  a 
foreign  Queen  ;  but  such  a  step  could  not  be  anticipated  without  trem- 
bling ajiprehension.  It  had  been  during  the  brief  existence  of  two 
£ii<//i,i/i  Queens  in  succession,  that  Crumweli  and  Cranmer  had  arrived 
at  their  present  standing,  and  though  the  former  had  been  j)articularly 
cautious  of  any  interference  with  the  royal  fancy,  yet  until  the  King 
was  fixed  in  his  choice,  it  was  impossible  to  foresee  Avhat  would  happen. 

The  only  jiath  left  open  to  them,  however,  they  did  not  fail  to  pursue. 
\S'hilc  Henry  therefore  was  busy  in  one  direction,  with  Crumweli  ob- 
sequiously in  attendance  ;  both  he  and  Cranmer  were  etjually  active  in 
another.  So  early  as  the  month  of  Januaiy,  we  find  that  the  King  had 
been  correcting,  with  his  own  pen,  "  the  Bishops'  Book,"  of  which  we 
heard  last  year  ;  but  not  until  after  t/ie  chaiKje  in  continental  affairs  in 
June,  does  Ilenry  appear  to  have  regarded  with  any  deep  interest,  the 
course  of  policy  and  discussion  with  those  German  States,  in  which 
Cranmer  especially  had  been  so  engaged — States  which  the  Emperor, 
at  the  moment,  was  regarding  with  an  evil  eye. 

Un  the  first  of  ^larch,  however,  or  just  when  Francis  had  feigned  to 
agree  that  Ilenry  should  be  the  mediator  between  himself  and  the  Em- 
peror, and  charging  the  latter  with  deceit ;  Christopher  Mount,  a  German 
fre<|uently  employed,  and  Thomas  Paynel,  were  despatched  into  Germany, 
to  ascertain  precisely  who  the  Gennan  Confederates  were,  then  assem- 
bled at  Brunswick,  and  whether  their  league  was  for  "  general  defence," 
or  for  matters  of  religion  only.  These  States,  aware  of  the  Emperor's 
feeling  respecting  them,  had  desired  that  Ilenry  should  unite  with  them, 
and  own  the  Augsburg  Confession  of  Faith  ;  Christian  III.  King  of  Den- 
mark having  just  united  with  them.  They  now,  therefore,  despatched 
three  individuals  on  an  Embassy  into  England,  namely,  Francis  Burg- 
hart,  Vice-Chancellor  to  the  Elector  of  Saxony,  George  a-Boyneburg,  and 


at  ,-C:?4(lO,  or  cqiinl  to  more  than  ;t'.10,(X)n  annually,  runnin);  on  all  the  time!  Wyatf,  who  was 
then  iilito  abroad,  rcc-civtd  only  forty-one  shilJini;!)  juTday,  for  about  the  half  of  his  time,  Ihoufjh 

afterwnrda  it  wait  raixed  to  (iurdiner' it  charge  ;  but  then  Sir  TliomaN  ha<l  no  tee  behind  him. 

Compare  Cotton  .MS.  Ve»pas.  c.  xiv..  fol.  Ill  niid  l!l.  Tliise  three  years  of  Gardiner's  absence 
from  Kn^lund  become  remarkably  biKuihcant.  the  imrc  they  are  obhcrved,  with  reference  to 
TiimUUt  anA  tmk  8<  nIITl•nK^.  as  well  as  the  assntinn  /ivin  jicrscculiun,  and  iu  viyorous  com- 
Mtiiccmcnl  iijion  hit  rktl'U.v. 


ITiSS.]  ENVOYS  TO  THE  GERMAN   STATES.  13 

Frederick  Myconius.  These  men  arrived  in  England,  on  the  12th  of 
May,  the  first  of  them  bearing  a  letter  from  Mclancthon  to  the  King. 
His  JMajesty  having  appointed  certain  bishops  and  doctors  to  converse 
with  them,  the  conferences  and  debates  had  continued  for  three  months.-® 
So  early  as  the  month  of  June,  however,  the  King  grew  impatient  for 
the  pi'escnce  of  Tunstal,  who  was  still  at  a  distance,  as  President  of  the 
Council  of  the  North.  This  was  a  bad  omen,  and  the  first  token  of  some 
approaching  change.  Cnimwell,  however,  must  order  him  up,  and  Tun- 
stal, far  from  reluctant,  gladly  replies  from  Newcastle  on  the  27th  of 
June,  that  he  is  coming  with  all  "  convenient  diligence."27  The  King 
therefore  employed  himio  answer  the  German  Divines  ;  but  by  the  15th 
of  August  their  patience  being  exhausted,  they  had  resolved  on  return- 
ing home.  From  all  that  had  transpired  on  the  Continent,  Henry,  by 
this  moment,  Avas  suspicious  not  only  of  treachery  at  home,  but  invasion 
from  abroad.  He  was  himself  gone  to  some  distance,  "  taking  special 
care  of  the  sea  coasts,  and  particularly  had  an  eye  to  the  actions  of  those 
who  might  stir  in  favour  of  Cardinal  Pole.''^^  Cranmer,  therefore,  im- 
plored the  Germans  to  remain  at  least  till  the  King's  return,  and  they 
agreed  to  abide  for  another  month,  in  the  faith  of  his  Majesty  writing 
in  excuse  of  their  long  delay .^^  The  Primate  then  most  earnestly  turned 
to  his  brethren,  the  Bishops,  but  they  were  not  to  be  moved  nmr,  by  any 
of  his  solicitations.  They  had  been  treated  as  men  of  no  account,  ever 
since  the  memorable  Convocation  in  1536  ;  so  that  after  ten  days  he  must 
inform  Crumwell,  that  he  now  saw  "  they  only  sought  an  occasion  to  break 
the  concord."  They  affirmed  besides,  that  "  they  knew  that  the  King's 
Grace  had  taken  vpon  himself  to  answer  the  said  orators."  In  this  they 
were  not  far  from  the  exact  truth  ;  and  here  was  the  second  omen,  to 
both  Cranmer  and  Crumwell,  of  declining  influence.  To  the  German  ob- 
jections against  the  half-communion,  private  masses,  and  the  celibacy 
of  the  clergy,  Henry  would,  on  no  account,  bow  ;  and  having  employed 
Tunstal  to  give  them  a  formal  reply  in  Latin,  after  commending  the 
Envoys  for  their  learning,  and  the  trouble  they  had  taken,  to  the  great 
disappointment  of  Cranmer,  his  Majesty  then  dismissed  them.-^' 

Here  the  historian  requires  to  pause  for  a  moment  and  look  back. 


26  There  was  no  Convocation  cither  in  15.'J7  or  ]5,'J8.  But  Strype,  in  his  annals,  has  misled  his 
readers  by  sjieaking  of  a  Convocation  as  held  on  the  2d  May  15."0  :  and  he  repeats  this,  in  his  life 
of  Cranmer,  under  1.t3!);  though  there  he  f\irnishes  us  with  the  rectification  of  his  mist.ike. 
"The  Xing,"  says  he,  "  had  sent  his  letters  wiittcn  the  12th  of  March  in  the  3ilth  year  of  his 
reign,  viz.  l.WS,  for  summoning  a  Convocation  to  meet  at  St.  Paul's  the  2d  May," — but  this  was 
next  year,  and  the  li'th  of  .March  in  the  30th  of  Henry,  «•««  1539. 

27  Gov.  State  Papers,  v.,  p.  12fi. 

28  Herbert.  He  was  gone  as  far  as  Dover,  and  had  not  returned  on  the  8th  of  September. 
Gov.  State  Papers,  i.,  .51i8. 

29  Gov.  State  Papers,  vol.  i.,  p.  .5/9. 

30  For  the  argumentative  paper  of  the  German  ambassadors,  dated  .Oth  August,  see  Clcop. 
E.  v.,  fol.  173 ;  and  for  Henry's  reply  by  Tunstal,  Ulem,  fol.  21.').  Both  are  given  by  Burnet,  and 
partly  translated  by  Collier.  The  Germans  had  left  in  September,  and  most  opportunely  f(jr 
Oarpiner's  purposes,  who  had  arrived  on  the  2!)th  of  that  month. 


11  (JAKDINKK,    NOUI'OLK,   AND   TL'NSTAL    MKl.       [houK   II. 

Muiiy  tilings,  it  will  in>\v  lie  obscrvcil  hud  boen  accomplished  during  the 
iibsuncc  of  these  men,  the  Bishoji  of  Winchester,  the  Bishop  of  Durhiim 
and  the  Duke  of  Norfolk,  although  all  this  time  they  were  not  idle. 
But  now,  the  first  of  these  has  arrived  from  France,  and  tlie  others 
were  in  waiting  for  him.  All  the  three  were  impatient  for  a  change  ; 
but  for  three  years  they  had  not,  in  concert,  been  near  the  ear  of  his 
Majesty.  They  were  so  now,  and  Gardiner  especially  after  acting  his 
part  on  the  Continent,  had  been  all  the  while  nursing  his  wrath,  to  keep 
it  warm.  It  had  just  burst  forth  with  rude  violence  upon  Bonner  in 
France,  but  now  resuming  his  wonted  dexterity  and  self-command,  we 
shall  soon  find  how  cordially  the  King  of  England,  notwithstanding  his 
wayward  temper,  fell  under  the  influence  of  this  old  faction.  Even  in 
Gardiner's  absence,  Crumwell  and  Cranmer  had  been  threading  their 
way  in  perilous  seas,  but  they  were  now  come  within  the  power  and  in- 
fluence of  the  breakers.  Not  that  Crumwell  could,  by  any  means,  be 
yet  dispensed  with.  Far  from  it.  The  times  were  portentous,  and  more 
money  will  be  required  presently  ;  and  in  procuring  this,  neither  the  Duke 
nor  the  Bishops  could  be  of  any  service  to  his  Majesty.  During  the 
whole  of  this  year,  Crumwell's  visitors  were  abroad  throughout  the 
countrj',  in  prospect  of  the  dissolution  of  the  larger  Monasteries  ;  and 
even  at  this  very  moment  he  was  gratifying  the  cupidity  of  his  royal 
Master,  by  supplies  of  money.-'"  But  in  other  matters,  the  influence  of 
Crumwell  was  now  upon  the  decline,  and  so,  like  Wolsey,  long  before 
he  was  attainted.  This  he  must  have  felt  deeply,  and  this  change  forms 
the  key  to  many  of  his  future  actions,  and  even  his  language. 

The  reader  must  have  observed,  that  from  January  to  IMay  at  least, 
the  King  of  England  leaned  rather  towards  the  Emperor,  who  was  all 
the  while  deceiving  him  ;  Gardiner,  though  ambassador  to  Francis,  had 
long  done  the  same,  and  now  he  may  help  his  royal  Master,  however 
meanly,  to  resume  his  strange  negociations  with  Charles.^ 

At  all  events,  so  early  as  the  IGth  of  October,  instructions  were  drawn 
out  for  Sir  T.  Wyatt  once  more,  accompanied  by  Mr.  Philip  Hoby,  to  be 
declared  unto  the  Emperor ;  who  might  well  smile  at  their  return.-''-'' 


3'  Inini^cs  and  Crosses  were  brealiinR  to  pieces,  or  Riven  to  the  flames,  and  he  was  driing  up 
those  sources  of  wealth  wliich  had  been  supcrstitiously  accumulated  at  the  Shrines.  The  most 
celebrated  was  that  of  Thomas  Hecket  at  Cantivbur>',  where  the  gold,  silver,  and  jewels,  which 
were  conveyed  into  Henry-scoffers,  tilled  two  jionderous  chests,  each  of  which  required  eiRht 
itrung  men  to  carry.  The  Hiii/al  of  France,  a  jewel  of  great  value,  which  had  lain  there  for 
above  three  centuries  and  a-half,  the  King  ever  afterwards  wore  in  a  ring  on  his  finger.  It  had 
been  presented  with  a  massy  cup  of  gold,  by  Lewis  VII.  of  France  in  117!' ;  then  performing  pil- 
grimage, the  year  before  his  own  death,  to  recover  from  illness  his  son  and  successor,  Philip  II. 

'■>•  Lingard.  from  Le  Grand,  has  represented,  not  merely  the  Duke  of  Norfolk,  but  Ganthier  as 
returning  a  year  before  ;  and  after  an  honourable  e.\ile  of  lico  years,  as  repairing  to  Winches- 
ter, without  even  seeing  the  King;  from  whence  he  recalls  him  to  Court  in  Lent  iHX).  But  all 
this  h.is  been,  and  will  he  disjiroved.  Gardiner  will  appear  presently,  in  high  favour,  at  West- 
minster Hall ;  but  he  did  not  preach  his  sermon  till  I.VIO. 

^'  Harleiaii  MS.,  No.  2(12,  fol.  "/O.  But  the  original,  in  twelve  pages,  is  preserved  in  the 
l<rili>h  Museum  ;  Vespas.,  c.  vii.,  Jl-'B;  with  the   interlineations  of  Henry,  in  his  own  hand- 


1538.]  GARDINER   AND   I'OLK.  15 

On  the  25th,  both  Bonner  and  Carnes  warned  Crumwell  that  the  Lady 
Mary  of  Brussels  and  the  King  of  France  had  met  by  appointment** — cer- 
tainly a  suspicious  circumstance.  And  yet,  by  the  28th  of  next  month, 
though  the  King  himself  wi'ites  to  Sir  Thomas  Wyatt,  complaining  of 
the  Emperor's  proceedings,  proposed  by  himself,  for  the  marriage  of  his 
daughter  Mary  with  the  "  infant "  of  Portugal,  Don  Louis — still  "  he  is 
willing  to  enter  into  an  alliance  with  him,  by  marrying  the  Duchess  of 
Milan  on  honourable  terms,  and  conclude  a  league  offensive  and  defen- 
sive." At  the  same  time,  Henry  now  proposes  marrying  his  daughter 
Mary  to  the  young  Duke  of  Cleves,  or  the  Duke  of  Urbino  ;  craving  the 
Emperor's  opinion.^  But  the  year  closed  without  the  slightest  pro- 
gress, or  any  satisfaction  to  the  King  of  England  ;  and  therefore  here 
we  must  leave  the  subject  till  next  year. 

Before  the  Bishop  of  Winchester's  return,  there  was  one  man,  who, 
above  all  others,  had  excited  Henry's  warmest  indignation.  This,  it 
may  be  anticipated,  was  Cardinal  Pole.  By  the  month  of  August,  this 
year,  Theobald,  as  well  as  others,  had  afforded  information  of  his  very 
covirteous  entertainment  at  Nice  ;36  but  Gardiner,  who  cared  for  no 
man's  life,  if  he  could  only  rise  in  royal  favour,  and  undermine  all  other 
advisers,  could  now  plentifully  furnish  farther  particulars.  He  had 
joined  with  the  King  of  France,  last  year,  in  banishing  the  Cardinal 
from  Paris  ;  and  as  he  ever  considered  Pole  to  be  a  weak  man,  so  he 
would  not  be  slow  now  to  assist  the  King  in  regarding  him  as  the  ori- 
ginal author  of  the  present  combination  on  the  Continent.  Such,  at 
least,  was  Henry's  persuasion  ;  and  it  must  have  been  greatly  strength- 
ened, by  the  Cardinal  being  sent  in  November  as  Legate  into  Spain,  to 
stimulate  the  Emperor  to  invade  England.  His  relations  in  England, 
as  suspected  of  treason,  were  now  to  be  dealt  with.  His  brother,  Sir 
Geoffrey  Pole,  being  first  committed,  is  said  to  have  made  certain  dis- 
closures to  the  Council,  when  Lord  Montacute,  another  bi'other,  the 


■writing.  Thus  he  is  personally  identified  with  tlie  contents ;  and  as  we  have  noticed  the  dupli- 
city of  the  Emperor,  it  would  be  unfair  to  pass  over  the  King  lie  had  been  trying  to  cajole. 
Henry,  it  is  evident,  had  been  negociating  with  the  German  States,  but  with  a  more  immediate 
eye  to  politics  than  religion,  and,  their  ambassadors  once  dismissed,  he  turns  to  the  Emperor 
once  more,  and  what  does  he  say? — "  His  Majesty  remembering  the  gentle  overtures  unto  his 
Highness,  by  the  said  Emperor,  maik  fiom  Filla  Franca,  the  which  overtures,  tho'  his  Grace 
took  very  thankfully  and  embraced  them,  yet  nevertheless,  at  that  time,  kst  he  should  be 
noted  to  be  an  ititerrujiter  of  the  common  quiet  of  Christendom — his  Grace  stayed  to  send  his 
commission  to  conclude  the  same,  until  that  assuredly  should  be  passed!" — though  there  tras 
nothing  he  depreealed  more,  than  the  union  of  Francis  and  Charles—"  intending  nevertheless, 
after  the  same,  to  join  the  Emperor  in  all  reasonable  things  and  conditions" — although  he  had 
been  negociating  with  the  German  States,  maitdy  with  the  view  of  keeping  him  in  clwek!  But  why 
delay  for  four  months  to  send  proposals,  or  why.  for  three,  pay  no  regard  to  the  Emperor's  com- 
mission in  July  ?  Of  course  Henry  would  not  tell  that  he  had  been  courting  alliance  else- 
where. But — "  these  things  well  considered,  I  report  me  both  to  the  Emperor  and  his  Council, 
whether  I  Iiave  not  had  cause  both  to  be  slack,  and  occasion  to  think  that  he  and  his  agents  did 
dissemble  with  us  for  winning  of  time,  which  ways  being  far  from  a  sincere  friend's  demeanour, 
we  heartily  require  him  to  no  more  put  in  use  with  us." — .Fust  as  if  Charles  had  not  known,  by 
this  time,  how  Henry  liad  been  occupied,  instead  of  being  slack. 
31  Calig.,  E.  iv.,  fol.  8.     Galba,  B.  .x..  Sit.        3r,  Harl.  MS.,  fol.  Xh        sn  See  vol.  i.,  pjigc  Xiil. 


Irt  TIM-:    KIUST   AUTK'I.KS,  [nooK  II. 

Connti-<.';  <'i"  Salislniry,  tlu-ir  iiRO'l  mother,  the  Marfpiis  and  Marchioness 
of  Kxctor,  an<l  Sir  Kdwanl  Neville,  were  arrested.  On  the  31  «t  of  Dc- 
cenilier  last,  the  Peers  were  arraij^ned,  and  on  the  ;M  of  Jannary,  the 
two  Knifjhts.  Sir  Gcoft'rey  was  pardoned,  but  the  other  three  hail  suf- 
fered at  Towerhill  on  the  0th  of  that  month .■'7 


Tho  present  year,  a.s  connected  witli  Ciu-mwkli-  and  Chan- 
MKU,  now  demands  notice.  The  infljience  of  Gardiner  and 
Tiin.stal,  tliey  being  at  last  united,  and  near  the  King,  was 
far  from  being  confined  to  foreign  politics.  It  was  still  more 
apparent  in  their  taking  advantage  of  what  had  been  done  in 
Clardiner's  absence,  .and  now  artfully  turning  it  to  the  dis- 
grace of  those  they  either  hated  or  persecuted. 

At  that  Convocation  in  1.5.36,  or  the  first  of  an  unprece- 
dented character,  where  Crumwell  had  presided  as  Vice- 
gerent, and  with  a  high  hand  over  the  Bishops,  Craniner  had 
introduced  certain  articles,  informing  all  present  that  the 
Sacraments  must  be  Jirst  settled ;  and  as  the  creed,  whether 
framed  by  himself  or  tho  King,  or  by  both  in  union,  was 
guarded  by  sanguinary  penalties,  it  formed  a  most  convenient 
instrument  for  any  persecutor.  After  this,  it  is  true,  by  his 
zeal  for  the  Bible  of  1537,  Cranmer  would  seem  as  though  he 
had  either  questioned  or  undervalued  the  articles  passed  and 
subscribed :  but  be  this  as  it  may,  he  had  been  evidently 
eager  to  receive  the  Germans  to  a  conference,  and  as  much  so 
to  have  retained  them  in  discussion.  Probably  he  thought, 
that  as  theif  could  defend  their  own  faith,  under  safe-conduct, 
and  so  boldly  question  or  oppose  some  of  the  royal  dogmas, 
thus  some  impression  might  be  made  on  his  obstinate  and 
self-willed  master.  In  this,  however,  he  had  now  been  deeply 
disappointed,  when  lo  !   Stephen  Gardiner  arrived  in  London. 

Gardiner  had  been  uniformly  opposed  to  all  this  courting 
of  the  German  (confederated  States.  Even  when  abroad,  and 
two  3'cars  ago,  he  had  strongly  advised  the  King  against  it; 
but  he  had  now  an  opportunity  of  renewing  his  former  argu- 
ments, and  the  crisis  was  particularly  favourable  to  his  add- 
ing "  many  like  words."'  He  had  been  living  for  three  years 
on  the  Continent ;  and  as  his  royal  Master,  in  all  his  move- 
ments, was  governed  solely  by  political  motives,  no  man  was 


37  Sec  vol.  i.,  paqc  .MI,  note  lo.'.. 


J5.38.J  IN   THEIR  CON«EyUENCES.  ]? 

more  able  than  Gardiner  to  turn  liis  intimate  acquaintance 
with  foreign  affairs  to  some  positive  account,  in  favour  of  his 
own  views.  These,  of  course,  were  diametrically  opposed  to 
the  policy  of  Orumwell  and  Cranmer.  Henry,  he  had  in- 
sinuated formerly,  was  a  Sovereign,  but  these  Germans,  very 
inferior  princes,  the  mere  subjects  of  the  Emperor ;  and  it 
was  below  the  King's  dignity  to  form  any  league  with  them, 
except  as  lord  of  them  all.  He  was  "  Head  of  the  Church" 
in  his  own  kingdom  ;  and  in  all  matters  of  faith,  they,  of 
course,  ought  to  bow  to  him.  Besides,  he  was  an  author  of 
high  renown  ;  and  having,  by  his  book  against  Luther,  gained 
the  title  of  "  Defender  of  the  Faith,"  it  was  now  of  more  im- 
portance than  ever,  that  he  should  appear  the  lord  and  master 
of  all  sentiments  and  opinions  within  his  own  dominions,  and 
give  distinct  intimation  to  all  what  his  own  ojjinions  were. 
Pole  had  charged  his  Majesty  with  the  crime  of  changing  his 
religion ;  whereas  now,  through  Tunstal,  not  only  private 
masses,  involving  auricular  confession,  had  been  maintained, 
but  all  the  wonders  of  the  mass.  One  of  the  points  in  dis- 
cussion with  the  Envoys  from  Germany,  had  related  to  the 
Lord's  Supper,  and  the  denial  of  the  cup  to  the  people  at 
large ;  but  in  the  final  reply  by  Tunstal  and  Henry,  the  cor- 
poral presence  and  concomitance  had  been  affirmed  to  the  last 
degree  of  incomprehensibility.  Should  any  man  in  England, 
therefore,  at  this  moment,  presume  to  question  that  point,  a 
fine  opportunity  was  presented  to  Gardiner  and  Tunstal  for 
using  all  their  address  and  sophistry.  The  King,  it  has  been 
said,  "  valued  Gardiner's  abilities  for  business,  saw  his  mean- 
ness, and  was  not  aware  that  he  himself  was  sometimes  in- 
fluenced by  the  fawning  subtilty  which  he  despised."  In 
one  word,  no  moment  could  be  more  favourable  for  bloody  jiur - 
poses.  Henry  was  chafed  by  the  policy  of  the  European 
Sovereigns,  enraged  at  Pole  as  well  as  at  his  pointed  charges, 
if  not  also  irritated  by  the  obstinate  adherence  of  the  Ger- 
mans to  their  Augsburg  Confession. 

The  creed  of  1536,  therefore,  (forming  the  first  articles  im- 
posed upon  England,)  as  if  framed  for  the  occasion,  was  now 
to  be  put  in  operation.  The  King  had  entitled  it — "  Articles 
devised  to  establish  Christian  quietness  among  us  ;"  and  Cran- 
mer, in  bringing  it  before  the  Convocation,  had  insisted  that 
the  sacraments  must  hejirst  settled ;   but  in  doing  this,  he 

VOL.   It.  B 


18 


IMITKi:    I'KHSKCUTION  [bOOK  II. 


nrobablv  littli-  diciinil  that  t\v»»  of  tliose  verv  articles  would 
prove  tlio  first  occasion  of  his  embruing  his  »>\v)i  hands  in 
blood.  The  first  articlo  was  baptism,  and  with  it  the  King 
began.  Henry  had  decreed  that  all  /</>•  people  "  ought,  and 
must  of  necessity^  believe  certainly,  that  baptism  was  instituted 
as  a  thini;  necessary y'>/*  the  attainhip  of  everlast'mri  life'' — 
"  that  by  this  they  shall  have  remission  of  si?is,  and  the  rjrace 
and  favour  of  God'" — "  that  this  promise  of  grace  and  life, 
which  is  adjoined  unto  baptism,  pertaineth  not  only  to  such 
as  have  the  use  of  reason,  but  also  to  infants,  who,  by  this 
sacrament,  be  made  thereby  the  very  sons  and  children  of 
(Jod — that  infants  must  needs  be  christened,  because  they  be 
born  in  original  sin,  which  sin  cannot  be  remitted,  but  b>/  the 
sacrament  of  i)aptism.' 

It  has  been  aflirmed  that  there  were  many  in  England 
who  denied  the  gross  errors  here  propounded  ;  and  the  list  of 
"  dogmata"  presented  to  the  Convocation  in  ]o36,  as  pre- 
vailing throughout  the  country,  might  be  referred  to  as  prov- 
ince this ;  but  the  parties  seized,  at  this  moment,  were  tiot 
Henry's  people — not  his  own  subjects.  They  were  foreigners, 
Germans,  who  had  fled  from  their  own  country  to  avoid  per- 
secution there.  They  might  therefore  have  at  least  been 
first  warned  to  leave  the  kingdom.  But  no — the  King  must 
speak  out,  in  no  unequivocal  terms,  as  to  his  orthodoxy  ;  and 
both  Cranmer  and  Crumwell,  as  well  as  others,  now  fall  in 
with  the  stream  of  blood. 

On  the  first  of  October,  a  commission,  in  the  King's  name, 
was  given  out  to  Cranmer,  Stokesly,  and  Samson,  as  Bishops, 
including  Heath,  Skip,  Thirlby,  Gwent,  Bobert  Barnes,  and 
Edward  Crome,  to  try  these  people  "  lately  come  into  this 
realm,  where  they  lurk  secretly  in  divers  corners  and  places." 
There  is  no  evidence  of  any  crime  whatever,  save  the  denial 
of  this  article,  or  the  doctrine  contained  in  it ;  and  we  have 
no  record  of  their  trial.  Nor  is  this  surprising ;  it  was  not 
to  be  expected ;  as  by  the  commission  itself,  the  commis- 
sioners had  authority  to  execute  the  premises,  notwithstanding 
part  of  them  might  be  contrary  to  the  customary  course  and  forms 
of  law  !  This  most  humiliating  document  for  Cranmer,  was 
subscribed  by  Crumwell.-'"     'J'he  result  was,  that  three  men 


^'   lhf»e  i>Of>r  pcojilr  thoT  wcrt  to  try— "  Numm.irii-  cl  dc  plaiin;"    to  exnmiiir  llicm    cilhir 


\r,:^Sj  RKSUMKl)  OSVE   MORE.  Ifl 

and  one  woman  boi'o  taogots  <at  Paurs  cross,  and  two  others,  a 
man  and  a  woman,  were  consigned  to  the  flames  in  Sinitlifield. 
But  another  article  of  the  creed  imposed,  furnished  ground 
for  a  far  more  conspicuous  triumph  to  the  J3ishop  of  Win- 
chester ;  when  a  more  miserable  spectacle  of  a  royal  tyrant 
taunting  and  w-orrying  his  victim,  Westminster  Hall  pro- 
bably never  witnessed,  before  nor  since.  John  Lambert^  a 
convert  of  Bilney's,  who  is  said  to  have  associated  with  Tyn- 
dale  and  Fryth  when  abroad,  had,  in  the  reign  of  Sir  Thomas 
More,  been  brought  to  England ;  and  before  Warham,  in 
1532,  had  answered  to  not  fewer  than  forty-five  articles  laid 
against  him.  Warham,  however,  died  that  year,  and  Lam- 
bert was  discharged.  To  avoid  the  fury  of  persecution,  he 
then  changed  his  name  to  Nicholson ;  and  being  a  man  of 
learning,  he  had,  since  that  period,  earned  an  honourable  sub- 
sistence, by  teaching  Latin  and  Greek.  This  year,  Dr.  John 
Tailour,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Lincoln,  had  been  preaching  at 
St.  Peter's,  Cornhill,  on  "  transubstantiation."  Lambert  or 
Nicholson,  after  hearing  him,  had  offered  civilly  to  argue  the 
jioint,  but  Tailour  required  him  to  commit  his  thoughts  to 
writing;  a  very  dangerous  thing  in  those  times,  and  that 
which  had  proved  fatal  to  the  immortal  Fryth.  On  shovi^ing 
the  paper  to  Robert  Barnes^  of  whom  we  have  just  heard,  as  a 
member  in  commission  with  Cranmer,  he  advised  Tailour  to 
lay  it  before  the  Archbishop,  now  so  rigidly  observed  by  all 
his  brethren  of  "  the  old  learning."  Lambert  once  brought 
into  Court,  appealed  from  the  Bishops  to  the  Kinf) ;  when 
Gardiner  suggested  that  a  fine  opportunity  w-as  now  presented 
to  his  ISLajesty,  for  putting  an  end  to  all  insinuations,  foreign 
or  domestic,  and  of  vindicating  himself  before  the  world, 
from  the  charge  of  favouring  heretics.  The  King,  in  perfect 
cliaracter,  taking  up  the  appeal  with  a  high  hand,  convoked 
his  Nobles  and  Prelates  immediately  to  repair  to  London,  and 
assist  at  the  triumph."*'  Upon  the  day  fixed  Henry  arrived, 
with  a  numerous  guard,  all  clothed  in  white,  and  a  cushion  of 


judicially-,  or f j-i!rrtjudicially,  as  they  thought  proper;  and  the  words  at  the  close  of  the  com- 
mission are  these — "  Ko  non  obstante  quod  Dennntiatio.  Detcctio  sive  Indictatio  contra  eos- 
dem,  ant  eorum  aliquem.  in  hac  parte  non  praecesserit,  aliqnibus  Statutis  vel  Statuto  in  Parlia- 
mcntis  nnstris  in  contrarium  editis  scu  provisis,  ca-tcrisque  contrariis  non  obstantibus  quibus- 
cnnquc  !"' — "  In  cnjus  rei  testimonium,  &c,  primo  die  Octobris  1.538.  Rcpni  nostri  tricesimo. — 
Thom.  Critmwell."  . 

39  "  Gardiner,"  says  Pnmet,  "laid  hold  on  the  appeal,  and  persuaded  the  King  to  proceed 
solemnly  and  severelv  in  it." 


20  IHTTKlt    I'EUSECUTION    UKSLMKD.  QuuuK  11. 

wliitf  dutli  of  tissue  was  laid  before  liis  Majesty.  On  his 
ri<;lit  sat  tlie  Bishops,  and  behind  them  the  lawyers,  in 
purple.  On  his  left  the  Peers,  in  their  order,  with  the 
gentlemen  of  the  Privy  Chamber  behind.  The  King,  once 
seated  on  his  throne,  Samson,  ]Jishop  of  Chichester,  by  com- 
mand, declared  to  the  people,  the  cause  of  this  assembly. — 

"  Tlio  King,"  he  said,  "  had  thrown  off  the  usurpations  of  the  See  of  Rome, 
discharged  and  disincorporated  some  idle  Moukg,  who  lived  only  hke  drones  in  a 
bee-hive  ;  he  liad  rouioved  the  idolatrous  regard  for  imai/es ;  published  the 
Bible  in  Eiiijligh  for  the  instruction  of  all  his  subjects,  and  made  some  lesser 
alterations  in  the  Church,  which  nobody  could  deny  were  for  the  public  in- 
terest. But  as  for  other  things,  he  his  Majesty  was  resolved  to  keep  constant 
to  the  Catholic  faith  and  customs.  That  he  was  very  desirous  the  prisoner 
would  retract  his  erroi-s,  and  return  to  the  Catholic  communion  :  That  for  this 
purpose,  and  to  prevent  the  extremities  which  would  otherwise  follow,  he  had 
ordered  the  aj)i)earance  of  these  grave  and  learned  men,  the  Bishops ;  hoping 
that  by  the  advantage  of  their  character,  and  force  of  their  reasoning,  they 
would  recover  him  to  the  Church,  and  wrest  his  unfortunate  opini(jn  from  him. 
But  in  case  he  was  not  to  be  removed  from  his  obstinacy,  he  (the  King)  was 
resolved  to  make  him  an  example  ;  and  by  a  precedent,  of  hitt  own  setting, 
acquaint  his  judges  and  the  Magistracy,  how  they  ought  to  manage  heresy,  and 
behave  themselves  upon  such  occasions  !" 

Henry  then  commenced,  and  with  "  brows  bent  unto 
severity;"  but  Lambert  at  once  denying  the  corporal  presence, 
he  commanded  Cranmer  to  answer  him.  With  his  charac- 
teristic mildness  the  Archbishop  began ;  but  very  soon  it 
appeared  as  if  Lambert  would  triumph  in  argument.  "  The 
King,"  says  Foxe,  "seemed  greatly  moved — the  Bishop  him- 
self that  disjjuted  to  be  entangled,  and  all  the  people  amazed;" 
when  Oardiner,  whose  cause  it  truly  was,  before  Cranmer  had 
finished,  and  who,  according  to  previous  arrangement,  ought 
not  to  have  spoken  one  word,  till  four  others  had  finished, 
kneeled  down  for  permission  to  break  silence.  Henry  assent- 
ing, he  began — Tunstal,  Stokesly,  and  two  others,  followed, 
occupying  the  solitary  prisoner  for  five  hours,  or  from  twelve 
to  five  o'clock,  when  torches  were  lighted.  Lambert  main- 
tained his  opinions  in  answer  to  them  all ;  but  observing  that 
there  was  no  hope  of  being  fairly  heard,  towards  the  close  had 
become  silent.  At  last,  Henry  enquired,  whether  he  would 
live  or  die?  Lambert  threw  himself  upon  the  King's  mercy 
— that  King  who,  in  his  anger,  never  spared  any  man.  He 
replied,  that  he  would  be  no  patron  of  heretics  ;  and  then 
commanded  Crumwell,  as  Vicar-General,  to  read  the  sentence 


1538-3  JOHN   LAMBERT.  21 

of  death  !  Such  was  the  pitiful  display  on  Friday  the  16th 
of  November ;  and  on  Tuesday  followins:,  the  20th,  Lambert 
was  burnt  to  ashes,  with  circumstances  of  peculiar  barbarity. 
His  last  words  were — "  None  but  Christ — none  but  Christ/''^ 
On  Saturday  following-,  the  foreigners  suffered ;  and  by 
Wednesday  the  28tli  we  have  the  following  melancholy  proof 
of  the  basest  sycophancy  on  the  part  of  Crumwell,  now  striv- 
ing in  vain  to  retain  his  influence  and  power,  in  the  face  of 
Gardiner,  the  Duke  of  Norfolk,  and  others.  He  is  writing  to 
Sir  Thomas  Wyatt,  then  ambassador  in  Spain. 

"  On  the  16th  of  this  present,  the  King's  Majesty,  for  the  reverence  of  the 
holy  sacrament  of  tlie  altar,  did  sit  openly  in  his  hall,  and  there  presided  at  the 
disputation,  process,  and  judgment  of  a  miserable  heretic  sacramentary,  John 
Nicholson,  alias  Lambert,  who  was  burnt  the  20th  of  this  same  month.  It  was 
a  woiifler  to  see  how  princely,  with  how  excellent  gravity,  and  inestimable 
majesty,  his  Highness  exercised  there  the  very  office  of  a  supreme  head  of  his 
Church  of  England !  How  benignly  his  Grace  assayed  to  convert  the  miser- 
able man  ;  how  strong  and  manifest  reasons  his  Highness  alleged  against  him  ! 
I  wish  that  the  Princes  and  Potentates  of  Christendom  had  had  a  meet  place 
for  them  there,  to  have  seen  it !  Undoubtedly  they  should  have  much  mar- 
velled at  his  Majesty's  most  high  wisdom  and  judgment,  and  reputed  him  none 
otherwise,  after  the  same,  than,  in  manner,  the  mirror  and  light  of  all  other 
kings  and  princes  in  Christendom  !" 

Thus,  if  any  man  by  a  single  epistle,  ever  "  wrote  himself 
down"  in  the  eye  of  posterity,  which  any  man  may,  it  was 
Crumwell  upon  this  occasion.  He  had  not  only  read  the 
burning  sentence,  but  now  justified  the  execution,  and  eulo- 
gised the  roval  murderer ;  so  that  his  havino;  been  said  to 
have  asked  forgiveness  of  Lambert  before  death,  if  not  a  mere 
gratuitous  assumption,  or  embellishment  of  Foxe,  was  adding 


<o  The  day  before  Lambert  was  burnt,  we  have  a  curious  letter  from  Cranmer  to  Crumwell : 
— "  This  shall  be  to  signify  unto  you,  that  this  day  the  King's  Highness  sent  in  a  commandment 
to  be  with  him  to-morrow  at  ten  o'clock,  which  I  cannot  do  if  I  be  with  >joi(  at  Stepney  before 
7iine  of  the  clock.  But  for  so  much  as  his  Grace  hath  appointed  me  to  be  at  two  sundry  places 
about  one  time,  which  I  cannot  accomplish,  and  X  dare  not  disappoint  neither  of  his  command- 
ments without  his  Grace  countermand  the  same  ;  therefore  I  will  send  to  his  Grace  to  know  his 
determinate  pleasure  herein,  and  I  will  not  fail  to  waiton  you  at  Stepney,  at  your  hour  assigned, 
unless  the  King's  pleasure  be  the  contrary.  From  Lamehithe.  the  I9th  day  of  November." — 
See  Crumivrll's  Cor.,  oriijinal  liolograph.  What  could  the  Vicar-General  want  with  Cranmer 
//»>  morning?  Was  he  at  all  uneasy  as  to  what  he  had  done  at  the  trial,  as  well  he  might? 
Whatever  was  involved,  it  docs  seem  strange  that  Lambert  actually  breakfasted  in  his  house, 
belbre  being  carried  to  Smithfield.  Foxe  states  that  this  morning  "  Lambert  was  brought  out  of 
prison  at  ei(i1il  o'clock,  to  the  house  of  Lord  Crumwell,  and  so  carried  to  his  inner  chamber, 
where,  it  is  reported  of  many,  that  Crumwell  desired  of  him  forgiveness*  for  what  he  had  done. 
There,  at  last,  Lambert  being  informed  that  the  hour  of  his  death  was  at  band,  was  greatly 
cheered.  Being  brought  out  of  the  chamber  into  the //«?/,  he  saluted  the  gentlemen,  and  sat  down 
to  breakfast  with  them.  When  the  breakfast  was  ended,  he  was  carried  straightway  to  the  place 
of  execution."  For  some  unknown  reason,  Crumwell  had  wished  Cranmer  to  be  there  at  the 
s.imc  moment  ;  but  the  scfpicl  will  fhow  wluther  there  was  any  such  feeling  as  compnncti'in. 


22  cia.MW  KLi/s  iu;iiAViuiK.  (^hook  ii. 

insult  to  iujiiiy.  Ami  as  for  Cruniwuirs  motive  in  so  writing 
ti>  the  Continent,  at  this  juncture,  if  it  was  the  pitiful  time- 
serving idea,  that  he  might  thus  raise  his  cruel  master  in 
the  estimation  of  tin-  Spanish  Court,  and  so,  in  some  degree, 
retain  his  own  popularity  or  power,  he  entirely  failed.  With 
regard  to  the  mock-trial  itself;  such  an  array,  to  hrow-beat 
and  overawe  a  poor  solitary  schoolmaster,  was  sulliciently 
contemptible.  The  thing  was  evidently  got  up  to  serve  some 
j)urpose  at  the  moment,  while,  like  many  other  bloody  steps, 
it  |)roved  an  entire  failure  ;  though,  after  .all,  in  the  page  of 
history,  the  event  is  not  without  its  value.  Henry  had  as- 
sembled all  his  authorities  round  him,  and  thus  fully  displayed 
what  was  actually  t/icir  existing  spirit  or  character,  as  well 
as  his  own.  The  lirm  faith  and  fortitude  of  Lambert,  cleared 
the  moral  atmosphere,  and  served  to  show  the  entire  assembly 
in  its  true  colours.  The  right  of  private  judgment,  and  the 
unfettered  freedom  of  religious  worship,  were  not  understood, 
of  course,  by  a  single  individual  there  present ;  but,  on  the 
other  hand,  if  the  Sacred  Scriptures  bo  actually  now  printing, 
and  at  the  instance  of  Crumwell,  one  of  these  very  courtiers, 
then  their  introduction  into  England,  or  diffusion  there,  is  a 
cause  just  as  distinct  from  these  men,  except  as  mere  instru- 
ments, as  it  had  ever  been.  And  should  another  edition  of 
the  Sacred  Volume,  and  that  a  larger  impression,  be  thus 
advancing  at  press,  it  becomes  doubly  interesting  to  inquire, 
how  such  a  thing  could  be  accomplished.  The  Most  High  is 
ever  ruling,  not  in  the  armies  of  heaven  alone,  but  "  in  the 
midst  of  his  enemies  ;"  only  at  such  a  time  as  this,  his  over- 
ruling power  becomes  evident  to  demonstration,  and  demands 
special  praise.  We  turn  therefore  to  the  third,  and  to  us,  in 
one  sense,  the  only  important  view  of  the  present  year. 


The  two  cities  in  the  west  of  Europe,  or  indeed  any  where 
else,  which,  as  cities,  had  discovered  the  fiercest  opposition  to 
Divine  Truth,  were  London  and  Paris.  The  former,  after  a 
siege  of  eleven  years'  duration,  had  now  been  taken.  A  suc- 
cession of  sappers  and  miners,  by  means  of  the  New  Testanient, 
had  fully  prepared  the  way.  The  same  gracious  Providence, 
which  had  been  so  conspicuous  from  the  beginning,  at  last, 
and  most  unexpectedly,  brought  the  Bible  entire,  when, 
tlironrrli  the  straitncss  of  the  siege,  and  the  force  of  overruling 


1.^38.]  LONDON   AND  PARIS.  23 

local  circumstances,  all  at  once,  Henry,  and  the  men  around 
him,  without  one  breath  of  hostility,  struck  their  Hag  of  defi- 
ance, and  received  the  vilified  and  long-rejected  version.  The 
latter  city,  Paris,  though  assailed  as  long  as  London  had  been, 
was  alas  !  never  so  to  yield.  Francis,  though  the  attached 
brother  of  a  pious  sister,  would  never  bow,  as  Henry  had  been 
obliged  to  do.  Of  the  two  cities  it  might  be  said — "  one  was 
taken,  the  other  loft." 

By  the  favour  of  God,  Britain  was  to  become  the  land  of 
Bibles  :  and  yet  the  next  edition,  after  the  imported  one,  was 
not  to  be  commenced  in  her  metropolis.  A  tribute  higher 
still,  must  be  paid  to  the  disinterested  patriotism  and  Chris- 
tian pity,  of  our  first  Translator.  London  did  not  then  af- 
ford such  excellent  materials  for  printing  as  Paris.  It  would 
therefore  be  a  higher  display  of  Almighty  power,  amidst  the 
burning  hatred  of  the  Parisians,  of  the  King  himself,  and  even 
in  the  face  of  that  Inquisition,  which  had  obtained  no  footing 
in  England,  if  the  next  English  folio  Bible  should  be  printed 
by  Frenchmen,  and  in  Paris  itself !  It  will  not  only  be  so, 
but  under  the  eye  of  the  same  man  who  had  embarked  his  all 
in  printing  the  first  edition  !:^.' 

Such,  in  truth,  turns  out  to  be  the  peculiar  feature  of  the 
year  1 538.  There  the  work  must  now  proceed  ;  and  not  only 
so,  but  this  shall  lead  to  consequences,  very  memorable,  down 
to  the  close  of  1541.  The  Bible  commenced  at  Paris  in  1538 
and  finished  in  London  by  April  1539,  is  a  curiosity  equally 
remarkable  in  its  way  with  that  of  1537,  if  not  more  so.  It 
was  like  going  forth  "  from  conquering,  to  conquer." 

Such  an  event  indeed  might  seem  impossible,  look  where 
we  may,  at  home  or  abroad.     Henry  himself,  in  eager  cor- 


■•1  Since  the  spring  of  153.'J,  the  rafie  of  Francis  against  all  new  opinions,  and  his  inflicted 
cruelties,  had  been  alike  superlative.  By  December  of  that  year  he  had  "  resolved  with  all  his 
power  and  might  to  suppress,"  what  he  styled  "'  the  cursed  Lutheran  heretic  sect,"  then  spring- 
ing up  in  Paris  ;  and,  said  he,  "  we  expressly  enjoin  you,  that  all  other  Ihinps  set  aside,  you  direct 
some  among  you  to  enquire  ciiriousli/  and  diliiierdly  into  all  those  who  hold  this  sect  and  are 
suspected  of  it.  We  wish  you  to  proceed  to  this  by  a  strong  and  armed  force,  if  that  be  neces- 
sary." By  15.35,  the  King  himself  had  walked  in  procession,  part  of  which  consisted  of  literally 
the  hutchei's  of  Paris,  carrying  the  image  of  St.  Genevieve,  when  the  moment  of  his  Majesty's 
arrival  at  the  Louvre  was  distinguished  by  six  men  at  once  being  committed  to  the  flames !  For 
some  years  past  all  those  who  remained  obstinate  were  put  to  death,  and  the  tongues  of  their 
noblest  victims  were  actually  eat  out,  lest  in  dying  they  should  give  the  people  an  impression 
of  their  doctrines!  So  says  even  Castelnau,  a  disciple  of  the  old  school.— .1/<'/ho»'.s,  v.  i.,  p.  4. 
In  other  instances  the  same  horrid  cruelty  was  inflicted,  when  the  faithful  martyr  was  even 
on  the  road  to  the  stake,  if  he  refused  to  worship  any  image  that  eaiiic  in  the  ivai/ .'  See  more 
particularly  Le  Grand,  or  Turner's  History  of  Elizabeth,  b.  ii..  c.  IH,  iioles. 


2t  THK  ENGLISH    BIBI.K  [book  il. 

resnotidt'iKT  with  both  Spain  and  Franco,  is  observed  to  have 
been  enijropscd  with  Continental  politics,  and  not  only  in  keen 
pnrsiiit  after  a  fourth  Queen,  but  busy  in  proposing  matrimo- 
nial alliances  for  his  children,  or,  as  after  this,  in  sanctioning 
bitter  persecution.  Cranmer,  in  communication  with  Ger- 
many is  employed  in  discussion  for  months  with  Envoys 
from  that  country ;  "while  Crunnvell,  between  them  both, 
though  he  might  seem  to  have  had  enough  to  do,  is  also  pur- 
suing vigorously  his  own  course,  in  the  visitation  of  Monas- 
teries and  Abbeys,  Images,  Crosses  and  Shrines,  with  a  view 
to  their  common  overthrow.  The  harvest  months  are  marked 
by  cruel  preparations,  and  those  of  winter,  by  the  shedding  of 
blood,  both  foreign  and  domestic. 

Where  then  was  any  room  left  ?  Where  any  time  for  at- 
tention to  subjects  so  widely  different,  or  far  apart,  as  that  of 
the  printing  of  the  Scriptures,  and  their  diffusion  tlirougliout 
England  ?  Still,  both  time  and  attention  mtist  be  given  to 
both.  Last  year  Crurnwell  had  been  overruled,  Gardiner''s 
return  was  well  fitted  to  quicken  his  pace,  and  this  year  he  has 
become  a  determined  and  energetic  agent.  His  eye  had  been 
directed  to  Paris,  where  for  the  last  five  years  especially,  the 
greatest  hostility  to  the  Scriptures  had  been  most  cruelly  dis- 
played ;  but  this  will  only  lend  greater  singularity  to  the  next 
edition  of  the  English  Bible.  The  hand  of  ]?ritain\s  God 
will  once  again  be  pressed  upon  our  notice,  as  if  to  show,  that 
all  places,  as  well  as  persons,  or  that  Francis  I.  and  Henry 
VIII.,  the  highest  regal  opponents,  were  alike  before  Him. 

Grafton\s  edition,  so  singularly  introduced  last  year,  was 
soon  found  to  be  but  a  poor  supply,  and  a  second,  of  2500 
copies,  was  now^  intended.  Grafton  may  have  suggested  Paris 
as  the  best  place  for  printing  it,  as  well  as  for  superior  paper; 
and  here  now  stood  Coverdale,  at  Crumwell's  command,  ready 
to  accompany  him,  as  corrector  of  the  press ;  but  how  was  it 
possible  for  the  work  to  be  executed  there?  In  the  com- 
mencement of  the  year,  ow ing  to  the  feeling  then  existing  be- 
tween Henry  and  Francis,  such  a  proposal  was  out  of  the 
question.  The  latter  had  given  great  offence,  by  refusing 
Mary  of  Guise  to  the  English  monarch,  and  by  not  bowing 
to  his  request  as  to  jier  sisters.  Both  the  Emperor  and 
Francis,  however,  in  order  to  gain  time,  were  alike  deceiving 
the  King  of  England  ;   and   bv  the  end   of  I'Vbniai  v.  one  of 


1)38.]  PKINTINd   IN    PARIS.  25 

the  Freiieli  Kiiig''s  strokes  of  policj  wns,  to  assent  to  Henry 
becoming  the  mediator  between  the  Emperor  and  himself; 
nay,  before  the  end  of  April,  he  had  oftcred  his  son,  the  Duke 
of  Orleans,  to  Mary  of  England.  Orumwcirs  policy,  it  has 
been  affirmed,  was  to  cultivate  friendship  with  France,  and, 
through  that  power,  link  Henry  with  the  German  States : 
but  be  that  as  it  may,  here  was  now  an  opening  with  Paris. 
At  tliis  moment,  therefore,  Crumwell  must  have  succeeded  in 
getting  his  royal  Master  to  communicate  with  Francis  ;  as  it 
was  expressly  in  consequence  of  this  that  a  license  was  then 
actually  granted  by  the  King  of  France  t6  Richard  Grafton 
and  George  Whitchurch,  to  print  the  Scriptures/^  Now,  as 
Francis  left  his  capital  about  the  first  of  June,  and  consider- 
able progress  had  been  made  by  the  23d  of  that  month,  it 
may  be  safely  presumed  that  both  Grafton  and  Coverdale  had 
arrived  in  Paris  sometime  in  May.  It  is  worthy  of  remark, 
that  the  first  step  taken,  was  by  a  direct  communication  be- 
tween these  two  monarchs,  Henry  and  Francis ;  for  Crum- 
well would  not  stoop  to  any  intercourse  through  Gardiner, 
though  the  English  ambassador  there,  who  was  a  noted  op- 
ponent. Granting  the  request,  too,  might,  and  probably  did, 
serve  the  purpose  of  Francis  in  prolonging  delusion,  who  was 
just  then  setting  off  for  Nice,  Avhere,  at  last,  the  mask  of 
friendship  was  to  be  thrown  off.  The  French  King,  there- 
fore, after  issuing  the  license,  leaves  Paris,  and  Gardiner  offi- 
cially _/b//o2f*"  him  ;  but  it  was  three  months  before  either  the 
one  or  the  other  returned ;  and  thus  the  printing  of  this  Bible 
for  England  rapidly  proceeded  during  their  absence  !  When 
the  English  Scriptures  were  to  be  introduced  into  our  native 
land,  the  Bishop  of  Winchester  was  taken  out  of  the  way ; 
and  so  it  happened  when  they  were  to  be  printed  in  Paris. 
He  may  return  for  a  few  days  in  September,  but  not  as  am- 
bassador :  his  influence  was  gone  ;  it  was  merely  to  make  cer- 
tain arrangements  before  taking  his  departure  for  England.''^ 


■*2  "  Franrlscii.t,  &c.  Dilectis  nobis  Richardo  Grafton,  et  Edwardo  Whitcliurcli,  Anglis  tt 
civibiis  Londini,  Salutcm.  Qida  fide  digna  testimonia  accci)innis.  quod  cnrissinius  Fralcr 
iinster  Anglonim  Hex,  Vobis  cujiis  Subditi  cstis  Satram  Bibliam  tain  Latini'  quam  Britaiiiiifc 
sive  AnKlice  inii>riniendi,  et  imprimi  ciirandi,  et  in  suum  rcgnuni  apportnndi  et  transfercndi, 
libertatem  Bufticienteni,  et  let^itimam  coiicis.serit :  Kt  vos,"  &c.—.SVr  Cotton  MS.,  C'leo]>.  P..  v., 
fol.  o26  h  ;  or  the  Appendix  to  Burnet's  Life  of  Cranmer. 

43  He  liad  only  to  dispose  of  his  "  mulcts,"  and  pack  up  his  "  naperv  and  mulet  clotlis,  with 
Iiis  arms  embroidered  on  them,"  of  all  which  lie  had  made  such  IukIi  boast  to  Bonner,  without 
givinp  him  anythinc  ;  not.  however,  without  lieinp  paid  baiK  lilentifnlly  in  his  own  coin.     Our- 


2fi  THK   KN(iMS|[    Ullil-K  [jiOoK  II. 

Less  tliaii  two  yt'ar.s  a^^o,  uhoii  the  Ducturs  of  Louvain  were 
wraiiirlinir  with  Tvndalo,  and  thirstiiifr  for  lii.s  blood,  certainly 
there  was  nothing  within  the  rani^o  of  possibility  so  iinj)ro- 
bable,  as  that  his  translation  of  the  Scriptures  should  be  re- 
printing at  a  Parisian  press,  b}'  the  re<{uest  of  his  own  Sove- 
reign, and  with  the  sanction  of  the  persecuting  French  King 
liiniself;  but  so  it  was  I  For  while  the  common  enemies  of 
such  a  measure  were  all  assembled  at  Nice,  only  to  make  bad 
worse;  (Irafton  and  Coverdale  were  busily  at  work  !  Their 
letters,  without  exception,  are  addressed  to  Crumwell,  and 
the  first  is  dated  the  23d  of  June — 

"  After  most  liuinblc  and  lii-arty  commendations  to  your  good  Lordship. 
IMcaseth  tlic  same  to  understand,  that  we  be  entered  into  your  work  of  the 
Bible  ;  whereof,  according  to  our  most  bounden  duty,  we  have  here  sent  unto 
your  Lordship  two  ensaniples  ;  one  in  parchment,  wlierein  we  intend  to  print 
one  for  tiie  King's  Grace,  and  another  for  your  Lordship  ;  and  the  second,  in 
paper,  whereof  all  the  rest  shall  be  made  ;  trusting,  that  it  shall  be  not  only  to 
the  glory  of  God,  but  a  singular  pleasure  also  to  your  good  Lordship,  the  causer 
thereof,  and  a  general  edifying  of  the  King's  subjects,  according  to  your  Lord- 
ship's most  godly  request.  For  we  follow  not  only  a  standing  text  of  the  Heb- 
rew, with  the  interpretation  of  the  Chaldec  and  the  Greek  ;  but  we  set  also  in 
a  private  (separate)  table,  the  diversity  of  readings  of  all  texts,  with  such  an- 
notations in  another  table,  as  shall  doubtless  delucidate  and  clear  the  same  ; 
as  well  without  any  singularity  of  opinions,  as  all  checkings  and  reproofs.  The 
print,  no  doubt,  shall  please  your  good  Lordship  :  the  paj^er  is  of  the  best  sort 
in  France.  The  charge  certainly  is  great ;  wherein,  as  we  most  humbly  re- 
quire your  favourable  help  at  this  present,  with  whatsoever  it  shall  please  your 
Lordshi|)  to  let  us  have  ;  so  ti'ust  we,  if  need  require,  in  our  just  business,  to 
be  defended  from  the  Papists  by  your  Lordship's  favourable  letters — which  we 
most  humbly  desire  to  have  by  this  bearer,  William  Grey,  either  to  the  Bishop 
of  Winchester,  or  to  some  other,  whom  your  Lordship  shall  think  most  expe- 
dient. •*••  We  be  daily  threatened,  and  look  ever  to  be  spoken  withal,  as  this 
bearer  can  farther  inform  your  Lordship  ;  but  how  they  will  use  us,  as  yet  we 
know  not.  Nevertheless,  for  our  farther  assurance,  wherethrough  we  may  be 
the  abler  to  perform  this  your  Lordship's  work,  we  are  so  much  the  bolder  of 
your  good  Lordship  ;  for  other  refuge  have  we  none,  under  God  and  our  King, 
whom,  with  noble  Prince  Edward,  and  all  of  you  their  most  honourable  Coun- 
cil, God  Almighty  preserve,  both  now  and  ever,  Amen. — Written  at  Paris,  the 
23d  day  of  June,  by  your  Lordship's  assured  and  daily  orators — Mvles  Cover- 
dale — Ryciiaiui  Guakton,  Grocer. "•'5 

They  must  have  already  been  a  month  or  more  in  Paris  ; 


iiiK  (iardinor'!)  brief  »taj  at  Paris,  Ooniicr  is  cBri-ful  to  iiifunn  Crumwdl  that  they  were  not 
liung  together — "  in  rcry  deed  wc  had  terrral  ludgincs."  In  the  judgment  of  Bonner,  hos- 
(ilit;  to  the  Bishop  of  Winchester  was  at  |>rcsent  the  road  to  preferment  by  the  Vicar-General. 

**  Their  hint  as  In  $i»i<e  other,  is  significant  of  their  ac(|uaintance  with  the  feeling  existing 
between  Crumwell  and  this  Bishop. 

«'  .MS.,  oi  ce  in  the  Chii|'tcr-houeo,  now  in  Hit  Sliite  Paper  Ofhce.    fiov.  Male  Papers,  i.,  p.  tiJU. 


1538.3  PRlNTINCi   IN   PARIS.  2? 

but  iiutwitlistanding  those  fears  expressed  they  were  not  im- 
peded, nor  will  they  be  for  uearly  six  months  to  come.  Mean- 
while, Grey  went  into  England,  but  soon  returned.  After  him 
a  servant  of  Ci'umweirs,  nauied  Sebastian,  (elsewhere  styled 
his  cook,)  who  had  been  sent  over,  most  probably  with  money 
and  letters,  upon  his  return  brought  farther  sheets,  in  proof 
of  their  progress  ;  and  their  next  epistle  is  one  chiefly  of  ex- 
planation. 

"  After  most  humble  and  due  salutatiou  to  yom-  good  Lordship.  Pleasetli 
the  same  to  understand  that  your  work  <johi<j  forward,  we  thought  it  our  most 
bouuden  duty  to  send  unto  your  Lordship  certain  leaves  thei'eof,  specially  see- 
ing we  had  so  good  occasion,  by  the  returning  of  your  beloved  servant  Sebas- 
tian ;  and  as  they  are  done,  so  will  we  send  your  Lordship  the  residue,  from 
time  to  time. 

"  As  touching  the  manner  and  order  that  we  keep  in  the  same  work,  pleaseth 
it  your  good  Lordship  to  be  advertised,  that  the  mark  g^jr"  in  the  text,  that  upon 
the  same,  in  the  latter  end  of  the  book,  there  is  some  notable  annotation  ;  which 
we  have  written  without  any  private  opinion,  only  after  the  best  interpreters  of 
the  Hebrews,  for  the  more  clearness  of  the  text.  This  mark  J  betokencth  that 
upon  the  same  text  there  is  diversity  of  reading,  among  the  Hebrews,  Chaldees, 
and  Greeks  and  Latinists,  as  in  a  table  at  the  end  of  the  book  shall  be  declared. 
This  mark  "^x  sheweth  that  the  sentence,  written  in  small  letters,  is  not  in  the 
Hebrew  or  Chaldee,  but  in  the  Latin  and  seldom  in  the  Greek,  and  that  we 
nevertheless,  would  not  have  it  extinct,  but  highly  accept  it,  for  the  more  ex- 
planation of  the  text.  This  token  i*  in  the  Old  Testament  giveth  to  understand 
that  the  same  text  that  followeth  it,  is  also  alleged  of  Christ,  or  of  some  Apostle 
in  the  New  Testament.  This,  among  other  necessary  labours,  is  the  way  that 
we  take  in  this  work  ;  trusting  verily  that  as  Almighty  God  moved  your  Lord- 
ship to  set  us  vmto  it,  so  shall  it  be  to  his  glory,  and  right  welcome  to  all  them 
that  love  to  serve  Him,  and  their  Prince,  in  true  faithful  obedience, — at  Paris 
the  9th  day  of  August  15.38.  By  yoiu-  faithful  orators— Miles  Cov"dale. 
Richard  Grafton.  Will.'m  Grey. — Superscribed  to  the  Lord  Privy  Seal, 
Crumw  ell."-l'j 

It  is  curious  enough,  that  Francis  Regnault,  the  Paris 
printer,  in  whose  house  both  Coverdale  and  Grafton  were  now 
lodging,  had  for  many  years  printed  English  primers  and 
missals  for  the  use  of  the  Euolish  Churches.  But  the  times 
were  changing ;  he  was  overstocked ;  having  had  no  such 
sale  as  in  former  years,  and  more  especially  as  the  London 
booksellers  had  now  interdicted  him.  To  get  rid  of  those  on 
hand,  he  implored  the  kind  offices  of  his  guests  and  present 


«f  Gov.  state  Papers,  i.,  p.  57«.  Grci/,  as  appears  by  the  proceedings  of  tlie  Privy  Council, 
was  a  layman  attached  to  Crumwell's  household,  and  his  name  being  affixed,  is  a  farther  proof 
of  the  pasmial  interest  v.hich  his  Master  was  taking  in  the  work.  Should  any  thing  happen, 
therefore,  the  Lord  Privy  Seal  will  be  able  to  notice  it  as  a  ivi-soiial  afliont,  and  considering  hi.. 
Sovereign's  <^')Yd  ainilicalion  to  tlic  Frenili  King,  souietljing  more. 


28  TIIK    KNi^LISlI    IMIILK  [bOOK  II. 

oJiiploycrs  ;  and  on  tlio  1 :2tli  of  September  tliey  address  Crum- 
well,  concluding  in  the  following  terms — 

"  He  isnlso  coiitonto(l,and  liath  promised  before  my  Lord  <'/t'c/  of  Hereford,'*? 
tliat  if  tliere  he  foiiiiil  any  notable  fault  in  bis  books,  lie  will  put  (be  same  out, 
and  |)riiit  tbe  leaf  a<;ain.  Tims  are  we  bold  to  write  to  your  Lordsbip,  in  bis 
cause,  as  dotli  also  my  Lord  elect  of  Heri'ford,  beseecliing  your  Lordsbip  to  i)ar- 
don  our  boldness,  and  to  be  good  loi-d  to  tliis  bonest  man,  wbose  servant  sliall 
give  attendance  upon  your  Lordsliip's  most  favourable  answer.  If  your  Lord- 
ship show  bim  this  benefit,  wc  shall  not  fare  the  worse,  in  tbe  readiness  of  this 
your  Lordship's  work  of  the  JiiUe,  which  goeth  irell  J'onrard,  and  within  few 
months,  will  dratr  to  an  end  by  the  grace  of  Almighty  God."'*" 

Whether  this  suit  was  successful  does  not  appear ;  but 
most  providentially,  three  months  more  wore  allowed  to  pass 
away,  before  any  serious  aj)prehension  was  felt  as  to  the  safety 
of  the  Scriptures  already  j)rinted.  ]Jy  this  period,  too,  the 
impression  was  so  far  advanced,  that  Coverdale  was  applying 
earnestly  to  Cruniwell  respecting  the  printing  of  the  annota- 
tions. Now  these,  it  will  be  remembered,  were  to  be  put  at 
the  etid  of  the  book  ;  so  that  the  liible  itself  must  have  been 
very  nearly  fnhhed.  Thus,  the  hand  of  the  enemy  had 
been  rostrninod  from  touching  the  work,  for  more  than  six 
months ;  but  what  was  better  still,  though  not  observed  by 
any  historian  before,  anticipating  what  soon  happened.  Cover- 
dale,  and  through  Bonner  also,  conveyed  "  this  much  of  the 
Bible"  beyond  the  reach  of  danger.  The  letter  to  Crumwell, 
with  this  intelligence,  is  "  written  somewhat  hastily,  at  Paris 
the  V6i\\  day  of  December." 

"  Right  honourable  and  my  singular  good  Lord,  after  all  due  salutations,  I 
humbly  beseech  your  Lordship,  that  by  my  Lord  elect  of  Hereford,  I  may 
know  your  pleasure  concerning  the  annotations  of  this  Bible,  whether  I  shall 
proceed  therein  or  no.  Pity  it  were  that  the  dark  places  of  the  text,  upon 
which  I  have  always  set  a  hand  ij^,  should  so  pass  undeclared.  As  for  any- 
private  opinion  or  contentious  words,  as  I  will  utterly  avoid  all  such,  so  will  J 
ofTer  the  annotations  first  to  my  s-iiid  Lord  of  Hereford  !  to  the  intent  that  be 
shall  so  examine  tin?  same,  afore  they  be  put  in  print,  if  it  be  your  Lordship's 
good  pleasure  that  1  shall  so  do. 

"  As  concerning  the  New  Testaments  in  English  and  Latin,  whereof  your 
good  Lordship  received  lately  a  book  by  your  servant,  Sebastian  the  cook, 
I  beseech  your  Lordship  to  consider  the  gi-eenness  thereof,  which  for  lack  of 
time,  cannot  as  yet  be  so  apt  to  be  bound  as  it  should  be. 

"  And  wliereas  my  said  Lord  of  Hereford  is  so  good  unto  us  as  to  convey 
til  in  much  of  the  Bible  to  your  good  Lordahip,  I  humbly  beseech  the  same,  to  be 


*"  Bonner,  now  plnyins  ll"'  livpocrilo  lowaiils  Cninwvrll  ;ind  llir  c.Tiiso  itsolf. 
*"  State  Papers.  i.-WI. 


153S.']  PRINTING   IN   PARIS.  2!» 

the  defender  and  keeper  thereof :  to  tlie  intent,  that  if  these  men  proeeed  in 
their  cruehiess  against  us,  and  confiscate  the  nut,  yet  this  at  the  least  may  be 
mf'e  by  the  means  of  your  Lordship,  whom  God,  the  Ahniglity,  evermore  pre- 
serve to  his  good  pleasure."  ••!> 

The  Bible  itself,  however,  was  to  be  its  own  interpreter  ; 
and  of  annotations  there  were  to  be  7ione  ;  a  circumstance  far 
too  remarkable  to  pass  unnoticed,  for  they  were  never  added. 
But  there  stand  the  pointing  hands,  both  in  the  text  and  in 
the  margin,  by  which  the  edition  may  be  easily  distinguished.''*^ 

It  was  only  four  days  after  this  letter,  that  the  press  was 
arrested  in  its  progress.  An  order  from  the  Inquisition, 
dated  the  l7th  of  December  1538,  and  subscribed  "  Le  Tellier," 
was  the  instrument ;  citing  "  Regnault,  and  all  other  that  it 
might  concern,"  to  appear  and  answer — inhibiting  at  once  the 
printing  of  the  Bible,  and  concealment  of  the  sheets  already 
finished.^'  As  this  body  acted  under  rot/al  authority,  as  well 
as  that  of  the  Pontiff,  some  change  must  have  taken  place  in 
the  mind  of  Francis,  before  such  a  proceeding  could  have 
been  winked  at ;  and  for  this  change  it  is  not  difficult  to  ac- 
count. Bonner's  appointment  was  far  from  an  acceptable  one 
to  the  Frencli  King.  Coming  as  he  did,  it  was  impossible  to 
regard  him  in  any  other  light  than  that  of  a  spy,  and  as  a  spy 
he  had  been  acting  most  vigilantly.  In  October  he  was  at  St. 
Quentin,  near  Cambray,  watching  and  reporting  a  suspicious 
interview  of  Francis  with  the  reigning  Princess  of  the  Nether- 
lands, the  sister  of  Charles ;  and  at  Paris,  so  recently  as  the 
last  day  of  November,  he  writes  to  Crumwell — "  I  shall,  by 
God's  grace,  give  vigilant  eye  to  their  doings  here,  and  adver- 
tise you.  Hitherto  I  have  been  strangely  and  very  unkindly 
used  in  my  lodging,  having  no  kind  of  friendship  shewed  me 
in  manner  that  was  worthy — how  it  will  be  hereafter  I  can- 
not tell."^^  Among  other  points  which  Bonner  had  in  charge, 
there  was  an  annual  pension  by  Francis  to  Henry,  in  terms 
of  a  treaty  between  them,  which  was  now  in  arrear  for  four 
years  ;  and  the  zealous  Envoy  had  begun  to  press  payment 
in  a  style  which  finally  occasioned  his  recall,  next  year. 


■19  Harleian  MS.,  No.  (!04,  p.  90;  dated  1.539  in  the  Catalogue,  instead  ofl53a 
so  Having  himself  pointed  out  this  mark  of  distinction,  it  must  have  been  from  inadvertency 
that  Dr.  Cotton  has  said  in  his  introduction—"  1  am  yet  to  learn  whether  we  now  possess  aiit/ 
cojiy  of  the  edition  of  the  Great  Bible  which  Grafton  and  Wliitchurch  began  to  print  at  Paris 
about  1538."  But  more  than  this.  By  observing  a  Paris  initial  letter  to  the  Ejiistlej,  and  where 
it  ceases  to  be  used,  perhaps  we  are  informed  how  much  was  indicated  as  being  sti/e. 
3'  Cleop.,  E.  v..  fol.  ;i2t).  •''-  Cotton   MS.,  Calig.  F.  iv.,  fol.  H,  Id. 


MO  TIIK    I'UKSS    INTKUrUIPTKI).  [itnOK  ii. 

Hilt  liaj)|iily.  after  all,  the  Iinjiiisildr  scoins  to  have  been 
iiKiic  than  a  day  too  late.  Tlie  entire  impression  of  the  IJible, 
amounting  to  2500  copies,  could  not  have  fallen  into  his  hands. 
We  have  read  Coverdale\s  information  of  the  13th  of  De- 
eemher,  and  as  tlie  present  citation  was  the  second,  and  is 
dated  the  17th,  there  can  be  no  doubt,  that,  impelled  by  the 
first,  he  was  then  conveying  away  "  so  much  of  the  IJible," 
as  had  been  ready  for  removal.''''  Even  with  regard  to  the 
sheets  seized,  there  was  considerable  recovery ;  for  having 
been  condemned  to  be  burnt  in  Maubert  Place,'"'*  "  four  great 
dry-fats  of  them"  were  regained  by  purchase.  This  was 
owing  to  the  cupidity  of  the  Lieutenant  Criminal  of  the  In- 
quisition, who,  instead  of  obeying  orders,  had  sold  them  to 
a  haberdasher. 

Old  John  Foxe,  therefore,  though  others  have  followed 
him,  was  mistaken  in  supposing  that  these  books  were  lost, 
and  so  was  Lewis.  The  evidence  now  presented  looks  quite 
the  other  way,  and  the  copies  even  still  remaining  in  exist- 
ence, confirms  it.  "  I  am  inclined  to  think,"  says  Todd, 
"  that  the  proprietors  lost  few  copies  of  the  impression." 
And  who  were  these  proprietors  ?  For  the  affair  was  by  no 
means  to  end  here.  Henry  VIIL  himself,  by  Crumweirs 
request,  and  Orumwell  much  more  deeply,  were  parties  con- 
cerned. Whether,  therefore,  the  alarm  soon  subsided  or  not, 
or  any  means  were  taken  to  appease  the  Inquisitors,  it  must 
have  been  dangerous  and  impolitic  at  the  moment  to  thwart 
even  the  Vicegerent,  still  in  possession  of  great  power,  to  say 
nothing  of  his  imperious  master.  Crumwell  had  been  assist- 
ing the  undertaking  by  pecuniary  supplies ;  the  King  himself 
had  written  to  Francis,  and  he  had  fully  committed  himself 
before  leaving  Paris  for  Nice.  Since  then  the  Inquisitors  had 
chosen  to  interfere  in  his  absence — the  King  of  France,  nay, 
and  the  Inquisition  to  boot,  must  now  be  overruled  to  help, 
instead  of  hindering  the  work.  Persons  commissioned  by 
Crumwell,  soon  returned  to  Paris,  and  they  brought  away 
with  them  the  jirinting  presses,  the  types,  and  even  the  iro7'k- 
men.     In  short,  scarcely  six  Aveeks  could  liavc  been  lost,  and 


*3  The  ropy  of  ilic  citation  now  (piotcd,  and  which  is  in  the  British  Museum,  (Cleop.  K.  v., 
.T2(i.>  is  thus  entitled  liy  Itonncr.  In  his  oini  hntid—'-  The  copic  of  the  trcnml  citation  and  inhi- 
bition, RHaynst  the  I'ryntcrof  the  En^lifihe  Bihic." 

^*  I'lace  de  Afaiibert,  itnmedintclr  ndjoinin);  to  Hue  des  .li'plnif. 


lo38.]  THK   INQUISITION   OVKRMATC'IIKI).  31 

scarcely  a  sheet  could  have  been  missing,  as  in  two  months 
more,  the  Bible  entire  was  completed  in  London.  On  the  last 
leaf  they  printed,  "  The  ende  of  the  New  Testament,  and  of 
the  whole  Hyble,  fynished  in  Apryll  anno  15*J9.  A  Dho 
facta  est  istud" — emphatically  acknowledging  Him,  whose 
cause  it  was  ;  they  did  well  to  add,  ^1  Domino  factum  est  istud. 

It  will  certainly  be  very  observable,  if  this  interruption 
actually  promoted  the  design,  and  to  in  far  greater  extent  than 
if  there  had  been  none  whatever.  Had  there  been  none, 
Coverdale  and  Grafton  had  finished  their  task  in  Paris,  leav- 
ing the  types  and  workmen  on  the  spot.  Meanwhile,  a  hint 
had  thus  been  given  that  they  had  better  let  all  annotations 
alone,  for  they  were  never  printed  ;  leaving  the  Sacred  text 
to  speak  for  itself.  But  above  all,  it  will  appear  that  the 
Parisian  types  had  come  in  far  larger  quantity,  and  even  the 
French  icorhmen  in  greater  number,  than  has  ever  been  before 
observed.  In  the  editions  of  the  Bible  from  this  time  to  the 
close  of  1541,  we  wait  to  discover  the  proof  of  this.  At  this 
crisis,  certainly  no  gift,  or  God-send,  to  old  England,  could 
have  been  of  more  value  than  these  types  and  printers.  Very 
different  employment  must  have  awaited  both,  had  they  re- 
mained in  Paris.  Tunstal  had  been  jocularly  advised  to  buy 
the  press  and  types  out  of  Tyndale's  way,  to  prevent  the  New 
Testament  from  coming  into  England  !  Now,  the  authorities 
are  importing  both  men  and  types,  to  print  the  version ;  and 
by  and  bye,  Henry  himself  will  command  Tunstal,  to  sanc- 
tion the  translation  he  had  so  denounced.  This  too  will  be 
after  Crumwell  is  dead,  and  the  influence  of  Oranmer  was 
on  the  decline. 

Grafton,  as  we  have  seen,  had  laid  down  at  the  press  two 
copies  of  this  Bible  in  vellimi,  one  for  the  King  and  another 
for  Crumwell.  The  sheets  of  both,  had  been  saved,  as  both 
are  understood  to  be  in  preservation.  The  copy  once  belong- 
ing to  Crumwell  is  in  St.  John's  College,  Cambridge,  and  has 
been  described  long  ago. 

"  We  have  such  a  Bible  printed  on  reliiim,  and  embelHshed  with  cuts, 
illuminated,  the  leaves  gilt,  and  the  cover  embossed  with  brass,  '  fynished  in 
Apryll  anno  1539.'  The  frontispiece  is  the  same  with  that  of  1.540,  only  Cruni- 
well's  arms  are  left  there  a  blank  ;  left  out  I  presume  upon  his  fall,  whicli  in 
our  copy  has  his  bearing  like  the  rest,  in  colours.  It  might  proIjal>ly  be  the 
same  book  thnt  v.as  prcsenteil  to  Crumwell,  there  being  only  one  other  that  we 


;J2  TlIK   blbi.K    FIMSIIKIJ    IN    LONDON.  [uuoK  II. 

can  hoar  of,  lliat  i.s  the  Kiiij^'s.  But  how  it  t-anic  to  us  does  not  uppeHr,  unless 
from  the  late  Ejirl  of  Soutlianii>ton,  who  gave  ua  most  of  those  manu.scni;ts 
we  now  enjoy."i* 

The  only  mistake  here  i.s  that  of  supposing  the  Iloyal  vel- 
lum copy  to  be  of  thi.s  edition.  It  is  1540,  but  the  second 
vellum  copy  of  1539  is  still  understood  to  be  in  existence, 
though  not  in  Peter  College,  a.s  Lowndes  has  supposed,  yet 
in  the  possession  of  a  private  individual.  Of  the  copies  printed 
on  paper,  there  are  not  fewer  than  twelve  to  be  found  in  dif- 
ferent collet'tious. 

Such  is  the  edition,  which,  on  the  authority  of  Coverdale's 
and  Grafton"'s  own  words,  ought  to  have  been  all  along  as- 
sociated with  the  name  of  Cr  cm  well,  and  never  with  that  of 
Cranmer,  as  it  has  too  frequently  been.  It  was  CrumwelFs 
undertaking  from  beginning  to  end,  and  without  his  importa- 
tion of  tfjpes  and  men^  Cranmer  afterwards  had  never  been  able 
to  have  proceeded  as  he  did.  Throughout  1538,  Cranmer 
was  otherwise  engrossed  with  the  German  commissioners,  be- 
sides other  business  ;  in  the  whole  of  his  correspondence  with 
Crumwell,  throughout  1538,  there  is  not  one  allusion  to  the 
Bible ;  and  although  Cranmer"'s  future  prologue  or  preface 
has  been  bound  up  with  some  copies  of  this  Bible,  it  does  not 
belong  to  the  book.  The  first  Bible  in  which  Cranmer  took 
an  interest  personally,  was  the  next  which  will  come  before 
us  ;  but  still,  the  materials  and  men  now  imported,  and  the 
impetus  now  given  by  Crumwell,  will  be  found  to  prevail 
throughout  the  Bibles  of  1540,  and  extend  to  those  of  1541, 
after  his  death.  To  the  Vicegerent  must  be  conceded  his 
own  place  in  history,  whatever  afterwards  may  become  of  his 
general  character.  But  for  Crura  well's  exertions  at  this 
period,  it  is  next  to  certain  that  no  such  Bibles  could  have  ap- 
peared in  1540  and  1541. 

We  have  now  returned  to  England,  and  ever  after  this  de- 
cisive triumph,  shall  have  much  less  occasion  to  look  abroad. 
Ever  since  Tyndale  left  London  the  undertaking  has  been  a  fo- 
reign one;  but  after  a  noble  and  uninterrupted  struggle  of  fifteen 
veaiV  duration,  the  En2;lish  Bible  mav  be  considered  as  havin"' 
now  taken  up  its  settled  abode  in  our  native  land.  The  cause  in- 

M  Letter  from  Thomas  Baker  to  Thomas  Heamc.     The  Earl  of  Southam)tton  of  the  day 
«occecded  Cram  well,  as  Lord  PriTjr  Seal.  , 


1538.3  CRUMWKLL'S    INJUNCTIONS.  tiS 

deed  will  be  thwarted  still,  even  at  home,  and  by  Henry  him- 
self as  well  as  his  eldest  daughter ;  though  ultimately,  even 
she  will  be  found  to  have  advanced  it.  At  subsequent  periods 
too,  thousands  of  Bibles  will  be  printed  on  the  Continent  for 
English  use,  but  all  this  will  only  serve  to  keep  us  in  remem- 
brance, that,  as  from  the  beginning,  so  ever  afterwards,  this 
undertaking  had  been  conducted,  not  by  human  authority  but 
by  the  gracious  hand  of  the  Almighty. 

Meanwhile,  we  have  had  one  Bible,  wholly  imported  in 
1587,  and  a  second,  redeemed  from  destruction,  finished  in 
London  ;  and  notwithstanding  the  political  frenzy,  as  well 
as  all  the  cruelties  perpetrating  at  home,  the  cause  of  Truth 
throughout  the  year  had  been  steadily  advancing.  Grafton, 
on  proceeding  to  Paris,  had  left  his  first  impression  of  1537 
to  be  disposed  of,  without  any  risk  of  loss  or  delay  ;  and 
Crumwell  in  September  put  forth  his  first  injunctions,  in  im- 
mediate reference  to  that  Bible.  This  he  did,  as  "  Viceger- 
ent unto  the  King's  Highness,"" — "  for  the  discharge  of  the 
King\s  Majesty,"  and  most  providentially,  he  had  issued  his 
orders  before  the  arrival  of  Gardiner  from  France.  What  a 
mighty  advance  had  been  made,  since  he  left  for  Paris  in 
October  1535  !  Or,  more  properly  speaking,  since  he  had 
been  sent  out  oftJietcay,  as  Tunstal  had  been  before,  and  Bon- 
ner wall  be,  after  him.  Gardiner  might  depart,  rejoicing  that 
Tyndale  was  at  last  in  prison,  and  then,  as  perhaps  he  anti- 
cipated, to  be  put  to  death.  But  now,  Gardiner  had  been  re- 
moved once  more  out  of  the  way,  even  from  Paris ;  the  Bible 
had  been  there  printed  before  Bonner's  own  eye,  and  it  was  no 
other  than  Tyndale*'s  long-traduced  version  of  the  Sacred 
Volume,  w^hich  was  held  up  to  public  view,  by  injunctions,  to 
be  "  observed  and  kept,  upon  pain  of  deprivation.'"' 

"  Item — That  ye  shall  provide,  on  this  side  of  the  feast  of  N.  (Natalis, 
Nativity  of  our  Lord,  2.5th  December.)  next  coming,  one  book  of  the  whole 
Bible,  of  the  lanjest  volume  in  English,  and  the  same  set  up  in  some  convenient 
place  within  the  said  church,  that  ye  have  cure  of,  where  your  parishioners  may 
most  comraodiously  resort  to  the  same  and  read  it  ;  the  charges  of  which  book 
shall  be  rateably  borne  between  you,  the  parson  and  parishioners  aforesaid,  that 
is  to  say,  the  one  half  by  you,  and  the  other  half  by  them.JC 

"  Item — That  ye  shall  discourage  no  tnan,  privily  or  apertly,  from  the  rcad- 


ss  There  is  now  before  the  writer  an  exact  copy  oi  ihe  original  broail  sheet,  entitled, — "In- 
junctions for  the  ClerRe — Anno  dni.  jicccccxxxviii.  In  tlie  name  of  God,  Amen," — with  the 
blanks  unfilled  up.     The  feast  of  N.  Natalis  is  marked  in  others. 

VOL  II.  c; 


:H  I  VN DALES    TK.STAMliNT,    KUKSIl    KDITIUNS      [bOOK   II. 

ing,  or  tl>o  Ijcaring  of  the  sjiitl  IJiWo,  but  bIhiII  expressly  provoke,  stir,  and  ex- 
hort, eri-ru  jifi-fon  to  rend  tlio  Haino,  as  that  wliicli  is  the  very  lively  word  of 
God,  tiiat  every  Christian  person  is  bound  to  embrace,  believe,  and  follow,  if 
thev  look  to  be  saved  ;  admonishing  them,  nevertheless,  to  avoid  all  contention 
and  altercation  therein,  but  to  use  an  honest  sobriety  in  their  inquisition  of  the 
true  sense  of  the  sjime,  and  to  refer  the  explication  of  the  obscure  places  to  men 
of  higher  judgment  in  Scripture."J7 

These  pointed  injunctions  to  the  country  at  large,  bore  solely 
upon  the  Bible  of  the  largest  volume,  the  very  first  time  this 
phrase  was  employed,  and  as  yet  there  was  but  one  such  edi- 
tion, so  that  there  could  be  no  mistake/'^  They  may  have 
been  rendered  more  imperative  from  the  rumour  of  which  Graf- 
ton had  forewarned  Crumwell,  viz.  that  they  would  reprint 
Matthew's  Bible  of  1537  in  the  Low  Countries,  so  early  as 
1538.  But  this  was  only  a  rumour  ;  they  never  did  ;  as  the 
Bible  marked  1 538  in  our  lists,  from  Lewis  down  to  Cotton 
and  Lowndes,  is  a  mistake.** 

At  home  however  now,  Tyndale  was  not  forgotten.  There 
were  two  editions  of  his  New  Testament  in  quarto  ;  one  printed 
in  Southwark  by  Peter  Treveres  ;  the  other,  which  seems  to 
liave  been  finished  by  the  beginning  of  summer,  was  printed 
by  Robert  Redman,  next-door  to  St.  Dunstan's,  where  Tyn- 
dale used  to  preach,  "  set  fortli  under  the  King's  most  gracious 
license, — cum  privilegio  ad  imprimendum  solum."  It  is  in 
parallel  columns  of  Latin  and  English ;  the  former,  be  it  ob- 
served, not  the  Vulgate,  but  the  Latin  of  Erasmus,  and  the 


»7  Wilkin's  Cone.  Mag.  Brit.,  p.  815. 

«»  It  may  here  be  remarked,  once  for  all,  that  "  the  great  Bible"  or  "  the  largest  volume, "and 
"  Cranmcr's  Bible,"  are  phrases  which  have  been  long  and  frequently  misunderstood,  or  used  in- 
discriminately ;  but  the  two  former  were  distinctive  epitlicts  employed  before  the  ftrsl  of  Cran- 
mer's,  or  that  of  May  l.WO  was  published.  Here,  "  thf  larflfst  volume"  was  first  employed  by 
authority,  and  for  what  reason  could  it  be  but  to  distinguish  the  Bible  of  Matthew  or  Tyndale 
from  that  of  Coverdale,  which  was  two  inches  less  in  height ;  as  well  as  from  the  quarto  editions 
of  Coverdale,  reprinted  by  Nycolson,  even  though  they  had  the  words, — "  Set  forth  with  the 
King's  license,"  printed  on  the  title?  These  injunctions  were,  in  fact,  another  step  in  favour  of 
the  predominant  translation. 

■'j!'  However  pointed  Lewis  was  in  describing  it,  there  never  was  any  such  book.  "The  Bible 
of  l.Vt7,"  says  he,  "  h.id  been  reprinted  this  year  in  the  Low  Countries.  It  is  a  small  thick  folio, 
in  which  Tyndalc's  prefaces  to  the  I'entateuch,  Jon.isand  the  Romans  are  included,"  lie.  But 
more  strangely  he  goes  on,  till  he  adds— "among  the  curators  therefore  of  this  edition,  I  reckon 
Archbishop  Cranmer!"  As  if  Cranmcr,  though  so  fully  engrossed  with  the  German  visitants, 
and  his  official  business,  bad  been  patronising  a  tHrrt)itilioiit  edition  in  the  Netherlands,  as  Graf- 
ton h.id  deprecated,  and  to  riv.il  that  of  Crumwell  his  Vicar-Gencral,  now  printing  in  Paris! 
The  truth  is,  Lewis's  book  must  have  had  >io  title-paRe.  and  he  may  have  beeJi  misled  by  the 
Colophon,— "To  the  honour  and  j>raiseof  God  was  this  Bible  jirintcd  in  the  yearof  our  Lord  1537, 
and  now  ag.-iin  reprinted."  The  very  copy,  we  believe,  from  which  Lewis  took  his  descrijition  is 
now  in  the  Museum  at  Bristol,  and  we  have  ]>articularly  examined  it.  All  the  while  Lewis  was 
describing  a  Bible  |)rintcd  in  the  time  of  Edward  VI.  or  the  reprint  of  Matthew's  Bible,  by  Ray- 
nnldc  and  Hvll  in  I.^4!l. 


1.5.38.]        COVEUDALK'S  MiW  TKSTAMENT.  35 

latter  that  of  Tyndale  or  ot"  the  PJnglish  Bible,  now  enforced. 
These  books  appear  to  be  a  set  oft"  in  contrast  to  the  Testa- 
ments of  Coverdale,  about  to  be  mentioned,  and  they  explain 
the  injunctions  of  Cranmer,  preceding  those  of  Crumwell, 
already  mentioned.^ 

All  compliant  as  Coverdale  certainly  had  been  under  the  unexpected 
change  which  had  taken  place  at  home,  it  is  curious  enough  that  this 
year  an  attempt  was  made  at  Antwerp  to  follow  up  his  former  exertions, 
by  reprinting  his  translation  of  the  New  Testament,  but  with  Tyndale's 
prologues.  It  is  neatly  executed,  in  small  black  letter  by  Matthew 
Cromer,  with  numerous  and  well-executed  wood-cuts,  marginal  refer- 
ences, and  glosses.  Cromer  even  repeated  this  in  a  larger  type,  with 
different  cuts  in  1539,  leaving  out  the  prologue  to  the  Romans  ;  but  it 
abounds  also  with  typographical  errors.  In  1537,  the  printer  might  not 
be  aware  of  the  change  which  had  taken  place  in  England,  but  we  are 
quite  unable  to  account  for  his  mistaken  zeal  in  1539.  Yet  whatever 
was  the  occasion  of  this  foreign  attempt ;  at  home  Coverdale  was  still 
more  unfortunate  than  he  had  been,  even  with  his  Bible.  In  the  early 
part  of  this  year,  his  friend  Nycolson  had  proposed  to  print  his  trans- 
lation and  the  indgate  in  parallel  columns.  And  previously  to  Coverdale 
setting  off  for  Paris,  he  had  drawn  out  another  of  his  characteristic 
dedications  to  Henry  VIII.,  trusting  to  Nycolson's  care  for  the  correct- 
ing of  the  press.  When  the  book  came  out  it  was  so  incorrectly  exe- 
cuted, that  a  copy  having  come  to  Coverdale's  hand  in  July,  at  Paris, 
he  saw  that  he  stood  even  in  a  more  awkward  position  than  before. 
Grafton,  therefore,  on  the  first  of  December,  wrote  on  his  behalf,  and  in 
the  following  terms — 

"  Pleaseth  it  your  Lordship  to  understand,  that  it  chanced,  since  our  coming 
into  these  parts,  that  James  Nyeolsou,  dwelling  in  Southwark,  put  in  jiriiit  the 
New  Testament  both  in  Latin  and  English.  Which  book  was  delivered  unto 
us  by  a  stranger ;  and  when  Master  Coverdale  had  advised  and  considered  the 
same,  he  found  his  name  added  thereto  as  the  translator,  with  the  which  he 
nerer  had  to  do?  Neither  saw  he  it,  before  it  was  full  printed  and  ended  ;  and 
also  found  the  book  so  foolishly  done,  yea,  and  so  corrupt,  that  it  did  not  only 


60  The  injunctions  of  Cranmer,  through  his  commission  to  Dr.  Curwcn,  the  Dean,  with  reference 
to  the  diocese  of  Hereford  only,  in  the  summer  of  1.5.'18,  are  inexplicable,  except  we  observe  this 
book.  "  That  ye,  and  everyone  of  you  shall  have  by  the  first  day  of  August  next  cominf;,  as  well 
a  whole  Bible,  in  Latin  and  English,  or  at  the  least  a  New  Testament  of  both  the  saute  laiujuages, 
AS  the  copies  of  the  King's  Highness"  injunctions,—"  That  ye  shall  everyday  study  one  Chap- 
ter of  the  said  Bible  or  New  Testament,  conferring  the  Latin  and  English  together,  and  to  begin 
at  the  first  part  of  the  book  and  so  continue  to  the  end  of  the  same."  All  this  too  was  in  per- 
fect character  for  Herefortl,  soon  after  the  death  of  such  a  man  as  Fox,  the  late  Bishop.  It  was 
like  a  tribute  to  his  memory,  as  the  reader  may  recollect  his  noble  address  in  the  Convocation  of 
l.'>;i6.  Bonner,  the  arch-hypocrite  and  his  successor,  now  in  Paris,  was  then  expected  by  Cran- 
mer as  well  as  Crumwell,  to  be  equally  zealous  for  the  Scriptures.  So  he  appeared  to  be,  till 
the  ilai/ o(  Cruinwcll's  apprehension. 


:W 


tOVKUDALK'S    NKW    TICSTAMHN T.S  [liOOK   II. 


grievo  liiin,  tliat  the  printer  had  so  defiimed  him  and  his  learning,  by  addinf; 
his  nanjo  to  ho  fond  a  thing,  hut  also  tliat  tlic  common  peoplL'  was  deprived  of 
the  true  and  sincere  sense  of  God's  true  Word,  and  also  that  such  an  occasion 
was  ministered  to  the  enemies  of  God's  Word,  tliat  rather  seek  occasions  to 
rail  and  slander,  than  to  bo  edified. 

"  And,  therefore,  at  his  most  honest  and  lawful  request,  (although  I  had 
enou"h  to  do  beside,)  I  have  printed  the  same  again,  translated  ami  corrected 
by  Master  Coverdalo  himself.  Of  the  which  hooks,  now  being  finished,  1  have 
here  sent  vour  Lordship  the  first,  (and  so  have  I  sent  my  Lord  of  Canterbury 
another,  and  almost  to  every  Christian  Bishop  that  is  in  the  realm  ;  my  Lord 
of  Hereford,  also,  hath  sent  to  Mr.  Richard  Crumwell  one  of  the  same,)  the 
which  I  mr>st  humbly  desire  your  Lord>hip  to  accept,  having  respect  rather  to 
my  heart,  than  to  the  gift,  for  it  is  not  so  well  done  as  my  heart  would  wish  it 
to  be.  I  have  also  added,  as  your  Lordshiii  may  perceive,  these  words,  «  Cam 
fjratia  et  pririUijio  i?<'(;ij."''I 

This  letter,  to  say  the  least,  was  certainly  a  very  awkward  one  ; 
since,  wherever  the  blame  lay,  it  was  saying  a  great  deal  too  much.  It 
by  no  means  corresponds  with  Coverdale's  own  language,  in  the  dedica- 
tion of  his  Paris  Testament,  not  now  to  Henry,  but  to  Crumwell  himself, 
and  actually  forwarded  v:ith  this  letter  ! 

«  Truth  it  is,"  says  Coverdale,  "  that  this  last  Lent,  I  did,  with  all  humble- 
ness, direct  an  epistle  unto  the  Kimfs  most  noble  Grace,  trusting  that  the  hook 
whereunto  it  was  prefixed,  should  afterwards  have  been  as  well  correct  as  other 
books  be.  And  because  I  could  not  be  present  myself,  by  the  rea.son  of  sundry 
notable  impediments,  therefore  inasmuch  as  the  New  Testament,  which  I  had 
set  fortli  in  English  before,  doth  so  agree  with  the  Latin,  I  was  heartily  well 
content  that  the  Latin  and  it  should  be  together  :  Provided  alway  that  the 
corrector  should  follow  the  true  copy  of  the  Latin  in  any  wise,  and  to  keep  the 
true  and  right  English  of  the  same.  And  so  doing,  I  was  content  to  set  my 
name  to  it  :  and  even  so  I  did ;  trusting  that  though  I  were  absent  and  out  of 
the  land,  yet  all  should  be  well.  And,  as  God  is  my  record,  I  knew  none  other, 
till  this  last  July,  that  it  was  my  chance  here  in  these  parts,  at  a  strangei*'s 
hand,  to  come  by  a  copy  of  the  said  print  ;  which  when  I  had  perused,  I 
found  that  a.s  it  was  disagreeable  to  my  former  translation  in  English,  so  was 
not  the  true  copy  of  the  Latin  observed,  neither  the  English  so  coiTespondent 
to  the  same  as  it  ought  to  l)e  :  hut  in  many  places  both  base,  insensible,  and 
clean  contrary,  not  only  to  the  phrase  of  our  language,  but  also  from  the 
understanding  of  the  text  in  Latin." 

In  explanation  of  this  apology  as  to  Coverdale's  engagements  in  Lent, 
and  his  "  not  being  present  because  of  sundry  notable  impediments," 
Crumwell  would  recollect,  and  perfectly  understand  him.  In  Lent  he 
was  not  in  London,  but  down  at  Reading  in  Berkshire,  in  Crumwell's 
service.  He  was  there  examining  the  Matin  books  in  the  county,  to 
see  whether  they  had,  in  obedience  to  the  Act  of  Parliament,  yet  ex- 
punged the  authority  of  the  PotUiff  from  their  pages,  or  were  still  using 

6"  Gov.  State  Papers,  vol.  t..  i>  .Wl. 


1538.J  FAILED  OF  ACCEPTANCE.  .37 

liooks  tjubversive  of  Henry's  assumed  authority.^  After  this  he  had 
been  called  up  to  town  by  the  Lord  Privy  Seal,  and  sent  with  Grafton 
to  France. 

But  again,  and  as  to  the  Latin  text  which  had  been  used,  and  that 
even  in  the  Testament  which  had  been  printed  at  Paris,  under  his  own 
eye,  in  his  preface  to  the  reader,  Coverdale  expresses  himself  thus  : — 

"  As  toucliing  this  text  in  Latin,  and  tlie  style  thereof,  wliich  is  read  in  the 
Church,  and  is  commonly  called  St.  Jerome's  translation,  though  there  be  in  it 
many  and  sundry  sentences,  whereof  some  be  mure  than  the  Greek,  some  lens 
than  tlie  Greek,  some  in  manner  repu<jnant  to  the  Greek,  some  contrary  to  the 
rules  of  the  Latin  tongue,  and  to  the  right  order  thereof,  as  thou  mayest  easily 
perceive,  if  tliou  compare  the  diversity  of  the  interpreters  together,  yet  foras- 
much as  I  am  hut  a  prirate  man,  and  owe  obedience  unto  the  higher  jiowers,  I  re- 
fer the  amendment  and  reformation  hereof  unto  the  same,  and  to  such  as  excel  in 
authority  and  knowledge." 

And  thus  once  more  are  we  constrained  to  observe  the  important  dis- 
tinction which  must  ever  be  drawn  between  Tyndale  and  Coverdale, 
whether  as  men,  or  as  translators.  They  travelled  in  two  paths,  alto- 
gether distinct.  The  latter  chose  to  express  himself,  in  his  dedications 
to  Henry  and  Crumwell,  as  having  a  mind  entirely  at  their  disposal  ; 
while  no  sentiments  could  be  more  definite,  and  held  with  a  firmer 
grasp,  than  those  of  the  first  noble  and  indeijendeut  translator.  As  for 
the  Greek  original,  he  had  kept  a  vigilant  eye  on  the  successive  editions 
of  Erasmus,  which  Coverdale  had  not  ;  and  with  regard  to  the  Hebrew, 
after  quoting  his  expressions  respecting  the  Hebraisms  to  be  found  in 
Matthew,  it  has  been  well  said — "  That  a  person  who  could  thus  write  of 
St.  Matthew's  Hebraisms,  should  be  compelled  by  ignorance  to  translate 
from  the  Septuagint,  or  the  Latin  Vulgate,  is  perfectly  incredible  ;  and 
that  he  would  use  the  latter  from  choice,  is  inconceivable.  We  ought 
to  remember  that  this  translator's  troubles  chiefly  arose  from  his  deter- 
mination to  resist  the  imposition  of  an  authorised  version,  and  that  his 
whole  life  was  a  series  of  hostilities  against  the  defenders  of  the  Latin 
Vulgate."''^ 

As  for  the  blind  submission  of  his  translation,  therefore,  to  any  man 
living,  but,  above  all,  to  those  before  whom  Coverdale  bowed  so  pro- 
foundly, against  this  he  had  boldly  published  his  dissent,  above  seven 


62  They  were  still  using  the  old  hooks  to  such  extent,  that  Coverdale  supposes  there  had  been 
great  and  culpable  nefilect  in  Lo.vgland,  flislioji  of  Lhicaln,  that  steady  disciple  of  "  the  old 
learning;"  and  Coverdale  desires  to  know  from  Crumwell,  whether  he  ought  not  to  burn  the 
books  caugh^,  and  comirg  in  to  him,  at  the  Market  Cross.  See  three  MS.  letters  to  Crumwell 
as  Lord  Privy  Seal,  found  in  the  Chapter-house,  Westminster,  but  now  in  the  State  Paper 
Office,  dated  Xewbury,  the  7th  and  8th  of  Feb..  and  8th  of  March,  [15.3(1.]  From  tlie  contents 
of  the  letters,  in  one  of  which  young  Prince  Kiluard  is  mentioned,  it  is  evident  that  a  mark  in 
the  indorsation,  viz.  Ao  xxx".,  cannot  refer  to  the  year  or  date.  If  so,  it  is  a  mistake  ;  though 
it  may  indicate  the  bundle,  once  in  the  Chapter-house. 

63  "  Historical  and  Critical  Enquiry,"  by  J.  W.  Whitaker,  A.M.,  p.  4fi.  He  is  repelling  the 
insinuations  of  those  who  knew  no  better,  from  old  Fuller  down  to  Bellamy. 


38  TYNDALK'S  TKXT   KN FORCED.  Qbook  ll. 

years  ago,  or  five  licfore  his  death,  aiitl  it  hail  circulatctl  throughout  his 
native  land. 

"  Under  what  manner,''  sjiid  ho,  "  sliould  I  now  Kuliniit  tlii.s  Iiook  to  be  cor- 
rcetcd  and  amended  of  them,  whicli  ean  siiflVr  notliiiij;  to  be  will  >.  Or  what 
protestation  sliould  I  make  in  such  a  matter  to  our  Prelates,  whieli  so  mightily 
light  against  God,  and  resist  his  Holy  Spirit,  enforeing,  with  all  craft  and 
subtlety,  to  (pieneh  the  light  of  the  everliustiiig  Testament,  promises,  and  ap- 
pointment between  God  and  us." 

Yet  is  this  the  very  translation  which  has  now  prevailed  ;  so  manifest 
was  the  interposition  of  Providence,  in  every  point  of  view. 

But  to  proceed.  Coverdale,  good  easy  man,  even  tried  to  screen  his 
former  friend,  the  printer,  if  not  the  corrector  ; — "  As  for  my  part, 
though  it  hath  hcen  damage  to  my  poor  name,  I  heartily  remit  it." 
This  distinct  reprohation  of  Nycolson's  Testament,  did  not  however  pre- 
vent Nycolson  from  putting  forth  another  impression,  to  which  he  affixed 
the  name  of  Johan  Hollybushe.*''*  After  this  it  may  naturally  be  supposed 
Coverdale's  countenance  of  the  man  must  have  come  to  an  end.  He 
is  said  to  have  called  in  the  copies  with  his  name,  and  hence  they  are 
so  very  rare. 

The  tide  having  so  providentially  and  happily  turned  last  year,  this 
was  a  state  of  things  for  which  some  remedy  must  be  sought.  And, 
therefore,  before  Crumwell  knew  of  the  honour  intended  for  him,  by  the 
dedication  of  the  I'aris  production  ;  aiming  after  a  f.red  standard, 
and  that  the  translation  sanctioned  last  year,  an  Inhibition  had  been 
issued.  It  is  curious  that  it  should  have  reached  Paris,  the  day  before 
that  on  which  Grafton  wrote  his  letter,  and  it  was  felt  as  if  applying  to 
what  t/ie>/  had  done,  though  it  could  only  have  reference  to  Nycolson's 
books,  and  to  prevent  more  mischief. 

"  The  day  before  this  present,"'  says  Grafton,  "  came  there  a  post  named 
Nycolas,  which  brought  your  Lordship's  letters  to  my  Lord  of  Hereford,  with 
the  which  was  bound  a  certain  inhibition  for  printing  of  books,  and  for  adding 
of  these  words,  '  cum  privilogio.'  Then,  as  soon  as  my  Lord  of  Hereford  had 
received  it,  lie  sent  immediately  for  Mr.  Coverdale  and  me,  reading  the  same 
thing  to  us ;  in  the  w  hieh  is  expressed  that  we  should  add  these  words,  '  ad 
impritiif  lid  Hill  gulum,' — which  words  we  never  lieard  of  before.  Neither  do 
we  take  it  that  these  words  should  be  added  in  the  Scripture,  if  it  be  truly 
translated  ;  for  then  should  it  be  a  gi-eat  occa.sion  to  the  enemies  to  say,  that  it 
is  not  the  King's  act  or  mind  to  set  it  forth,  but  only  to  license  the  printers  to 
sell  such  as  is  put  forth.''-''  Wherefore  we  beseech  your  Lordship  to  take  no 
displeasure  for  that  we  have  done,  for  rather  than  any  such  thing  should  hap- 
pen, we  would  do  it  again,  but  I  tinist  the  thing  itself  is  so  well  done,  that  it 


iM  Not  a  fictitious  name,  but  a  man  cmploycil  liy  Njrcolson,  ami  who  seems  to  liavc  Ronc  to 
C'olo(!nc. — Herbert's  Ames,  pp.  14.Vi-16!i,5. 

"^  But  Nycolson  had  taken  upon  him  to  print  cxpres-sly  even  on  tliif.  Testament — "  Set  forth 
Willi  the  Kind's  most  gracious  license'" 


1538.]  DESTITUTION  OF  ENGLAND.  39 

shall  not  ouly  please  your  Lordship,  but  also  the  King's  Highness,  and  all  the 
godly  in  the  realm.6<5 

"  And  whereas  your  Lordship  has  added  in  the  said  Inhibition,  that  your 
Lordship,  and  all  the  King's  most  Honourable  Coimcil,  willeth  no  book  hence- 
forth to  be  put  in  i)riut,  but  that  first  it  be  allowed,  at  the  least,  by  one  Bishop, 
wc  most  humbly  beseech  your  Lordship  to  appoint  certain  thereto,  that  they 
may  be  as  ready  to  read  them,  as  other  good  men  be  to  put  them  forth.  For 
it  is  now  seven  years  sitice  the  Bishops  proinised  to  translate  and  set  forth  the 
Bible,  and  as  yet  they  have  no  leisure." 

Having  thus  paid  our  last  visit  to  the  Continent  for  a  number  of  years 
to  come,  that  is,  so  far  as  the  printing  of  tlie  Scriptures  in  our  native 
tongue  is  immediately  concerned  ;  we  gladly  retiu-n  to  old  England,  and 
enquire  after  its  actual  moral  condition,  and  especially  what  effect  the 
Word  of  Life  seems,  by  this  time,  to  have  produced. 

In  conclusion  of  this  year,  as  a  striking  illustration  of  the 
times,  and  as  one  proof  that  we  have  not  been  magnifying 
the  importance  of  the  labours  of  our  first  translator  of  the 
Sacred  Volume,  the  miserably  destitute  state  of  England, 
with  regard  to  oral  instruction  by  preaching,  so  far  as  men 
nominally  called  to  it  were  concerned,  now  deserves  to  be 
specially  observed. 

The  "  ministry  of  the  Word  of  God,"  so  clearly  enjoined 
in  Scripture,  was  a  subject  not  comprehended  by  men  in 
official  power  ;  and  though  it  had,  the  men  who  were  in 
charge  of  what  were  termed  benefices,  or  cures,  glaringly 
did  not  understand  it ;  nay,  they  were  the  determined  ad- 
herents of  a  system,  diametrically  at  variance  with  that  im- 
perative commission  which  the  Saviour  at  his  ascension  left 
to  be  obeyed.  Instead  of  taking  up  Christianity,  therefore, 
as  a  system  of  belief,  to  be  drawn  fresh  from  the  Oracles  of 
God  alone,  and  received  into  the  heart  of  man — instead  of 
recognising  the  absolute  necessit}^  of  heartfelt  repentance 
towards  God,  and  faith  towards  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  in 
the  first  instance,  and  in  all  cases,  but  above  all,  in  men  de- 
nominated Ministers  of  Christ :  to  enforce  the  readinjr  of 
what  was  not  beloved,  and  the  preaching  (if  they  could  preach) 
what  was  not  believed.,  the  Vicegerent  of  Henry  had  conceived 
to  be  the  only  expedient.  It  was  not  the  public  sanction  of 
the  Scriptures  last  year,  that  would  ever  have  induced  these 
official  underlings  throughout  the  Counties  of  England,  even 


Tlu'V  liafi  j>riiitc(l  "  Cum  Rialia  et  i)riviIeBio  Rcjiis." 


+0  DESTITUTION  OI-'   KNGLAND.  [uouK  ll. 

to  have  looked  into  the  Sacred  \'ohiiiie.  To  pray  witli  the 
spirit  and  with  the  undorstandiiig  also,  was  beyond  their 
power,  and  to  preach  that  Gospel  which  they  did  not  theni- 
Belves  believe  or  comprehend,  nii<5ht  have  seemed  a  hopeless 
task  to  enjoin.''"'  Such,  however,  was  the  actual  condition  of 
the  country,  with  regard  to  the  governors  and  the  governed, 
generally  speaking  ;  and  had  there  not  been  now,  as  we  have 
traced  all  along,  a  sacred  cause  independent  altogether  of 
both  parties,  nay,  in  spite  of  them,  there  would  have  been  no 
reason  whatever,  in  the  year  1538,  for  any  exultation  over 
the  progress  of  events. 

Meanwhile,  the  injunctions  of  CVumwell,  already  quoted, 
as  to  the  liible  itself,  (p.  o3,)  had  been  thought  necessary,  on 
account  of  the  indifference  of  these  official  men  to  the  sanc- 
tion of  the  Sacred  Volume,  and  therefore  the  entire  injunc- 
tions were  thus  enforced  at  the  close — 

"  All  which  and  singular  injuncticjns,  I  minister  to  you  and  your  .successors, 
by  the  King's  Highness  authority  to  me  committed  in  this  part,  which  I  charge 
and  command  you  by  the  same  authority  to  observe  and  keep,  upon  pain  of 
deprivation,  sojue^tration  of  your  fruits,  or  such  other  coercion  as  to  the  King's 
Highness,  or  his  Vicegfreut  for  the  time  being,  shall  seem  conteni^nt" 

When  these  injunctions,  however,  did  come  abroad,  still  it 
is  impossible  to  condescend  upon  any  number,  however  small, 
who  were  qualified  to  obey.  Few  they  must  have  been,  and 
far  between.  But  supposing,  for  one  moment,  that  the  orders 
given  had  been  literally  fulfilled,  and  that  all  who  were  en- 
joined to  preach,  had  actually  done  so  ;  how  far  did  the  in- 
junction itself  reach  i 

"  Item — That  ye  shall  make,  or  cause  to  be  made,  in  tjie  said  church,  and 
every  other  cure  ye  have,  one  sermon,  ercry  quarter  of  the  year,  at  least,  wherein 
ye  shall  purely  and  sincerely  declare  the  very  gospel  of  Christ,  and  in  the  same 
exhort  your  heari-i-s  to  the  works  of  charity,  mercy,  and  faith,  especially  pre- 
scribed and  commanded  in  Scripture,  and  not  to  repose  their  trust  and  affiance 
in  any  other  works  devised  by  men's  fantasies  besides  Scripture  ;  as  in  wan- 
dering to  pilgi'imagcs,  offering  of  money,  candles  or  tapers  to  images  and  re- 
lics, saying  over  a  number  of  beads,"  &c. 

Such  was  the  deplorable  state  of  the  people  at  large,  and 
such  the  miserable  provision  proposed  for  their  instruction. 


'7  This  mclancholj  state  of  things,  it  is  well  known,  led.  bi-rorc  long,  to  two  expedients ;  viz. 
the  ai'tual  selection  of  jtrayert,  tor  them  to  rfin-al ;  nay,  and  to  homilies  or  ditcourtet,  which 
Ihesie  men  were  to  jirfach  .' 


1538.]  JOY    IN    RECEIVING    THE  SCRIPTURES.  41 

when  addressing  those  Bishops  ;  among  whom  we  have  seen 
the  deadliest  enemies  of  a  cause,  which  they  could  not  destroy, 
nor  even  retard  in  its  progress. 

Happily,  however,  there  had  long  been  certain  other  men 
in  the  country,  and  readers  not  a  few,  besides  these  slumberers 
whom  Crumwcll  was  now  striving  to  rouse  ;  nay,  and  other 
listeners  too,  who,  far  from  looking  to  official  men,  who  could 
not  teach,  and  would  not  learn,  had  tarried  not  for  Henry 
the  Eighth,  nor  waited  for  his  Vicegerent.  No  sooner  do  we 
turn  to  them,  though  long  despised,  than  a  very  different  pro- 
spect rises  to  view ;  the  vivid  contrast  to  four  sermons  in  the 
course  of  a  year !  The  free  permission  of  the  Scriptures 
now  rendered  tliis  scene  more  visible  and  striking.  It  is  from 
a  contemporary  document  that  Strype  has  drawn  it. 

"  It  u'as  wonderful  to  see  icith  tchat  joy  this  hook  of  God  teas 
received  not  only  among  the  learneder  sort,  hut  generally  all  Eng- 
land over,  among  all  the  vulgar  and  common  people ;  and  with 
what  greedi7iess  God''s  Word  was  read,  and  what  resort  to  places 
iL'here  the  reading  of  it  teas !  Every  hody  that  could,  bought  the 
hook,  or  husily  read  it,  or  got  others  to  read  it  to  them,  if  they 
could  not  themselves.  Divers  more  elderly  people  learned  to  read 
on  purpose ;  and  even  little  boys  flocked,  among  the  rest,  to  hear 
portions  of  the  Holy  Scripture  ready 

The  modern  reader  may  now  once  more  very  naturally  ex- 
claim— "  Oh,  could  these  men  in  power  then  have  only  been 
persuaded  to  have  let  such  people  alone  !  Could  they  have 
only  understood  the  doctrine  of  non-interference  !"  Yes,  and 
instead  of  encumbering  a  willing  people  with  help,  or  torment- 
ing them  by  interposition,  have  stood  aloof  in  silence,  and 
permitted  these  groups  or  gatherings  to  have  heard  the  un- 
ambiguous voice  of  their  God,  and  to  have  gazed  upon  the 
majesty  and  the  meaning  of  Divine  Truth  I 

The  Sacred  Scriptures,  however,  were  now  to  be  printed  in 
England ;  nor  was  there  to  be  another  foreign  edition  of  the 
volume  entire  for  more  than  twenty  years,  or  till  the  year 
1560.  We  have  come,  therefore,  to  a  memorable  epoch  or 
point  of  time.  The  time  when  the  line  of  distinction  is  to  be 
drawn  between  foreign  books  and  those  printed  at  home ;  be- 
tween the  Scriptures  printed  beyond  seas  for  importation,  and 
those  to  be  prepared  within  our  own  shores ;  and  in  that 
metropolis,  which,  fifteen  years  ago,   Tyndale  had  left  in  a 


42  KKIUO.SI'KCT   AT   THIS    KUA.  [hOOK  11. 

state  of  genonvl  aii<l  l)uniiiig  hostility  to  any  thing  of  the 
kind. 

JJut  in  ghmcing  over  all  that  we  have  witnessed,  and  before 
entering  npon  a  new  era,  with  regard  to  the  JJible  itself,  who 
can  forbear  looking  back,  for  a  moment,  to  the  dining-hall  in 
the  mansion-house  of  Little  Sodbury,  in  (ilouccstershire  J 
To  the  eager  conversation  or  discussions  there  held,  below  a 
roof  still  standing^  And  to  the  deep-seated  feeling  of  one 
man  at  the  table,  when  the  mitred  Abbots  of  Winchcombe 
and  Tewksbury  were  near  at  liand  ?  And  the  Chancellor  of 
Worcester  "  reviled  liim,  as  though  he  had  been  a  dog?" 
And  the  hierarchy  reigned  triumphant,  and  Wolscy  was  in  all 
his  glory  I  And  not  one  such  printed  page  of  inspiration  was 
to  be  found  in  all  England  over  ?  The  unbending  resolution, 
however,  had  been  formed,  and  the  memorable  words  in  which, 
on  one  occasion,  it  was  expressed,  will  bear  to  be  repeated  at 
such  a  time  as  this — "  If  God  spare  mtj  life,  ere  many  years, 
I  icill  cause  a  boy  that  drives  the  plough  to  knoic  more  of  the 
Scriptures  than  you  do.'''' 

Thus,  before  ever  this  Sacred  Volume  entire  came  to  be 
printed  upon  Enqlish  ground,  Tyndale's  energetic  efforts  had 
been  signally  crowned  with  success.  His  "  labour  in  the 
Lord"  had  not  been  in  vain.  That  labour,  indeed,  once  in- 
volved nothing  more  than  the  solitary  purpose  of  a  single 
Christian ;  and  viewed  only  in  its  bud,  or  budding,  it  has 
had  little  else  than  a  bitter  taste ;  but  whether  the  flower  has 
been  sweet,  millions  can  testify. 

It  becomes,  therefore,  not  unworthy  of  remark,  that  with- 
out straining,  this  cause  actually  admits  of  a  survey  on  the 
widest  scale.  The  three  great  monarchs  of  the  day,  were 
Henry  VllL,  Francis  L,  and  Charles  V.;  never  forgetting 
the  Pontiff  at  Home ;  but  certainly  they  have  not  played 
their  several  parts,  beyond  the  verge  of  God's  providence,  in 
his  determined  purpose  towards  this  favoured  Lsland.  The 
licentious  and  indomitable  monarch,  for  whom  Tyndale  pray- 
ed with  his  dying  breath,  though  still  wilfully  blind,  has  been 
overruled.  His  Vicegerent  or  Vicar-General,  guided  only  by 
expediency,  and  clothed  with  more  power  than  Wolsey  ever 
possessed,  must  lend  all  his  co7istitutional  enei'gy,  and  go 
along  with  the  stream  of  the  Divine  purpose.  Cranmer, 
however  timid   and  cautious,    though   too  long  silent,    must 


1538.]  RETROSPECT   AT  THIS  ERA.  43 

speak  out  at  last.  On  the  other  hand,  we  liave  Cuthbert 
Tunstal,  after  denouncing  the  translation  jjt  Paul's  cross,  and 
tormenting  all  who  possessed  it,  as  far  as  he  could  reach  them, 
who  being  constitutionally  silent,  must  be  silent  now.  As 
for  Stokesly,  the  Bishop  of  London,  the  lion  was  bearded  in 
his  own  den ;  for  they  have  finished  one  Bible,  and  are  pre- 
paring to  print  many  more  in  London  itself,  nay,  in  London 
alone.  And  last,  though  not  least,  we  have  Stephen  Gardi- 
ner, perhaps  the  ablest  politician  of  the  age,  completely  out- 
witted, but  now  come  home,  and  just  in  time  to  see  the  final 
triumph  ;  though,  as  Foxe  says,  he  "  mightily  did  stomach 
and  malign  the  printing  of  this  Bible."  But  then  Scotland, 
as  well  as  England,  had  been  invaded,  and  from  the  begin- 
ning ;  nor  was  the  triumph  confined  to  the  shores  of  Britain. 
Even  Charles  V.,  by  the  way,  had  met  with  his  greatest  per- 
sonal humiliation ;  and  as  for  the  King  of  France,  that  in- 
veterate enemy,  and  ally  of  Rome,  he  has  been  overruled  in  his 
own  capital,  and  the  Inquisition  itself  is  thwarted ;  for  now, 
when  the  Bible  is  about  to  be  printed  in  the  English  metro- 
polis, we  have  printing  presses  from  Paris,  beside  types  in 
store  from  the  same  city,  nay,  and  Frenchmen,  who  "  be- 
came printers  in  London,  which  before,'"  says  John  Foxe 
truly,  "  they  never  intended.'''' 

In  England,  indeed,  they  may  tamper  injuriously,  to  a 
limited  degree,  with  the  first  translation  imported ;  and  there 
are  battles  still,  which  remain  to  be  fought  upon  English 
ground ;  though  after  Henry  VIII.  has  left  the  stage,  the 
version  will  be  reprinted  again  and  again,  many  times,  and 
precisely  as  Tyndale  gave  it  to  his  country. 

But  at  present,  that  is  to  say,  in  1538,  if  the  Emperor 
Charles,  and  the  French  King,  and  the  Pontiff  himself,  with 
Cardinal  Pole  in  his  train,  were  all  grouped  together  at  Nice, 
intending,  among  other  business,  to  alarm  or  overreach  the 
King  of  England ;  then  it  was  fit,  that  all  the  while,  certain 
men  from  London  should  be  busy  in  printing  the  English 
Bible  in  the  capital  of  France ;  and  after  bringing  over  the 
materials  and  Parisian  workmen  to  England,  proceed  on  their 
way,  and  in  far  better  style,  than  they  could  otherwise  have 
done.^     Such  was  the  crowning  achievement,  in  a  series  of 

fi"  At  Nice,  ill  June.  "  the  Pontift  embraced  the  favourable  fipportiinitv  to  sound  the  disposi- 


44  tVENTFUL   YEAR.  [[bOOK  II. 

eoMaests.  in  favour  of  all  that  Tyndale  had  accomplished ! 
A  m^n^  in  resanl  to  whose  character  and  exertions,  the  British 
CkriatiaB  capeeiallv  may  now  well  exclaim — 

Tlune  is  a  firagrance  which  can  neTcr  waste, 
Thoagk  lefk  for  ages  to  tKe  chartered  wind. 


SECTION    II. 

KTKyrrcL  rE^a — state  of    PAaTrE? — hexbt  still  a  wtdoweu — i>r3- 

TTBJIKD    FttOX    DIFFEttEST    QUiaTEBS yOBFOLK    BEGriLETS   CBnTWELI. 

QEaXiS  STATES PAaLIAXEXT  A5D  COSTOOATTOJ BOTAL  XESSAiJE 

SOTBED  ABBOTS DlSgOLCTIOy  OF  XoyASTEBIES S^EW  ABTICLES BILLJs 

OP    ATTAETDEB ^THE    SIX    ABTICLES    APPLtED FBC5TBATED CBAXJtEB 

SAFE LATIXEB  IXPBISOIKD— ALES  ESCAPES C05STA5TTXE   Vf  DAJ&EB 

THE   TIDE   TrB5I5G EXECmOS    OF    ABBOTS CBUXWEIX'S    POLICY 

KOJASTIC  SPOILS. 

THB  SCBIPTTBES  PBrSTUG   ET    TABI0C3    EDITI053 CBC~5IWELL's   BKTf  AB£- 

4Rr.a  EXE&&T  EJ  THIS  DEPABT3CE5T ^THE   KETG   SWAYED    05CE   MOBE 

IHI   CABSB  U    PBOGBESS CBASXEB    BUSY    tS   PB06PECT    OF    HIS    FIBST 

MDinoy.    JTEXT    SPBI5G IT    IS    DISTINCTLY    SASCTIOTED    BY    HESHY 

BTJiirLAB  PB0CLAJIATI05 HEXBY  SOW  C0H3tA3T)L5S  ALL    HIS    SrBJECTS 

TO  rSB  THE  SCBIPTTBES  EST  E3rSLI3H. 

As  if  it  had  been  to  render  the  triumph  of  last  year  still  more 
conspicuoua.  the  present  stands  distinguished  in  Henry's 
reign,  for  the  number  of  editions  of  the  Sacred  Volume  entire. 
Not  fewer  than  four  editions  of  the  Bible  issued  from  the 
press,  and  a  fifth  was  almost  ready ;  besides  three  editions 
of  the  New  Testament  separately.  The  compositors  and 
printers  in  London  had  never  before  been  so  engaged,  nor  so 


•f  the  tvo  monarch-t  relan-rdT  to  the  condnct  of  Henry.     From  both  he  receiTed  the  *amg 
;  that  if  he  would  pablish  his  BoIL  they  voald  send  ambafwadors  to  Encland  to  protest 
tiw  ■riiiwn ;  woaid  reiiiae  to  entertain  the  r  '  ..v.zrr  with  a  prince  who  had 

fimm  tbe  rafhotic  Church ;  and  w  rbid  ail  commercial  inter- 

betteutteir  wi^eeta  and  Fngljiili  merchant-     —  What  waa  doing  in  Paris 


a:r  the  motnenc  waa  below  this  hisbirian's  notice,  bat  i^^  Poc;i.f  3  day  waa  past.     His  awful 
Boll  proved  nothing  more  than  a  bdbnr:  and  the  reader  will  not  fbnKt  that  this  waa  the  self- 

MiBe  Panl  III.,  who  had  v-  -••■■■ —z^i  to  Henry  VIIX.  in  1j36  ;  hut  all  the  powers,  in  tnm. 

— j«.  gmaidy  (sren  to  men'    .  this  cose  the  Pontiff  waa  deluded  by  both  mnnarchs. 

of  them  would  a:  i  receive  Cardinal  Pole  into  their  dominiona.    It  wa.<* 

,  aAo  wn  meiilur  Ui  be  tUlmkd  «r  nerrtac^ai  Ay  Me  Kmg  ^f  Fntikee,  or  «re»  Ou 
I  tot 


1539.]  STATE   OF   PABTIES.  45 

hard  at  work  in  anv  department,  since  the  invention  of  print- 
in?  had  been  introduced  into  England. 

All  this  too  is  the  more  worthy  of  notice,  as  Cranmer, 
however  busy  with  his  first  edition,  did  not  make  his  appear- 
ance before  the  public  till  next  spring,  or  April  1540.  Before 
proceeding,  however,  to  any  detail,  the  state  of  Ensland,  and 
in  its  connexion  with  foreign  parts,  must  first  be  understood, 
as  the  account  will  then  be  read  with  that  interest  which 
belongs  to  it. 

Of  this  eventful  year,  we  can  scarcely  fail  to  have  one 
luminous  view,  however  painful ;  if  we  now  place  CrumwelL 
Cranmer.  and  Latimer,  on  the  one  side ;  the  Duke  of  Xor- 
folk,  Grardiner,  and  Tunstal,  on  the  other :  with  Henry 
standing  between  them,  to  hold  the  balance.  Troubled  about 
manv  thins:?,  the  waward  monarch  was  but  HI  at  ease,  and 
we  shall  see  him  make  either  scale  preponderate,  just  as  his 
fear  or  his  fancy  suggested  at  the  moment,  CmmwelL  it  has 
been  affirmed,  had  some  presentiment  of  his  down&ll,  for 
nearly  two  years  before  his  death,  and  made  provision  for  his 
dependents,  which  Wolsey  had  not.  K  this  be  eorreet,  the 
time  harmonises  with  the  return  of  Gardiner  from  France. 
But.  at  all  events,  the  last  and  deadly  struggle  for  pre-emin- 
ence and  power,  on  the  f>art  of  Cbumwixl,  has  now  com- 
menced, though  he  had  still  a  year  and  a  half  to  live.  We 
shall  see  him  trembling  for  the  ground  on  which  he  stood,  as 
well  as  for  all  his  honours.  At  his  outset,  he  had  said  to 
Cavendish,  his  neighbour  servant  in  Wolsey's  hoosehf^d, 
that,  in  going  to  Henry,  he  would  either  mak^  or  mtar  all ; 
and  the  truth  is,  that,  in  one  sense,  he  did  both ;  first  the 
one.  and  then  the  other.  In  many  points,  Wolsey  and 
Crumwell  were  extremely  different  characters,  but  in  both  may 
be  seen,  as  a  warning  to  posterity,  the  rise  and  fall  of  pjlitical 
expediency.  With  regard  to  Hugh  Latimer,  the  onh  man 
who  ever  dared  to  speak  out  before  the  King  and  his  courtiers. 
he  is  about  to  retire  from  the  tempestuous  seene  ;  and  to 
sav  nothing  of  cruelty.  Henry,  acting  in  the  meanest  style 
imaginable,  to  the  very  end  of  his  reign,  will  accommodate 
him — with  a  prison  I  Like  Festus  of  old.  willing  to  show  his 
courtiers  a  pleasure,  he  will  leave  Latimer  bound.  Cranmer 
will  this  year,  in  one  instance,  discover  more  fortitude  than  per- 
haps he  ever  did  in  the  course  of  his  whole  life.    And  as  for  the 


Ui  IIKNKY    STILI.    A    W 1 1 )(i \V K l< .  [boOK  II. 

al)lt'  triumvirate  in  opposition,  we  shall  see  liow  dexttjruusly 
tliev  wrought  to  eiicli  other"'s  hands  against  their  tliree  op- 
ponents. 

To  commence,  however,  uiore  particularly,  and  with  the  Monarch 
himself.  At  the  end  of  last  year,  we  left  him  murmuring  at  the  cold- 
ness and  delay  of  Charles  V.  ;  (at  which  period  the  Pontift"  had  at  last 
issued  his  long  suspended  Bull ;)  and  now,  on  the  19th  of  January,  he 
repeats  his  complaint  to  Sir  Thomas  Wyatt.  In  "  this  weighty  matter 
of  his  marriage"  with  the  Duchess  of  Milan,  he  requires  a  positive 
answer  ;  and  that  "  some  barking  preachers  who  had  slandered  him  in 
their  pulpits  might  he  punished."'  On  the  13th  of  February,  he  com- 
mands Wyatt  to  advertise  the  Emperor  that  Cardinal  Pole  is  coming  to 
him  as  Legate  from  Rome,  (in  connexion  with  the  Bull  now  issued,) 
requiring  that,  in  conformity  with  the  treaty  of  Cambray,  he  suffer  him 
not  to  enter  his  dominions,  or  expel  him  if  he  does.  He  then  chooses 
to  add,  that  Pole  "  has  conspired  to  murder  him  and  his  children,  and 
to  take  upon  himself  the  whole  rule."^ 

Presently,  however,  other  adverse  policy  had  transpired,  as  on  the 
9th  of  ^larch  we  find  Wriothsley,  the  English  ambassador  at  Brussels, 
addressing  Crumwell.  He  had  asked  leave  to  return,  but  neither  the 
Queen-Regent  nor  her  Council  would  consent :  they  had  even  intreated 
him  to  remain,  the  Queen  herself  adding — "  the  Emperor's  ambassador 
tarrieth  against  my  commandment  in  England,  at  your  master's  instance, 
and  I  am  not  angry  that  he  so  doth,  to  gratify  him."^  To  the  royal 
suitor,  such  procedure  had  been  sufl5ciently  provoking  :  it  had  roused 
him,  and  opened  his  eyes  ;  for  before  the  arrival  of  this  letter,  he  had 
got  previous  information.  On  the  10th,  therefore,  he  had  written  to 
Wyatt,  desiring  that  he  would  thank  the  Emperor  for  refusing  to  receive 
Cardinal  Pole  into  his  kingdom,  and  for  his  not  sanctioning  the  Pontiff's 
Bull.  At  the  same  time,  his  ^lajesty  complains  that  "  a  sudden  rumour 
spread  throughout  Germany,  Spain,  and  other  parts,  that  the  Emperor, 
the  French  King,  and  other  princes,  by  the  instigation  of  the  Bishop  of 
Rome,  were  forthwith  to  invade  England" — "  that  the  Emperor's  am- 
bassador, (Eustace  Chapuis,  just  referred  to,)  in  the  height  of  these 
rumours,  had  suddenly  desired  leave  to  depart,  showing  no  letters,  but 
merely  saying,  that  it  was  by  commandment  of  Mary,  the  Princess - 
Regent  of  the  Low  Countries — that  for  the  indemnity  of  his  English 
merchants,  whose  ships  had  already  been  detained,  and  in  return  for  in- 
civilities shown  to  the  English  ambassador  at  Brussels,  he  had  arrested 
all  ships  belonging  to  the  Low  Countries,  or  to  Spain,  wishing  now  to 
know  w/tai  the  Emperor's  intentions  were.     That  since  he,  the  Emperor, 


'  Harl.  MS..  No.  2«2,  fol.  4.t.  »  Idem.  fnl.  47.  s  Gov.  St.itc  Papers,  i.,  p.  .W5. 


l.>39.]  DISTURBED  FROM   VARIOUS  QUARTERS.  4? 

will  not  proceed  as  to  the  marriage  of  the  Duchess,  without  the  Pontiffs 
dispensation  ;  as  the  King's  nobility  daily  press  him  to  marry,  and  age 
comes  on  apace,  Charles  must  not  think  it  strange,  if  he  seek  alliance 
elsewhere  !"  He  then  informs  Wyatt  that  he  will  soon  be  recalled, 
and  succeeded  by  Mr.  Richard  Pate."* 

By  the  12th,  Crumwell  had  received  the  letter  of  Wriothsley,  when  he 
immediately  apprised  his  Majesty  of  its  contents.^  No  change  in  affairs 
could  possibly  be  more  welcome  to  my  Lord  Privy  Seal,  who  had  never 
courted  alliance  with  the  Emperor,  and  probably  saw  that  his  royal 
Master  had  been  befooled  all  along.  At  all  events,  the  matrimonial 
affair  was  now  at  an  end,  and  Henry's  personal  negociations  for  a 
political  marriage,  have  entirely  failed.  To  fail  a  second  time,  as  a 
Royal  negotiator,  and  to  be  foiled,  not  only  by  two  gentlemen,  or  Francis 
and  Charles  in  1538,  but  by  two  ladies,  in  1539,  must  have  been  mortifying 
in  the  extreme.  For  it  must  be  observed  that  though  Henry  continued 
ever  writing  to  Wyatt  ;  the  Emperor,  by  his  commission,  had  remitted  the 
negotiation  for  a  wife,  to  his  sister  Mary,  the  Regent  of  the  Low  Coun- 
tries ;  and  she  had  managed  to  gain  time,  with  no  inferior  address.  She 
is  said  to  have  terminated  the  business,  by  declaring  that  the  Duchess 
of  Milan  was  too  nearly  allied  to  Henry's  first  Queen,  to  admit  of  such 
a  union,  without  a  dispensation  from  the  Pontiff,  a  humiliation  to  which, 
of  course,  his  Majesty  could  never  bow.  The  proposal  he  must  have 
viewed  as  an  insult.  As  for  the  Lady  Duchess-Dowager  herself,  the 
daughter  of  Christiern  King  of  Denmark,  if  she  replied  as  has  been  of- 
ten affirmed,  Henry  was  also  reminded  of  his  second  Queen,  in  no  flatter- 
ing terms.  The  words  were — "  If  she  had  two  heads,  one  should  have 
been  at  the  service  of  his  Majesty  ;  whereas  having  but  one,  she  pre- 
ferred to  lead  a  single  life."  In  the  meanwhile,  however,  Crumwell  is 
taking  special  care,  that  Chapuis  shall  not  be  permitted  to  leave  Calais, 
till  Wriothsley  on  his  way  home  has  arrived  at  that  town  in  safety .^ 

But  if  his  Majesty  felt  at  all  fretted  by  this  rumour  of  invasion,  and 
the  prose  of  these  "  barking  preachers"  on  the  Continent,  he  had  been 
not  less  annoyed  by  poetry,  supjiosed  to  come  from  Scotland  ;  while  some 
fear  was  entertained  that  his  nephew,  the  King,  would  unite  with  the 
Continental  powers  against  him.  In  the  close  of  last  year.  Sir  Thomas 
Wharton,  Warden  of  the  West  Marches,  had  written  to  Crumwell,  in  no 
small  alarm,  about  a  "  ballad"  in  satii-e  of  Henry  ;  inclosing  a  copy,  and 
adding  that  he  had  employed  two  several  spies,  to  proceed  to  Edinburgh 
respecting  it  !  His  informer  had  affirmed  that  it  "  was  devised  by  the 
Bishops."^     Not  satisfied  with  this,  he  writes  to  King  James  himself,  in 


4  Harl.  MS.,  No.  282,  ful.  50.  P.itc  is  by  mistake  frequently  named  Taic  in  the  Catalogue, 
and  occasionally  so  in  tlic  State  Papers.  He  was  appointed  to  succeed,  but  ultimately  proved  a 
false  man,  was  attainted,  and  remained  beyond  seas. 

s  Gov.  State  Papers,  i.,  p.  .")!t.i.  "  Idem,  p.  .">tl7.  ?  Idem,  vol.  v.,  p.  I4.'>. 


4S  TiiK  Kisa  Disri'HUKi)  [hook  h. 

January,  ami  on  the  31st  ;  his  Majesty  replies  from  his  palace  of  Liu- 
lithj^ow,  —  that  as  he  never  had  heard  of  "sic  haUats"  before,  he 
rather  suspected  them  to  be  "  imagined  and  devised"  by  some  of  Whar- 
ton's own  nation,  and  "  lieges  of  our  dearest  uncle's.'"  Three  days  be- 
fore this  letter,  however,  Sir  Christopher  Mores,  one  of  the  Berwick  Com- 
missioners, had  informed  Crumwell,  that  on  Wetlnesday  the  22d  of  Janu- 
ary "  in  a  place  called  the  Queen's  ferrj',  amidst  a  great  storm  of  wind 
and  weather,  an  ambassador  out  of  France  had  arrived,  and  being  re- 
ceived by  the  King's  Secretary,  was  conducted  with  thirty  horsemen  to 
the  Scotch  Kinp,  for  what  purpose,  he  could  not  yet  show."" 

Meanwhile  the  "ballat"  was  still  the  great  affair  :  for  Ilolgate,  Bishop 
of  Llandaff,  and  President  of  the  Council  of  the  North  had  also  written 
to  James  ;  so  that  it  cost  his  Majesty  another  long  letter,  from  his  palace 
of  Edinburgh  on  the  Sth  of  February.'"  On  the  same  day,  also  open 
proclamation  was  issued,  and  directed  "  to  be  made  at  Dumfries  and 
other  places,  that  no  one  should  take,  have,  read,  publish,  or  send  copies 
of  ony  si k  famous,  desjutefull  and  unhoneKt  ballots,  rhymes,  or  makings, 
— to  destroy  all  copies  that  could  be  found,  and  diligent  search  to  be 
made  for  any  "  who  had  made  ballats  or  sangs  in  defamation  and  blas- 
pheming of  (the  King)  his  dearest  uncle." 

The  Council  of  the  North  too,  by  the  9th  of  March,  had  caught  letters 
passing  from  Ireland  to  the  Pontiff,  as  well  as  to  Cardinal  Pole  ;"  and 
in  short  nothing  would  satisfy  Henry  but  that  the  Duke  of  Norfolk 
himself  must  go  down  to  the  Northern  borders,  to  ascertain  the  actual 
state  of  things,  and  examine  the  means  of  defence.  By  his  first  letter 
of  the  29th  of  March,  to  Crumwell,  the  Lord  Privy  Seal,  there  were  no 
good  news.  The  Castle  of  Berwick  was  greatly  dilapidated,  and  the 
troops  of  Northumberland  miserably  "  ill  horsed  :"  the  only  consolation 
was,  that  he  heard  the  Borderers  of  Scotland  were  "  worse  horsed  than 
they  :"  but  there  was  now  evidently  something  a  great  deal  more  for- 
midable than  a  Scotch  song,  or  any  rhyming  prophecy.  James  had 
taken  care  to  make  the  most  of  the  "  ballad ;"  professing  that  he  was 
"  not  less  heavy  and  thoughtful "  than  Bishop  Ilolgate  himself ;  and 
now  he  affinns  that  "  he  will  never  break  with  the  King,  his  uncle, 
during  his  life,  with  many  more  very  good  words."  And  yet  Norfolk 
has  heard  that  on  Thursday  last,  the  27th,  proclamation  was  made  at 
Edinburgh,  and  in  all  parts  of  Scotland,  for  "  every  man  between  16 
and  no  to  be  ready,  upon  24  hours'  warning,  on  pain  of  death — that 
there  were  new  trimmed,  and  part  of  them  new  made,  in  the  Castle  of 
Edinburgh,  16  great  pieces,  as  cannons  and  culvcms,  and  60  smaller 
pieces  for  the  field,  all  which  were  to  be  fullj-  ready  before  the  26th  of 


•  Cotton  MS.,  CaliR.  B.  iii.,  fol.  IPl.     Oritrinal.  »  Gov.  State  Pai>cr«,  vol.  v.,  p.  147. 

'0  Gov.  State  Papers,  v..  UK,  14!l.  "   Idem.  p.  I.ll. 


l.>39.]  HV    niFFERKNT    I'ARTIES.  49 

April  ;  and  two  ships  bound  for  Flanders,  were  to  bring  as  many  hand 
guns  with  them  as  they  could."  On  the  day  before  this  proclamation, 
"  a  friar,  in  preaching  before  the  young  Queen  at  Lithgow,  had  been 
extolling  the  Pontiff's  authority,  the  Bishops  of  Glasgow,  Galloway,  and 
Aberdeen,  being  present,  but  no  temporal  Lords  :"  '^  and  different  indi- 
viduals had  said — "  If  ye  (England)  and  France  agree  well,  we  and  ye 
shall  agree  well  ;  for  as  France  doth  with  you,  so  will  we  do." 

"  By  divere  other  ways,"  adds  the  Duke,  "  I  am  advertised  that  the  Clergy 
of  Scotland  be  in  such  fear,  that  their  King  should  do  there,  as  the  King's 
Highness  hath  done  in  this  reahn,  that  they  do  their  best  to  bring  their  Master 
to  tlie  war ;  and  by  many  ways  I  am  advertised,  tliat  a  great  part  of  the  tem- 
porality there  would  tlieir  King  should  follow  our  onsample,  tcldck  I  pray  God 
{/ire  him  yrace  to  come  unto."  But  his  Grace  of  Norfolk,  meanwhile,  believes 
that  the  Abbot  of  Arbroath,  (David  Betoun,)  "  is  gone  into  France  to  know 
what  help  his  Master  shall  have,  as  well  of  the  French  King  as  of  the  Bishop 
of  Rome,  if  he  break  with  us." 

"  Daily  cometh  unto  me,  some  gentlemen  and  some  clerks,  which  do  flee  out 
of  Scotland,  as  they  say,  for  readinij  of  Scrijiture  in  Eiiijlish  ;  saying  that,  if 
they  were  taken,  they  should  be  put  to  execution.  /  <jive  them  gentle  words  ; 
and  to  Some,  money.  Here  is  now  in  this  town,  and  hath  been  a  good  season, 
she  that  was  wife  to  the  late  Captain  of  Dunbar,  and  dare  not  return,  for  hold- 
ing our  ways,  as  she  saith.  She  was  in  England  and  saw  Queen  Jane.  She  is 
Sir  Patrick  Hamilton's  daughter,  and  her  brother  was  burnt  in  Scotland,  three 
or  four  years  ago." 

His  Grace  closes  with  a  little  spice  of  flattei'y — "  Requiring  your  good  Lord- 
ship to  have  me  most  humbly  recommended  to  the  King's  Majesty,  making 
mine  excuse  for  not  icriting  to  his  Highness  concerning  the  premises.  And  thus 
our  Lord  have  you  my  very  good  Lord  in  his  tuition.  Written  at  Berwick,  the 
29th  day  of  March."  13 

But  are  these  actually  the  words  of  the  Duke  of  Norfolk,  and  that  so 
late  as  the  29th  of  March  1539  ?  They  are  ;  and  the  reader  must  not 
fail  to  observe  with  what  artful  craftiness  he  is  here  trying  to  impose 
upon  Crumwell,  or  put  him  off  his  guard,  for  now  he  would  affect  to  be 
the  most  zealous  man  of  his  age  ;  and,  by  way  of  finish,  having  once 
subscribed  his  name,  with  his  own  hand  he  adds  this  postscript — "  If 
these  ungracious  Priests  may  not  bring  their  King  to  war  this  summer, 
I  am  in  good  hope  that  once  ere  Christmas,  the  King  of  Scots  will  take 
much  of  their  land  into  his  own  hands  ;  which  to  hring  to  pass  shall  lack 


'2  It  is  curious  enough  that  at  the  same  time,  only  four  days  after,  or  the  30th  of  March, 
Tuiistal  was  practising  before  Henry,  by  baldly  preaching  the  opposite  doctrine,  and  denounc- 
ing Cardinal  Pole  in  the  severest  terms.  This  was  to  mould  the  Monarch  for  all  the  advice 
which  that  party  intended  soon  to  give,  if  it  had  not  been  already  tendered. 

!3  Cov.  State  Papers,  v.,  ]>.  153-1.56.  By  the  way,  we  have  here  positive  evidence  of  the  ex- 
tent to  which  Tyndale's  translation  was  prevailing  in  North  Uritain,  of  which  more  in  its  proper 
))lace.  Though  Norfolk  could  not  be  expected  to  be  very  accurate  as  to  the  martyrdom  of 
Patrick  Hamilton  ;  he  cared  for  none  of  these  tliing.s.  It  had  taken  place  precisely  eleven  years 
before  this. 

vol,.    II.  D       • 


50  NORFOLK    UEOUILINU  CKUMWELL.  [liOuK  II. 

no  setting  forth  on  mi/  (ttli'ilt'.  if  any  ot'  his  .■icorct  servants  come  hither 

unto  me  !" 

In  short  the  letter  thnnitrhovit  was  cjual  to  any  thing  from  the  pen 
of  his  friend,  Stephen  Ouriliner  ;  for  soon  after  the  Duke's  return  to 
Lonilon,  the  style  adopted  will  appear  to  have  been  the  highest  essence 
of  hypocrisy.  And  he  soon  returned  ;  the  last  letter  from  him  to  Crum- 
well  seems  to  be  from  Richmond  in  Yorkshire,  on  the  9th  of  April.  He 
will  be  in  very  good  time  to  unite  vigorously  with  Gardiner  and  Tunstal, 
in  thwarting  the  Lord  Privy  Seal. 

During  these  three  months  it  certainly  had  been  no  very  easy  task  for 
Crumwell  to  manage  his  distui-bed  Master,  or  ward  oft'  his  fears  ;  and 
the  more  so  that,  though  a  bold  and  determined  man  hitherto,  he  had 
(juite  enough  to  do  with  himself.  Already  he  had  his  trembling  mo- 
ments, and  his  own  anxiety  is  <iuitc  manifest,  even  when  he  is  striving, 
so  graphically,  to  cheer  the  King.  Thus  on  the  17th  of  March  he 
writes — 

"  Many  briiit<»,  rumours  and  reports  be  made,  as  well  in  and  from  Flanders, 
as  in  and  from  some  other  parts,  the  grounds  wliereof  being  unexpressed,  and 
all  things  well  weighed,  not  like  to  be  such  indeed  as  is  reported.  Men  may 
sometime  upon  accumulation  of  suspicions  and  light  conjectures,  take  a  fantasy 
indeed,  that  their  suspicions  be  true ;  or  trusting  some  false  reporters,  which 
might  fortune  hath  shewed  them  some  true  things,  may  perchance  be  deceived 
by  them.  Or  marking  the  words  of  the  inconstant  and  fickle  people  babbling 
abroad,  think  the  same  cannot  be  so  much  in  the  people's  mouth  witliout  some 
ground,  as  smoke  is  not  without  fire.  But  for  all  this,  some  time  such  things 
do  vanish  away  as  the  wind.  Yet  nevertheless,  1  cannot  but  so  to  think,  that 
your  Grace  will  not  be  further  moved  or  pricked  by  such  reports,  or  letters, 
upon  such  unknown  reports,  suspicions,  and  talcs  grounded,  than  the  things  do 
appear:  for  assuredly,  to  my  judgment,  the  things  be  more  and  further  other- 
wise bruited  abroad,  than  the  meaning  and  the  deed  is.  Aasuredly,  as  it  is 
good  to  be  ware  and  circumspect,  so  no  less  is  to  be  avoided  over  much  suspi- 
cion, to  the  which  if  any  man  be  once  given,  he  shall  never  be  quiet  in  mind. 
These  I  do  not  write  as  thinking  your  Grace  needeth  any  warning  thereof, 
being  of  so  high  excellent  wit,  prudence,  and  long  experience  ;  but  that  I  would 
declare  unto  your  Majesty,  how  I  do  for  my  part,  take  the  things,  and  as  I 
think  other  men  should  take  them ;  and  that  no  more  celerity  nor  precipitation 
of  things  should  be  used  than  of  congruency.  For  undoubtedly  I  take  God  to 
he  not  only  your  Grace's  protector,  but  a  marvellous  favourer  ;  so  that  in  mv 
heart  I  hold  me  assured,  altliough  all  the  rest  should  have  conspired  against 
your  Grace,  yet  ye  shall  prevail  through  his  grace,  assuredly."'^ 

While,  however,  Henry  had  been  so  long  and  so  busy  negotiating  to  no 
purpose  ;  the  German  States  had  not  been  forgotten,  and  Crumwell,  ever 
watching  on  the  times,  now  found  that  his  opportunity  was  come.  After 
their  Ambassadors  had  been  dismissed  by  his  Majesty  with  Tunstal's 


M  rjov   state  P.ipcr».  i.,  p  GOI 


l,)3l:».2  THK  GERMAN    STATES.  51 

reply,  last  year,  the  Emperor  had  been  solicitiug  their  aid  against  the 
Tm"k,  of  whom  he  was  afraid  ;  but  they  were  as  firm  to  their  principles 
with  him,  as  they  had  been  with  the  King  of  England.  In  these  cir- 
cumstances, as  the  English  Monarch  was  not  likely  to  make  any  pacific 
agreement  with  the  Court  of  France,  especially  while  such  a  man  as 
Bonner  was  there,  urging,  after  his  own  manner,  the  claims  of  his  royal 
Master,  for  the  arrears  of  money  long  due  by  Francis  ;  and  as  it  was 
then  uncertain  how  fiir  the  Emperor  and  the  King  of  France  would 
second  the  official  fury  of  the  Pontiff ;  Henry  must  bow  to  the  humilia- 
tion of  sending  Mount  and  Paynell  once  more  to  those  very  States,  whose 
ambassadors  he  had  dismissed.  After  the  return  of  those  ambassadors 
to  Germany,  last  September,  no  letters  arrived  either  to  Crumwell  or  his 
Master,  and  "  fearing,"  says  Strype,  "  lest  these  Gemians  might  comply 
with  the  Emperor  on  some  terms,"  Mount  and  Paynell  had  been  des- 
patched from  England  in  December  last  to  the  Duke  of  Saxony,  and  the 
Landgrave  of  Hesse."'^  The  enquiry  then  to  be  made,  whether  these 
German  Princes  remained  stedfast  in  their  faith  as  to  their  professed 
religious  principles,  must  have  been  a  mere  fetch  to  open  up  negotiations 
of  a  secular  character  ;  and  so  the  Embassy  merged  into  one  such  subject. 
It  is  true  that  we  shall  find  Bui-ghart,  who  had  been  in  England  last 
year,  arrive  with  the  English  Envoys  upon  their  return  in  April,  bring- 
ing a  long  answer  from  Saxony  and  Hesse,  as  to  those  matters  of  faith, 
with  a  letter  also  from  ]\Ielancthou  to  the  King  ;  but  long  before  then 
we  have  pointed  evidence  to  show,  not  only  that  another  Queen  for 
Henry  was  the  main  point,  but  that  considerable  progress  had  been 
made,  before  his  Majesty  was  told  that  he  could  not  have  the  Duchess  of 
^lUan.  It  was  a  political  marriage  on  which  the  Monarch  was  bent, 
and  he  had  been  negotiating  in  two  quarters  at  the  same  time.  It  has 
been  often  affinned,  that  Crumwell  recommended  the  Princess  Anne  of 
Cleves  to  Henry  ;  but  of  this,  no  positive  evidence  has  ever  been  ad- 
duced, and  the  instructions  given  to  Mount  and  Paynell,  on  such  a  sub- 
ject, must  have  been  not  only  with  his  Majesty's  previous  sanction,  but 
given  directly  by  himself.  There  is,  however,  no  question  that  Cnim- 
well  leaped  at  the  proposal  and  urged  it  on.  So  early  as  the  10th  of 
March  this  is  quite  apparent,^''  and  on  the  18th,  when  addressing  the 
King,  still  more  so ;  proving  decidedly  that  the  one  negotiation  was  pro- 
ceeding, before  the  other  was  broken  off. 

"Please  your  most  noble  Majesty  to  be  advertised,  that  this  morning  I  have 
received  letters  from  your  Grace's  servants,  Christopher  Mount  and  Tlionias 
Payne),  written  at  Fi-ankford  the  5th  of  this  present  month,  tlie  effect  whereof 

is  that  on  the day  of  February  last,  the  said  Christopher  had  access  to  the 

Duke  of  Saxony,  to  whom,  all  other  being  afar  off,  he  declared  the  effect  of  his 


IS  Oov.  State  Paiiers,  i.,  p.  (J<i!>.  -6  See  Cotton  XIS.,  Vitell.  B.  xxi.,  fol.  l.'U. 


r,2  CUL.MWKLl/S    I'OLKJV.  [booK   II. 

instruotiuns  tlie  Iji-st  inuniior  he  could  ;  wlicrouiito  the  Duke;  answered  that  hf 
would  with  j^ood  will  endeavour  himself  to  liis  power,  to  do  all  thiiigH,  and  no- 
thin;;  t«i  j)reterniit  that  might  conduce  to  the  perfection  of  this  honest  aHuir." 
He  trusted  the  I'rinees  would  meet  shortly,  and  he  would  rather  "  break  and  open 
this  matter  himself,  than  by  any  other  person,  because  he  trusteth  to  speak  bet- 
ter himsilf,  anil  the  thing  be  kept  more  secretly."'"  "  The  sjiid  Christoplier," 
continues  Crumwell,  "  instantly  sueth  every  day  the  acceleration  of  the  matter, 
lest  some  other  shall  prevent  it,  and  that  in  the  meantime  the  jncttin:  may  In- 
jf,'/i/." — "  Every  man  praiseth  the  beauty  of  the  same  Lady,  as  well  for  the  face, 
a-s  for  the  whole  body,  above  all  others  ladies  excellent." — "  One  sjiid  unto  them 
of  late  that  she  exccUeth  as  far  the  Dnihe»$,  as  the  ijulden  »uh  excelleth  the 
silrfrti  muoH." — "  Every  man  praiseth  the  good  virtues  and  honesty,  with  shame- 
facedncss,  which  ai)peareth  plainly  in  the  gravity  of  hir  face.  Thus  sjiy  they, 
that  have  seen  them  MA.""' 

Nothing,  indeed,  is  now  omitted  by  Crumwell's  pen,  to  quicken  Henry's 
footsteps.  Thus  his  Majesty  is  informed  that  the  electors  of  Branden- 
burg and  Palgrave,  with  the  Emperor's  ambassador,  Vesalius,  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Lunden,  in  Sweden,  were  at  Frankford,  employed  in  making 
"  a  i)acification,  and  hope  to  speed" — that  the  Earl  of  Nassau,  with 
twenty  French  captains,  had  arrived  two  days  before — that  Mount  dili- 
gently sued  for  an  embassy  to  be  sent  to  England,  but  the  German 
princes  "  feel  themselves  aggrieved,  and  do  detest  the  lon^  dilations  of 
our  Court" — that  one  of  the  French  courtiers  dining  with  the  Duke  of 
Saxony,  he  asked,  "  to  what  purpose  were  all  these  preparations  of  the 
Emperor,"  adding,  "  the  bruit  is  here  that  it  should  be  against  the  King 
of  England."  The  only  reply  was — "  then  the  King  of  England  will 
need  to  take  heed  to  himself." 

Crumwell  then  takes  care  to  add — "  if  your  Grace  will  have  anything 
written  to  the  said  Christopher,  we  have  now  good  commodity  of  men 
to  convey  letters  ;  wherefore  I  would  be  glad  to  know  your  gracious 
pleasure  herein." — "  Your  Majesty  may  be  assui-ed,  that  your  Highness' 
affairs,  in  all  points,  can  be  no  more  accelerate,  and  more  done  to  their 
expedition,  than  we  all  do  to  our  powers  ;  which  undoubtedly  be  not 
idle.  Wherefore  I  beseech  your  Grace  to  pardon  me,  and  take  these 
in  good  part,  as  I  hope  your  Majesty,  of  your  accustomed  benignity, 
will  do."  >3 

Crumwell  accordingly  had  received  orders,  as  he  wrote  to  ]Mouut  and 
Paynell,  on  the  22d  of  March,  how  to  proceed  in  their  negotiations.^'^ 

After  not  less  than  tliree  years  of  prorogation,  Henry  had 
now  resolved  to  hold  a  meetin2[  of  Parliament  and  Convoca- 


>7  The  Princes  met  on  the  12th  of  Fcbruarr.  so  that  nearly  a  month  before  Henry  had  said 
to  the  Emperor  that  he  must  not  think  it  straiiRu  ;/'  hu  sou^lit  alliuncc  eUeirhcn;  he  was  then 
seeking  it.     Conip.ire  his  letter  to  Wvatt  as  <|uoted  pp.  46,  47. 

'"  The  lady  referred  to  was  Prinee.ss  Anne,  second  daughter  of  John  Duke  of  Cleves. 

l»  Gov.  State  Papers,  i..  p.  6(14.  -■"  Cotton  .VfS.,  Vitell.,  U.  xxi.,  fol.  14". 


153;».]  PARLIAMENT   AND  .),S 

tiou.  The  subserviency  of  both  to  his  will  was  notorious, 
and  in  this  it  appears  that  Crumwell  cordially  sympathised 
with  him.  "  Amongst  other  for  your  Grace's  Parliament," 
says  he  on  the  1  7th  of  March,  "  /  have  appointed  your  Ma- 
jesty ""s  servant,  Mr.  Morisson,  to  be  one  of  them.  No  doubt 
he  shall  be  ready  to  answer,  and  take  up  such  as  would  crack, 
or  face  with  literature  of  learning,  or  by  midirected  ways,  if 
any  such  shall  be,  as  I  think  there  will  be  few  or  none ;  for- 
asmuch as  I,  and  other  your  dedicate  counsellors,  be  about  to 
bring  all  things  so  to  pass,  that  your  Majesty  had  never  more 
tractable  Parliament  T^^  As  for  the  Convocation,  since  it 
had  been  summoned  on  the  12th  of  March,  it  is  evident  that 
whatever  articles  shall  be  issued,  by  that  time  they  had  been 
contemplated ;  and  Crumwell,  at  least,  is  either  preparing  to 
swallow  them,  or,  what  is  very  improbable,  must  have  been 
profoundly  ignorant  of  what  was  before  him.  At  all  events, 
for  these  three  years  past,  as  there  had  been  no  such  assem- 
blies under  our  despotic  monarch,  they  were  always  ominous 
of  some  strong  measures. 

On  the  30th  of  March,  Tunstal,  usually  calm  and  still, 
preached  his  flaming  sermon  before  the  King ;  Gardiner  was 
preparing  for  Parliament  and  the  Convocation  ;  Norfolk  was 
returning  from  the  north ;  and  to  announce  his  approach,  by 
way  of  firing  the  first  gun,  only  about  one  fortnight  after  his 
strange  letter  of  the  29th  of  March,  already  quoted,  he  had 
quarrelled  with  Crumwell  on  a  subject  of  inferior  moment. ^^ 
But  by  this  time  Crumwell  had  been  taken  unwell,  and  had 

21  Richard  Morysine,  or  Morison,  now  one  of  the  gentlemen  of  the  Privy  Chamber,  who  was 
afterwards  knighted  by  Edward  VI.,  we  have  heard  of  before.  See  anno  15i5.  Last  year  he 
had  published  his  "  Apomaxis,"  to  which  Cnchla?us  replied;  and  this  year,  he  printed  his 
"  Exhortation  to  stir  up  all  Englishmen  to  the  defence  of  their  country,"  and  "an  Invective 
against  Treason."  He  had  left  Padua  in  IS.Ty,  where  he  was  acquainted  with  Cardinal  Pole  ; 
and  now  he  sets  himself  right  with  Henry  VIII.  "  Of  the  miracles  and  wonders  of  our  times," 
savs  he,  "  I  take  the  change  of  our  Sovereign  Lord's  opinion  to  be  the  greatest.  There  was  no 
prince  in  Christendom,  but  he  was  far  liker  to  have  changed  than  our  Sovereign  Lord.  He  wa.'* 
their  pillar,  and  Ijare  them  up  a  great  while.  They  gave  hint  fair  titles  for  his  so  doing,  and 
honoured  his  name  in  all  their  writings.  Was  it  not  a  wonderful  work  of  God,  to  get  his  Grace 
from  them  to  Him?  To  make  him  their  overthrow,  whom  they  had  chosen  for  their  Defen- 
der?"— Thus  it  was,  that  every  courtier  abounded  in  the  most  fulsome  flattery. 

i-  "I  have  received  letters  from  my  Lord  of  Norfolk,  which  I  send  herewith,  to  the  intent 
that  your  Highness  may  know  how  grievously  he  taketh  the  assignment  I  have  made  to  Anthony 
Rouse,  of  one  of  Sir  Edward  Ichingham's  daughters  ;  who,  by  all  the  very  true  advertisements 
that  I  can  have,  is  your  Majesty's  ward,  and  to  your  Grace's  use,  appointed  to  the  custody 
of  the  said  Rouse.  I  am  sorry  he  taketh  the  matter  so  much  to  heart— I  remit  the  resolution 
and  disposition  of  the  whole  matter  to  your  Highness;  not  doubting  but  your  most  excellent 
wisdom  can,  weighing  the  matter,  weigh  also  therewith  my  said  Lord,  the  Duke  of  Norfolk's 
good  merits,  and  determine  the  best  in  that  matter,  to  be  fulfilled  accordingly." — Crumwdl  to 
Henrv.  \Wh  April.  Gov.  State  Papers,  i.,  p.  Oil.  This  complaint,  however,  ((*■  it  was  put,  ami 
at  such  a  finn;  was  probably  far  from  being  wise  for  himself. 


54  CONVUCATION    Ol'KNi:i).  [boOK  11. 

become  so  seriously.  It  was  an  attack  of  the  agui;.  Ou  the 
23d  of  April,  or  the  Wednesday  hefore  Parliament  was  to 
sit,  he  had  made  himself  ready  to  wait  on  the  King,  when  a 
fit  came  on,  "  and  held  him  in  great  heat  ahout  ten  hours.'' 
''  The  pain  (»f  the  disease,"  said  he,  "  grieveth  me  nothing  so 
much  as  that  doth,  that  1  cannot  be  as  I  should  there 
present,  and  employ  my  power  to  your  Grace"'s  afi'airs  and 
service,  as  my  heart  desireth  to  do,"^  On  the  eve  of  sucli  a 
battle,  it  was  a  great  and  bitter  disappointment,  and,  no 
doubt,  his  enemies  were  improving  every  hour  of  his  absence. 
Next  day,  however,  he  strove  to  do  all  he  could,  by  address- 
in"-  a  lonir  letter  to  his  Maiestv  ;  and  still  lamenting  over  his 
state  of  health.  In  this  communication  it  is  observable,  that 
while  he  goes  over  all  the  points  respecting  foreign  policy,  he 
says  not  one  word  now  of  what  is  projected  to  be  done  in 
Parliament,-^  Poor  man  !  It  is  true  that  he  will  rally  again 
as  to  health  ;  the  King,  to  serve  his  own  selfish  ends,  will 
assume  a  kindly  aspect,  and  he  has  yet  fourteen  months  to 
live  ;  but  liis  frequent  and  direct,  or  familiar  correspondence 
with  Henry  is  now  near  a  close. 

Meanwhile,  and  at  the  moment  when  Crumwell  was  writing, 
Mount  and  Paynell  arrived  from  Germany,  accompanied  by 
Burghart,  who  had  been  dismissed  in  September  last.  The 
Emperor,  it  was  said,  had  now  deprecated,  above  all  things,  the 
German  Confederates  receiving  any  others  into  their  league ; 
when  Crumwell  did  not  fail  to  suggest,  that  "  if  his  Majesty 
would  only  join  them,  the  other  party,  in  his  judgment, 
would  be  half  in  despair."  But  what  was  Henry  to  do  •  He 
was  now  falling  in  with  the  counsels  of  Norfolk,  Gardiner, 
and  Tunstal  ;  Parliament  must  sit  in  five  days  hence,  and 
Crumwell,  in  poor  health,  is  but  ill  able  to  attend  ! 

Accordingly,  on  Monday,  the  28th  of  April,  Parliament 
.sat  down,  and  the  Convocation  opened  on  the  2d  of  May. 
The  Duke  of  Norfolk,  as  Prime-Minister,  had  been  commis- 
sioned to  conduct  the  business  in  the  House  of  Peers  ;  and 
Crumweirs  precedency  as  Vicar-General  was  recognised,  but 
he  could  no  longer  brandish  his  rod  of  authority  over  the 
Bishops,  as  he  had  done  at  their  last  sitting,  three  years  ago  ; 
and  miK'h  less  send  a  deputy  to  claim  his  seat,  above  them 


M  Gov.  Statr  Papers,  i.,  |>.  (ill.  ''*  Clio]..  E.  v.,  fol.  \^2.  or  Slrvpc,  Kccords,  civ 


I.)30.]  A   ROYAL   MESSAGE.  55 

all.  Not  only  were  the  majority  his  opponents,  but  tlie  Head 
of  their  Church  had  clianged  his  mind.  For  three  years  had 
Crunnvell  and  Crannier  enjoyed  ample  sway  ;  but  Gardiner 
and  TunstaPs  day  had  now  come.  They  must  aim  at  retalia- 
tion for  all  the  past,  and  no  time  was  lost  before  the  strength 
of  parties  w-as  ascertained. 

On  Monday  the  5th  of  May,  a  royal  message  to  the  House 
was  announced  by  Audley  as  Lord  Chancellor.  His  Majesty, 
being  greatly  desirous  of  putting  an  end  to  all  controversies 
in  reliffion,  ordered  a  committee  to  examine  the  diversities  of 
opinion — to  draw  up  articles  for  an  agreement,  and  report  ! 
Nine  individuals  Avere  appointed,  viz.  Crumwell  as  Vicar- 
(jrencral,  and  Archbishop  Cranmer,  with  Latimer  of  Wor- 
cester, and  Goodrich  of  Ely,  on  the  one  side  ;  and  Archbishop 
Lee,  with  Tunstal  of  Durham,  Aldrich  of  Carlisle,  Clark  of 
Bath,  and  Salcot  of  Bangor  on  the  other.  While,  therefore, 
these  men  were  left  to  warm  and  busy  discussion  at  St. 
Paul's,  if  we  turn  to  Westminster,  there  we  find  the  King- 
engaged  in  reviewing  the  grand  muster  of  the  citizens  of 
London. 

At  this  period  the  order  and  nature  of  events  strongly  suggest  the 
idea  of  a  laid  plan,  on  the  part  of  Henry  and  one  class  of  his  advisers, 
in  which  every  movement  was  preparatory  to  measures  already  deter- 
mined. They  were  measures  relating  to  money  and  property  of  course  ; 
for  as  to  faith  and  opinions,  among  men  of  such  licentious  habits,  it 
would  be  absurd  to  suppose  one  grain  of  sincerity,  or  any  conscience. 
To  raise  a  false  alann,  was  the  object  in  view.  Alarm  as  an  expedient, 
was  altogether  unnecessary  in  Crumwell's  opinion,  but  he  had  taken 
special  care  to  obey  all  orders.  Thus,  on  the  17th  of  last  month,  he  had 
assured  his  Majesty  of  there  having  been  no  lack  of  vigilant  prepara- 
tion for  defence  against  all  foreign  aggi'ession. 

"  As  for  commissions  concerning  the  beacons,  they  were  sent  moi'e  than 
three  weelcs  agone.  Letters  for  the  musters  be  also  sent,  and  no  doubt  they 
shall  do  their  duty.  As  for  tlie  return  of  the  musters,  it  is  not  appointed  till 
Easter,  (8th  April,)  by  the  which  time  all,  1  trust,  shall  be  done  and  certified  ; 
then  upon  the  certificates  thereof,  shall  other  letters  be  ready  to  be  sent  in- 
continent. In  the  meantime,  I,  and  other  of  your  Grace's  Council  here,  do 
study  and  employ  om'selves  daily,  upon  those  affairs  that  concern  your  Gract\i 
ParViament,  and  to  prepense  and  prepare  in  the  same,  all  that  uv  may  think  to 
your  Ilujhness'  satisfaction." '^•> 


25  Gov.  State  Papers,  i.,  p.  602. 


5(?  Tllfc:   MITUKL)   AUliOTS.  [book  II. 

The  fiift  was,  that  a  muster,  c<iually  extensive  with  that  in  Scotland, 
or  of  all  men  from  10  to  00,  with  the  number  of  their  liarnesses  anil 
weapons,  hail  heen  onlcreil  ;  and  to  satisfy  the  Kin<^,  London  is  now  dis- 
playing what  she  had  done.  Ilalle  the  old  chronicler  gives  a  minute  de- 
scription of  the  whole.  On  Thursday  the  8th  of  May,  every  alderman, 
with  his  ward  in  liattle  array,  came  to  the  common  place  of  rendezvous  ; 
so  that  all  the  fields  from  Whitechapel  to  Mile-end,  and  from  Bethnal 
Green  to  Ilatcliff'  and  Stepney,  were  covered  with  harness,  bows,  bills 
and  pikes,  or  men  and  weapons.  By  eight  in  the  morning  they  were 
all  on  the  move,  to  appear  before  Henry,  who  "  sat  in  his  new  gate 
house,  at  his  palace  of  Westminster,  where  he  viewed  the  whole  com- 
pany." By  nine  o'clock,  the  first  captain  had  entered  Paul's  Church- 
yard, which  the  last  had  not  done  till  four  in  the  afternoon.  The  num- 
ber was  15,000,  besides  a  class  named  "  wyfFelers  and  waiters."^  But 
why  all  this  alarm  ?  Forts  and  beacons  erected — the  fleet  equipped, 
and  musters  taken  throughout  the  kingdom  !  Where  was  the  enemy, 
whether  by  sea  or  land  ?  Lord  Crumwell  had  informed  the  King  that 
he  saw  no  cause  for  immediate  apprehension  ;  and  one  author  has  told 
us  that  "  all  this  noise  of  an  invasion  was  looked  on  as  no  better  than 
management  and  mystery,  by  a  great  many."  "  It  was  the  strain," 
they  said,  "  of  a  party  to  colour  the  practice,  and  carry  on  the  one  de- 
sign in  view" — the  suppression  of  all  the  religious  houses,  including  the 
greater  monasteries.  "  The  King's  necessities  were  too  faint  a  colour 
to  discharge  the  imputation  :  the  censure  went  deep,  and  the  scandal 
spread,  notwithstanding  this  allegation."  ^ 

At  all  events,  it  is  very  observable,  that  only  five  days  after  all  this 
bustle  in  London,  the  subject  was  introduced  to  the  House  of  Lords. 
To  this  Parliament  all  the  mitred  Abbots  had  been  summoned  of  course, 
and  for  the  last  time.  It  was  to  receive  final  judgment ;  for  however 
courteously  they  had  been  spoken  of  three  years  ago,  when  the  lesser 
monasteries  were  dissolved,  their  day  of  doom  was  now  at  hand.  One 
hundred  and  fifty  abbots,  and  other  superiors  of  a  lower  grade,  had  sur- 
rendered their  houses  and  lands  to  the  Crown  before  this  year  1539  ;  a 
step  taken  on  the  same  principle  with  that  of  the  unjust  steward  in  the 
parable.  They  acted  wisely,  as  they  thought,  for  themselves,  by  mak- 
ing the  best  compromise  they  could.  Still  all  such  transactions  re- 
quired to  be  sanctioned  by  Parliament ;  and  so  now  this  most  compliant 
House  will  not  only  confirm  all  that  had  passed,  but  secure  all  that  is  to 
come.  On  the  1.3th  of  May,  therefore,  a  Bill  was  brought  into  the  House 
by  Lord  Chancellor  Audley,  vesting  in  the  Crown  all  the  property, 
moveable  and  immoveable,  of  the  monastic  establishments,  which  either 
had  already  been,  or  should  hereafter  be,  surrendered  or  suppressed. 


I.i3l>.]  DISSOLUTION    OF   MONASTERIKH.  "i? 

According   to  Sir  Edward  Coke,  both  Houses  were  then   entertainc<I 
with  a  very  pretty  story,  as  from  his  Majesty — 

"  That  no  King  or  kingdom  were  safe,  where  the  King  had  not  three  abili- 
ties. First,  to  live  of  his  own,  and  able  to  defend  his  kingdom  upon  any 
sudden  invasion  or  insurrection.  Second! i/,  to  aid  his  confederates,  otherwise 
they  would  never  assist  him.  Thirdlij,  to  reward  his  well-deserving  servants. 
Now,  (/■  the  Parliament  would  only  give  and  confirm  to  him  all  the  Abbeys 
and  Priories,  the  Friaries  and  Nuuneries,  and  other  monasteries,  for  ever,  then 
in  time  to  come  he  would  take  order,  that  the  same  should  not  be  converted  to 
private  use.  But  frst,  thtit  his"  exchequer,  for  the  purposes  aforesaid,  should 
be  enriched.  Secondly,  the  kingdom  be  strengthened  by  the  maintenance  of 
forty-thousand  well-trained  soldiers,  with  skilful  captains  and  commanders. 
Thirdly,  for  the  benefit  and  ease  of  the  subject,  he  nerer  afterwards,  in  any 
time  to  come,  should  be  charged  with  subsidies,  fifteenths,  loans,  or  other  com- 
mon aids  !  and  Fourthly,  lest  the  honour  of  the  realm  should  suffer  by  the  dis- 
solution of  the  said  monasteries,  there  being  twenty -nine  Abbots  and  Priors  who 
were  Lords  of  Parliament,  the  King  would  create  a  number  of  Nobles  !" 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  vice,  in  its  vilest  forms,  was  to  be  found 
in  many  of  these  houses,  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest  grade  ;  and  as 
little,  that  vice,  in  other  forms,  was  practised  by  Crumwell's  visitors, 
when  professedly  engaged  in  their  examination  and  exposure  ;  but  if 
immorality  of  conduct  forms  a  sufficient  ground  for  the  forfeiture  of 
property  to  the  Crown  for  ever,  to  say  nothing  here  of  such  a  Crown, 
what  would  have  become  of  property  in  England,  at  any  period,  from 
that  day  to  this  1  Had  these  houses  been  all  of  royal  foundation,  the 
case  would  have  been  different,  but  this  they  notoriously  were  not ;  or 
had  even  the  objects  to  which  the  proceeds  were  applied  been  of  a  laud- 
able character,  Henry,  instead  of  adding  to  the  disgrace  of  his  character, 
might  have  escaped  the  censure  of  posterity  ;  but  every  one  knows  that 
the  representation  and  promises  here  held  out  before  Parliament  were  but 
delusive  mockery.  Every  one  knows  that  the  entire  spoil  was  not  suffi- 
cient, as  we  shall  find  in  one  short  year,  when  Crumwell  makes  his  last 
effort  at  procuring  more  money  for  his  prodigal  and  unprincipled  Master. 

It  deserves  notice,  that,  at  this  juncture,  almost  all  the  disciples  of 
the  "  old  learning"  bowed  to  the  King's  lust  after  monastic  property. 
By  yielding  to  him  in  one  "w&j,  they  might  calculate  on  his  compli- 
ance with  their  counsels  in  another.  The  mitred  abbots  in  the  House 
made  no  counter  motion.  Gardiner  was  even  forward  in  declaiming 
against  the  religious  houses,  and  commended  the  King  for  suppressing 
them.  His  friend,  the  Duke  of  Norfolk,  had  already  purchased  the 
monastery  of  Septon  in  Suffolk  ;  and  there  was  now  opened  up  to  all 
the  nobility  the  inviting  prospect  of  easy  purchase,  advantageous  ex- 
change, nay,  of  free  gifts  ;  and  as  since,  if  war  ensued,  it  was  to  bring 
no  additional  burden,  and  even  pauperism,  as  well  as  taxation,  was  to  be 
heard  of  no  more  I — the  delusion  served  its  purpose,  and  the  Bill  passed. 


ryS  TIIK    NEW    ARTICLES.  [BOOK  II. 

To  fliuooili  the  way  for  this  result  and  jiucifj'  the  other  party,  another 
Bill  was  iiitrutlucoil  into  Parliament  on  the  23<1  of  May  by  Lord  Cruni- 
well.  The  House  was  to  rise  next  day,  till  the  30th  of  the  month,  and  it 
is  curious  enough  that  this  Bill,  which  was  to  enable  the  King  liy  his 
letters  patent  to  erect  new  Bishoprics,  was  read  the  same  day  three 
times,  and  immediately  sent  down  to  the  Commons.  The  preamble  and 
material  parts  of  this  act,  drawn  by  the  King  himself,  are  still  extant 
in  the  British  Museum,  with  a  list  of  the  Sees  intended.  But  it  is  e4ually 
well  known  that  there  was  a  failure  here  also.  Thirteen  are  noted  in 
this  list,  and  fifteen  or  sixteen  were  talked  of :  but  the  result  was  the 
erection  of  only  six  ;  Oxford  and  Bristol,  Gloucester  and  Chester, 
Peterborough  and  Westminster,  the  last  of  which  was  soon  dissolved. 

These  two  measures,  however,  were  not  only  ones  over  which  the 
Members  of  both  Houses,  as  well  as  the  people  at  large,  were  called  to 
ruminate,  till  the  30th  of  May.  There  was  a  third,  affecting  the  whole 
country,  and  frauglit  with  personal  violence  ;  for  we  must  not  forget  the 
Bishops  who  had  been  left  to  their  discussions,  while  Henry  was  re- 
viewing his  London  troops. 

J3ut  however  bent  his  Majesty  now  was,  upon  what  he  chose 
to  style  unanimity  of  opinion,  it  was  soon  manifest  that  the 
committee  of  Bishops  appointed,  could  never  agree.  In  a 
similar  perplexity,  just  three  years  ago,  his  Majesty  and  Cran- 
mer  in  union  had,  for  the  first  time,  framed  certain  articles  for 
the  people  of  England  to  believe,  enforcing  them  on  all  men 
by  the  Sovereign's  authority  ;  so  that  consistently,  the  Arch- 
bishop cannot  now  object,  should  a  similar  course  be  followed. 
In  1536  it  was  no  doubt  deemed  a  fortunate  circumstance, 
that  (Jardiner  was  out  of  the  tcaj/ ;  but  he  has  now  returned, 
and  if  he  and  his  party  can  follow  the  precedent  set  them,  and 
Henry  .should  condescend  to  be  on  that  side,  then  he  will  still 
be  equally  iiattered,  as  the  Lord  of  all  opinions  upon  English 
ground.  His  Majesty ""s  subjects  were  not  to  think  for  them- 
selves before,  and  the  right  to  do  so,  was  not  to  be  conceded 
now.  At  this  moment,  he  imagined  that  his  personal  circum- 
stances demanded  a  very  different  class  of  opinions,  and  they 
were  now  to  be  enforced  on  pain  of  death.  The  former,  that 
is,  the  FIRST  articles,  were  to  msurc peace  and  contentation  ;  but 
those  about  to  be  proposed,  though  directly  in  the  teeth  of  the 
former,  were,  according  to  the  precious  royal  announcement,  to 
"  establish  tinanimitii  and  terminate  all  religious  controrersies 
amonn  his  people  T     This,  it  mu.st  be  c(mccded,  wa.«  giving  to 


153t».]  THE   SIX    ARTICLES.  59 

loth  parties  a  fair  opportunity  of  testing  the  eft'ect  of  "  articles" 
as  bearing  upon  public  opinion ;  and  as  Cranmer  had  first  led 
the  way,  he  must  now  abide  the  consequences,  whether  they 
should  first  lead  to  tlie  destruction  of  his  own  domestic  happi- 
ness, or,  seventeen  years  afterwards,  to  his  death.  In  other 
words,  the  artillci-y  which  had  been  first  framed  by  Cranmer, 
was  about  to  be  seized,  and  planted  against  himself. 

It  was,  as  we  have  stated,  on  the  5th  of  May  that  this  Com- 
mittee of  nine  had  been  appointed.  On  every  point,  they 
divided  regularly,  as  five  to  four,  Cranmer  and  Crumwell  being 
in  the  minority.  Henry's  patience  was  very  soon  exhausted, 
and  by  Friday  the  16th,  Norfolk  was  ready  with  the  intended 
remedy  for  diversity  of  opinions.  The  King,  and  AMnchester 
no  doubt,  had  been  preparing  it,  for  the  mouth  of  that  Pre- 
mier ;  who  on  the  SOth  of  j\Iarch  last,  had  told  Crumwell, 
that  ho  had  been  "  praying  to  God,  that  he  would  give  the 
King  of  Scotland  grace  to  do,  as  Henry  had  already  done  !'"' 
The  Duke  having  therefore  informed  the  House  that  no  pro- 
gress had  been  made,  or  could  be,  by  the  Committee ;  pro- 
posed six  questions  for  their  consideration.  They  referred  to 
1.  The  Mass,  2.  Communion  under  one  kind,  or  the  bread 
without  the  cup.  3.  Private  masses.  4.  The  celibacy  of  the 
Clergy.  5.  Auricular  confession,  and,  6.  Vows  of  chastity. 
Neither  Audley  nor  Crumicell  now  took  any  part  in  the  de- 
bate, nor  indeed  any  layman  ;  but  Cranmer  did,  and  with  all 
his  powers  :  for  it  is  certainly  going  much  too  far,  for  anv 
historian,  upon  a  single  loose  anonymous  authority,  to  denv 
him  the  credit  of  as  much  heroism  as  he  then  displayed.-" 
For  three  days  the  discussion  continued,  and  though  Henry 
himself  had  the  effrontery  to  come  down  uuconstitutiouall}'^, 
and  join  in  the  debate,  and  afterwards  requested  Cranmer  not 
to  appear  and  vote,  he  appears  to  have  resisted  to  the  utmost 
limits  of  his  personal  safety,  and  never  gave  his  formal  con- 
sent. True,  he  did  not  act^  as  Latimer  did  afterwards,  for 
that  was  not  in  the  man  ;  but  the  only  wonder  has  been  that, 
going  as  far  as  he  did,  the  King  was  not  mightily  oftended. 
This,  however,  will  be  accounted  for  presently. 

It  has  been  remarked  that  six  questions  were  tabled,  and 
they  ended  in  one  act :    frequently  denominated  afterwards 


-^  Clcop.  E.  v..  p.  128,  a*  quoted  by  I,in};arrt. 


fiO  IMM-S   OK    ATTAINDKR.  [book   II. 

"  the  bloody  statute,"  and  at  other  times,  "  tlie  whip  with  six 
cords.""'  Such  was  tlie  remedy  of  Henry  VIII.  for  diversity 
of  opinions  ;  for  now,  as  he  .allowed  his  subjects  no  title  to  any 
opinion  of  their  own,  they  must  all  believe,  or  profess  to  be- 
lieve in — 1 .  TranBuhstaiitiation.  2.  That  communion  under 
both  kinds  is  not  necessary  to  salvation.  3.  That  Priests  may 
not  marry  by  the  law  of  God.  4.  That  vows  of  chastity  are 
bindiiig.  5.  That  private  masses  ought  to  be  r^toewerf;  and, 
6.  That  the  use  of  auricular  confession  is  expedient  and  neces- 
sary :  while  the  penalties  annexed  illustrated  the  growing 
brutality  of  the  Sovereign.  Denial  of  the  first  profane  ab- 
surdity subjected  the  individual  to  death  by  the  flames,  for 
an  authoritative  stop  was  now  put  to  abjuration.  That  could 
now  save  no  man's  life  ;  and  as  for  the  other  five  points,  for 
the  denial  of  any  one  of  them,  the  party  was  to  die  as  a  felon, 
or  be  imprisoned  during  his  Majesty's  pleasure.  After  the 
Parliament  resumed  on  the  30th  of  May.  this  bill  was  intro- 
duced, though  it  was  not  read  for  the  first  time  till  the  7th  of 
June,  the  second  time  on  Monday  the  9tli,  and  passed  next 
day.^  On  the  following  Saturday  it  passed  the  Lower  House, 
and  receiving  the  ro3'al  assent  on  the  28th,  its  pains  and  pen- 
alties were  to  be  inflicted  from  and  after  the  12th  of  July, 

This,  however,  is  not  the  full  amount  of  the  baseness  of 
this  Parliament.  At  its  opening,  instructions  had  been 
given  to  pass  bills  of  attainder  against  Margaret,  Countess  of 
Salisbury,  the  mother  of  Cardinal  Pole,  now  70  years  of  age  ; 
Gertrude,  widow  of  the  Marquis  of  Exeter  ;  and  a  young  hoy., 
son  of  Lord  Montacute ;  Sir  Adrian  Fortescue,  and  Sir 
Thomas  Dingley.  Exeter  and  Montacute,  it  may  be  remem- 
bered, had  already  suftercd  ;  but  great  difficulty  was  felt  in 
proceeding  with  these  two  ladies,  and  especially  the  old  Coun- 
tess. After  others  had  tried,  Crumwell,  who  evidently  thought 
himself  skilful  at  cross-examination,  "  assayed  the  uttermost  of 
his  power,"  JJut  he  was  still  bathed  by  the  Countess,  who  is 
said  to  have  been  "  more  like  a  strong  and  constant  man, 
than  a  woman  ;"  after  which,  so  eager  was  the  sinking  courtier 


*»  On  the  .THh  of  May,  llic  l-ords  had  n|i|i<iintcd  two  liills  to  he  drawn, — one  by  Crannicr  of 
Canterbury,  Ooodrich  of  Ely,  Barlow  of  St.  Davids,  and  Dr.  Pclrc— the  otlicr  by  tjv  of  York, 
TuNSTAL  of  Durham,  GAiinixER  of  Winchc8tor,  and  Dr.  Tragonnft.  Both  wore  submitted  to 
Henry  of  course,  when  of  course  also,  the  latter  w.is  preferred.  .'«ec  the  orieinal  draft  in  the 
Cotton  MS.,  Cleop.  t.  31.1,  with  corrections  in  the  Kixg's  own  hand-writin);. 


l.")39.]  "  THE    RESULTS.  61 

to  please  liis  Master,  that  he  actually  called  up  the  judges 
and  enquired — "  Whether  Parliament  might  condemn  per- 
sons accused  of  treason,  without  anji  previous  trial  or  confes- 
sion /"  These  servile  and  unprincipled  men  replied,  "  that  it 
was  a  nice  question,  and  one  that  no  inferior  tribunal  could 
entertain,  but  there  was  710  doubt  that  the  court  of  Parliament 
was  supreme  ;  and  that  any  attainder  by  Parliament,  (and 
of  course  by  the  present,)  would  be  good  in  law  /"  Such  a 
bill,  therefore,  they  immediately  passed,  condemning  to  death 
all  the  parties,  without  any  trial  whatever  !  What  became 
of  the  child  no  one  knows.  Fortescue  and  Dingley  were 
executed  on  the  lOtli  of  July  ;  the  Marchioness  was  pardoned 
about  six  months  hence,  but  the  aged  Countess  was  retained 
in  prison  nearly  two  years,  till  another  frenzy  having  seized 
the  monarch,  she  was  dragged  from  her  dungeon  ;  but  plead- 
ing innocence,  and  boldly  resisting  her  very  executioner  to 
the  last,  till  her  grey  hairs  were  covered  with  blood,  the  head 
was  severed  from  the  body  on  the  27th  of  May  1541. 

Crumwell,  in  ambitious  pursuit  of  his  own  standing,  bad 
now,  with  a  witness,  entered  into  the  field  of  temptation,  and 
it  becomes  difficult  to  hold  the  pen  ;  but  impartiality  forbids 
that  he  should,  at  such  a  moment,  be  the  only  man  in  view. 
Among  those  significant  "  Remembrances^''  so  strangely  left 
behind  for  the  verdict  of  posterity,  and  to  which  we  have 
before  referred,  there  is  one  item  of  awful  import,  suggesting 
the  idea  that  Henry,  far  from  unconnected  with  this  tragedy, 
had  been  the  director  behind  the  scenes.  Item,  says  Crum- 
well, in  his  own  hand-writing,  "to  remember  specially  the 
Lady  of  Sarum'''' — Salisbury:  but  then  a  little  afterwards, 
"  Item — what  the  King  will  have  done  with  the  Lady  of 
Sarumy  This,  it  may  be  presumed,  must  have  been  written 
before  the  judges  were  called  ;  and  such  a  Minister  !  such  a 
Monarch  !  it  may  well  be  exclaimed.  But  we  forbear  all 
comment,  and  more  especially  as,  before  the  year  concludes, 
the  reader  has  to  witness  other,  if  not  greater,  abominations. 
It  should,  however,  be  observed  that  the  step  thus  taken  by 
Crumwell,  very  strongly  reminds  one  of  the  gallows  pi-epared 
by  Hainan  for  Mordecai ;  as  next  year,  and  therefore  before 
his  victim,  the  aged  Countess,  he  himself  was  the  first  who 
fell  under  the  axe,  in  strict  accordance  with  the  precedent  he 
had  now  introduced  ! 


62  Tllfc:   SIX    AUTICLKS    Al'lM.lKl).  [liuOK  II. 

In  coiu'lnsioM  of  tlioso  iniserablr  prococdini!:.-^,  t'»^'  Lower  as 
wi'U  a.s  tlic  U|)|K'r  House,  seems  to  have  been  willing  to  eoni- 
|»ly  witli  any  thing  which  inigjit  occur  to  the  caprice  or 
passion  of  the  reigning  King.  His  Majesty  had  taken  offence 
at  the  manner  in  which  some  of  his  proceedinga,  and  par- 
ticularly his  proclamations  had  been  treated,  since  the  Last 
Parliament  in  1536.  An  act  was,  therefore,  now  passed, 
which  sets  forth  in  the  preamble,  "  the  contempt  and  disobe- 
dience of  the  King's  proclamations  by  some,  who  did  not 
consider  tchat  a  King  by  his  royal  power  might  do  ;  which  if 
it  continued  would  lead  to  the  disobedience  of  the  laws  of 
God  !  and  the  dishonour  of  the  King's  Majesty,  who  may  full 
ill  bear  it.  Considering  also  that  many  occasions  might  re- 
quire speedy  remedies,  and  that  delaying  these  might  occasion 
great  prejudices  to  the  realm — therefore  it  is  enacted,  tiiat  the 
King  for  the  time  being,  with  advice  of  his  Council,  might 
set  forth  proclamations  with  pains  and  penalties  in  them, 
which  were  to  be  obeyed,  as  if  they  were  made  by  an  act  of 
Parliament !"  If  any  now  so  offended,  and  in  further  contempt 
went  out  of  the  kingdom,  they  were  to  be  adjudged  as  trai- 
tors. To  this  bill,  indeed,  some  opposition  was  evinced,  but 
it  passed  as  well  as  all  the  others. 

After  doings  so  notable  as  these,  and  affecting  so  many 
parties.  Parliament  rose  on  the  28th  of  June,  amidst  feelings 
of  exultation  on  one  side,  and  indignation  on  the  other  ;  but, 
as  far  as  "  the  six  articles"'''  were  concerned,  the  pet  measure 
of  the  Premier  and  his  friends,  backed  as  they  were  by  the 
bloody  statute,  they  were  not  slow  in  proceeding  to  action. 
This  statute  was  not  to  I'emain  a  dead  letter.  Commissioners 
were  instantly  a[)pointed  to  act  upon  it ;  that  is,  to  seek  out 
victims  ;  and  in  the  various  jurisdictions,  a  Bishop  was  invari- 
ably to  be  one  of  the  commissioners.  To  witness  the  com- 
mencement of  operations,  we  require  to  proceed  no  farther 
than  the  metropolis.  The  inquisitors,  selected  with  satanic 
discrimination,  ignorant,  headlong,  and  blood-thirsty,  were 
"  such  as  had  read  no  part  of  Scripture  in  English,  or  in  any- 
wise favoured  such  as  had.,  or  loved  the  preachers  of  it.""*^  The 
commissioners  sat  in  Mercer's  Chapel,  close  by  the  old  Jewry, 
Cheapside  ;^'  and  in  fourteen  days,  there  was  not  a  preacher 

"W  Halle. 

»'  Why  select  this  place  ?     Mercer's  Chapel,  formerly  and   for  ages  held  sacred  as  Gilhcrt 


1539.J  THK   SIX    AUTICLES    Al'PLIED.  63 

or  noted  individual  in  London,  known  or  suspected  to  have 
spoken  in  any  way  derogatoi-y  to  one  of  the  six  articles,  who 
had  not  been  harassed  ;  nay,  overstepping  their  commission, 
they  enquired  not  only  who  came  seldom  to  the  church,  but 
who  read  the  Bible  in  it;  so  that  more  than  five  hundred 
persons  had  been  indicted,  and  it  became  evident  that  the 
prisons  of  the  city  could  not  contain  all  those  whom  they 
tliought  uuist  be  brought  to  trial. 

Thus,  if  the  character  of  Henry,  of  his  Bishops,  and  his 
nobilit}'-  had  been  evolved  in  Westminster  Hall,  last  Novem- 
ber, at  the  trial  of  Lambert ;  so  we  have  now  at  least  five 
hundred  witnesses  to  the  tenets  for  which  Lambert  died. 
But,  besides  these,  it  must  be  remembered  that  many  a  man 
who  could  do  so,  had  found  it  convenient  at  least  to  leave  the 
city;  though  as  the  facts  stand,  we  have  here  one  of  the  clearest 
testimonies  to  the  streno-th  of  that  cause,  to  which  the  reisn- 
ing  authorities  had  been  at  heart  opposed  from  the  beginning. 
The  Bishop  of  the  diocese,  Stokesly,  was  here  setting  an 
example  to  the  country  at  large,  worthy  of  his  character  in 
past  years.  He  was  now  indeed  actually  descending  to  his 
grave,  for  he  died  on  the  Sth  of  September ;  but  the  busy 
scene,  and  the  prospect  of  the  moment,  must  have  proved  like 
a  reviving  cordial  to  his  drooping  spirits.  Beside  the  Bishops, 
we  know  that  the  Premier,  Norfolk,  who  had  introduced  the 
questions,  was  in  the  highest  spirits,  because  tiie  act  had 
passed.  In  short,  the  preparations  were  finished,  and  could 
have  left  not  the  shadow  of  a  doubt  that  England  was  about 
to  become  a  field  of  woe,  if  not  of  blood.  The  whole  scene  is 
worthy  of  record  and  particular  notice,  were  it  for  no  other 
purpose  than  to  show  how  remarkably  a  gracious  Providence 
interposed,  and,  overruling  as  before,  "  made  the  storm  a 
calm,  so  that  the  waves  thereof  were  stilled." 

Blind  zeal  has  been  compared  to  the  haste  of  a  man  in  the 
dark,  who  knows  not  when  or  where  to  stop  ;  and  shrewd  as 
were  the  leaders  of  the  old  learning,  they  had  gone  at  least 
one  step  too  far.  Both  Tunstal  and  Gardiner  had  distinctly 
overshot  themselves  ;   for  pride  of  understanding,  and  abund- 


Beckel's  house,  the  father  of  St.  Thomas,  and  the  spot  where  he  had  been  born.  His  shrine  had 
been  destroyed  only  last  September— a  deed  which,  at  this  moment,  was  denounced,  abroad  as 
well  as  at  home,  from  Rome  to  London.  Did  the  commissioners  intend  to  give  some  point  to 
their  proceedings,  by  selecting  this  spot  'f 


04  FUUSTKAIKl)    AM)  [huok  II. 

unoe  of  t'aj)rioL-,  had  rendered  the  uiuuurcli  one  of  the  most 
ticklisli  of  all  leadei-s.  In  the  course  of  the  discussions  in 
Parliament,  it  .s(»  happened  that  on  one  single  point  the  King 
agretd  with  Cranmer.  It  was  in  reference  to  "  auricular 
confession,"  that  notable  device,  for  not  only  enslaving  the 
human  mind,  but  preventing  all  .sense  of  direct  responsibility 
to  (jiod  alone.  Cranmer  had  maintained  that  it  was  unneces- 
sary, by  any  Divine  precept,  and  in  tliis  Henry  chose  to 
support  him.  Nettled  at  only  one  point  out  of  six  being  con- 
troverted, Tunstal,  Gardiner,  and  Lee,  urged,  that  the  resolu- 
tion of  the  House  should  declare  auricular  confession  to  be 
''a  command  of  Christ,  and  part  of  the  sacrament  of  penance;" 
but  the  monarch  would  not  allow  one  jot  more  than  the  simple 
declaration,  that  such  confession  was  expedient,  and  necessary 
to  be  retained.  With  this,  they  might  well  have  rested 
satisfied,  but  no ;  Tunstal  had  the  temerity  to  write  to  the 
King  afterwards,  when  he  received  a  thorough  set  down  for 
his  presumption.  In  reply,  Henry  expressed  no  little  aston- 
ishment at  his  writing  now,  after  having  been  overthrown  in 
the  House  by  Cranmer  and  himself,  and  here  simply  sending 
to  him  a  few  texts,  which  "  make  smally  or  nothing  to  your 
intended  purpose."  His  Majesty  closed  with  the  following 
sentence — "  I  think  that  I  have  more  cause  to  think  you 
obstinate,  than  you  me,  seeing  your  authors  and  allegations 
make  so  little  to  your  purpose — And  thus  fare  you  well." 

The  same  parties  must  have  been  guilty  of  still  greater 
precipitation  in  proposing  their  "  Book  of  Ceremonies  to  be 
used  in  the  Church  of  England."  They  had  pressed  this 
strange  and  superstitious  farrago  to  be  received  and  passed  as 
the  act  of  Convocation  ;  but  the  project  completely  failed,  and 
the  book  was  afterwards  replied  to  by  Cranmer.'''^ 

But  even  though  neither  Tunstal  or  Gardiner  had  ruffled 
his  Majesty's  temper  in  the  slightest  degree,  perhaps  neither 
of  them  foresaw  that  there  was  one  point  still,  where  their 
whole  procedure  might  be  arrested,  and  prove  a  failure.     Nor 


<<>  "  The  Bishop  of  Winchester,  with  his  ou>n  pen,"  savs  Strype,  "  hath  nn  annotation  in  one 
place  of  the  l>ook  ;  and  I  stronRly  suspect  that  he  w.ns  more  than  the  reviser  of  it ;  and  that  it 
was  drawn  up  by  Uim  and  hi«  party,"  <3cc.  This  is  not  correct.  While  Gardiner  was  absent  in 
France,  by  way  of  doinR  something;  in  tlie  meanwhile,  the  book  was  framed  by  Tunstal  and 
Stokesly,  in  conjunction  with  8amps4in,  Uishop  of  Chichester,  a  kindred  spirit ;  and  it  is  still 
extant  in  the  Museum. — Clfop.,  K.  v.,  fol.  2at-2fl«i.  The  niaruinal  annotation  referred  to  by 
Strvpc.  is  in  the  hand-writing  of  &iiH/M</n,  not  (iardiner.  But  the  subject,  in  conjunction  with 
all  the  parties,  will  come  before  us  again,  just  before  Cnimwell's  downfall. 


1.530.]  IN    WITAT   MANNER.  65 

let  it  pass  unobserved  tliart  if  relief  be  obtained,  it  must,  in  part 
at  least,  be  traced  to  the  noble  stand  made  by  the  immortal 
Frtith.  Hence  the  benefits  which  may  ensue,  lonp  aftei\  from 
only  one  faithful  martyr  "resisting  unto  blood,  striving  against 
sin,"  As  he  was  the  first  man  certainly  known  to  have  died 
upon  English  ground,  xcithout  ahjnration^  (which  was  not  now 
to  be  admitted,)  so  he  was  the  last  that  had  fallen  under  the 
sovereign  power  of  the  Bishops  ;  and  it  may  be  remembered 
that  in  the  very  next  session  of  Parliament  after  his  death, 
that  bill  was  passed,  which  took  all  reputed  heretics,  ever 
after,  out  of  the  hands  of  these  merciless  men.*^  That  act 
had  passed  in  Gardiner's  absence^  and  was  now  in  force.  All 
the  parties  now  apprehended,  therefore,  must  be  proceeded 
against  forthwith,  by  two  witnesses,  and  in  open  court.  A 
Bishop,  indeed,  must  be  one  of  the  Commissioners ;  but  then 
every  man  accused  is  entitled  to  a  trial  by  jury,  and  even 
if  found  guilty,  the  King's  writ  must  be  obtained,  before  any 
sentence  can  be  executed.  The  case,  in  short,  was  so  far  a 
civil  one,  and  since  these  London  Commissioners  have  run 
after  the  prey,  as  if  the  Act  passed  had  been  positively  a  re- 
trospectite  one  ;  in  the  midst  of  their  dilemma,  application  must 
be  made  to  the  Lord  Chancellor,  Audley,  in  the  House  of 
Lords,  and  before  the  royal  disputant,  had  been  silent,  but 
now  that  it  came  to  his  turn  to  speak,  perhaps  viewing  any 
selection  as  difficult,  if  not  unjust,  and  the  punishment  of  all 
to  be  inhuman  if  not  hazardous,  so  it  was  that  he  advised  the 
reputed  criminals  should  be  pardoned.  Cranmer  and  Crum- 
well  and  the  Duke  of  Suflfolk  (Norfolk's  opponent)  concurred, 
and  not  one  man  was  brought  up  to  trial  !  Though,  therefore, 
these  six  articles  remained  as  a  source  of  great  misery,  and 
were  employed  afterwards,  by  stretch  of  law,  as  the  occasion 
of  much  bloodshed,  at  this  momentous  crisis  "  the  wise  were 
taken  in  their  o"wn  craftiness,  and  the  counsel  of  the  froward 
was  carried  headlong,"  The  five  hundred  indictments  fell  to 
the  ground,  and  there  was  nothing  more  left  for  Stokesly,  just 
before  going  to  render  his  account,  than  to  reflect  on  his  past 
cruelties.  He  was  to  be  far  exceeded  by  Bonner,  his  succes- 
sor ;  and  yet,  if  Foxe  be  correct,  "  at  the  point  of  death,  he 


•■'•■I  Soe  vol.  i.,  pp.  381.  4iil.  40.3. 


Cr,  CUANMliK   HM'E  [uOOK   II. 

ivjou-L-tl,  lioastini;  that  in  the  oourst'  of  his  lifetime  he  had 
hunied  lifty  heretics." 

One  wonder  of  the  day  was,  that  the  King  was  not  offended  with 
Cranmcr  ;  and  as  it  has  been  a  mystery  to  others  since,  some  explana- 
tion is  necessary.  Perhaps  a  key  may  be  found,  which  will  serve  for 
this  and  all  similar  occasions,  in  time  to  come. 

Cranmer,  it  is  allowed  by  all,  reasoned  much  against  the  bill  passing, 
and  objected  to  five  points  out  of  six  ;  whereas  Tunstal  had  done  so  only 
to  one.  And  yet  so  far  was  the  King  from  being  enraged,  that  on  the 
day  on  which  Parliament  rose,  or  the  28th  of  June,  he  sent  for  the 
Archbishop,  and  desired  that  he  would  put  all  his  arguments  in  writing 
and  bring  them  to  himself.  More  than  this,  and  by  way  of  check  to 
the  premier,  Norfolk,  and  his  party,  he  ordered  that  he  and  the  Duke 
of  Suffolk,  with  Crumwell  and  the  other  peers,  should  dijie  with  Cranmer 
at  Lambeth  ;  they  were  also  to  assure  him  of  his  Majesty's  kindness  for 
him,  and  that  though  his  arguments  had  failed  of  convincing  the  House, 
they  discovered  great  wisdom  and  learning  I  When  the  day  arrived,  it 
was  in  July,  upon  delivering  their  mes.sage,  Cranmer  is  reported  to  have 
replied — "  I  thank  his  Highness  for  his  regard,  and  you  for  your  pains  ; 
and  that  my  allegations  and  authorities  may  yet  be  admitted,  to  the 
glory  of  God  and  the  good  of  this  realm,  is  my  hope  in  God." 

This  curious,  because  constrained,  meeting,  was  at  best  a  hazardous 
experiment  ;  and,  accordingly,  Crumwell  sufiered  by  it,  though,  for  a 
season,  it  was  of  some  value  to  Cranmer.  Materials  so  discordant  could 
scarcely  be  expected  to  meet  without  some  explosion.  The  guests  were 
sounding  the  praises  of  their  host.  "  You,  my  Lord,"  said  Crumwell, 
"  were  born  in  a  happy  hour,  I  suppose  ;  for  do  or  say  what  you  will, 
the  King  will  always  take  it  well  at  your  hands.  And  I  must  confess 
that  in  some  things  I  have  complained  of  you  to  his  Majesty,  but  all  in 
vain  ;  for  he  will  never  give  credit  against  you,  whatever  is  laid  to  your 
charge  :  But  let  me,  or  any  other  of  the  Council,  be  complained  of,  his 
Grace  will  most  seriously  chide,  and  fall  out  with  us  ;  and,  therefore, 
you  are  most  happy  if  you  can  keep  you  in  this  state."  Poor  Crumwell  ! 
he  seems  almost  to  have  envied  the  place  of  the  Primate  ;  but  then, 
unfortunately  for  himself,  though  he  was  merely  following  a  previous 
eulogist,  Wohey^s  character  and  bearing,  in  comparison  with  Cranmer's, 
was  introduced.  "  And  that,"  said  Norfolk,  "  know  you  well,  my  Lord 
Crumwell,  for  he  was  your  Master.''''  Touched  at  this  allusion,  Crum- 
well acknowledged  his  obligations  to  the  Cardinal,  but  immediately 
added — "  yet  I  was  never  so  far  in  love  with  him,  as  to  have  waited 
upon  him  to  Rome,  if  he  had  been  chosen  Pope,  as  I  understand  that 
you  would  have  done,  if  the  ease  had  so  fallen  out."     Norfolk,  who  de- 


1,5.30.]  WlllLK    HKNRV    LIVES.  07 

served  all  this,  denied  it,  but  Orumwell  persisted,  showing  "  what  nuiu- 
ber  of  florins  he  should  have  received,  to  be  his  admiral,  and  to  have 
safely  conducted  him  to  Rome."  The  Duke  replied,  with  a  deep  oath, 
that  he  lied,  when  great  and  high  words  rose  between  them.  Cranmer 
and  other  guests  interposed  to  quiet  them,  and  restore  decorum  ;  but 
though  the  embers  seemed  to  be  quenched,  they  were  only  smothered, 
and  were  to  burst  into  a  flame  before  long. 

To  return,  however,  to  the  King  and  the  Archbishop,  and  resolve  the 
mystery  of  this  unequal  dealing.  Were  thei-e  any  ground  to  rest  upon, 
one  might  seem  bound  to  allow,  that  Henry  had  discovered,  on  this  oc- 
casion, some  token  of  personal  friendship  ;  but  there  was  none  whatever. 
Of  mutual  benevolence,  the  monarch  was  almost  altogether  incapable, 
and  he  was  now  merely  saying  to  his  Council — 

"  let  your  unseemly  discord  cease, 


If  not  in  friendship,  live,  at  least,  in  peace." 

The  fancy  of  the  moment  might  sometimes  be  favourable  to  an  op- 
ponent, or  the  oppressed,  but,  generally  speaking,  never  did  the  King 
spare  any  man,  but  for  some  reason  personal  to  himself,  and  involving 
either  his  passions  or  his  safety.  His  clemency  to  Cranmer  was  con- 
nected with  both.  Henry  made  but  one  Archbishop  of  Canterbuiy,  and 
in  a  very  strange  way  ;  but  he  could  not  have  made  a  second,  without 
the  greatest  personal  hazard.  Had  Cranmer  been  removed,  Tunstal  and 
Gardiner  stood  in  the  way,  and  could  not  have  safely  been  passed  over  ; 
but  though  Henry  has  been  listening  to  their  insidious  advice,  he  had 
no  confidence  in  either.  Besides,  Bulls  could  not  now  have  been  ob- 
tained from  Rome  ;  and  though  the  King  certainly  had  gone  a  great 
Avay  as  Head  of  the  English  Church,  an  Archbishop  of  Ms  making,  with- 
out them,  would  even  yet  have  stood  but  a  poor  chance  for  acceptance 
with  the  priests.  In  the  King,  therefore,  it  was  nothing  more  than 
policy,  to  uphold  his  Primate.  In  his  official  capacity,  often  had  he  al- 
ready served  his  Majesty's  purpose,  and  his  services  will  yet  be  needed, 
again  and  again.  His  official  character  was  Cranmer's  safeguard,  and 
this  will  preserve  him  through  the  bloodiest  and  most  reckless  scenes  of 
Henry's  remaining  life.  It  was  his  post,  not  his  prowess,  or  his  per- 
sonal skill,  which  enabled  Cranmer  to  ride  out  all  the  storm.  Should 
any  doubtful  reader  request  a  farther  proof,  it  is  close  at  hand,  and  a 
striking  one — the  King's  inhuman  treatment  of  Latimer. 

Hugh  Latimer  in  his  day  had  the  honour  to  stand  alone. 
Though  not  a  faultless  character,  at  this  period  there  was 
none  like  him  in  all  England,  more  especially  on  the  bench 
of  Bi-shops  ;  and  he  seems  to  have  been  literally  the  only  man 
who  ever  had  the  courase  to  face  Henry  VHI.     Cranmer 


(;s  iir(;ii  i.ati.mkk  in  contuast.  [book  ii. 

Iiatl  found  it  very  cuiivoiiient  to  employ  liiiii  in  153G,  to  speak 
out  before  that  Convocation,  as  he  had  bohlly  done ;  but  he 
could  not,  or  dared  not,  follow  him  in  1539.  Latimer,  it  is 
to  bo  observed,  had  not  by  any  argumentation  opposed  the 
King,  as  Cranmer  had  ;  but  after  the  bloody  Act  was  passed, 
he  resigned  his  bishopric,  on  the  first  of  July.  Laying  aside 
his  robes,  he  leaped  for  joy,  and  said — "  I  am  now  rid  of  a 
great  burden,  and  never  felt  my  shoulders  so  light  before." 
Soon  after,  a  bishop,  supposed  to  be  Gardiner,  sent  for  him, 
and  expressed  his  surprise  that  Latimer  should  object  to  the 
traditions  then  enjoined  by  the  Council,  as  matters  of  belief; 
when  lie  nobly  answered — "  I  will  be  guided  by  God''s  book ; 
and  rather  than  dissent  one  jot  from  it,  I  zcould  be  torn  by  wild 
horses^  He  then  retired  to  the  country,  intending  to  lead  a 
quiet  life ;  but  soon  after,  by  the  falling  of  a  tree,  he  was 
bruised  so  severely,  that  he  was  under  the  necessity  of  re- 
turninc:  to  London  for  surfrical  assistance.  It  was  not  diffi- 
cult  to  vamp  up  a  case  against  Latimer  ;  for  certainly  he  had 
said  many  things,  which  to  all  that  party  must  have  been 
like  irall  and  wormwood.  There  is  no  record  of  his  examina- 
tion  extant,  but  there  is  reason  to  think  that  it  took  place  in 
the  royal  presence.  However,  whether  it  did  or  not,  the 
King  well  knew,  and  ultimately  sanctioned,  nay,  directed  all 
that  followed :  for  Latimer  was  committed  to  the  Tower  thus 
unceremoniously,  and  there  he  lay  till  the  accession  of  Ed- 
ward VL**  The  conscience  of  Henry  had  constrained  him, 
on  different  occasions,  to  mark,  if  not  revere  the  fidelity  of 
this  man,  whom  he  now  unwittingly  promoted  to  be  a  prisoner 
of  Jesus  Christ ;  but  he  could  manage  to  get  on  well  enough 
without  a  IJishop  Latimer,  though  not  without  his  own  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury. 

It  was  now  the  month  of  August,  when  a  lurid  gloom 
rested  on  the  minds  of  many.  In  London,  itself,  there  was 
a  pause ;  the  commissions  under  the  persecuting  act  had  not 


84  "  Touching  Latinu-r,  his  Majosty  would  have  liim  yet  to  remain  in  the  Bishop's  house,  till 
hf  may  speak  with  yoti,  and  devise  what  is  best  to  <io  with  him.  His  Majesty  is  also  contented, 
that  my  Lord  Uroat  Master  illie  Uiike  of  .Suffolk)  shall  have  the  use  and  keejiinRof  the  Bishop's 
mule,  for  the  time  ;  and  if  it  shall  so  come  to  pass,  that  the  Bishop's  Roods  shall  be  confiscated, 
then  his  Majesty  is  content  that  my  said  Lord  (ireat  Master  shall  have  the  said  mulf,  of  his 
Highness' (-ift  l^'—I'VyHi  Saillcr  to  Cndiiiirll,  in  A|iril  l">40,  a  few  days  after  his  being  created 
Karl  of  Essex,  and  within  two  months  of  his  own  arrest.  The  meahnets  of  Henry's  cruelty  is 
beyond  all  comment,  as  well  as  the  subserviency  of  Crumwell.  See  Gov.  State  Papers,  i.,  p.  fi27. 
Bui  by  Latimer's  testimony  in  l.',4(),  Cinmwell's  character  will  suffer  still  more. 


1539.]  ALEXANDER  ALES  ESCAPES.  69 

been  issued  for  the  country  at  large,  and  they  never  were  ; 
but  at  present  their  issue  was  eagerly  anticipated  by  some, 
and  dreaded  by  others,  as  we  shall  see  presently.  Burgharfs 
return  from  Germany  was  not  without  its  effect,  and  must 
have  galled  the  other  party  ;  but  still  the  needle  of  the  beam, 
in  Henry's  hands,  oscillated  in  suspense,  and  no  man  could 
tell  which  scale  would  rise.  Various  individuals  had  been 
escaping,  some  to  the  Continent,  and  others  out  into  the 
country.  We  give  a  specimen  of  each,  and  more  especially  as 
they  refer  to  two  characters  already  known  to  the  reader, — 
Alexander  Ales  and  George  Constantyne. 

Ales,  it  will  be  remembered,  had  excited  the  wrath  of 
Stokesly  to  the  highest  degree,  three  years  ago ;  when  no 
man  foresaw,  or  perhaps  imagined,  that  the  very  next  Convo- 
cation would  be  of  an  opposite  character.  Since  1536,  having 
studied  physic  under  an  eminent  physician  well  known,  Dr. 
Nicholas,  Ales  had  begun  to  practise  in  London  for  himself, 
and  not  without  success  ;  but  for  him,  above  all  men,  it  was 
no  longer  safe  to  remain  within  Stokesly's  jurisdiction.  An- 
ticipating what  followed,  he  embarked  for  Germany  once 
more.  Soon  after  his  arrival,  he  wrote  to  Crumwell  a  letter 
of  thanks  for  all  his  kindness,  and  by  this  we  learn,  that  the 
recent  doings  in  England  were  well  known  to  all  abroad. 

"  I  returned  to  Wittenberg,"  says  he,  "  the  ,9tli  of  July,  being  most  affec- 
tionately received  by  all  those  who  are  chiefly  in  authority  in  the  Academy, 
and  at  the  Court.  Before  my  arrival,  the  decrees  from  your  country  were 
dispersed  at  Nurenberg  and  everywliere  in  Germany  ;  and  those  addicted  to 
the  interest  of  the  Bishop  of  Rome  make  great  rejoicings.  They  hope  that 
this  precedent  will  very  much  obstruct  the  good  cause  which  our  friends  here 
profess,  in  common  with  myself.  In  some  places  they  have  been  told  that  I 
have  excused  the  King,  yourself,  and  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  that 
I  have  laid  all  the  blame  on  the  Bishops,  who  are  the  enemies  of  the  gospel. 
I  thought  I  did  that  truly."35 

Of  George  Constantyne  we  last  heard  as  being  in  London  at 
the  time  of  Queen  Anne's  execution.  Shortly  after  this  he 
had  entered  the  Church  of  England,  having  obtained  the 
vicarage  of  Lawhaden,  or  Llanhuadaine,  three  miles  north- 
west of  Narberth,  in  Pembrokeshire,  under  William  Barlow, 
Bishop  of  St.  David's.  His  character  to  the  end,  was  at  best 
ambiguous,  and  it   requires  to   be  borne  in  mind  that  he  is 

»5  Cotton  MS.,  Nero.  B.  vi.,  fol.  .Vi.    Ori.t;   Lat. 


70  <a:oKUK  constantynk  {^dook  ii. 

MOW  deprecating  the  displeasure  of  Crumwell,  which  gives  a 
turn  to  some  of  his  expressions ;  but  in  the  information  now 
derived  from  him,  we  have  a  very  shrewd  and  graphical  pic- 
ture of  the  state  of  parties  at  the  moment.  Many  such  con- 
versations must  have  passed,  both  in  the  houses,  and  on  the 
high  roads  of  England,  but  none  perhaps  more  full  of  inci- 
dent, and  entering  so  deeply  into  public  men  and  measures, 
as  the  following  : — 

The  times  were,  of  course,  full  of  perplexity  and  suspicion,  and  among 
others,  Constantyne  had  once  more  got  into  trouble.  He  had  been  in  town, 
and  even  at  Court,  so  late  as  the  17th  of  August,  but  must  have  immedi- 
ately, and  in  haste,  left  London,  perhaps  that  evening,  since  he  had  reached 
Westbury,  beyond  Bristol,  on  Tuesday  the  l*>th.  There  he  met  with  John 
Marlow,  Uean  of  Westbury  and  Archdeacon  of  Carmarthen,  (to  whom  he  was 
officially  subject,)  and  Thomas  Barlow,  his  brother,  both  proceeding  into 
Wales,  whither  Constantyne  was  now  hastening.  He  was  "  very  loath,"  how- 
ever, to  ride  in  the  Dean's  company,  trying,  by  a  day's  delay  in  Bristol,  to 
avoid  this,  and  no  wonder.  The  truth  was,  that  the  Dean  liad  already  been 
representing  him  as  a  "  Sacramentary," — "  which  is,"  adds  Constantyne,  "  if 
any  thing  can  be  worse,  more  heinous  than  treason."  Nay,  the  Dean  had  got 
Sir  Richard  Crumwell  to  write,  and  the  Duke  of  Norfolk  to  speak  to  Barlow, 
his  Bishop,  against  him  ;  and  even  Lord  Crumwell  himself,  he  had  heard 
"  note  of  him  for  heresy."  Well  might  he  escape  from  London,  and  be  averse 
from  accompanying  this  man  for  several  days  into  Wales.  However,  there 
was  no  alternative,  as  the  Dean  waited  for  him  at  Aust,  'and  they  all  three 
crossed  the  Severn  in  company  on  Thursday  the  21st.  At  their  first  meeting 
on  Tuesday,  Constantyne  had  informed  them  of  his  having  been  at  the  Court, 
on  Sunday  last,  the  1 7th  ;  that  the  King  was  well  ;  that  Dr.  Barnes  had  just 
returned  from  Germany  ;  that  the  Act  of  Parliament  passed,  required  no  sub- 
scription, being  of  authority  without  that  of  any  man  ;  but  that  in  reference  to 
the  country  at  large,  he  could  hear  of  not  one  commission  being  yet  issued, 
adding,  "  nevertheless  I  will  advise  all  my  friends,  to  keep  them  out  of  dan- 
ger." Landing  at  Chepstow,  where  they  supped  together,  the  Dean  succeeded 
in  putting  Constantyne  so  far  off  his  guard.  He  made  him  such  "  hearty 
cheer,"  that  he  "  thought  all  malice  was  forgotten  ;  so  that,"  says  he,  "  I  took 
the  man  for  whole  changed,  and  that  all  was  remitted,  and  was  very  glad  it 
was  my  chance  to  overtake  him."  Next  day  they  all  jogged  on  together  to 
.\bergavenny  ;  the  Dean  as  distinguished  for  his  loquacity  or  inquisitiveness, 
as  his  brother  was  for  silence  ;  but  both  marking  every  expression  that 
dropped  from  our  Vicar.  Constantyne,  however,  a  shrewd  fellow,  seems  to 
have  taken  care  to  say  several  thiugs,  which  might  operate  in  his  own  favour, 
ait  well  as  please  Crumwell,  to  whom  he  afterwards  sent  the  whole  dialogue 
"  faithfully  and  sensibly,"  as  we  now  have  it. 

With  the  dreaded  act,  they  began  this  morning,  both  the  Dean  and  his 
brother  professedly  rejoicing  that  there  was  no  general  commission  issued  a.s 
yet.  Constantyne  replied,  that  he  had  enquired,  but  could  hear  of  none,  and 
trusted  there  would  be  a  moderation  in  it  :  adding — 

"  Well,  we  know  not  the  work  of  (Jod.  If  it  be  his  pleasui'c,  it  is  as  easy  for 
him  to  overcome  with   few,  as  with  many  ;  but  I   think  verily  that  my  Lord 


I 


1,)30.]  IN   GREAT   ALARM.  71 

Privy  Seal  (Crumwell)  persuaded  my  Lord  of  Canterbury,  and  that  for  other 
considerations  than  we  do  know." — "  As  I  can  hear,  my  Lord  Privy  Seal  is 
utterly  persuaded  as  the  act  is."  Dean,  "  It  is  marvel,  if  it  be  so."  George. 
«  Wondei'ful  are  the  ways  of  the  Lord  ;  King's  hearts  arc  in  the  hand  of  God  ; 
He  turneth  tliem  as  lie  lusteth.  How  mercifully,  how  plentifully  and  purely 
hath  God  sent  his  Word  unto  us  here  in  England  !  Again,  how  unthankfully, 
how  i*ebelIiously,  how  carnally,  and  unwillingly,  do  we  receive  it !  Who  is 
there  almost  that  will  have  a  Bible,  but  he  must  be  compelled  thereto  ?  IIow 
loath  be  our  Priests  to  teach  the  commandments,  the  articles  of  the  faith,  and 
the  Pater-Noster  in  English  !  Again,  how  unwilling  be  the  people  to  learn 
it !  Yea,  they  jest  at  it,  calling  it  the  new  Pater-Nostcr,  and  new  learning  ; 
so  that,  as  help  me  God,  if  we  amend  not,  I  fear  we  shall  be  in  more  bondage 
and  blindness  than  ever  we  were.3<>  I  pray  you  was  not  one  of  the  best 
preachers  in  Christendom  (Latimer)  Bishop  of  Woi'cester  ?  And  now  there  is 
one  made  that  never  preached  that  I  heai'd,  except  it  were  the  Pope's  law.-'? 
But,  alas  !  beside  our  naughtiness,  cowardness  and  covetousness,  is  the  occasion 
of  much  of  this.  The  cowardness  of  our  Bishops,  to  tell  truth,  and  stand  by  it 
while  they  might  be  heard,  and  the  covetousness  of  our  visitors.  For  in  all  our 
visitations  we  have  had  nothing  reformed,  but  our  pm-ses."  3S 

The  Dean  then  eagerly  enquires  whether  there  was  any  progress  in  ])rocur- 
ing  a  Queen  for  his  Majesty ;  that  step  or  hinge,  on  which  they  anticipated 
everj'  thing  was  to  tm-n.  Constantyne  first  cannot  tell  what  to  say,  but,  evi- 
dently leaning  to  Crumwell's  hope,  wishes  the  King  were  married.39  There 
were  two  spoken  of,  the  Duchess  of  Milan,  and  Anne  of  Cleves  ;  and  referring 
to  the  latter,  the  Vicar  goes  on — "  There  is  good  hope  yet,  that  all  shall  be 
well  enough,  if  that  marriage  go  forward  :  for  the  Duke  of  Cleves  doth  favour 
God's  Word,  and  is  a  mighty  prince  now  ;  for  he  hath  Guelderland  in  his  hand 
too,  and  that  against  tlie  Emperor's  will  ;  for  the  old  Duke,  that  is  now  dead, 
sold  to  the  Emperor  the  reversion  of  it."  He  then,  at  last,  informs  the  Dean 
that  "  the  matter  is  broken  of  Milan." — "  She  demanded  two  things,  which 
I  trust  shall  never  be  granted,  the  one — the  Bishop  of  Rome's  dispensation ; 
and  they  would  have  pledges,  saying,  that  the  King's  Majesty  was  in  so  little 
space  rid  of  the  Queens,  that  she  dared  not  trust  his  Council,  though  she  durst  trust 
his  Majesty.  For  her  Council  suspected  that  her  great-aunt  (Queen  Catherine) 
was  poisoned  ;  that  the  second  (Queen  Anne)  was  inuocently  (though  innocent) 


3«  George,  it  must  be  remembered,  was  here  speaking  of  the  country  at  large,  and  not  only 
BO,  but  of  his  own  order,  and  of  the  circle  in  which  he  nfficially  moved,  and  his  account  was  too 
true  ;  but  by  that  numerous  class  who  read  and  revered  the  Sacred  page,  Constantyne  must 
have  long  been  regarded  with  suspicion,  as  a  time-server.  Being  excluded  from  their  confi- 
dence, he  was  not  aware  of  the  numbers  that  were  now  reading.  But,  besides  this,  he  was  in 
Wales,  and  no  wonder  than  the  fVdsh  felt  great  aversion  to  the  Emjlish  Scriptures.  Tliis  sub- 
icct  is  now  better  understood,  for  never  till  the  Sacred  Volume  was  given  them  in  their  own 
tongue,  was  any  progress  made.  Had  Wales  been  all  along  treated  as  Ireland  has  been.  In  spitic 
of  England's  vicinity,  it  had  been  much  in  the  same  state.  But  on  this  subject  the  Author 
may  be  permitted  to  refer  to  another  work — "  Historical  Sketches  of  the  Native  Irish  ;"  or,  as 
tlie  third  edition  is  entitled,  "  The  Native  Irish  and  their  descendants  ;"  where  ample  informa- 
tion may  be  found  respecting  the  Scriptures,  and  their  effects,  in  all  the  Celtic  dialects. 

37  Referring  to  John  Bell,  once  Archdeacon  of  Gloucester,  from  1518  to  1522. 

38  This  was  rather  bold  language  for  the  ear  of  Crumwell. 

39  He  speaks  of  Henry's  age,  48,  as  no  discouragement,  and  then  curiously  adds—"  my  father 
might  be  granrlfalher  to  an  older  man  than  the  King's  Majesty,  and  yet  is  lusty,  I  thank  God." 
The  Dean,  of  course,  enquires  his  age,  and  George  replies— "/oi»'  score  and  tivdre,  and  yet  the 
last  summer  he  rode  thirty-two  miles  upon  one  day,  before  two  o'clock,  and  said  he  was  not 
weary  when  he  had  done!"  Born,  therefore,  in  1447,  he  ha<l  lived  under  six  sovereigns,  from 
the  days  of  Henry  VI. 


72  (•(INSTANTVNK'S    VIKW     OF   THIS   CRISIS.  [u.iitK   II. 

|>ut  to  dcutli  ;  and  tlu-  third  lost,  for  lack  of  keeping,  in  lier  child-bed." — "  But 
to  say  the  tinith,  I  eannot  toll  whether  this  \va.s  her  answer,  of  Milan,  or  of 
ClcvcH," — if  the  latter,  "  surely  it  was  a  great  occasion  of  the  late  act."  Over 
this  act  he  lainent.s,  adding,  "  how  can  tiie  Germans  he  our  friends,  when  we 
conclude  them  heretics  in  our  acts  of  Parliament  ?"  The  Dean  suggests  that 
they  may  have  been  "  better  advised." — "  I  trust  so,"  says  the  Vicar,  "  and 
this  may  fortune  is  the  stopping  of  the  Commissions." 

They  dined  at  Abergavenny,  and  then  rode  on  to  Brecknock,  when  Gardi- 
ner and  Tunstal  become  the  subject  of  convereation.  Constantyne  expresses 
himself  as  charmed  with  a  book  against  Gardijier's  "  De  vera  Obedientia," 
written  by  Ei-asmus  Sarccrius,  chaplain  to  Prince  William  of  Nassau  ;  and 
though  he  tliinks  Erasmus  too  strong  for  him,  wishes  that  Gardiner  may  reply, 
as  he  thought  him  "  the  best  learne<l  of  his  faculty  in  England,  a  groat  rheto- 
rician, but  of  very  cori-upt  judgment."  To  which  the  Dean  replies — "  he  hath 
done  much  hurt,  I  promise  you."  To  which  we  have  the  following  answer — 
"  There  is  no  man  hath  done  so  much  hurt  in  this  matter  as  the  Bishop  of 
Durham,  (Tunstal,)  for  he,  by  his  stillness,  soberness,  ami  subtilty,  worketh 
more  than  ten  such  as  Winchester,  and  he  is  a  learned  man  too  :  and  a  irouder- 
fid  thing  my  Lord  Privy  Seal  brou<jlit  him  in."^  "  But  these  two  Bishops,  if 
they  were  as  learned  in  God's  word,  as  they  be  in  the  Pope's  law  ;  and  us 
earnest  to  sot  the  word  forth,  as  they  be  traditiom,  they  were  Bishops  indeed  ! 
But  alas  !  by  them,  and  such,  we  have  nothing,  in  a  manner,  but  '  translatio 
imperii,'  so  that  they  make  of  the  King,  as  it  were,  a  Pope.  And  dispensations 
be  sold  now  dearer,  by  the  half,  than  they  were  in  the  Popish  time."  He  con- 
cludes by  saying — "  I  would  not  counsel  my  Lord  Privy  Seal  to  trust  them  too 
nmch  for  all  that.  For  I  dare  say  this,  that  they  will  do  the  best  thei/  can  to 
hare  him  out,  if  they  can  see  him  at  au  advantage.  I  would  trust  them,  if  I 
could  see  one  of  them  once  promote  or  set  forward  but  one  that  is  suspected 
to  favour  God's  word."-*' 

Having  slept  at  Brecknock,  on  Saturday  they  proceeded  to  Carmarthen.  In 
the  morning,  Constant^Tie  gave  his  account  of  Queen  Anne  Boleyn's  execution, 
to  which  we  have  already  referred.  He  had  derived  no  information  whatever 
from  his  master.  Sir  Hem-y  Nonns,  with  whom  he  then  was,  nor  from  any  per- 
sonal observation  all  the  time  of  his  being  in  the  house,  unfavourable  to  her 
character  ;  he  merely  speaks  of  what  he  heard,  amidst  the  confusion  at  the 
l)lace  of  execution.  But  as  Cnimwell,  to  whom  he  was  now  writing,  had 
winked,  and  fallen  in  with  the  whole  of  that  tragedy,  and  Constantyne,  then 
much  afraid  of  him,  was  deprecating  his  displeasure,  of  course  he  durst  not  ex- 
press himself  as  believing  in  her  innocence.  Yet  he  had  given  the  Continental 
opinion.  •*- 

*f  If  Cnonircrt  had  done  this,  it  would  have  proved  the  decided  commencement  of  an  in- 
fatuation >»hich  soon  overtook  liini.  And  from  this  exi>ression,  Linpard  goes  so  far  as  to  in- 
sinuate that  Crumwcll  was  now  "  lahoiirinp  In  procure  proselytes  amonij  the  Bishops,  to  avoid 
the  displeasure  of  liis  sovereign."  But  of  this  there  is  no  evidence.  AVe  have  already  seen  that 
it  was  the  King's  wish,  not  Crum well's,  that  had  brought  Tunstal  in  ;  Gardiner  denied  that  he 
was  then  of  the  Privj  Council,  but  still  he  had  the  car  of  the  King,  and  hence  the  undermin- 
ing of  Crumwcll. 

■•'  Constantyne  had  sufTcred  much  through  Tiinstal's  subtilty,  but  nothing  from  Gardiner's  ; 
and  this  fully  accounts  for  his  comparison.  His  description  of  the  former,  however,  is  a  com- 
mentary on  Tyndale's  opinion  of  him—"  that  still  Satan,  the  imaginer  of  all  mischief."  But 
taking  them  both  up,  as  to  their  whole  lives,  there  is  now  no  question  that  Gardiner  was  more 
cruel,  and  the  occasion  of  shedding  blood  to  a  far  greater  extent  than  Tunstal. 

*3  This  curious  original  manuscript,  in  the  posses.sion  of  Mr.  John  Payne  Collier,  was  never 
printed  till  IR1I.  in  the  Archa?«logia,  vol.  xxiii.,  pp.  ."iOTB.  The  explanation  thus  given  seems 
to  have  served  Constanl\ne'»  purpo>e.  «nd  saved  him  at  that  time.     Our  Vicar,  however,  (then 


1539.]  THE  TIDE   HAS  TURNED.  7-3 

A  contemporary  dialogue  over  tlic  times,  and  with  such  a 
man  as  Constantyne,  may  be  allowed  a  place  among  the  train 
of  events ;  but  the  suspense  in  which  he  and  thousands  were 
involved  was  soon  at  an  end.  He  needed  not  to  have  been 
afraid  either  of  Crumwell  or  the  King,  for  one  subject  now 
engrossed  both.  The  month  of  September  had  come.  The 
men  of  the  old  learning  had  rejoiced  over  "  the  bloody  sta- 
tute," as  passed  into  a  law,  and  all  was  ready  for  general  per- 
secution ;  when  lo  !  to  their  severe  mortification,  they  find 
that  the  spell  by  which  they  had  bound  the  King,  like  Sam- 
son's green  withs,  was  broken.  They  must  now  stand  aside, 
and  see  Crumwell  pursue  his  advantage.  Anne  of  Cleves  is 
certainly  to  be  Queen  of  England.  On  Tuesday  the  16th  of 
September,  Duke  Frederick,  the  Count  Palatine  or  Palsgrave 
of  the  Rhine,  had  arrived  at  Windsor  ;  the  Elector  of  Saxony, 
and  three  other  ambassadors  from  the  Duke  of  Cleves  follow- 
ed, and  got  to  London  two  days  after.  Crumwell  immedi- 
ately prepares  the  way  for  their  audience,  and  wrote  to  his 
Majesty  on  the  20th.  After  having  waited  in  painful  un- 
certainty as  to  how  far  the  royal  favour  would  ever  return  to 
him,  W'ith  what  delight  must  he  have  received  such  a  reply, 
and  on  the  same  day ;  while  the  King,  all  sweetness,  goes  so 
far  as  to  discover  the  most  tender  anxiety  for  the  health  of 
his  Lordship  ! 

"  His  Majesty,"  says  the  Earl  of  Southampton,  "  willed  me  to  signify  to  you 
that  he  takes  yoiu-  letter  in  marvellous  good  part,  being  wonderful  glad  of  the 
contents  thereof,  and  specially,  that  the  Duke  of  Cleves'  men  have  commission 
apart ;  most  heartily  desiring  you  to  put  all  other  matters  out  of  yotir  head,  sav- 
ing only  this,  his  great  weighty  causes  ;  and  sharp  your  wit  to  attend  only  unto 
the  same.  And  I  assure  your  Lordship  he  said  these  words — '  I  would  for  no 
good  his  mind  should  be  so  troubled,  that  it  should  cast  him  into  any  disease' — 
which  words,  to  hear  him  speak  them  so  heartil}',  I  assure  you  did  my  heart 
good.  Sir,  he  eftsoous  desireth  you,  that  he  may  hear  from  you,  fi'om  time 
to  time."  43 

Although  this  was  literally  nothing  more  than  a  mere  gust 
of  royal  favour,  a  momentary  emanation  of  selfish  passion,  its 

official  for  two  Archdeacons,  &c.,)  as  well  as  his  son-in-law,  Thomas  Young,  appeared  as  wit- 
nesses against  Ferrar,  Bishoj)  of  St.  David's,  as  recorded  by  Foxe ;  and  when  Kerrar  was  burnt 
at  Carmarthen  in  l.j.'i'),  Constantyne  had  to  escape  once  more  to  the  Continent,  where  he  is  suj)- 
poscd  to  have  died,  soon  after.  The  sonin-law  returned,  married  a  second  time,  and  died  in 
June  1568,  as  ylrchhishop  of  York,  having  thus  occupied  the  same  place  that  Cardinal  Wolsey 
himself  had  done !  Young  was  also  President  of  the  Council  of  the  North,  under  Klizabcth. 
■"3  fiov.  State  Papers,  i.,  p.  619. 


74  KXKCUTION   Ol-"    AUBOT.S.  [book  ir. 

eflect  on  the  cliaiactor  ul"  CruunvcU  seems  to  have  been  melan- 
choly and  most  injurious.  The  struggle  to  regain  his  Master's 
confidence  or  approbation  having  thus  far  succeeded,  the  wildest 
anxiety  to  please  him,  at  all  hazards,  immediately  ensued. 
Any  man's  life  which  came  in  the  way,  was  then  of  small 
account,  and  actually  involved  very  little  else  than  a  line  or 
two  among  the  base  items  of  the  Lord  Privy  Seal.  That  book 
of  "  Remembrances,"  that  standing  witness  to  the  writer's 
character,  becomes  fearfully  illustrative  of  his  progress  in 
blood  shedding. 

The  Marchioness  of  Salisbury,  as  well  as  others,  had  been  disposed  of 
in  a  very  summary  style  of  injustice  ;  but  Crumwell  is  now  ready  to 
go  beyond  even  such  proceedings.  The  monasteries  being  dissolved,  the 
abbots  and  priors  had,  in  general,  proved  so  compliant,  as  to  excite 
astonishment ;  but  "  all  that  a  man  has,  he  will  give  for  his  life." 
There  were,  however,  three  individuals,  who  either  stood  out,  or  stood  in 
the  King's  way ;  the  Abbots  of  Colchester,  Reading,  and  Glastonbury  ; 
the  two  latter  being  Lords  of  Parliament.  They  had  been  attainted, 
but  to  represent  them  as  tried  afterwards  would  be  a  prostitution  of  the 
terra.  No  record  exists,  as  in  many  other  cases,  and  so  there  have  been 
different  opinions  as  to  the  ostensible  grounds  of  proceeding  against 
them  ;  though  whether  they  were  charged  with  aiding  the  insurgents  of 
the  north,  or  stickling  about  the  King's  Supremacy,  or  both,  is  of  little 
moment.  The  tnen  Avere  inconvenient,  but  their  incomes  <j[uite  the  re- 
verse ;  and  we  may  safely  presume,  that  here  lay  the  chief  impelling 
motive  to  action.  The  revenue  of  Colchester  monastery  is  not  known, 
but  excepting  St.  Peter's,  Westminster,  that  of  Glastonbury  was  the 
largest  in  England  ;  or,  calculating  according  to  the  irresent  value  of 
money,  above  £50,000  annually  ;  while  that  of  Reading  Abbey  was  above 
£30,000  a-year. 

Only  a  week  after  CrumwcU  had  received  this  gracious  message  from 
his  Majesty,  or  the  28th  of  September,  Messrs.  Pollard,  Moyle,  and  Lay- 
ton,  the  visitors,  were  down  at  Glastonbury  ;  and  busy  selling  the  cattle 
for  ready  money,  letting  out  the  i^astui-es  and  domains  from  Michaelmas 
forward  ;  and,  speaking  of  the  house  in  which  they  were,  they  say,  "  it 
is  great,  goodly,  and  so  princely,  as  we  have  not  seen  the  like."  It  was 
not  till  four  days  after  this,  that  they  had  "  come  to  the  knowledge  of 
divers  treasons  committed  by  the  abbot."'*^  But  it  is  altogether  unneces- 
sary to  enter  into  any  farther  detail.  We  have  only  to  glance  over  the 
"  Remembrances"  of  Crumwell,  and  there  we  find  the  following  auto- 
graph lines. 


<<  Gov.  .Slate  r.n|ici«.  vol,  j.,  p.  ri2(>-6"-21. 


1539.]  CRUMWELL'S  OBSEQUIOUS   POLICY.  75 

"  Item — Certain  persons  to  be  sent  to  the  Tower,  for  the  further  e.vaiuinalion 
of  the  Abbot  of  Glastonbury." 

"  Item — The  Abbot  of  Reading  to  be  $eut  down,  to  be  tkied  and  executeo 
AT  Reading,  with  his  coniplices .'" 

"  Item — The  Abbot  of  Glaston  to  be  tryed  at  Glaston,  and  also  to  he  exe- 
cuted THERE,  irith  his  complices  /" 

"  Counsellors  to  give  evidence  against  the  Abbot  of  Reading — Mr  Hynde, 
the  King's  Attorney." — "  Counsellors  to  give  evidence  against  the  Abbot  of 
Glaston — Richard  Pollai'd,  Lewis  Forscew,  Thomas  Moyle." 

"  Item — To  see  that  the  evidence  be  icell  sorted,  and  the  indictments  ivell 
drawn  against  the  said  abbots  and  their  complices  ["^^ 

These  fixed  and  fearful  purposes  of  his  Majesty's  Lord  Privy  Seal, 
expressed  in  terms  worthy  of  a  Turkish  Vizier,  or  the  Grand  Inquisitor, 
were  literally  fulfilled.  The  abbots  of  Whalley,  Gerveaux,  and  Sawley, 
as  well  as  the  priors  of  Woburn  and  Burlington,  had  been  executed 
before  ;  but  John  Whiting,  the  abbot  of  Glastonbury,  with  two  monks, 
and  Hugh  Faringdon,  the  abbot  of  Reading,  with  two  priests,  all  now 
suffered  as  traitors,  and  in  sight  of  their  own  abbeys, — the  latter  party 
on  Thursday  the  14th,  the  former  on  Friday  the  15th  of  November  ; 
and  on  the  1st  of  December,  John  Beach,  the  abbot  of  Colchester.  Thus 
died  three  of  the  richest  men,  just  as  if  to  mark  the  falling  of  the  cur- 
tain. The  larger,  as  well  as  the  smaller  monasteries,  were  now  no 
more. 

This  unprincipled  practice  on  the  part  of  Crumwell,  of  appointing 
men  to  be  tried  and  executed,  was,  however,  in  perfect  consonance  with 
the  taste  of  Henry  the  Eighth,  who,  in  all  his  ways,  had  a  passion,  ap- 
proaching to  extreme  nicety,  for  doing  every  thing  under  the  form  of 
law.  The  most  avaricious  or  cruel  deeds,  must  always  appear  robed  in 
legal  attire,  and  be  recorded  scrupulously  as  acts  of  perfect  justice. 
Thus,  in  the  whole  process  of  dissolving  these  houses,  the  first  step  was 
to  obtain  by  some,  or  by  any  means,  a  surrender  of  the  property,  then 
denominated  a  volitntary  act ;  the  second  was  to  vest  the  property,  by 
Act  of  Parliament,  in  the  Crown  ;  or,  in  other  words,  first  fill  the  Court 
of  Augmentation,  and  then  secure  the  proceeds,  thus  received  ;  from 
men  who,  strictly  speaking,  were  not  proprietors,  but  only  tenants  for 
life.  Hence,  in  the  Act  of  Parliament  now  passed,  there  was  no  occa- 
sion for  the  term  dissolve,  nor  was  it  employed.  There  was  only  to  come 
to  his  Majesty,  all  that  had  been,  or  should  be,  "  suppressed,  relin- 
quished, forfeited,  or  given  up."  To  obtain  the  property  by  "  for- 
feiture," was,  of  course,  an  easy  step  to  him,  who  could  define  treason  to 
be  whatever  might  exactly  serve  his  intended  purpose. 

This  determined  course  of  proceeding  with  the  monasteries,  from  first 
to  last,  involved  the  confiscation  of  property,  amounting  to  nearly  three 


<■*  Cotton  MS.,  Titiis,  B.  i..415,  &c. 


70  MONASTIC  SPOILS.  [liOuK  II. 

7nillions  annually  of  the  present  day  ;  besi<les  a  farther  suui,  in  move- 
ables, or  money  and  plate,  equal  to  more  than  tico  millions  and  a  quar- 
ter !  The  entire  value,  however,  must  have  been  more  than  this,  as  the 
Visitors  are  understood  to  have  helped  themselves,  wherever  they  could 
do  80  with  impunity  ;  hut,  at  all  events,  it  could  not  be  less,  though  an 
exact  estimate  can  never  be  attained.*^ 

That  the  Monks,  as  a  body,  should  murmur  and  resent  all  this,  was 
no  more  than  might  have  been  expected  ;  but,  considering  that  the 
people  had  been  so  steeped  into  the  existing  system  of  things,  as  well 
as  that  the  property,  moveable  and  immoveable,  in  the  first  instance  at 
least,  all  found  its  way  into  one  royal  reservoir,  it  may  seem  surprising 
that  they  did  not  rise  and  rebel  to  a  far  greater  extent.  For  this,  how- 
ever, at  least  two  reasons  may  be  assigned.  Crumwell  had  taken  special 
care  to  shew  to  the  people  how  they  had  l)een  deceived,  by  exposing  to 
public  view  all  the  trickery  and  pretended  miracles  which  had  so  long 
drained  their  pockets.  And,  besides  this,  "  it  is  quite  certain,"  says 
Mr.  Taylor,  "  that  in  all  populous  jilaces,  the  masses,  the  offerings  and 
oblations  were  of  greater  value  than  the  settled  endowments  of  the 
parochial  chuiches,  or  else  the  '  religious'  would  not  have  been  so 
desirous  of  having  them  appropriated  to  their  houses," — and  these 
"  houses  "  were  now  dissolved.  But,  notwithstanding  all,  the  compliance 
of  the  people,  and  the  servility  of  Parliament,  were  alike  remarkable  ; 
for  certainly,  as  yet,  the  country  had  gained  nothing  by  the  transfer- 
ence of  authority  from  Rome  to  London.  In  the  earlier  period  of 
Henry's  reign,  England  had  been  occasionally  twitted  by  the  Continen- 
tal nations,  as  being  the  ass  of  the  Pontiff ;  but  the  patience  of  that 
animal  was  only  a  faint  emblem  of  England's  condition  now,  under  the 
burden  of  its  bloated  Monarch,  so  lording  it  over  the  minds  as  well  as 
the  property  of  his  subjects. 


1 


■*«  Historians  have  differed  widely  in  their  estimates  of  the  amount.  We  have  relied  on  the 
authority  of  one  nf  the  lateKt  and  most  accurate  calculators— Mr.  Richard  Taylor,  in  his  "  In- 
dex Monasticus,  London.  1!I'2I."  After  noticinp  the  estimate  of  Speed,  including  811  monas- 
teries and  abbeys,  collcKes  and  hospitals,  the  gross  revenue  of  which  was  i'lU(;,512,  8s.  lid.,  he 
adds,—"  The  i)rcscnt  value  of  these  revenues  cannot  be  taken  at  less  than  fifteen  times  the 
amount  returned  in  l.l.'W-?.  This  proportion  appears  to  agree  with  the  comparative  prices  of 
labour  at  the  same  periods.  The  daily  wages  of  a  h.iymakcr  in  the  time  of  Henry  VII.,  were 
settled  at  ove  jinunj,  and  in  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII.  never  e.xcecded  Uirec  halfpence."  "  The 
present  rental  or  annual  value  of  the  estates,  which  formerly  belonged  to  the  abbeys  and  reli- 
gious houses  in  England  and  Wales,  may  be  stated  at  nearly  three  niillious." 

With  regard  to  the  moveable  property  :  In  the  account-roll  of  Sir  John  Williams,  keeper  of 
the  jewels  to  Henry  VIII.,  we  have  the  following  inventory :—"  From  the  monasteries,  cathe- 
drals and  shrines  ;  of  gold  in  ounces,  14,.">.'tl  ;  of  silver  in  ounces,  67.'!<>f> ;  of  silver-gilt,  2(l7,(kVi."— 
or  a  total  of  2K!(.7'i8.  This  was  sold  for  X'T-I.-Wl,  l.'is.  Id.;  to  which  must  be  added  f7!'.471, 
.'is.  !tM.  obtained  in  money,— or,  in  all,  .t.'l."«;i,(i(p.1,  IS.  Id^d.  Thist-um,  at  fifteen  times,  is  equal 
to  4.'2,2i).'),()45  ;  but  there  must  have  been  jeweU  and  money  which  never  got  so  far  as  t^ir  John's 
rt<ro«ii(-roll. 


1539,]  THK  SACRKD  SCIUPTURKS    PRINTINU.  77 

With  regard  to  the  express  history  of  the  English  Bible, 
the  year  1539  is  now  to  be  added  to  all  the  past.  But  let 
the  movements  of  the  time  ;  the  tyrannical  procedure  of  the 
reigning  Monarch ;  the  obse(][uious  deeds  of  both  Houses  of 
Parliament,  lying  prostrate  at  his  feet ;  the  notorious  com- 
plexion of  his  Council,  in  hostile  array  against  the  progress  of 
Divine  Truth  ;  the  tottering  influence  of  Orumwell,  once  so  re- 
solute ;  with  his  sad  and  bloody  footsteps  as  a  Privy  Coun- 
sellor :  let  all  these  be  surveyed  in  succession,  and  then  the 
general  aspect  of  the  year,  with  regard  to  the  printing  and  cir- 
culation of  the  Sacred  Volume,  must  appear  so  extraordinary, 
as  to  be  almost  unaccountable.  The  months  seem  to  have 
been  so  crowded  with  agitating  occurrences,  that  one  might 
have  imagined  there  had  been  not  a  day  left  for  another,  and 
much  less  for  a  separate  design — a  design  too,  however  un- 
noticed by  some,  or  hated  by  others,  which  had  been  proceed- 
ing, step  by  step,  to  successive  triumphs.  Still,  amidst  all 
other  national  aflt'airs,  time  must  be  found  for  this. 

But  at  such  a  season,  who  shall,  or  who  can,  nay  dare  to 
press  forward,  the  printing  of  the  Scriptures  ?  Above  all 
other  men,  Orumwell  is  the  last,  on  which  any  one  would  fix, 
as  the  urgent  mover  in  such  a  course.  He  seems  to  have  had 
not  one  moment  in  reserve,  and  had  he  not  been  truly  deno- 
minated "  an  iron  man,"  in  regard  to  business  transactions, 
certainly  he  had  not  found  one.  Instead  of  this,  however,  the 
sequel  will  show,  that  though  he  had  been  but  in  poor  health, 
and  though  he  had  winked  hard,  bowing  assent  to  the  six 
articles,  and  stood  ready  to  execute  the  King's  pleasure  even 
unto  death,  nay  and  could  order  men  to  be  "  tried  and  exe- 
cuted" in  the  same  breath  ;  yes,  even  amidst  all  this,  it  comes 
out,  that  he  had  been  resolutely  bent  on  multiplying  copies  of 
the  Bible  !  Strange  conjunction  of  pursuits,  as  probably  ever 
met  in  the  person  of  the  same  human  being  !  For  however 
many  were  the  subordinate  agents,  not  one  of  them  dared  to 
have  so  proceeded,  at  least  in  London,  without  his  fullest 
sanction. 

It  must  now  then  be  first  observed,  that  in  1539  both  Orum- 
well and  Oraumer  stand  before  us,  in  the  character  of  thwarted 
and  disappointed  men ;  severely  disappointed,  for  above  six 
months  of  the  year.  Three  years  before,  in  conjunction  with 
the  momentarv  humour  of  the  King,  Gardiner  being  abroad. 


78  THK    KNKUCiY    OK   CKLMWKLL  [boOK  II. 

thev  liad  introduced  what  were  deiioiiiiuated  "Articles  ol" 
Religiuir  to  the  notice  of  tlie  English  people ;  hut  now  they 
found,  to  their  hitter  mortification,  that  this  was  assuredly 
not  the  road  to  either  "  peace  or  contentation,"  or  ''  unity  of 
opinion."  On  the  contrary,  the  mode  which  they  had  intro- 
duced in  1536,  furnished  the  precedent  which  their  opponents 
now  followed  ;  or  the  ground  on  which  they  stood,  and  tried 
to  overawe  the  human  mind.  In  the  first  Convocation,  with 
Crumwell  as  Vicar-General,  so  far  as  the  King  and  Cranmer 
had  professedly  meddled  with  Christianity  at  all,  they  had 
made  it  technical  and  d/sputative.  It  was  not  the  voice  of 
God,  as  contained  in  his  Word,  with  which  they  began,  for 
neither  Cranmer  or  Crumwell  could  get  those  Bishops  to  as- 
sent to  any  translation  of  the  Scriptures.  Thus  before  the 
authority  of  Divine  Truth  in  the  language  of  the  people  was 
recognised,  by  these  first  articles  a  certain  vocabulary  had 
been  introduced  ;  and  in  the  prospect  of  the  present  Convoca- 
tion, Gardiner  and  his  party  were  by  far  too  shrewd,  not  to 
take  advantage  of  the  precedent  set.  They  fought  and 
baffled  the  Archbishop  with  his  own  weapons,  while  my  Lord 
Privy  Seal,  Crumwell,  like  a  perfect  politician,  had  bowed  to 
the  storm.  So  now  when  the  tug  of  battle  came,  and  Crum- 
well found  that,  as  an  expedient  in  his  hands,  "  articles  of 
religion"  must  be  given  to  the  winds  ;  the7i  it  was  that  the 
Bible,  and  the  Bible  alone,  aftbrded  him  the  only  prospect  of 
turning  the  tide  upon  his  political  opponents.  Thus  singu- 
larly shiit  tip  to  this  one  object,  he  w'as  not  slow^  to  improve 
his  powers  ;  for  though  he  could  no  longer  shake  his  rod  over 
the  Bench  of  Bishops,  his  authority  and  precedence  or  rank  as 
Vicar-General  had  been  distinctly  recognised  ;  and  this  lie 
could  exercise  still,  very  powerfully,  without  the  doors  of  the 
Convocation,  though  not  within  them  ;  while  the  dissolution 
and  consequent  dispersion  of  that  body,  w^as  analogous  to  the 
breaking  up  of  a  combination  against  him. 

The  operation  of  the  bloody  statute  being  now  also  stayed, 
and  no  commissions  issued  for  the  country  at  large ;  Henry 
too  having  been  fully  apprised  of  how  odious  that  statute  was 
to  his  intended  matrimonial  connections,  here  was  a  favourable 
crisis.  To  the  printing  of  the  Bible,  therefore,  amidst  his 
multifarious  engagements,  Crumwell  lent  all  his  energy,  so 
that  not  fewer  than  four  editions  of  the  entire  Scriptures,  with 


1539.]  MAV    BK   INTKRPRETED.  •    79 

which  his  personal  influence  was  connected,  now  issued  from 
the  press. 

There  is  no  concealing  it  now ;  for  by  a  comparison  of  dates, 
it  will  be  manifest,  that  the  character  of  Crumwell  when  sink- 
ing, and  so  near  his  end,  presents  to  the  reflective  mind  one  of 
the  most  painful  contemplation,  and  in  truth,  one  of  a  far 
more  melancholy  hue,  than  even  that  of  Wolsey  himself. 
Wolsey,  the  "  man  of  pleasure,"  not  to  say  boundless  ambi- 
tion, sinking  under  disgrace  into  his  grave,  yet  breathing  out 
persecution  against  the  Lutherans,  and  leaving  this  as  his  dy- 
ing advice  to  the  King,  was  a  spectacle  sad  enough  :  yet  is  it 
scarcely  to  be  compared  to  that  of  Crumwell,  the  energetic 
"  man  of  business,"  himself  stepping  into  blood,  to  please  his 
Master,  or  retain  his  favour  ;  and  at  the  same  moment  push- 
ing forward  editions  of  the  Scriptures,  nay  enforcing  on  his 
countrj'^men  the  perusal  of  the  sacred  page  !  Who  can  deny 
after  this,  that  the  heart  is  "  deceitful  above  all  things,"  and 
reckless  beyond  expression? 

To  proceed,  however,  with  the  proof.  The  Bible,  described 
last  year,  as  commenced  in  Paris,  and  snatched  from  the 
flames  of  the  Inquisition,  was  finished  in  London  by  the 
month  of  April,  and  ready  for  circulation  under  the  following 
title,  before  the  meetings  of  Parliament  and  Convocation. 

"  The  Byhle  in  EiujlysUe,  that  is  to  saye,  the  content  of  all  the  holy  Scripture, 
bothe  of  the  olde  and  Neve  Testament,  truly  translated  after  the  vcryte  of  the 
Hehrue  and  Greke  textes,  by  the  dylygent  studye  of  diuerse  excellent  learned 
men,  expert  in  the  forsayde  tonges.  flf  Printed  by  Rychard  Grafton  and  Ed- 
ward Whitchurch.  Cum  priuilegio  ad  imprimendum  solum."  The  Colophon 
is — «  The  ende  of  the  new  Testamett  and  of  the  whole  Byble,  Fynisshed  in 
Apryll,  Anno  mcccccxxxix.     A  dno  factum  est  istud."-*? 

This  title,  as  well  as  the  representation  round  it,  ascribed 
to  the  pencil  of  Hans  Holbein,  it  is  now  abundantly  evident, 
were  alike  in  the  teeth  of  history  ;  to  say  nothing  of  the  pro- 
fanity involved,  in  which  the  Almighty  is  represented  as 
saving  of  the  King — "  I  have  found  a  man  according  to  my 
own  heart,  which  shall  fulfil  all  my  will !"  But  this  served 
to  answer  the  purpose  of  Crumwell   at  the  moment,  in  his 


*y  The  italic  words  are  in  red  letters.  Of  this  Bible,  Lewis  ascribed  a  second  edition  to  this 
year,  or  the  next ;  and  he  thought  he  had  confirmed  this  by  a  collation  of  the  two.  This  lias 
led  astray  ever  since.  There  was  no  such  reprint.  Lewis  confesses  that  his  second  Bible  was 
imperfect,  and  the  book  he  had  before  him  was  actually  Cranmer's  edition  of  Apiil  154(1,  the 
next  to  be  noticed. 


.so  DTIIKU    KDITIUNS    OF   TIIK    UIBLE.  [uOOK  II. 

gross  fhittorv  of  the  rciLriiiiig  iiionaivh.  Cruiinvell  liiinself,  as 
well  as  the  King  ami  Cranniev,  at  full  length,  are  here 
distinguished  also  by  their  respective  shields,  or  coats  of 
arms ;  and  this  same  engraving,  finely  cut  in  wood,  will  be 
employed  in  subsequent  editions,  though  the  arms  of  Cruin- 
well,  after  his  fall,  will  then  be  found  erased}^ 

This  JJible,  it  is  true,  exhibits  all  the  marks  of  a  signal 
triumph,  as  already  described;  but  let  the  men  in  Parliament 
or  the  Convocation  be  busy  with  what  they  might,  this  one 
edition  or  reprint  will  not  suffice  to  meet  the  zeal  of  the 
Vicar- General.  In  chronological  order,  the  next  Bibles  that 
were  ready  for  circulation,  were  two,  if  not  three  editions  of 
the  entire  liible,'*''  by  other  printers,  as  well  as  a  new  super- 
intendent of  the  press. 

And  here  it  is  not  a  little  remarkable,  that  immediately 
before  entering  upon  those  editions  of  the  Scriptures,  after- 
wards set  forth  by  Cranmer,  we  are  summoned  to  look  back ; 
and  back  to  the  very  connnencemcnt  of  this  long  and  tedious 
warfare.  Just  as  though  it  had  been  intended  to  lend  unitij 
to  the  entire  procedure  since  the  year  1526,  we  are  to  be 
reminded  forcibly,  of  the  deep  and  noisome  dungeon  under 
Cardinal  College,  Oxford,  and  of  the  interesting  young  men 
there  immured,  at  the  first  burst  of  opposition,  after  the 
arrival  of  Tyndale's  Testaments  in  England.  One  of  those 
youths,  it  may  be  remembered,  was  named  Richard  Tarerner. 
The  son  of  an  ancient  family,  born  at  North  Elmham,  in  the 
parish  of  Brisley,  Norfolk  ;  he  was  one  of  those  canons,  chosen 
by  Wolsey,  whom  he  had  intended  to  employ  in  opposing  the 
"  new  learning."     He  had  been  selected  from  Benet  College, 


*8  It  is  to  be  rei;rcttcd  that  they  had  at  all  meddled  with  the  translation  while  at  Paris ;  but 
Coverdale  had  slijipcd  into  the  I4tli  Psalm  his  three  verses  from  the  I'lilpatc,  which  Rogers 
had  judicioHsly  excluded.  He  was  still  too  ready  forcomiiliance  with  his  authorities  in  London^ 
HUch  aft  they  were.  He  durst  not,  indeed,  meddle  with  rejicninncf,  however  long  he  continued 
to  plead  for  penance  as  synonymous.  But  still  we  discover  the  hand  of  some  authority  at  least 
in  one  passage—"  I)es]>i.sc  not  the  gift  that  is  in  thee,  which  was  given  thee  through  prophecy, 
with  the  laying  on  of  hands,  h;/  the  atithorilt/  0/  pru'slliootl .'"  This  may  have  been  Cranmer's 
suggestion,  for  he  was  so  far  behind  as  to  .idopt  this  reading.  Parker,  his  successor,  altered  the 
words  in  his  edition  to—"  by  the  authority  of  the  elilertliip."  The  Geneva  translators,  exclud- 
ing the  word  "  authority,"  as  not  in  the  text,  say — "  with  the  laying  on  of  the  hands  of  the  rotn- 
jian;/  of  the  (tilers  ;"  which  was  changed  in  our  present  version  to — "  with  the  laying  on  of  the 
hands  o(  the  pyeshi/terii."  Coverdale  himself  in  l/VVi  had  said  "the  hands  of  the  elilers."  Tyn- 
dale  throughout  had  preferred-"  and  with  laying  on  of  the  hands  <\f  an  elder."  We  cannot  at 
present  name  the  manuscript,  or  collate  the  successive  editions  of  Erasmus,  but  that  there  is  a 
various  reading  in  favour  of  the  singular  number,  is  well  known  ;  and  Tyndalc  may  have  had  in 
remembrance  2  Timothy,  i.  C,  iind  1  Peter,  v.  I. 

■•''  See  the  collation  of  the  two  editions  in  Lewis  or  Cotton,  and  our  I.ist  at  the  end. 


1)39.]  BY   RICHARD  TAVERNER.  81 

Cambridge,  and  brought  to  Oxford.  Though  deeply  impli- 
cated in  1526,  as  already  mentioned,  he  was  more  gently 
dealt  with  by  the  Cardinal  on  account  of  his  voice,  or  skill  in 
music.  He  was  then  a  layman,  studying  law,  and  abode  by 
his  profession  through  life  ;  which  renders  his  superintend- 
ance  of  the  Scriptures,  and  his  subsequently  being  licensed  by 
Edward  the  Sixth,  to  preach  throughout  England,  the  more 
remarkable.^"  Having  taken  his  degree  of  A.B.  at  Oxford  in 
1527,^^  and  that  of  A.M.  at  Cambridge  in  1530,  he  removed 
to  the  metropolis  ;  and  after  passing  through  an  Inn  of 
Chancery,  then  said  to  be  oiear  London,  (or  on  the  site 
of  the  present  Somerset  House  in  the  Strand,)  he  entered  the 
Inner  Temple.  To  the  Greek  language  he  had  paid  great 
attention,  it  being  "  his  humour  to  quote  the  law  in  Greek, 
when  he  read  any  thing  thereof."  He  had  become  known  to 
Crumwell,  and  in  1534,  after  he  was  chosen  principal  Secre- 
tary of  State,  and  Chancellor  of  Cambridge  University, 
Taverner  came  into  attendance  upon  him.  In  1537,  Crum- 
well had  recommended  him  to  the  King,  when  he  was  ad- 
vanced to  be  one  of  the  clerks  of  the  signet  in  ordinary  ;  and 
the  clerk  had  now,  in  1539,  turned  his  learning  to  the  best 
of  all  accounts.^-  For  a  considerable  time  past,  he  must  have 
been  working  under  orders,  and  very  busily  engaged,  as  the 
proof  sheets  of  two,  if  not  three  editions,  had  been  passing 
through  his  hands.  Taverner  prefixed  a  dedication  to  the 
King,  telling  him,  that  "  he  never  did  any  thing  more  ac- 
ceptable to  God,  more  profitable  to  the  advancement  of  true 
Christianity,  more  displeasant  to  the  enemies  of  the  same, 
and  also  to  his  Grace''s  enemies,  than  when  his  Majesty 
licensed  and  willed  the  most  sacred  Bible,  containing  the  un- 
spotted and  lively  Word  of  God,  to  be  in  the  English  tongue 
set  forth  to  his  Highness'  subjects."  But  to  all  this  he  had 
been  encouraged  by  his  master,  Lord  Crumwell,  as  it  will 
appear  presently  that  no  man  could  publish  the  Bible  at  this 
period,  without  his  approving  sanction. ^^ 

His  first  edition,  in  folio,  and  entitled — "  The  most  Sacred 

50  He  used  to  preach  at  St.  Mary's  in  Oxford,  where  the  Bampton  Lectures  are  delivered. 
The  pulpit  then  was  of  fine  carved  ashler  stone,  but  this  was  taken  away,  and  one  of  wood 
substituted,  when  Dr.  John  Owen,  as  Vice-chancellor,  used  to  officiate  on  the  same  spot,  about 
1G54. —  IFood's  Athena'.  How,  or  by  whom,  it  is  occu))icd  now,  in  our  own  day,  we  leave  the 
reader  to  enquire.  61  Wood's  Fasti.  52  Wood's  Athena?,  by  Bliss,  i.,  421. 

53  "  Crumwell  is  supposed  to  have  encouraged  him  to  the  revision  of  the  Bible,  on  account  of 
his  especial  skill  in  Greek." — Tuiiil — lA'iris. 

\0\.   11.  K       ' 


82  KNKHGY    OK   (Kr.MWKM-.  [hook  il. 

Uil>le,''  &c.,  \v;is  "  printed  jit  Loiiduii  in  Fleet  Street,  at  the 
sign  of  the  Sun,  by  John  IJyddcll,  for  Thomas  Harthlett ;" 
or  Hertheh't,  the  King's  printer;  "Cum  privih-gio  ad  im- 
primcndum  sohini.''"'  Tlie  next  edition,  in  quarto,  was  exe- 
cuted bv  the  same  printer ;  but  there  seems  to  have  been  a 
third,  printed  by  Nycolson,  also  in  <piarto.'''^  These  Bibles 
were  a  correction  of  Matthew's,  in  which  Tavemer  adopted  a 
large  proportion  of  the  marginal  notes,  and  inserted  others  of 
his  own ;  yet  so  eager  was  Crumwell,  that  they  were  "  allowed 
to  be  publicly  read  in  churches," 

In  addition  to  these,  that  the  effort  now  made  was  a  bold 
and  dotermined  one,  appears  from  another  printer  still  having 
his  hands  filled,  by  two  editions  of  the  New  Testament  by 
Tavemer.  This  was  Thomas  Petit,  who  also  printed  for 
Berthelet,  one  in  quarto,  the  other  in  octavo. 

Now  in  the  earlier  part  of  this  year,  though  the  political 
atmosphere  seemed  to  portend  nothing  whatever,  save  tem- 
pestuous opposition  to  measures  such  as  these  ;  preparatory 
work,  it  is  evident,  had  been  proceeding  with  great  vigour 
within  doors  ;  and  by  the  autumn,  that  same  Monarch,  who 
had  hurried  the  "  bloody  Statute"  through  Parliament,  pro- 
fessed to  be  all  zeal  for  the  printing  of  the  Scriptures,  and 
even  their  perusal  !  The  prospect  of  connexion  with  Ger- 
manij  had  wrought  wondrously,  and  a  change  had  come  over 
the  spirit  of  the  man.  And  as  for  Crumwell,  though  he  still 
stood  upon  slippery  ground,  he  could  scarcely  now  think  so, 
when,  so  far  from  frowning  upon  him,  the  King,  on  the  20th 
of  September,  had  expressed  himself  as  so  solicitous  about  the 
state  of  his  health.^  At  all  events,  while  he  was  in  the  act 
of  carrying  through  the  negotiation  respecting  Lady  Anne  of 
Cleves,  almost  any  thing  he  might  request,  would  then  be 
granted.  Apply  to  his  Majesty  therefore  he  did,  and  suc- 
cessfully ;  although  still,  it  is  no  hypothesis,  to  say  that  both 
the  one  and  the  other,  as  it  regarded  the  Scriptures,  were 
nothing  more  than  overruled  men.  The  King,  by  his  conduct 
in  Parliament,  had  appeared  in  his  real  character ;  while 
Crumwell,  by  his  conduct  elsewhere,  has  positively  forced  us 


SI  Cotton's  List,  p.  G.— It  is  partly  described  liv  Dibdiii,   iii..  p.  57.  thoiiRh  he  inadvertently 
falls  into  the  popular  mistake,  and  8up|)0scsit  to  have  been  "  set  forth  by  Cranmer,"  who  was 
tberwise  engafied,  as  will  appear  |irescnlly.  and  not  yet  ready  with  his  fii'ft  edition. 
'>'■•  See  jiaKo  7'f- 


lo3y.]  THE   KING   SWAYED.  S3 

to  place  hiiu  on  the  very  lowest  ground  of  political  expediency. 
The  following  document,  however,  will  show  that  there  was 
no  hazard,  at  present,  of  any  of  these  Bibles  not  getting 
into  circulation. 

"  Henry  the  Eightli,  &c. — To  all  and  singular,  Pi-inters  and  sellers  of  books, 
within  this  our  realm,  and  all  other  Officers,  Ministers,  and  Subjects,  these  our 
letters,  hearing  or  seeing,  greeting  :  We  let  you  to  wit,  that  being  desirous 
to  have  our  people  at  times  convenient,  give  themselves  to  the  attaining  the 
knowledge  of  God's  Word,  whereby  they  will  the  better  honour  him,  and  ob- 
serve, and  keep  his  commandments  ;  and  also  do  their  duty  better  to  us,  being 
their  Prince  and  sovereign  Lord  :  And  considering,  that  as  this  our  zeal  and 
desire  cannot,  by  any  mean,  take  so  good  effect,  as  by  the  granting  to  them  the 
free  and  liberal  use  of  the  Bible  in  our  own  maternal  English  tomjiie  :  so  unless 
it  be  foreseen,  that  the  same  pass  at  the  beginning  by  one  translation  to  be  per- 
used and  considered  ;  the  frailty  of  man  is  such,  that  the  diversity  thereof  may 
breed  and  bring  forth  manifold  inconveniences  ;  as  when  wilful  and  heady  folks 
shall  confer  upon  the  diversity  of  the  said  translations.  We  liave  therefore 
appointed  our  right  trusty  and  well-beloved  Counselloi",  the  Lord  Crumwell, 
Keeper  of  our  Privy  Seal,  to  take  for  us,  and  in  our  name,  special  care  and 
charge,  that  no  manner  of  person,  or  persons,  within  this  our  realm,  shall  en- 
terprise, attempt,  or  set  in  hand,  to  print  any  Bible  in  the  English  tongue,  of 
any  manner  of  volume,  during  the  space  of  fire  years  next  ensuing  after  the 
date  hereof,  but  only  all  such  as  shall  be  deputed,  assigned,  and  admitted  by  the 
said  Lord  Crumwell.  Willing  and  commanding  all  Mayors,  Sherijfs,  Bailiffs, 
Constables,  and  all  other  our  officers,  ministers,  and  subjects,  to  be  aiding  to 
our  said  Counsellor,  in  the  execution  of  this  our  pleasure,  and  to  be  conformable 
in  the  accomplishment  of  the  same,  as  shall  appertain.  In  witness  whereof — 
Witness  ourself  at  Westminster,  the  fourteenth  day  of  November  1539. — Per 
ipsum  Regem."^ 

•The  style  of  this  public  document,  and  at  such  a  time,  is 
pointed  and  very  observable.  The  reader  cannot  fail  to  be 
struck  with  the  absence  of  all  reference  to  Henry's  Church  or 
Convocation.  The  Sacred  Volume,  first  printed  abroad,  it 
will  be  remembered,  had  been  sanctioned  without  any  con- 
sultation of  that  body  ;  and  even  now,  after  a  flaming  Con- 
vocation, they  are  to  be  passed  over  once  more.  Above  two 
years  ago,  the  King  had  been  overruled  to  bow  to  the  trans- 


•">  Rymer's  Feed.,  vol.  xiv.,  p.  640.  Herbert's  Ames,  iii.,  p.  1550.  But  then  there  is  the  con 
junction  of  events  :  and  that  so  fatal  to  the  character  of  both  Counsellor  and  King!  We  have 
heard  of  Thursday  the  14th  of  November  before,  and  the  reader  may  well  be  shocked,  as  soon  as 
he  observes,  that  it  was  on  this  very  day  they  were  despatching  the  Abbot  of  Reading  and  his 
Priests— on  this  same  day  that  the  Abbot  of  Glastonbury  was  going  through  the  mockery  nf  his 
trial,  to  be  executed  the  next.  "  My  Lord,"  says  John  Lord  Russel,  to  Crumwell  on  the  I6th, 
"  these  shall  be  to  ascertain,  that  on  Thursday  the  14th  day  of  this  month,  the  Abbot  of  Glas- 
tonbury was  arraigned,  and  the  next  day  put  to  execution,  with  two  other  of  his  monks,  (for  the 
robbing  of  Glastonbury  Church,)  on  the  Tor  hill,"  &c.  MS.,  Ckop.,  E.  iv.,  fol.  !)9,  b.  Original. 
In  other  words,  there  were  «J"  men  whom  Crumwell  and  Henry  had  resolved  should  be  exe- 
cuted ;  the  mockery  of  a  trial  must  precede,  and  forsooth  be  reported. 


Hi  TlIK    CAUSK  [nOuK  11. 

hvtinii  ;  and  last  year,  Crumwc;!!  as  Vicegerent  had  enjoined 
the  Bi.sliops,  on  pain  of  deprivation,  to  see  to  its  circulation  ; 
but  after  the  miserable  display  they  had  recently  given  of 
their  characters,  they  are  to  be  addressed  by  liiiii  no  more. 
No  notice  whatever  is  therefore  now  taken  of  Bishop  or  Arch- 
bishop^ Priest  or  Parson  ;  unless  the  ambiguous  term  "  minis- 
ter" at  the  very  end,  be  allowed,  by  courtesy,  to  include  them 
all.  But  it  was  the  citil  authorities  on  whom  Crumwell  now 
called  ;  it  was  the  Mayors,  the  Sheriffs,  the  Bailiffs,  the 
Constables,  who  were  so  pointedly  enjoined,  and  by  the  King 
liimself,  to  aid  him  !  After  having  been  so  treated  by  the 
Bench,  of  whicli  he  was  the  Vicar-General ;  as  long  as  he 
remains  Lord  Privy  Seal,  he  was  not  to  be  insulted  with  im- 
punity ;  the  hour  for  retaliation  had  come ;  and  as  he  had 
given  up  "  Articles  of  Religion"  in  despair,  so  it  is  now  evi- 
dent, that  he  had  also,  as  a  body,  given  up  the  Bishops. 

Nor  was  such  a  document,  "  per  ipsum  Regem,"  now  to  be 
treated  with  impunity.  Little  had  they  dreamt  in  Parlia- 
ment, which  would  be  the  very  Jirst  statute  brought  to  bear 
upon  his  Majesty's  subjects  ;  for  "  the  bloody  statute"  had 
been  stayed  in  its  operation  ;  but  they  had  gone  so  far  as  to 
pass  a  bill,  showing,  "  ichat  a  King  by  his  royal  power  miaht 
do  ,•"  and  "  considering  that  many  occasions  might  require 
speedy  remedies,"  they  enacted  that  the  King's  proclamation, 
writ,  or  letters-patent,  were  to  be  obeyed  "  as  if  they  were 
made  by  an  act  of  Parliament ,-"  nay,  and  if  any  after  that 
offended,  they  w^ere  to  be  judged  as  traitors.  If,  therefore, 
the  men  of  the  new  learning  had  been  terror-struck  in  April, 
the  men  of  the  old,  might  now  well  stare  with  amazement, 
but  there  was  no  remedy ;  they  must  all  stand  aghast  for 
the  time  being,  and  make  way  for  the  Lord  Privy  Seal. 

It  is  curious  also  to  observe  the  efforts  now  made  to  place 
Henry,  if  it  had  been  possible,  in  a  fair  way,  once  more,  or  to 
face  him  out,  as  the  same  man — notwithstandinjr  his  recent 
aberration,  or  natural  leaning  to  his  beloved  associates  of  the 
old  school.  At  this  period,  a  long  and  strange  justification 
of  his  proceedings  was  written  out.  It  is  to  be  found  in  the 
State  Paper  Office,  and  has  been  printed  entire  by  Coliier.^^ 
The  following  statement  taken  from  it,  though  far  too  strongly 

27  Collection  of  Rcconls,  No.  47- 


\joD.2  IN    FRUCiRESS.  85 

expressed,  clearly  proves,  that  despite  of  Gardiner  and  all  his 
associates,  the  Scriptures  already  printed  had  not  been  laid 
on  the  shelf. 

"  Englishmen  have  now  in  hand  in  every  clnireh  and  place,  almost  every 
man,  the  Holy  Bible  and  New  Testament  in  their  mother  tongue  ;  instead  of 
the  old  fabulous  and  fantastical  books  of  '  The  Table  Round,'  '  Launcelot  du 
Luke,'  '  Hugo  de  Bourdcaux,'  '  Bevy  of  Hampton,'  '  Guy  of  Warwick,'  and 
such  others,  whose  impure  filth  and  vain  fabulosity,  the  light  of  God  has 
abolished  utterly." — "  Englishmen  stick  fast  to  the  doctrine  of  God  in  the  New 
Testament,  and  in  the  Old  conformable  to  the  New  ;  and  do  esteem  that  it  is 
'  Fons  aquw  /alientis  in  citam  eternam.''" 

In  short,  the  same  ardour  which  had  been  displayed  in 
printing,  seems  to  have  been  followed  by  a  kindred  zeal  for 
distribution  and  perusal ;  and  after  such  doings  in  Parlia- 
ment, the  opposite  party,  and  all  who  loved  the  truth,  liad 
notable  reasons  for  improving  their  time.  Crumwell  had  yet 
eight  months  to  live  before  his  arrestment,  so  that  here  was  a 
fine  opportunity  presented  for  vigorous  exertion,  to  every  man 
who  estimated  the  value  of  the  Scriptures.  How  very  unlikely 
was  such  a  season  to  have  arrived,  only  a  few  months  ago ! 

Here,  then,  terminated  that  class  of  sacred  volumes,  which, 
with  considerable  propriety,  may  be  denominated  the  first 
series:  reaching  from  Wolsey's  "  secret  search  at  one  time," 
in  London,  Oxford,  and  Cambridge ;  or  from  the  dungeon  of 
Cardinal  College,  down  to  one  of  its  inmates  publishing  three 
editions  of  the  Bible,  and  two  of  the  New  Testament,  in  one 
year ;  when  the  long  hostile  Monarch  had  been  made  to  de- 
clare, that  the  free  and  liberal  use  of  the  Bible  in  our  own  ma- 
ternal English  tongue  was  the  only  mean  by  which  his  subjects 
could  comprehend  their  duty  to  God  or  man ;  and  when  his 
counsellor,  the  successor  of  Wolsey,  to  save  his  popularity 
and  retain  his  place,  was  so  evidently  urging  the  printers  to 
speed  I  The  series  referred  to,  now  included  above  thirty 
editions  of  the  New  Testament,  and  five  of  the  entire  Bible, 
which  for  fourteen  years  had  formed  the  spiritual  nourish- 
ment of  all  those  in  this  kingdom  who  had  been  convinced  by 
their  own  experience,  that  "  man  liveth  not  by  bread  only, 
but  by  every  word  that  proceedeth  out  of  the  mouth  of  God." 

What  a  contrast,  therefore,  is  now  presented  between  Wil- 
liam Tyndale  and  all  his  contemporaries,  who  have  generally 
figured  in  the  page  of  history,  and  so  filled  it,  as  to  i)revent 


86  (KANMEK   Al'I'EAkS    WITH  [^BOOK   II. 

posterity  from  duly  estimating,  nay,  almost  seoiug,  by  far  the 
most  eminent  benefactor  of  jji.s  country. 

It  is  not  here,  however,  that  the  year  1539  terminates. 
Tvndale\s  translation,  or  the  ]3ible  of  lo37,  had  now  been 
taken  up,  personally,  by  anotlier  individual,  who  has  perhaps 
been  expected  to  appear  before  this  time,  and  certainly  for 
some  months  before  Henry's  letter.s-patent  (of  tlie  14th  of 
November,)  this  year,  lie  had  been  engaged  in  his  sphere,  be- 
liind  the  curtain,  perhaps  as  busily  as  any  of  Crumwell's  printers 
had  been.  This,  it  may  be  anticipated,  was  Thomas  Cranmer ; 
but,  although  it  has  been  often  done,  with  no  previous  edition 
can  his  name,  with  historical  propriety,  be  associated. 

The  joy  expressed  by  him,  at  the  reception  of  the  Bible  in 
1537,  may  have  prepared  the  reader;  but  when  lie  first  met 
with  Cranmer  on  the  Continent,  seven  years  ago,  in  company 
with  Sir  Thomas  Elyot,  then  charged  by  his  Sovereign  to 
seize  Tyndale,  and  next  year  beheld  him  with  pain,  when 
sitting  in  judgment  on  the  translator's  bosom  friend,  Fryth  ; 
lie  certainly  could  not  have  imagined  that,  six  years  after- 
wards, the  Primate  himself  would  liave  been  so  busily  em- 
ployed, in  superintending  an  edition  of  Tyndale's  translation. 
But  so  it  was.^  Cranmer,  as  well  as  Crumwell,  had  now 
given  up  the  Bishops  in  despair,  though  his  chief  opponent, 
Gardiner,  will  not  fail  to  cross  his  path  presently,  and  try  to 
sway  the  King. 

It  is  singular  enough  that  it  should  have  been  on  this  same 
Thursday,  the  14th  of  November,  to  which  we  have  repeat- 
edly alluded,  that  Cranmer  first  certainly  appears  to  have 
been  thus  engaged.  The  edition  he  had  been  bringing  for- 
ward  was  a  very  fine  one,  and  now  nearly,  if  not  entirely 
finished ;  but  he  had  resolved,  at  this  peculiar  crisis,  after 
being  foiled  by  the  Bench,  to  prefix  a  preface  to  the  reader, 
of  his  own  composition.  This  he  had  submitted,  for  his  Ma- 
jesty's approbation,  and  was  now  anxiously  waiting  its  re- 
turn, when  he  sent  the  following  letter  to  Crumwell : — 

"  My  very  singular  t^ood  Lord,  after  my  most  hearty  commendations,  tliese 
^hull  be  to  signify  unto  yuiu*  Lordship,  that  Bartelett  and  Edward  Whitechurch 

■'8  And  as  Cranmer  was  so  indebted  to  Ti/nilalf  for  tlie  Bible  lie  now  watclicd  through  the 
|>ress.  Ml  it  liiiH  been  siiid,  "  when  he  wrote  aK.tins>t  tran^ubstanliation,  in  rejily  lo  fJardiner," 
he  then  acknowledged,  !.evtiilten  years  afler,  "  thai  he  had  received  great  liglit  from  Fri/lli't 
writinKs,  and  drew  mo^l  of  liis  arRununts  oul  of  Ihem."— VyW*  Life  "/  Croiiiiur.  i.,  ji  flfi. 
rtiirnel- 


l.')3!).]  HIS    FIRST   KDITION.  87 

hath  been  with  me,  ami  have  by  their  accounts  declared  tlie  expenses  and 
charges  of  the  printing  of  the  Great  Bibles  ;  and  by  the  advice  of  Bartelett,  I 
have  appointed  them  to  be  sold  for  13s.  4d.  a-piece,  (one  merk,)  and  not  abovo. 
Howbeit,  Whitechurch  informeth  me,  that  your  Lordship  thinketh  it  a  more 
convenient  price  to  liave  them  sold  at  10s.  a-piece  ;  which,  in  respect  of  the 
great  charges,  both  of  the  papei",  which  is  substantial  and  good,  and  other  great 
hinderances,  Whitechurch  and  his  fellow  (Grafton,  his  partner)  thinketh  it 
a  small  price.W  Nevertheless,  they  are  right  well  contented  to  sell  them  for 
10s.,  so  that  you  will  be  so  good  Lord  to  them  as  to  grant  henceforth  none  other 
license  to  any  other  printer  saving  to  them,  for  the  printing  of  the  said  Bible  ; 
for  else  tliey  think  that  they  shall  be  gi-eatly  hindered  thereby,  if  any  other 
should  print,  they  sustaining  such  charges  as  they  already  have  done.  Where- 
fore I  shall  beseech  your  Lordship,  in  consideration  of  their  travail  in  this  be- 
half, to  tender  their  requests  ;  and  they  have  promised  me  to  print  in  the  end 
of  their  Bibles  the  price  tliereof,  to  the  intent  the  King's  liege  people  shall  not 
henceforth  be  deceived  of  their  price. 

"  Farther,  if  your  Lordship  hath  known  the  King's  pleasure  concerning  the 
Preface  of  the  Bible,  which  I  sent  to  you  to  oversee  ;  so  that  his  Grace  doth 
allow  the  same,  I  pray  you  that  the  same  may  be  delivered  unto  the  said  White- 
church unto  printing  ;  trusting  that  it  shall  both  eucom-age  many  slow  readers, 
and  also  stay  the  rash  judgments  of  them  that  read  therein.  Thus  our  Lord 
have  your  good  Lordship  in  his  blessed  tuition. — At  Lambeth,  the  14  th  day  of 
November  1539."60 

This  Preface,  however,  demanded  cogitation.  Preferring 
the  words  of  John  Chrysostom  and  Gregory  Nazianzen,  Cran- 
mer  had  now  ventured  to  go  to  the  full  extent  of  truth  and 
duty,  as  Tyndale,  in  his  own  name,  had  so  often  done,  on  be- 
half of  the  people  of  England.  Cranmer  now  at  last  pled, 
but  through  his  ancient  authors — 
"  That  every  mau  should  read  by  himself  at  home,  in  the  mean  days  and 

59  So  uvgeiit  was  poor  Crumwell  at  the  moment  to  push  the  Scriptures  into  circdation. 

60  MS.,  in  Crumwcll's  Correspondence,  orbj.  The  popular  mistake  of  ascribing  the  Bibles 
issuing  from  the  press  in  1539,  to  Cranmer,  has  led  to  the  mis-placing  of  this  letter  among  the 
Government  State  Papers.  Though  there  supposed  to  be  1538,  it  has  been  correctly  dated  by 
Mr.  Todd,  and  the  date  verified  by  Mr.  Jenkyns,  in  his  Remains  of  Cranmer,  i.,  p.  289,  note. 

In  commencing  his  Prffuce,  we  leave  it  to  the  reader,  whether  Cranmer  had  not  Tyndale's 
preface  or  "  pathway  to  the  Scripture"  before  him.  Tyndale  had  said — "  I  do  marvel  greatly, 
dearly  beloved  in  Christ,  that  ever  any  man  should  repugn  or  speak  against  the  Scripture  to  be 
had  in  every  language,  and  that  of  every  man.  For  I  thought  that  no  man  had  been  so  blind 
to  ask,  why  light  should  be  shown  to  them  that  walk  in  darkness,  where  they  cannot  but 
stumble,  and  where  to  stumble,  is  the  danger  of  eternal  damnation  ;  either  so  despiteful  that 
he  would  envy  any  man  so  necessary  a  thing  ;  or  so  Bedlam  viad  to  affirm  that  good  is  the  natu- 
ral cause  of  evil,  and  darkness  to  proceed  out  of  light,"  &c.  And  what  says  Cranmer?  "  Neither 
can  I  well  tell,  whether  of  them  I  may  judge  the  more  offender  ;  him  that  doth  obstinately  re- 
fuse so  godly  and  goodly  knowledge,  or  him  that  so  ungodly,  or  ungoodly,  doth  abuse  the  same. 
And  as  touching  the  former,  I  would  marvel  nvteh  that  any  man  should  be  so  mad  as  to  refuse 
in  darkness,  light ;  in  hunger,  food  ;  in  cold,  fire  ;  for  the  Word  of  God  is  light,  '  Lucerna  pcdi- 
bus  mcis  Vcrbum  Tuum' — '  Thy  word  is  a  lantern  to  my  /eel.'  It  is  food—'  Man  shall  not  live 
by  bread  only,  but  Vjy  every  word  of  God.'  I  would  marvel,  I  say,  at  this,  save  that  I  consider 
how  much  '  custom  and  usage  may  do.'  And  therefore  I  can  well  think  them  uwthy  pardon, 
which,  at  the  coming  abroad  a/  .Scripture,  doubted  and  drew  back." 

It  is  curious  to  see  the  Piimate  here  putting  in  a  word  in  excuse  of  his  oivn  timidity ;  but  as 
rustom  and  usage  had  such  sway  over  himself,  he  could  not  possibly  marvel  to  the  same  extent 
as  Tyndale  had  done.  To  him  tmth  custom  and  usage  were  as  nothing,  compared  with  the  Word 
of  God. 


H«  DIsri.NCTLV    SANCTIONKI)  [buuK   II. 

time,  between  senuoii  uiid  seriiioii — that  when  they  were  at  home  in  tlieir 
houiM-s,  tliey  hIiduIJ  <il>l>ly  tlieniselves,  from  time  to  time,  to  tlie  reaihiig  of  the 
IIolv  Scri|)tiires.  For  the  Holy  S])irit  hath  ho  ordereel  and  attcmjiered  the 
Scriptures,  tliat  in  them,  as  well  ]>ul)licans,  fisherH,  and  shepherds,  may  find 
their  editication,  as  great  doctors  their  erudition.  But  still  you  will  say,  I  can- 
not understjind  it.  What  marvel  \  How  shouldst  thou  understand,  if  thou 
wilt  not  read  nor  look  iipon  it  \  Take  the  books  into  thine  hands,  read  the 
whole  story,  and  that  thou  understandest,  keep  it  well  in  memory  ;  that  thou 
understandest  not,  read  it  a^aiu  and  again.  Here  may  all  manner  of  persons  : 
men,  vomen  ;  young,  old  ;  learned,  unlearned ;  rich,  poor ;  priests,  laymen  ; 
lords,  ladies  ;  officers,  tenants,  and  mean  men  ;  virgins,  wires,  widovs  ;  latryers, 
merchants,  artificers,  husbandmen,  and  all  manner  of  persons,  of  what  estate  or 
condition  soever  they  be  ;  may  in  this  Book  learn  all  things,  what  they  ought 
to  believe,  what  they  ought  to  do,  and  what  they  should  not  do,  as  well  con- 
cerning Almighty  God,  as  also  concerning  themselves,  and  all  others."  "  This 
one  place  of  John  Chrysostom,"  said  Cranmer,  "  is  enough,  and  sufficient  to 
persuade  all  them  that  be  not  frowardly,  and  perversely,  set  in  their  own  wil- 
ful opinion."  "l 

These  were  sentiments,  certainly  by  far  too  strong  to  pass 
in  high  places,  in  those  days,  without  murmuring  and  dispu- 
tation ;  nor  in  all  probability  would  they  have  been  allowed 
to  pass,  but  for  the  conjunction  of  circumstances,  already  so 
far  explained.  Henry,  as  we  have  seen,  had  softened,  even 
towards  Crumwell,  and  he  was  more  likely  to  have  done  so 
towards  Cranmer.  He  had  thwarted  him  in  the  Convoca- 
tion, but  then  his  official  situation,  as  Primate,  was  not  to  be 
trampled  on  ;  and  the  King  had  therefore  set  him  up  again, 
by  commanding  his  highest  counsellors  afterwards  to  go  and 
dine  with  him.  The  wind,  in  short,  had  changed  in  the  fall 
of  the  year.  Henry  is  now  on  the  tip-toe  of  expectation  as 
to  his  intended  Queen,  and  the  Archbishop,  of  course,  must 
perform  the  intended  marriage  ceremony.  No  moment  could 
be  more  favourable  for  Cranmer  asking  any  favour. 

But  then  it  so  happened,  that  not  only  this  preface,  but 
the  Bible  itself,  had  been  brought  before  his  Majesty,  and 
hence  still  farther  delay ;  for  though  Cranmer  be  almost 
ready,  and  is  now,  in  November,  pressing  the  return  of  the 
preface  for  the  press,  the  volume  did  not  appear  till  April 
following.  The  fact  was,  that  Henry  had  consulted  certain 
Bishops,  not  forgetting  Mr.  Stephen  Gardiner. 


•"  There  are  many  other  fine  sentiments  of  Chrysostom  quoted.  We  have  marked  the  words 
al  home  in  italics,  witli  reference  to  wljat  follows  presently.  This  jileadin;;  for  domestic  reading 
in  England,  however,  will  appear  to  have  been  six  years  behind  that  for  Scotland,  and  very 
powerfully  put,  by  the  native  of  I'dinburnh,  of  whom  Cranmer  was  so  much  afraiil,  in  the  Con- 
Nor.ition  (if  I.Vtfi. 


1539.]  BY    TllK    KING.  89 

«  After  the  book  was  finished,"  says  Fulke,  "  and  presented  to  King  Henry 
tlie  Eighth  ;  and  by  him  committed  to  diverse  Bishops  of  that  time  to  peruse,  of 
which  (as  I  remember)  Steven  Gardiner  was  one :  after  they  had  kept  it  long 
in  their  hands,  and  the  King  was  divers  times  sued  unto  for  the  publication 
thereof,  at  the  last  being  called  for  by  the  King  himself,  they  redelivered  the 
book:  and  being  demanded  by  the  King  what  was  their  judgment  of  the  trans- 
lation, they  answered  that  there  were  many  faults  therein.  '  Well,'  said  the 
King,  '  but  are  there  any  heresies  maintained  thereby  V  They  answered, 
'  there  were  no  heresies  that  they  could  find,  maintained  thereby.'  '  If  there 
be  no  heresies,'  said  the  King,  (in  his  own  profane  and  impatient  manner,)  'then, 
in  God's  name,  let  it  go  abroad  among  our  people.'  According  to  this  judgment 
of  the  King  and  the  Bishops,  M.  Coverdalc  (who  had  been  corrector  of  the 
pi'ess,)  defended  the  translation,  confessing  that  he  did  now  himself  espy  some 
faults,  which  if  he  might  review  it  once  over  again,  as  he  had  done  twice  be- 
fore,''- he  doubted  not  to  amend  :  but  for  any  heresy,  he  was  sure  there  was 
none  maintained  by  the  translation."63 

Only  six  months  ago  tlie  gentlemen  of  "  the  old  learning," 
with  the  Duke  of  Norfolk  at  their  head,  had  been  in  high  glee; 
but  of  late  it  had  come  to  their  turn,  to  feel  no  small  disap- 
pointment, if  not  alarm  :  and  Gardiner  is  understood  to  have 
exerted  all  his  powers  to  influence  the  King,  by  persuading 
him  that  it  must  be  his  duty  not  to  allow  the  people  to  read 
the  Bible  by  their  own  fire-sides,  or,  as  Cranmer  expressed 
it,  at  home.  One  day  these  two  men  met  in  the  presence  of 
his  Majesty,  when  he  engaged  them  in  discussion.  After 
descanting  on  the  danger  of  allowing  the  people  at  large  to 
read  the  Scriptures,  Gardiner  chose  to  affirm  that  what  were 
called  the  Apostolic  Canons,  were  of  equal  authority  with  the 
Sacred  Scriptures,  and  challenged  Cranmer  to  disprove  this. 
Cranmer  did  so,  and  to  Henry's  satisfaction.  The  disputa- 
tion is  said  to  have  lasted  for  some  time,  when  the  King  ab- 
ruptly addressed  Gardiner, — "  such  a  novice  as  you,  had  bet- 
ter not  meddle  Avith  an  old  experienced  Captain,  like  my  Lord 
of  Canterbury  ;"  and  then  remarked,  that  "  Cranmer  was  too 
experienced  a  leader,  to  be  defeated  by  a  novice." 

The  translation  had  been  sanctioned,  as  we  have  seen, 
above  two  years  ago,  in  Gardiner''s  absence,  but  it  was  a 
double  mortification,  and  one  which  he  richly  deserved,  to 
hear  it  thus  defended  and  approved,  while  he  was  standing  by, 
and  rated  for  a  novice. 


*2  That  is,  once  in  Paris,  and  now  again  in  London. 

«3  Fulke's  "  Defence  of  the  English  Translations  of  the  Bible,"  l.'iH.I,  p.  4,  who  himself  heard 
Coverdale  speak,  as  reported,  in  a  sermon  at  Paul's  Cross.  This  anecdote  has  been  very  gene- 
ratly  misji!ncol  in  its  application. 


no  |•RU«UE^SS   MADE   HV  [hooK  II. 

As  for  Ci;inmer''s  first  edition  therefore,  since  it  did  not  ap- 
pear till  April  next  year,  it  will  come  before  us  in  due  time. 
I3ut  in  the  nioanwliile,  and  independently  of  all  suchskirmish- 
ini;  before  the  King,  the  other  editions  which  had  been  sanc- 
tioned by  Crumwell,  without  any  formal  reference  to  his  Ma- 
jesty, must  not  be  forgotten,  nor  the  New  Testaments  whicli 
had  been  printed  at  home,  nor  the  numerous  foreign  editions. 
This  is  a  period  noted  by  Strype,  as  one  in  which  "  the  people 
greedily  bought  up  and  read  the  Holy  Scriptures."  The 
truth  is  that,  however  other  matters  might  proceed,  whether 
in  Court  or  Parliament,  the  people  had  been  all  along  reading, 
without  asking  his  Majesty's  leave.  He  little  thought  that  he 
was  led  on  by  a  current  far  too  strong  for  his  resistance.  Yet 
in  the  course  of  such  a  year  as  the  present,  in  which  the  King 
was  so  surrounded  by  hostile  parties  ever  wliispering  in  liis 
ear ;  who  would  have  imagined  that  he  should  liave  so  sanc- 
tioned the  reading  of  the  Scriptures  I  This,  however,  he  had 
actually  done,  and  done  more  emphatically  than  ever  before  ! 
Some  complaints  having  reached  him  through  the  enemy,  that 
the  reading  of  the  Bible  or  New  Testament  in  public,  was  of- 
ten in  a  voice  so  loud,  that  it  threatened  to  drown  if  not  expel 
the  mass ;  Henry  by  proclamation  ordered  a  lower  tone,  and 
that,  while  mass  was  going  on,  reading  should  be  suspended  ; 
as  well  as  that  no  man  should  "  teach  or  preach  the  Bible," 
except  such  as  were  admitted  by  himself,  or  Crumwell,  or  a 
Bishop.  But  then  he  added,  what  was  of  far  greater  moment, 
though  it  must  have  been  like  an  additional  dose  of  wormwood 
to  the  gentlemen  of  "  the  old  learning" — 

"  Notwithstanding  his  Highness  is  pleased  and  contented,  that  such  as  can 
and  will  in  the  Engliwli  tongue,  shall  and  may  quietly  and  reverently  read  the 
Bible  and  New  Testament  by  tliemselves  secretly  at  all  times  and  places  con- 
rcn'wnt,  for  their  own  instruction  and  edification,  to  increase  thereby  godliness 
and  virtuous  learning." 

Finally,  the  Monarch  must,  in  effect^  tell  posterity  that  in 
thus  acting  he  was  still  nothing  more  than  a  man  overruled ; 
since,  with  mingled  pride  and  profanity,  he  adds — 

"  His  Highness  signifieth  to  all  and  singular,  his  loving  and  obedient  subjects, 
that  his  Majesty  was  not,  nor  is  compelled  by  God's  Word,  to  set  forth  His 
Scripture  in  English  to  his  loyal  subjects  ;  but  of  his  own  liberality  and  good- 
n(>sa  was  and  is  pleased,  that  his  said  subjects  should  have  and  read  the  same 
in  convenient  places  and  times — Wherefore  his  Majesty  chargcth  and  com- 
mandeth  all  his  said  subjects  to  use  the  Holy  Scripture  in  English,  according 


1539.]   .  THE  CLOSE  OF  THIS  YEAR.  01 

to  his  godly  purpose  and  gracious  intent,  as  they  would  avoid  his  most  liigli 
displeasure  and  indignation,  beside  the  pain  above  remembered." 

The  hand  of  Crumwell  is  very  visible  in  all  this;  and  if  the 
proclamation  "  came  out  about  May,  being  noic  equal  with 
the  law,""  as  Strype  has  told  us,  it  shows  what  confusion  had 
been  shed  into  the  Council  of  his  Majesty  ;  but  followed  as  it 
was,  in  the  close  of  the  year,  by  the  decided  approval  of  Cran- 
nier's  preface,  we  have  only  one  proof  more  of  the  truth  of  Solo- 
mon's proverb — "  The  king's  heart  is  in  the  hand  of  the  Lord 
as  the  rivers  of  water ;   He  turneth  it  whithersoever  he  will." 

In  conclusion,  therefore,  as  already  stated,  we  come  to  the 
end  of  what  may  be  styled  the  first  series  of  Bibles  and 
Testaments.  Last  year,  indeed,  we  looked  at  them  as  divided 
into  books  printed  abroad,  and  then  begun  to  be  printed  at 
home.  But  at  present  we  allude  to  all  that  had  issued  from 
the  press  before  the  first  edition  by  Cranmer  was  put  forth. 
Of  the  whole  array  the  reader  may  form  a  distinct  idea,  on 
consulting  our  list  of  Bibles  and  Testaments  at  the  end  of 
this  volume. 

Now,  if  it  be  observed  that  even  by  this  early  period,  such 
a  number  of  editions  of  the  New  Testament,  of  all  descrip- 
tions, as  well  as  of  the  Sacred  Volume  entire,  had  passed 
through  the  press ;  and  that  Divine  Truth  had  obtained  a  foot- 
ing in  our  land,  from  the  moment  of  its  entrance  in  1526  ;  he 
will  allow  that  in  these  fourteen  years,  a  great  work  had  been 
accomplished;  and  greater  still,  when  he  comes  to  see  all  that 
had  been  going  on  in  Scotland,  as  well  as  in  England.  The 
full  effects,  though  no  historian  can  ever  detail  them,  must 
have  been  far  greater  than  has  hitherto  been  supposed.  Yet 
is  it  but  little  more  than  two  years  since  the  adversary 
lowered  his  colours,  and  gave  in.  Up  to  August  1537  in 
England,  we  have  witnessed  only  one  uninterrupted  battle, 
without  a  solitary  truce  ;  and  since  then,  as  far  as  Crumwell 
was  concerned,  we  have  seen  him,  in  his  ardour,  officially 
pushing  on  the  work.  When  once  on  a  time,  writing  so 
bitterly  against  Tyndale,  he  little  thought  that,  in  the  very 
height  of  his  career,  though  loaded  with  the  affairs  of  the 
nation,  he  would  tax  himself,  and  strain  every  nerve,  in  the 

fi-i  Cotton  MS.,  Clcui).  E.  v.,  fol.  303.  This  pioclamalion,  as  first  drawn  uii,  had  been  sub- 
mitted to  Henry,  and  he  corrected  it  with  his  vwu  pen.  Strype  has  given  it  entire,  with  tlie 
•  •orrcetions  made. 


!»2  I'OI.ITICAL    AKl'AIUS.  [[bOOK  M. 

very  (liroction  which  tlio  Translator  liad  so  hmg  pointed  out; 
no  object  appearing  to  himself,  even  as  a  politician,  of  greater 
importance,  lie  is  now,  however,  soon  to  be  called  away 
from  the  field  of  action,  leaving  the  cause  to  that  unseen  hand 
which  had  guided  it  from  the  beginning,  and  which  will  em- 
ploy or  overrule  others,  as  it  had  done  himself.  Crumwcirs 
energetic  influence  is  not,  however,  yet  j)aralyzed.  He  has 
six  njonths  to  live,  and  the  Bible,  printed  still  more  magni- 
ficently, will  be  in  circulation  before  then.  In  common 
justice,  therefore,  to  the  only  Vicegerent  that  Henry  ever 
had,  and  with  regard  to  any  of  those  volumes  already  pub- 
lished on  I'jnglish  ground,  including  the  Jiible  which  was 
nearly  finished  in  Paris,  it  should  be  observed,  that  when 
Craumer's  name  has  been  associated  with  them,  in  any  degree, 
whether  as  to  preparation  or  printing,  this  appears  to  have 
been  historically  incorrect.  We  have  seen  him,  for  the  first 
time,  engrossed  with  one  book,  but  the  publication  of  it  be- 
longs to  next  year. 


SECTION    III. 

rOLITICAIi  AFFAIRS — HENRy's  FOURTH    MARKIAGF. — JEALOUSY  OF    FRANCIS 

ALLIANCE    WITH     THE     EMPEROR GARDINER    AGAINST     BARNES     AND 

GARRET — PARLIAMENT   OPENED CRUMWELL  NOW  EARL   OF  ESSEX — TIIK 

USE  ALL    ALONG  MADE  OF    HIM    BY  HENRY CRUMWELl's    LAST    DEMANDS 

IN     PARLIAMENT     AND     CONVOCATION HENRY     HAS     TAKEN     OFFENCE 

CRUMWELL  APPREHENDED — PARTIES  OPPOSED  TO  HIM — CRANMER's  LET- 
TER  FIRST  CHARGES — BILL  OF  ATTAINDER — HENRY's  FOURTH  MAR- 
RIAGE   ANNULLED — FINAL    CHARGES    AGAINST    CRUMWELL HIS    DEATH 

AND  CHARACTER — THE   KINO  AND  HIS    TWO  VICARS-GENERAL  IN   REVIEW 

MORE    EXECUTIONS HENRy's    FIFTH    MARRIAGE THE  OLD    LEARNING 

PARTY   IN  TRIUMPH. 

RETROSPECT — COMMON  MISTAKE  AS  TO  THE  CROWN — THE  LARGE  POLIO 
BIBLES,    IN    SIX    EDITIONS — THE    FIRST    OP     CRANMER's — A    DIFFERENT 

EDITION THE   SECOND  OF    CRANMER's — THE   THIRD    PREPARING,    TO    BE 

ISSUED    NEXT    YEAR,    BUT     WITH     A    DIFFERENT     TITLE ONE     IN     FIVE 

VOLUMES,  SMALL  SIZE — QUARTO  NEW  TESTAMENT. 

Tmk  second  series   of   Bibles   and   Testaments,  commencing 
with  the  first  of  Cranmer's  editions,  will   roach  to  the  end  of 


1.54.(>.]  POLITICAL   AFFAIRS.  U3 

the  reign  of  Edward  the  Sixth,  eiubracing  the  next  twelve 
years  and  a  lialf,  to  July  1553.  At  the  best,  it  will  be  a 
strange  and  varied  scene ;  but  at  present  our  attention 
must  be  confined  to  the  first  of  those  eventful  years.  It 
was  the  year  of  Crumweirs  downfall  and  death,  a  subject 
which  has  been  allowed  to  pass  witliout  due  investigation, 
and,  consequently,  has  been  misunderstood.  In  these  cir- 
cumstances, to  see  the  cause  of  Divine  Truth  still  triumphant, 
and  in  such  progress,  will  be  far  more  impressive,  after  we 
have  carefully  observed  the  general  course  of  secular  and  poli- 
tical affairs. 

Possessed  of  absolute  or  uncontrolled  authority,  the  victim,  in  quick 
succession,  of  contending  passions,  of  avarice  and  profusion,  caprice  and 
obstinacy,  Henry  the  Eighth  stood  but  ill  prepared  for  any  vexatious 
circumstances  to  increase  his  natural  impetuosity  ;  and,  yet,  the  first 
six  months  of  this  year,  he  spent  in  a  state  of  almost  constant  irrita- 
bility. At  the  close  of  last  year  he  seems  to  have  been  in  fear  of  his 
personal  safety  ;  for,  knowing  what  enemies  he  had  abroad,  and  how 
discontented  certain  individuals  were  at  home,  he  had  renewed  his  per- 
sonal guard  of  fifty  gentlemen-pensioners — a  precaution  with  which  he 
had  dispensed  for  thirty  years,  or  since  the  first  of  his  reign. 

It  will  be  remembered  that,  in  September  last,  his  Majesty  had  or- 
dered Crumwell  to  "  put  all  other  matters  out  of  his  head,  saving  only 
the  negotiations  for  that  great  affair — his  marriage  ;"  and,  since  then, 
his  impatience  for  the  approach  of  his  intended  Queen  had  risen  to  its 
utmost  height.  The  Lady  Anne  of  Cleves  having  arrived  in  England, 
had  reached  Rochester  on  the  .31st  of  December.  Ui3on  New  Year's- 
day,  therefore,  Henry,  and  actually  in  disguise,  set  off  to  obtain  a  sight 
of  his  intended  consort.  The  first  glance  was  enough.  He  chose  to 
express  himself  as  disgusted.  It  was,  "  woe  that  ever  she  came  into 
England,"  and  he  began  to  ruminate  whether  or  how  he  could  break  oflf 
his  engagement.  "  But,  considering  again,"  says  Lord  Herbert,  "  that 
this  would  make  a  ruffle  in  the  world,  and  drive  the  Duke,  her  brother, 
into  the  Emperor's,  or  French  King's  hands,"  he  said,  "  it  was  too  far 
gone."  Had  it  not  been  for  this  apprehension,  Henry  would  have  im- 
mediately sent  her  back.  On  the  6th  of  January,  therefore,  after  ex- 
pressing, repeatedly,  the  strongest  reluctance,  he  was  married  by  Cran- 
mer  at  Greenwich  ;  having  resolved  to  confederate  with  the  Princes  of 
Germany.  The  ceremony  once  performed,  "  as  if  in  judgment,"  it  has 
been  said,  "  for  his  cruel  and  capricious  conduct  to  his  first  and  second 
Queens,  Henry  was  now  linked  to  one  whom  he  abhorred,"  with  only 
this  one  feeling  to  counterbalance  his  emotion — a  persuasion  that  he 


94  MKNUVS    KOUKTU    MAKItlAdK.  [hooK  II. 

ha»l  at  least  taken  a  .stop  to  secure  hiinscH'  against  the  Emperor's  power. 
We  shall  see,  presently,  whether  he  was  correct  in  his  calculation. 

While  Ilenry  ever  had  his  eye  on  the  Continent,  he  must  have  been 
conscious  that  he  was  watched  in  return  ;  and  one  singular  movement 
of  the  Emperor's  at  this  period,  had  excited  such  apprehension,  that  it 
prohalily  hastened  the  Royal  nuptials.  Last  year  the  citizens  of  Ghent, 
revolting  against  the  government  of  Charles,  offered  to  place  the  city 
under  the  sovereignty  of  Francis.  He  declined  this  offer ;  and  the  Em- 
peror had  resolved  to  reduce  the  people  of  his  native  city  to  subjection. 
From  fear  of  the  Gennan  States,  he  could  not  pass  through  in  that 
direction,  and  the  fleets  of  Henry  deterred  him  from  hazarding  a  pas- 
sage by  sea.  The  only  other  road  was  through  France  ;  .and  upon 
Charles  proposing  this  route,  the  liberty  was  at  once  granted  by  the 
French  monarch.  Ever  since  their  interview  at  Aigues  Mortes  in  1538, 
Charles  had  not  failed  to  court  the  King  of  France,  and  even  held  up 
the  prospect  of  one  day  investing  him,  or  one  of  his  sons,  with  the 
Dutchy  of  Milan  ;  a  mere  stroke  of  policy,  to  prevent  alliance  with  Soly- 
man,  the  Grand  Seignior.  In  the  vain  hope  that  he  should  now  gain 
over  the  Emperor,  he  was  received  by  the  King,  and  conducted  through 
France  with  the  greatest  splendour.  They  entered  Paris  in  procession 
together,  on  the  first  of  January;  so  that  Charles  was  there  at  the 
moment  when  Homy  was  allied  to  his  despised  consort,  an  event  by  no 
means  acceptable  to  the  Emperor,  and  one  of  which  he  was  not  unmind- 
ful throughout  this  journey. 

Sir  Thomas  Wyatt,  the  English  ambassador,  following  the  Spanish 
Court,  writes,  on  the  7th  of  January,  from  Paris  to  his  royal  Master  : 
"  The  Emperor's  demeanour  has  changed."  One  Robert  Brancetour, 
who  had  thrown  himself  on  the  imperial  protection,  was  demanded  by 
Wyatt  as  a  traitor  ;  but  Charles  would  not  deliver  him  up,  saying  he 
knew  of  no  treason  of  which  he  had  been  guilty,  except  it  were  "  his 
going  along  with  Cardinal  Pole  ! "  and  when  Sir  Thomas  complained  of 
certain  preachers  who  had  defamed  the  King  and  the  English  nation, 
the  only  reply  was—"  Kings  be  not  Kings  of  tongues  ;  and  if  men  give 
cause  to  be  spoken  of,  they  will  be  spoken  of."  After  declaring  the 
Emperor's  concealed  designs,  Wyatt  tenders  his  opinion  as  to  what 
Henry  should  best  do. ' 

Very  impatient  to  be  gone,  Charles  remained  only  seven  days  in  the 
French  capital,  and  left  it  early  in  January,  proceeding  by  Chantilly, 
St.  Quintin,  and  Valenciennes,  to  Brussels,  having  at  once  gained  his 
purpose,  and  completely  deceived  both  Francis  and  his  Ministers  as  to 
Milan.  Whether  it  was  owing  to  Wyatt's  advice  or  not,  the  Emperor 
had  no  sooner  left  Paris  than  the  King  of  England,  all  impatient  to 


'   H.irl.  MS..  No.  282,  leaf  ai. 


1540.]  IN  JEALOUSY  OF  FRANCE.  95 

prevent  the  consequences  of  this  supposed  friendship  and  alliance,  des- 
patched the  Duke  of  Norfolk  in  embassy  to  France.^  His  Grace  was  to 
offer  Francis  assistance  for  the  recovery  of  Milan — to  offer  the  remis- 
sion of  all  the  arrears  of  pensions  due  to  his  royal  Master,  as  well  as  of 
the  salt-money  due  annually — he  was  to  employ  all  his  poAvers  in  ex- 
citing the  jealousy  of  Francis  as  to  the  Emperor's  ambition,  and  propos- 
ing a  strict  league  to  the  exclusion  of  the  Pontiff;  he  was  to  inform 
the  French  Monarch  not  only  of  his  alliance  with  the  Duke  of  Cleves, 
but  his  expected  one  with  Saxony  and  other  German  States.  Norfolk 
went,  but  all  his  representations  were  in  vain.  Charles  had  not  as  yet 
thrown  off  his  mask,  and  plainly  said,  as  he  did  afterwards,  that  the 
promise  made  respecting  Milan  he  never  meant  to  fulfil ;  Francis, 
therefore,  at  this  moment,  was  not  to  be  moved,  and  the  Duke  returned 
to  England  by  the  end  of  February. 

The  Emperor,  with  his  brother  Ferdinand,  King  of  the  Romans,  were 
then  about  to  leave  Biiissels  for  Ghent.  From  the  former  city,  on  the 
25th,  Wyatt  writes  again,  inclosing  a  letter  respecting  the  affairs  of 
Germany,  where  many  false  rimiours  were  afloat  as  to  his  Majesty  and 
his  recent  proceedings,  and  suggesting  that  a  refutation,  in  German, 
should  be  dispersed.^  Twelve  days  more  only  pass  away,  when  by  his 
next  letter  from  Ghent,  dated  9th  of  March,  Wyatt  hints  that  some 
designs  were  hatching  between  Charles  and  Francis  against  his  master 
— that  Ferdinand  was  advising  the  Duke  of  Cleves  to  submit  to  the 
Emperor,  and  it  was  said  that  the  Duchess  of  Milan  would  then  be 
given  to  him  in  marriage.  He  adds,  however,  that  for  a  long  time  there 
had  been  an  affection  between  her  and  the  Prince  of  Orange,  the  son  of 
Francis ;  congratulating  Henry,  at  all  events,  on  his  escape  from  that 
princess.*  On  the  12th,  he  modifies  this  intelligence,  by  informing  the 
King,  that  the  covintenance  shewn  to  Cleves,  was  only  a  stroke  of  feigned 
policy,  to  separate  him  from  the  other  German  States,  and  reduce  him 
to  obedience.^ 

By  this  time,  without  any  prospect  of  alliance  with  either  of  the 
great  powers,  what  must  have  been  the  feelings  of  the  haughty  English 
monarch,  as  to  his  recent  alliance  with  this  petty  German  State  ;  and 
more  especially  when,  only  two  days  after,  tidings  still  more  vexatious 
arrived  ! 

On  the  14th,  Sir  Thomas  wrote  to  the  following  purport — "  That  the 
French  King  had  communicated  to  the  Emperor  what  the  Duke  of  Nor- 
folk had  proposed  to  him,  and  what  were  his  replies — that  this  token  of 
amity  had  greatly  delighted  the  Emperor,  who  had  dreaded  the  effect 
of  Norfolk's  negotiation — that  the  amity  between  Charles  and  Francis 
still  stood,  without  the  Emperor's  parting  with  Milan — that  the  Germans 


:!  Harl.  MP..  No.  282,  IcafU;!.        ■>  Jdcm,  121.        5  lOcm,  126. 


J>C  ALMANCK    WITH    THE   KMl'KUOU.  [uuOK  II. 

wcro  said  to  bo  about  agreement  with  the  Emperor  ;  which,  if  concluded 
without  comprehending  his  Majesty  and  the  Duke  of  Cleves  in  the  same, 
might  prove  prejudicial  to  them  both,  and  es[)ecia]ly  to  the  Duke  his 
ally — that  a  force  of  Spaniards  and  Italians  were  coming  into  Flanders, 
and  that  possibly  the  Pontiff  and  the  Germans  might  be  reconciled,  if 
the  fonner  will  own  his  power  not  to  be  absolute  and  usurped  by  Scrip- 
ture, but  taken  as  by  consent."'' 

Had  Sir  Thomas  sat  down  to  invent  a  communication,  he  could  scarcely 
have  succeeded  in  sending  one  more  unwelcome  to  his  already  dis- 
contented master.  Some  time  also  elapsed  before  Wyatt  wrote  again. 
But,  in  the  meanwhile,  no  intelligence  could  be  more  acceptable  to  the 
gentlemen  of  the  "  old  learning."  And  as  Norfolk  and  Gardiner  were 
now  at  the  King's  ear,  and  ever  busy,  no  doubt  the  juncture  was  im- 
proved in  practising  on  his  feelings  and  apprehensions. 

At  last,  however,  by  the  5th  of  April  there  was  intelligence  from 
Wyatt,  and  addressed  to  Crumwcll,  who,  by  this  time,  must  have  been 
more  ill  at  ease  than  even  his  capricious  master.  The  Pontiff,  in  need- 
less anxiety,  had  written  to  the  Emperor  respecting  his  promised  dona- 
tion of  Milan  to  the  French  ;  and  Sir  Thomas  thinks  the  Emperor  will 
never  part  with  it,  but  spend  the  year  in  "  practices"  with  the  French, 
the  Duke  of  Cleves,  and  others  ;  while  the  Prince  of  Salerno,  one  of  the 
chief  persons  from  Naples,  Avas  desirous  of  proceeding  into  England  to 
see  the  King."''  Crumwell,  of  course,  immediately  despatched  this 
letter  to  the  King,  and  he  received  an  instant  reply,  through  Sadler,  his 
secretary.  His  Majesty  was  relieved,  and  "liked  well"  this  intelligence ; 
and  as  Wyatt  had  expressed  a  wish  to  return  home  in  company  with 
this  Italian,  Henry  approved  of  his  coming,  and  ordered  Mr.  Richard 
Pate  to  be  despatched  as  his  successor.^ 

Here  then  was  at  least  an  opening  for  some  change  of  policy.  For 
years  it  had  1)ecn  Crurawell's  aim  to  keep  Henry  and  Charles  apart, 
that  he  might,  in  alliance  with  P'raucc  and  the  German  States,  pursue 
his  own  policy.  Now,  however,  Henry  was  abundantly  disgusted  with 
Francis,  and  no  less  so  with  his  German  marriage  ;  for  all  along  his 
Majesty  had  not  the  slightest  natural  leaning  towards  these  German  Con- 
federates, except  for  political  purposes.  Parliament  and  the  Convoca- 
tion were  about  to  meet,  when,  with  all  accustomed  form,  Henry  can 
easily  relieve  himself  of  his  Queen  ;  and  as  for  the  Emperor,  we  shall 
find  the  gentlemen  from  his  court  feasting  at  Westminster,  even  before 
this  present  Parliament  is  prorogued  ! 

Foreign  affairs  liaJ  not  been  the  only  source  of  anxiety  to 
both  the  King  and  Crumwell.    During  all  this  spring,  matters 


0  Harl.  MS.,  No.  282,  IcaflZR.  '  Idem,  243. 

«  Gov.  Stale  Papers,  .s.idlcr  to  fnimwcll,  i.,  \i.  ()2-l. 


154.0.]  GARDINER  AND   BONNER.  <)7 

at  lioine  had  been  proceeding  from  bad  to  worse.  Bonner, 
who  had  returned  from  France  in  the  early  part  of  the 
year,  and  was  now  Bishop  elect  of  London,  yet  still  professedly 
eager  to  please  Crumwell,  had  appointed  three  individuals  to 
preach,  during  Lent,  at  Paul's  Cross — Dr.  Barnes,  Thomas 
Garret,  one  of  the  first  dispersers  of  Tyndale's  New  Testa- 
ment, now  Rector  of  All  Hallows  in  Honey  Lane,  of  both  of 
whom  we  have  often  heard  before,  and  William  Jerome,  Vicar 
of  Stepney.  Barnes  was  to  commence  on  the  first  Sunday  of 
Lent,  or  the  14th  of  February.  Gardiner,  however,  now  in 
high  favour  with  Henry,  sent  a  message  to  Bonner,  his  old 
acquaintance,  and  with  whom  he  had  quarrelled  so  bitterly  in 
France,  that  he  intended  to  preach  there  himself  on  that  dav, 
and  this  he  accordingly  did.  "  From  an  accomplished  scholar," 
says  Mr.  Todd,  "as  Gardiner  certainly  was,  one  could  hardly 
have  expected  such  worthless  oratory.  It  might  indeed  be 
intended  as  a  sharp  defiance  to  the  men  of  the  '  new  learning,' 
though  they  must  have  despised  it." 

"  I  gathered  my  wits  to  me,"  he  says,  "  called  for  gi-ace,  and  determined  to 
declare  the  gospel  of  the  Sunday,  containing  the  devil's  three  temptations,  the 
matter  whereof  seemed  to  me  very  apt  to  be  applied  to  the  time,  and  good  occa- 
sion to  note  the  abuse  of  Scripture  among  some,  as  the  devil  abused  it  to  Christ : 
which  matter  indeed  I  touched  somewhat  plainly,  and,  in  my  judgment,  truly. 
Alluding  to  the  temptation  of  the  devil  to  Christ  to  cast  himself  downward,  al- 
leging Scripture  that  he  should  take  no  hurt — I  said — Now-a-days  the  devil 
tempteth  the  world,  and  biddeth  them  cast  themselves  backward.  There  is  no 
forward  in  the  iieic  teachiiuj,  but  all  backward.  Now  the  devil  teacheth — come 
bacli  from  fasting,  come  back  from  praying,  come  back  from  confession,  come 
back  from  weeping  for  thy  sins ;  and  all  is  backward,  insomuch  as  he  must 
learn  to  say  his  Pater-Noster  backward."  Such  was  the  puerile  verbiage,  first 
uttered,  and  afterwards  printed,  by  this  learned  Bishop.9 

A  fortnight  elapsed,  when  Barnes  ofiiciated  at  the  same 
place,  and  taking  the  same  text  preached  the  opposite  doc- 
trine ;  but  very  foolishly  descending  also  to  low  wit,  he  made 
some  unhandsome  references  to  Gardiner's  person,  and  even 
played  upon  his  name.  Garret  and  Jerome  also  preached, 
but  made  no  personal  reflections  on  any  man.  The  friends 
of  Gardiner  then  complained  to  the  King  of  the  "  insufferable 
arrogance"  of  the  first  preacher.     His   Majesty,  interesting 


9  See  "  Declaration  of  such  Articles  as  George  Joye  liath  Ronc  about  to  confute  as  false." 
(iardiner  calls  this  "  a  part  of  liis  Sermon  at  Paul's  Cross,  the  first  Sunday  of  Lent,  mdxxxix." 
I.  e.  Uth  February  IWO;  thouKh  mistaken  by  several  authors  for  the  previous  year. 


98  paiujamf<:nt  opknkd.  [^dook  n. 

hiinsi'U"  in  the  aOaii-,  mWvd  IJarncs  hdun-  Iiiin.  ITowas  over- 
awed; sifjne*!  a  rciuiiifiatioii  ul"  the  articles  iiifoniied  airainst 
liiiii ;  confessed  that  he  liad  overshot  himself ;  and  promised 
ever  after  to  heware  of  such  raslincss.  In  this  lie  was  followed 
bv  Jerome  and  darret.'"  Henry,  however,  commanded  .all 
the  three  to  preach  at  the  Spittle,  and  recant  what  they  had 
said  ;  while  IJarnes  there  in  public,  and  in  (fardiner''s  pre- 
sence, must  ask  his  forgiveness.  This  he  did,  on  what  they 
called  "  Low  Sunday,"  or  the  4th  of  April ;  but  he,  as  well  as 
the  other  two,  having  reasserted  or  justified  in  one  part,  what 
they  recanted  in  another,  his  Majesty  ordered  them  all  to  the 
Tower,  there  to  await  his  decision." 

IJarncs,  for  years  in  the  confidence  of  Crumwell,  had  not 
only  been  before  eniployed  by  him  in  Germany,  but  more 
recently  in  the  ill  assorted  negotiations  respecting  Anne  of 
Clevcs.'^  It  was,  therefore,  positively  presumed,  that  the  dis- 
grace of  the  one,  might  bring  the  other  into  disrepute  or 
suspicion,  and  the  votaries  of  the  old  learning  were  indulging 
hopes  of  Crumweirs  fall.  So  confident  indeed  were  they, 
that  his  office  of  Vicar-General  they  had  bestowed,  by  antici- 
pation, on  Tunstal  Bishop  of  Durham,  and  that  of  Lord  Privy 
Seal  upon  Clerk,  Bishop  of  Bath.  At  this  moment,  however, 
they  were  comj)letely  mistaken  in  their  calculations  ;  nor  is 
there  one  particle  of  evidence  that  such  an  idea  had  as  yet 
entered  into  Henry \g  mind,  as  that  of  the  destruction  of 
Crumwell ;  and  fixr  less  that  he  eve7'  intended  to  have  another 
Vicar-General,  for  he  never  had.  On  the  contrary,  Crumwell 
is  just  about  to  be  raised  still  higher,  and  actually  to  have 
fresh  honours  and  more  power  conferred  upon  him  ! 

Upon  Monday  the  12th  of  April,  Parliament  was  opened,  where,  for 
the  first  time,  there  was  no  Ahbot  or  Prior  present.  After  Audley,  the 
Lord  Chancellor,  had  addressed  the  House  on  civil  affairs,  Crumwell 
rose,  as  Vicar-general,  and  introduced  a  message  from  the  King,  lament- 
ing the  religious  dissensions  hy  which  the  country  was  still  agitated  ; 


'"  Burnet.     Records,  iii.,  Nn.  xii. 

' '  This  scorns  to  li.ivc  been  a  very  busy  day  with  G.inUnrr  ;  for  after  tliis  lie  must  have  been 
engaRi'd  at  the  consecration  of  Jioiiiier.  Yes,  Edmi'ND  Bonnkfi,  with  wlioni  he  was  so  enrafied 
in  France!— See  under  l.l.'m,  p.  11.  But  as  they  were  dear  friends  in  l.');iG,  so  they  will  he 
ai-ain,  at  least  .is  soon  as  Crumwell  is  removed  out  of  the  wav. 

'2  C'onstantyne's  Memorial.  Arch.'eolnfiia,  xxiii..  p..')".  Constantyne  had  met  him  immedi- 
ately after  his  return,  last  AupuKt.  "  Doctor  Barnes  told  me  that  my  Lord  Privy  Seal  would 
have  had  him  tarried  to  have  spoken  with  the  King,  but  tliat  ho  prayed  license,  because  of 
his  weariness." 


l.UO.]  CRUMWELL,   KARL  OF   ESSEX.  99 

so  that  neither  the  first  "  Articles"  by  Cramncr,  nor  the  second  l)y 
Gardiner,  had  produced  either  "peace"  or  "  contentation."  His  Majesty, 
said  Crumwell,  "  leaned  neither  to  the  right  or  left,  neither  to  the  one 
party,  nor  to  the  otlier  ! — but  to  remove  or  root  out  at  once  all  evils,  he 
had  appointed  two  sets  of  prelates  and  doctors  ;  one  to  reform  the  tenets, 
and  the  other  the  ceremonies  of  the  Church  !"  In  other  words,  they 
were  to  try  and  draw  out  another  form  of  faith  and  practice  for  the 
people  of  England,  to  be  imposed  upon  them  once  more.  They  were  to 
sit  thi-ee  days  entire  in  each  week,  and  the  half  of  the  other  three,  and 
proceed  with  deliberation.  The  whole  address,  from  such  a  man  as  the 
King,  and  to  such  a  House,  was  literally  nothing  short  of  profanity  ; 
while  amidst  all,  so  strange  was  the  mixture,  the  Scriptures  themselves 
Avere  not  overlooked — his  Majesty  demanding  the  aid  of  both  Houses  to 
enact  penalties  against  such  as  treated  the  Sacred  Volume  with  irrever- 
ance,  or  explained  rashly  and  erroneously  the  Holy  Scriptures.  From 
the  men  thus  appointed  by  the  King,  we  need  scarcely  add,  that  nothing 
save  gi-eater  confusion  and  perplexity  were  the  results.  Their  proceed- 
ings ended  in  the  publication  of  what  they  styled  "  The  necessary  Erudi- 
tion of  a  Christian  Man,"  above  two  years  after.  It  was  a  confused  and 
heterogeneous  compound,  in  which,  says  Burnet  truly,  "  both  parties 
found  cause  afterwards  for  both  joy  and  sorrow." 

On  Wednesday  the  14th,  the  Convocation  assembled,  and  at  the  close, 
both  Houses  adjourned  till  Saturday  the  l7th,  which  was  the  last  day 
in  which  the  Vicar-general  sat  as  Baron  Crumwell. 

It  so  happened  that  last  month  Henry  had  been  deprived,  by  death, 
of  two  of  his  nobility.  The  first,  Bourchier  Earl  of  Essex,  was  killed  by 
a  fall  from  his  horse,  on  the  12th  of  March  ;  and  within  a  week  after, 
died  "  the  great  Chamberlain  of  England,"  Vere,  Earl  of  Oxford  ;  and 
as  if  my  Lord  Privy  Seal  and  Vicegerent  were  not  already  overloaded 
with  both  honour  and  office,  his  Majesty  had  actually  resolved  to  com- 
bine those  of  both  men  in  the  person  of  Crvimwell  !^^  After  Parliament 
rose  therefore,  on  the  17th,  or  as  Halle  has  it,  next  day  the  18th,  Sunday, 
Crumwell  was  not  only  created  Earl  of  Essex,  but  appointed  Great 
Chamberlain  ;  and  on  Monday  he  entered  the  House  of  Lords,  where 
his  name  stands  at  the  head  of  the  roll — "  Vicesgerens  Regius,  Thomas 
Essex  comes."  The  former  Earl  having  died  without  heirs,  the  King 
gave  him  at  the  same  time,  all  that  fell  to  the  Crown.  He  was  now  in 
possession  of  all  his  honours,  which  in  number,  if  not  in  emolument,  far 
exceeded  even  those  of  Wolsey  ! 

13  "  This  shows,"  says  Burnet,  "  that  the  true  causes  of  Crum  well's  fall  must  be  found  in  some 
oWfCf  tliinp  than  his  making  up  the  King's  marriage;  who  had  never  thus  raised  his  title,  if  hy  this 
time  he  had  intended  so  soon  to  ])ull  him  down."  Besides,  in  that  affair,  we  have  already  seen 
how  cautiously  Crumwell  proceeded  at  the  outset,  nor  was  he  the  only  man  to  be  implicated. 
When  the  King  first  saw  him  after  being  at  Rochester,  he  cast  the  chief  blame  on  the  Karl  qf 
Snuthampton,  and  said,  "when  tie  found  her  so  far  short  of  what  reports  and  pictures  had  made 
her,  ht'  should  have  sloped  her  at  Calais,  till  he  had  given  the  King  notice." 


10(1  CRUMWKM.    IN   THE    riKIOHT  OF  HIS   POWKR     [iioOK  il. 

In  one  (lay  he  had  come  into  most  intimate  intercourse  with  his 
Sovereign,  and  was  almost  immediately  intrusted  with  state  secrets.  In 
l.OSl,  he  was  knighted  and  made  master  of  the  King's  jewel-house.  In 
1532,  he  became  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer.  In  1/534,  Principal  Se- 
cretary of  State,  and  Master  of  the  Rolls.  In  1535,  not  only  Chancellor 
of  Cambridge  University,  but  Vicegerent  and  Vicar-general  of  Eng- 
land. In  1536,  he  was  created  a  IJaron,  and  appointed  Lord  Privy  Seal, 
when  he  gave  up  one  office,  viz.  the  Rolls.  In  1537,  he  was  made  a 
Knight  of  the  Garter,  Chief  Justice  of  the  Forests,  and  Dean  of  Wells ; 
a  military  honour,  a  civil,  and  an  ecclesiastical  appointment,  in  one  year  ! 
In  1538,  he  became  Constable  of  Carisbrook  Castle,  and  was  appointed 
by  Henry,  Steward  of  ibrchbishop  Cranmer's  Liberties  and  Master  of  his 
game.  To  all  these  must  now  be  added,  the  honour  of  an  Earldom,  and 
the  office  of  Great  Chamberlain.  By  this  time  he  was  possessed  of  pro- 
perty in  at  least  eight  counties,  viz.  in  Middlesex  and  Essex,  in  Sussex 
and  Kent,  in  Rutland  and  Leicester,  Norfolk  and  Warwickshires. 
There  are  said  to  have  been  about  thirty  manors  and  large  estates  ;  they 
were  rewards  from  the  King,  in  1534  and  during  the  last  five  years  in 
succession  ;  forming  a  goodly  proportion  of  the  spoil  from  the  suppressed 
Monasteries. 

Possessed  of  eminent  talents  for  business,  Crumwell  was  equally  dis- 
tinguished for  sagacity  in  managing  it  ;  but  with  regard  to  himself  per- 
sonally, as  that  sagacity  gradually  forsook  him,  he  stands  out  as  one  of 
the  most  conspicuous  proofs  in  English  history  of  the  blinding  influence 
of  ambition.  How  could  any  man  stand  in  slippery  places,  so  loaded 
with  titles,  and  offices,  and  wealth  ?  Did  he  intend  to  be  the  only  figure 
among  ciphers  ?  Why  could  he  not  have  declined  the  ensnaring  proffers 
of  his  capricious  Master,  influenced,  as  he  must  have  seen  him  to  be,  only 
by  the  moment  1  But  no  ;  never  does  he  appear  to  have  refused  either 
honour  or  emolument,  although  the  half  of  all  be  held,  might,  in  these 
times,  have  plunged  an  abler  man  into  ruin. 

But  what,  it  may  be  inquired,  could  possibly  be  Henrj's  object,  in  con- 
ferring fresh  honours  upon  his  Vicegerent  at  present  ?  Although  this 
never  appears  to  have  been  pointed  out,  it  may  be  conjectured  if  not  as- 
certained from  the  use  which  the  King  had  made  of  him  all  along.  Be- 
fore Crumwell's  elevation,  but  more  especially  since,  his  Majesty  had 
been  torn  by  two  contending  passions,  avarice  and  prodigality.  They 
seldom  meet  in  the  same  breast  ;  but  in  his  royal  Master  they  reigned 
predominant,  and  were  alike  insatiable.  He  came  to  the  throne  the 
richest  Sovereign  in  Europe  ;  for  his  father,  proverbially  distinguished 
as  the  most  sordid  prince  who  ever  sat  on  the  throne  of  England,  had 
left  him  an  immense  sum.'"*     In  the  days  of  his  youth,  Wolsey's  example, 

■<  Rapin  has  stated  that  eighteen  hniidred  thousand  ;M>t<nr/<  sterling,  were  found  in  his  father's 


1540.]  HENRY'S   USE  OF  CRUMVVELL.  101 

his  cupidity,  and  compauionshij),  instructed  the  jovial  monarch  into  all 
the  delights,  and  the  mystery  of  spending.  The  fortune  left  him  was 
soou  dissipated,  when  the  great  talents  of  the  Cardinal  had  to  be  exerted 
in  procuring  large  exactions,  or  "  benevolences,"  from  the  laity.  The 
ingenuity  of  Wolsey,  in  this  line,  was  literally  exhausted  at  the  moment 
of  his  fall.  Crumwell,  bred  under  his  eye,  and  already  skilled  in  the 
art  of  dealing  with  monasteries  and  their  suppression,  did  not  fail  to 
perceive  what  was  fitted,  not  only  to  dissolve  the  royal  prejudices  against 
himself  personally,  for  they  were  very  strong,  but  even  to  entrance  the 
thirsty  monarch.  There  was  wealth  lying  before  his  Majesty,  it  might 
have  been  presumed,  more  than  sufficient  for  any  one  King  to  spend 
throughout  a  long  reign  ;  but  the  difficulty  of  reaching  property  which 
had  been  held  for  ages  to  be  sacred  and  inviolable,  must  have  seemed  in- 
superable to  almost  every  man.  Henry,  however,  had  arrogated  to  him- 
self a  new  title^  and  one  which  his  subjects  had  been  constrained  to  ac- 
knowledge as  a  sacred  one.  All-ambiguous  as  it  was,  and  involving  vast 
claims,  it  conveyed  not  only  additional  power,  but  a  new  species  of  power, 
unknown  to  any  other  sovereign.  At  the  moment  of  its  assumption,  in- 
deed, the  daring  and  tyi'annical  monarch  could  scarcely  dream  that  this 
new  and  highly -prized  title,  might  not  only  gTatify  his  love  of  power, 
but  fill  his  exchequer  ;  yet  having  once  assumed  authority  over  the 
minds,  as  well  as  the  bodies  of  his  subjects,  he  stood  ready  for  the  sug- 
gestions of  any  man  who  should  say — "  What  signifies  property,  if  your 
Majesty  may  not  appropriate  this  also  to  your  own  use  ?"  The  title  of 
"  Supreme  Head  of  the  Church  of  England"  was  valued  by  Crumwell 
chiefly  as  being  able  to  gather  to  itself  immense  wealth.  Thus,  while 
Henry,  bereaved  of  his  Cardinal,  stood,  like  a  second  Midas,  still  wish- 
ing that  all  he  could  touch  might  turn  into  gold,  Crumwell  craved  an 
audience  ;  and  after  having  actually  shed  tears  of  despair  down  at 
Esher,  within  twenty-four  hours,  as  men  say,  he  had  made  his  fortune. 
His  Majesty  never,  it  is  true,  made  a  companion  of  him  as  he  had  made 
of  Wolsey  ;  on  the  contrary,  he  would  fall  out  with  him,  and  chide 
severely  ;  but  from  the  day  that  he  was  first  made  Master  of  the  King's 
tTewe^-house,  nay,  and  before  then,  down  to  his  last  honours,  'money  was 
the  one  grand  object  which  his  Majesty  had  in  view  by  the  employment 
of  Crumwell. 

We  have  therefore  only  to  glance  at  the  present  state  of  aflfairs  and  the 
royal  pui-poses.  Though  the  monasteries  had  been  dissolved,  and  most 
of  the  spoil  had  come  in  ;  and  although  only  last  year,  or  eleven  months 
ago,  the  King  had  solemnly  promised,  in  so  many  words,  "  that  for  the 
benefit  and  ease  of  the  subject,  he  never  afterwards,  in  any  time  to  come, 


coffers.  Other  historians  have  restricted  the  amount  to  JWrtrA-^.  Either  sum  was  immense.  If 
tlie  latter  only,  it  was  equal  to  eighteen  millions  of  our  present  coin,  but  if  the  former  it  was 
equal  to  twenty-seven  millions  sterling  ! 


1(»2  CULMWKLL'S    LARGE   AND    LAST  [uoOK  II. 

Mhould  Ito  cliiugcd  witli  subsidies,  fifteenths,  loans,  or  other  common 
aids  !"  Yet  is  he  absolutely  now  about  to  ask  for  money  from  Parlia- 
ment once  more  ;  nay,  and  let  it  be  H])ocia]ly  observed,  from  the  BiKhopit 
in  Convocation  too  !  This  was  sufficiently  audacious  ;  but  where  was  the 
man  who  had  the  face  to  come  to  both  Houses,  and  so  soon,  upon  such 
a  subject  \  Here  was  Orumwell.  There  had  been  none  like  him  in  all 
Englantl  fur  gathering  sui^plics.  Already  he  was  Vicar-general  ;  and 
after  the  recent  conduct  of  the  Bishops,  he  must  have  been  even  more 
than  gratifyed  in  carrying  suck  a  message  to  the  Convocation  ;  and  as 
for  the  House  of  Lords — give  him  a  higher  place  there.  Let  him  walk 
in  as  an  Earl,  and  "  Great  Chamberlain"  to  boot,  and  he  will  be  ready 
to  say  or  to  do  anything. 

Nor  was  this  all  ;  if  Crumwell  does  not  become  more  intoxicated,  or 
overbearing  by  his  elevation,  and  altogether  forget  himself,  there  was 
much  business  yet  to  be  accomplished,  which  he  could  dexterously  over- 
take, and  sooner  than  any  other  man  ;  so  that  should  he  fall,  there  must 
be  a  pause  in  the  cry  of  "  Give,  give."  "  There  were  still  a  great  many 
tempting  morsels  in  the  hands  of  Churchmen,  which  were  full  as  liable 
to  seizure  as  the  monastic  lands  ;  such  were  collegiate  churches,  hospi- 
tals, chantries,  free  chapels,  guilds,  &c.,  which  were  all  endowed,  and 
were  capable  of  fiu-nishing  the  excheijuer  with  an  immense  sum  ;"  nay, 
and  close  at  baud,  there  was  a  very  large  mouthful,  in  the  priory  and 
possessions  of  the  Knights  of  St.  John.  In  short,  the  position  and  in- 
tentions of  the  ever-craving  Monarch  fully  explain  the  mystery  of  the 
Earldom.  The  Chambcrlainship  gave  him  still  higher  standing  in  the 
King's  household,  and  the  Earldom  in  the  House  of  Lords.  Together, 
they  formed  a  retaining  fee,  and  the  Earl  proceeded  to  business. 

Thus,  only  four  days  after  his  elevation,  or  Thursday  the  22d  of  April, 
he  introduced  a  bill  into  Parliament  for  the  suppression  of  the  Knights 
of  St.  John  of  Jerusalem,  once  styled  the  Knights  of  Rhodes,  and  now 
the  Knights  of  Malta.  They  were  the  last  remnant  of  Monachism,  hav- 
ing large  property  not  only  in  England  but  at  Kilmainham  in  Ireland, 
and  had  firmly  refused  to  dissolve  their  community.  In  the  House  of 
Lords,  their  prior  sat  immediately  after  the  abbots,  and  above  the  lay 
barons.  The  pensions  given  after  the  dissolution  of  abbeys  and  monas- 
teries were,  in  most  instances,  but  small,  in  comparison  of  the  property 
obtained  ;  but  as  more  than  three  thousands  annually  were  assigned  to 
this  body,  it  is  evident  that  the  property  must  have  been  of  great  value. 
This  bill,  which  was  again  before  the  House  on  the  26th,  was  read  the 
third  time  on  the  29th  of  April.  To  Sir  William  Weston,  the  last  prior, 
out  of  the  sum  referred  to,  a  thousand  pounds  annually  had  been  award- 
ed ;  but  as  he  died  on  the  Sth  of  May,  only  a  few  days  after  the  bill  had 
passed,  "  soul-smitten  with  .lorrow,"  says  Fuller,  and  never  received  a 
farthing,  here  was  an  annual  thousand  more  to  the  King. 


1540.]  DEMANDS   FOR  THK   KlNCi.  103 

Before  Parliament  opened,  too,  in  order  to  allay  the  clamours  of  the 
people,  to  attach  them  to  his  interest,  and  bring-  them  to  some  cordiality 
as  to  the  dissolution  of  the  monasteries,  Crumwell  had  advised  his  Ma- 
jesty to  immediately  sell  the  Abbey  lands  at  twenty  years'  purchase  ; 
so  that,  on  the  12th  of  March,  he  had  been  put  in  commission,  Avith 
others,  for  this  end.  '^  But,  still,  all  that  had  been  done  in  the  way  of 
confiscation  Avould  not  svifficc  for  his  IMaJesty's  present  demands  ;  and 
now,  therefore,  with  a  kind  of  wild  desperation,  the  Earl  entered  at 
once  upon  still  more  dangerous  and  exasperating  ground. 

It  was  only  four  days  after  this  last  bill  had  passed,  or  on  the  3d  of 
May,  that  Crumwell  proceeded  with  the  business  of  the  Crown,  and 
came  to  the  House,  demanding  an  enormous  subsidy.  It  was  not  less 
than  "  foui-tenths  and  fifteenths,  besides  ten  per  cent,  on  their  income 
from  lands,  and  five  per  cent,  on  their  goods  from  the  laity."  Again, 
on  Wednesday,  Parliament  not  sitting,  Crumwell,  as  Vicar-general,  went 
to  the  Convocation,  and  there  demanded  "  a  grant  of  two-tenths  and 
twenty  per  cent,  on  their  incomes  for  two  years."  ^^  Here,  then,  in  both 
Houses,  was  room  suflicient  for  the  loudest  murmuring  and  discontent. 
The  proposer  of  such  unprecedented  demands,  and  in  a  time  of  peace, 
had  overshot  even  his  old  master,  Wolsey,  and  was  preparing  himself 
for  that  l)urst  of  joy  and  indignation  Avhich  must  certainly  overtake 
him,  should  he  chance  to  fall.  Referring  to  the  subsidy  from  Parlia- 
ment, says  Lord  Herbert,  "  this  exorbitant  demand  laid  on  by  Crum- 
well, gained  him  an  universal  hatred  among  the  people,  and  was  one 
reason  of  his  sudden  fall  after  it,"  though  he  was  only  obeying  orders. 
Ah  !  but  it  was  not  the  people  only  who  were  exasperated,  for  they  could 
not  have  reached  him.  He  had  entered  the  Convocation,  too,  and  there 
demanded  a  subsidy  ;  and  though  Henry  may  continue  to  make  such 
demands,  Crumwell,  the  Vicar-general,  never  shall  again.  "  The  Convo- 
cation," says  Lingard,  "  continued  to  be  summoned,  but  its  legislative 
authority  was  gone.  Its  principal  business  was  to  grant  money  ;  yet 
even  these  grants  now  owed  their  force,  not  to  the  consent  of  the  gran- 
ters,  but  to  the  approbation  of  the  other  two  Houses,  and  tae  assent  of 
the  Crown.  The  first  instance  I  find  was  in  1540."  It  was  the  first, 
and,  at  the  same  time,  Crumwell's  last  demand.  He  carried  both  sub- 
sidies, the  chief  pretext  being  the  expenses  which  had  been  incurred  by 
building  forts  along  the  sea-coast,  and  repairing  fortifications  which  had 
fallen  into  decay. 

On  Saturday,  the  8th,  in  the  House  of  Lords,  so  far  as  they  were 
concerned,  the  subsidy  had  been  settled  ;  and,  on  the  same  day,  we  find 


'5  Rymcr's  Focilcia,  xiv.,  p.  6.1.3. 

'0  Wilkin's  Concil.,  8,50,  H(3,  Stat,  of  Ktaliii,  iii.,  (112.  Burnet  and  otlier  historians  have 
s-tafod  this  subsidy  at  no  more  tlian  one-tenth  and  a  fifteentli  from  the  Commons,  and  two- 
tenths  from  the  Convocation. 


104  TIIK  KING  HAS  TAKEN  OFFENCE.  [book  II. 

a  Mil  of  permutation,  or  exchange  of  some  property,  between  the  King 
and  Crumwell,  had  been  brought  in  and  read  a  first  time,  so  that  every 
thing  seemed  to  be  proceeding  successfully — but — next  morning  arrived, 
and  wliat  is  this  ?  For  some  cause  or  another,  his  Majesty  is  now 
seriously  offended,  and  this  is  the  first  positive  intimation.  It  was  only 
three  weeks  since  he  had  heaped  honour  upon  the  man  ;  he  has,  since 
then,  carried  through  money  matters,  of  which,  perhaps,  no  one  else 
would  have  risked  even  the  suggestion  ;  and,  besides,  this  is  SmiJxii/. 
No  matter,  Henry  must  write  immediately,  and  here  is  his  letter : — 

"  Henry  R.  By  tlie  King. 

"  Right  trusty  and  right  well-beloved  Cousin,  we  greet  you  well  ;  signifying  to 
you  our  ple.asure  and  commandment  is,  that  forthwith,  and  upon  receipt  of 
these  our  letters,  setting  all  other  afFaii-s  apart,  ye  do  repair  unto  Us,  for  the 
treaty  of  such  great  and  weighty  matters,  as  whereupon  doth  consist  the  surety 
of  your  person,  the  preservation  of  our  honour,  and  the  tranquillity  and  quietness 
of  you  and  all  other  our  loving  and  faitiiful  subjects,  like  as  at  your  arrival 
here,  ye  shall  more  plainly  perceive  and  understand.  And  that  ye  fail  not 
hereof,  as  We  specially  trust  you.  Given  under  our  Signet,  at  our  Manor  of 
Westminster,  the  9th  day  of  May."l7 

It  is  singular  that  i\ie  first  precise  cause  of  offence,  so  strongly  marked 
in  this  letter,  has  never  transpired  ;  though,  after  this,  it  must  be  evi- 
dent that  Crumwell  could  not  have  passed  one  easy  hour.  Still,  upon 
Monday,  the  Earl  appeared  among  the  Lords  as  usual,  when  his  bill  of 
permutation  with  the  King  was  read  and  passed  ;  but  the  very  next 
day  Parliament  was  frorogxted  till  the  25th  of  IMay,  and  this  was  omin- 
ous. On  Wednesday,  however,  the  Vicar-General  attended  Convoca- 
tion, zxi<S.  finished  the  business  of  the  subsidy  there  also. 

The  displeasure  felt  all  around,  on  account  of  these  enormous  levies, 
joined  with  the  displeasure  of  the  King,  which  must  have  soon  been 
whispered,  furnished,  during  the  recess,  a  fine  opportunity  for  getting 
up  the  bill  of  accusations  against  Crumwell,  which,  no  doubt,  was  skil- 
fully unproved  ;  but  Tuesday  the  25  th  arrived.  Parliament  sat,  and  the 
Earl  was  there  as  before  !  Bills  of  attainder  without  any  trial,  accord- 
ing to  the  shocking  precedent  which  Cnrmwell  himself  had  introduced 
last  year,  were  passed  again  and  again  in  this  Parliament,  against  a 
number  of  individuals  ;  and  now,  at  last,  he  is  himself  about  to  become 
the  victim  of  his  own  measure  ;  though  still,  every  day,  or  as  duly  as  the 
House  assembled,  there  was  the  Earl,  and  so,  generally  speaking,  was 
Cranmer.  Thus  it  happened  on  Thursday  the  10th  of  June,  and  after 
Parliament  adjourned  at  Westminster,  there  was  a  meeting  of  the  Privy 
Council  ;  Crumwell  was  present,  but  not  Cranmer.     The  Duke  of  Nor- 


"  Cotton  MS.,  Titus,  B.  i.,  406.     Original.    SiRncd  by  Stamp,  which  may  have  been  in- 
tcndfd  as  n  mark  of  indiKiiity.  <>i"  fartlicr  primf  of  displeasure. 


131.0.3  CRUMWELL  APPREHENDED.  105 

folk  and  his  party  were  now  ready.  The  Duke,  for  particular  reasons 
then  high  in  the  King's  favour,  i»  preferred  against  the  falling  Minister 
the  charge  of  high  treason.  His  despotic  Majesty,  of  course,  had  been 
consulted,  and  had  concurred  ;  and,  therefore,  Audley,  as  Lord  Chan- 
cellor, having  arrested  him,  he  was  forthwith  conducted  as  a  prisoner 
to  the  Tower.'^  Thus  the  man  who  had  sat  so  high  in  Parliament  in 
the  morning,  by  three  o'clock  was  regarded  as  a  traitor,  and  is  said  to 
have  been  even  insulted  on  his  way  to  the  Tower  in  the  afternoon  ! 

That  very  night  one  party  "  banqueted  and  triumphed  together, 
many  wishing  that  that  day  had  been  seven  years  before  ;  while  some, 
fearing  lest  he  should  escape,  though  imprisoned,  could  not  be  merry. 
But  others,  who  knew  nothing  but  truth  by  him,  both  lamented  and 
heartily  prayed  for  him."^<* 

The  step  thus  taken  has  been  long  very  loosely  ascribed  to  Henry's 
recent  marriage  ;  but  that  event  could  oiever,  of  itself,  have  led  to  this. 
Crumwell  would  have  outlived  that  vexation  of  his  royal  Master,  by  at 
once  putting  an  end  to  it.  A  better  key  to  the  secret  may  be  found. 
Serving  a  capricious  monarch,  sometimes  pleased  and  soon  angry,  the 
eager  and  too  ambitious  servant  must  have  been  often  at  a  stand.  Hia 
own  course  was  erratic.  To  pull  down  an  ambitious  man  with  safety 
suddenly.  Lord  Bacon  has  said,  that  the  only  way  is  the  interchange  con- 
tinually of  favours  and  disgraces,  whereby  he  may  not  know  what  to  ex- 
pect, and  be,  as  it  were,  in  a  ^voocl.  Now  although  Henry,  it  is  most  pro- 
bable, had  no  fixed  intention  only  a  month  since,  it  is  certain  that  Crum- 
well had  been  first  in  favour  then  in  disgrace,  or  first  elevated,  then  de- 
pressed, as  his  Majesty  had  both  smiled  and  frowned,  in  the  short  com- 
pass of  three  weeks.  No  wonder,  then,  if  Crumwell  had  found  himself 
before  now,  but  especially  of  late,  "  as  it  were,  in  a  wood."  Too  much 
elated  by  the  favour  of  the  King,  his  arrogance,  in  the  possession  of  so 
much  power  and  authority  seems  to  have  increased.  He  has  been  said 
to  have  treated  all  the  men  of  the  old  learning,  whether  clergy  or  no- 
bility with  equal  haughtiness,  and  even  the  Duke  of  Norfolk,  his  chief 
rival,  he  had  threatened  with  the  royal  displeasure.     Though,  therefore, 

IB  Henry  was  about  to  be  married  to  his  niece,  Katharine  Howard. 

19  Lords'  Journal,  June  10,  and  of  this  Pari.  27°.  "  Hodk  Vicesgerens  Kcgius  supradictus, 
Comes  Essex,  in  hora  pomeridiana,  per  Dominum  Cancellarium  et  alios  doniinos  de  Arcano 
Domini  nostri  Regis  Consilio,  ex  Palatio  Regio  Domini  Regis  Westm.  hora  tertia  pomeridiana, 
super  accusationem  criminis  Lcesce  Hlojislatis,  missus  est  in  Arcem  Londinens."  p.  I4.'i.  There 
have  been  few  points  on  which  historians  have  been  so  at  variance  as  the  day  oi  Crumwell's 
arrest.  Tytler  and  Lingard  are  correct ;  but  Halle,  Stow,  Herbert,  Foxe,  Burnet,  Collier, 
Mackintosh,  and  others,  not  only  differ  among  themselves,  but  all  are  wrong.  And  what  is 
curious  enough,  even  in  the  new  edition  of  Foxe,  after  having  corrected  the  mistake,  vol.  v.,  j). 
3!)H,  the  editor,  in  a  note,  p.  461,  inadvertently  nullifies  his  own  correction,  by  supposing  that 
Crumwell  sat  in  the  House  of  Lords  till  the  Iflth  !  The  fact  is,  that  his  name  remained  on  the 
rull  till  the  day  after  his  attainder,  when  it  was  struck  off;  but  he  is  no  day  marked  ;).  i)resent, 
■iftcr  the  loth  of  June.  Nor  is  this  confusion  as  to  dates  during  this  year,  in  these  last  men- 
tioned historians,  confined  to  one.  It  would  require  a  p.nge  to  rectify  it.  In  the  text  we  have 
followed  throughout,  implicitly,  the  Journal  of  the  House  of  Lords,  in  which,  however,  it  re- 
quires to  be  observed,  that  on  some  pages  there  is  a  misprint  of  1539  for  1540.  20  Halle. 


ll)(;  I'AKTIKS   (H'l'OSKD   TO   CRUMWELL.  [liOOK  II. 

tho  iuiiiicJiute  occasion  of  ('ruiiiwcll'H  arrest  has  ucvcr  liccu  pointed  out, 
it  may  now  be  very  safely,  if  not  clearly  traced,  to  certain  Biyhops, 
headed  hy  his  Grace  of  Norfolk. 

Ahoiit  the  month  of  August  last  year,  Crumwell  had  l)een  incensed  by 
one  of  these  men,  Richard  Sampson,  Bishop  of  Chichester,  as  playing 
false  with  the  King,  having  a  secret  favour  for  the  Roman  Pontiff,  with 
special  good  will  to  the  old  learning  and  all  its  ceremonies.  Correspon- 
dence and  personal  communications  had  passed  between  them,  but  up  to 
the  day  of  his  own  arrest,  the  tokens  of  Crumwcll's  displeasure  had  not 
been  removed.  The  fact  was,  that  the  Bishop,  in  company  with  Dr. 
Nicholas  Wilson,  he  had  committed  to  the  Tower.'^'  There,  in  trouble 
and  dejection,  if  not  fear  of  his  life,  Sampson  had  made  certain  disclo- 
sures— confessing  a  coml)ination  between  himself,  Tunstal  Bishop  of 
Durham,  and  Stokesly  of  London,  lately  deceased.  They  were  to  do 
their  utmost  to  preserve  the  old  doctrines  with  all  their  appendages. 
Upon  this,  Crumwell  made  no  scruple  to  charge  Tunstal  with  what  he 
had  heard  ;  but  he  denied  it.  On  Monday  the  7th  of  June  therefore, 
only  three  days  before  the  arrest.  Dr.  Peter  and  a  Mr.  Bellows,  were  sent 
to  Sampson  to  signify  this,  on  which  he  sat  down,  and  in  writing  ad- 
dressed to  Crumwell  an  ample  and  decided  confirmation  of  all  he  had 
confessed.  To  refresh  Tunstal's  memory,  if  not  confound  him,  Sampson 
pointed  distinctly  to  a  certain  period,  when  they,  the  Bishops,  were  busy 
with  the  Germans  and  tliC  Uis/toj/s  Book  ;  he  described  graphically  the 
doings  of  both  Stokesly  and  himself — repeating  that  "  Tunstal  will  not 
say  otherwise,  but  that  he,  and  the  late  Bishop  of  London  were  fully  bent 
to  maintain  as  many  of  the  old  usages  as  they  might,  and  so  they  said  it 
was  necessary  to  do."  Here,  in  short,  were  the  authors  of  "  the  Book  of 
Ceremonies,"  to  which  we  referred  last  year.  But  this  was  not  the  whole 
confession  now.  "  Winchester,"  said  Sampson,  "  was  not  then  here,  but 
the  encouragement  he  had  given  him  was  now,  lateli/" — "  not  to  fear  to 
help  things  forward,  for  the  King's  Highness  was  very  good  Lord  in  them." 
Gardiner  wished  him  to  be  diligent  in  ceremonies  and  to  leave  none. 
Heath,  too,  whom  Gardiner  had  just  consecrated  Bishop  of  Rochester,  had 
turned,  and  was  of  the  same  mind.  In  short,  "  Winchester  told  him 
that  they  were  all  of  one  mind,  very  few  excejited."^^ 

To  be  thwarted  in  Parliament  as  to  their  Book  of  Ceremonies  had  been 
grievous  enough,  but  to  have  its  secret  history  thus  fully  exposed  to 
Crumwell,  was  more  vexatious  still.  Tunstal  and  Gardiner,  in  their  true 
characters,  stood  fully  before  him.  Now,  all  this  happened  on  Monday, 
or  only  three  days  before  the  aiTcst. 


21  Wilson's  is  the  last  signature  to  the  Cimvocation  articlfs  of  l.'i.Tfi.  He  was  Arcli-dcacon  of 
Oxfoul,  and  afterwards  bclonned  to  the  curious  old  church  of  Winiboruc  Minster  in  Dorsetshire. 
Uoth  he  and  Sampson  were  notorious  watchers  on  the  times. 

22  Cotton  MS.,  Cleop.  E.  v.,  p.  .'!oi) ;  or  see  Strypc,  App.  No.  xciii. 


154-0.]  CRANMER'S  LETTER.  1(17 

By  this  momcut,  Ilcury  was  sick  of  all  confabulation  about  Gonnany  ; 
being  secretly,  and  to  his  dying  day,  a  votary  of  the  old  ceremonies. 
The  niece  of  Norfolk  had  caught  his  eye  ;  while  the  alleged  treason  and 
mal-administration  of  Crurawell  were  poured  into  his  car  ;  and  these  were 
charges  to  which  his  Majesty  at  this  moment  was  all  alive.  Meanwhile, 
the  new-made  Earl  had  already  secured  the  subsidies,  and  would  now  in- 
herit all  the  odium,  or  like  the  scape-goat  carry  it  away  from  the  King. 
After  such  a  pointed  written  disclosure  on  Monday,  no  wonder  if  high 
words,  for  the  last  time,  had  again  escaped  from  Crumwell  on  Tuesday 
or  Wednesday  ;  and  on  Thursday  he  was  laid  low. 

Next  day  the  event  was  known  to  all,  when  the  time-servers  were 
busy  in  changing  sides.  Among  others,  Bonner,  formerly  no  compliant, 
so  zealous  for  the  Scriptiu'cs  and  full  of  promise,  when  at  Paris,  who 
had  been  solely  indebted  for  his  elevation  to  the  unhappy  prisoner  in 
the  Tower,  had  already  wheeled  round.  "  As  soon  as  ever  Crumwell 
fell,  the  very  next  day  he  shewed  his  ingratitude,  and  how  nimbly  he 
turned  with  the  wind.  For  Grafton,  the  printer,  (so  intimate  Avith  Bon- 
ner in  France,)  meeting  him,  said,  he  was  very  sorry  for  the  news  he 
had  heard  of  Crumwell's  being  sent  to  the  Tower.  Bonner  answered, 
'  It  had  been  good  he  had  been  despatched  long  ago.'  So  the  other 
shrunk  away,  perceiving  the  change  that  was  in  him."  ^^ 

In  short,  of  all  the  friends  that  once  so  courted  the  friendship  of 
Thomas  Cnimwell,  there  was  only  one  solitary  individual  left,  and  this 
was  Cranmer  ;  at  least  he  was  the  only  man  who  said  any  thing  at  the 
moment.  The  certainty  seems  to  be,  that  Cranmer  was  not  present 
when  Crumwell  was  arrested  ;  that  he  heard  this  day,  at  the  Privy 
Council,  the  grounds  of  his  arrestment,  and  on  the  morrow,  or  Saturday, 
sent  his  letter  to  the  King.-'*  The  following  fragment,  as  given  by  Lord 
Herbert  from  the  original,  is  all  that  remains  : — 

"  I  heard  yesterday  in  your  Gi-ace's  Council,  that  he  (Crumwell)  is  a  traitor ; 
yet  who  cannot  be  sorrowful  and  amazed  that  he  should  be  a  traitor  against 
your  Majesty  ?  He  that  was  so  advanced  by  your  Majesty ;  he  whose  surety 
was  only  by  your  Majesty  ;  he  who  loved  your  Majesty,  as  I  ever  thought,  no 
less  than  God  ;  he  who  studied  always  to  set  forwards  ichatsoerer  was  your 
Majesty's  will  and  pleasure ;  he  that  cared  for  no  man's  displeasure  to  serve 
your  Majesty;  he  that  was  such  a  servant,  in  ray  judgment,  in  wisdom,  dili- 
gence, faithfulness  and  experience,  as  no  Prince  in  this  realm  ever  liad  ;  he 
that  was  vigilant  to  preserve  your  Majesty  from  all  treasons,  that  few  could 
be  so  secretly  conceived,  but  he  detected  the  same  in  the  beginning.  If  the 
noble  Princes  of  memory.  King  John,  Henry  the  Second,  and  Richard  II.,  had 


23  Burnet. 

24  Herbert,  mistaking  the  day  <jf  arrestment  for  the  l.'Jlh,  sujiposes  this  letter  to  have  been 
written  next  day  or  Monday.  liul  the  day  of  arrest  is  certain  ;  and  as  Cranmer  says,  i/ester- 
ilay  I  luard.  &c.,  it  is  evident  he  had  not  been  jircsent,  but  hearing  of  the  arrest  on  Friday,  he 
wrote  next  day- 


108  TIIK    FIRST    KXAMINATION.  [noOK  M. 

IkkI  sut'h  a  councilor  alioiit  tlioin,  1  su|>i)osc  tliat  tliey  kIiouIiI  never  liave  l)eeii 

8o  triiitorinislv  a)>aiiiliiiii'<l  and  ovi-rtlirowii,  as  tliose  good  jtrinces  were:  

"  I  loved  him  as  my  fririid,  for  ho  I  took  him  to  he;  hut  I  chieHy  hived  liim 
for  the  love  whii-li  1  thought  1  saw  him  bear  ever  towar<ls  your  liraee,  singu- 
larly ahove  all  other.  But  now,  if  he  be  a  traitor,  1  am  sorry  that  ever  I  loved 
liim  or  trusted  him,  and  I  am  very  glad  that  his  treason  is  discovered  in  time ; 
but  yet  again  I  am  very  sorrowful  ;  for  who  shall  your  Grace  trust  hereafter, 
if  you  might  not  tiiist  him  ?  Alas  !  I  bewail  and  lament  your  Grace's  chance 
herein,  I  wot  not  wliom  your  Grace  may  trust.  But  I  pray  God  continually 
night  and  day,  to  send  such  a  counsellor,  in  his  jilace,  whom  your  Grace  may 
trust,  and  who  for  all  his  (lualities  can  and  will  servo  your  Grace  like  to  him, 
and  that  will  have  so  nmcli  solicitude  and  care  to  preserve  your  Grace  from 
all  dangers  as  I  ever  thought  he  had." 

This  letter  has  been  described  as  remarkable  for  its  "  very  earnest  and 
persuasive"  tone  ;  but  in  truth  this  fcigiucnt  conveys  no  request  what- 
ever on  behalf  of  Crumwell  ;  and  if  any  was  made,  the  communication, 
as  addressed  to  such  a  man  as  Henry,  was  not  likely  to  operate  in  his 
favour.  The  remark  made  as  to  Cranmer's  letter  respecting  Anne  Boleyn, 
is  not  less  applicable  here.  The  alternative  is  put  in  such  a  style  as  to 
prove  injurious  ;  the  "  hiU  noiv,  and  if"  were,  at  such  a  moment,  almost 
fatal  to  any  escape,  or  equal  to  acquiescence.  The  quick  eye  of  the 
Monarch,  already  incensed,  would  at  once  fix  on  certain  expressions — 
lie  is  "  very  glad"  he  says,  "  that  his  treason  has  been  discovered  in 
time," — nay  he  only  heard  yesterday,  and  is  already  "  praying  night  and 
day  that  God  would  send  such  a  counsellor  in  his  jilace  !"  Taken  all  in 
all,  to  say  the  least,  this  was  by  no  means  the  judicious  effusion  of  a 
friend  "  born  for  adversity,"  or  bent  on  fair  dealing. 

It  was  on  the  day  after  his  arrest,  or  Friday  the  11th,  that  Crumwell 
underwent  his  first  examination.  Though  denied  the  benefit  of  a  public 
trial  before  his  Peers,  he  seems  to  have  been  confronted  with  at  least 
one  accuser,  in  presence  of  certain  members  of  the  Privy  Council ;  and 
having  thus  far  ascertained  the  accusations  against  him,  the  next  day 
he  sent  his  first  letter  to  the  King,  dated  "  Saturday,  at  your  Tower  of 
London."^  Even  this,  however,  he  had  not  presumed  to  do  without  a 
direct  message  from  his  Majesty,  thi'ough  the  "  Controller"  of  his  house- 
hold ;  requesting  him  to  wxite  "  whatever  he  thought  meet  concerning 
his  most  miserable  state  and  condition."^ 

Taken  in  connexion  with  the  history  through  which  we  have  passed, 
this  letter  enables  us  to  penetrate  so  far  into  the  secrets  of  the  cabal 

*s  The  date  is  fixed  by  interniil  evidence,  from  the  style  in  wliich  he  refers  to  laxt  Situdai/, 
or  the  Gth  of  June,  whicli  was  tlie  last  in  wliich  he  was  at  large  ;  and  as  he  also  alhides  to  his 
examination,  it  must  have  occurred  the  day  before. 

**  The  messcnficr  sent  was  likely  to  be  regarded  as  the  forerunner  of  certain  death,  if  the 
Comptroller  was  no  other  than  the  often-dreaded  Sir  William  Kinpston,  Constable  of  the 
Tower !  The  very  same  man  whose  appearance  instantly  struck  death  into  the  heart  of  Cardinal 
Wolsey,  and  whoso  treated  Anne  Boleyn.  lie  was  yet  alive,  but  died  this  year,  about  three 
months  after  Crumwell.  Ho  had  been  Governor  or  Constable  of  the  Tower  from  1524  to  1  j4(l, 
and  was  succeeded  by  Sir  John  Gajjc. 


1540.]  THE  FIRST  CHARGES.  109 

against  Crumwell,  as  well  as  the  charges  preferred  at  first  against  him. 
Treason  was  the  first ;  Injustice  to  the  commonwealth,  by  winking  at 
combinations,  conventicles,  or  such  as  were  offenders  against  the  laws, 
was  'CixQ  second ;  Disclosing  a  state  secret,  which,  in  fact,  was  nothing 
more  than  that  Henry  had  resolved  to  divorce  his  Queen  !  was  the  third. 
This  appears  to  have  been  the  whole  count  on  this  first  day  ;  and  the 
letter  sent  takes  them  all  up,  in  order.  The  three  charges  he  denies, 
though  in  a  style  which  it  is  painful  to  read.  His  imprecations  on  him- 
self, if  any  one  of  these  im])utatious  were  true,  ai-e  not  only  so  frequent, 
but  so  dreadful,  that  as  in  all  such  cases,  one  is  at  a  loss  to  know  whether 
they  wei'e  well  founded  or  not.  At  the  same  time,  the  most  serious  charge, 
that  of  treason,  so  far  as  it  was  now  laid,  appears  to  have  been  base, 
hollow,  and  incredible.  In  rebutting  it,  one  or  two  singular  circum- 
stances are  disclosed. 

It  will  be  remembered,  that  in  the  year  1536,  by  Crumwell's  own  sug- 
gestion, a  Court  was  formed,  styled  "  the  Court  of  Augmentations,"  to 
register  and  secure  the  enormous  sums  coming  in  to  the  Crown,  by 
the  suppression  of  monasteries.  Here,  it  was  affirmed,  the  treason  had 
been  uttered  or  disclosed,  and  apparently  in  the  summer  of  1537.  Why 
then  was  not  the  present  witness  seized  for  concealment  1  Better  men 
had  fallen  in  these  days  for  no  other  crime.  But  who  turns  out  to  be 
the  accuser  \  It  was  no  other  than  a  man  already  famous,  or  rather  in- 
famous, for  ensnaring  state  prisoners.  Richard  Rich,  the  Chancellor  of 
this  very  Court.  The  blood  of  Sir  Thomas  More,  if  not  also  of  Fisher, 
Bishop  of  Rochester,  was  already  upon  him.  He  it  was  who  at  least  en- 
snared them  both  in  one  day  ;  so  that  Henry's  Council  had  taken  ad- 
vantage of  Rich's  baseness  before  now  ;  though  still  it  is  remarkable, 
that  the  first  insinuations  against  Crumwell  should  have  been  laid  in 
the  very  Coui't  which  he  had  himself  established.^  Rich,  in  his  allega- 
tion, referred  to  another  person,  named  Frogmorton,  for  so  Throgmorton 
was  then  often  spelt ;  but  he,  very  conveniently,  could  not  be  present, 
either  to  confirm  or  deny  the  statement.  If  this  was  Michael  Throg- 
morton, of  whom  we  have  before  heard,  a  gentleman  of  family,  the  con- 
fidential agent  and  friend  of  Cardinal  Pole,  he  was  distant  as  far  as  Italy. 
He  had  re-visited  England  in  very  critical  circumstances,  as  we  have  al- 
ready seen,  and  used  to  make  it  his  high  boast,  ever  after,  that  he  had 
then  deceived  or  outwitted  both  Crumwell  and  Sir  Richard  Moryson  in  his 
employ.^     If  this  indeed  be  the  man,  for  we  can  find  no  other,  Rich,  in 


2"  See  vol  i.  p.  480.  Ricliaid  Rich,  who  had  been  Speaker  of  the  Commons,  was  Solicitor- 
General,  as  well  as  Chancellor  of  Augmentations.  Afterwards  created  Baron  Rich  of  f.ceze,  he 
became  Lord  Chancellor,  and  was  ever  noted  as  a  persecutor.  Burnet,  and  even  Strype,  con- 
found him  with  Sir  John  Baker,  the  Attorney-General,  a  different  man,  who  was  Chancellor, 
not  of  Augmentations,  but  of  the  "tenths  and  first-fruits;"  and  was  not  even  appointed  to  this 
office  till  after  Crumwell's  death,  or  the  3d  of  August.— /?i/OTfr'*  Fmdera,  xiv.,  p.  7(12. 

«8  See  vol.  i.,  pp.  528-5.30.    Throgmorton  had  been  attainted  for  treason  in  December  I."i.m 


110  TREASON    UKNIKI).  [noOK  II. 

the  wickctlncss  of  liis  lie;irt,  well  knew  that  he  was  now  touchiii};  Henri's 
tender  too.  Any  thinji;  ju  the  rtlightcst  connexion  with  Pole,  or  any 
friend  of  his,  put  him  at  once  into  a  rage.  No  sujijiosition,  however, 
could  be  more  preposterous,  than  that  the  shrewd,  though  fallen  minis- 
ter, should  then  especially  utter  one  word,  or  do  a  single  thing,  border- 
ing on  treason  against  his  royal  Master  ;  much  less  in  presence  of  either 
Rich  or  Throgniorton.  ]5ut  what  does  Crumwell  himself  say  in  reply  i 
We  except  the  imprecations — 

"  And  now,  most  gracious  Prince,  to  the  matter.  First,  where  I  have  boon 
accused  to  your  Majesty  of  treason.  To  that  I  say,  I  never,  in  all  my  life, 
thought  williugly  to  do  tliat  thing  that  might  or  Khould  disiilcasc  your  Majesty. 
Mine  accusers  your  Grace  knowotli  ;  God  forgive  thoni.  Most  Gracious  Sovc- 
roiijn  Lord,  to  my  rcnicinbranco,  /  jieeer  fpakc  vith  the  Cliaiiccllor  of  the  Ang- 
metttal'ious  and  Throgmorton  together,  at  one  time;  but  if  I  did,  I  am  sure  1 
spake  never  of  any  such  matter.  And  your  Grace  kuoweth  what  manner  of 
man  Throgniorton  liatli  over  been,  ever  towards  your  Gi-acc  and  your  proceed- 
ings ;  and  what  Ahistcr  Ciiancellor  Iiath  been  towards  me,  God  and  he  best 
knoweth.  I  will  nc  can  (neither)  accuse  liim.  What  I  have  been  towards 
him,  your  Majesty  right  well  knoweth.  I  would  to  Christ  I  had  obeyed  your 
often  most  gracious  grave  eouusels  and  advertisements  ;  then  it  had  not  been 
with  mc,  as  now  it  is."^l' 

With  regard  to  the  second  charge,  Ci-umwell  speaks  in  measured  lan- 
guage, but  as  for  revealing  Henry's  mighty  secret,  this  he  pointedly  re- 
futes. The  minute  style  in  which  Crumwell  dwells  on  this,  the  intended 
dismissal  of  the  Queen,  only  shows  what  a  fastidiously  tyrannical  being, 
and  capricious  even  to  childishness,  his  Master  was.  There  was  not  a 
single  courtier,  nor  even  any  of  the  people  who  cared  one  straw  about 
the  matter,  who  were  not  anticipating  what  he  actually  did  so  soon. 
To  call  it  a  secret  was  ridiculous. 

This  first  examination,  therefore,  if  intended  chiefly  to  ensnare,  which 
it  probably  was,  seems  to  have  failed  of  its  eiFect.  But  it  was  only  a 
preliminary  step  to  a  far  broader  bill  of  attainder,  without  the  trouble 


S9  Cotton  MS.,  Titus,  B.  i.,  fol.  2fi7,  oripiiiiil,  and  printed  in  Ellis'  Letters,  second  series, 
vol.  ii.,  p.  I(K}-4.  Jlichacl  ThroRmorton,  or  Throckmorton,  (a  younper  branch  of  one  of  the 
most  ancient  existinp  f.imilics  in  England,  tmccd  up  by  Dupdale  to  the  middle  of  the  12th 
century,  and  to  this  day  the  stcdfnst  adherents  of  Rome.)  was  the  second  son  of  .Sir  Robert 
Throgmorton  of  Cougliton,  in  Warwickshire,  who  died  in  a  pilgrim.nge  to  Jerusalem  in  l.i20  — 
this  son,  then  a  youth,  being  at  Florence.  He  remained  in  Italy  throughout  life,  and  fifteen 
years  afterwards  became  a  devoted  adherent  of  Cardinal  Pole.  In  consequence  of  this,  as  al- 
ready noticed,  he  and  Fri.ir  I'cyto  had  been  attainted  for  eighteen  months  past ;  and  as  the 
mother  of  Peyto  was  a  Throgmorton,  they  may  have  been  related.  In  the  chancel  of  the  little 
church  at  UUenhall.  in  Warwickshire,  there  is  a  monument  for  Throgmorton's  son,  on  which 
the  following  inscription  was  cut,  as  preserved  by  Dugdale— "  Here  lieth  the  body  of  Francis 
Throgmorton,  born  in  Mantua,  son  of  Michael  Throgmorton  and  Agnes  Hedc — which  .Michael 
had  lived  many  years  in  Italy,  in  good  and  great  reputation,  with  bountiful  hospitality,  enter- 
taining most  of  the  noblemen  and  gentlemen  in  Engl.and,  in  the  very  beginning  of  Queen  Mary's 
reign- and  received  of  her  gift  the  manors  of  Honiley,  lilackwcU,  Packhurst,  Winderton,  UUen- 
hall, and  others,  by  letters  patent.  He  is  buried  in  St.  Martin's  Church  in  JIantua,"  having 
died  on  the  1st  of  November  VuM.—Dugtlalc'g  Ifarieicktlihr,  pp.  74J»,  (IIB. 


1540.]  BILL  OF   ATTAINDER.  Ill 

of  any  farther  iiKjuiry,  which  was  brought  into  Parliament  on  Thursday 
the  17th.  Cranmcr,  who  had  hecn  in  the  House  of  Lords  every  day 
they  sat  since  the  10th,  was  not  now  present ;  but  the  Earl  of  South- 
ampton entered  and  took  his  scat,  and  as  Lord  Privy  Seal  !  The  bill, 
therefore,  was  but  a  mere  form,  in  iisual  style,  and  Crumwell's  certain 
disgrace,  if  not  death,  was  now  apparent  to  all.  On  Saturday  this  bill 
was  read  the  second  and  third  times,  when  Cranmcr  ^cas  ]iresent,  and, 
by  his  silence,  acquiesced.  It  was  then  sent  down  to  the  Commons, 
where,  however,  there  must  have  been  some  hesitation  or  objections,  as 
it  remained  there  for  ten  days.  In  the  end,  having  drawn  out  another 
bill,  they  sent  both  uji  on  the  20th.  The  Lords,  more  zealous  than  ever, 
accepted  the  bill  sent  up,  and  having  read  it  three  times  at  one  sitting, 
the  King  also  assented  on  the  same  day. 

Envied  by  the  nobility,  hated  by  all  the  clergy,  whether  secular  or 
regular,  and  now,  in  consequence  of  these  enormous  subsidies,  by  many 
of  the  Commons,  this  bill  afforded  the  long-sought  opportunity  for  dis- 
playing the  meanest  and  most  ungenerous  hatred.  Against  a  man,  so 
loaded  with  office,  and  so  engrossed  in  all  public  affairs,  it  was  an  easy 
task  to  draw  out  a  bill  of  attainder  sufficiently  long.  Not  that  Crum- 
well  was  such  a  notorious  offender,  compared  with  his  accusers.  To  a 
man  they  had  all  sinned,  as  far  as  their  more  limited  sphere  allowed  ; 
and  proceeded  with,  after  the  same  fashion,  few,  if  any  of  them,  could 
have  escaped  with  their  heads  on  their  shoulders.  But  Crumwell's  day 
was  come,  and  these  men  took  special  care  to  vent  all  their  spleen 
against  him.  They  rated  him  as  "  a  man  of  very  base  and  low  degi-ee," 
who  had  "  released  persons  convicted  of  misprision  of  treason" — had 
"  misused  manifold  sums  of  money" — had  "  ajjpointed  many  to  be  com- 
missioners in  urgent  affairs,  and  granted  passports  to  others,  without 
the  royal  assent" — and  who,  they  repeat,  "  thovigh  a  person  of  as  poor 
and  low  a  degree  as  few  be  within  this  realm,  did  declare  that  he  was 
sure  of  the  King."  He  was,  besides,  "  a  detestable  heretic,  and  en- 
courager  of  heresy" — "  had  acquired  by  oppression,  bribery,  extort,  and 
power,  innumerable  sums  of  money  and  treasure" — and  "  being  so 
enriched,  hath  had  the  nobles  of  the  realm  in  great  disdain,  derision, 
and  detestation,  as  by  express  words,  by  him  most  opprobriously  spoken, 
doth  appear." 

Their  bill  having  passed,  and  the  King  assented,  the  very  next  day, 
no  doubt,  these  men  were  ready  for  Crumwell's  execution,  and  would 
have  rejoiced  in  it  ;  but  he  is  not  to  die  for  a  month  to  come.  On 
Henry's  part  there  must  have  been  some  wavering  ;  at  least  he  had 
sent  Audley,  the  Lord  Chancellor,  the  Duke  of  Norfolk,  and  Lord 
Russel,  (whose  life,  by  the  way,  Crumwell  had  once  saved  when  abroad,) 
with  a  message  to  the  Tower,  infonning  the  prisoner  of  the  bill  having 
passed,  and  inquiring  once  more  into  circumstances  connected  with  the 


112  CRUMWELL   IMPLOKING   PITY.  [book  11. 

last  marriage.  From  the  minute  rei>ly  sent  next  day,  or  the  last  of 
June,  it  appears  that  his  Majesty  had  sent  C'rumwcll  money,  and  this 
seems  to  have  either  encouraged  the  hope  of  life,  or  led  him  to  plead  the 
more  earnestly  for  it.     At  the  same  time  he  says — 

«  Sir,  iijton  my  knees  I  most  huniMy  besoocli  yoiir  jp^cious  Majesty  to  be 
good  and  gracious  lord  to  my  jjoor  son,  the  ^ood  and  virtuou.s  woman  Iiis  wife, 
(actually  the  sister  of  lleiiry's  laxt  (luen,  Jane  Seymour,)  and  their  poor 
children,  and  also  to  my  servants  ;  and  this  I  desire  of  your  Grace  for  Christ's 
sake."  He  closes  in  the  following  terms — "  Written  at  the  Trjwer  this 
Wednesday,  the  last  of  June,  with  the  heavy  heart,  and  trembling  hand,  of 
your  Highness'  most  heavy  and  most  miserable  prisoner,  and  poor  slave, 
Thomas  Crumwull.     Most  gracious  i'rince,  I  cry  for  mercy,  mercy,  mercy  I"*^ 

For  four  weeks  from  this  date  did  Crumwell  remain  in  a  state  of 
suspense,  while  at  least  two  other  letters  had  been  addressed  by  him  to  the 
King.  According  to  Foxe.  in  reference  to  the  first  of  these,  on  applying 
to  one  of  the  commissioners  to  convey  it,  he  refused,  saying,  that  "  he 
would  carry  no  letter  to  the  King  from  a  traitor."  Crumwell  then  in- 
quired if  he  would  convey  a  message,  when  he  assented,  on  condition  of 
its  not  being  contrary  to  his  allegiance.  Upon  this,  Crumwell  appealing 
to  the  other  Lords  present  as  to  the  promi.sc,  and  turning  to  the  man, 
only  said — "  You  shall  commend  me  to  the  King,  and  tell  him,  by  the 
time  he  hath  so  well  tried  and  thoroughly  proved  you,  as  I  have  done, 
he  sliall  fiiul  you  as  false  a  inan  as  ever  came  about  him."  If  this  was  not 
the  Duke  of  Norfolk,  who  had  so  shamefully  dissembled  and  deceived 
him,  it  must  have  been  Chancellor  Rich,  the  Solicitor-General,  and  a 
Privy  Counsellor.  The  other  letter  was  conveyed  by  Ralph  Sadler,  in 
former  days  a  clerk  of  Crumwell's,  whose  fortune  he  had  made  ;  a  letter 
which  it  is  said  Henry  commanded  to  be  read  to  him  three  times. 

The  sphere  in  which  the  fallen  minister  had  moved,  was  vastly  more 
extensive  than  that  of  any  of  his  fellow  courtiers  ;  and  his  temptations 
being,  therefore,  more  numerous,  the  ambiguity  and  inconsistency  of  his 
character  become  at  last  quite  confounding :  but  still,  compared  with 
others,  equally  servants  of  the  King,  and  near  his  person,  it  may  be 
allowed  that,  j)roj)Ortionalhj^  Crumwell  was  not  worse  than  they.  And 
now,  considering  that  he  was  a  man  who  unquestionably  had  been  of 
immense  service  to  his  Majesty,  during  by  far  the  most  critical  period 
of  his  reign — that  he  had  come  to  his  master's  aid,  at  a  moment  when 
he  was  greatly  at  a  loss — that  he  had  been  his  chief  counsellor  and  stay, 
in  many  an  exigency — and  that,  but  for  his  holding  such  a  tight  and 
steady  rein,  Henry  himself  might  have  fallen  a  sacrifice  to  the  monks  or 


3n  Cotton  MS..  Titus,  B.  1.,  fol.  2fi7.  Tliis  letter,  though  given  hy  Burnet  as  comi>lcte,  is  very 
defective,  as  well  as  incorrect.  Tlie  omissions  have  been  pointed  out  hy  Sir  Henry  Ellis.  See 
"  OriRinal  Letters,"  second  scries,  ii.,  p.  lOl.    See  also  Otho,  c.  x.,  241  240. 


1540. J  THE   KING'S   PRESENT  PURSUITS.  113 

friars — surely  some  consideration  was  demanded,  and  some  pity  for  the 
man's  life,  who  pled  so  fearfully  for  mercy  at  his  hands.  But  we  should 
greatly  mistake,  if  we  imagined  that  the  King  was  much  moved,  or 
rather  at  all  aflfected,  by  all  that  had  occurred.  On  the  contrary,  from 
May  downwards,  nay,  and  dui'ing  those  very  weeks  of  Crumwell's 
misery,  he  was  displaying  the  outrageous  and  increasing  grossness  of 
his  character,  as  well  as  all  its  heartless  gaiety. 

In  the  prospect  of  destroying  Anne  Boleyn,  it  may  be  remembered, 
he  must  hold  a  tilt  and  tournament  at  Greenwich.  So  now,  at  Westmin- 
ster, as  late  as  the  first  week  in  May,  he  had  been  feasting  sumptuously 
with  his  Queen,  Anne  of  Cleves,  and  all  the  Lords,  on  the  very  eve  of 
her  divorce,  and  while  that  Parliament  was  sitting,  which  would  soon, 
with  all  due  form,  settle  the  business  !  This  feasting,  too,  was  at  the 
close  of  a  royal  joust,  tournament,  and  barriers,  given  by  certain 
knights.^^  Nor  must  these  valiant  knights  pass  unrewarded  for  all 
their  foolery ;  and  therefore  large  portions  of  the  lands  belonging  to 
the  knights  of  St.  John,  were  absolutely  given  away  to  divers  of  these 
noble  cavaliers.^  That  priory,  as  we  have  seen,  had  been  confiscated 
on  the  29th  of  April,  or  only  two  days  before  the  joust  began  !  It  was 
on  its  last  day,  or  the  5th  of  May,  that  Sir  William  Weston  the  prior 
died  of  grief !  It  was  during  their  three  days'  play,  or  on  the  3d  of 
May,  that  Crumwell,  in  Parliament  and  Convocation,  was  busy  in  pro- 
curing his  r«<;o?«e-tax,  or  those  enormous  subsidies,  under  the  odium  of 
which  he  at  last  sunk ;  and  once  sunk,  Henry  proceeded  immediately 
with  the  divorce.  His  last  inquiries  sent  to  the  attainted  Crumwell  had 
this  alone  in  view  ;  after  which  the  Parliament  instantly  went  on  to  dis- 
play its  accustomed  servility.    Let  the  following  scene  bear  witness. 

On  Tuesday,  the  6th  of  July,  his  Majesty's  ministers,  no  doubt  under 
orders,  having  consulted  the  House  of  Lords  on  his  situation,  they,  with 
the  Commons,  petitioned  their  Sovereign  to  allow  the  Convocation  to  try 
the  validity  of  his  man-iage,  and  adjourned  for  two  days  to  afi'ord  time  ; 
Henry  having  profanely  replied — "  that  there  was  nothing  he  held 
dearer  than  the  glory  of  God,  the  good  of  the  commonwealth,  and  the 
declaration  of  truth  !"  Cranmer,  who  had  performed  the  marriage  cere- 
mony, concurred  with  this  proposal,  and  was  one  of  the  commission  ap- 
pointed. Stephen  Gardiner  expounded  the  matter  in  order  to  the  Con- 
vocation, informing  the  assembly  that  his  Majesty  had  never  given  his 
inward  consent !  Among  the  disgusting  details,  poor  Crumwell's  letter 
from  the  Tower  was  produced  in  evidence  !  The  Bishops,  with  their 
underlings,  were  then  unanimoiis,  and  presenting  the  sentence  of  nulli- 

31  Sirs  Thomas  Seymour,  John  Dudley,  George  Carew,  Thomas  Poynings,  Anthony  Kyng- 
stone,  (as  cruel  a  man  as  his  father.  Sir  William,)  and  Richard  Cnimivdl,  alias  Williams,  the 
nephew  of  Crumwell  himself!  Harry  Howard,  the  Earl  of  Surry,  is  also  said  to  have  been  pre- 
sent. They  kept  open  house  at  Durham  Place  from  the  first  to  the  fifth  of  May,  and  feasted 
the  King  and  Queen,  and  all  the  hozd.i.— Halle.  32  Lord  Herbert's  H.  VIII. 

VOL.   II.  H 


III.  HKNKY'S    MAR1UA(JE   ANNULLED.  [bOOK  M. 

ticntion  on  the  9th,  next  day  Crannier  rejiorted  to  the  House  of  Lords, 
that  tlie  marriage  which  he  had  celebrated  was  contrary  to  the  law  of 
both  God  and  man ;  when  they  sent  h  im  and  Gardiner  down  to  the  Com- 
mons to  report  the  same  !  Overcome  with  fear,  for  it  coiild  not  be  argu- 
ment, Cranmer  consented  with  all  the  rest.  The  dread  of  Crumwell's 
doom  might  be  before  his  eyes.  The  Commons  also  having  given  their 
assent,  not  an  hour  was  now  to  be  lost,  as  the  King's  business  demanded 
haste.  The  very  next  day,  therefore,  being  Sunday,  Norfolk,  South- 
ampton, and  Gardiner  were  at  Richmond,  busy  enough  in  laboiiring  to 
secure  the  Queen's  consent,  nay,  her  approbation  !  They  assigned  to 
her  i!3000  annually,  with  the  palace  of  Richmond  as  her  residence  ; 
but  this  income  was  to  depend  on  her  living  in  England,  and  as 
the  King's  sister.  In  conclusion,  she  agreed  literally  to  everything 
proposed,  and,  as  it  is  well  kno^vn,  lived  in  this  country  till  her  death, 
seventeen  years  after.*'' 

The  whole  of  this  drama,  however,  becomes  a  farce,  when  it  is  once 
observed  that  it  had  been  all  arranged,  even  before  that  Henry  was 
petitioned  by  the  Parliament !  "  All  the  parts  of  it  were  cast,  three 
days  before,  at  the  Privy  Council,  who  communicated  them  to  Clerk, 
Bishop  of  Bath,  in  a  despatch  of  the  3d  of  July."**  But  it  was  even  more 
extraordinary,  that  this  Bishop  had  left  England  by  the  end  of  June,  to 
inform  the  Duke  of  Cleves  of  the  King's  purpose  respecting  his  sister  ; 
nay,  and  before  going  to  the  Duke,  he  was  to  take  Bi-uges  on  his  way, 
where  the  Emperor  then  was,  and  convey  the  tidings  to  him  \^  Charles 
was  so  delighted,  that  he  instantly  availed  himself  of  Henry's  change 
of  policy.  Before  Parliament  was  dissolved ;  before  the  royal  assent 
was  given  to  the  divorce  of  Anne  of  Cleves  ;  and  more  than  a  week  be- 
fore the  death  of  Cnmiwell,  here  was  a  large  and  pompous  embassy  ar- 
rived in  London  from  the  Emperor.  There  was  the  Prince  of  ^lace- 
donia,  Don  Frederick  Marquis  of  Padula,  the  Marquis  of  Terra  Nova, 
Monsieur  de  Flagy,  and  sixteen  other  gentlemen  in  their  train.^^  Ac- 
cording to  Halle,  on  Thursday  the  22d  of  July,  at  the  Court  at  West- 
minster, "  they  were  highly  feasted,  well  entertained,  and,  upon  their 
departure  greatly  rewarded."  It  seemed  as  if  they  had  come  in  time  to 
grace  all  the  doings  of  our  tyrannical  Monarch  whatever  these  might 
be.  It  was  only  two  days  after  this,  that,  in  person,  Henry  dissolved 
the  Parliament,  sanctioning  all  the  bills  past,  and  among  the  number, 
that  for  his  own,  his  third  divorce.  Cranmer  was  not  present,  and  as 
for  the  poor  Duke  of  Cleves,  he  could  only  pocket  the  affront.  A  gene- 
ral pardon  was  then  passed,  with  certain  exceptions.  Among  these  were 
the  mother  of  Cardinal  Pole,  for  "  the  Lady  of  tSarum  "  was  not  yet  dis- 
posed of,  though  Crumwell  had  been  eager  enough :  there  was  Crum- 

33  She  died  at  Chelsea,  16th  July  I.Vi7,  under  Queen  Mary. 

3*  Herbert.    Mackintosh.  3-.  Hcrl)ert.  3«  Hallc. 


l.">4(».]  FINAL   CHARGE  AGAINST  CRUMWKLL.  115 

well  himself,  and  Sampson,  the  Bishop  of  Chichester,  whom  he  had  incar- 
cerated.    They  were  all  alike,  at  this  moment,  prisoners  in  the  Tower  I 

Such  were  the  leading  occupations  of  the  King  and  his  Court ;  or  a 
strange  mixture  of  the  grave  and  gay,  the  lively  and  severe  ;  while 
Crumwell,  once  so  high,  lay  all  the  time  trembling  for  his  life.  It  was 
not,  however,  that  he  had  been  suftered  to  remain  without  notice.  On 
the  contrary,  as  if  the  bill  of  attainder,  passed  in  June,  had  not  been 
sufficient,  his  enemies  were  not  idle  in  furnishing  farther  proof  against 
him  ;  and  it  would  have  been  well  for  his  memory,  if  nothing  more 
tangible  had  ever  transpired. 

In  one  of  those  letters  to  which  we  have  already  referred,  there  is  the 
following  passage  : — "  And,  sir,  that  ever  /  have  deceived  you  in  any  of 
your  treasure  ^surely  I  have  (not,)  aHc/THAT  God  Almighty  hest  knou-eth  .'"^ 
This,  it  may  be  remembered,  had  been  one  of  the  charges  against  the 
attainted  minister,  and  in  these  terms  of  denial  he  replied  on  Wednes- 
day, or  the  day  after  the  bill  had  passed  against  him.  But,  alas  !  for 
Crumwell's  uprightness,  nay,  and  now  his  veracity  ;  only  eight  days 
after,  when  certain  accounts  came  to  be  handed  over  to  the  Earl  of 
Southampton,  as  Lord  Privy  Seal,  we  have  but  too  sad  proof,  that  his 
far  too  solemn  assertion,  was  only  making  what  was  bad  still  worse. 

There  was  a  man  who  had  acted  under  him  in  money  matters,  who, 
from  self-interest,  or  in  self-defence,  was  now  become  a  determined  ad- 
herent of  the  accusing  party,  or,  rather,  secretly,  he  had  been  so  all 
along.  This  was  John  Gostwyck,  who  had  been  appointed  treasurer  at 
war  in  1536,  and  afterwards  treasurer  to  the  King's  Court  of  first-fruits 
and  tenths.  Under  Crumwell's  eye,  Gostwyck  had  disbursed  many  large 
sums,  and  his  accounts  since  November  last,  required  the  royal  sanction 
on  delivering  them  up  to  Southampton,  the  new  Lord  Privy  Seal. 
Humbly  requesting  his  ^Majesty's  waiTant  for  all  he  had  paid,  by  Crum- 
well's orders,  since  the  7th  of  November,  he  now,  on  the  8th  of  July, 
presented  the  entire  amount,  and  the  various  items  :  but  there  can  be 
no  question  that  he  must  have  been  shielded  from  the  wrath  of  the 
King  ;  since  he  actually  proclaimed  his  ovra  disgrace  in  the  same  sen- 
tence with  his  implication  of  the  attainted  prisoner  in  the  Tower.  His 
statement  is  entitled — "  Accounts  of  the  monies  John  Gostwyck,  trea- 
surer, had  in  hand,  when  the  Earl  of  Essex,  T.  Crumwell,  was  appre- 
hended, and  of  sums  since  paid  by  him,  1540."^  The  first  article,  ap- 
parently of  set  purpose,  is  expressed  in  the  following  extraordinary  terms : 

"  May  it  please  your  most  excellent  Majesty  to  be  advertised,  tliat  T,  your 


37  This  is  one  of  the  important  passages  not  given  by  Burnet,  in  his  very  imperfect  copy  of 
the  letter.— Co«Wi  3IS.,  Otlio,  c.  x.  See  Ellis'  "  Original  Letters,"  sec.  ser..  vol.  iL,  p.  165.  It 
is  curious  enough  that  the  well  known  fire  in  the  Cotton  Library  should  have  taken  one  mono- 
syllable from  the  manuscript,  respecting  which,  however,  there  can  be  no  question,  from  the 
following  words.  38  Cotton  MS.,  A])pendix,  xxviii.,  fol.  \-25. 


no  FINAL    CIIARGK  AGAINST  CIIUMWELL.  (^BOOK.  U. 

most  huniblo  servant,  John  Gostwyck,  have  in  my  hands,  wliich  I  treasured 
from  fi»/i<;  to  tinii;  uiiknuirn  unto  the  Earl  of  Essex,  wliich  if  I  had  declared 
unto  him,  he  vould  hare  caused  me  to  disburse  by  commandment,  withoit 
WARUANT,  AS  HERETOFORE  I  HAVE  DONE,  xM.  H.,"  J.  «.  ton  thousand  pounds  !  or 
a  sum  tMjual  to  about  £150,000  of  the  present  day. 

Rich,  the  Chancellor  to  the  Court  of  Augmentations,  had  been  among 
the  first  accusers,  and  now  came  this  treasurer  of  the  other  Court  ; 
who,  on  the  top  of  the  next  page,  takes  care  to  glance  at  the  suViject 
once  more.  "  Memdm. — That  there  remained  in  the  hands  of  John 
Gostwyck,  the  8th  day  of  July,  in  read)/  money,  ten  thousand  pounds  ;" 
a  most  acceptable  intimation  to  Henry  the  Eighth.*' 

Thus  from  those  self-same  money  courts,  which  the  fallen  Earl  had 
himself  established  at  an  early  period  of  his  career,  came  the  arrows 
which  must  have  pierced  him  through  with  sorrow,  when  near  its  close. 
In  attempting  to  account  for  Crumwell's  execution,  this  material  charge 
has  never  been  observed  by  any  historian  ;''*^  but  of  the  injury  he  must 
have  sustained  by  it,  more  especially  after  such  a  solemn  previous  de- 
nial, there  can  be  no  question. 

There  was  no  subject  respecting  which  his  Royal  Majesty  was  more 
jealous  and  severe,  than  that  of  property  of  any  description,  supposed 
to  be  embezzled  or  concealed.     He  had  disturbed  the  last  hours  of 


39  The  accounts  after  all  are  not  distinguished  for  accuracy.  He  says,  on  the  8th  of  July, 
that  he  had  paid  by  Crumwell's  orders,  since  7th  of  November,  £l5,828,  128.  Od.,  for  which  he 
now  humbly  requests  his  Majesty's  warrant ;  and,  yet,  when  he  comes  to  particulars,  they 
amount  to  not  more  than  £l5,3;t4,  18s.  5d.,  which  he  sums  up  £l5,704,  18s.  9d. !  Several  of 
the  items  in  this  account  are  far  too  curious  to  pass  unnoticed  :  "  To  William  Gonson,  for 
transporting  the  Queen's  Grace  from  Calais  to  Dover -t'SOd"— besides  other  sums  amounting  to 
above  £7'>",  connected  with  Anne's  coming.  These,  when  added  to  others  in  Sir  John  Wil- 
liams' Account-roll,  raise  the  expense  to  above  £4000.  But,  besides,  we  have  here  £()3<Xl,  2s.  4d. 
for  the  great  wardrobe  already  paid,  and  £2970,  18s.  lid.  still  to  pay— or,  in  all,  £1.3,274.  3s.  Id. 
The  entire  expense,  however,  was  more  than  this,  which  was  a  pretty  good  sum  in  those  days, 
for  only  one  wrong  step,  or  a  political  marriage  followed  by  unmixed  miser)'.  In  this  same 
account,  however,  we  have  items  of  a  very  different  character.  "  To  Benedict  (Bciieilttto  the 
Florence  artist,)  and  others,  for  workmanship  upon  the  King's  tomb,  £l42.  Us.  lOd.  And  for 
6600  weight  of  copper  delivered  for  the  same  tomb,  £77,  5s.  3d."  "  Item.  To  know  whether  I 
shall  pay  for  the  workmanship  of  your  Majesty's  tomb  monthly,  which  will  amount  to  about 
£20."  All  this  was  in  pursuance  of  the  design  commenced  by  IFolsey,  for  which  he  had  paid 
Benedetto  42.')<i  ducats  for  work  done  ten  years  ago  !  The  stately  tomb  was  never  finished,  but 
a  hundred  years  after  Henry's  death  it  was  taken  down  .ind  sold  by  order  of  Parliament.  Thus 
in  the  shape  of  a  monument  to  their  memory,  Henry  rill.,  ff^olsey,  and  Crumtn'H,  lie  alike  un- 
distinfluisheJ ;  but  that  such  sums  should  have  been  paying  now,  and  included  in  this  last  ac- 
count under  Crumwell's  eye,  is  singular  enough. 

This  unprincipled  underling,  Coftiryck.  was  bom  at  Willington.  in  Bedfordshire,  and  next 
year  was  purchasing  that  lordship  from  the  Duke  of  Norfolk,  the  main  persecutor  on  the  pre- 
sent occasion.  He  was  the  son  and  heir  of  Sir  John  Gostwyck,  Master  of  the  Horse,  and  pome- 
time  after  this,  as  member  for  the  county,  had  the  audacity  to  accuse  Cranmer  also,  for  heresy. 
This  being  done  openly  in  Parliament,  it  soon  reached  the  King's  ear.  But  allowed  as  he  w.is 
to  escape  now,  he  w.as  not  permitted  to  do  so  then.  "  Go,"  said  Henry  to  one  of  his  privy 
counsellors,  "  and  tell  that  varlfl  Gostwyck,  that  if  he  do  not  acknowledge  his  fault  unto  my 
Lord  of  Canterbury,  and  so  reconcile  himself  towards  him.  that  he  may  become  his  good  Lord, 
I  will  soon  both  make  him  a  jioor  Gostwyck,  and  otlwririse  jmnish  him,  to  the  example  of 
others."  The  family,  an  ancient  one,  was  afterwards  ruined  by  electioneering  contests,  and  the 
property  is  now  in  the  possession  of  the  Duke  of  Bedford.—  Cyson't  Brit.  Beds.,  p.  150.  Strype's 
Cranmer,  folio,  p.  12.3. 

*'  It  was  only  first  brought  to  light  by  Sir  Henry  Ellis  in  1827- 


1540.]  EXECUTION   OP  CRUMWELL.  117 

Wolsey  by  eager  inquiries,  through  Kingstone,  as  to  a  sum  of  inferior 
amount,  which,  after  all,  was  none  of  his  own.'*i  And  the  eagle  eye 
with  which  he  searched  after  the  jewels,  the  money  and  trinkets,  or  the 
stitf  as  they  phrased  it,  belonging  to  all  attainted  persons,  often  ex- 
hibited the  strongest  featiu'es  of  the  perfect  miser — 

Sagjacious  all  to  trace  the  smallest  game, 
And  bold  to  seize  the  greatest. 

Pity  for  either  man  or  woman,  high  or  low,  at  such  a  time,  was  en- 
tirely absorpt  in  desire  for  theii-  property.  And  well  did  Crumwell 
know  all  this  ;  so  well,  that  in  his  most  earnest  letter  to  his  Majesty, 
he  had  done  the  very  utmost  to  make  the  string  vibrate — "  If  it  had 
been,  or  were  in  my  power,"  said  he,  "  to  make  you  so  eich,  as  ye  might 
enrich  all  men,  God  help  me  as  I  would  do  it."  Long,  too  long,  had  he 
acted,  and  powerfully,  as  Purveyor-general  to  this  prodigal  Monarch, 
and  often  had  he  fed  this  appetite  for  property  and  money  ;  but  the 
more  he  had  done  so,  it  had  only  increased  in  vigour,  with  various  other 
odious  passions. 

How  long  this  man,  Gostwyck,  had  taken  to  accumulate  so  large  an 
amount,  unknown  to  his  superior  ;  and  when,  or  whether  he  intended 
to  disclose  his  strange  course,  he  does  not  state  ;  but  the  style  in  which 
he  now  expressed  himself,  left  the  mind  of  such  a  being  as  Henry,  open 
to  unbounded  suspicion.  Intelligence  far  less  astounding  was  more  than 
sufficient  to  have  produced  a  tumult  of  rage  ;  and  from  some  reference 
made  to  Crumwell,  by  his  impetuous  master  afterwards,  as  well  as  the 
manner  in  which  he  acted  towards  his  son,  we  have  considerable  evidence 
that  his  death  occurred  at  such  a  moment.'*^  Although,  therefore,  there 
had  been  no  other  discovery,  this  alone,  in  connexion  with  the  clamours 
of  so  many  of  his  coui-tiers,  may  serve  to  account  for  the  final  determina- 
tion respecting  the  Earl  of  Essex  and  all  his  possessions.*'^  Only  four 
days  after  Parliament  was  dissolved,  on  the  moaning  of  Wednesday,  the 
28th  of  July,  he  was  beheaded  in  the  Tower,  and  buried  within  its  walls, 
in  the  Chapel  of  St.  Peter  ad  vincula,  where  so  many  victims  had  pre- 
ceded him,  and  to  which  so  many  followed.  All  his  property  was,  of 
course,  forfeited  to  the  crown.** 


41  Singer's  Cavendish,  i.,  J>.  316. 

42  Henry  is  said  to  have  wished  for  his  Crumwell  again,  and  even  to  have  lamented  his  fall 
after  it  was  too  late,  but  at  all  events,  within  five  months  after  his  death  he  created  his  only  son, 
Gregory,  Baron  Crumwell,  restoring  or  conferring  certain  property,  and  summoning  him,  as  Baron 
to  Parliament.    See  a  letter  from  his  lady,  confirmatory.    Cotton  MS.,  Vespas.  F.  xiii.,  fol.  157. 

43  Marilliac,  the  French  ambassador,  had  said,  what  Le  Grand  took  for  granted,  that  among 
Crumwell's  correspondence  with  Germany,  there  was  found  evidence  of  his  having  betrayed  tho 
confidence  of  his  Sovereign  to  these  princes  ;  and  upon  this  second-hand  assertion  alone,  Lin- 
gard  hangs  the  irritation  of  Henry  at  the  moment.  But  there  is  no  substantial  evidence  of  this, 
though  the  Frenchman  might  hear  as  much  and  more,  among  the  clamours  to  which  we  have 
alluded.  The  bill  of  attainder,  such  as  it  was,  carries  no  proof;  but  charges  as  to  sums  of  money 
arc  there  twice  mentioned. 

•I'l  Crumwell's  house  in  London  was  situate  where  the  Hall  of  the  Draper's  Company  now 


118  CHAKACTKK   UF   CRUMWKLL.  [book  11. 

Upon  a  final  .survey  of  the  extraordinary  course  of  Thomas 
Cruinwell,  it  must  he  evident  that  lie  was  a  man  possessed  of 
very  superior  natural  parts,  and  that  they  were  employed 
with  extraordinary  diligence  and  industry.  As  to  worldly 
affairs,  his  judgment  is  said  to  liave  been  methodical  and 
solid,  his  memory  strong  and  retentive,  and  tliat  no  one  was 
more  dexterous  in  findinfj  out  the  desijjns  of  men  and  courts, 
nor  any  man  more  reserved  in  keeping  a  secret.  He  has  been 
represented  as  mindful  of  favours  bestowed  upon  him  in  earlier 
life,  as  considerate  of  the  poor  in  their  suits,  and  bountiful  to 
those  wlio  were  in  greater  need  ;  but  if  all  this  be  granted,  it 
only  lends  additional  regret  to  the  positive  transactions  which 
have  been  here  recorded. 

With  regard  to  his  state  of  mind,  or  whether  he  had  anv 
fixed  sentiments  at  the  moment  of  death,  we  are  shut  up  to 
the  necessity  of  simply  saying — to  his  own  just  and  unerring 
Judge,  he  then  stood  or  fell.  To  draw  any  rash  or  positive 
conclusion  respecting  the  dead,  in  such  a  case  as  the  present, 
from  what  was  uttered  in  the  last  moments  of  existence,  is 
not  merely  presumptuous  ;  it  may  injure  the  living,  and 
damage  the  improvement  to  he  drawn  by  survivors,  from  the 
contemplation  of  the  entire  character.  Historians  have  dif- 
fered in  opinion,  it  is  true,  respecting  Crumweirs  exit,  but 
they  had  not  sufficiently  investigated  his  previous  character, 
which  can  be  understood  only  by  the  leading  transactions  of 
his  administration,  and  his  own  letters.  In  tracing  the  one, 
and  perusing  the  other,  though  predisposed  in  his  favour  on 
the  whole,  we  have  been  compelled  at  an  early  period  of  his 
public  career,  to  rank  him  as  a  man  but  very  low  :  and  since 
he  has  been  so  frequently  held  up  as  favourable  to  the  cause 
of  truth,  we  have  anxiouslv  watched,  and  waited  for  a  chan£:e 
to  the  better,  but  have  waited  for  this  in  vain.  His  progress, 
even  unto  death,  must  ever  be  painful  to  every  reflecting 
mind,  and  his  fall,  as  before  observed,  when  duly  considered, 
is  far  more  afiecting  than  even  that  of  Wolsey.  A  man"'s 
ambition,  indeed,  is  generally  in  proportion  to  his  capacity, 
and  that  of  both  men  was  confessedly  very  great ;  but  then 
Crumwcll  knew  much  more  of  the  theory  of  Christianity  than 

standi*,  ID  Throf>inoTton'g  Street,  near  its  junction  with  Broad  Street,  and  was  sold  by  Henry  to 
tliat  Company  in  1541.  A  curious  description  of  its  interior,  as  well  as  a  sketch  of  its  appear- 
ance, may  be  seen  in  Herbert's  History  of  the  Livery  Companies,  vol.  ii..  p.  471/2. 


1540.J  THE  TWO  VICARS-GENERAL.  119 

his  predecessor,  and  had  enjoyed  far  better  opportunities  of 
witnessing  its  influence.  Unliappy  man  I  at  the  close  of  his 
transient  career,  and  because  ambitious,  at  hist  infatuated,  it 
ahnost  seems  as  thougli  he  had  determined  to  wade  tlirough 
contempt,  into  posthumous  disgrace,  and  confound  the  judg- 
ment of  posterity  as  to  his  real  character.  Hence  the  difter- 
ent  views  which  have  been  given  of  the  same  individual ;  yet 
the  course  pursued  by  him  admits  of  explanation,  though  it 
be  one  awfully  illustrative  of  poor  human  nature. 

The  King,  from  selfish  motives,  is  understood  to  have  re- 
gretted his  death,  and  soon  promoted  his  son.  Norfolk  and 
Gardiner  were  the  willing  instruments  of  his  ruin :  between 
the  former  and  Crumwell  there  had  existed  a  deadly  hatred, 
which  M'ill  be  abundantly  evident,  as  soon  as  the  Duke  comes 
forward  to  his  day  of  terror,  and  the  exposure  of  his  charac- 
ter, when  the  vindictive  cruelty  of  the  Monarch  was  approach- 
ing to  its  awful  termination. 

Such,  at  all  events,  was  the  end  of  Thomas  Crumwell,  the 
servant  and  successor  of  Thomas  Wolsey ;  but  it  is  with  their 
official,  far  more  than  their  personal  characters,  that  the  his- 
torian and  posterity  have  to  do.  They  were  Henry's  two 
great  men ;  for  he  never  had  a  third.  At  certain  periods, 
each  of  them  possessed  no  small  influence  over  him  ;  and 
though  the  surrender  of  his  own  opinions  at  any  moment,  to 
either  the  one  or  the  other,  was  out  of  the  question,  still,  by 
their  skill  in  suggestion,  he  was  swayed  to  a  degree,  of  which, 
at  the  moment,  he  was  not  fully  aware.  With  no  succeeding 
men  did  the  King  ever  so  act,  and  at  this  crisis,  the  change 
is  not  only  apparent,  but  striking.  Both  Wolsey  and  Crum- 
well had  enjoyed  some  resemblance  to  a  premier.  They  were 
consulted  generall}^,  and  were  the  instruments  employed  to 
execute  almost  all  the  royal  commands  ;  but  Henry,  from  this 
moment,  became  more  emphatically  his  own  minister. 

There  is,  however,  another  point  of  view,  seldom  if  ever  be- 
fore pointed  out,  in  which  the  Monarch  and  his  two  Ministers 
demand  grave  considei'ation  ;  and  the  more  so  as  it  is  one  in 
which  posterity  ever  since  has  been  concerned,  and  is  con- 
cerned still.  These  men  formed  a  trio,  altogether  unprece- 
dented in  England  ;  nay,  whether  before  or  since,  no  three 
men  ever  occupied  the  same  position.  The  moral  characters 
of  all  the  three  are  alreadv  before  the  reader,  and  cannot  be 


120  HENRY   AND   HIS    VICARS-GENERAL.  [uoOK  II. 

lorgottoii  :i.s  sulliciontly  melancholy  ;  but  ot"  the  importaucc  of 
their  position,  as  official  men,  any  one  is  able  to  judge,  as 
soon  as  he  observes  that  their  influence  continues  to  the 
present  hour.  Wolsey  and  Crumwell  were  the  only  two  in- 
dividuals who  sustained  au  office  which  had  been  unknown 
before,  and  has  been  unknown  since,  in  this  country,  or  in 
any  other.  This,  it  may  be  anticipated,  was  that  of  Vicar- 
ae?ieral,  and  though  it  died  with  the  last,  the  question  is 
whether  its  results  died  also. 

The  curious  peculiarities  of  this  ominous,  and  most  event- 
ful movement,  have  been  already  detailed.  Wolsey,  in  gra- 
tification of  his  own  lofty  ambition  when  in  France,  obtained 
this  ojfice  from  llomc  ;  and,  upon  returning  home,  thus  afforded 
to  his  royal  Master,  as  it  were  accidentally,  the  first  taste  of 
what  was  called  spiritual  power.  Nothing  could  be  more  con- 
genial to  the  palate  of  such  a  tyraimical  and  unprincipled  per- 
son as  Henry  the  Eighth,  and  though  the  first  Vicar-general 
soon  died,  the  thirst  which  he  had  first  provoked,  remained. 
The  dominion  of  our  English  Monarch  ended,  precisely  where 
that  of  conscience  commenced ;  but  as  the  man  sought  only 
the  indulgence  and  gratification  of  his  own  evil  passions,  hav- 
injr  once  encroached,  and  once  tasted  of  the  forbidden  fruit  of 
that  sacred  domain,  he  soon  determined  to  take  full  possession, 
and  prescribe  to  all  his  subjects  not  merely  what  they  were  to 
pay,  but  what  siirrende7\  and  what  believe !  The  King  saw 
standing  before  him,  nothing  more  than  a  commoner  and  a 
layman,  against  whom  also  he  had  entertained  strong  personal 
prejudice;  yet,  boldly  resolving,  he  at  once  raised  Crumwell 
to  be  Vicar-General ;  and  strengthening  the  appointment  by 
still  more  authority,  gave  him  also  a  civil  office  of  equal  alti- 
tude, to  correspond.  He  made  him  Vicegerent  and  Vicar- 
general,  or  the  shadow  of  himself,  simply  to  gain  his  own  am- 
bitious and  avaricious  purpose ;  and  this  once  gained,  there 
were  to  be  Vicegerents  or  Vicars-general  in  England  no 
more !  All  the  official  men  who  remained,  of  whatever 
description,  let  them  wince  as  they  might,  were  to  be  as  clay 
in  the  hands  of  the  royal  potter,  and  so  they  proved. 

Thus,  however  licentious  the  Monarch  was,  his  skill  in 
taking  advantage  of  circumstances,  and  his  being  gifted  with 
talents  of  no  inferior  order,  become  equally  manifest.  These 
two  men  had  formed  a  bridge  for  him  to  pass  over,  and  down 


1540.]  THE  LONG   PROTRACTED  CONSEQUENCES.  12J 

he  sat,  ill  his  usurpation  of  power,  superior  and  unknown  to 
any  King  in  Europe.  The  first  Vicar-general,  before  his  ap- 
pointment to  that  office,  had  helped  him  to  his  title  of  "  De- 
fender of  the  Faith,"  no  matter  though  it  was  the  old  learning; 
the  second  fixed  liim  in  his  seat,  as  "  Supreme  Head  of  the 
Church  of  England  ;"'  and  though  Henry  died,  after  all,  an 
adherent  of  the  Roman  faith,  still  it  is  matter  of  history, 
that  both  titles  he  bequeathed  to  his  successors  on  the  throne. 
Confirmed  by  Henry's  most  tractable  Parliament,  in  1544,  the 
titles  thus  assumed  have  not  only  continued  to  be  worn,  but 
they  have  extended  in  their  application  over  a  broader  surface.^^ 
Here  then  is  a  link,  or  rather  the  first  link  of  a  chain,  con- 
nectinsr  the  last  three  hundred  years  with  the  existins:  a^e ; 
and  it  is  this  which  entitles  the  past  transactions  to  a  degree 
of  deliberate  reflection  common  to  no  other  period,  before  or 
since.  That  this  was  a  point  of  time,  pregnant  with  conse- 
quences, is  allowed  by  all,  and  so  the  steps  taken  were  initia- 
tory ;  though  to  follow  this  line  of  connexion  between  the  past 
and  the  present,  is  a  task  from  which  we  are  relieved,  by  the 
design  of  these  pages.  At  the  same  time,  it  may  only  be  ob- 
served, that  this  is  not  necessary  in  order  to  evince  the  long- 
extended  bearing  of  this  remarkable  era ;  for  among  all  the 
changes  since,  not  one  has  neutralised  the  influence  and  ef- 
fects of  Henry ""s  claims.  In  their  own  day,  and  after  their 
own  fashion  by  the  movements  already  described,  neither 
Henry  nor  Crumwell,  with  Cranmer  to  assist,  accomplished 
their  end.  The  King  and  his  Vicar-general,  with  the  primate 
in  union,  first  proposed  for  the  kingdom  "  peace  and  conten- 
tation,"  and  soon  after  "unity  of  opinion;"  but  they  originated, 
nay  fomented  the  reverse,  and  the  only  solid  acquisition  of  the 
day  was  money — money  for  the  royal  exchequer.  As  for  the 
new  titles,  and  the  claims  involved,  there  were  two  opinions 


43  About  July  1541,  we  have  an  amusing  instance  of  Henry's  jealousy  as  to  one  of  those  titles, 
in  his  being  so  oflFended  with  James  V.  styling  himself  "  Defender  of  the  Christian  Faith."  This 
is  expressed  by  Wriothsley,  in  the  following  terms  :  "  Upon  the  arrival  of  Mr.  Sadler,  there  were 
conveyed  hither  from  Scotland,  sundry  little  books  imprinted  ;  and  amongst  others,  one  entitled 
'  The  trumpet  of  Honour,'  wherein,  in  the  very  titling,  in  the  first  front  of  the  book,  the  King 
your  Master  taketh  upon  him,  a  ))iece  of  the  title  of  the  King's  Majesty  ;  the  King  your  Master 
being  therein  called  '  Dr/tnsourofthe  Christien  Fciih,'  whereby  his  Majesty  should  have  great 
cause  to  think  more  than  unkindness,  if  he  would  willingly  take  his  title  upon  him.  And  tlie 
conjecture  is  the  more  pricking,  because  he  added  thereto  the  Christien  faith,  as  though  there 
should  be  any  other  than  the  Christian  faith  ;  which  seemeth  to  have  another  moaning  in  it,  than 
one  good  Prince  can  think  of  another,  much  less  a  friend  of  his  friend,  or  a  nephew  of  his  uncle, 
if  he  would  show  himself  to  esteem  his  friendship."— Gov.  State  Pajiers,  vol.  v.,  p.  I.')l. 


122  OTHER  EXECUTIONS.  [book  ll. 

then,  ami,  without  intermission,  there  have  been  two  opinions 
since.  No  nation  upon  earth  lias,  on  the  whole,  been  more 
loyal  to  their  Kin^s,  or  more  submissive  to  the  civil  Magis- 
trate, as  a  branch  of  that  Uuty  which  Christianity  enforces ; 
and  yet,  at  the  distance  of  three  centuries,  far  removed  from 
the  iron  and  brutal  reign  which  wo  have  been  contemplating, 
the  same  subject  which  so  divided  the  people  of  Englaiid  then, 
still  divides  the  nation  ;  and  though  possessed  of  ten-fold  more 
intelliirence,  divides  it  far  more  thorouirhlv,  than  it  ever  did, 
or  ever  could,  in  the  days  of  Henry  the  Eighth. 

Stranjre !  after  the  long  and  varied  course  of  her  eventful 
history  ;  after  the  sun  has  risen  and  set  upon  this  favoured 
laud  more  than  a  million  of  times,  that  for  every  line,  bearing 
on  this  subject,  which  was  printed  then,  at  the  present  moment 
there  should  be  a  thousand.  One  day,  to  our  posterity,  this 
must  of  necessity  appear  passing  strange. 

But  to  return.  The  unwarrantable  power  in  which  Henry  had  now  re- 
solved, not  only  to  reign,  but  direct  and  govern,  appeared  at  this  moment 
in  all  its  enormity  ;  for  only  two  days  after  he  had  despatched  the  Earl  of 
Essex,  an  event  occurred,  full  of  perplexity  to  all  parties  in  his  kingdom. 
The  number  of  persons  who  had  been  impeached  or  attainted  during  this 
Parliament,  and  according  to  the  fashion  which  CrumAvell,  no  doubt 
vfith  the  royal  sanction,  had  so  unconstitutionally  and  cruelly  intro- 
duced, amounted  to  not  fewer  than  a  round  dozen :  and  six  of  these 
were  ordered  for  execution  forty-eight  hours  after  the  scene  in  the 
Tower.  As  if  awfully  to  verify  the  expressions  which  Henry  had  or- 
dered Crumwell  to  utter,  at  the  opening  of  the  Session — that  "  he 
leaned  neither  to  the  right  or  left,  neither  to  the  one  party  nor  to  the 
other" — three  of  each  were  to  be  put  to  death  ;  that  is,  three,  for  what 
they  called  heresy,  and  three  for  denying  the  King's  supremacy  !  The 
three  former  were  no  other  than  Dr.  Barnes,  and  even  Garret  and 
Jerome.  The  names  of  the  latter  were  Abel,  Featherstone,  and  Powell. 
One  of  each  class  being  placed  upon  the  same  hurdle,  by  way  of  e<|ually 
vilifying  both,  thus  they  were  dragged  from  the  Tower  to  East  Smith- 
field.  No  person  present,  not  even  the  Sheriff,  could  answer  Barxes, 
wherefore  he  and  his  companions  were  put  to  death  ;  but  they  all  suf- 
fered with  great  constancy  at  the  stake,  while  the  others  were  hung  at 
the  same  time,  on  the  same  spot  I  A  foreigner,  it  has  been  said,  who 
had  mingled  with  the  crowd,  exclaimed,  "  What  a  country  is  this  !  on 
the  one  side  they  are  hanging  the  Pope's  friends,  on  the  other  they  are 
burning  his  enemies."  Both  parties  .seeing  their  adherents  so  dragged 
to  destruction,  were  alike  shocked  and  disgusted. 


1540.]  HENRY'S   FIFTH   MARRIAGE.  123 

According  to  the  general  voice  and  opinion,  the  man  who  was  at  the 
root  of  this  barbarity  was  Gardiner,  originating  iu  his  pique  against 
Barnes.  The  imputation  he  tried  to  evade,  and  in  print ;  yet  in  vain, 
for  it  attached  to  him  as  long  as  he  lived.  But  the  cruel  procedure  to 
loth  parties  had  become  successful,  through  the  existing  division  among 
Henry's  courtiers.  Both  divisions  equally  disowned  the  right  of  j^rivate 
judgment,  they  vied  with  each  other  in  servility,  and  to  a  man  they 
had  already  sanctioned  the  assumption  of  mental  supremacy  by  a 
Monarch,  who  so  far  from  having  any  command  over  himself,  was 
governed  solely  by  his  own  unrestrained  passions.  Such,  therefore,  was 
the  first  act  of  Henry,  after  he  became,  more  signally  his  ovn  minis- 
ter ;  and  if  only  for  the  first  fortnight  we  observe  his  coiu-se,  it  will  be 
found  sufliciently  characteristic. 

On  Saturday  the  24th  of  July,  the  King  had  sanctioned  the  bill  for 
his  third  divorce,  and  then  dissolved  Parliament.  On  Wednesday  the 
28th,  he  had  put  Crumwell  to  death,  and  two  days  after,  Barnes, 
Jerome,  and  Garret,  with  three  others.  Only  ten  days  after  this,  or 
on  Sunday  the  8th  of  August,  his  Majesty  was  married  once  more,  by 
Cranmer,  that  is  a  second  time  within  the  same  year,  and  to  his  fifth 
Queen,  Catharine  Howard,  daughter  of  Edmond  Howard,  and  niece  to 
the  Duke  of  Norfolk  ;  the  marriage  and  presentation  at  Cotu't  being  on 
the  same  day.  The  uncle  and  niece  are  understood  to  have  had  no 
small  share  in  these  bloody  catastrophes  ;  but  Henry  had  obtained  his 
wishes,  promising  himself,  in  the  sequel,  no  small  enjoyment.  Nothing, 
indeed,  it  has  been  said,  could  exceed  his  matrimonial  contentment  ; 
but  a  little  time  will  shew  how  long  it  continued.  In  the  meanwhile, 
the  gentlemen  of  "  the  old  learning"  seemed  to  have  recovered  all  the 
influence  and  favour  they  had  lost,  under  the  sway  of  Crumwell.  In 
the  summer  Lord  Lisle  had  been  recalled  from  Calais,  and  his  place 
supplied  by  Lord  William  Howard,  the  brother  of  the  Duke  of  Norfolk  ; 
and  in  order  to  carry  on  his  amicable  connexion  with  the  Emperor,  in 
the  month  of  November,  Stephen  Gardiner,  Bishop  of  Winchester,  was 
sent  as  ambassador.  He  had  not,  however,  come  to  any  audience  by 
the  end  of  the  year,  and  we  have  yet  to  see  what  transpired  during 
his  absence  of  eleven  months.  "  The  reigning  Queen,"  says  Lingard, 
"  first  attracted  the  royal  notice  at  a  dinner  given  by  the  Bishop  of 
Winchester." 

Such  was  the  year  1540,  so  far  as  secular  affairs,  and  esi^ecially  those 
of  the  Court,  were  concerned.  They  enable  us  to  view,  with  greater  ad- 
vantage and  effect,  their  striking  contrast,  in  a  separate,  and  widely 
different  department. 

For  the  five  first  montlis  of  this  year,  the  most  powerful 
subject  in  the  kingdom  had  been  rising  to  the  top  of  liis  am- 


124  Till':  SCRIPTURES— RETROSPKCT.  [boOK  II. 

bition.  It  was  CruinwcU,  with  all  liis  lionours  tliick  upon 
liiii),  and  crowned  witli  an  Earldom — an  Earldom  of  a  hun- 
dred days,  or  by  far  the  most  miserable  period  of  his  exist- 
ence.'"' He  is  now  dead,  and  buried  in  that  Tower,  to  wliich 
lie  had  often  sent  others.  IJut  as  lie  had  finally  shown  him- 
self ardent  in  favour  of  the  Scriptures  being  printed,  we  arc 
now  furnished  witli  one  of  the  strongest  proofs  as  to  whether 
the  progress  of  this  cause  depended  on  the  life  of  any  such 
man,  or  was  at  all  affected  by  the  death  of  the  Vicegerent 
and  last  Vicar-general. 

The  cause  of  Divine  Truth,  properly  so  called,  it  has  been 
our  imperative  duty  to  preserve  from  being  injured  or  mis- 
taken, by  identifying  it  with  any  doubtful  or  disputable 
human  character,  however  conspicuous  on  the  page  of  Eng- 
lish history.  Let  every  man  occupy  the  place  belonging  to 
him,  but  that  cause,  correctly  speaking,  can  be  associated 
only  with  the  consistent  and  sincere.  In  no  other  in  this 
country  has  the  Almighty  so  reigned,  and  so  conspicuously, 
as  an  overruler.  Even  historically,  therefore,  to  drag  in  any 
man,  as  though  it  depended  at  all  upon  him,  simply  because 
he,  at  some  moment,  happened  to  be  in  office  or  in  power  as 
a  political  agent,  is  only  betraying  the  cause  to  the  common 
enemy  of  Divine  Revelation.  This  is  an  error  which  has 
been  committed  too  long,  and  by  too  many  historians. 

In  reference  to  Crumwell,  the  noble  warfare  which  has  been 
already  detailed,  had  not  only  commenced  long  before  he  was 
even  heard  of,  but  it  had  proceeded  in  spite  of  him,  after  he 
was  known  and  in  power.  Indeed,  after  the  year  1537,  he, 
or  any  such  man,  be  he  who  he  may,  cannot  appear  in  any 
liigher  character,  than  that  of  "  one  who  had  tarried  at  home, 
and  now  divided  the  spoil."  Crumweirs  warmth  in  sanction- 
ing, at  the  decline  of  his  career,  or  even  pressing  forward  the 
printing  of  the  Scriptures,  has  been  sufficiently  accounted  for, 
as  resulting  from  political  expediency.  Acting,  as  he  has 
been  proved  to  have  done  in  other  respects,  it  could  proceed 
from  no  higher  motive ;  and  when  John  Foxe,  in  his  first 
edition,  compares  his  zeal  to  that  of  Jehu,  in  the  days  of  old, 
he  is  far  more  accurate,  than  in  many  expressions  which  he 
substituted  afterwards,  in  his  long  and  confused  eulogy  or  de- 


♦e  From  the  IRtli  of  April  to  tlic  L'Hth  of  Jiilv. 


154.00  GROSS  MISTAKE   AS  TO  THE  CROWN.  125 

fence.  He  lived  too  near  the  time  indeed,  to  know  as  much 
as  we  do ;  but  it  would  have  been  wiser  had  he,  and  others 
after  him,  said  little  move  than  he  did  at  first.  This  zeal, 
too,  does  not  appear  to  have  involved  Crumwell  in  any  per- 
sonal expense,  except  in  the  case  of  Coverdale's  ]3ible,  which, 
as  we  have  seen,  did  not  succeed.  If  there  Avas  any  in  the 
aftair  at  Paris,  which  is  not  likely,  as  he  was  acting  under 
Henry''s  application  to  the  French  King,  it  could  be  but 
trifling ;  since  the  books  were  afterwards  sold,  the  parson 
paying  one-half,  and  the  people  the  other. 

The  truth  is,  that  the  events  of  the  day,  if  fairly  reported, 
disentangle  this  glorious  cause,  and  place  it  altogether  out  of 
the  way  of  being  confounded,  either  with  the  state  of  Eng- 
land in  other  respects,  or  the  men  who  governed  the  country. 
On  the  part  of  man,  assuredly,  it  was  neither  by  might  or 
power  that  Divine  Revelation,  in  the  language  of  the  people, 
found  its  way  into  our  native  land,  or  afterwards  spread ; 
for  his  might  and  power  were  leagued  against  it.  Of  this, 
from  year  to  year,  we  have  already  had  proof  all-sufficient. 
Yet  so  egregiously  inaccurate  have  been  the  representations 
of  subsequent  historians,  that  mere  official  characters  have 
been  brought  forward,  so  as  to  overshadow  those  of  humbler 
name.  The  latter  sustained  the  brunt  of  the  battle ;  they 
bore  all  the  burden  and  heat  of  the  day ;  they  sustained  the 
entire  expense ;  they  ran  all  the  risk,  and  they  must  no 
longer  stand  concealed  behind  any  man.  The  former^  and 
not  until  they  could  no  longer  resist  the  tide,  tardily  lent  offi- 
cial sanction  at  one  time,  and  then  capriciously,  or  rather 
wickedly,  withdrew  it  at  another,  although  that  sanction, 
when  offered,  literally  cost  them  nothing,  or  nothing  worthy 
of  any  notice. 

But  not  only  have  historians  erred  egregiously,  and  led 
their  readers  astray :  men  who  ought  to  have  searched  more 
deeply,  and  been  fully  informed,  have,  very  boldly,  founded 
arguments,  in  our  highest  courts  of  law,  upon  assertions 
which  were  grossly  incorrect  in  point  of  fact ;  and  this,  too, 
when  pleading  on  behalf  of  the  Crown.  Let  one  instance 
suffice  for  the  present,  as  the  subject  must  afterwards  be  more 
fully  explained.  Two  hundred  years  certainly  had  afforded 
time  sufficient  to  have  known  and  established  the  truth ;  yet 
more  than  two  hundred  years  after  this  period,  in  1758,  when 


12G  ({ROSS   MISTAKK   CORRECTED.  (^BOOK  II. 

tlie  Solicitor-riioiU'ral  ot"  10n<,fl:iii(l  was  pleading  before  Lord 
MausficKl  and  other  judges,  and  talking  wildly  of  the  King 
having  by  prerogative  several  copy-rights,  he  actually  stated  in 
open  Court,  as  his  third  ground  for  so  pleading,  that  "  the  trans- 
lation of  the  Great  Eiwlish  Jiihie  under  Grafton^  icas  performed 
at  the  King''8  expense !  Although  this  was  too  bad,  there  was 
no  person  present  who  was  able  historically  to  confront  liini.''' 
Henry's  character,  no  doubt,  involved  the  most  singular 
contradictions.  He  was  avaricious  and  prodigal,  at  ditlerent 
moments,  in  nearly  equal  extremes.  He  has  been  said  to 
have  diced  away  the  bells  of  suppressed  houses,  and  to  have 
lost  thousands  of  the  spoil  at  play,  but  he  certainly  never 
spent  his  money  in  printing  Bibles.  From  all  we  have  seen 
already,  of  course  it  was  impossible  that  the  King  could  pos- 
sess any  heart-felt  interest  in  the  Word  of  God.  As  far  as 
he  was  concerned,  upon  every  hand  sin  abounded,  and  thus 
the  high  favour  of  God  to  this  country  became  the  more  con- 
spicuous ;  but  so  distant  was  Mr.  Solicitor-General  Yorke 
from  the  truth,  that  no  evidence  whatever  has  yet  been  ad- 
duced of  Henry  the  Eighth  having  ever  been  at  any  ex- 
pense whatever,  in  printing  one  solitary  copy  of  the  Sacred 
Volume.  Hitherto,  we  may  aver,  we  have  made  this  suffi- 
ciently plain ;  and  as  for  the  future,  we  shall  see  presently 
who  was  at  the  expense,  when  even  the  editions  with  Cran- 
mer's  or  TunstaFs  name  on  the  title-page,  came  to  be  issued. 
But  with  "regard  to  poor  Grafton,  so  unceremoniously  robbed 
of  all  due  credit  and  honour,  after  having,  at  the  very  begin- 
ning, personally  embarked  so  large  a  sum  in  the  undertaking, 
it  inay  here  be  observed,  that  he  had  received  as  yet  no  more 
than  a  fair  remuneration  for  his  outlay  of  capital ;  and  that, 
ere  long,  he  found  himself  safely  lodged  in  the  Fleet  prison  ; 
from  whence  the  zealous  Bishops,  ever  true  to  their  character, 
and  under  this  self-same  Henry  VIII.,  would  by  no  means 
relieve  him  till  he  had  given  his  bond  for  oClOO  (equal  to 
i?1600  now,)  that  he  would  print  no  more  Bibles,  nor  sell  any 
more,  until  a  certain  period — and  when  was  that  ?  Not  until 
the  King  and  the  clergy  should  agree  upon  a  translation, 
which,  as   we  have  seen,   and  shall    see,   they   never   did.'*" 

*^  Blackstone,  i.,  pp.  105,  US. 
•"<  Prynn's  MS.,  Inner  Temple.      Foxe,  Lewis,  and  others,  by  mistake,  have  raised  the  fine 
to  fWXt.    It  has  been  suggested  that  Whitchurch  may  also  have  been  punished.     He  was,  but 


1540.]  THi<:  lak(;e  folio  bibles.  127 

Here,  however,  we  have  at  least  one  proof  that  as  far  as 
Grafton  and  Whitchurch  had  been  concerned  in  printings 
these  were  undertakings  in  which  no  part  of  the  royal  money, 
or  that  of  the  Exchequer,  had  ever  been  involved.  Had 
this  been  the  case,  had  one  farthing  of  Henry "'s  property  been 
embarked,  it  would  have  been  at  the  peril  of  these  Bishops  to 
have  so  proceeded,  and  they  never  would. 

We  turn,  therefore,  to  the  real  state  of  things,  and  take  up 
the  second  series  of  Bibles,  or  the  result  of  Tyndale's  exer- 
tions, as  still  more  visible  in  his  native  land,  and  in  the 
Scriptures  which  were  printed  and  published  before  the  face 
of  the  notorious  Bonner.  It  should  not  be  forgotten  that  we 
now,  in  fact,  see  the  Bible  of  1537,  as  already  described,  with 
nothing  more  than  certain  verbal  alterations  here  and  there  ; 
some  of  which  were  not  improvements,  and  others,  though 
now  attempted,  in  the  end  did  not  prevail ;  while,  at  the  same 
time,  the  first  introduced  Bible,  and  verbally,  as  first  import- 
ed, is  to  be  reprinted,  again  and  again. 

But,  first,  and  with  regard  to  those  large  Bibles  of  different 
dates,  to  which  the  name  of  Cranmer  was  affixed  in  the  title- 
page,  or  four  in  number,  and  other  tico  editions,  with  the 
names  of  Tunstal  and  Heath,  and  not  Cranmer's,  or  six  dis- 
tinct editions  in  all ;  such  has  been  the  confusion,  that  they 
have  hitherto  baffied  the  research  of  all  our  bibliographers. 
Preceding  authors  having  failed,  Dibdin  happens  to  be  the 
last  who  attempted  an  explanation,  and  he  fairly  gives  up  the 
subject  in  despair.  "  After  all,"  says  he  in  conclusion, 
"  there  seems  to  be  some  puzzle,  or  unaccountable  variety,  in 
the  editions  of  the  Bible  in  1540  and  1541.  The  confusion 
itself,  indeed,  may  be  accounted  for.  All  those  largest  black- 
letter  Bibles  are  most  interesting  relics,  for  such  was  the 
ordeal  through  which  they  passed,  first  in  Henry's  reign, 
and  then  under  his  daughter  Mary ;  such  the  havoc  to  which 
they  were  exposed  from  the  enemy,  or,  in  other  words,  such 
the  enmity  evinced  by  official  men,  that  the  only  wonder  is, 
that  any  of  them  remain.  Yet,  upon  the  whole,  the  number 
left,  or  surviving,  is  by  no  means  the  least  remarkable  fea- 
ture in  their  history.     The  consequence,  however,  has  been, 

by  no  means  to  the  same  extent.  Of  the  two  men,  Grafton  seems  to  have  been  the  most 
zealous  ;  and  thus  Bonner,  after  so  beguiling  hira  at  Paris,  ever  afterwards  hated  him.  Had  it 
not  been  for  Audley,  the  Lord  Chancellor,  Grafton  might  have  fareil  mucli  worse. 


12S  THE  FOLIO  IJIBLES.  [hook  ii. 

that,  before  an  oxperiencod  eye,  many  of  them  are  found  to 
be  copies  made  w/?.""-"!'  This  remark  applies  generally  to  all 
collections,  whether  in  our  universities,  our  puljli<'  libraries, 
or  in  the  hands  of  private  gentlemen.  Such,  therefore,  is  the 
value  of  a  perfect  copy  throughout,  of  these  liibles,  or  so 
highly  have  they  been  estimated  by  posterity,  above  those 
who  first  read  them,  that  they  have  been  sold  for  above  forty, 
if  not  fifty  pounds  sterling.  The  original  price  was  ten  shit- 
linfjs  in  sheets,  or  twelve,  when  bound  with  bullions^  clasps,  or 
ornaments ;  that  is,  about  seven  pounds  ten  shillings,  or  nine 
pounds,  of  the  present  day. 

In  this  state  of  things,  the  first  step  which  required  to  be 
taken,  was  to  obtain  perfect  copies  of  all  these  six  large  black- 
letter  Bibles,  with  their  genuine  titles  and  last  leaves ;  as  all 
the  editions  to  which  we  now  refer,  happen  to  be  very  dis- 
tinctly dated,  first  on  the  title-page,  and  then  more  fully  in  the 
colophon.  Even  after  this,  at  first  sight,  it  might  be  pre- 
sumed, and  it  has  been,  when  the  books  were  viewed  separ- 
ately, that  there  were  here  probably  not  more  than  two  or 
three  editions,  with  difi'erent  titles,  and  another  date  in  con- 
clusion. Such  a  thing,  however  dishonest,  though  it  has 
often  been  done  with  certain  books  since,  seems  to  have  been 
then  unknown,  for  upon  farther  examination,  all  the  editions 
are  distinct.  On  observing,  however,  that  the  catchword  at 
the  bottom  of  the  page,  and  at  the  top  of  the  next,  are  in  so 
many  instances  the  same,  the  next  supposition  may  be,  that  as 
there  might  not  be  types  in  sufficient  quantity,  after  the  first 
impression  was  thrown  off,  the  forms,  in  succession,  may  have 
been  transferred  to  another  press  ;  and  thus,  like  the  plough- 
man overtaking  the  reaper,  copies  might  follow  each  other  at 
the  distance  of  only  three  or  four  months.  But  even  this 
supposition  will  not  solve  the  phenomena;  for  upon  examining 
the  body  of  the  page,  so  numerous,  or  rather  innumerable,  are 
the  differences  in  point  of  spelling,  contractions,  and  even 
pointing,  that  no  alternative  is  left  but  that  of  comparing  the 
six  volumes  page  by  page.     The  reason  for  our  being  thus  par- 


*^  That  is,  made  up  of  two  or  more  editions.  There  have  also  been  instances  of  making  up 
copies,  Yty  facsimile,  whether  by  the  usual  process,  now  in  such  perfection,  or  even  with  the 
pen,  so  beautifully  as  to  deceive  every  one,  save  an  experienced  judRe.  Except  this  be  ex- 
plained on  the  book  itself,  or  when  it  comes  to  be  sold,  the  deception  cannot  be  too  severely 
condemned. 


1.540.]  IN    SIX    EDITIONS.  129 

ticular  will  appear  presently ;  but  who,  it  may  bo  asked,  will 
ever  be  at  the  pains  to  do  all  this  I  He  must  possess  the  perfect 
copies,  or  havethe  genuine  leaves  of  all  the  six  Bibles  before  him, 
and  these  were  not  to  be  found  in  ani/  public  collection  in  the 
kingdom ;  nor  was  this  sufficient,  for  the  very  pages  of  each 
and  all  must  be  patiently  examined  to  mark  their  curious  and 
minute  distinctions.  But  the  fact  is  that,  at  last,  all  this  has 
been  accomplished,  through  the  indefatigable  perseverance  of 
one  gentleman,  though  we  must  not  say  at  what  expense. 
Yet  he  himself,  thus  carefully  collating  them,  the  result  is, 
that  of  these  large  Bibles,  specially  intended  for  public 
worship  or  public  reading,  there  were  six  distinct  editions, 
three  dated  in  1540  and  three  in  1,541  ;  two  of  which  were 
issued  this  year,  and  four  in  the  next.  In  all  such  labour, 
however,  there  is  profit,  though  it  may  not  appear  at  first ; 
for  even  at  this  stage,  there  was  still  some  degree  of  mystery 
in  every  one  of  these  Bibles  being  dated  from  London. 

One  day,  in  the  metropolis,  a  gentleman,  no  inferior  judge, 
remarked  to  the  present  writer — "  I  cannot  believe  that  these 
Bibles  were  actually  printed  in  London."  "  Where  then," 
it  was  asked,  "do  you  suppose?"  He  replied,  "  I  think  most 
probabl}'^  in  Paris.''''  But  why  so  ?  "  Because  of  the  type  ; 
for  at  that  time  the  London  types,  as  used  in  all  other  books, 
were  inferior  to  that  fine  bold  letter."  Certainly  they  were, 
it  may  now  be  added,  and  these,  there  can  be  little  or  no  doubt, 
were  Parisian  types.  But  as  for  their  being  so  employed  in 
that  city,  after  the  violent  interruption  in  the  end  of  1538  ; 
when  once  the  wrath  of  the  Sorbonne  against  Robert  Estienne, 
that  is  Stephens  the  printer,  is  observed,  and  still  more,  the 
state  of  feeling  between  the  French  and  English  Kings, 
throughout  1540  and  1541  ;  such  employment  of  these  types, 
and  to  such  extent  in  Paris.,  must  appear  to  have  been  alto- 
gether impossible.  Thus  then,  in  the  end,  are  we  brought 
back  to  admire  the  energy  of  poor  Orumwell's  character,  in  a 
step,  hitherto  but  very  slightly  noticed  in  history.  In  bring- 
ing over  the  very  presses,  the  Parisian  types  and  even  French 
workmen,  he  had  done  his  business  thoroughly,  after  his  own 
manner.  Types  to  a  greater  extent  certainly,  if  not  workmen 
more  numerous  had  arrived,  than  has  ever  been  before  imagined. 
He  had  seen  that  the  Bible  being  speedily  multiplied,  and 
generally  read,  was  his  best,  his  only  main -.stay,  against  the 

VOL.   II.  £ 


130  riUSr    ItllJI.K   (Ih    CUAN.MKK.  [hook   II. 

insidious  .-iml  powerful  opposition  ol"  "  tlu'olil  learning''  party. 
So  that  but  lor  what  he  had  done,  we  are  now  led  to  infer, 
that  Crau/ni'i'  would  never  have  had  it  in  his  power,  to  have 
put  forth  at  least  such  and  so  many  JJihles  as  these.  It  was 
something  for  Crumwell  to  have  drawn  such  spoil,  if  not  from 
the  "  Fonderie  du  Koy,"  yet  from  its  immediate  vicinity,  for 
it  certainly  appears  now  to  be  far  more  than  pi'obable,  that  an 
English  folio  Bible  printing  in  Paris,  once  interrupted,  had 
ended  in  iv'.r  others  being  printed  in  London  I^*'  The  history 
of  the  books  themselves,  will  aflbrdsomc  farther  curious  infor- 
mation, and  the  more  so  when  taken  in  the  order  of  their  dates. 
The  first  of  these  Bibles  which  was  finished  in  April  with 
Crannier's  name,  we  have  referred  to  under  15:j.9,  as  prepar- 
ing. We  have  seen  that  it  had  been  subjected  by  Henry  to 
the  inspection  of  certain  Bishops,  though  morelyas  individuals, 
but  belonging  to  that  body,  which  had  all  along  shown  such 
hostility  to  any  translation  whatever.  The  determined  aspect 
and  imperative  tones  of  the  Monarch  had  very  soon  made 
these  enemies  yield  their  feigned  obedience ;  and  his  heart, 
however  capricious,  being  in  the  hand  of  God,  here  is  the 
book  entire,  and  with  Cranmer"'s  preface  attached,  enforcing 
"  high  and  low,  male  and  female,  rich  and  poor,  master  and 
servant,"  to  read  it,  at  home  in  their  own  houses,  and  ponder 
over  it  !*'     This,  the  first  Bible,  is  entitled — 

"  The  Byh/c  in  Englislie,  that  is  to  sayc  the  contct  of  al  the  holi/  Scripture,  huth 
of  the  Ohio,  and  New  tcstamet,  witli  a  proloije  tkenhito  made  hy  the  reverende 
father  in  God,  Thomas,  archbishop  of  Cantorhury,  CT  This  in  the  Bj/l>/e  (ipoi/nted 
to  the  use  of  the  Churches.  9\  Printed  by  Edward  whvtchurche.  Cum 
privilegio  ad  inipriniendmn  solum  mdxl."  The  coloplion  is — "  The  ende  of  the 
new  TestamCt :  and  of  the  whole  Bible  fynisshed  in  Apryll,  Ainio  mcccccxi.. 
A  lino  facta  est  istud." 

Of  this  first  edition  printed  on  English  ground,  there  is  a 
splendid  copy  on  Vellum,  with  the  cuts  and  blooming  letters, 
curiously  illuminated,  in  the  British  Museum.      It  has,  for 

so  Theieal  of  Francis  I.  for  fine  printing  is  well  know-n,  and  the  types  of  tlie  Royal  printing- 
office,  which  he  founded,  have  hcen  celebrated  ever  since,  though  they  veTC  certainly  never 
then  turned  to  such  good  account,  as  in  the  case  liefore  us.  The  beautiful  Hible  of  Holiert  Ste- 
phens in  l.'>4(l  was  not  spared  by  the  virulent  Doctors  of  the  Sorbonnc,  but  drew  uiion  himself 
their  violent  indignation.  The  Hoyal  printing-oftice  to  this  hour  stands  very  high.  Under 
Napoleon,  when  Ihe  Pontikp,  his  obedient  servant,  was  in  Paris,  he  visited  this  fine  establish- 
ment ;  when  the  Directors  jiresented  him  with  the  Lord's  prayer,  printed  in  one  huiidml  and  fifty 
different  langu.tges,  and  all  of  them  slrmk  iifldinin;/  his  visit. 

S'  In  all  the  following  titles,  certain  words,  and  jHirts  of  words,  are  printed  in  italic  letter. 
This  is  to  mark  the  rxlirirs,  or  red  letters  in  the  genuine  title-pages. 


I.34(t.]  KIKST    lilBLK   OK   C'UANMKk.  1  .'ll 

some  reason,  recently  been  rebound,  in  three  volumes;  but 
splendidly  in  niorocco.  This  fine  book,  once  actually  pos- 
sessed by  Henry  VTII.,  is  valuable,  as  one  key  to  the  party 
concerned  in  the  cwpense  of  the  impression  ;  for  so  far  from 
this  being  the  King  himself,  this  copy  was  given  to  him  as  a 
present.  The  first  leaf  bears  the  following  inscription  in  legible 
characters — "  This  book  is  presented  tmto  your  most  excellent 
Highness.,  by  your  loving  faithful  and  obedient  subject  and  dayly 
oratour,  Anthony  Marler  of  London,  haberdasher, ''"'^^  "  Who 
this  haberdasher  was,"  said  Baker,  "  I  wish  to  know.  He 
must  have  been  a  considerable  man  that  could  make  such  a 
present  to  a  prince,  and  seems  to  have  been  a  sharer  in  the 
charge  of  the  impression."^  Respecting  this  London  gentle- 
man, nothing  more  has  been  ascertained  except  that  he  was 
a  member  of  this  Livery  Company,  whose  records  were  almost 
wholly  destroyed  in  the  great  fire  of  1666:  but  that  he  was 
more  than  a  sharer  in  the  expense  of  this,  and  other  impres- 
sions, will  appear  presently,  and  before  the  Privy  Council. 

No  sooner  were  copies  of  this  large  volume  ready,  than  the 
King's  brief  for  setting  up  the  Bible  of  the  greater  volume 
was  issued,  ordering  now  that  the  decree  should  not  only  be 
"  solemnly  published  and  read,"  but  "  set  up  upon  every 
church  door — that  it  may  more  largely  appear  unto  our  sub- 
jects. Witness  myself,  at  Westminster,  the  seventh  day  of 
May,  in  the  thirty-second  year  of  our  reign,"  i.  e.  Friday 
7th  of  May  1540.^-'' 

It  is  curious  enough,  however,  that  there  was  another  Bible 
in  folio,  also  dated  in  April  of  this  year.  It  has  been  fre- 
quently mis-stated  as  being  Cranmer's,  as  if  it  were  the  same 
as  the  last.  There  are  various  distinctions.  It  is  not  only 
without  Cranmer^s  prologue,  and  difters  from  his  translation 
in  the  psalms  and  elsewhere,  but  the  New  Testament  is  said 
to  be  after  the  last  recognition  of  Erasmus :  that  is,  it  is  the 
same  version  as  that  which  accompanied  the  Latin  and  Eng- 
lish Testament  printed  by  Redman  in  1538.  The  book, 
therefore,  is  to  be  classed  with  Matthew"'s  or  Tyndale's  trans- 


52  Lewis  has  led  into  mistake,  by  affixinp;  this  inscription  to  the  next  Dihle  alxiut  to  )>e  men- 
tioned.    He  also  puts  Marirr  for  Marler.  ss  Baker's  MS.,  in  liis  letter  to  T.  Hoarne. 

^*  Foxe,  .rtr.«/ edition,  p.  H20.  This,  it  may  be  observed,  was  only  two  days  before  the  Kin^ 
took  offence  at  Crumwell.  Lewis,  and  others,  eonfound  this  brief  of  7th  May  1A40,  with  the 
proclamation  of  the  Cth  May  I'lAl. 


i:j-2       ANOTIIKU    lUMl.K,   BKSIDKS   CRANMER'S  Sf-X'OND.  [boOK  II. 

latiun.     It  is  on  a  sinallor  typo  and  paper  tlian  the  last,  and 
soonis  to  liavo  hoi-n  intended  for  tlio  nse  of  families, — Entitled, 

"  The  Jii/Uc  ill  Kuijllfhe,  tliat  is  to  sayo,  tlie  contont  of  all  tlio  liolye  scripture, 
both  of  tlio  old  and  iVt'c-t-  Tt'stament,  triicly  translated  after  the  veryte  of  tlie 
Hebrew  and  (Ireke  textcs.  Printed  at  London  by  Thomas  I'etyt  and  Robert 
Redman  for  Thomas  liertliclet,  printer  unto  the  Kynge'w  Grace,  1540."  The 
Colophon  is — "  The  end  of  the  New  Testament,  and  of  the  whole  Uyblc, 
finisshod  in  Apryll,  Anno  mcccccxl," 

This  book  had  been  submitted  neither  to  the  King^  nor  any 
Bishop,  even  thou£;h  it  was  executed  for  his  Majesty's  printer. 
It  was  warranted  by  Crumwell,  according  to  the  privilege 
given  to  him  on  the  14th  of  November  last.  By  the  month 
of  July,  however,  another  of  the  great  Bibles  was  ready. 

4r  "  The  Bible  in  Englyshe,  that  is  to  sayethc  omiet  of  al  the  holy  Scripture, 
both  of  the  oldo  and  nuwe  TestamCt  with  a  proloije  thereinto,  made  by  the 
revcrende  father  in  God,  Thomas  Archbishop  of  Cantorhury.  CT  Thin  is  the, 
Byble  apoynted  to  the  use  of  the  churches.  tfT  Printed  by  Richard  Grafton, 
cum  privilegio  ad  imprimcndum  solum,  mdxl."  The  coloplion  is — "  The  ende 
of  the  newe  Testament  and  of  the  whole  Byble,  fynished  in  July,  Anno  mcccccxl." 

Trembling  for  his  life,  and  imploring  mercy  from  his  inhuman 
master  for  a  month  past,  this  Bible  is  remarkable  for  its  being 
finished  at  the  very  time  of  Crumweirs  execution,  and  the 
more  so  from  its  having  still  on  the  engraved  frontispiece,  his 
shield  or  coat  of  arms  !  This  had  first  appeared  last  year,  or 
1539,  and  now  a  third  time  in  tin.'?!  book;  but  Crumwell  is  dead, 
nay.  was  put  to  death  on  the  28th  of  this  very  month,  and 
any  other  undertaking  must  have  suffered,  in  which  he,  or  any 
other  disgraced  minister,  had  taken  such  a  prominent  interest. 
It  has  been  asserted,  indeed,  that  after  his  fall,  the  Bible 
was  complained  of,  as  being  heretical  and  erroneous  ;  nay, 
that  means  were  taken  to  persuade  the  King  that  the  free 
use  of  the  Scriptures,  which  Cranmer  had  so  strongly  urged 
in  his  preface,  was  injurious  to  the  peace  of  the  country.  But 
a  crisis  had  come,  for  here,  by  the  month  of  November,  a  third 
folio  Bible  is  ready  for  publication.  Two  editions  with  Cran- 
mer's  name  on  the  title,  and  marked  as  appointed  for  public 
worship,  were  already  out,  and  what  was  now  to  be  done? 
Crumwell  is  gone,  and  Cranmer  had  not  power  sufficient  to 
command  the  Bishops  ;  but  there  is  one  alive  who  in  a  mo- 
ment can  command  them  all,  or  any  one  whom  he  is  pleased 
to  select.     This  book,  then,  must  not  be  lost,  nor  even  sup- 


1540.3  TUNSTAL   BOWS  AND  SANCTIONS  IT.  133 

pressed,  tliougli  the  Vicar-general  be  no  more.  Nay,  an  ex- 
pedient must  be  adopted  not  only  to  silence  all  calumny,  but 
push  the  sale  of  the  work,  to  which,  it  will  appear  in  due 
time,  neither  the  King  nor  the  Bishops  had  contributed  any 
pecuniary  aid.  Here,  then,  was  Tunstal  standing  by,  who 
of  all  the  rest  had  been  so  conspicuous  as  an  opponent  since 
1526,  and  it  was  fit  that  the  unbending  heterodoxy  of  this 
original  enemy  should  now  be  put  to  the  test ;  and  here  was 
Heath,  who  had  recently  gone  over  to  TunstaPs  party.  Henry, 
therefore,  did  what  seemed  to  him  the  best  thing  that  could 
have  been  thought  of  in  these  circumstances.  He  commanded 
these  two  men  to  sit  down,  and  say  what  they  thought  of  the 
Bible  now  ready.  The  book  was  printed  by  November  : 
meanwhile  Gardiner  is  sent  out  of  the  way  to  the  Emperor's 
court,  and  Tunstal  and  Heath  must  apply  to  their  task. 
As  Gardiner  and  others  had  delayed  Cranmer's  first  edition, 
and  then  declared  in  the  end  that  there  were  "  no  heresies  in 
it,"  why  examine  the  translation  again  ?  We  may  reply,  be- 
cause of  CrumwelFs  execution,  and  because  it  was  jnuch 
better,  by  way  of  confounding  the  enemy,  to  make  these 
opponents  speak  out.  They  took  time,  till  the  year  to  which 
the  book  belongs  was  ended,  or  the  25tli  of  March,  and  then 
out  it  came  with  a  title  still  more  pompous,  declaring  the 
fact  as  now  stated. 

"  The  Byble  in  Englishe  of  the  largest  and  grentest  volume,  auctoryed  and 
apoynted  by  the  comniandemente  of  our  moost  redoubted  Prynce  and  soueraygne 
horde  Kynge  Henry  the  VIII.,  supreme  heade  of  this  his  chiirche  and  realme  of 
Englande  :  to  be  frequented  and  iised  in  every  churche  in  this  his  sayd  realme, 
accordynge  to  the  tenour  of  his  former  /MJunctions  giuen  in  that  behalfe. 
•T  Ocersene  and  perused  at  the  commaundinet  oi  the  Kynge^s  Hyghnes,  by  the 
ryijhte  rererende  fathers  in  God  Cuthbert  Bysshop  of  Duresme,  and  Nicolas 
Bisshop  of  Rochester.  Printed  by  Ednxird  Whitchurch.  Cum  priuilegio  ad 
imprimendum  solum.  1541."  The  Colophon — "  The  end  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment and  of  the  whole  Byble  Fynisshed  in  November  1540,"  though  not  pub- 
lished till  1541.50 

This  was  in  truth  another  triumph  over  the  enemy,  one  of 


55  There  is  an  instance  of  this  edition  in  the  library  of  the  University  of  Edinburgh.  The 
title-page  and  colophon  are  as  above,  and  it  might  be  su])poscd,  at  first  sight,  that  all  was 
right  ;  but  upon  careful  inspection  it  is  found  to  be  made  up  oi  two  editions,  or  that  of  this  year 
and  the  next  in  ir<41  ;  and,  what  renders  the  book  more  remarkable,  it  is  a  yiilow  paper  copy, 
having  only  the  last  leaf  of  Cranmer's  preface,  and  therefore  none  of  those  urgent  arguments 
why  all  should  read.  We  have  never  seen  or  heard  of  a  similar  book  ;  so  that  it  may  be  re- 
ceived as  a  proof  that  the  lAnl  was  conveyed  to  the  paper  after  the  sheets  were  printed  otl,  and 
not  Vjcfore. 


i;U  I'lVK    KDITIONS  THIS    VKAR.  [book  II. 

most   grievous   annoyance  to    Master  (Jardiner  ;    and    this 
lie  will  not  fail  to  discover  on  the  first  occasion  in  which  he 
can  lind  his  hrethrcn  assenihled,  after  his  return  from  abroad. 
Some  poor  petty  spite  was  indeed  already  discoverable.     The 
reader  will  recollect  of  the  homage  falsely  imputed  to  Henry, 
by   an   engraved    frontispiece  to    the   three  last   Bibles ;    in 
which  Crumwell  and  Cranmer  are  represented  at  full  length, 
above,  as  receiving  the  Bible  from   the  King,  and   below,  as 
giving  it  to  the  people.     At  the  feet  of  each  figure,  it  will  be 
remembered,  was  his  shield  or  coat  of  arms.     The  frontis- 
piece, esteemed  a  treasure  of  its  kind,  must  not  be  thrown 
away.     But  the  arms  of  Crumwell  were  now  erased  I     Still 
there  stands  the  figure  intended  for  him,  and  so  it  continued 
to  do,   throughout  seven  editions  !      That  is,  three  of  them 
with  his  shield  and  four  without.     But  if  this  was  the  first 
with  the  shield  erased,  it  was  the  first  also  with  Tunstars 
name,  and  the  figure  of  Crumwell,  now  so  well  known,  stand- 
ing by.     And  is  Saul  also  among  the  Prophets  ?  might  not  the 
people  have  exclaimed,  and  perhaps  did  ;  though  we  have  yet 
to   hear  aiiain  of  Tunstal  and  Heath's  feigned   obedience. 
There  had  been  no  time  left  for  them  to  alter  the  translation. 
The  book  was  laid   before  them,   no  doubt,  as  it  had  come 
from  the  press.     A  title  was  wanting  to  suit  the  moment,  and 
Henry  now^  his  own  Vicar-general,  commanded  the  present 
one.     It  will  make  way  for  two  other  editions  from  Cranmer. 
In  addition  to  these  four  Bibles,  it  is  said  that  there  was  a 
fifth,  and  in  five  volumes  as  small  as  sexto-decimo,  printed  by 
Redman  ;  ^  but,  at  all  events,  there  was  a  New  Testament  in 
(juarto,  with  Erasmus  and  Tyndale  in  parallel  columns.    Thus 
amidst  all  the  turmoil,  and  in  spite  of  foes,  the  cause  went 
forward,  and  still  from  conquering  to  conquer. 

^ti  Dibtliu's  Ty]K>e.  Aiiliq.,  iii.  p.  235. 


1511.]  THE   EUROPKAN   POWERS.  135 


SECTION  IV. 

EUROPEAN  POWERS  VERCJING    TO  IIOSTIMTY — SCOTLAND — HENRY    AT  YORK, 

IN  VAIN QUEEN  ALREADY  IN   DISGRACE NORFOLK   FAMILY   IMPLICATED 

THE  THIRD  LARGE  BIBLE,  WITH   TUNSTAl's    NAME,  BY  COMMAND THE 

FOURTH,    IN    MAY'^,    WITH    CRANMEr's    NAME EXPENSE  OF    THESE    LARGE 

UNDERTAKINGS THE     MEMORABLE     PROPRIETOR,     ANTHONY     MARLER 

BONNER's      FEIGNED      ZEAL EARNEST     READING      AND     LISTENING THE 

FIFTH  GREAT    BIBLE,   WITH  TUNSTAL's    NAME THE  SIXTH,   WITH    CRAN- 

MEIl's    NAME GARDINER    RETURNED,     TO    WITNESS    THE    PROGRESS    NOW 

MADE  DURING  HIS  ABSENCE. 

After  the  fall  of  Crumwell,  after  tlie  ro^^al  marriage  of  last 
year,  and  some  degree  of  amicable  intercourse  commenced 
between  the  Emperor  and  Henry ;  the  Norfolk,  Gardiner, 
and  Tunstal  party  may  be  considered  as  at  the  height  of  their 
power  ;  so  that  whatever  shall  take  place  with  regard  to  the 
printing  or  publication  of  the  Sacred  Volume,  becomes  the 
more  remarkable,  and  especially  when  viewed  in  coimexion 
with  civil  affairs. 

Although  the  spirit  of  the  English  nation  was  now  so  crushed,  or 
sunk,  under  the  despotic  sway  of  her  King,  in  the  mouth  of  April  an  in- 
considerable reliellion  broke  out  in  Yorkshire,  but  it  was  soon  sup- 
pressed, and  the  leader,  Sir  John  Neville,  with  several  other  gentlemen, 
l)ut  to  death.  This  rising  having  excited  fresh  fear  respecting  the  in- 
fluence or  intrigues  of  Cardinal  Pole,  "  the  Lady  of  Sarum,"  or  Coun- 
tess of  Salisbury,  his  aged  mother,  the  last  of  the  Plantagenets,  on  the 
27th  of  May  was  beheaded  in  the  Tower.  Though  in  her  seventieth 
year,  owing  to  her  lx)ld  resistance  of  the  sentence,  and  the  bungling 
barbarity  of  the  executioner,  every  spectator  must  have  been  horrified. 

At  this  period,  all  the  powers  of  Europe,  but  ill  at  ease,  were  once 
more  verging  towards  a  state  of  open  war.  No  man,  however,  could 
have  divined,  how  all  the  parties  would  ultimately  arrange  themselves 
into  two  hostile  bands  ;  and  we  shall  have  to  wait  till  the  spring  of 
1543  before  they  have  assumed  their  respective  and  memorable  posi- 
tions. We  refer  not  to  England  and  Scotland  only,  or  to  France  and 
Spain,  but  also  to  Germany.  Italy,  and  even  the  Grand  Turk. 

In  the  meanwhile,  from  the  steps  that  Henry  had  taken,  Scotland, 
for  some  years,  had  proved  a  very  awkward  neighbour.  His  Majesty 
had  often  felt  no  small  solicitude  that  his  nephew,  .Tames  V.,  should 
follow  his  example,   for   so  long  as  the  Scottish  bi-sliops  reigned  pre- 


136  SCOTLAND— HKNKV   AT    VOUK.  [boOK  II. 

doniiniuit,  and  their  abbeys  and  moiuibteiiesrcinaiiied  entire,  here  was  a 
standing  national  testimony  against  all  that  he  had  done.  Besi.les, 
England  and  France  were  now  far  from  cordiality,  and  though  the 
French  faction  in  Scotland  had  been  weakened  ever  since  the  battle  of 
Pavia ;  at  the  present  moment,  if  James  were  in  league  with  PVancis,  he 
might  operate  not  only  in  the  way  of  diversion,  but  aggression.  With 
the  ostensible  purpose,  therefore,  of  receiving  the  submission  of  his 
subjects,  and  quieting  the  northern  counties,  but  chiefly  in  order  to  ob- 
tain a  personal  interview  with  James,  the  King  of  England  proposed 
to  meet  him  at  York  ;  and  the  Scottish  monarch  having  at  least  ap- 
jjcared  not  unwilling,  Henry  set  forward  in  his  progress. 

During  the  King's  absence  from  London  upon  this  journey,  it  may 
first  be  observed,  that  the  ill-adjusted  state  of  the  European  powers 
became  very  evident.  Although  Henry  and  the  Emperor  were  profes- 
sedly at  peace,  considerable  discontent  was  expressed  by  the  English 
Council  respecting  our  King's  intercourse  with  the  Low  Countries. 
The  Princess  Regent  there  was  harassing  the  English  Merchant-Ad- 
venturers, and  even  impeding  supplies  of  coiqier  intended  for  his  I\Ia- 
jesty's  personal  use.'  Gardiner,  too,  though  he  had  left  England  about 
the  middle  of  November,  at  the  end  of  the  year  had  not  come  to  a  per- 
sonal audience  with  the  Emperor.  ^ 

As  for  Charles  and  Francis  they  were  on  the  eve  of  a  rupture.  After 
the  former  had  been  permitted  to  pass  through  France,  and  so  deceived 
her  King,  he  at  last  came  forward  with  the  following  proposal : — 

"  Of  two  daughters  which  I  have,  I  am  willing  to  bestow  the  elder  in  mar- 
riage to  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  and  with  her  for  dowry  the  State  of  Flanders, 
witli  the  stylo  and  title  of  King  ;  so  shall  Francis  have  two  sons,  both  kings 
and  neighbours.  As  for  Milan,  let  them  not  think  that  I  will  ever  part 
with  it,  since  it  were  nothing  else  than  to  disjoint  all  my  estates.  And  let  it 
not  grieve  the  King,  for  I  had  it  by  good  and  lawful  succession,  and  possess  it 
as  belonging  to  the  Eni])ire.  Take  Milan  from  me,  and  you  take  away  my 
passage  between  Flanders  and  Spain,  Italy,  Sicily,  and  Germany.  This  is  that 
T  had  to  say,  and  if  it  please  you  not,  there  is  no  occasion  to  speak  more  of 
the  business." 

Francis  at  once  in  a  passion  and  affronted,  I'eturned  this  answer : — 
"  Since  he  might  not  have  his  inheritance,  he  would  have  nothing  else  ; 
neither  would  he  care  to  speak  any  more  of  peace."-'  We  shall  find  him 
lief  ore  long  trying  to  negotiate  with  England. 

Meanwhile,  Henry  being  on  his  journey  to  York,  by  the  month  of 
August,  he  sends  to  Audley,  the  Lord  Chancellor,  but  with  special 
charge  of  secrecy,  for  an  ample  safe-conduct  to  be  sent  for  James  and 


'  Gov.  State  Papere,  i.,  i>.  (j(w-074.    Sec  befori'  also.  p.  lifi.,  iio(<- .'III. 

-  Acts  of  Privy  Council,  vii.  p.  HUl.    Hi-  was  with  tlic  Kmjicror  at  tin-  Dii-I  of  Ratisboii  in 
.March  tills  year.     Mem,  p.  152.  ■'  Htrbirt. 


l.Ul.]  SCOTLAND— HENRY   RETURNED.  137 

his  train  ;  though  he  was  still  not  quite  certain  of  success.''  In  Sep- 
tember he  was  in  the  city  of  York,  where  he  remained  from  the  17th  to 
the  26th  of  the  month,  but  it  was  all  in  vain.^  Cardinal  Beaton,  then 
the  prime  mover  in  Scotland,  prevailed  at  last,  and  upon  some  frivol- 
ous or  rather  fiilse  pretext,  James  could  not  leave  his  kingdom. 

Vexed  with  the  disappointment,  if  not  enraged  with  his  nephew,  and 
determined  never  to  forgive  or  forget  Beaton,  Henry  could  only  return  ; 
and  it  may  easily  be  supposed,  but  ill  prepared  indeed  to  meet  with  any 
additional  mortification.  Still  the  King  had  no  great  occasion  to  regret 
his  journey.  On  his  way  north  he  had  received  not  only  the  submis- 
sion of  his  subjects,  but  from  at  least  ten  different  quarters  in  subsidy, 
above  £2200,^  a  sum  equal  to  above  thirty  thousand  pounds  ;  and  the 
Queen  having  accompanied  him  in  his  progress,  helped  to  soothe  him 
under  his  felt  affront.  Gardiner,  too,  having  arrived  from  the  Emperor, 
had  reached  his  Majesty  about  48  miles  from  London,  at  CoUiweston, 
(Weston  Colville,)  by  the  16th  of  October.'^  He  had  come  home  in 
good  time  to  sympathize  with  his  party,  whatever  should  happen. 

In  company  the  King  and  Queen  had  arrived  at  Hampton  Court  on 
Monday  the  24th,  where  Cranmer  and  Audley,  or  the  London  division 
of  his  Council,  first  met  his  Majesty.  In  the  course  of  the  week  Henry 
visited  Cheynies  and  Windsor,  but  had  returned  to  Hampton  Court  by 
Sunday  the  30th,  when  the  Council  again  assembled,  and  Cranmer, 
Audley,  Gardiner,  and  others,  were  in  attendance.  The  Duke  of  Norfolk 
was  then  in  London,  but  the  next  day  he  addressed  a  letter  to  his  Ma- 
jesty, which,  from  its  spirit  and  contents,  canied  unequivocal  proof  that 
lie  had  no  expectation  of  any  impending  storm. 

What  is  curious  enough,  it  relates  solely  to  a  proposed  marriage.  The 
King  of  France,  now  broken  with  the  Emperor,  was  practising  on  Henry 
once  more.  The  French  ambassador  had  informed  his  Grace  of  Norfolk 
that  "  there  was  never  thing  that  his  Master  more  desired,  than  a  mar- 
riage between  the  Duke  of  Orleans  and  Princess  Mary  of  England  !" 
Only  he  thought  that  "  the  communing  of  the  marriage  and  of  the  2)eii- 
sion  (so  far  behind  and  long  due  by  him)  should  go  together."  Norfolk 
replies  in  a  very  prompt  and  summary  manner  ;  and,  on  account  of  what 
immediately  happened,  it  deserves  to  be  noticed,  he  writes  in  a  cheerful 
style,  ending  "  scribbled  at  Exeter -place  this  Hallow  even,  with  the  hand 
of  &c.  Norfolk."  « 

In  further  proof  that  in  the  mind  of  the  King  also,  all  things  yet  ran 
smooth  and  quiet,  in  reference  to  himself  personally  ;  next  day,  the  first 
of  November,  in  public  he  returned  his  "  most  hearty  thanks  for  the 
good  life  he  led,  and  trusted  to  live,  with  his  wife,''  commanding  old 
Longland  of  Lincoln,  "  to  give  like  thanks  with  him.""      Whether  he 

*  Gov.  St.  Papers,  i.,  p.  (580.  s  Herbert.  «  Halle.  7  Acts  of  Privy  Council. 

»  Gov.  State  Paiicrs,  i.,  ii.  (ilJR.  ^  J.cttcr  of  Council,  in  Herbert. 


138  HIS  QUEEN    IN   DISGRACE.  [bOOK  M. 

mill  Ojirdiiicr,  also  present,  as  well  as  Norfolk  still  in  town,  were  all  ulike 
in  the  dark,  does  not  positively  ajipear  ;  but  as  to  his  Majesty,  so  far 
from  uneasiness,  he  had  never  in  the  course  of  his  reign,  so  emphatically 
announced  that  he  was  in  the  enjoyment  of  personal  and  domestic 
hai)i)incss.  It  was  next  day  that  he  was  awaked  from  his  dream  of 
fifteen  months'  duration.  After  licing  at  mass,  Cranmer  delivered  into 
his  hands  a  paper  containing  information  received  during  his  absence, 
or  shortly  before  his  return  from  York,  and  the  high  delight  of  his 
Majesty  was  at  an  end  !  To  be  impartial,  the  subject  was  a  very  jiain- 
ful  one,  though  it  was  to  a  man  who  had  so  often  occasioned  anguish  to 
many  others.  Ilcnry,  contrary  to  his  usual,  was  slow  to  believe  what 
he  now  read,  but  was  ultimately  overwhelmed.  The  Queen,  it  here 
came  out,  had  l)een  of  abandoned  character  before  her  marriage,  and 
even  since,  it  was  now  affinned,  had  not  improved.  An  inquiry  into  the 
truth  or  falsehood  of  the  charges  was  immediately  ordered,  and  the  re- 
sult was,  that  the  King,  unable  to  utter  one  syllable  in  reply,  burst  into 
tears,  which,  said  his  Council,  "  was  strange  in  his  courage."  To  Nor- 
folk, the  uncle  of  the  Queen,  to  Gardiner,  who  had  so  fostered  the  mar- 
riage, to  the  Earl  of  Sussex,  and  Lord  Audley,  as  well  as  to  Cranmer, 
had  been  assigned  the  task  of  examining  the  Queen.  On  the  lOth  of 
November,  she  first  denied,  but  in  the  evening,  to  Cranmer,  acknow- 
ledged the  truth  of  the  charges,  and  signed  a  written  confession.'"  This 
monarch,  however,  must  ever  and  anon  disclose  his  entire  character  to 
posterity,  and  it  becomes  more  difficult  to  hold  the  pen.  In  order  to 
obtain  if  possible  a  more  complete  disclosure  of  guilt,  but  under  an  ex- 
press promise  of  extending  "  his  most  gracious  mercy"  to  the  Queen, 
although  her  life  had  been  forfeited  to  the  law,  the  King  employed 
Cranmer  to  visit  her.  He  conveyed  the  message,  and  visited  her  twice. 
The  object  had  been  to  prove  a  pre-contract  of  marriage  with  one  Der- 
ham,  and  Cranmer  went  so  far  as  to  declare  that  he  thought  the  con- 
fessions made  might  be  so  regarded  ;  but  the  Queen  did  not,  and  denied 
to  the  last  any  guilt,  since  she  had  been  Queen. 

Not  less  than  six  weeks  had  thus  passed  away,  when,  on  the  15th  of 
December,  to  the  still  deeper  mortification  of  Norfolk,  the  old  Duchess 
Dowager  (widow  of  the  commander  at  Flodden  Field,)  Lord  William 


<o  Idem.  Dr.  Lin(;ard  after  stating  that  ttie  events  wliicli  led  to  tlic  Queen's  elevation  had 
made  the  reformers  her  enemies,  had  said — "  while  she  accompanied  the  KinR  in  his  jiropress 
to  York,  (I  jiliii  wit  iniviii  bii  llirir  imliistrii,  which  hrouRlit  the  younR  Queen  to  the  scaffold  !" 
In  his  la-it  edition,  constrained  to  correct  the  press,  he  now  says— "a  <lisrov<ti/  which  they  made 
during  her  absence  with  the  King  in  his  progress  as  far  as  York,  enabled  them  to  recover  their 
former  ascendancy,  and  deprived  the  young  Queen  of  her  influence  and  her  life."  And  then,  in 
a  note  ;  "  I  am  aware  that  there  is  no  direct  evidrnre  of  nny  plot ;  but  if  it  be  considered  with 
whom  the  following  enquiry  originated,  and  with  tchni  art  it  was  conducted,  it  is  diflicult  to  re- 
sist the  fiitpii-ion  of  a  political  inlriffne  .'"  It  is,  however  it  seems,  more  diflicult  to  confess  a 
mistake,  or  acknowledge  calumny.  Certainly  no  parly  could  be  more  mortified  at  the  mo- 
ment, and  the  historian  of  the  party  may  be  expected  to  feel  this,  even  now;  but  is  this  can- 
dour, or  impaitialitr  ? 


1.541.]  NORFOLK    FAMILY    IMPLICATED.  13i> 

Howard,  the  Queen's  uuclc,  lately  returned  from  Calais,  with  his  Lady, 
and  various  others,  were  indicted  for  concealment  of  the  treason.  The 
Duke  of  Norfolk,  who  had  retired  from  the  scene,  eighty  miles  distant,  to 
Kenninghall,  was  now  at  his  wits'  end,  and  on  the  15  th  of  December 
writes  in  the  greatest  extremity,  "  prostrate  at  the  royal  feet."" 

The  grief  of  the  Royal  tyrant  being,  however,  by  this  time  perfectly 
assuaged,  the  thirst  for  such  money,  jewels,  or  other  stuff  as  belonged  to 
the  attainted  parties,  became  the  leading  feature  of  his  character.  Six 
days  only  had  passed  away  when  there  were  5000  mcrks  in  money,  and 
a  thousand  pounds'  worth  of  plate  under  the  care  of  Wriothesly,  the 
King's  Secretary.  "  Methinks,"  said  he  on  the  21st  of  the  month,  "  I 
would  slee}^  the  better  if  it  were  delivered. "^^  And  he  was  soon  relieved. 
On  the  same  day,  probably  before  he  slept  again,  he  had  the  reply  from 
Sadler — "  As  touching  the  money  and  plate,  his  Majesty  being  in  doubt, 
whether  it  be  brought  by  you  Mr.  Wriothesly,  to  his  Highness'  palace  at 
Westminster,  or  to  i/our  oivn  house  there,  hath  resolved,  finally,  that  ye 
shall  deliver  the  same  into  the  hands  of  James,  ]Mr.  Denny's  servant. 
The  money  to  be  in  bags,  sealed  up  with  your  seed,  and  the  plate  to  be 
put  in  chests,  also  sealed  by  you — to  remain  there  in  his  Highness'  palace, 
till  his  Majesty's  farther  pleasure  be  known."  l^  There  were  to  be  no 
more  royal  tears  shed  after  this. 

Henry,  however,  always  in  character,  must  now  call  another  Parlia- 
ment, and  do  every  thing,  as  upon  all  dreadful  occasions,  under  the  form 
of  law.  As  Parliament  ever  went  hand  in  hand  with  him  in  all  his 
ways,  the  opening  of  next  year  will  show  whether  his  promise  of  "  most 
gracious  mercy"  was  sacredly  kept ;  as  once  given,  it  ought  to  have 
been  ;  but  thus  closed  the  year  1541.  At  its  commencement  the  gentle- 
men of  the  old  learning,  in  high  spirits,  were  looking  forward  in  hope  ; 
at  its  close,  they  were  in  the  lowest  deep,  and  knew  not  what  might 
come  next.  Should  that  cause,  therefore,  which  they  all  so  cordially 
opposed,  have  advanced  throughout  these  turbulent  months,  surely  no 
man  can  now  ascribe  this,  save  to  that  overruling  hand  which  has  been 
so  visible  all  along. 

Considerable  interest  belongs  to  this  year,  as  being  the  last 
in  which  Bibles  were  printed  under  the  present  reign,  even 
though  Henry  had  still  five  years  to  live.     By  his  "  com- 


"  Gov.  State  Paiiei-s,  i.,  )>.  721.  It  seemed  as  if  every  man  anioiiR  tlicm,  must,  in  liis  turn, 
I>ass  tlirough  Iiis  tit  of  trcmb/iiiy.  For  only  two  days  before  this,  Cranmer  liimsclf  was  put  in 
fjreat  perturbation,  and  to  sueli  a  deRree  that  lie  actually  misdated  his  letter  to  the  King  by  a 
whole  month,  writing  the  l.'ttli  of  .Jii iiiiari/  I'ur  December.  As  it  was  all  over  with  Catharine 
Howard,  this  was  no  other  than  an  Ambassador  from  the  Duke  of  C'leves,  to  try  and  reconcile 
the  KiuK  to  Anne  his  sister!  Of  course  there  was  no  reply  ;  but  tlic  distress  of  Cranmer  arose 
from  the  messenger  coming  to  liiiii  at  all,  at  such  a  time,  and  on  smh  a  subject.  Fortunately  he 
had  letters  also  to  the  Fail  of  Southampton.— Gov.  Slate  Papers,  i.,  pp.  714-717- 
'2  Gov.  State  Tapers,  i..  p.  7iJ4.  '^  Idem. 


140  TIIIKI)    AND    FOLKTU    LAKGK    IJIBLES.  [BOOK  II. 

iiKindmciit"'"'  we  liave  seen  both  Tunstul  and  Ilcitli  irivinir  in 
their  lulhercnco  to  the  translation,  and  in  an  edition  certainly 
finished  in  November  last.  It  may  therefore  be  presumed  that 
the  order  to  look  over  it,  had  come  after  the  book  was  finished 
at  press,  since  it  did  not  appear  before  the  25th  of  March  this 
year.     IJut  this  would  not  suffice  for  1541. 

By  the  end  of  May  another  edition  was  ready  by  Crannier, 
thus  provin<;  that,  for  all  practical  purposes,  the  version  was 
precisely  the  same  throughout,  whether  his  name,  or  that  of 
its  ancient  foe,  Tunstal,  was  affixed.  This  edition,  as  if 
marked  out  for  observation,  is  ])articularly  dated  in  red  on 
the  title  page,  as  well  as  in  black  at  the  end. 

"  The  Byble  in  Englysh,that  is  to  saye  the  content  of  all  the  holy  ScryjAure,  both 
of  the  olde  and  newe  Testament,  with  a  ]>rolo(fe  thereinto  made  by  the  reuercnde 
father  in  Crorf,  Thomas  urchehyi^hoin  if  ('a  ntorhury.  CT  This  is  the  Bybleappoynted 
to  tlio  use  of  the  Churches.  Printed  by  Edwarde  Whitchurcii.  Cum  priuilegio 
ad  imprimendum  suhmi.  Finished  the  .rxtiiidaye  of  Ma  ye,  Anno  domini  .mdxli." 
The  Colophon  is — "  The  ende  of  the  newe  Testament :  and  of  the  whole  Byble, 
Fynysshed  in  May  mcccccxli.  a  diio  facta  est  istud." 

Here  then  was  not  less  than  the  fifth  folio  Bible  completed, 
in  the  short  space  of  less  than  two  years.  Nay,  four  have  been 
completed  in  thirteen  months  !  We  liave  before  us  there- 
fore, unquestionably,  a  magnificent  undertaking.  Means 
must  be  taken  for  the  disposal  of  these  volumes,  and  provision 
for  this  end  may  well  be  made  by  those  who  had  been  at  no 
expense,  should  they  possess  atiy  influence.  We  dismiss,  at 
present,  the  expense  of  all  other  editions,  and  taking  up  those 
only  in  which  we  find  the  names  of  Grafton  or  ^M^itchurch, 
partners  in  business  as  the  printers ;  from  that  first  edition 
which  was  imported  by  them  in  1537  down  to  only  the  pre- 
sent moment,  we  have  six  editions.  The  impressions  thrown 
oft"  have  been  rated  at  from  1500  to  2500  copies;  so  that  if 
we  take  the  medium,  here  were  twelve  thousand  volumes. 
We  now  know,  from  Grafton  himself  that  d£^500  had  been 
embarked  by  hiin  in  the  Jirst  edition,  given  to  Britain  ;  but 
those  that  followed  after,  were  still  finer  books.  Grantin<r 
therefore  that  there  had  been  here  a  sum  of  no  more  than 
riT.SOOO  incurred,  though  there  must  have  been  more,  this, 
according  to  the  value  of  money  in  our  day,  was  equal  to 
forty,  if  Jiot  forty-five  thousand  pounds  !  "History,  though 
warm  on  meaner  themes,"  Jias  hitherto  "  been  cold  on  this;" 


15  J- 1.]  THE  MEMORABLE  PR0PRIP:T0K.  1  H 

and  the  reader  of  the  present  hour,  except  the  transactions 
be  explained,  may  pass  without  notice,  the  most  memorable 
feature  of  the  times.  In  the  midst  of  the  preceding  still  nobler 
struggle,  respecting  the  New  Testament  only.  Sir  Thomas 
More  had  expressed  his  astonishment,  on  account  of  the  ex- 
pense incurred,  and  so  much  the  more  that  he  could  never 
fathom  from  ichence  the  money  came.  But  what  would  he 
have  said  to  this  cause  now,  not  seven  years  after  his  death  ? 
Ah,  and  what  would  he  have  said  to  his  friend  Tunstal,  who 
so  led  him  on  the  ice,  by  granting  him  license  to  "  play  the 
Demosthenes,"  in  opposition  to  Tyndale?  And  who  now,  by 
the  command  of  their  common  Sovereign,  is  openly  mixed  up 
in  the  whole  concern,  though  not  in  one  farthing  of  the  expense  I 

The  memorable  edition  of  1537,  and  that  chieHy  printed  in 
Paris  and  finished  in  London  in  1539,  are  not  to  be  forgot- 
ten ;  but  we  now  only  look  to  those  volumes  to  which  the 
brief  of  the  King  on  the  7th  of  May  last  year,  and  the  names 
of  Cranmer  and  Tunstal  on  the  title-page  direct  us,  or  four 
editions.  These,  according  to  our  very  moderate  calculation, 
involved  <^2000  in  advance,  or  equal  to  thirty  thousand 
pounds  now. 

Here,  then,  was  a  work  of  magnitude,  to  which  it  would 
have  been  quite  worthy  of  any  King,  or  of  any  Govern- 
ment, to  have  contributed.  But  if  neither  the  one,  nor  the 
other,  bore  the  burden;  if  neither  had  even  advanced  any 
funds  in  the  meanwhile ;  then  from  this  time  forth,  and  ever 
after,  "  let  honour  be  given  to  whom  honour  is  due,"" — and 
posterity  venerate  the  memory  of  the  man,  or  the  men,  who 
so  befriended  their  countrymen  and  our  forefathers. 

The  sale,  therefore,  of  these  large  volumes,  so  long  loosely 
styled  "  Cranmer''s  Bibles,"  must  now  no  longer  be  neglected, 
lest  the  noble  proprietor,  though  to  us  hitherto  little  more 
than  an  unknown  private  gentleman,  should  be,  as  he  said 
himself,  undone  for  ever.  It  was  a  crisis,  in  the  finest  keep- 
ing with  our  entire  history.  There  was  no  application  about 
to  be  made  by  him  to  Government,  for  any  pecuniary  aid, 
and  far  less  to  Henry  VIII.  personally;  but  it  was  at  least 
proper  that  his  Privy  Council  should  be  reminded  of  tlieir 
royal  Master"'s  imperative  injunctions  of  May  1540;  and  so 
they  were  in  prospect  of  Cranmer's  last  impression. 

After  the  death  of  Crumwell,  Henrv's  Council  was  divided 


142  TIIK    MKMOKAUI-K    I'KOl'RIKTOU.  [hOOK  If. 

into  t\V(»  st'jKiratt' sections  ;  of  wliicli  one  s;it  i)i  Ijundun,  tlw 
other  was  with  the  King;  and,  what  is  curious  enougli,  then, 
for  the  first  time  we  have  regular  minutes  of  his  Privy  Coun- 
cil.''* It  is  from  this  source,  the  most  authentic  of  all  others, 
that  we  hear  more  particularly  of  that  worthy  citizen,  y\}i- 
thony  Marler.  Strange  !  that  for  three  liundred  years  he 
should  have  been  overshadowed,  by  the  King  on  the  one  hand, 
and  the  Primate  on  the  other  ;  but  they  are  now  both  cer- 
tainly here  present,  to  witness  for  themselves,  and  to  be  over- 
shadowed in  their  turn.  Thus  it  is  that  "time  unveils  truth.'' 

Minutes  of  the  Priri/ Con iirU  :  at  (rrcertincli  '2^j  April,  X\  of  Henry  VIII., 
that  is  1541,  "It  was  agreed  that  Anthony  Marlei*  of  London,  merchant, 
might  sell  the  bililes  of  the  Great  Bible  unbound  for  x  s.  sterling,  (equal  to 
£7,  lOs.,)  and  bound,  being  trimmed  with  ))ullyons  for  xii  s.  sterling  ;"  or 
equal  to  £9.  What  then  must  have  been  the  cost  of  that  splendid  illuminated 
copy,  printed  on  relhivi,  which  he  had  presented  to  the  King  ?    But  once  more. 

Ih'ut.  at  Greemrich,  1  May.  "  Whereas  Anthony  Marler  of  London,  mer- 
chant, put  up  a  supi)lication  to  the  foresaid  Council,  in  manner  following," — 
"  Whereas  it  hath  pleased  you,  for  the  commonwealth  to  take  no  small  pains 
for  the  fui'therance  of  the  price  of  viy  houhs ;  most  humbly  I  beseech  the  same, 
to  have  in  consideration,  that  unless  I  have,  by  the  mean  of  proclamation,  some 
charge  or  commission  that  every  church,  not  already  provided  of  one  IJible, 
shall,  according  to  the  King's  Highness'  former  injunctions  given  in  that  be- 
half, (7th  ALay  1540,)  provide  them  with  a  Bible  of  the  largest  volume,  by  a 
day  to  be  prefixed  and  appointed,  as  shall  be  thought  most  convenient  by  your 
wisdoms,  my  great  suit  that  I  have  made  herein  is  not  only  frustrate  and  void, 
but  also,  being  charged  as  I  am  with  an  importune  sum  (troublesome  number) 
of  the  said  books  now  lyiny  on  my  hands,  am  undone  for  erer.  And  therefore 
trusting  to  the  merciful  consideration  of  your  high  wisdoms,  1  humbly  desire 
to  obtain  the  same  commission,  or  some  other  commandment,  and  I,  with 
all  mine,"  &c. 

Now,  in  reply  to  this  application,  we  have  not  one  word 
from  his  Majesty,  then  presiding,  from  Cranmer,  then  pre- 
sent, or  from  any  other,  as  to  any  advance  of  money ;  nor 
indeed  any  other  mode  of  relief,  except  that  which  was  so 
reasonably  requested.  Therefore,  "  It  was  agreed  that  there 
shall  be  another  proclamation  made,  and  that  the  day  to  be 
limited  for  the  having  of  the  said  book  shall  be  Hallow- 
masse,*"  or  1st  November.''"'  Only  five  days,  therefore,  were 
allowed  to  pass,  when  there  was  issued — 

I*  The  Register  or  Book  of  the  Council,  docs  not  niipi-ar  to  have  been  continued  for  more 
than  a  hundred  years  !  Tli.it  is  after  14.1'),  or  the  l.'lth  of  Henry  V.  ;  and.  with  the  exception  of 
some  original  miinitcs.  ordinances  ami  letters,  nulhing  is  recorded  of  the  proceedings  «if  llie 
I'rivy  Council  until  the  latter  part  of  the  reign  of  Henry  VUI.  The  Kegister  begins  on  the  Idlh 
of  August  l.")4(),  ^.SVj-  A'.  //.  Kicoltis,)  or  twelve  days  after  tlie  ileath  of  Crumwell.  Hence 
the  value  of  his  sad,  but  curious  "  Ufmaiibraiices."     They  should  nil  be  printed  verbatim. 

'i  Minutes  of  ihe  I'rivy  Council,  printed  18.17,  pp.  la'j,  IIMi. 


154.1.]  ANTHONY  MARLER.  I  .|,;j 

"  A  proclamation  by  tlic  King's  Majesty,  witli  the  advice  of  his  Coun- 
cil, for  the  Bible  to  be  had  in  every  church,  &c.,  devised  the  sixth  day 
of  May,  the  33d  year  of  the  King's  reign" — That  is  Friday,  O'th  May  1511. 

This  pi'oclaniation,  after  referring  to  the  former  injunctions,  goes  on  : 

"  Notwithstanding  many  towns  and  parislies  within  this  his  realm  have  ne- 
glected their  duties — whereof  his  Highness  marvelleth  not  a  little — and  mind- 
ing the  former  gi'acious  injunctions,  doth  straitly  charge  and  connnand  that 
the  cm-ates  and  parishioners  of  every  town  and  parish  not  having  already  jn-o- 
vided,  shall,  on  this  side  of  the  Feast  of  All  Saints  (1st  Nov.)  next  comiiv 
buy  and  provide  Bibles  of  the  largest  volume,  and  cause  the  same  to  be  set  up 
and  fixed  in  every  of  the  said  parish  churches,  there  to  be  used  according  to 
the  former  injunctions — on  pain,  that  the  curate  and  inhabitants  of  the  parish 
or  town  shall /y//t'i<  to  the  Khiij  forty  shillings  (equal  to  £30)  for  ereri/  month 
after  the  said  feast,  that  they  lack  or  want  the  said  Bible — one  half  to  the  King, 
and  the  other  half  to  him  or  them  that  first  inform  the  King's  Council.  That 
the  sellers  shall  not  take  for  the  Bible  unbonnd  above  ten  shillings,  or  if  bound 
and  clasped  above  twelve  shillings,  on  pain  of  four  shillings,  (£3,)  one  half  to 
the  King,  and  the  other  to  the  informei*."  "5 

This  must  have  so  far  briglitened  the  prospect  of  our  pa- 
triotic proprietor,  as  we  shall  find  another  edition  of  the 
Great  Bible  soon  ready  for  publication,  proceeding-  from  the 
same  quarter,  nay,  and  another  still,  before  the  year  is  done  I 
But  in  the  meanwhile  it  is  now  evident,  that  so  far  from 
Henry  VIII.  being  at  any  expense  for  the  Bibles  alreadv 
printed  by  Grafton  and  Whitchurch,  as  our  Solicitor-General 
told  Lord  Mansfield,  and  as  others,  both  before  and  after  him, 
have  unwarrantably  affirmed,  the  King  was  now  rather  in  the 
way  of  making  a  little  money,  by  publications  in  which  he  had 
no  pecuniary  concern  !  At  least  e\ery  Jine  would  bring  him 
£1,  for  a  book  which  would  have  cost  no  more  than  10s, ;  or 
in  other  words,  the  value  of  £15,  for  an  article  at  £7,  10s. 
But  if  the  purchase  had  been  neglected  tu-o  months,  then  his 
Majesty  would  have  .f'SO  ;  if  three,  £45  !  While,  on  the 
other  hand,  for  every  overcharge  he  Avas  to  receive  two  shil- 
lings, or  equal  to  thirty. 

But  besides  this  proclamation,  in  five  da^^s  more,  or  Wed- 
nesday, llth  May,  came  a  letter  from  no  other  than  Edmund 
Bonner,  Bishop  of  London,  (still  obsequiously  so  far  playing 
the  hypocrite,)  for  the  execution  of  the  King's  orders,  ad- 
dressed to  his  Archdeacon ;'''  and  so  eager  must  he  appear  to 
secure  the  royal  favour,  that  in  September  he  also  put  fortli 


>«  Cotton  MS.,  Clcop.,  R.  v.,  fol.  .LT?.     Burnet's  Records,  B.  iii.,  No.  24.     Bonner's  Refiister. 
17  Dated,  "  xi  die  Mali,  Anno  Dom.  l.")41,  et  nostra?  translatioi:is  ai.no  sccundo." — Foxc,.//)*^ 
edition,  p.  dil. 


lit  BONNKK'S    FHIGNKl)   ZKAL.  [uoOK  11. 

an  "  Admonition  to  all  readers  of  this  JJible  in  tlie  Englisli 
tongue"" — "  I'jverniore  Ibrseeing  that  no  ex|)osition  be  made 
thereupon,  otherwise  than  it  is  declared  in  the  hook  itself — 
that  no  reading  be  used  in  the  time  of  divine  service — or, 
iinally,  tliat  no  man  justly  may  reckon  himself  to  be  offended 
thereby,  or  take  occasion  to  grudge  or  malign  thereat."'" 

The  reading  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  however,  it  must 
ever  be  borne  in  mind,  had  now  been  a  practice,  not  in  Lon- 
don merely,  but  throughout  England,  and  iox  fifteen  years ; 
to  what  extent,  indeed,  it  is  impossible  to  say.  But  as  we 
have  long  seen,  many  of  Henry's  subjects  had  truly  not  waited 
for  his  poor  permission,  whether  to  read  or  to  hear  :  and  in  many 
a  corner,  far  and  near,  there  w^ere  those  who  knew  far  more  of 
Christianity,  and  to  better  purpose,  than  did  any  of  the  mem- 
bers of  Government.  Even  five  years  ago,  the  late  Edward 
Fox  of  Hereford,  a  vara  avis  among  the  Bishops,  had  boldly 
told  his  brethren  as  much,  and  it  was  certainly  no  more  than 
the  truth.  On  the  return  of  Bonner  from  Paris,  where  he 
had  pretended  great  zeal  for  the  Scriptures,  to  please  Crum- 
well ;  and  immediately  after  the  King"'s  brief  in  1540,  to 
please  both,  this  consummate  hypocrite  had  set  up  six  Bibles 
in  St.  Paul's  for  public  reading.  The  result  at  once  proved, 
liow  far  the  people  were  a-head  of  these  official  men.  T/iet/ 
came  instantly  and  generally  to  hear  the  Scriptures  read.  Such 
as  could  read  icith  a  clear  voice  often  had  great  numbers  round 
them.  Many  set  their  children  to  school,  and  carried  them  to 
St.  PaiWs  to  hear.  It  was,  however,  not  long  before  the 
language  of  our  Saviour  himself — "  Drink  ye  all  of  it,"  struck 
them,  and  very  naturally  led  to  discussion.  The  complaints 
of  some,  in  lack  of  argument,  of  which  the  adverse  party  took 
care  to  avail  themselves,  were  dexterously  conveyed  to  the 
King.  In  their  eyes,  this  reading  of  the  Scriptures  by  the 
people,  and  hearing  them  read  in  public,  was  a  sore  evil; 
and  an  opportunity  must  be  sought  and  seized  for  putting  it 
down.  Crumwell,  the  terror  of  the  Bishops,  was  gone ;  and 
Gardiner  is  out  of  the  country ;  but  Bonner,  though  always 
false  at  heart,  must    still    dissemble ;    nay,    moreover,    here 

"•  Such  public  reading  had  been  enjoined  three  years  before.  Kir^t  by  Crumwell  in  I5.'?8. 
then  by  Henry  in  May  l.ll'.',  and  now  by  lionnir  in  LMl,  though  h-:  very  soon  not  only  changed 
his  mind,  and  bitterly  quarrelled  with  such  reading  whether  in  public  or  private,  but  perse- 
cuted to  the  death,  when  the  futy  and  folly  of  Henry  once  permitted.  .>^ce  Uurnct's  Records, 
D.  iii.,  No.  2.'),  compared  with  No.  11,  and  Cleop..  K.  v.,  XS"}. 


].)(./. J  Kirril    (iKKAT    lllliLK.  M.; 

actually  come  Tunstal  and  lloath  once  inoi'c,  and  with  aiiotJicr 
edition  of  the  "reat  ]}ibh%  in  Novend)er  ! 

"  The  Byble  in  Englyslie  of  the  largest  and  greatt;,f<  roLiiine,  auctoryscd  and 
apoynti'd  by  the  coniniandeniente  of  our  nioost  redoubted  Prynce  and  soueray<jne 
Lorde,  Kynge  Ilenrye  the  VIII.,  supreme  hcade  of  this  his  Church  and  realme 
of  Eiiglande  :  to  be  frequented  and  Jised  in  every  Churche  win  this  his  sayd 
rcahne,  accordyng  to  the  tenoar  of  his  former  /^junctions  giucn  in  tliat  behalfe. 
^T  Otersene  and  perused  at  the  ooniniaundniGt  of  tlie  Kynges  Ilighnes,  hy  the 
rytjhte  rererende  fathers  in  God,  Cuthbert  bysshop  of  Duresme,  and  Nicolas 
bysshop  of  Rochester.  Printed  by  liychard  Grafton,  1541."  The  colophon  is 
— "  The  ende  of  the  newe  Testament  and  of  the  whole  Byble.  Fynyshed  in 
November,  Anno  mcccccxlj."'!' 

Nor  would  even  this  suffice.  Anthony  Marler,  the  only 
paymaster  as  yet  named,  or  to  be  named,  is  still  ready  to  pro- 
ceed ;  and  a  final  edition  was  completed  before  this  year  was 
done.  It  had  been  going  on  at  press  with  other  editions;  and, 
it  is  curious  enough, /rom  last  year,  but  it  was  not  finished 
till  the  close  of  the  present ;  at  the  same  time,  it  may  have 
been  only  nine  months  in  the  press,  as  their  year  extended  to 
the  25th  of  March.  Cranmer  was  not  to  be  outdone  by  these 
two  Bishops,  and,  therefore,  as  in  May  last,  so  he  now  follows 
them  up  immediately  with  his  usual  title,  and  an  emphatic 
colophon^  as  if  he  had  been  in  wonder  at  the  compliance  of 
Tunstal  and  Heath. 

"  The  Byble  in  Englishe,  that  is  to  saye,  the  content  of  all  the  Aoly  scryjjture 
both  of  the  olde  and  newe  testament,  with  a  prologe  thereinto,  made  by  the  re- 
verende  father  in  God,  Thomas  archcbisshop  of  Cantorhury.  .^  This  is  the 
Byble  appoynted  to  the  use  of  the  Churches.  fiT  Printed  by  llycharde  Graf- 
ton. Cum  priuilegio  ad  imin-imendum  solum.  An.  do.  mdxl."  The  colophon > 
is — "  The  ende  of  the  Newe  Testament,  and  of  the  whole  Bible,  Finysshed  in  De- 
cember MCCCCCXLI.    f  A  domino  factum  est  istud.    This  is  the  Lordes  doynye."2o 


'9  In  the  Bible  thus  twice  sanctioned  by  these  two  men,  but  especially  Tunstal,  we  seem 
to  be  reminded  of  one  passage  of  Sacred  Writ,  of  which  diflcient  renderings  have  been  given. 
We  now  have  it,  Ps.  Ixvi.  3  -"  Say  unto  God,  how  terrible  art  thou  in  thy  works  !  through  the 
greatness  of  thy  power  shall  thine  enemies  submit  Hicmschvs  to  thee."  In  the  Bible  then  ex- 
amnied,  it  is—"  Oh !  how  wonderful  are  thy  works ;  through  the  greatness  of  thy  power  shall 
thine  enemies  he  confounded."  Parker,  after  this,  translated—"  Shall  thine  enemies  be  fovml 
liars  unto  thee:"  and  Ainsworth  says—"  feignedly  submit  themselves,  for  fear,  or  other  sinister 
Te!i\>(;ct,  opiiiiisl  their  tvill."  But,  certainly,  one  and  ((W  of  these  renderings,  had  iiou-  biciiful- 
JiU,-d  in  the  persons  of  these  two  Doctors  of  the  Old  Learning.  Tyndale  had  persevered  unto 
death,  and  triumphed  :  and  these  men,  by  Henry's  command,  were  now  humbled  to  the  level  of 
the  Gibeonites  of  old,  who  became  hewers  of  wood,  and  drawers  of  water,  to  the  congregation 
of  Israel.  Tunstal  himself  now  seems  to  deal  out  the  water  of  life  to  the  congregation  of  Eng- 
land !  But  wliat,  in  the  end,  will  be  thought  of  both  these  men,  if,  like  the  Gibeonites,  they 
told  a  deliberate  lie  to  their  royal  master,  and  then  printed  their  names  so  pompously  on  the 
title-page- if,  after  all,  they  had  not  actually  perused  the  volume!  Such,  there  is  reason  to 
believe,  was  the  fact :  at  least  the  iicople  of  England  were  openly  so  told  in  print,  before  Henry 
expired  !     See  anno  I.i4().     The  bold  assertion  was  never  contradicted. 

2«  This  motto,  taken  from  the  Bible  conimenced  in   I'uiis,  was  strikingly  ai)piopiiate  ;  but 

VOL   II.  K 


im;  sixth  (jkkat  uiiii.K.  (^book  m. 

And  tluis  ended  the  year;  so  that  we  have  lonr  of  these 
hirge  folios  dated  in  1541.  It  was  certainly  a  strange  move- 
ment on  the  part  of  Henry  VIIT.,  and  one  which  must  have 
taken  many  by  surprise,  for  him  first  to  send  Gardiner  oft' 
to  Germany,  and  then,  as  soon  as  he  was  gone,  command  his 
friends,  Tunstal  and  Heath,  to  give  in  their  adhesion  to  the 
Bible,  to  which  Cranmer  had  bowed  ;  and  then  also  to  place 
their  names  in  the  title-page,  in  token  of  their  full  approba- 
tion— a  translation  almost  verbally  the  same  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment, which  the  King  himself,  and  Wolsey  had  first  denoun- 
ced, and  Tunstal  after  them,  consigned  again  and  again  to 
the  flames  !  Such,  however,  was  the  fact.  The  undertak- 
ing was  not  to  be  denounced,  even  though  Crumwell,  now  rated 
as  a  heretic  and  a  traitor,  had  imported  the  t^'pes,  and  pushed 
forward  the  printing,  not  only  of  these,  but  of  other  editions. 

But  lo  !  here  is  Stephen  Gardiner,  returned  in  October, 
and  frone  direct  to  the  Kin";  from  Charles  V.  \V^ith  what 
surprise  must  he  have  beheld  the  progress  made  !  On  going 
abroad,  his  party  reigned  triumphant;  it  was  now  in  disgrace, 
and  the  Queen,  whose  marriage  he  had  fostered,  is  about  to 
ascend  the  scaffold  !  But,  especially,  if  he  had  not  been  in- 
formed, with  what  feelings  must  he  have  gazed  on  the  names 
of  Tunstal  and  Heath  in  the  very  title-page  of  these  Bibles  I 

Tunstal  was  now  in  his  sixty-eighth  year,  and  appears  to 
have  been  in  some  degree  softened  with  his  years  ;  Gardiner 
never  was ;  and  now,  though  of  these  volumes  there  were 
eight  editions  in  regular  series,  to  say  nothing  of  others, 
which  had  received  Henry's  approval,  and  two  of  these 
carried  the  obsequious,  but  well-known  attestation  of  Tunstal 
and  Heath  ;  still  this  Bishop  of  Winchester  stood  resolved  to 
put  forth  all  his  strength,  in  the  way  of  cunning  sophistry, 
against  the  translation  thus  acknowledged,  and  now  reading 
in  public,  in  so  many  places.  Certainly  he  had  owned  to  the 
King  before,  that  there  were  "  no  heresies  in  it."     But  an- 


Cranmer  thought  it  might  be  also  applied  to  all  that  he  issued.  It  is  observable  that  Tunstal 
and  Heath  le/l  it  out.  In  the  final  colophon  he  not  only  prints  the  motto  without  abbreviation 
but  gives  it  in  English,  by  way  of  emphasis.  He  might  have  completed  the  sentence,  by  add- 
ing, and  it  is  mnrivUotu  in  our  eyes  :  for,  certainly,  when  the  circumstances  are  observed,  they 
are  marvellous  still.  Cranmer,  being  an  Archbishop,  took  to  himself  the  title  of  Reverend  only, 
not  most  Reverend  ;  and  he  had  said  years  ago,  that  he  "  set  no  more  by  any  title,  name,  or 
style,  than  he  did  by  the  paring  (if  an  ap)iU\"  Not  so  Tunstal  and  Heath.  They  were  only 
Bishops,  but  they  must  not,  on  any  account,  abridge  their  title  of  Right  lU'ivrend  !  The  differ- 
ence of  disposition  or  character,  right  or  wrong,  is  often  to  be  descried,  even  in  such  trifles. 


15+2.]  THE    KNKMY   ON    TUK    RACK.  M.? 

otlier  Parliament  is  suniinoned,  and  another  Convocation, 
wlicre  Gardiner  anticipated  that  he  might  even  yet  work 
wondrously.  Let  him  try  ;  tliat  he  himself,  and  his  brethren 
may  come  to  their  greatest  humiliation,  and  to  their  linal 
discomfiture  as  a  Convocation. 


SECTION    V. 

THE    ENEMY      oN    THE     RACK PARLIAMENT     OPENED THE     FIFTH    QUEEN 

EXECUTED HENRY  BENT    ON   WAR  WITH  SCOTLAND NEGOTIATING  WITH 

FRANCE  AND  SPAIN. 

CONVOCATION    MET — THE    BIBLE    INTRODUCED    THERE    FOR    DISCUSSION    AT 

LAST SINGULAR   DISPLAY — GARDINEr's   GRAND  EFFORT    IN    OPPOSITION 

— CRANMER  INFORMS  THE  KING — THEY  ARE  ALL  DISCOMFITED,  THOUGH 
YET  SITTING,  OR  BEFORE  THE  BISHOPS  LEFT  LONDON — PROGRESS  OF  THE 
TRUTH  IN  ENGLAND. 

By  this  year,  such  had  been  the  progress  made  in  the  cause 
of  Divine  Truth,  that  the  imaginations  of  its  enemies  were 
literally  put  to  the  rack.  Oppose  they  must ;  but  how  to 
proceed,  was  a  problem  not  of  easy  solution.  Upon  his  second 
return  from  the  Continent,  in  October  last,  Gardiner  had 
found  far  greater  occasion  for  regret,  than  he  had  done  even 
before,  in  September  1588.  Then,  he  could  step  into  his 
fiery  chariot,  and  bring  Lambert  to  the  stake  ;  he  and  Nor- 
folk had  been  worming  themselves  into  royal  favour  ever  after ; 
and  upon  setting  off  for  the  imperial  Court,  in  November 
1540,  whether  he  should  there  fully  succeed  or  not,  every 
thing  at  home  seemed  to  promise  other,  and,  as  he  thought, 
better  days  ;  now  that  Crumwell  was  gone,  and  his  Majesty 
so  delighted  with  the  Queen  which  had  been  furnished  to  him 
by  the  old  learning  party.  She  was  their  first  and  only 
choice,  on  whose  sway  depended  anticipations  not  a  few.  But 
now,  that  mainstay  had  fallen  ;  Gardiner's  friend,  the  Duko 
of  Norfolk,  had  been  trembling  for  his  personal  honours,  if 
not  his  life  ;  while,  to  crown  all,  that  pillar  of  strength,  Cuth- 
bert  Tunstal,  had  not  merely  given  way,  but  his  name  had 
been  employed,  by  royal  authority,  as  though  he  had  person- 
ally gone  over  to  the  other  side.  Still  the  party  must  rally 
once  more.     By  this  time,  it  might  have  been  supposed  that 


I  IS  TlIK    I'inil    C^l'KKN    KXKCUTKI)  [^HOOK    II. 

their  arntws  would  liave  been  cxpciided  and  tlii-ir  (juiver 
t'lnpty  ;  but,  subtle  and  ingenious  in  the  extreme,  their  sophis- 
try prevailed  once  more.  If  the  peculiar  situation  of  the 
King  be  taken  into  account,  it  must  appear  surprising  that 
they  should  have  been  successful  in  swaying  his  mind  now  ; 
though,  in  the  end,  we  shall  leave  it  to  the  judgment  of  the 
reader,  whether  the  whole  proceeding,  on  the  part  of  Henry, 
does  not  carry  very  much  of  the  appearance  of  a  snare^  in 
which,  when  caught,  the  Bishop  of  Winchester,  from  being 
the  most  conspicuous  character,  became  the  most  ridiculous. 
JJe  this  as  it  may,  these  men  will  not  stop  till  they  have  ex- 
posed themselves  to  the  derision  of  posterity ;  and  as  soon  as 
we  have  briefly  disposed  of  the  civil  events  of  the  year,  the 
entire  scene  will  come  before  us. 

Parliament  having  assembled  on  Monday  the  16th  of  .January,  pro- 
ceeded immediately  to  the  loathsome  and  revolting  affairs  connected 
with  the  royal  household.  Among  the  members  present,  was  to  he  seen 
the  son  of  Crumwell,  and  sitting  as  a  Baron  ;  so  strange  were  the  move- 
ments of  our  capricious  Monarch.  Commissioners  having  been  appoint- 
ed to  examine  the  Queen  once  more ;  on  the  28th,  she  repeated  her  con- 
fessions, though  to  what  extent  is  not  recorded.'  Both  Houses  declared 
her  guilty  ;  and  in  the  Act  passed,  they  petitioned  the  King,  at  once, 
"  not  to  be  troubled,  lest  it  might  shorten  his  life  ! "  and  that  the  Queen 
and  all  the  others  attainted,  "  might  be  punished  with  death  ! "  The 
bill  was  passed  1>y  the  8th  of  February  ;  on  Saturday  the  11th,  Ileury 
gave  his  assent  ;  and  on  Monday  the  13th,  without  any  regard  to  his 
express  promise  of  mercy,  blood  was  shed.^  That  infamous  woman, 
Lady  Rochford,  had  been  an  accomplice  ;  and  thus,  she  who  had  acted  so 
dreadful  a  part  towards  her  own  husband,  and  his  sister  Anne  Boleyn, 
now  righteously  perished  on  the  same  scaffold  with  the  Queen,  to  whose 
ruin  she  had  also  contributed.  The  property  of  the  other  branches  of 
the  Howard  family  being  once  secured  in  his  Majesty's  Palace  at  West- 
minster and  elsewhere,  the  public  censure  of  such  severity  led  Henry  to 
pardon  those,  whom  Parliament  in  the  perfection  of  its  servility  had 
condemned  to  death,  though  some  of  the  parties  were  left  to  linger  long 
in  prison. 

For  shame,  or  rather  some  fear  of  consequences,  Henry  could  not 
come  forward  to  demand  a  subsidy,  and  Crumwell  was  no  more  ;  but  as 
he  was  now  bent  upon  war  with  Scotland,  he  wished  the  Commons 
would  only  condescend  to  meet  his  inclination,  by  offering  him  money, 


'  The  Commissioners  were  the  Duke  of  Siiffulk,  the    Earl  of  Sonthani)>t(in,  Cmiimcr.  .and 
Thirlby.  2  Journals  of  P.irliameiit. 


/.U2.J  txARniNER  IN    THE  CONVOCATION.  UO 

without  its  being  asked.  He  gave  them  a  broad  hint  ;  but  however 
ready  they  were  to  bow  to  his  sanguinary  proceedings,  this  being  an 
affair  affecting  themselves  personally,  for  once  they  feigned  not  to  under- 
stand him,  and  the  House  rose  without  voting  one  farthing.  At  the  same 
time,  however,  so  far  to  please  the  ever-craving  Monarch,  they  had  con- 
sented to  pass  an  Act  by  which  his  JMajesty  might  possess  himself  of 
the  revenues  attached  to  Colleges  and  Hospitals ;  an  Act  which  made 
both  Oxford  and  Cambridge  tremble,  and  an  aftair  of  which  we  shall 
hear  again  in  1545,  when  Henry  has  farther  advanced  on  the  road  to  ruin. 

All  offence  with  the  Duke  of  Norfolk  at  present,  had  been  conveni- 
ently passed  over,  as  his  services  were  demanded  to  head  the  army 
against  Scotland.  A  country  so  divided  at  the  moment,  whose  nobility 
were  striving  to  secm-e  their  independence  of  the  Crown,  while  the 
power  of  Beaton  and  his  adherents  contended  for  the  superiority,  was 
tjuite  unable  to  resist.  The  expedition,  in  its  results,  so  affected  the 
Scottish  monarch,  that  he  fell  a  sacrifice  to  his  vexation.  James  sunk 
into  a  low  fever,  and  expired  on  the  14th  of  December,  leaving  his  only 
daughter  "  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots,"  an  infant  of  eight  days  old. 

With  regard  to  Continental  affairs,  it  may  only  be  observed  that  the 
strange  negotiations  of  Henry  with  the  King  of  France,  respecting  the 
marriage,  of  which  Noi-folk  had  written  in  December,  between  the  Duke 
of  Orleans  and  the  Princess  Mary,  as  well  as  the  arrears  of  Henry's 
pension,  and  even  proposed  war  with  the  Emperor  ;  they  were  carried 
on  till  so  late  as  the  15th  of  May.  But  in  the  very  same  month  Com- 
missioners had  been  ajjpointed  to  enter  into  other  negotiations  with 
Capuis,  the  Imi)erial  Ambassador,  at  Stepney,  the  result  of  which  will 
appear  with  the  ensuing  spring.  •* 

A  new  Parliament  liaving  assembled,  on  the  following 
Friday,  or  the  20th,  the  Convocation  also  met ;  and  as  it  sat 
till  the  29th  of  March,  of  course  it  proved,  as  usual,  though 
only  apparently^  a  critical  period  for  the  Sacred  Scriptures. 
After  so  many  storms,  as  all  along  there  had  been  no  real 
danger,  so  there  will  not  be  any  now\  At  the  opening, 
Richard  Cox,  Archdeacon  of  Ely,  had  preached  to  the  House, 
of  course  in  Latin,  and  if  he  had  intended  his  text  to  be 
satirical,  he  could  not  have  been  more  .severe.  It  was  "  Vosestis 
sal  terrw,^^  — •'  ye  are  the  salt  of  the  earth  !  ! " — and  no  doubt  a 
very  different  sermon  from  that  of  Latimer  six  years  ago.* 

•^  Gov.  State  Papers,  i.,  pii.  IX^'W—nuUs. 

*  Latimer,  who  had  pled  so  boldly  for  the  Scriptures  above  eleven  years  ago,  and  in  l.iHfi  so 
pointedly  inquired  ivTtal  they  had  ever  done,  vfas  now  in  the  Tower.  This  Cox  had  been  one 
of  the  original  canons  in  Wolsey's  CollcRe,  as  formerly  noted,  and  was  preceptor  to  Kin^  Ed- 
ward. His  conduct  at  Frankfort  proves  that  he  was  of  a  violent  temper,  and,  as  Chancellor  of 
Oxford,  he  has  been  greatly  blanud.  Somewhat  softened  by  time,  he  lived  to  the  advanced 
ape  of  Rl. 


\r>(\  DISCUSSING  TIIK  TRANSLATION.  [bOOK  II. 

After  being  detained  for  .some  time  by  the  King's  personal 
unhappy  aHairs  in  Parliament,  these  men  proceeded  to  busi- 
ne.ss  ill  the  Convocation  ;  and  at  their  third  session,  on  Friday 
the  17th  of  February,  the  Translation  of  the  Scriptures,  so 
often  di.scussed  there  without  any  result,  must  once  more  come 
before  them.  The  reader  cannot  have  forgotten  their  former 
abortive  attempts,  and  may  be  the  more  curious  to  observe 
what  happened  now.  They  appear  ever  to  have  been  afraid 
to  look  any  farther  than  the  New  Testament,  and  it  was  of 
this  they  felt  most  apprehension.  Upon  this  day,  there- 
fore, Cranmer  required  the  bishops  and  clergy  to  revise  the 
translation  of  the  New  Testament,  and  so  successful  had  been 
the  votaries  of  the  "  old  learning,"  that  this  was  done  in  the 
Kinrfs  name.  It  must  have  been  no  welcome  proposal  to  the 
Archbishop,  after  he  had  so  fully  committed  himself.  How- 
ever, as  usual,  he  must  obey ;  and  therefore  having  divided 
the  volume  into  fourteen  parts,  he  allotted  them  to  fifteen 
Bishops,  as  follow  : — 

-Mattlu-w        .     .     .     .  tt»  himself,  Cranmer  of  Canterbury. 

Mark         to  Loiujland  of  Lincoln. 

Luke         to  Gardiner  of  Winchester.' 

John  .     .     .     .     .  to  Goodrich  of  Ely. 

The  Acts       ....  to  Jleath  of  Rochester. 

Romans         ....  to  Sampson  of  Chichester. 

Corinthians,  1  and  2  to  Capon  of  Salisbury. 

Galatians  to  Ephesians  to  Barlow  of  St.  David's. 

Thessalonians,  1  and  '2  to  Bell  of  Worcester. 

Timotliy  to  Philemon  to  ParJ'ew  of  St.  Asaph. 

Peter,  1  and  2         .     .  to  Uohjate  of  Llandaff. 

Hebrews        ....  to /!<A;i^;  of  Hereford. 

•James  to  Judo    ...  to  Thirlhy  of  Westminster. 

Revelation  ...  to  TF'«fc^?Han  of  Gloster  andC'Aainter  of  Peterboro. 

Here,  let  it  be  observed,  were  two  notable  and  curious  omis- 
sions. What  had  become  of  Tunstal  and  Bonner — the  former 
once  so  outrageously  zealous  against  the  Scriptures  in  London  ; 
the  latter  as  much  &ofor  them  while  in  Paris  ?  Tunstal  having 
but  recently  committed  himself  to  tico  editions  of  the  Bible, 
by  express  commandment  from  the  King,  must  have  either  de- 
clined ;  or,  with  his  characteristic  "  stillness,"  perhaps  ex- 
pected to  "  oversee"  once  more  the  wished-for  revisal.     Bon- 


*  Poor  man!    He  had  been  "bestowing  a  great  labour"  upon  the  very  same  Ciospil,  scvtn 
years  hkh,  lo  no  purpose.     See  vol.  i.,  pP-  44fi.  ■l.'iS. 


1642.]  DISCUSSING  THE  TRANSLATION.  I.'il 

ner,  though  a  canonist  and  wily  politician,  was  very  probably 
no  scholar  ;  or,  like  his  predecessor,  John  Stokesly,  would 
have  no  connexion  with  the  attair. 

At  their  sixth  meeting  Gardiner  came  forward,  therefore, 
with  the  fruit  of  his  own  counsel,  and  made  a  proposal  per- 
fectly characteristic,  which  he  was  sure  to  carry  triumphantly 
within  the  Convocation.  It  was  at  best  a  puerile  design,  and 
to  us  now,  a  most  contemptible  one,  with  a  view  to  keep  the 
people  of  England  in  their  ancient  ignorance.  He  then  read 
a  list  of  not  fewer  than  one  hundred  and  two  Latin  words, 
that  "  for  their  genuine  and  native  meaning,  and  for  the 
majesty  of  the  matter  in  them  contained,"  might  be  retained 
in  the  English  translation,  or  be  fitly  Englished  with  the 
least  alteration.  For  the  sake  of  illustration,  only  a  slight 
specimen  will  be  sufficient. 

Ecclesia,  pceniteutia,  pontifex,  olacausta  (so  in  the  record)  idiota,  baptizare, 
sacramentum,  simulacrum,  confiteor  tibi  Pater,  panis,  pro'positionis,  bencdictio, 
satisfactio,  peccator,  episcojnis,  cisera,  zizauia,  confessio,  pascha,  hostia. 

The  bearing  of  the  entire  list  is  very  apparent.  Gardiner, 
indeed,  had  talked  of  "  majesty""  in  the  words,  but  there  was 
something  else  than  majesty  in  view.  "  Witness,"  says  old 
Fuller,  "  the  word  '  penance,'  which,  according  to  the  vulgar 
sound,  contrary  to  the  original  sense  thereof,  was  a  magazine 
of  will  worship,  and  brought  in  much  gain  to  the  priests,  who 
were  desirous  to  keep  that  word,  because  that  word  kept  them.'''' 

Cranmer,  however,  being  now  at  his  post,  and  retaining  in- 
fluence with  his  Majesty,  although  he  had  once  more  dealt 
out  the  books  of  the  New  Testament  among  his  fellows,  soon 
observed  from  their  discussions,  what  would  be  the  result ; 
and  therefore  determined  to  wait  upon  Henry,  and  inform 
him  how  matters  went.  The  Bishops,  therefore,  were  now 
relieved  from  their  several  tasks,  and  they  were,  moreover, 
no  more  to  be  consulted  on  the  subject  !  They  must  be  over- 
ruled, to  a  man,  though  in  Convocation  assembled.  After  enter- 
ing the  House,  on  Friday  the  10th  of  March,  Cranmer  informed 
his  brethren  ''that  it  was  the  King's  will  and  pleasure,  that  the 
translation  both  of  the  old  and  the  New  Testament,  should  be 
examined  by  both  Universities'.''''  In  vain  did  the  House  op- 
pose, and  in  vain  protest  ;  for  all  the  Bishops  present  did  so, 
with  only  two  exceptions,  viz.,  Goodrich  of  Ely,  and    JJarhnv 


I. '•,2  TIIK   CONVOCATION    OVKRKL'LKD  [book  II. 

of  St.  Davids.  Craniner,  wlio  saw  that  his  hrothn-n  ou\\  de- 
.sired  to  get  rid  of  the  translation  altogether,  then  linally  told 
them  that  lie  "  would  stick  close  to  the  will  and  pleasure  of 
the  King  his  Master,  and  that  the  Universities  should  examine 
the  translation."  This,  however,  after  all  turned  out  as  though 
it  had  been  simply  an  expedient  adopted  for  putting  an  end  to 
the  foolish  proposal  of  submitting  the  Word  of  God  to  the 
revision  of  any  such  men;  for  even  the  Universities  never  were 
consulted  !  ! 

To  have  ruined  3Jarlei\  the  worthy  member  of  the  Haber- 
dasher's Company,  in  the  eyes  of  the  Convocation,  would  have 
been  quite  an  achievement;  but  Anthony's  precious  property 
was  now  safe,  and  it  seems  that  something  more  nuist  instantly 
be  said  respecting  it.  It  is  singular  i\\iiX  forty-eight  hours  were 
not  allowed  to  pass  away  !  Cranmer  must  have  immediately 
informed  the  King  of  his  final  reply;  and  now,  so  far  from  look- 
ing to  any  University,  out  came  the  following  authoritativecouj- 
munication,  dated  on  {Sunday)  the  12th  of  March  1542  ;  thus 
verifying  the  old  proverb — "  the  better  day,  the  better  deed." 

"  Ilcnry  the  Eiglitli  &c. — To  all  Printers  of  books  within  this  realm,  to  all 
our  Officers,  Ministers,  and  Subjects,  these  our  Letters,  hearing  or  seeing,  greet- 
ing. We  let  you  wit,  tliat  we,  for  ccrtxiin  causes  convenient,  of  our  Grace  spe- 
cial, have  given  and  granted  to  our  well-beloved  subject,  A  vthuiiy  Marler,  citizen 
and  Haberdasher  of  our  city  of  London,  only  to  print  the  Bible  in  our  Enijlish 
tongue,  authorised  by  us,  himself  or  liis  assigns.  And  we  command  that  no  man- 
ner of  persons  within  these  our  dominions  shall  print  the  said  Bible,  or  any  jiart 
thereof,  within  tiie  space  of  four  years  next  en-uing  tlie  print'uxj  of  the  said  hook, 
by  our  said  subject  or  his  assigns.  And  further,  we  will  and  command  our  true 
subjects,  and  all  strangers,  that  none  presume  to  print  the  said  work,  or  break 
this  our  commandment  and  privilege  as  they  intend  eschewe  oui"  punishment 
and  high  displeasure.  Witness  ourself  at  Westminster  the  xii  day  of  March. 
Per  brere  de  prirato  sigillo.     j542."<> 

But  why  could  not  his  Majesty  have  shown  a  little  more 
delicacy  i     Why  could  he  not  wait,  but  a  little  while,  till  the 


«  Patent  Rolls,  .33,  H.  VIII.  Rymcr"s  Foedera,  xiv.,  p.  7'*5.  "  Though,"  says  the  editor  of  the 
PrivT  Council  Minutes  in  \KfJ,  "a  great  deal  has  been  written  about  the  early  editions  of  the 
liible,  much  still  remains  to  be  said,  and  it  would  otherwise  be  singular  that  Marler's  connexion 
with  those  of  l.'i40  and  l.'m  should  now  for  the  first  time  be  )>ointed  out,  and  more  csiiecially  as 
the  proclamation  just  cited  w.is  in  Kymer  above  a  century  ago."  Marler  is  indeed  mentioned 
by  Kapin  and  Ames;  but  the  eon mu ion  has  never  before  been  fully  ex]>Iained.  The  editor, 
however,  throws  out  a  conjecture  that  Henry's  letters  iiitii/  have  been  issued  in  I.'i^l  :  but  without 
positive  evidence,  the  Patent  Holl  must  not  be  queslioned  ;  more  esjiecially  as  the  history  now 
given  shows  that  in  March  l.">4'2.  such  letters  hail  become  more  im)>ortant  than  ever.  After  these 
Bishops  had  attempted  to  disturb  all  that  had  been  done  since  l.Vf7,  it  was  far  more  necessary 
for  the  King  to  be  inipcialivc  at  llih  crisis,  and  settle  the  business.  The  sanction  to  Marler 
•lid  so  at  once,  and  ell'ectually. 


Iji2.]  THE  CONVOCATION   OVERRULEP.  1  o-S 

Convocation  was  dissolved,  and  the  Jiishops  had  left  the  capi- 
tal i  They  were  still  sitting,  and  continued  to  do  so  for  more 
than  a  fortnight,  or  till  the  29th  of  the  month  !  Did  his 
Majesty  intend  to  pour  contempt  upon  them,  and  hold  them 
up  to  derision  even  while  thus  assembled?  Whatever  was 
his  motive,  certainly  no  mortification  could  be  greater — no 
humiliation  more  complete.  Their  indignation,  however,  they 
must  suppress  for  the  present ;  though  it  will  not  be  sur- 
prising should  it  burst  out  with  great  violence,  as  soon  as 
they  meet  again.  IJut  let  them  do  what  they  please,  the 
sacred  text  will  never  again  be  submitted  to  tkeir  con- 
sideration. They  may  rave  about  Tyndale,  execrate  his 
name,  wreck  their  vengeance  upon  his  writings,  and  thus  un- 
wittingly, once  more  hold  up  to  posterity  the  man  to  whom 
the  nation  stood  most  of  all  indebted  ;  but  his  work  will  abide 
and  prosper,  and  long  after  they  have  gone  down  to  the  gi-ave. 

As  there  were  no  more  folio  Bibles  printed  in  Henry's  reign, 
it  has  often  been  supposed  that  this  was  owing  to  the  strength 
of  the  opposing  party  ;  but  the  fact  has  now  been  accounted 
for  in  a  manner  more  satisfactory.  Let  it  only  be  observed 
that  by  the  end  of  last  year,  or  only  four  years  and  four  months 
from  August  1537,  of  Tyndale's  translation,  and  based  on  Tyn- 
dale's,  there  had  issued  from  the  press  not  fewer  than  twelve 
editions  of  the  entire  Bible,  ten  in  folio,  and  two  in  quarto. 
And  it  was  well  they  had ;  they  were  laid  up  in  store,  like 
Joseph's  com  in  Egypt,  for  the  next  four  years.  The  im- 
pression of  each  of  those  Bibles  has  been  calculated  as  ranoino- 
from  1500  to  2500  copies  :  but  say  that  there  were  2000 
copies  on  an  average,  here  were  more  than  twenty  thousand 
Bibles,  a  most  memorable  fact,  under  all  the  circumstances. 
Many  of  the  copies  which  had  been  printed  since  153.9  mav 
have  been  yet  for  sale ;  and  Marler,  it  is  evident  was  so  over- 
stocked, that  he  was  afraid  of  ruin  by  his  outlay.  The  Kin"-\s 
letters  in  his  favour  now  extended  his  privilege  to  December 
1545,  immediately  after  which  we  shall  find  that  Grafton  was 
at  work  again,  with  an  edition  of  the  New  Testament. 

But  independently  of  this  ample  supply  in  folio  and 
quarto,  it  must  ever  be  remembered  that  there  w^ere  many 
thousands  of  the  New  Testament  long  circulated,  and  read- 
ing far  and  wide  throughout  the  country.  We  shall  take 
the    proof   from    one    f)f    the    best  of    witnesses,    and    as    if 


I.*)  I-  THOMAS  IJKCON.  [boOK  II. 

(.•amo  from  the  press  in  London,  this  very  year.  An  ad- 
mirer of  Latimer's,  who,  in  1;j2(),  when  only  sixteen  years 
of  age,  used  to  hear  him  preach,  and  George  Staft'ord 
read  lectures,  at  Cambridge,  had  then  received  certain  im- 
pressions wliich  were  never  to  be  erased  from  his  mind.  After 
mentioning  Latimer''s  discourses,  both  in  English  and  Latin, 
he  then  adds — "  at  all  of  which,  for  the  most  part,  I  was  pre- 
sent ;  and  although  at  the  time  I  was  but  a  child  of  sixteen 
years  old,  (anno  1526,)  yet  I  noted  his  doctrine  as  well  as  I 
could,  partly  reposing  it  in  my  memory,  and  partly  commit- 
ting it  to  writing.  I  was  present,  when  with  manifest  autho- 
rities of  God''8  Word,  and  invincible  arguments,  he  proved  in 
his  sermons  that  the  Holy  Scriptures  oiujht  to  be  read  in  the 
Efu/Hiih  tongue  by  all  Christian  people,,  whether  priests  or  lay- 
men, as  they  are  called."  "  Neither  was  I  absent  when  he 
inveighed  against  empty  works.*"  "  He  so  laboured  earnestly, 
both  in  word  and  deed,  to  win  and  allure  others  into  the  love 
of  Christ's  doctrine,  and  his  holy  religion,  that  there  is  a 
common  saying,  which  remains  unto  this  day  :  when  Master 
Stafford  read  and  Master  Latimer  preached,  then  was  Cam- 
bridge blessed."  Stafford,  of  whom  we  heard  before  in  1526, 
had  died  soon  after  ;  but  Latimer  was  still  in  the  Tower, 
where  he  will  remain  till  after  the  death  of  his  ungrateful 
Monarch. 

This  youth  was  Thomas  Becon.  Born  about  1510,  he  was 
now  32,  and  proved,  throughout  life,  one  of  the  most  laborious 
and  useful  men  of  his  time.  Last  year,  as  well  as  this,  he  had 
been  busy  at  the  press,  even  in  London,  and  had  published 
three  small  pieces,  two  of  which  had,  next  year,  already 
reached  a  second  edition.     In  one  of  these  he  says, — 

"  I  think  there  is  no  realm  throughout  Ciiristcndom,  that  hath  so  many 
urgent  and  necessary  causes  to  give  thanks  to  God,  as  we  EngUsliinen  Jiave  at 
this  present.  What  ignorance  and  bhndness  was  in  this  reahn  conceriiing 
the  true  and  Cliristian  knowledge  !  How  many  (speaking  ironically)  savourc<i 
Christ  aright  ?  llow  many  walked  in  the  straight  pathway  of  God's  ordin- 
ances ?  How  many  believed  Christ  to  bo  the  alone  Saviour  ?  How  many 
trusted  to  be  saved  only  by  the  merits  of  Christ's  death,  and  the  effusion  of  liis 
most  precious  blood  ?  How  many  ran  to  God  alone,  cither  in  tlieir  prospciity 
or  adversity  ?  How  many  aniplexed  Christ  for  their  sufficient  Mediator  and 
Advocate  unto  God  the  Father  ?  How  many  felt  the  efficacy  and  power  of  the 
true  and  Christian  faith  ?  But  noic — Christ's  dcatli  is  believed  to  be  a  suffi- 
cient sacrifice  for  them  that  arc  sanctified.    Tuk  most  SACREn  Biblk  is  fukki.y 

riCRMITTKn  TO    BK  UKAD  Of    EVKUY    MAN  IN   TlIK  KNIiLISH    TONGIE,       ManV  savonr 


I.)13.]  PARLIAMENT  OPHNKD.  15.5 

Clirist  ariyht,  and  dailt/  the  luiiiibtr  incrijaaetli,  thanks  bo  to  God.  Clirist  is  be- 
lieved to  be  the  alone  Saviour.  Christ  is  believed  to  bo  our  sufKcient  Mediator 
and  Advocate.  The  true  and  Christian  faith,  which  worketh  by  charity,  and 
is  plenteous  in  good  works,  is  now  received  to  justify."? 

Notwithstanding  this  attestation,  however,  let  there  be  no 
surprise,  though  the  clouds  should  still  be  gathering,  and 
another  storm  await  us  soon. 


SECTION  VI. 

PARLIAMENT  OPENED THE    CONVOCATION    BAFFLED,    ACKNOWLEDGE  THEIR 

INABILITY  TO  STAY  TUE  PROGRESS  OF  DIVINE    TRUTH   BY  APPLYING  NOW 

TO    PARLIAMENT PARLIAMENT    DISGRACES    ITSELF    BY    MALIGNANT    BUT 

VAIN    OPPOSITION — BONNER   WITHDRAWN    OR    SENT    ABROAD — EXTRAOR- 
DINARY     ARRANGEMENT      OF     ALL      THE     EUROPEAN      POWERS HENRY's 

SIXTH  MARRIAGE. 

Parliament  was  assembled  this  year  on  the  22d  of  January, 
and  sat  till  the  12th  of  May.'  The  long-suftering  of  Heaven 
with  such  a  Government,  was,  by  this  time,  eminently  con- 
spicuous ;  but  as  the  King  on  the  throne  had  been  overruled, 
and  the  cause  of  Divine  Truth  had  hitherto  not  only  baffled 
the  Convocation,  but  laid  it  prostrate  ;  so  if  there  were  any 
remaining  branch  of  authority  about  to  prove  so  infatuated  as 
to  interfere,  it  was  fit  that  it  should  be  left  to  expose  both  its 
folly  and  weakness  to  posterity,  by  so  doing.  Its  interfer- 
ence, however,  may  be  traced  to  the  infatuation  and  enmity 
of  the  Convocation  ;  for  these  being  once  infused  into  Parlia- 
ment, there  was  nothing  so  foolish  and  contemptible,  which 
they  might  not  entertain  and  even  enact.  The  Convocation 
as  such,  could  not,  of  course,  cross  the  threshold  of  the  Senate  ; 
but  its  leading  members  the  Bishops  might,  being  members 

7  From  "  The  Right  Pathway  unto  Prayer,  by  Theodore  Basille,  1542."  Under  this  assumed 
name  Bccon  now  published,  and  under  this  name  his  books  will  enjoy  the  honour  of  beinK 
condemned  by  Henry's  final  proclamation.  There  was  a  second  edition  of  this  tract  ni\it  year, 
as  if  in  defiance  of  the  power  vainly  arrayed  against  the  truth.  In  reading  Koxe,  it  might  bo 
supposed  that  in  ],>41  Becon,  apprehended  by  Bonner,  was  compelled  to  recant  and  burn  his 
tracts,  which  had  been  much  read  ;  but  this,  of  course,  could  not  have  happened  before  they 
were  printed.  The  persecution  of  Becon  has  been  more  certainly  ascribed  to  1544,  his  writings 
being  denounced  two  years  after. 

'  The  session,  therefore,  began  in  the  34th  and  ended  in  the  a5tli  of  the  King's  reJKn.  If  both 
Parliament  and  the  Convocation  be  about  to  grant  subsidies  to  the  King  to  pay  him  for  his  war 
with  Scotland,  let  us  watch  and  observe  how  ho  proceeded  to  treat  his  own  English  subject* 
in  return  for  the  money. 


I5R  VAIN    Oil    FRUITI-KSS  [i»ooK  ii. 

jil.so  of  the  Upper  House,  or  Ijoi-ds  of  l*;u'li;uiit'nt.  Hence 
the  con.sequeiiee.s. 

In  opposing  the  Sacred  Scriptures  in  the  vernacular  tongue, 
the  Convocation  having  so  repeatedly  discovered  itself  to  he  a 
powerless  hody,  and  more  especially  since  the  scene,  or  un- 
ceremonious treatment  of  last  year ;  it  had  now  seemed  to  the 
Bishops  that  only  one  mode  of  attack  remained.  It  was  their 
forlorn  hope.  They  nuist  admit,  and  now,  in  ctt'ect,  acknow- 
ledged their  own  inefficiency,  as  a  body,  by  introducing  the 
subject  into  Parliament ;  but  they  will  try  what  could  be  ac- 
complished there.  Providentially,  however,  by  this  time 
Tyndales  translation  had  been  printed  under  other  names, 
such  as  Matthew,  Taverner,  Craumer,  Tunstal  and  Heath  ; 
for  this  translation  having  been  retained  in  all  the  English 
Bibles,  with  very  little  variation,  it  was  now  impossible  to 
reach  it.  It  so  happened,  too,  that  there  were,  by  this  time, 
various  editions  of  the  Bible  printed  tvithout  note  and  com- 
ment. Marler''s  editions,  as  well  as  others,  were  of  this 
character,  and,  backed  by  the  stern  authority  of  the  King, 
tliere  was  no  possibility  of  touching  any  of  them.  To  show, 
however,  to  what  a  low  pitch  the  miserable  spite  of  the  enemy 
was  now  reduced,  as  well  as  to  display  the  servility  of  Parlia- 
ment, now  become  proverbial,  an  Act  was  introduced  which 
was  actually  entitled — "  An  Act  for  the  advancement  of  true 
Jteligion  /" — and  what  were  its  provisions,  nearly  ten  years 
after  Henry  had  declared  himself  Head  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, and  seventeen  years  after  the  New  Testament  had  been 
introduced  into  our  native  land? 

The  name  of  Tyndale  was  the  rallying  point,  and,  in  eflect, 
the  English  Parliament  must  now  furnish  their  tribute  to  his 
memory  and  talents.  Upon  setting  off,  by  this  Act  his 
translation  was  branded  and  condemned  as  "  crafty.,  false, 
and  untrue ;"  although  the  translation  actually  reading  in 
the  churches  !  though  the  translation  which  Tunstal  had 
been  constrained  to  sanction  !  though  the  translation  which 
had  been  read  with  avidity  since  152G,  and  that  to  which 
the  people  had  discovered  such  attachuient  as  to  perish  at  the 
stake,  sooner  than  abandon  itl^      Parliament  durst  not  con- 


2  To  say  iiothiiif;  of  its  litiiifi  llic  very  ti:iiiRlati(>i).  wiiitli.  in  llu'  P>;iliiis.  many  nl   tlic  |itii|i|r 
ill  England  read  t<>  tin-  /trrscnl  hour,  liulh  in  public  and  |>rivalc. 


154;3."]  OPPOSITION   OF   PARLIAMENT.  l.-,7 

ilenm  the  Bibles  to  which  tlie  names  of  TiiV(M-iicr  or  Crannicr 
or  Tunstal  had  been  affixed,  nor  even  that  of  Matthew  by 
name ;  because  this  last  had  been  so  pointedly  sanctioned  by 
his  Majesty,  and  it  had  prepared  the  way  for  all  that  fol- 
lowed !  But,  once  more  roused  by  the  name  of  Tyndale,  it 
was  then  enacted, — 

"  That  all  manner  of  books  of  tlie  Old  and  New  Testament  in  English,  of 
this  translation,  sliould,  by  authority  of  this  Act,  clearly  and  utterly  be  abo- 
lished and  extinguished,  and  forbidden  to  be  kept  and  used  in  this  realm,  or 
elsewhere,  in  any  of  the  King's  dominions."  But  it  was  provided,  "  that  the 
Bibles  and  New  Testaments  in  English,  not  being  of  Tyndale's  ti-anslations, 
should  stand  in  force,  and  not  be  comprised  in  this  abolition  or  act.  Never- 
theless, if  there  should  be  found  in  any  such  Bibles  or  New  Testaments,  any 
iinHotatlons  or  prcamblei^,  that  then  the  owners  of  them  should  cut  or  blot  the 
same  in  such  wise  as  they  cannot  be  perceived  or  read,  on  pain  of  losing  or  for- 
feiting for  every  Bible  or  Testament  forty  shillings  ;  (or  equal  to  £30,)  pro- 
^^ded  that  this  article  should  not  extend  to  the  blotting  any  quotations  or  sum- 
maries of  chapters  in  any  Bible." 

It  was  farther  enacted, — "  That  no  manner  of  pei'sons,  after  the  1st  of  Octo- 
ber, should  take  upon  them  to  read  openly  to  others,  in  any  church  or  open 
assembly,  within  any  of  the  King's  dominions,  the  Bible  or  any  part  of  Scrip- 
ture in  English,  unless  he  was  so  appointed  thereunto  by  the  King,  or  by  any 
ordinary,  on  pain  of  suffering  one  month's  imprisonment  !  " 

But  then  "  the  Chancellor  of  England  I  Captains  of  the  Wars  !  the  King's 
Justices  !  the  Recorders  of  any  city,  borough,  or  town  !  and  the  Speaker  of 
Parliament  !  may  use  any  part  of  the  holy  Scripture  as  they  have  been  wont  V'^ 
And  "  every  nobleman  or  gentlewoman,  being  a  householder,  may  read  or 
cause  to  be  read,  by  any  of  his  family  servants  in  his  house,  orchard,  or  garden, 
to  his  own  family,  any  text  of  the  Bible  ;  and  also  every  merchantman,  being 
a  householder,  and  any  other  persons,  other  than  women,  apprentices,  &c., 
might  read  to  themselves  prirately  the  Bible.  But  no  women,  except  noble 
women  and  peHtlewomen,  might  read  to  themselves  alone  ;  and  no  artificers, 
apprentices,  journeymen,  serving-men  of  the  degrees  of  yeomen,  (officers  in  the 
King's  family  between  sergeants  and  grooms,)  husbandmen  or  labourers,  were  to 
read  the  Bible  or  New  Testament  to  themselves  or  to  any  other,  privately  or 
openly,  on  pain  of  one  month's  imprisonment." 

The  burning  of  the  Alexandrian  Library,  and  heating  its 
baths  with  the  books,  has  been  often  reprobated  as  barbarous, 
but  the  aim  of  Parliament  was  impious  in  the  extreme.  As 
far  as  they  durst  venture,  they  intended  to  take  the  bread  of 
life  out  of  the  mouths  of  the  common  people.  The  Act  has 
been  described  as  "  a  net  contrl'eed,  to  catch  or  let  go,  whom- 


■'  It  was  usual,  says  Collier,  for  the  Lord  Chancellor,  judges,  recorders,  &c.,  to  take  a  text 
for  their  speeches  on  i)ublic  occasions;  but  that  i\\c  caphiins  11/  the  tvar.i,  adds  Todd,  thus 
opened  a  campaign,  or  that  the  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Commons  thus  regulated  a  debate,  tiie 
historian  does  not  pretend. 


IJ8  Ji-KriTI.KSS   (HM'OSITION    OK    I'A  lU,!  AM  KNT.         [huuK   H. 

soever  tlu-v  ploascd  ;""  but  still  it  may  well  l)u  iiiijuiri-tl,  wIktc 
was  "  tlie  wisdom  of  their  wiso  men,  or  the  uiulcrstandiiiij  of 
of  the  prudent,"  when  they  contrived  it;  Jis  tlie  folly  displayed 
was  in  cijual  proportion  to  the  malii^nity.  It  might  have 
been  compared  to  an  act  framed  to  bind  the  wind,  or  intercept 
the  light  of  day  ;  and  whatever  may  have  been  its  vexatious 
consequences,  it  was  by  far  too  late  in  being  framed. 

Observe  its  contents.  It  denounced  the  translation  of 
Tyndale,  and  enforced  it  almost  in  the  same  breath  ;  for  not 
only  was  it  his  translation,  under  another  name,  which  was 
to  stand  in  force,  but  many  of  his  New  Testaments  had  no 
such  name  attached  to  them.  As  to  the  second  provision, 
whether  any  copies  of  the  Bible  were  so  blotted  or  cut,  is  no- 
where recorded.  If  they  were,  they  must  have  been  consumed 
afterwards,  for  it  is  certain  that  scarcely  any  copies  of  all  that 
survive,  bear  the  positive  proof  of  having  been  so  treated/ 
But  the  folly  of  the  statute  is  still  more  glaring,  when  both 
the  manner  and  the  degree  of  reading  comes  to  be  regulated 
by  an  act  of  Parliament.  While  reading  in  the  parish  church 
seems  to  be  in  part  abridged,  the  reading  at /iomg  in  thousands 
of  instances,  is  legalised  if  not  enforced ;  and  reading  in  the 
house,  as  being  more  deliberate  and  more  retired,  was  better 
than  reading  in  the  church.  Every  one  knows  with  what 
avidity  men  read,  and  will  read,  an  interdicted  book  ;  but 
this  was  only  half  interdicted  !  half  in  numerous  families,  and 
half  as  it  regarded  the  community  at  large.  This  was  better 
still.  Thus,  in  the  former  case,  as  an^/  family  servant  was 
authorised  to  read  the  Scriptures  to  Master  or  Mistress,  of 
course  he  might  not  only  repeat  what  ho  read,  but  could  the 
other  servants  be  eflectually  prevented  from  snatching  a  per- 
usal in  the  morning  or  evening,  or  at  midnight  1  And  if  every 
nobleman  and  gentlewoman,  every  merchant,  or  any  other, 
being  a  householder,  were  fully  authorised  to  possess,  and 
read  the  Bible,  how  were  the  leomen  of  the  household,  how 
were  the  apprentices,  and  journeymen,  or  other  domestics 
to  be  guarded  and  prevented  from  looking  between  the 
Sacred  leaves  ? 

But  beside  these  absurdities,  there  were  certain  clauses  in- 
troduced, in  mitigation  of  severity,  not  unworthy  of  notice. 


->  Thure  arc  indeed  imperfect  copies,  but  these  do  not  convey  such  proof. 


l.>43.]  KRUITLIiSS   OPPOSITION    OF   PAKLIAMKNT.  I.')!) 

Ortendors,  if  ecclesiastics,  were  not  to  sutier  death  till  the 
third  offence ;  and  the  punishment  of  any  others  was  never 
to  extend  beyond  the  forfeiture  of  i2;oods,  and  imprisonment 
for  life.  The  party  accused  also  might  bring  witnesses,  and 
the  accused  must  be  tried  within  a  year  after  the  indictment, 
while  the  Parliament,  as  usual,  had  to  leave  the  act  in  the 
King's  power,  to  annul  or  alter  it  at  his  pleasure  !  The  bloody 
statute  of  six  articles  was  in  fact  thus  invaded  and  softened. 

Such  a  mixture  of  folly  and  contradiction  demands  some 
explanation.  Had  Gardiner  and  his  party  obtained  all  their 
wishes,  the  Scriptures  had  been  suppressed,  and  wholly  inter- 
dicted :  but  it  is  curious  enough  that  it  was  Cranmer  who  had 
introduced  this  act,  with  the  view  no  doubt  of  legalising  what 
he  had  enforced  in  his  prologue  to  the  Bible — the  perusal  of 
the  Sacred  volume  at  home,  and  hence  the  mystery  of  its  title 
is  explained.  But  once  introduced  into  Parliament,  and 
thwarted  in  his  endeavours,  it  had,  in  passing  through  the 
house,  assumed  such  a  grotesque  appearance,  as  to  carry  in 
its  various  clauses,  the  evidence  of  two  hostile  parties  fight- 
ing with  each  other.  To  Cranmer,  therefore,  may  be  ascribed 
the  credit  of  obtaining  as  much  as  might  be,  and  of  then 
stultifying  the  act,  to  disappoint  the  devices  of  the  crafty,  or 
carry  the  counsel  of  the  froward  headlong.  In  short,  the 
passing  of  this  act  has  been  represented  by  Rapin,  as  a  "  mor- 
tification'''' to  the  adverse  party,  which  "  checked  their  hopes." 
That  its  vexatious  operation  was  at  least  impeded,  there  can 
be  but  little  doubt,  from  what  was  taking  place  at  the  very 
moment,  as  well  as  what  soon  followed.^ 

With  rerard  to  the  time  when  Parliament  was  thus  acting ; 
it  cannot  have  escaped  recollection  that  we  have  been  called 
again  and  again  to  observe,  at  certain  critical  periods,  either 
formerly,  when  the  Scriptures  were  to  be  imported  from  abroad, 
or  since  then,  when  those  who  prized  them  were  in  danger  of 
being  molested,  that  one  or  more  of  the  bitterest  persecutors 
were  either  put  in  check,  or  sent  out  of  the  kingdom,  in  the 
character  of  ambassadors  to  foreign  parts.     So  it  had  happened 


5  The  only  tiling  left  for  Gardiner  to  do  was  to  infuse  as  much  of  the  old  leaven  as  he  possibly 
could,  into  what  he  delighted  to  style  the  Kini/s  Book.  This  was  the  treatise  already  referred  to, 
"  The  necessary  doctrine  and  erudition  of  a  Christian  Man,"  now  coming  forth.  And  here  he 
fully  succeeded  against  Cranmer,  who  charged  him  afterwards,  under  Kdward's  reign,  with 
having  seduced  the  King.  But  never  must  such  a  man  jiut  forth  his  hand,  and  corrujit 
the  Scriptures .' 


!(!(»  I»()\XKK   SKNT   OUT    Ol'    I'lIK    WAV.  [bOiiK   II. 

with  Tunstal  ami  (Jardinor,  and  .so  it  liappencd  now.  Tlie 
focu.s  of  persecution  liad  ever  been  in  London,  ju.st  as  it  was 
in  Jerusalem  of  old  ;  and  of  all  men  living,  Bonner  at  this 
moment  was  most  blood-thirsty.  He  had  been  very  bu.sy  for 
more  than  a  year  in  his  favourite  employment  of  persecution, 
and  would  have  been  so  now.  But  no  sooner  had  they  begun 
to  wrangle  in  Parliament,  than  he  was  sent  off  the  ground  by 
the  Supreme  Ruler. 

The  occasion  of  Bonner's  removal  must  not  pass  unnoticed.  It  ha<I 
ever  been  the  policy  of  Crumwell  to  cultivate  alliance  with  France  and 
the  German  princes,  with  the  design  of  keeping  the  Emperor  in  check  ; 
but  we  have  seen  the  first  symptom  of  a  change  so  long  ago  as  1540, 
when  the  Imperial  ambassadors  suddenly  arrived  in  London,  in  time  to 
witness  his  execution,  if  they  were  so  disposed.  I^ng  before  then,  how- 
ever, and  ever  since,  the  gentlemen  of  the  old  learning  had  been  sighing 
for  full  alliance  with  Charles.  In  such  a  case,  they  calculated  that 
their  cause  must  eventually  triumph.  This  year  they  were  to  obtain 
their  wishes,  and  we  shall  soon  see  whether  the  event  answered  their 
expectations. 

The  spring  and  summer  of  1543  exhibited  the  authorities  of  Europe 
in  one  of  the  most  extraordinary  positions.  It  was  a  lesson  of  instruc- 
tion, which  could  scarcely  pass  unimproved  by  those  who  thought  at  all. 
So  far  as  the  power  of  Sovereign  princes  was  concerned,  there  were 
three  systems  of  opinion  before  the  world  :  that  of  the  Pontiff — of  Henry 
the  Eighth — and  of  the  Grand  Turk.  Francis  and  Charles  Avere,  pro- 
fessedly, alike  votaries  of  the  Pontiff,  and  by  him  Ilcnry  the  Eighth  had 
been  branded  for  years  as  an  anathematized  heretic  ;  while  they  idl 
agreed  in  regarding  the  Turk  as  an  Infidel,  with  whom  no  alliance  of 
any  kind,  cotdd  he  formed.  Now  immediately  before  Henry  determined 
to  espouse  his  sixth  Queen,  who  was  to  lean  decidedly  to  the  side  of  the 
neiv  learning,  the  position  of  all  these  Powers,  is  well  worthy  of  distinct 
observation. 

At  the  time  in  which  Parliament  was  assembled,  a  very  intimate  con- 
nexion between  Henry  and  the  Emperor  was  already  agitated  ;  a  circum- 
stance which  was  the  joy  of  Gardiner's  party,  in  consequence  of  their 
ultimate  intentions,  but  most  offensive  to  the  Pontiff,  who  could  not  know 
them.  He,  on  the  contrary,  eager  to  prevent  this  step,  proposed  to  buy  off 
the  Emperor  by  an  annual  payment  of  150,000  crowns,  and  a  promotion 
of  Cardinals,  such  as  Charles  chose  to  name  !  But  then  it  so  happened 
that  Charles  longed  for  nothing  more  eagerly,  than  a  league  with  the 
English  heretic.  Henry's  uniting  with  France  and  the  German  princes, 
had  been  the  Emperor's  perplexity  for  years,  as  retarding  the  march  of 
his  ambition  ;  but  union  with  England  would  enable  him  to  bring  the 


1543.]       THE   EUROPEAN    POWERS  IN   STRANGE  ARRAY.  lO'l 

King  of  France  to  his  knees,  and  at  once  destroy  all  hope  of  ever  reco- 
vering Milan  by  force  of  arms.  By  the  11th  of  February,  therefore,  a 
treaty  was  franaed  in  London,  and  Bonner,  (the  most  furious  persecutor 
in  England,)  as  ambassador,  must  be  sent  oft"  and  out  of  the  way,  as  its 
bearer.  It  was  sworn  to,  says  Lord  Herbert,  by  the  Emperor  near  Bar- 
celona, on  the  8th  of  April,  "  in  presence  of  Edmund  Bonner,  Bishop  of 
London,  our  King's  ambassador ;"  and  it  was  ratified  by  Henry  on 
Trinity  Sunday,  or  the  20th  of  i\Lay,  though,  for  certain  reasons,  it  was 
not  made  public  till  June.  On  the  other  hand,  Francis,  the  adherent 
of  Rome,  to  strengthen  his  hands,  had  formed  alliance  with  Solyman,  the 
Tiu'kish  Sultan  ;  and  though  the  zealous  Cardinals  took  high  offence  at 
this  "  most  Chi"istian  King,"  the  old  Pontiff'  himself  was  far  from  being- 
inimical  to  the  Porte  ! 

Here  then  was  the  King  of  France  standing  out  in  alliance  before  the 
world,  with  the  Pontiff  on  one  side,  and  the  Turk  on  the  other  I  While 
Charles,  the  im^jerial  son  of  Rome,  visibly  stood  in  closest  union,  offensive 
and  defensive,  with  the  condemned  heretic  Sovereign  of  England  !  They 
were  now  united  to  oppose  and  humble  them  all !  To  finish  the  pictiu-e 
it  should  be  observed  that  while  the  Emperor  had  joined  with  Henry, 
one  of  his  grounds  of  complaint  against  Francis  was  thus  distinctly 
stated — that  "  he  had  not  deserted  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  and  consented  to 
a  reformation,  as  he  once  promised."''  No  wonder  than  the  Pontiff'  was 
enraged  with  the  Emperor  ;  but  then  he  had  his  answer  ready — that  he 
might  with  more  reason  avail  himself  of  the  English  King's  assistance, 
than  Francis,  could  do  of  the  Turk^s. 

This  singular  array  of  parties  may  not  last  long,  and  the  figures  may 
soon  change  their  positions  ;  but  it  was  sufficient  that  it  should  be  ex- 
hibited for  ONCE,  in  the  eye  of  the  world,  had  it  been  for  no  other  pur- 
pose than  to  show,  that  there  is  one,  who,  as  "  He  spreadeth  abroad  the 
earth  by  Himself,"  so,  at  any  moment,  he  can  expose  the  hollow  hypo- 
crisy of  nations,  or  more  correctly  speaking,  of  their  rulers. 

The  wishes  and  long-cherished  asjjirations  of  Gardiner  and  his  adher- 
ents were  however  now,  at  last,  in  part  fulfilled.  They  had  "  set  up 
their  rest^""  says  Burnet,  "  on  bringing  the  King  and  the  Emperor  to  a 
league,  Avhich  we  may  reasonably  believe  was  vigorously  driven  on  by 
Bonner."  But  then  this  royal  Master  of  theii-'s,  who  was  "  every  thing 
by  turns,  and  nothing  long,"  may,  by  only  one  movement,  darken  all 
their  prospects  ;  nay,  he  will  soon,  to  their  vexation,  take  his  fii'st  step, 
and  Gardiner  himself  must  be  called  in  to  bow,  and  reverentially  ac- 
quiesce in  it  I 

Parliament  had  risen  on  the  12th  of  May,  and  Henry  having  secured 
an  enormous  subsidy,''  as  well  as  settled  his  foreign  affairs  on  the  20th, 

«  Herbert. 
'  To  show  their  good   will  to  the  Imperiiil  IcaRue,  though  the  Pontilf  was  in  opposition,  the 

VOL.   II.  L 


1(;2  IlKNKY'S   SIXTH    MAKUIAUK.  [houK   il. 

the  inoutli  of  Jimu  anivcd  whcu  the  fact  was  announced  ;  l>ut  thou  at 
the  same  time  all  was  preparation  for  his  sixth  marriage  ;  and  on  the 
loth  of  July,  to  Gardiner  was  assigned  the  unwelcome  task  of  espousing 
the  King  to  Catharine  Pnrr.  The  Queen,  as  already  mentioned,  favoured 
the  new  learning  ;  and  though  she  proceeded  with  caution  so  as  not  to 
oftend  Henry,  and  therefore  could  not  prevent  the  burning  of  three 
worthy  men  at  Windsor,  by  Gardiner's  instigation,  only  eighteen  days 
after  her  marriage  ;  yet  happily,  through  one  of  the  Queen's  servants, 
the  plot  which  had  already  involved  these  men  in  ruin,  and  would  have 
swept  away  others  of  higher  rank,  was  detected.  The  King  was  so 
ottended  as  to  degrade  and  punish  the  agents  employed. 

It  was  in  the  last  month  of  this  year  that  Cranmer's  palace  at  Canter- 
bury was  destroyed  by  fire,  when  his  brother-in-law  and  some  other  per- 
sons perished  in  the  Hamcs.  This  prevented  him  from  entertaining 
Gonzaga,  the  Viceroy  of  Sicily,  who  had  arrived  from  the  Emperor,  with 
a  view  to  strengthen  the  league,  and  urge  to  greater  exertions  against 
France.  During  the  whole  campaign  between  Charles  and  Francis,  all 
that  Henry  had  done  was  to  furnish  a  small  army  under  Sir  John  Wallop ; 
but  vast  preparations  must  now  be  made  for  this  continental  war,  and 
the  English  Monarch  will  now  proceed,  for  the  rest  of  his  reign,  to  drain 
the  kingdom. 


SECTION   VII. 

PAKLIAMENT  ASSEMBLED HENKY's  STYLE   AND   TITLE — LONGS   TO  BE  KINO 

OP   FKANCE  ! WAR   WITH    SCOTLAND HENRY    IN    FRANCE GARDINER 

CRANMER henry's  CONFESSION  OF  IMPOTENCE   IN   ALL  HIS  INJUNCTIONS 

TO  HIS  BISHOPS — HIS  INCONSISTENCY — NEW  TESTAMENT  OF  TYND.A.LE's,  A 
FOREIGN  PRINT. 

That  cause  to  which  these  pages  have  been  specially  de- 
voted, had,  as  we  have  seen,  been  dragged  into  Parliament 
last  year,  but  we  shall  have  the  evidence  before  us  presently, 
that  it  continued  to  stand,  as  it  had  always  stood,  indepen- 
dently of  frown  or  favour.  Parliament  had  disgraced  itself, 
it  is  true,  as  well  as  earned  the  contempt  of  posterity,  by  its 
interference ;  but  as  for  any  fury  involved  in  its  proceedings, 
it  will  be  evident  that  it  could  not  this  year  be  of  much  force, 


Clergy  had  granted  ten  per  cunt,  on  their  income  for  three  years,  beside  the  deduction  of  the 
tenths  already  vested  in  thcCrown,  and  the  laity  granted  himataxon  real  or  personal  i)ropcrty, 
ri-sinR  uradually  from  4d.  to  three  shillings  in  the  pound.  All  foreigners  i)aid  double  rates. 
SUI.  M,  Henry  VIU.  l7. 


1j4.+.]  HENRY'S  STYLK   AND    TITLK.  163 

in  either  burning,  or  blotting,  or  cutting  the  S;icred  N'ohune. 
A  variety  of  circumstances,  involved  in  the  state  of  the  coun- 
try, will  make  this  apparent,  and  prepare  us  for  whatever  may 
have  occurred  in  the  cause  itself;  while  a  remarkable  confes- 
sion of  impotence^  on  the  part  of  his  Majesty^  as  far  as  his  pro- 
clamations respecting  religion  were  concerned,  will  also  come 
before  us.  So  little  had  Royal  authority  to  do  with  the  pro- 
gress of  Truth,  and  that  by  its  own  recorded  confession. 

It  was  upon  Tuesday  the  14th  of  January,  that  Parliament  had  again 
met,  and  it  continued  sitting  till  Saturday  the  29th  of  March,  when  the 
proceedings,  as  usual,  assumed  the  shape  of  ivhatsoecer  had  occurred  to 
the  fancy  of  the  Sovereign.  As  the  first  Act  introduced  to  the  House 
regarded  the  Crown,  in  which  the  possibility  of  Princess  Mary's  ultimate 
succession  was  pointed  at,  the  gentlemen  of  the  old  learning  were  not  a 
little  pleased,  to  say  nothing  of  the  compliment  thus  paid  to  the  Empe- 
ror, who  had  long  expressed  his  desire  on  the  subject.'  About  the  same 
time,  Henry  was  resolved  not  to  forget  his  much-prized  style  or  title  as 
King.  An  act  was  therefore  passed,  declaring  that  this  should  now  be 
— "  King  of  England,  France,  and  Ireland,  Defender  of  the  Faith  ;  and 
on  earth  the  Supreme  Head  of  the  Chm-ch  of  England  and  Ireland."  Few 
moments  certainly  could  have  proved  more  awkward  for  the  assumption 
of  such  a  style.  Its  very  sound,  its  grotesque  appearance,  as  well  as 
palpable  arrogance,  must  have  afforded  ground  for  many  an  observa- 
tion at  the  time,  since  it  has  drawn  forth  remark  from  the  historian  ever 
since.  "  King  of  England"  Henry  certainly  was,  as  all  his  subjects 
deeply  felt ;  and  having  smitten  Scotland,  after  seeing  his  nephew  sink 
into  an  early  grave,  "  his  heart  was  lifted  up  ;"  he  might  have  *•  gloried 
in  this,  and  tarried  at  home  ; "  but  as  for  France,  he  was  only  girding  on 
his  harness  to  fight  her  Sovereign,  and,  before  long,  this  will  have  cost 
him  and  his  son  a  sum  equal  to  about  forty-five  millions  of  our  money 
sterling,  without  any  advantage  whatever  in  return  !  And  with  regard 
to  Ireland,  this  was  the  first  Englishman  who  chose  to  style  himself  her 
King  ;  but  seven  years  before  this,  as  "  Lord  of  Ireland,"  he  had  inflicted 
a  vital  injui'y,  from  which  she  has  not  recovered  to  the  j^'i'^sent  hour^ 
The  rest  of  his  Majesty's  style  has  already  come  before  us  ;  and  it  was 
now  finally  confirmed  by  Act  of  Parliament,  at  the  moment  when  Henry 


1  Wriothesly,  who  had  been  created  a  Baron  on  the  Ist  of  January,  and  is  just  about  to  come 
into  ]>ower,  must  have  been  not  the  least  gratified.  Lord  Audley  was  fast  declining  in  health, 
after  having  held  the  seals  as  Lord  Chancellor  for  above  twelve  years.  On  the  3ltth  of  April  he 
died,  and  on  the  3d  of  May  Wriothesly,  a  very  different  man,  succeeded.— Gov.  Stale  Papers, 
i.,  p.  7fi-'!,  note. 

2  His  barbaric,  though  impotent,  A(l  for  abolishing  the  luns/iiniii'  of  the  native  Irish,  the  abo- 
rigines of  that  beautiful  island— a  language  now  sjioken  daily  to  a  far  greater  extent  than  it  was 
in  Henry's  reign.     For  one  who  then  sjioke  Irish,  there  are  now  nearly  ^■». 


Kli  WAKWITIl   SCOTI.AMJ.  [booK   II. 

WHS  Hi  open  w;ir  witli  Rome,  and  tiuarrelling  witli  the  King  of  France 
because  lie  luul  not  deserted  the  Pontiff.  In  other  words,  "  Defender  of 
the  Faitli,"  a  title  which  the  Court  of  Koine  had  conferred  upon  liini  for 
defending  her  claims,  was  now  to  be  worn,  in  union  with  another,  "  the 
Head  of  the  Church  of  England,"  which  usurped  them  aU.  By  this  time, 
however,  it  must  he  evident,  that  such  a  Parliament  would  have  assented 
to  any  style  his  Majesty  had  been  pleased  to  dictate. 

The  session  had  not  concluded  before  Henry  was  resolved  to  wreak  his 
vengeance  on  his  nearest  neighbour  ;  for,  on  the  eve  of  a  continental  war, 
Scotland  must  be  prevented  from  giving  any  annoyance.  Besides,  his 
Majesty's  proposal  of  a  marriage  between  young  Edward  and  the  infant 
Mary  of  Scotland  had  been  thwarted  and  opposed  by  Beaton.  The  osten- 
sible object,  therefore,  was  to  extort  a  ratification  of  the  matrimonial 
treaty,  or  rather  the  surrender  of  the  young  Queen.  The  uncle  of  Ed- 
ward, or  Seymour  Earl  of  Hertford,  with  Talbot  Earl  of  Shrewsbury,  and 
Dudley  Lord  Lisle,  the  Lord  Admiral,  were  dcs])atchcd  with  a  fleet  and 
troops  direct  for  the  Scotish  capital.  Immediately  on  the  Earl  of  Arran's 
refusal,  the  troops  were  landed  at  Leith,  on  the  4th  of  May,  and  5()(){» 
horse  from  Berwick  having  joined  next  day,  Edinburgh  was  attacked  the 
day  following.  The  Castle  defied  all  their  efforts  ;  but  after  employing 
four  days  in  the  plunder  and  conflagration  of  the  city,  the  army,  in  re- 
turning, consigned  Haddington  and  Dunbar  to  the  flames.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  fleet  was  employed  against  Leith,  where,  having  burnt  the 
town,  demolished  the  pier,  and  swept  both  sides  of  the  Forth  as  far  as 
Stirling,  Lisle  returned  with  his  ships  to  Newcastle. 

But  the  expedition  to  the  Continent,  in  union  with  the  Emperor,  was 
to  form  Henry's  grand  exploit  for  this  year  ;  and  as  he  had  just  asserted 
his  right  to  the  French  throne,  he  must  now  go  to  make  his  title  good. 
Charles  and  he  were  to  march  direct  to  Paris.  Before  setting  ofl",  how- 
ever, the  English  Monarch,  now  especially  in  want  of  the  needful,  must 
devise  some  expedient  for  defraying  all  expenses.  Afraid  to  risk  the 
refusal  of  last  Parliament,  after  so  large  a  subsidy,  granted  only  the  pre- 
vious session,  and  for  three  years  ;  with  equal  disregard  to  the  public  at 
large  and  his  successor  on  the  throne,  as  Henry  was  his  om^h  minister,  he 
at  once  raised  the  value  of  money  and  adulterated  the  coin  !  A  strange 
preparation  for  a  foreign  war  ;  one,  too,  which  will  not  meet  his  exigen- 
cies, and  a  measure  the  results  of  which  will  be  heavily  felt  for  years 
after  the  monarch  is  in  his  grave. 

In  June  the  first  division  of  the  English  army  had  landed  at  Calais  ; 
and  having  appointed  the  Queen  as  Regent  during  his  absence,IIenry  set 
off,  sailing,  on  the  14th  of  July,  for  France,  in  a  ship  rigged  with  cloth  of 
gold  !  The  Duke  of  Norfolk  was  with  the  army,  and  Stephen  Gardiner 
had  happily  preceded,  on  his  way  to  the  Emperor's  court  ;  for  though 
the  King  had  begun  to  regard  him  with  a  jealous  eye,  his  services  as  an 


Ij^^-.]  HENRY  IN  FRANCE.  165 

jimbassador  could  not  be  dispcuscil  with.  Henry  was  now  within  the 
French  frontier  at  the  head  of  45,(.K)0  men,  of  whom  30,000  were  English 
troops,  and  the  rest  Imperial.  The  Emperor  having  been  much  the 
earliest  in  the  field,  had  commenced  with  sieges  while  waiting  for  his 
ally,  and  three  fortresses  had  already  fallen  before  him.  Henry  must  not 
be  beaten,  and  therefore  resolved  to  commence  after  the  same  fashion. 
Sitting  down  himself  before  Boulogne,  he  gave  Montreuil  in  charge 
to  Norfolk. 

It  was  while  thus  engaged,  before  performing  any  feat,  and  without 
knowing  whether  he  should  succeed  or  not,  that  our  English  Monarch 
began  to  feel  that  he  must  have  more  money  still  !  That  he  should  ever 
be  King  of  France,  yet  remained  to  be  decided  ;  but  without  delay  he 
must  signify  to  his  people  from  a  distance,  that  he  certainly  was  King  of 
England.  Unfortunately  for  his  oppressed  subjects,  the  graduated  tax 
of  last  year  had  disdosed  the  value  of  every  layman's  estate,  and  thus,  if 
now  disposed  to  make  personal  application,  his  newly  created  Chancellor, 
Lord  Wriothcsly,  knew  full  well  luhere  to  apply.  In  August,  therefore, 
came  the  royal  letter,  demanding  the  loan  of  a  sum  of  money.  It  was  a 
regular  circular,  with  blanks  to  be  filled  up  ;  a  royal  personal  applica- 
tion from  the  King  direct,  for  a  loan  of  money  from  the  individual,  not 
one  farthing  of  which  was  ever  to  be  restored,  although  he  now  said 
— "  we  promise  you  assuredly,  by  these  presents,  to  cause  the  same  to 

be  repaid  again  unto  you,  within  after  the   date  hereof !" 

How  much  was  gained  in  this  way  has  not  been  stated  ;  it  may  have  been 
only  like  a  drop  in  the  ocean,  but  whatever  was  the  amount.  Parliament 
will  of  co\u*se  interpose  and  relieve  the  crown  of  all  that  was  borrowed. 

It  had  certainly  been  no  small  effort  on  the  part  of  Henry  to  go 
abroad,  as  he  had  become  so  corpulent,  not  to  say  feeble,  through  self- 
indulgence  ;  so  that  should  he  not  succeed  to  his  wishes,  the  mortifica- 
tion must  be  extreme,  though  as  yet  there  seemed  to  be  no  reason  to  fear 
the  result.  Charles  had  reached  within  two  day's  march  of  Paris,  which 
had  taken  alarm,  and  even  Francis  had  begun  to  tremble.  Meanwhile, 
a  Spanish  dominican,  in  the  service  of  France,  had  whispered  to  Charles 
something  about  overtures  of  peace.  The  season  was  advancing,  great 
arrears  were  due  to  the  Imperial  army,  and  the  Emperor  could  not 
winter  in  France.  An  ambassador  must  be  sent,  for  form's  sake,  to 
Henry,  requiring  him  to  fulfil  his  engagement,  and  meet  with  Charles 
before  Paris.  In  the  siege  in  which  he  was  engaged,  Henry's  honour 
was  at  stake,  when  Charles,  who  felt  no  scruple  in  breaking  a  treaty  at  any 
moment,  went  on  with  his  negotiation.  It  was  soon  signed.  The  Em- 
peror found  it  perfectly  convenient  to  make  peace  with  Francis  at  Crespic 
near  Meaux,  on  the  19th  of  Sei)tember,  leaving  our  English  Monarch  to 
settle  his  own  affairs,  and  return  home  as  he  best  could  !  It  was  oul}- 
the   day  before  that    Henry  had   been   riding  in   great  triumph    into 


I  fir;  IIKNRY    RKTURNED  TO    ENGLAND.  [book  ll. 

Boulogne,  auJ  with  this  he  must  now  he  sutiHficd,  instead  of  the  capital 
and  crown  of  France.  By  the  30th  of  September  he  had  rc-emharked 
and  returned,  says  Halle,  "  to  England,  to  the  great  rejoicing  of  his  lov- 
ing suhjects  !"  lie  had  lost  his  Imperial  ally,  and  was  now  embroiled  in 
a  war  with  France  l>y  sea  and  land  !  Great  boast,  indeed,  was  made  of 
his  Majesty's  siege  and  conquest  ;  but  immediate  consideration  must  l)c 
given  to  the  means  by  which  even  this  was  to  be  retained.  As  a  proof 
that  the  power  of  France  was  not  impaired,  and  that  even  aggressive 
steps  on  her  part  were  anticipated,  the  rest  of  the  year  was  busily  occu- 
pied in  fortifying  the  coasts  of  England. 

Several  of  the  movements  of  Government  this  year  natu- 
rally lead  to  the  conclusion  that  there  could  not  be  much,  if 
any  time  left,  to  attend  to  the  business  of  persecution  for  the 
Truth's  sake ;  although  in  the  spring,  while  Parliament  was 
sitting,  the  House  discovered,  as  usual,  the  discordant  mate- 
rials of  which  it  was  composed. 

Their  very  first  bill,  involving  as  it  did,  the  prospect  of 
Princess  Mary'^s  possible  succession  to  the  throne,  seems  to 
have  inspirited  the  gentlemen  of  "  the  old  learning;"  for  al- 
though Cranmer  had  triumphed  over  his  accusers  last  year, 
it  was  during  this  Parliament  that  the  minion  of  Norfolk  and 
Gardiner,  Sir  John  Gostwyck,  of  whom  we  have  already 
heard  enough,  as  the  accuser  of  Crumwell,  ventured  to  ac- 
cuse  the  Archbishop  of  heresy,  openly  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons ;  but  the  knight,  whom  his  Majesty  instantly  denounced 
as  a  rarlet,  had  to  repair  forthwith  to  Lambeth,  to  humble 
himself  there,  and  crave  forgiveness.  On  the  other  hand, 
Gardiner  was  about  this  time  placed  in  very  awkward,  if  not 
critical  circumstances,  by  his  kinsman,  some  have  said  nephew, 
and  secretary,  Germain  Gardiner.  Once  the  feeble  opponent 
of  John  Fryth,  having  been  apprehended  for  denying  the 
King"'s  supremacy,  he  suffered  the  penalty  of  death  as  a 
traitor  on  the  7th  of  March.  However,  the  Bishop  con- 
trived, as  usual,  to  make  his  peace  with  the  King,  and  hap- 
pily he  was  soon  to  be  despatched  upon  foreign  affairs  ;  though 
still,  if  Gardiner  failed  in  any  way,  he  sunk ;  while  Cranmer 
remained  or  rather  advanced  in  royal  favour. 

To  the  latter,  therefore,  the  present  moment  appeared  to 
be  a  favourable  one  for  the  farther  mitigation  of  the  bloody 
statute,  which  had  been  already  somewhat  softened  last  year ; 
and  Cranmer  succeeded  in  carrving  a  new  Act  this  session. 


1544.]  HENRY'S  CONFESSION   OF   IMPOTENCE.  1G7 

By  this,  in  future,  no  individual  was  to  be  brought  to  trial 
under  that  statute,  till  after  he  had  been  legally  presented, 
on  the  oaths  of  twelve  men,  before  such  commissioners  as  are 
mentioned  in  this  Act,  and  referred  to  in  another ;  nor  was 
he,  till  then,  to  be  imprisoned.  No  reputed  offence  of  an  older 
date  than  otie  year  was  to  bo  actionable  ;  nor  was  any  preacher 
to  be  indicted,  if  fortt/  days  had  elapsed  after  any  sentiment 
he  had  uttered  in  the  pulpit.  The  accused  might  also  chal- 
lenge any  juryman.^  These  provisions  formed  so  many  very 
important  alleviations  in  the  fury  of  persecution  ;  though 
two  years  hence,  as  in  the  cases  of  Anne  Askew  and  others, 
they  were  most  scandalously  disregarded. 

By  the  time  that  Henry  departed  from  France,  also,  it  will 
be  observed,  that  not  only  were  Norfolk  and  Gardiner  with- 
drawn from  the  country,  but  the  Queen  was  Regent ;  and 
with  Cranmer  at  the  head  of  her  Council,  the  chief  man 
bent  upon  cruelty  and  mischief,  or  Bonner  of  London,  must 
have  been  under  certain  restraint.  Nor  was  this  all.  Just 
before  his  Majesty  left,  it  deserves  notice  that  prayers  in  the 
English  tongue  were  directed  to  be  generally  used.  This  fact 
in  itself  was  important ;  but  in  reference  to  past  times,  and 
royal  influence,  not  so  much  so  as  another,  which  now  comes 
out  incidentally — 

"  We  have  sent  unto  you,''  says  the  King  to  all  the  Bishops  of  his  reahn, 
"  We  have  sent  imto  you  these  suffrages,  not  to  be /or  a  month  or  tiro  observed, 
and  after  slenderly  considered,  as  other  our  injunctions,  to  ovr  no  little  martel 
hare  been  nsed,  but  to  the  intent  that  as  well  the  same,  as  other  our  injunctions, 
may  be  earnestly  set  forth,"  &c. 

Thus  it  was  officially  acknowledged  that  the  King"'s  former 
injunctions  had  carried  no  powerful  or  prolonged  influence. 
Before  this  we  have  frequently  had  occasion  to  observe,  that 
the  cause  of  God  and  his  truth  had  been  so  peculiarly  con- 
ducted, as  to  have  no  leaning  or  dependence  on  him  whatevei-. 
We  have  seen,  by  many  striking  proofs,  that  it  went  on  in 
its  course,  first  in  defiance,  and  then  independently  of  ro^'al 
interference.  But  now,  towards  the  close  of  his  reign,  lest 
posterity  should  mistake,  or  not  observe  it ;  as  far  as  his 
own  name  and  authority  had  been  employed,  here  is  an  artless 
and  very  frank  confession  of  impotence,  on  the  part  of  his 


•■'  Sfatiilcs.  at  larRc.  .-JS  H.  VHI.,  cap.  •'•. 


168  NEW    TKSTA.MHNT   OF  TVNDALE'S.  [boOK  II. 

Majesty,  if  not  also  of  Cranmor,  who  is  supposed  to  have 
drawn  up  the  injunction. 

So  far,  indeed,  from  being  a  consistent  friend  to  tlie  pro- 
gress of  Divine  Truth  amongst  his  subjects,  only  last  year 
Henry  had  lent  his  authority  to  the  reprobation  of  the  origi- 
nal translator,  at  whose  death  he  had  winked  so  hard ;  and 
frowned  upon  the  poor  for  reading  the  Hacred  Volume.  His 
injunctions,  like  himself,  staggering  from  side  to  side,  must 
have  confounded  the  public  mind  ;  and  considering  what  had 
passed  in  Parliament  last  year,  in  reprobating  the  name  and 
writings  of  Tyndale,  it  was  not  wonderful  that  the  indignity 
should  be  resented.  Tyndale"'s  very  name  had  become  pre- 
cious to  many,  and  his  translations  of  Scripture  were  now  care- 
fully preserved  or  hoarded  in  many  a  corner  throughout  Eng- 
land, far  beyond  the  ken  of  Bishop,  or  King,  or  any  underling. 

Meanwhile,  there  seems  to  be  no  account  whatever  upon  re- 
cord of  the  seizure  or  burning  of  the  New  Testament,  though 
there  might  have  been,  had  foreign  politics  and  prepara- 
tions for  war  not  engrossed  attention  ;•*  but  Lewis  and  some 
others  have  gone  too  far  when  they  have  stated  that  Day  and 
Seres  printed  the  Pentateuch  this  year.  Day  had  not  yet 
begun  to  print  at  all,  and  the  volume  must  belong  to  a  sub- 
sequent impression,  or  that  of  1549.  It  is,  however,  curious, 
and  more  to  the  purpose,  that  a  foreign  press  was  at  work 
even  this  year,  and  with  an  edition  of  Tyndale''s  New  Testa- 
ment. This  must  have  been  in  the  face  of  the  recent 
anathema.  A  copy,  once  in  the  possession  of  the  Earl  of 
Oxford,  is  mentioned  in  the  Harleian  Catalogue,  with  this 
remark — "  it  seems  to  be  a  foreign  print."  ^  Indeed  it  must 
have  been  so ;  and  it  may  be  put  down  in  these  troublous 
days,  as  a  serenade  from  Antwerp  or  elsewhere,  in  answer  to 
the  contemptible  brawl  in  Parliament  last  year. 


*  It  is  tme  tliat  in  Herbert's  Ames,  under  1544,  (p.  l.'i.'i.'i)  there  is  mention  made  of  one  bnrn- 
iiiK  of  the  New  Testiiment  by  Soniersand  sixteen  others;  but  this  refers  to  an  earlier  period,  in 
Ihc  days  when  the  possessors  were  condemned  to  throw  them  into  the  fire  prepared  at  Cheap- 
Ride.  "*  Hibl.  Harl.,  vol.  i.,  No.  428. 


L    K'-^  ] 


SECTION    VIII. 

WAU     WITH     FKANCE  —  EXHAUSTED     STATE     OP     ENGLAND  —  UNDERMINING 

OKANMER — niS    ENEMIES    COVERED    WITH    SHAME HENRY    ADDRESSING 

HIS     PRIVY    COUNCIL HIS   OPINION    OF   IT  —  ADDRESSING     HIS    PARLIA- 
MENT FOR  THE  LAST  TIME. 

We  are  now  within  two  years  of  the  King's  death,  and  the 
entire  period  was  fraught  with  great  misery  to  his  subjects, 
though,  generally  speaking,  not  after  the  fashion  in  which  they 
had  been  tormented  in  past  times.  His  Majesty  and  the  go- 
vernment, with  all  the  strength  of  the  kingdom,  were  at  present 
fully  occupied  in  preparing  for  self-defence.  Such  was  the 
consequence  of  Henry's  visit  to  France  ! 

France  had  not  been  so  exhausted  by  the  double  invasion  of  last  year, 
as  to  be  incapable  of  retaliation.  Francis,  having  now  only  one  enemy 
before  him,  had  resolved  to  attack  Boulogne  by  land,  to  block  it  up  by 
sea,  and  even  invade  England.  His  army  was  to  amount  to  above  50,000 
men,  and  he  fitted  out  a  fleet  of  ships,  large  and  small,  amounting  to 
above  200  sail,  besides  twenty-five  gallies.  It  was  the  greatest  eiFort 
that  France  had  ever  made  by  sea. 

By  the  middle  of  July  136  sail  had  arrived  within  sight  of  Ports- 
mouth, where  the  English  fleet  of  only  sixty  sail  lay  to  defend  the  king- 
dom. The  sands,  however,  proving  their  grand  defence,  the  French 
were  unable  to  dislodge  them  ;  though  the  contrast  between  last  year  and 
the  present,  must  have  been  striking  in  the  extreme,  to  him  who  wit- 
nessed both.  Precisely  a  year  ago,  Henry  having  sailed  in  his  ship 
rigged  with  cloth  of  gold,  was  upon  French  ground  at  the  head  of  45,000 
men,  proposing  to  march  to  Paris  :  and  now,  at  no  small  expense  to  his 
subjects,  he  was  standing  on  the  shore  at  Portsmouth,  the  fleet  of  France 
braving  him  to  his  face,  and  riding  triumphantly  in  the  British  Channel ! 
One  of  the  English  vessels  too,  the  Mary  Rose,  with  her  captain,  Sir 
George  Carew,  and  seven  hundred  men  on  board,  went  down  before  his 
eyes  ;  and  though  the  ship  was  very  partially  recovered  afterwards,  all 
on  board  perished  !^      The  skirmishing  between  the  two  fleets  was  in- 


'  The  French  insisted  that  they  had  sunk  her  by  their  fire ;  the  English  s.iid  she  had  gone 
down  from  being  overloaded  with  ordnance,  and  having  her  ports  very  low.  We  have  said  that 
she  was  partkiV;/  recovered  ;  but  who  would  have  supposed  that  the  remains,  could  liave  been 
brought  to  light  in  our  own  day,  after  lying  for  nearly  three  hiindretl  wivfcv  under  water?  The 
timber  and  relics  recovered  from  the  M.ary  Rose,  sunk  in  154.5,  were  recovered  only  in  IH4(),  and 
being  sold  by  auction  in  November,  brought  great  ))riccs.  The  heel  of  the  oak  mast  sold  for  £:H>. 
Stone  and  iron  shot,  for  from  twenty  to  thirty  shillings  eaeli.  Common  glass  bottles  and  warrior's 
bows,  from  ten  to  fifteen  shillings,  and  other  articles  in  proportion.  One  brass  and  twenty  iron 
cannon  have  been  recovered. 


I7(»  WAR    WITH    FUAN'CK.  [noOK  II. 

significHUl  ;it  tliat  nionicnt,  but  no  time  was  to  be  lost  in  farther  pre- 
parations ;  although  no  sooner  ha<l  his  Majesty  left  the  ground  than 
"  many  of  his  mariners  and  soldiers  had  fallen  sick,  and  many  were  not 
able  to  continue  the  seas."*  Still,  by  the  lUth  of  August,  the  English 
fleet  had  amounted  to  104  vessels  of  all  descriptions,  with  12,738  men 
on  board  ;  and  reprisals  must  be  sought  for  on  the  coast  of  France.  On 
the  2d  of  September  about  seven  thousand  men  were  landed  in  Normandy, 
and  after  burning  the  seaport  and  Abbey  of  Treport,  the  fleet  returned 
in  a  condition  sufliciently  miserable,  owing  to  sickness  and  disease. 
Lord  Lisle,  the  Lord-Admiral,  in  writing  to  the  Privy  Council  on  the 
14th  of  September,  tells  them  "  of  the  number  of  the  men  who  came 
home  with  me,  there  were  found  in  the  musters,  12,000  sick  and  whole. 
And  because  there  was  no  nwney  to  pay  the  army  at  the  said  musters, 
there  was  new  musters  taken  the  13th  of  the  said  month,  at  which  day 
were  mustered  of  whole  and  able  men  8488  !"  so  that  it  doth  appear  there 
were  sick,  dead,  and  dismissed  by  passport  3.512  !' 

With  the  most  savage  barbarity,  during  all  this  month,  the  war  in 
Scotland  had  been  pursued,  under  Seymour,  Earl  of  Hertford,  to  which 
some  reference  must  be  made  at  its  close  next  year. 

Throughout  this  busy  year,  and  indeed  ever  since  the  death  of  Crum- 
well,  there  had  been  no  man  at  his  jNIajesty's  right  hand,  fruitful  in  ex- 
pedients to  supply  his  exchequer  ;  so  that  the  state  of  his  finances  will 
forcibly  explain  the  condition  into  which  he  had  now  brought  himself, 
as  well  as  the  people  under  his  sway. 

When  in  France  the  King  had  procured  money  by  "  loans,"  never  to 
be  repaid.  He  coiild  not,  within  a  few  months  only,  solicit  loans  a  second 
time  ;  nor  does  he  seem  to  have  been  willing  to  face  Parliament  at  its 
usual  period  of  assembling  in  the  beginning  of  the  year.  As  for  that 
species  of  assistance,  strangely  enough  styled  leiiecohnces,  time  there  was 
when  the  spirit  of  the  people  of  England  put  an  end  to  their  imposition, 
and  they  had  been  declared  by  Parliament  to  be  illegal ;  but  the  iron 
sway  of  this  Monarch  was  such,  that  should  any  man  dare  to  resist  a 
"  benevolence"  no2C,  we  shall  soon  see  the  consequences.  Upon  any 
emergency  whatever,  and  much  more  when  money  was  wanted,  law  was 
now  a  trifling  hindrance.  Ilenry  had  been  in  the  habit  of  making  and 
unmaking  laws  for  many  a  day,  as  to  heresy,  and  why  not,  when  his 
coffers  were  empty  ? 

Early  in  the  month  of  January,  therefore,  his  Majesty  coolly  told  his 
subjects,  that  he  had  "  forborne,  at  this  time,  to  trouble  Parliament  with 
their  repair  to  the  Court."  lie  now  merely  addressed  a  "  Minute  of  a 
letter  to  divers  Lords,"  &c.,  for  a  benevolence  !  In  this  he  adverted  to  the 
"  importable  charges"  which  he  had  "  borne,  upon  the  league  with  the 


-  riov.  Plate  Tiipcrs,  i.  vol.  ■''  Idem.  i.  and  v.,  i'fi. 


1.345.]  EXTORTION  OF  SUPPLIES.  171 

Emperor  for  the  benefit  of  Christendom,  and  for  the  recovery  of  his  right 
to  the  Crotcn  of  France  f"  He  then  calls  on  all  those  to  whom  the 
letter  was  addressed  to  "  contribute  such  sums  of  money  as  they  conve- 
niently/ may,  by  way  of  benevolence,  as  if  the  same  were  granted  by 
Pai-liament ! ! ""'  Amongst  others,  of  course  the  Lord  Mayor  and  Alder- 
men of  London  were  not  forgotten  ;  but  two  of  the  latter  had  not  found 
it  "  convenient"  to  comply.  One  of  them,  Richard  Reed,  before  the 
month  was  ended,  had  been  sent  off  to  join  the  ra)ih  of  the  army  in 
Scotland.  He  was  made  prisoner  in  the  very  first  engagement,  and  had 
to  pay  a  heavy  fine  for  his  ransom  !  Sir  William  Roach,  the  other 
Alderman,  suffered  a  confinement  of  three  months  under  a  charge  of 
seditious  words,  and  no  doubt  paid  sweetly  for  his  liberation.  Such  were 
the  consequences  of  resisting  Henry's  "  benevolence,  if  it  were  conve- 
nient."^ The  sum  thus  raised  amounted  to  £70,723,  18s.  lOd.,  or  equal 
to  above  a  million  of  our  present  money  ;  but  this  proved  only  a  mere 
driblet,  when  compared  with  the  expenses  incurred  bythe  war  with  France. 
If  the  true  condition  of  the  country  is  to  be  known,  and  as  descriptive 
of  the  reign  of  Henry  the  Eighth,  it  is  important.  Without  any  historical 
naiTation,  the  better  way  will  be  to  repair  to  my  Lord  Chancellor  Wri- 
othesly,  and  inquire  what  he  has  got  to  say  by  the  month  of  September. 
In  self-defence,  he  will  tell  us  far  more  than  his  Majesty  would  have  ever 
chosen  to  disclose  to  posterity.  He  is  wi-iting  to  the  Privy  Council,  on 
Monday  morning  the  7th  of  September,  and  the  information  will  be  new 
to  most  readers  of  English  history. 

"  My  Lords,  if  I  had  my  horses  here  with  me,  I  would  be  with  you  this  night  ; 
but  the  same  standing  so  far  abroad  that  I  cannot  conveniently  so  do,  I  shall 
not  fail  to  set  forward  on  Wednesday,  according  to  the  King's  Majesty's  pleasure 
and  my  fonner  advertisement. 

"  As  concerning  the  preparation  of  money,  I  shall  do  that  is  possible  to  be 
done  ;  but,  my  Lords,  I  trust  your  wisdoms  do  consider  what  is  done  and  paid 
already.  You  see  the  King's  Majesty  hath,  this  year  and  the  last  year,  spent 
£1,300,000  or  thereabouts,  and  his  subsidy  and  '  benevolence '  ministering  scant 
three  hundred  thousand  thereof."  So  tlie  lands  being  consumed,  the  plate  of  the 
realm  molten  and  coined,  whereof  much  hath  risen,  I  sori'ow  and  lament  the 
danger  of  the  time  to  come  ;  wherein  is  also  to  be  remembered  the  money  that 
is  to  be  repaid  in  Flanders,  and  what  is  as  much,  or  more  tlian  all  the  rest,  the 


4  See  Gov.  State  Papers,  i.,  789,  note. 

■''  fiy  the  21st  for  June,  while  the  French  fleet  was  in  the  act  of  preparing  to  pay  Henry  their 
visit,  in  return  for  his  intrusion,  we  find  t)ic  Duke  of  Norfolk  writing  to  Paget  the  King's  Secre- 
tary—"I  have  had  here  witli  me  the  collectors  of  this  sliire,  Norfolk,  and  greatly  hlanied  tlieni 
for  that  the  iHtieivlfiice  was  not  yet  all  paid.  And  their  excuse  was,  that  a  great  number  of 
peoi)le  have  lamentably  complained  unto  them,  that  for  lack  of  payment  for  such  grain,  ««  is 
takni  of  lliem  for  Ike  Kir,p's  Hk/liness'  use,  they  have  no  moneij  to  jiay  the  same  ;  but  noticiHi- 
slniHlin/i,  I  have  and  shall  this  week,  take  auch  order,  that  I  trust  it  shall  l)e  shortly  )>aid  '."—Oov. 
Shite  Pollers,  vol.  i.,  p.  789,  7!K). 

«  That  is,  an  amount,  in  our  day,  equal  to  nineteen  millions  and  a  half,  of  which  four  and  a 
half  had  been  received,  while  he  saw  not  where  the  remaining  sum,  equal  to  fifteen  millions, 
was  to  be  found  ! 


172  KXHAISTED  STATK  OK   ENGLAND.  [book  II. 

great  warcity  tliat  \vc  liavo  of  com  ;  wluat  being,  in  all  i>lacc-8,  Norfolk  except- 
4'd,  at  '20s.  titc  (juartor,  anJ  a  marvellous  small  quantity  to  l>e  gotten  of  it. 
And  though  the  King's  Majesty  should  have  a  greater  grant  than  the  realm 
could  bear  at  one  time,  it  would  do  little  to  the  continuance  of  these  charges, 
which  be  so  importable  that  I  sec  not  almost  how  it  is  possible  to  bear  the 
charges  this  winter,  till  more  be  gotten  ;  the  great  part  of  the  subsidy  being 
paid,  the  revenue  received  lx;fore  hand,  and  more  Iwrrowed  of  the  Mint  than 
will  be  repaid  these  four  or  five  months  ! 

"  Wherefore,  good  my  Lords,  though  you  write  to  me  still, '  /'t<y,  }'<iy,  JJi't- 
yiirf  fvr  this  and  for  ?^«?,' consider  it  is  your  parts  to  remember  the  state  of 
things  with  me,  and,  by  your  wisdoms,  to  ponder  what  may  be  done,  and  how- 
things  may  be  continued.  I  have  done  nothing  in  these  matters  alone. 
You  were  all  privy  to  the  state  of  them,  before  and  after  the  King's  Majesty 
came  to  Portsmouth,  at  which  time  things  were  considered  and  drawn  to  the 
uttermost."  7 

Among  the  other  sources  of  perplexity,  it  will  be  observed  that  Flan- 
ders is  mentioned.  It  was  a  branch  of  Henry's  pretensions  to  the  crown 
of  France.  In  order  to  defend  Boulogne  he  had  hired  14,(t0()  Germans, 
who,  having  marched  to  Fleurines,  in  the  district  of  Liege,  found  they 
could  advance  no  farther,  the  Emperor  not  allowing  them  a  passage. 
The  want  of  occupation  and  of  pay  soon  produced  mutiny  ;  and  money 
not  arriving  at  the  time  appointed,  they  seized  the  English  Commis- 
sioners as  their  security,  and  retreated.  It  was  an  ill-managed  as  well 
as  expensive  armament.  The  only  consolation  was,  that  Ileniy  was  now 
his  own  Minister,  and  no  single  man  besides  could  be  blamed.  Wriothesly, 
wc  have  seen,  declined  all  personal  responsibility .^ 

Nearly  two  months  after  this  the  Chancellor  reports  progress  to  the 
King — "  It  may  like  you  to  declare  to  the  King's  Majesty  that,  against 
Monday  next,  he  shall  have  in  a  readiness  to  be  conveyed,  whither  it 
shall  please  him,  the  sum  of  .£20,000,  which  is  gotten  after  this  sort ;  the 
Mints,  our  holy  atichor,  doth  prepare  £15,000  ;  the  Augmentation, 
£3000  ;  the  Dutchy,  XlOOO  ;  and  the  Wards,  A'lOOO.  The  tenth  and 
first-fruits  hath  >ioMi»^,  the  Surveyors  nothing,  nor  the  Exchequer  above 
£1000,  which  must  serve  towards  the  setting  forth  of  your  ships  now  in 
preparing  to  the  seas,  to  relieve  the  debt  of  the  ordinance,  and  to  help 
other  necessaries  !  "^ 

By  the  11th  of  November  our  Lord  Chancellor  is  addressing  Paget, 
the  King's  Secretary,  very  much  in  the  same  strain.  "  First,  touching 
the  Mint,"  {their  holy  anchor^  "  we  be  now  so  far  out  with  it,  that  if 
you  take  any  penny  more  of  it  these  three  months,  in  which  I  think  they 
shall  be  able  to  pay  half  the  debt,  you  shall  utterly  destroy  the  trade  of 
it,  and  men  shall  clearly  withdraw  their  resort  thither  ;  which  what  it 
would  import  ye  know."     And  after  referring  to  the  Court  of  Augmeuta- 


7  G«v.  Slate  Papers,  i  ,  p.  8.V.  «  Herbert.     Ilunu 

!>  Idem,  i.,  )•.  H.XV 


154.5.]  KXUAUSTED  STATK  OK   KNtiLAND.  173 

tions — of  tenths  and  first-fruits,  and  the  Exchequer,  ike,  ho  then  adds — 
"  I  assure  you,  Mr.  Secretary,  I  am  at  my  ivit's  etui  how  we  shall  possibly 
shift  for  three  months  following-,  and  especially  for  the  two  next.  For 
I  see  not  any  great  liklyhood  that  any  good  sum  will  come  in  till  after 
Christmas,  and  then  no  more  than  the  relevainthcs,  whereof  before  I  have 
made  mention  which  is  no  great  matter. lo  And  yet,  if  ever  I  offended 
men  in  any  thing,  I  offend  in  this  matter.  I  am,  as  some  think,  ioo  sore 
in  it,  but  I  serve  him  that  I  trust  will  sustain  me,  doing  nothing  but  for 
his  service." — "  I  would  I  and  all  men  were  bound  to  drink  water 
twice  a-week  while  we  lived,  upon  condition  that  his  Majesty  might 
compass  all  things  to  his  heart's  ease  and  contentacion  ! ""  These  were 
nothing  more  than  empty  compliments,  but,  no  doubt,  intended  for  the 
royal  eye. 

This  state  of  wretchedness  and  beggary  had  at  last  obliged  his  Majesty 
to  summon  Parliament  and  the  Convocation.  They  met  on  the  23d  of 
November  ;  and  the  last  subsidy  for  three  years  being  now  far  more  than 
expended,  both  Lords  and  Commons,  clergy  and  laity,  must  come  for- 
ward once  more.  The  Convocation  granted  fifteen  per  cent,  on  their  in- 
comes for  two  years,  and  the  Commons  two  tenths  and  fifteenths.  The 
latter,  indeed,  added  to  this  an  additional  subsidy  from  real  and  2)ersonal 
property,  which  they  intreated  his  Majesty  to  accept,  "  as  it  pleased  the 
great  Alexander  to  receive  thankfully  a  sup  of  water  of  a  poor  man  by 
the  highway-side."^^  To  ward  off,  however,  the  recurrence  or  necessity  for 
another  "  sup  of  water,"  the  House  proceeded  one  step  farther,  to  the 
alarm  of  many  who  were  not  present  to  oppose,  nor  had  ever  been  con- 
sulted. To  his  Majesty's  sovereign  disposal  they  subjected  all  colleges, 
chantries,  and  hospitals  in  the  kingdom,  with  their  manors,  lands,  or  he- 
reditary estates.  From  a  monarch  who  never  repaid  his  "  loans,"  and 
crushed  his  subjects  to  the  ground  if  they  declined  a  "  benevolence," 
they  were  satisfied  with  a  promise,  that  he  would  not  now  abuse  the  con- 
fidence of  his  subjects,  but  employ  the  Avhole  "  to  the  glory  of  God,  and 
the  common  profit  of  the  realm  !  "  Cambridge  and  Oxford,  however, 
immediately  took  the  alarm,  and  approached  the  throne,  craving  mercy 
and  forbearance.  By  this  time  it  has  been  extremely  difficult  for  histo- 
rians to  find  the  slightest  occasion  for  offering  incense  to  the  memory  of 
Henry,  but  several  have  seized  the  jjresent  moment  for  want  of  a  better, 
and  simply  because  he  left  these  two  Universities  in  full  possession  of 
their  revenues  ! 

Among  the  acts  passed  at  this  time,  there  was  one  for  conveying  seventi/ 
manors  to  the  Crown  belonging  to  the  see  of  York  ;  one  for  punishing 
those  who  took  above  ten  per  cent,  interest  for  money  ;  and  a  third  for 


10  R'levainthes—t\\e  revenue  derived  from  rclirfs  ;  fines  pay-ablc  by  a  tenant  on  the  death  of 
his  ancestor. 

11  Gov.  State  Papers,  i.,  p.  it4(>.  '2  Stat,  of  Realm,  lOKi. 


174  I'l.OT    ACMINHT   CKANMEU.  [uuoK   II. 

settling  tlic  tithes  in  LuNDoN  in  projtoition  to  tliu  kknts  of  the  lioiises.it 
On  the -24111  of  Deccml>ci  railiainciit  rose,  when  Henry  delivcrcil  the 
last  oration  ho  ever  addressed  to  it  ;  a  strange  produetion,  which  will  he 
glanced  at  presently. 

Ill  the  course  of  a  year  so  pregnant  with  misery  and  con- 
Ciision  throughout  the  kingdom  as  this,  it  may  appear  difHcult 
to  ima<Mnc  wliere  one  moment  was  left  for  tlie  gentlemen  ol 
the  "  old  learning"  to  display  their  hostility  ;  hut  in  the 
autumn,  after  the  King's  return  from  the  mortifying  scene  at 
Portsmouth,  such  a  moment  was  found. 

Cranmor  had  not  failed  to  improve  the  ahseiice  of  Gardiner 
and  Norfolk.  Last  year,  as  we  have  seen,  the  former  had 
been  in  Germany  or  Flanders,  the  latter  in  France  ;  and  up 
to  this  period  the  Duke  had  been  very  busy  at  home,  surveying 
the  sea-coast,  and  harassed  by  the  war  of  defence.  But  now 
in  September  or  October,  a  select  number  of  the  Privy 
Council  had  found  a  little  space  to  breathe  and  look  round, 
when  an  opportunity  seemed  to  present  itself,  for  trying  their 
skill  once  more.  It  was  to  be  concentrated  on  the  Arch- 
bishop, and  for  the  last  time.  The  incidents  are  important, 
not  in  reference  to  the  accusers  only,  but  as  giving  farther 
insight  to  the  character  of  the  King  himself,  in  connexion 
with  his  precious  Council. 

In  the  afternoon  of  the  22d  of  August,  Charles  Brandon, 
Duke  of  Suffolk,  died ;  perhaps  the  most  powerful  friend  that 
Cranmer  now  had.^*  The  companion  of  the  King  from  his 
earliest  youth,  and  possessing  throughout  life  considerable 
influence  over  him  ;  Henry  was  sitting  in  Council  when  first 
informed  of  his  decease,  and  could  not  suppress  his  feelings. 
He  then  declared  that  during  the  whole  course  of  their  friend- 
ship, the  Duke  had  never  made  one  attempt  to  injure  an 
adversary,  nor  had  ever  whispered  a  word  to  the  disadvantage 
of  anp  person.  "  Is  there  any  of  t/ou,  my  Lords,  who  can 
sav  as  much  V     When  his  Majesty  had  uttered  these  words, 


>3  Sec  the  Supplication  of  the  Poor  Commons,  under  next  year. 

n  Gov.  State  Papers,  v.,  p.  4!)fi.— Siiftolk  had  been  General  of  tlie  English  army  in  France, 
ftnU  was  the  first  man  who  entered  iioulogiie.  lie  it  was  who,  in  l.i2!),  so  incensed  Wolsey,  bv 
exclaiming—"  It  was  never  merry  in  England  whilst  we  had  Cardinals  araon^st  us,"— and  it 
W.18  to  him  and  Norfolk,  tliat  the  Cardinal  at  last  delivered  up  the  Great  Seal.  The  OukeS 
last  letter  is  dated  from  Portsmouth  on  the  7th  of  Au);ust,  where  he  had  remained  behind  the 
King,  deeply  interested  in  tryinR  to  recover  the  hulk  of  the  Mary  Hose;  so  that  lie  had  been 
but  a  short  time  unwell.— See  State  Papers,  I.,  pp.  7!^'-7!ltl.  U"H. 


154.5.]  CRANMEK    ACCUSED.  175 

he   looked   round  in  all  their  faces,  and  saw  them  contused 
with  the  consciousness  of  secret  guilt,"^ 

Thus  so  emphatically  checked,  one  might  have  supposed 
that  they  would  have  been  careful  not  to  verify  the  character 
which  their  Sovereign  had  seemed  to  insinuate ;  but  no ;  it 
was  but  shortly  after  the  Duke''s  remains  were  interred  with 
splendour  at  Windsor,  that  certain  Privy  Counsellors  had 
resolved  to  move.  When  the  King  gave  his  significant  look 
round  the  Council,  there  can  be  little  or  no  doubt  that  his  Grace 
of  Norfolk,  Wriothesly  the  Lord  Chancellor,  and  even  Stephen 
Gardiner  were  present ;  for  the  latter  had  returned  in  spring, 
and  been  ever  since  actively  engaged. ^*'  The  fears  of  the 
party  must  have  led  them  to  exaggerate  ;  but  from  the  ex- 
pressions employed,  the  reader  will  at  least  learn  what  was 
their  estimate  of  the  progress  now  made,  in  a  cause  which  they 
denounced  as  heretical,  and  so  detested.  Another  mistake 
they  made,  not  unwillingly,  was  their  ascribing  so  much  to 
one  man,  and  that  one  man  the  Archbishop  ;  but  he  was  near 
to  them,  and  a  perpetual  eye-sore ;  they  hated  him  from  the 
heart  fervently,  and  must  play  their  last  game,  under  Henry, 
with  a  view  to  his  ruin. 

Being,  as  they  imagined,  now  fully  prepared  to  carry  their 
purpose  into  effect,  the  Privy  Counsellors  waited  on  his 
Majesty,  when  they  grievously  accused  Cranmer ;  saying, 
"  that  he,  with  his  learned  men,  had  so  infected  the  whole 
realm  with  their  unsavoury  doctrines,  that  three  parts  of  the 
land  were  become  abominable  heretics  ;  and  that  this  might 
prove  dangerous  to  the  King,  as  likely  to  produce  such  com- 
motions and  uproars  as  had  sprung  up  in  Germany."  They 
therefore  "  requested  that  the  Archbishop  might  be  committed 
to  the  Tower,  till  he  might  be  examined."  To  their  mode 
of  procedure  the  King  at  once  objected,  when  they  told  him, 
"  that  the  Archbishop  being  one  of  the  Privy  Council,  no 
man  dared  to  object  matter  against  him,  unless  he  were  first 


'5  Coke's  Inst.,  cap.  ys. 

'8  It  has  been  stated  in  tlie  British  Biography  and  elsewhere,  that  Gardiner  did  not  return  from 
Flanders  till  about  Jan.  1540,  but  this  is  a  mistake.  As  early  as  May  this  year,  he  had  returned  ; 
and  it  is  perfectly  characteristic,  that  the  first  time  his  name  appears  again  in  the  Privy  Council, 
is  by  his  signature  in  reply  to  the  jiroposed  murder  of  Cardinal  Beaton.  Again,  his  name  is  at 
the  letter  from  Oking,  2iith  Aug.,  to  the  Karl  of  Hertford  down  in  the  north,  informing  him  of 
the  death  of  Suffolk  on  the  day  )ireceding.  Sadler  was  with  the  Earl,  and  so  was  Tunstal,  so 
that  /((■  must  not  be  implicated  in  the  scene  about  to  be  described. —  Guv.  State  Pollers,  v.,  pp. 
4.51,  491-4!t6.  The  truth  might  be  stated  as — "  Bishop  versus  Archbishop  ;"  for  Tunstal  had  his 
eye  upon  Beaton,  and  Gardiner  his  upon  Cranmer,  about  the  same  momenta. 


17(>'  IIKNKVS   OIMNION    OK    lllS   OWN    COUNCIL.         [bOuK  II. 

coiniiiitteil  tu  (liininou  ;  but  that  il  tlii.s  wvw  doiu',  iiU'U  would 
bo  bold  to  toll  the  truth,  and  deliver  their  con.'^eieiice.s  I'' 
Yet  Henry  still  would  proceed  no  farther  than  ihi.s — that 
Cranuier  .should  appear  ncjxt  day  before  the  Council  to  be 
exauiiiu'd  by  theuLSelves,  and  should  they  t/wn  jud^e  it  to  be 
advisable,  so  commit  hioi  to  the  Tower. 

His  Majesty,  however,  knowing  the  men  well,  and  rcflect- 
inir  on  what  he  had  done,  about  niidniirht  ordered  Sir  Anthonv 
Denny  to  cross  the  river  to  Lambeth,  and  command  Cran- 
nier''s  immediate  attendance  at  Whitehall.  The  Archbishop 
was  in  bed,  but,  of  course,  instantly  rose,  and  presented  himself 
before  his  royal  Master,  whom  he  found  in  the  gallery  of  the 
palace.  Henry  very  frankly  told  him  the  whole,  and  what 
lie  had  done  in  granting  their  request ;  but  concluded  by  say- 
ing— "  Whether  I  have  done  well  or  no,  what  say  you,  my 
Lord  f  Cranmer,  having  first  thanked  his  Majesty  for  the 
information,  went  on  to  say,  that  he  was  well  content  to  be 
committed  to  the  Tower  for  the  trial  of  his  doctrine,  if  he 
might  be  fairly  heard,  not  doubting  but  that  his  Majesty 
would  see  that  he  was  so  treated.  Upon  hearing  these  words, 
Henry,  with  a  profane  exclamation,  immediately  burst  forth, 
after  his  own  characteristic  manner — 

"  What  fond  simplicity  have  you,  so  to  peniiit  yoiir.self  to  be  iniprisoiied, 
that  every  enemy  of  youi''s  may  taloj  advantage  against  you  !  Do  you  not 
know,  when  they  have  you  once  in  prison,  three  or  four  false  knaves  will  sooti 
be  procured  to  witness  against  you,  and  condemn  you  ;  which  else,  you  being 
now  at  liberty,  dare  not  open  their  lips,  or  appear  before  your  face  ?  No,  not 
so,  my  Lord  ;  I  have  better  i-egard  unto  you,  than  to  permit  youi-  enemies  .so 
to  overthrow  you  ;  and,  therefore,  I  will  have  you  to-mon'ow  come  to  the 
Council,  which,  no  doubt,  will  send  for  you  ;  and  when  they  break  this  matter 
unto  you,  require  of  them,  that  being  one  of  them,  you  may  have  so  nmch 
favour  as  they  would  have  themselves  ;  that  is,  to  have  your  accusers  brought 
before  you.  And  if  they  stjtnd  with  you,  without  regard  of  your  allega- 
tions, and  will,  on  no  condition,  condescend  to  your  request,  but  will  needs 
commit  you  to  the  Tower — then  appeal  you  from  them  to  our  jjcrson,  :uid  give 
to  them  this  my  ring,  by  the  which  they  shall  well  undei-stand  that  I  have 
taken  your  cause  frcnn  them  into  mine  own  hand.  This  ring,  they  well  know, 
I  use  for  no  other  purpose  but  to  call  matters  from  tlie  Council  into  mine  own 
hands,  to  be  ordered  and  determined."  Cranmer  having  received  tlic  ring, 
humbly  thanked  his  Majesty,  and  withdrew  for  tlie  night. 

Next  morning,  and  by  eight  o'clock,  a  message  arrived 
from  the  Privy  Council  requiring  Cranmer's  attendance.  It 
was  immediately  obeyed,  but  when  the  Primate  made  his  ap- 
pearance in  the  ante-room,  he  was  not  permitted  to  proceed 


1545.]  HIS   ENEMIES   COVKRKD    WITH   SHAMK.  177 

anv  lartlior.  There  he  was  kept  waitiiio-,  aniono'  servants  and 
ushers,  nearly  an  hour,  while  other  members  of  Council  were, 
in  the  meantime,  passing  both  in  and  out.  Fortunately, 
Ralph  Morrice,  the  Archbishop's  secretary,  was  with  him  ;  and 
indignant  at  this  treatment,  he  slipt  oft",  and  informed  a  warm 
friend  of  his  master.  Dr.  William  Butts,  the  King's  phy- 
sician. He  first  came,  and  once  witness  to  the  fact,  proceed- 
ed to  the  royal  presence.  Having  informed  his  Majesty 
what  a  strange  thing  he  had  seen.  What  is  that  ?  said  Henry. 
"  My  Lord  of  Canterbury,"  replied  the  physician,  "  if  it 
please  your  Grace,  is  well  promoted  ;  for  now  he  has  become 
a  lackey  or  a  serving  man  ;  for  yonder  he  hath  stood  this  half 
hour  at  the  Council  Chamber  door  among  them." — "  It  is  not 
so,"  said  Henry ;  "  the  Council  hath  not  so  little  discretion 
as  to  use  the  metropolitan  of  the  realm  after  that  sort !  But 
let  them  alone ;  it  is  Avell  enough — I  shall  talk  with  them 
by  and  bye." 

At  length  Cranmer  was  called  in.  Their  Lordships  then 
informed  him  that  great  complaints  were  made  of  him,  both 
to  the  King  and  to  them ;  that  he,  and  others  by  his  permis- 
sion, had  filled  the  land  with  heresy ;  and,  therefore,  it  was 
the  royal  pleasure  that  he  should  stand  committed  to  the 
Tower,  there  to  await  his  trial  and  examination.  As  a  Privy 
Counsellor,  the  Primate  first  demanded  that  his  accusers 
should  be  immediately  called  before  him,  using  many  argu- 
ments against  their  proceeding  to  such  extremity  ;  but  all  was 
in  vain — he  must  go  to  the  Tower,  "  Then,"  said  Cranmer, 
"  I  am  sorry,  my  Lords,  that  you  drive  me  to  this  exigent, 
to  appeal  from  you  to  the  King's  Majesty,  who  by  this  token 
(holding  up  the  ring,)  hath  resumed  this  matter  into  his  own 
hand,  and  dischargeth  you  thereof."  The  royal  signet  once 
delivered,  produced  more  than  its  usual  effect ;  the  Council 
were  amazed,  and  the  first  man  who  broke  silence  was  Lord 
John  Russell,  afterwards  Earl  of  Bedford  : — "  When  you  first 
began  this  matter,  my  Lords,  I  told  you  what  would  come  of 
it.  Do  you  think  that  the  King  will  suffer  this  man's  finger 
to  ache  I  Much  more,  I  warrant  you,  will  he  defend  his  life 
against  brabbling  varlets  !  You  do  but  cumber  yourselves  to 
hear  tales  and  fables  against  him.  T  know,  right  well,  that  the 
King  would  never  permit  my  Lord  of  Canterbury  to  have  such 
a  blemish,  as  to  be  imprisoned,  unless  it  were  for  high  treason." 

VOL.    II.  M 


17H  HENRY    ADDRESSINU   HIS   PKIVY    COUNCIL.      QbOOK  II. 

Tlii.s,  liowever,  was  no  time  for  confabulation.  The  Coun- 
sellors, to  a  man,  must  rise  instantly,  and  carry  both  the  ring 
and  the  cause  into  the  royal  presence.  Henry,  of  course,  was 
now  fully  ready  for  them. 

"  Ah,  my  Lords,  I  thought  that  1  had  had  a  discreet  and  wise  Council,  but 
now  I  perceive  that  I  am  deceived.  How  have  you  handled  here  my  Lord  of 
Canterbury  ?  What  msvke  ye  of  him  ?  A  slave  ? — shutting  him  out  of  the 
Council  Chamber  among  serving  men  !  Would  ye  be  so  handled  yourselves  ? 
I  would  ye  should  well  understand,  that  I  account  my  Lord  of  Canterbury  as 
faithful  a  man  towards  mc,  as  ever  was  prelate  in  this  realm,  and  one  to  whom 
I  am  many  w.ays  beholden,  by  the  faith  1  owe  unto  God,  (laying  his  hand  upon 
his  breast,)  and,  therefore,  whosoever  loveth  me,  will  upon  that  account 
regard  him." 

Something  must  be  said  in  reply,  when  Norfolk  answered  for  himself  and  his 
fellows  : — "  We  meant  no  manner  of  hurt  unto  my  Lord  of  Canterbui-y,  in 
that  we  requested  to  have  him  in  durance  ;  which  we  only  did,  that  he  might, 
after  liis  trial,  be  set  at  liberty  to  his  greater  glory."  Henry,  however,  was  not 
to  be  befooled,  and  only  added — "  I  pray  you,  use  not  my  friends  so  :  I  per- 
ceive now  well  enough  how  the  world  goeth  among  you.  There  remaineth 
malice  among  you,  one  to  another ;  let  it  be  avoided  out  of  hand,  1  would 
advise  you."l7 

His  Majesty  immediately  departed,  when  all  the  accusing 
gentlemen,  so  stern  of  late,  are  said  to  have  shaken  hands, 
hypocritically  enough,  with  Cranmer,  who  was  to  be  troubled 
no  more,  after  this  fashion,  for  above  seven  years  to  come. 

It  has  been  thought  difficult  to  say  whether  Henry,  over- 
persuaded  by  this  junto,  was  at  first  in  earnest,  and  afterwards 
changed  his  resolution  ;  or  Avhether  he  took  this  method  to 
check  the  forwardness  of  the  Archbishop*'s  enemies  ;  but  let 
this  have  been  as  it  may,  who  does  not  see,  and  in  the  King''s 
own  language,  a  hideous  picture  of  the  past  ?  Here  was  the 
base  manner  in  which  many  precious  lives  had  been  sacrificed. 
The  Council,  stript  of  its  disguise,  by  its  own  Sovereign,  ex- 
hibits a  shocking  spectacle  ;  but  above  all,  what  can  be  said 
as  to  the  character  of  the  Monarch  himself,  who,  in  amazement 
at  Cranmer's  simplicity,  was  perfectly  familiar  with  the  un- 
principled cruelty  of  his  own  Ministers  ?    "  Do  you  not  know," 


'7  Strype,  Foxe.  Though  this  stranRc  affair  Jerives  not  a  little  point  from  the  time  and 
circumstances  in  which  it  occurred,  it  has  been  frequently  misplaced.  Strype,  in  his  Life  of 
Cranmer,  placing  it  in  l.")44,  and  Burnet  in  l.'>4()— from  both  of  whom,  others  have  copied.  It  is 
fixed  by  the  death  of  Suffolk,  and  that  of  Dr.  Uutts.  Archbishop  Parker  informs  us  that  the 
Duke  had  died  but  a  short  time  hi/ore,  and  we  have  seen  the  part  which  the  King's  physician 
acted.  He  had  been  knighted  by  Henry  VIII.  before  this,  and  dying  on  the  l/th  of  November 
1.54.1.  lies  interred  in  Fulliam  Church.  The  scene  must  have  occurred,  therefore,  in  September 
or  October  of  that  ve.ir. 


1545.]  LKCTURINU    HIS    I'AKLIAMKNT.  179 

said  Henry,  "  tluit  irhen  they  hate  you  once  in  prison^  three 
or  tour  false  knaves  will  soon  be  procured  to  witness  against 
you  V  Such,  no  doubt,  on  many  a  melancholy  occasion,  had 
been  the  tender  mercies  of  both  King  and  Council. 

Having  thus  schooled  his  Prhy  Council^  by  the  close  of  the 
year  his  Majesty  felt  no  less  disposed  to  lecture  his  Parlia- 
ment. We  have  already  heard,  from  the  Lord  Chancellor 
himself,  what  was  the  miserable  state  of  Henry's  finances  ; 
we  have  seen  Parliament  strain  every  nerve,  and  even  exceed 
their  powers,  in  trying  to  improve  them  ;  and  as  there  was  no 
subject  which  made  its  way  so  directly  to  the  royal  heart,  as 
that  of  pecuniary  supplies,  the  King  professed  to  be  uncom- 
monly pleased  with  his  most  compliant  House.  He  had, 
indeed,  no  idea  of  blotting  out  from  his  style,  the  monosylla- 
ble "  France ;"  but  by  this  time,  there  is  not  only  no  more 
loft}^  pretensions  to  that  crown,  but  he  very  frankly  charac- 
terises the  adverse  turn  which  the  war  had  taken — "  not  for 
our  pleasure,  but  your  defence ;  not  for  our  gain,  but  to  our 
great  cost.''''  Still  the  whole  House  had  done  its  utmost,  and 
since  they  had  laid  at  his  feet  all  the  Universities,  as  Henry 
had  no  intention  of  levelling  to  the  dust  either  Cambridge  or 
Oxford  ;  after  taking  full  credit  to  himself  for  being  a  "  trusty 
friend, ""  a  "  charitable  man,"  a  "  lover  of  the  public  wealth,"" 
and  "  one  that  feared  God,"  he  proceeds — 

"  Now,  since  I  find  sucli  kindness  on  your  part  towards  me,  I  cannot  choose 
but  love  and  favour  you,  affirming  that  no  prince  in  the  world  more  favoureth 
his  subjects  than  I  do  you,  nor  any  subjects  or  commons  more  love  and  obey 
their  Sovereign  Lord,  than  I  perceive  you  do  me,  for  whose  defence  my  treasure 
shall  not  be  hidden,  nor,  if  necessity  require,  shall  my  person  be  unadventured !" 

The  way  being  thus  smoothed,  his  Majesty  proceeds  to 
reprimand  the  whole  House,  and  nothing  will  satisfy  him 
short  of  exposing  to  the  public  eye  what  he  thought  of  them 
all,  as  a  body.  If  any  benefit  was  to  accrue  to  posterity,  from 
Henry's  own  opinion  before  quitting  the  stage,  he  now  gives 
it ;   and  the  pith  of  his  address  must  not  be  withheld. 

He  commences  with  quoting  Scripture,  and  his  text  is 
"  Charity  is  gentle.,  charity  is  not  envious.,  charity  is  not  proud, 
and  .so  forth  in  that  chapter."  But  he  had  seen  malice  in  his 
Privy  Council,  and  now  saw  it  in  Parliament,  whether  Lords 
or  Commons.  Clergy  or  Laity. 


180  IIKNKVS   LAST    ADDRKSS   TO    PARLIAMENT.        [nOOK   M. 

"  noliold,  tlit'ii,  wliat  love  and  cliarity  tliero  is  aiimiif^st  you — 1  sec  and  Iioar 
daily  tliat  voii  of  the  Ci.kkuy  preach  one  against  another,  teacli  one  contrary  to 
another,  inveigh  one  against  another,  without  cliarity  or  discretion — Alas  !  how 
can  the  poor  souls  live  in  concord  when  you  prcaehei-s  sow  among  them,  in 
your  sermons,  strife  and  discord  ?  They  look  for  light,  and  you  bring  them 
into  darkness.  Amend  these  crimes,  I  exiiort  you,  and  set  forth  God's  Word, 
both  by  true  preaching  and  good  example  giving ;  or  else  I,  vliom  God  linth 
appointed  liis  Vicitr  and  high  minister  here,  will  see  those  divisions  extinct, 
and  these  enormities  con-ected,  according  to  niy  very  duty  ! 

"  Yet  you  of  the  temporality  be  not  clean  and  unspotted  of  malice  and  envy 
— And  although  you  bo  permitted  to  read  Holy  Scripture,  and  to  have  the  Word 
of  God  in  your  mother  tongue,  you  must  understand  it  is  licensed  you  so  to  do, 
only  to  inform  your  own  consciences,  and  to  instruct  your  cliildren  and  family. 
I  am  very  sorry  to  know  and  hear  how  imrevei'ontly  that  most  precious  jewel, 
the  Word  of  God,  is  disputed,  rhymed,  sung,  and  jangled,  in  every  ale-house 
and  tavern,  contrary  to  the  true  meaning  and  doctrine  of  the  same." 

Old  John  Foxe  cannot  permit  his  Majesty  to  escape  with 
such  credit  as  he  would  here  arrogate  to  himself.  "  Charity 
and  concord  in  Commonwealths,  be  things  most  necessary  ; 
but  in  matters  of  religion,  charity  and  concord  be  not  enough, 
without  verity  and  true  worship  of  God.  And  wherein  con- 
sisteth  all  this  variance,  but  only  because  God''s  word  hath 
not  its  free  course,  but  that  those  who  set  it  forth  are  con- 
demned, and  therefore  burned  V  "  How  are  they  permitted  to 
liear  God's  word,  when  no  one  is  permitted  to  read  it  (as  far 
as  Parliament  had  enjoined,)  under  the  degree  of  a  gentle- 
man f^  Truth  and  error  he  regarded  "  as  two  mighty  flints 
smiting  together,  whereupon  cometh  out  the  sparkle  of  this 
division,"  and  "  there  is  no  neutrality,  nor  mediation  of 
peace,  nor  exhortation  to  agreement,  that  will  serve  between 
these  two.'"' 

Parliament,  of  course,  durst  not  reply — "  Physician,  heal 
thyself;"  but  such  language  from  such  lips,  has  seldom  if 
ever  been  equalled.  Some  may  conjecture  that  Cranmer  must 
have  helped  his  Majesty  to  several  of  his  expressions  ;  but  if 
this  was  indeed  Henry's  own  unaided  production,  as  he  him- 
self distinctly  intimates,  could  we  obliterate  from  our  minds 
all  the  cruelty  and  wrong,  all  the  reckless  and  unprincipled 
despotism  of  the  past,  then  might  we  suppose  that  this  was 
merely  the  last  exchange  of  civilities  on  the  part  of  a  benig- 
nant monarch,  concluding  the  whole  with  his  final  and  faith- 
ful counsel.  But  as  the  past  cannot  be  forgotten,  and  the 
speaker  has  yet  another  year  to  live,  then  does  the  language 
aft'ord  a  display  of  the  superlative  deceitfulness  of  the  human 


lotC]  WAR  AVITII   SCOTLAND.  181 

heart,  equal  to  any  in  English  history.  There  was  evidently 
as  niiioh  need  as  ever  for  the  dying  prayer  of  Tyndale — 
"  Lord  !  open  the  eyes  of  the  King  of  England  ;''  for  this 
exhorter  of  other  men  to  "  gentle  charity,"  was  himself  not 
yet  done  with  the  shedding  of  blood  !  not  yet  done  with 
breathing  after  the  blood  of  the  living,  nor  with  expressing 
his  enmity  towards  the  original  translator  of  what  he  now  had 
styled  "  that  most  precious  jewel  the  word  of  God  !"  Such 
blindness  in  any  man  as  to  himself,  is  deeply  instructive,  and 
forcibly  reminds  one  of  the  language  of  another  King — "  His 
own  iniquities  shall  take  the  wicked  himself,  and  he  shall  be 
holden  with  the  cords  of  his  sins.  He  shall  die  without  in- 
struction, and  in  the  greatness  of  his  folly  he  shall  go  astray." 
To  all  this,  the  last  year  of  Henry's  life  will  lend  but  too 
ample  illustration. 


SECTION  IX. 

WAR     ■\VITU     SCOTLAND PEACE     AVITH    FRANCE     AND    SCOTLAND ENGLAND 

EXHAUSTED    AS    THE    RESULT    OF    WAR PERSECUTION    REVIVED ANNE 

ASKEW HER  HEROIC  CONDUCT  UNDER  ILLEGAL  PERSECUTION SHOCK- 
ING CRUELTIES  INFLICTED — HER  MARTYRDOM,  ALONG  WITH  THREE  OTHER 
INDIVIDUALS LATIMER  STILL  IN   PRISON ENMITY  TO  ENGLISH  BOOKS. 

THE    IMPOTENCE    OF     HUMAN    MALICE THE    SUPPLICATION     OF     THE    POOR 

COMMONS THEIR    GRIEVANCES TUNSTAL     AND    HEATH     EXPOSED THE 

QUEEN    IN    DANGER — GARDINER   IN    TROUBLE — NORFOLK    AND    HIS    SON, 

SURREY,  ARRAIGNED DUKE  OF   NORFOLK    AND  HIS  FAMILY EXECUTION 

OF    SURREY NORFOLK     DOOMED    TO    DIE,    AND     ONLY    ESCAPES    BY     THE 

DEATH  OF  THE  KING  HIMSELF — HENRY  AND  HIS  COURTIERS — HENRY, 
FRANCIS,  CHARLES RETROSPECT. 

Notwithstanding  Henry's  earnest  exhortation  to  "  gentle, 
unenvious,  and  humble  charity,"  only  a  few  days  since,  the 
Monarch  pursued  a  course,  from  which  he  never  swerved,  to 
his  dying  hour ;  but  the  miserable  condition  into  which  he 
had  now  brought  the  kingdom  requires  first  to  be  explained. 

Down  to  the  month  of  June,  England  was  still  embroiled  in  war  both 
with  France  and  Scotland.  To  the  latter  we  blightly  alluded  in  1544  ; 
but  as  this  war  had  proved  so  illustrative  of  the  personal  character  of 
his  Majesty,  it  demands  a  slight  review,  and  more  especially  after  his 
oration  to  Parliament. 


182  ^VAK    WITH    SCOTLAND.  [buOK  II. 

Kvor  since  the  (iisaiJiKjinlinent  at  York  in  not  meeting  with  James 
V.  Ilcury  hail  bnrncd  with  rage  against  Cardinal  Beaton.  Hit  charac- 
ter was  certainly  bad  enough  ;  but  whatever  may  be  said  of  it  elsewhere, 
wc  have  now  to  do  with  that  of  Henry  the  Eighth. 

Ui)on  the  Earl  of  Hertford  first  proceeding  to  Scotland  in  1.544,  the 
following  language  is  to  be  found  in  the  commission  then  given  to  him 
by  the  King,  of  which  previous  historians  were  not  aware. 

"  You  arc  there  to  put  all  to  fire  and  swonl  ;  to  burn  Edinburgh  town,  and 
to  raijc  and  deface  it,  when  you  liave  sacked  it,  and  gotten  wliat  you  can  out  of 
it  ;  as  that  it  may  remain  for  ever,  a  lueniory  of  the  vengeance  of  God  alighted 
upon  it,  for  their  falsehood  and  disloyalty  !  Do  what  you  can  out  of  hand,  and 
without  long  tarrying,"  (as  he  was  going  to  France,)  "  to  beat  down  and  over- 
throw the  Castle,  sack  Holyroodliouse,  and  as  many  towns  and  villages  about 
Edinburgh  as  ye  conveniently  can.  Sack  Leith,  and  burn  and  subvert  it,  and 
all  tlie  rest,  vutting  man,  wuunin,  and  child  to  fire  and  sword  without  exception, 
when  any  resistance  shall  be  made  against  you  !  This  done,  pass  over  to  the 
Fife  land  and  extend  like  extremities  and  destructions  in  all  towns  and  vil- 
lages wlu^reunto  yc  may  reach  ;  not  forgetting  amongst  all  the  rest,  so  to  spoil 
and  turn  upside  down  the  Cardincd^s  town  of  St.  Andrew's,  as  the  u}<per  stone 
may  be  the  nether,  and  not  one  stick  stand  by  another,  sparing  no  creature  (dive 
within  the  same,  specially  such  as  either  in  friendship  or  blood  be  allied  to  the 
Cardinal.     This  journey  shall  succeed  most  to  his  Majesty's  honour.''^ 

Shocking  in  the  extreme  as  were  these  instructions,  it  will  be  remem- 
bered that  the  Castle  of  Edinburgh  had  defied  Hertforu.  ^le  never 
reached  St.  Andrews  ;  and  for  the  honour  of  humanity,  it  may  be  hoped 
that  the  heart  of  man  revolted  at  literal  obedience  to  these  dreadful  in- 
structions ;  but  great  as  was  the  misery  inflicted,  it  did  not  equal  that 
which  awaited  other  parts  of  Scotland  in  1545,  or  last  year. 

For  months,  however,  before  Henry  once  more  vented  his  vengeance 
on  the  country,  he  breathed  with  ardom*  after  the  death  of  Beaton,  by 
any  means,  foul  or  fair  ;  and  the  prospect  of  reward  from  his  exchequer, 
however  exhausted,  had  begun  to  operate.  The  Earl  of  Cassillis,  as 
early  as  May  last,  1545,  had  written  to  Sir  Ralph  Sadler,  Avho,  with 
Tunstal  and  the  Earl  of  Hertford,  formed  the  Council  of  the  North.  In 
this  letter  he  very  deliberately  made  "  an  offer  for  the  killing  of  the 
Cardinal,  if  his  Majesty  would  have  it  done,  and  would  promise,  when 
it  were  done,  a  reward  !"  In  the  guilt  of  such  a  nefarious  proposal, 
Henry's  Northern  Council  felt  no  scruple  in  bearing  a  share,  by  im- 
mediately transmitting  the  letter  to  Paget,  his  Majesty's  Principal  Secre- 
tary ;  and  what  was  the  answer  from  Greenwich  by  the  30th  of  May, 
to  the  Earl  of  Hertford  ? 

«'  His  Majesty  hath  willed  us  to  signify  to  your  Lordship,  that  his  Highness 

I   llamilloii  MS-  recently  bioiiplil  In  lin'it  '"'  •'^'"■.  Tytlcr. 


154.6'.]  WAR   WITH   SCOTLAND.  183 

reputing  the  fact  not  meet  to  be  set  forward  expressly  by  his  Majesty,  will  not 
seem  to  have  to  do  in  it  ;  and  yet  nut  midikin<j  the  offer,  thinketh  good  that 
Mr.  Sadler,  to  whom  that  letter  was  addressed,  should  write  to  the  Earl,  (Cas- 
sillis)  of  the  receipt  of  his  letter  containing  such  an  offer,  which  he  thinketh  not 
convenient  to  be  connnunicated  to  the  King's  Majesty  !"  (this  had  been  already 
done,  and  here  is  his  reply  !)  "  To  write  to  him  what  he  thinketh  of  the  mat- 
ter, he  shafl  say,  that  if  he  were  in  the  Earl  of  Cassillis's  place,  and  were  as 
able  to  do  his  Majesty  good  service  there,  as  he  knoweth  him  to  be,  and  think- 
eth a  right  good  will  in  him  to  do  it,  he  would  surely  do  what  he  could  for  the 
execution  of  it  :  believing,  verily,  to  do  thereby  not  only  an  acceptable  service 
to  the  King's  Majesty,  but  also  a  special  benefit  to  the  realm  of  Scotland  ;  and 
would  trust  verily,  the  King's  Majesty  would  consider  his  service  in  the  same  ; 
as  you  doubt  not  of  his  accustomed  goodness  to  them  which  serve  him,  but  he 
would  do  the  same  to  him  !"2 

To  say  nothing  of  the  falsehood  and  prevarication  practised  through- 
out, it  appears  that  every  movement  in  this  deliberate  purpose  of  mur- 
der, long  carried  on,  was  directed  by  the  King  personally.  Hertford 
made  no  scruple  in  writing  to  him  direct,  and  was  never  left  without  a 
reply  ;  while  not  fewer  than  twenty  individuals  were  involved  with 
Henry  in  the  same  condemnation.  They  not  only  entered  cordially 
into  the  nefarious  project,  but  gloried  in  the  idea  that  they  were  doing 
God  service.-'  Sadler,  in  particular,  the  mouth-piece  of  his  royal  Mas- 
ter, made  no  scrujile  in  speaking  out  boldly.  He  is  writing  in  July  to 
Crichton,  the  proprietor  of  Brunstain  Castle,  near  Edinburgh.* 

"  I  am  of  your  opinion,  and,  as  you  write,  think  it  to  be  acceptable  service  to 
God  to  take  him  out  of  the  way.  Albeit  the  King's  Majesty,  whose  gracious 
nature  and  goodness  I  know,  will  not,  I  am  sure,  have  to  do  nor  meddle  with  this 
matter  touching  your  said  Cardinal,  for  sundry  considerations  ;  yet  if  you  could 
so  work  the  matter  with  those  gentlemen  your  friends,  which  have  made  that 
offer,  that  it  may  take  effect,  you  shall  undoubtedly  do  therein  good  service  to 
God  and  to  his  Majesty  !  Wherefore,  like  as  if  I  were  in  your  place,  it  should 
be  the  first  thing  I  would  earnestly  attempt — so  I  shall  give  you  mine  advice,  to 
travel  in  the  same  effectually  with  the  said  gentlemen,  and  to  cause  them  to  put 
the  matter  in  execution  ;  assuring  you  that  I  know  the  King's  Majesty's  honour, 
liberality,  and  goodness  to  be  such,  (which  also  is  not  unknown  to  you,)  as  you 
may  be  sure  his  Majesty  will  so  liberally  reward  them  that  do  his  Highness 
honest  service  as  they  shall  have  good  cause  to  be  contented.  And  if  the  execu- 
tion of  this  matter  do  rest  only  upon  the  reward  of  the  King's  Majesty,  I  pray 
you  advertise  me  what  reward  they  do  expect  ;  and,  if  it  be  not  unreasonable, 
I  will  undertake  it  shall  he  paid  immediately  tipon  the  act  executed,  though  I  do 
myself  bear  the  charge  of  the  same  !  "5 


-  Gov.  State  Papers,  v.,  p.  44!).  3  Besides  tlic  King,  we  find  ten  nublcincn,  three  knislits, 

several  commoners,  and  the  two  Bishops,  Gardiner  and  Tunstal,  (ttt  alike  conversant  with  the 
affair.     Sec  the  State  Papers,  vol.  v. 

■f  Brunstain  Castle,  between  Kdinburgh  and  Musselburgh,  now  tenanted  by  a  private  family, 
and  then  the  patrimonial  tesidence  of  the  Crichtons,  was  at  a  later  period  occiipicd  by  J<ihn 
Jhike  of  Lauderdale.  5  Gov.  State  Pajiers,  v.,  p.  471. 


IS-l.  WAK    WITH    SCOTLAND.  QbuuK  II. 

An  Englibhnum  imuicd  Thomas  Forstcr  had  already  been  despatched 
by  Sadler  to  the  Earl  of  Cassillis  and  Sir  George  Douglas  ;  and  from  the 
latter  he  brought  back  the  following  message — "  That  if  the  King  would 
have  the  Cardinal  ikad,  if  his  Grace  would  promise  a  good  reward  for 
the  doing  thereof,  so  that  the  reward  were  known  what  it  should  be,  he 
thinketh  that  that  adventure  would  be  proved."" 

To  (juote  such  language  is  no  pleasing  task,  and  we  may  well  for- 
bear ;  but  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  we  have  now  before  us  above 
twenty  men,  with  his  Majesty  of  England  at  their  head,  like  "  a  troop 
of  robbers  waiting  for  a  man,  to  murder  him  in  the  way  by  consent  ;" 
and  yet  this  is  the  very  same  King  who,  after  all  this,  had  the  face  to 
come  forward  and  complain  of  "  malice"  in  his  Privy  Council,  and  want 
of  "  charity"  in  his  Parliament  I 

Meanwhile,  and  before  Ilenry  can  obtain  his  wishes,  the  Earl  of  Hert- 
ford must  enter  Scotland  once  more.  At  the  head  of  an  army,  consist- 
ing not  only  of  English,  but  a  great  many  mercenary  troops,  Irish  and 
Spaniards,  Gemians,  and  even  Italians,  the  Earl  began  to  move  on  the 
5th  of  September.  After  destroying  the  abbeys  of  Kelso,  Dryburgh, 
and  Melrose  ;  plundering,  by  fire  and  sword,  every  village  and  farm, 
castle,  or  mansion,  on  the  beautiful  banks  of  the  Tweed,  the  whole 
country  had  become  a  desert  !  When,  without  a  farthing  to  pay  the 
troops,  and  their  own  victuals  being  entirely  spent,  the  army  was  ob- 
liged to  return.  Hertford,  in  exultation,  wrote  to  his  royal  Master 
that  more  damage  had  been  done  by  fire  in  Scotland,  than  had  been 
done  for  the  last  hundred  years.  In  describing  the  hoiTors  of  war,  the 
Earl  on  his  way  homeward  must  discourse  "  such  music  as  might  suit 
the  Sovereign's  ear." 

"  Yesterday,  in  the  morning,  sending  the  horsemen  along  the  watci-s  of  Kaile 
and  Bowbent,  ( Bowmont,)  they  forrayed,  bmnit,  and  wasted  a  gi'eat  part  of 
East  Teviotdale  ;  and,  for  the  better  execution,  I  sent  with  them  100  Irishmen, 
because  the  Borderers  will  not  willingly  burn  their  neighboiu's.  Marching 
with  the  army  towards  Wark,  we  burnt  and  devastated  the  country  on  our  way 
three  or  four  miles  on  each  hand,  cast  down  sundi-y  piles  and  stone  houses,  and 
burnt  and  destroyed  such  a  deal  of  corn,  as  well  in  towns  and  hing  in  the  fields, 
as  also  hid  in  woods  and  caves,  that  the  Scots  .say  themselves  that  they  received 
not  half  so  much  loss  and  detriment  by  the  last  jomniey  that  was  made  to  Edin- 
burgh as  they  have  done  by  this." 

"  Surely  the  country  is  very  fair,  and  so  good  a  corn  country,  and  such  plenty 
of  the  same,  as  we  have  not  seen  the  more  plenteous  in  England.  Undoubtedly 
there  is  burnt  a  wonderful  deal  of  corn  ;  for,  by  reason  that  the  year  hath  been 
so  forward,  they  had  done  much  of  their  harvest,  and  made  up  their  corn  in 
stacks  about  their  houses,  or  had  it  lying  in  sliokcs  in  the  fields,  and  none  at  all 
left  unshorn.  18  tiep.  The  burning  whereof  can  lie  no  little  impovcri.shmcnt  to 
them,  besides  the  burning  and  spoil  of  their  houses.     When  the  journey  is 


"  (iov.  Slate  Papers,  v.,  )>.  iKJ. 


lotO".]  PEACE  WITH   FRANCE    AND  SCOTLAND.  185 

ended,  we  sliall  make  unto  your  Majesty  a  full  declaration  of  the  whole  that 
hath,  or  shall  be  done  in  the  same."  7 

Some  idea  may  be  formed  of  all  this  misery,  when  it  is  stated,  that  by 
the  23d  of  September,  they  had  burnt,  razed,  and  destroyed,  in  the 
counties  of  Berwick  and  Roxburgh  alone,  7  monasteries  and  friaries  ; 
16  castles,  towers,  and  piles  ;  5  market-towns,  243  villages  !  13  mills,  and 
3  hospitals.  The  Scots,  in  retaliation,  had  been  doing  what  damage 
they  could  in  the  north-east  parts  of  England  ;  though  the  raids  of  the 
Scots  could  by  no  means  prove  so  wasteful  as  i\ie  forrays  of  the  English. 

September  thus  spent,  by  the  6th  and  the  20th  of  October  it  comes 
out  that  the  project  for  murdering  Beaton  had  been  resumed,  at  the 
very  period  when  Henry  was  reproving  malice  in  his  own  Privy  Council ; 
and  though  the  Scotish  Cardinal,  by  his  cruelty  and  persecution,  raised 
up  other  enemies  in  his  own  country,  and  fell  at  last  as  the  immediate 
result  of  another  quarrel,  which  we  must  not  here  anticipate,  still  the 
transactions  of  this  period  bear  immediately  on  the  characters  of  both 
Henry  and  his  ministers.^  Upon  his  Majesty  coming  down  to  Parlia- 
ment with  his  last  oration,  Hertford  and  Sadler,  Wriothesly  and  Paget, 
Gardiner  and  Tunstal,  with  all  the  rest,  were  present.  To  say  nothing 
of  their  being  accomplices,  what  must  they  have  thought  of  him,  when 
he  bui'st  forth  and  read  the  whole  House  a  lecture  ujaon  charity  ? 

It  was  in  the  beginning  of  June  this  year  (1546)  that  Henry  was  at 
last  informed  of  the  murder  of  Beaton,  on  Saturday  morning  the  29th  of 
May,  in  his  castle  of  St.  Andrews  ;  but,  worn  out  with  this  doiible  and 
expensive  war  into  which  he  had  plunged  his  country,  he  had  begun  to 
long  for  peace.  Negotiations  had  commenced,  indeed,  in  April,  when, 
after  "  long  debating,  and  divers  breaches,"  peace  was  concluded  with 
France.  The  Emperor  was  comprehended  by  both  Princes,  and  Scot- 
land also  was  included,  if  no  new  occasion  were  given — the  latter  being 
in  fact,  a  hollow  and  crafty  clause  to  serve  for  the  fvitui'e  ;  but,  to  France, 
peace  was  as  welcome  as  to  England. 

It  was  professedly  agreed  that  Francis  should  pay  to  Henry  the  arrears 
of  pension  due  by  the  treaty  of  1525  ;  that  commissioners,  mutually 
appointed,  should  sit  in  judgment  on  a  claim  of  debt  due  to  England  of 
512,022  crowns;  that,  eight  years  hence,  the  King  of  England  should 
receive  2,000,000  of  crowns,  as  a  compensation  for  arrears  of  pensions,  and 
the  charges  of  repairing  and  preserving  Boulogne,  which  was  to  be 
restored  to  France. 

In  the  foolish  hope  that  this  treaty  was  to  be  literally  fulfilled,  the 
peace  was  now  proclaimed  in  London,  and  with  great  solemnity,  on  the 
13th  of  June.     It  deserves  notice  merely  on  account  of  an  incident  per- 


7  tJov.  State  PapciB,  v.,  p.  523. 

'' !5f c  the  scene  iii  the  Trivy  Council,  under  last  year.  pp.  17-1.  >/"■ 


186  ENGLAND  EXIIAUSTKD  [UOOK  II. 

fcctly  characteristic  of  Henry  after  his  wars  were  ended.  Un  this  occa- 
sion, the  richest  silver  crosses,  and  the  finest  embroidered  copes,  collected 
from  the  different  churches  in  London,  were  displayed  ;  but,  the  sight 
onco  over,  it  had  proved  too  much  for  the  envious  eye  of  our  ever-need- 
ful monarch.  They  were  to  grace  processions  no  more  !  This  was  the 
last  time.  His  subjects,  who  ought  to  have  been  more  cautious  of  dis- 
playing their  finery,  might  have  anticii>ated  the  result  ;  for,  soon  after, 
the  whole  of  these  splendid  decorations,  as  well  as  the  plate  belonging  to 
the  churches,  were  ordered  to  be  deposited  in  the  royal  treasury  and 
wardrobe,  Henry  assigning  no  other  reason  than  his  will  and  pleasure. 
This,  however,  was  a  mere  trifle,  caught  in  passing.  If  we  desire  to  know 
the  true  state  of  things  once  more,  we  may  again  first  inquire  what  my 
Lord  Chancellor  was  saying,  now  that  his  Majesty  had  finished  his  royal 
game.  For  above  two  years  past  he  had  sought  diversion,  both  by  sea 
and  land,  and  made  the  sorrows  of  mankind  his  sport. 

The  reader  will  not  forget  how  much  Parliament  had  done  for  the 
King  last  December,  and  for  which  he  had  stretched  a  point  and  came 
down,  first  to  thank  the  House,  and  then  charge  all  present  with  such 
lack  of  charity  ;  but  now,  nine  months  after,  Wriothesly  is  in  no  better 
humoiir  than  before. 

"  As  for  money,"  says  he  to  the  Privy  Council  on  the  4th  of  September,  "  all 
the  shift  shall  be  made  that  is  possible,  but  yet  the  store  is  very  small.  The 
contribution  cometh  very  slowly  in,  which  we  shall  help  with  letters  if  it  amend 
not.  The  Mint  is  drawn  dry,  and  much  owing  for  bullion.  The  rest  allege 
that  they  have  little,  but  they  shall  have  little  rest  unless  we  see  they  bestir 
them  as  appertaineth."  Three  days  after  this — "  We  cannot  yet  recover  the 
money  of  the  Mayor  and  City  of  London,  due  for  corn,  wherewith  to  pay  the 
labourers  at  Boulogne.  We  caused  ^5000  to  be  deUvered  to  the  Admiralty 
yesterday  for  the  alleviation  of  the  King's  Majesty's  charges  that  way."  Only 
three  days  later,  or  the  1 0th — "  As  touching  the  calling  on  the  JIayor  of  Lon- 
don (Sir  Martin  Bowes)  for  the  money  due,  wc  shall  not  fail  to  call,  and  cry  till 
we  get  it." — "  The  Exchequer  is  closed  up,  and  will  help  with  nothing  till  the 
term  come."  9 

Day  after  day  Wriothesly  sings  the  same  soug  ;  and  a  fortnight  later, 
or  on  the  25th  of  September,  he  is  thus  joined  by  Paulet  and  Gardiner 
in  writing  to  the  Council  with  the  King  : — "  Mr.  Coferer  hath  declared 
to  us  this  day  his  great  lack  of  money  for  the  King's  Majesty's  hougehold ; 
alleging  that  there  is  owing  at  this  day  above  twelve  thousand  pounds, 
besides  two  thousand  six  hundred  pounds  to  be  paid  this  Michaelmas 
for  wages,  which  men  look  certainly  to  receive  herein."  In  short,  they 
add — "  if  the  conduits  be  stopped,  wc  shall  be  driven,  of  necessity,  to 
tarry  for  the  water  !"^^ 

When  Michaelmas-Even  was  come,  to  which  they  had  alluded,  Wri- 

9  Gov.  .'^tatc  Papers,  i.,  jip.  RM,  8C1.  W>:.,  H7«  '"  Idem,  i.,  H7n. 


154().]]  OF  HER   RESOURCES.  187 

othcsly  was  thcu  in  as  great  a  passion  as  ho  dared  to  utter,  for  he  was 
writing  in  reply  to  Paget,  the  King's  Secretary. 

"  With  our  answer  to  your  sti-auge  lettei*s  I  have  thought  meet  to  require 
you  to  consider  that,  travailing  liere,  as  we  do,  in  tilings  displeasant  to  all  men 
whom  we  call  before  us,  and  devising  how  things  may  be  answered,  which  must, 
of  necessity,  be  dispatched,  tliis  kind  of  writing  was  no  small  discomfort  to  us 
all,  whereby  all  our  good  will  seemeth  to  be  otherwise  taken  than  we  trust  we 
have  or  shall  dfserve.  What  this  matter  of  money  importeth  you  know,  and 
how  slowly  it  cometh  in,  do  we  what  we  can.  Even  now  we  be  advertised  by 
Sir  John  Gresham  that  he  shall  not  bo  able,  from  the  allum  and  fustians,  to  pay 
Barth-Compain,  but  he  must  have  £2000  by  warrant.  And  in  February  we 
have  £80,000  to  pay,  which  must  be  provided  for,  or  your  credit  will  bo  in  dan- 
ger. It  must  be  made  of  your  half-yeai''s  rent,  the  tail  of  the  Contribution,  and 
some  help  of  the  Mint,  for  the  subsidy  is  not  payable  till  Easter,  and  the  '  fif- 
teenths' after.  My  Lord  Great  Master  lacketh  for  victualling,  and  a  great  many 
poor  men  in  England  would  be  holpen  that  have  delivered  their  victuals  lon<j 
since,  and  remain  yet  unpaid  ?  I  write  this  to  you  as  to  myself,  that  you  may 
the  rather  weigh  things  thoroughly  :  and  remember  that  all  things  must  in 
time  be  foreseen,  or  else  it  may  chance  you  shall  lack  suddenly,  even  when  you 
would  fainest  have.  Would  to  God  the  King's  Majesty  had  a  sure  present — to 
rid  us  in  this  mean  time  of  some  of  our  care."  n 

Such  expressions  are  far  more  significant  of  the  real  state  of  things 
than  any  general  description  iu  modern  language  ;  but  still  they  convey 
no  full  idea  of  the  extent  of  that  expense  and  misery  into  which  the 
Monarch  had  now  plunged  his  kingdom.  The  storm  he  had  raised  be- 
sides was  merely  abated,  not  finished  ;  and  although  the  King  of  Eng- 
land be  about  to  die,  as  well  as  the  King  of  France,  the  burden  which 
the  former  entailed  on  his  son  and  successor,  Edward  VI.,  must  be  taken 
into  account  before  we  can  judge  of  the  merits  or  demerits  of  Henry 
VIII.  when  acting  as  his  0W7i  Minister. 

If  we  only  glance  at  his  Majesty's  oj:)erations  as  a  financier,  we  refer 
to  a  department  entLrely  his  own  ;  and  in  the  adulteration  of  the  coin 
we  see  a  series  of  measures  which  could  only  have  been  pursued  in  obe- 
dience to  royal  dictation.  It  was  a  course  of  proceeding  by  which,  at 
every  step,  Henry  at  once  defrauded  the  public,  created  commercial  em- 
barrassments innumerable,  and  involved  his  successors  on  the  throne  in 
serious  diiEculties  long  after  he  was  gone.  At  his  accession  the  ounce 
of  gold  and  the  pound  of  silver  were  worth  forty  shillings  each.  By  his 
successive  proclamations  they  were  raised  to  forty-four,  forty-five,  and 
finally  to  forty-eight  shillings.  Contriving  also,  by  apremiimi,  to  collect 
the  old,  he  issued  a  new  coinage,  with  no  small  proportion  of  alloy  ;  and, 
once  begun,  he  had  gone  on  debasing  it,  till,  at  this  moment,  after  such 
a  ruinous  war,  the  alloy  exceeded  the  silver  in  the  proportion  of  (wo  to 
one  !    And  what  were  the  results  to  his  successors  ?     The  nominal  value 


fiov.  iStatc  Papers,  i.,  HRl>,  8HI. 


188  rilK   UKSULTS  OF  WAR.  [hook  ii. 

of  his  shillings  h:ul  to  be  iciluced,  first  to  nim;  jicuce,  then  to  six  pence, 
and  finally  to  be  withdrawn.  The  corruptions  which  he  had  introduced 
into  English  coia  were  not  rooted  out  till  the  reign  of  Elizabeth  ! 

Base  as  these  operations  were,  they  still  but  very  partially  explain 
the  extent  of  Henry's  powers  ;  who,  after  all  this,  had  come  down, 
and  told  Parliament,  when  taking  leave  of  it  for  ever — "  that  no 
prince  in  the  world  more  favoured  his  subjects  than  he  did."  Even 
since  1542,  the  indelible  marks  of  his  favour  had  cost  his  subjects,  for 
naval  and  military  expenses  alone,  a  sum  equal  to  more  than  thirty-two 
millions  of  our  present  coin.  To  this  must  be  added,  the  amount  in 
which  he  involved  his  son  by  this  war  with  France,  and  this  cannot  be 
estimated  at  less  than  another  million  then,  or  fifteen  millions  more. 
But,  to  crown  all,  what  shall  we  say,  when  only  three  years  after,  or  in 
January  1550,  Henry  the  Second  of  France  not  only  disdained  to  fulfil 
the  treaty  his  father  had  signed,  and  to  pay  the  sums  to  which  he  had 
agreed ;  but  even  the  pensions  alluded  to  before,  must  no  more  be 
mentioned  in  his  treaties  ?  So  far  from  any  mutual  umpires  sitting  to 
judge  respecting  debt  due  to  England,  the  two  millions  of  crowns  for- 
merly specified,  have  now  sunk  down  to  a  fifth  part  of  the  sum,  and 
Boulogne  must  be  restored,  on  payment  of  the  last  item  of  200,000 
crowns  !  Thus,  all  the  blood  and  treasure  spent  by  his  IMajesty  to 
secure  a  yearly  tribute,  in  lieu  of  his  foolish  pretension  to  a  foreign 
crown,  were  spent  in  vain  ;  and  Edward  was  left  with  the  word  France 
in  his  style,  and  stamped  upon  his  father's  debased  coin,  as  an  ex- 
pressive and  disgraceful  memorial  to  himself  and  to  posterity,  of  the 
closing  years  of  Henry  VIII.^- 

In  days  of  old,  when  in  trying  circumstances,  a  despised  state-prisoner 
once  tendered  his  advice  to  a  Roman  centiu'ion — "  Nevertheless,  the 
centurion  believed  the  master  and  owner  of  the  ship,  more  than  those 
things  which  were  sjioken  by  Paul."  And  as  Paul  was  reputed  to  be  no 
judge  in  regard  to  the  weather  or  the  sea  ;  so  what,  it  must  have  been 
thought,  could  such  a  man  as  Tyndale  know  about  the  policy  of  govern- 


'2  The  late  war  with  France,  says  Lord  Herbert,  cost  Henry  £586,718  sterling,  and  the  kcep- 
iiiR  of  Boulogne  ,£755,it33,  or  £l,.'M2,.')51,  which  is  eqnal  to  above  20  millions.  Strype  and  Rapin 
affirm  that  the  warlike  expenses  of  Edward,  by  the  year  1549,  had  cost  him  ,£ I,a^6,61t7,  which, 
added  to  those  of  Henry,  would  make  £ifiV^),'2X\,  or  above  forty  millions.  But  in  strict  justice 
both  to  Henry  and  his  son,  these  statements  admit  of  some  correction.  Among  the  Domestic 
State  Papers,  hapi>ily,  we  have  one  authentic  document  on  this  subject,  tictailhifl.from  lM-2,  the 
entire  Military  and  Naval  expenses  incurred  by  Henry  VIII.  and  Edward  VI.  during  their  wars 
with  France  and  Scotland,  with  the  exi>enses  of  both  Calais  and  Boulogne  ;  and  at  the  close  we 
read, — "  The  sum  total  of  the  charges  contained  in  this  book,  i;{,4!M,47I,  l!)s.  5d. :  whereof  in 
the  time  of  the  late  King  £2, 134,7tt4,  12d.,  in  the  time  of  the  King's  Majesty  that  now  is 
£l,35C,fi87,  18s.  5d.  and  some  fraction  of  a  i)enny."  It  may  have  been  from  this  document  that 
Strype  took  his  sum  ;  but  the  MS.  embraces  the  charges  bri/ond  1.54!),  or  from  September  1.J42  to 
September  l.V)2.  It  is  grounded  on  this  manuscript  that  we  have  spoken  of  Henry's  expenses 
from  1542,  the  sum  of  £\',  1.14,7114  being  eiiual  to  £.'12,(121,760,  of  the  present  day.  On  the  same 
princii>le,  the  entire  amount  in  this  MS.  of  twenly-lhree  large  jiages,  will  be  £.')2,.'}72,07.i,  lis.  ."id. 
for  .Military  and  Naval  expenses. 


1540.]  THl<:   UKSULTS  OF  WAR.  189 

ment,  or  affairs  of  state  ?  As  in  the  former  case,  however,  so  in  the  lat- 
ter, it  would  have  been  well  for  Henry  VIII.  had  he  condescended  to 
listen  to  the  advice  given  to  him,  in  print,  sixteen  years  ago.  "  We," 
said  Tyndale,  "  having  nothing  to  do  at  all,  have  meddled  yet  in  all  mat- 
ters, and  have  spent  even  to  the  utter  beggaring  of  ourselves.  For  the 
Frenchmen,  as  the  saying  is,  of  late  days,  made  a  play,  or  a  disguising 
at  Paris,  in  which  the  Emperor  danced  with  the  Pope  and  the  French 
King,  and  wearied  them  ;  the  King  of  England  sitting  on  a  high  bench, 
and  looking  on.  And  when  it  was  asked,  why  he  danced  not,  it  was  an- 
swered, that  he  sat  there,  h^U,  to  pay  the  minstrels  their  wages  only  ! 
As  one  should  say,  we  paid  for  all  men's  dancing."  '^  This  war,  it  is 
true,  had  cost  Francis  also  no  small  sum  ;  but  his  son  refusing  to  fulfil  all 
previous  obligations,  there  was  no  choice  left  to  young  Edward.  He 
must  sustain  the  expense  of  his  father's  "  minstrels,"  and  could  only 
console  himself  with  the  reflection,  that  Calais  was  quite  sufficient  for  a 
landing-place  in  France.  By  and  bye  this  also  was  lost,  which  led  Mary 
to  say,  that  if  they  opened  her  body  after  death,  they  would  find  Calais 
written  on  her  heart.''' 

By  tliis,  the  evening  of  his  life,  it  might  seem  that 
nothing  was  now  wanting  to  complete  the  character  of 
Henry  the  Eighth  ;  a  character  which,  notwithstanding  all 
the  past,  it  was  customary  to  eulogise  at  the  moment,  and 
strange  to  say,  by  far  too  common,  to  soften  down,  or  even 
eulogise,  since.  Some  excuse  may  be  pled  for  such  writers  as 
Becon,  and  Udal,  and  Foxe,  who  stood,  as  it  were,  too  near  the 
object,  to  be  able  to  distinguish  and  define  it :  but  the  con- 
founding of  vice  and  virtue  in  human  character,  which  is  not 
a  venial  offence  against  historical  narrative,  should  certainly 
be  corrected  as  the  truth  comes  out,  so  that  some  fixed  opinion 
may  be  at  last  obtained.  Accordingly,  the  character  of  this 
Monarch  is  far  more  correctly  estimated  now,  than  it  has  been 
at  any  former  period ;  for  notwithstanding  all  the  verbiage, 
not  to  say  unconscious  errors,  which  have  been  printed  by 
some  historians  respecting  him,  the  stubborn  facts  of  his  reign 
preserve  a  uniform  and  awful  consistency  to  his  dying  hour. 
It  is  idle  to  listen  to  what  men  may  have  said^  now  that  we  have 


'3  Tyndale's  Practice  of  Prelates. 

i<  One  of  the  most  ridiculous  features  of  Henry's  pretensions  to  the  French  crown  was  this, 
that  it  had  become  jienal  to  give  Francis  his  own  title!  And  hence,  in  the  cud  of  next  year,  Ed- 
ward's Parliament  were  obliged  to  enact,  that  "  those  who  called  the  French  King  by  the  title 
of  Kinii  of  France,  were  not  to  he  esteemed  guilty  of  the  pains  of  transkiling  the  King's  authority 
or  titles  on  anv  other  !!" 


lyO  PERSECUTION    UKVIVED.  [bOOK  II. 

gained  access  to  tlie  Monarclfs  own  language,  and  almost  all 
that  he  did  or  sanctioned,  until  he  breathed  his  last  in  blood. 

Before  that  Henry  was  gratified  by  the  death  of  Beaton  at 
a  distance,  there  had  been  misery  contemplated,  of  a  darker 
hue  ;  and  after  it,  blood  was  shed  of  far  greater  value,  in  which 
the  Crown  and  certain  courtiers  were  immediately  concerned. 
Wriothesly  and  Gardiner  had  sat  at  the  Council  table,  advis- 
ing as  to  the  murder  of  the  Scotish  Cardinal ;  but  they,  with 
Bonner  and  Richard  Rich,  had  since  then  been  busy  with 
several  victims  nearer  hand,  and  under  their  own  eye. 

One  of  these  suggests  the  idea  that  there  must  be  a  climax 
in  human  depravity.  The  first  female  martyr  of  rank  or 
family,  tormented  and  burnt  to  ashes,  for  no  alleged  crime, 
save  stedfast  adherence  to  the  truth  of  Scripture,  is  liere 
referred  to  ;  and  if  justice  be  done  to  the  entire  narrative,  slie 
occupies  a  place  all  her  own.  Among  recorded  martyrs  in 
London,  she  had  but  one  predecessor,  and  this  was  John 
Fryth.  As  in  his  case  there  was  to  be  no  abjuration,  no  re- 
cantation of  the  faith,  nor  any  fear  of  the  enemy ;  so  it  was 
with  the  devout  and  determined  Anne  Askew. 

In  noticing  this  unprecedented  instance  of  female  faith  and 
fortitude,  it  must  be  remembered  that  for  about  twelve  years 
past,  the  reputed  heretic  had  been,  by  Parliament,  taken  out 
of  the  hands  of  the  Bishops  as  such,  or  the  Archbishop"'s  Court, 
so  that  the  case  could  not  now  resemble  the  course  pursued 
with  Fryth.  The  accused  party,  by  this  time,  if  any  regard 
were  to  be  paid  to  legal  enactments,  must  be  presented  on  the 
oaths  of  twelve  men,  before  any  imprisonment  could  ensue. '^ 
There  was  indeed  an  Inquest  in  London,  probably  a  standing 
one,  for  the  examination  of  the  accused ;  but  the  last  year  of 
Henry's  reign  was  to  carry  with  it  the  highest  possible  de- 
gree of  illegality,  and  of  Satanic  rage  against  the  Truth. 
Witness  the  following  narrative. 

Sir  William  Askew  of  Kelsey  in  Lincolnshire,  a  gentleman  of  family, 
had  two  sons,  Francis  the  eldest,  and  Edward,  who  was  one  of  his  Ma- 
jesty's  body-guard.'^      These  young  men  had  three  sisters.      The  eld- 


16  See  1534,  or  vol  i.,  pp.  403,  4i»4  ;  and  anno  1M4,  or  p.  167  of  this  volume. 

iG  "Whereas  I  am  informed  that  this  bearer,  Edward  Askew,  my  servanl,  son  unto  Sir 
William  Askew,  knight,  is  by  some  nobleman  preferred  unto  the  room  of  one  of  these  new 
spears  in  the  Court,  which  because  it  isdone  without  my  knowledge  and  his,  I  shall  beseech  yon 
my  Lord,  inasmuch  as  I  have  no  friend  to  sxie  unto  for  me  and  mine,  but  only  unto  your  Lord- 


15i0'.]  ANNE   ASKEW.  IfJl 

est  having  died,  after  her  father  had  ah'eady  advanced  money  in  pro- 
spect of  her  union  with  a  gentleman  of  opulence  in  the  same  county, 
Mr.  Thomas  Kyme  ;  Anne  the  second,  in  obedience  to  her  father's 
wishes,  was  married  to  him,  and  became  the  mother  of  two  children.'? 
Her  superior  natui-al  abilities  had  been  greatly  improved  by  education. 
The  English  Scriptures  engaged  her  serious  and  frequent  attention,  and 
the  result  was,  an  earnest  reception  of  the  truths  contained  in  them. 
Iler  husband,  a  devoted  adherent  of  "  the  old  learning,"  excited  by  such  a 
decided  change,  in  the  excess  of  his  passion  absolutely  drove  her  from 
his  house  ;  and,  thus  harshly  treated,  she  had  repaired  to  London  to  seek 
some  redress,  by  suing  for  a  divorce.  Through  her  brother  Edward,  she 
could  have  no  difficulty  in  being  introduced  to  those  of  her  own  sex  in 
the  Court  circle,  who  were  in  favour  of  the  Scriptures  ;  but,  by  whatever 
means  it  was,  she  became  known  to  them  all,  including  even  the  Queen 
herself.  It  was  not  long,  however,  before  one  so  ardent  in  the  faith  was 
ensnared  by  the  bloody  Statute,  or  Act  of  six  Articles  ;  and  Cranmer  was 
now  to  witness  a  series  of  proceedings  in  gi'oss  violation  of  the  bill  which 
he  had  carried  through  Parliament  two  years  ago. 

It  appears  to  have  been  on  Friday  the  12th  of  March,  that  this  heroic 
young  woman  was  first  examined  by  one  Christopher  Dare,  of  the  Lon- 
don Inquest,  at  Sadler's  hall,  Cheapside.  The  questions  put,  betrayed 
at  once  the  ignorance  of  her  examiner  and  Anne's  thorough  acquaintance 
with  the  sacred  Volume  ;  but  she  was  immediately  conveyed  to  the 
Lord  Mayor,  Sir  Martin  Bowes,  a  boisterous  devotee.'^  Bonner's  Chan- 
cellor, Thomas  Bage  alias  Williams,  was  there  to  record  what  passed. 
After  a  few  words  on  transubstantiation,  in  which,  by  her  replies,  his 
Lordship  was  made  to  look  very  foolish,  she  was  illegally  committed  to 
prison.19  She  offered  sureties,  but  he  would  take  none,  and  sent  her  to 
the  counter.  There  she  remained  eleven  days,  without  one  friend  being 
allowed  to  see  her.     At  last,  on  Tuesday  the  23d,  a  cousin,  Mr.  Brit- 


ship,  that  you  will,  at  this  my  request  bear  unto  him  your  lawful  favour  and  furtherance  in  the 
same  ;  assuring  your  Lordship,  that  he,  the  young  man,  is  of  a  very  (7f'n<i7  nature,  right  forward, 
and  of  good  activity,  sothatlthink  he  shall  be  meet  to  furnish  such  a  room,  and  to  do  to  the 
King's  Majesty  diligent  and  faithful  service."— CraHm«-  to  CrumwcU—tA  Forde  28th  December 
1.539.  MS.  Chapter-house.     This  refers  to  Henry's  personal  guard,  as  before  explained,  p.  !)3. 

1"  The  third  sister,  Jane,  was  married  first  to  Sir  George  St.  Paul,  and  then  to  Richard  Dis- 
ney, Esq.,  of  Norton  Disney,  ancestor  of  the  present  John  Disney,  Esq.  of  the  Hyde,  Essex. 

18  But  a  famous  man  in  his  day,  among  tlie  Goldsmith's  Company.  He  was  sub-treasurer  of 
the  Mint  under  both  Henry  and  Edward;  and  as  the  King  can  &o  no  wrong,  so  in  1.'50  was 
granted  to  him  a  jjurdon  of  all  treasons,  trespasses,  and  contempts  done  by  the  said  M.irtin  con- 
cerning the  money  and  coin  of  the  King's  Majesty  and  his  father's  before  the  date  of  these  pre- 
sents ;  and  of  all  iinjuxt  and  false  making  of  money  and  paymeids  of  the  same,  contrary  to  com- 
mon law,  or  any  statute,  act,  provision  or  proclamation.  See  Stri/pe's  Ecel.  Mem.  1550.  Such 
was  the  commentary  on  Henry,  the  original  offender,  and  cause  of  all  the  injustice  done.  Sir 
Martin  left  a  sum  for  an  Anniversary  Sermon  to  be  preached  in  St.  Mary,  Woolnoth,  where  the 
venerable  John  Newton  so  long  proclaimed  such  doctrine  as  the  poor  Mayor  never  heard.  Bowes 
lies  there  interred,  under  a  close  marble  tomb. 

19  Before  this  was  done,  by  the  Act  o/  1.'-|44,  she  ought  to  have  been  legally  presented  on  the 
oaths  of  twelve  men. 


\(\2  IIKUOIC    ("ONDUCT  [book  II. 

tayne,  was  admitted.     He  went  to  the  Lord  Mayor,  who  referred  him  to 
the  Bishop,  and,  next  day,  at  three  o'clock,  was  a])i)oiutcd  for  an  ex- 
amination before  Bonner.     The  Bishop  called  for  her  at  one,  but  this 
noble-minded  woman  would  never,  from   first  to  last,  submit  to  any 
private   examinations,  by  any   individual  ;  and,  therefore,  declined  an- 
swering till  the  hour  appointed,  when  all  interested  would  l)e  present. 
While   waiting,  Bonner's  Archdeacon,  John  Wymmesly,  began  to  con- 
verse with  her  respecting  a  book  he  saw  in  her  hand.^*^     It  was  no  other 
than  one  of  Jo/ni  Fryth's,  for  Anne  had  nothing  to  conceal.     The  eye 
of  these  myrmidons  had  been  upon  her  for  some  time,  and  Bonner,  in 
full  possession  of  all  the  slander,  began,  when  the  hour  came,  by  urging 
her  to  know  "  wherein  her  conscience  was  burdened."     She  replied — 
"  My  conscience,  I  thank  God,  is  burdened  with  nothing — and  to  lay  a 
plaster  to  the  whole  skin,  it  might  appear  much  folly."     This  arch- 
hypocrite  then  pretended,  l)efore  her  friends  who  stood  ready  as  l)ail,  to 
be  driven  to  bring  forth  the  budget,  gathered  for  his  use  ;  and  to  which, 
(according   to    his    INIajesty's    already   expressed   persuasion,)    certain 
knaves  would  easily  be  found  ready  to  swear.     After  denying  the  first 
expressions  laid  to  her  charge,  having  never  uttered  them,  one  mighty 
offence  came  out.     She  had  on  one  occasion,  very  appropriately,  quoted 
those  sublime  words — "  The  Most  High  dvelleth  not  in  temples  made  with 
hands,""  and  this,  in  Bonner's  esteem,  militated  against  his  profane  figment 
of  transubstantiation !  The  Inquest,  she  owned,  had  asked  her — "  whether 
private  mass  did  relieve  souls  departed  V     "  To  whom  I  answered, 
"  0  Lord,  what  idolatry  is  this  !  that  we  should  rather  believe  in  pri- 
vate masses,  than  in  the  healthsome  death  of  the  dear  Son  of  God  !" 
Then  said  Bonner,  "  what  an  answer  is  that  1"     "  Though  it  be  but 
mean,"  said  she,  "  yet  is  it  good  enough  for  the  question."    The  Bishop 
then  upbraided  her,  for  having  reported  that  there  were  "  bent  against 
her  threescore  priests  at  Lincoln^    A  noble  testimony,  at  least,  to  Anne's 
zeal  and  fortitude  in  her  own  county.     "  Indeed,"  she  replied,  "  I  said 
so.     For  my  friends  told  me,  if  I  did  come  to  Lincoln,  the  priests  would 
assault  me,  and  put  me  to  great  trouble,  as  thereof  they  had  made  their 
boast :  and  when  I  heard  it,   I  went  thither  indeed,  not  being  afraid, 
because  I  knew  my  matter  to  be  good.     Moreover,  I  remained  there 
nine  days,  to  see  what  Avould  be  said  unto  me.     And  oa  /  was  in  the 
Minster  reading  upon  the  Bible,  they  resorted  unto  me  by  two  and  two, 
by  five  and  six,  minding  to  have  spoken,  yet  went  they  their  ways  again 
without  words  speaking.     There  was  one  of  them  at  last  who  did  speak 
to  me  indeed  ;  but  his  words  were  of  small  effect,  so  that  I  do  not  now 
remember  them."     Bonner,  who  was  as  holy  in  his  own  estimation,  as 
his  Majesty  himself,  replied — "  There  are  many  that  read  and  know  the 


-0  This  Wvmmoslv.  ali.is  Suvaiii'.  was  a  natural  hrotlicr  of  Bonner's. 


l.')4.6.]  OF   ANNE   ASKEW.  193 

Scripture,  who  live  not  accorJiug  to  it,"  which  was  at  least  a  confession 
that  the  readers  were  numerous.  At  the  close,  a  written  declaration  was 
offered  for  subscription.  "  I  believe,"  said  Anne,  "  so  much  thereof  as 
the  holy  Scripture  doth  agree  unto  ;  wherefore  I  desire  you,  that  ye 
will  add  that  thereunto."  They  add,  she  wrote — "  I,  Anne  Askew,  do  be- 
lieve all  manner  of  things  contained  in  the  faith  of  the  Catholic  Church." 

Bonner  was  far  from  being  satisfied  ;  but  said,  "  she  might  thank 
others,  and  not  herself,  for  the  favour  found  at  his  hand  ;  as  he  consi- 
dered she  had  good  friends,  and  also  came  of  a  worshipful  stock."  Still, 
however,  to  show  his  spite,  he  remanded  her,  to  appear  at  Guildhall  next 
day  ;  nor  would  this  suffice,  for  the  day  after,  or  the  26th,  she  must 
also  appear  at  St.  Paul's.  He  had  now  finished,  and  the  bail-bond  being 
granted,  so  ended  her  first  examination.^' 

After  this,  three  months  had  not  elapsed  when  this  young  lady,  of 
about  twenty-five,  must  be  again  molested.  Her  appearance  now  wa^  not 
before  any  Bishops,  as  szic/i,  but  before  the  Privy  Council  at  Greenwich. 
It  was  on  Saturday  the  19th  of  June,  when  Mr.  Kyme,  as  well  as  his 
wife,  Avere  called  before  them.  Wriothesly  and  Rich,  Gardiner  and 
Tunstal,  the  Lord  Great  Master  of  the  King's  Household,  Paget  and 
Sadler,  with  six  others,  were  present  ;  but  Cranmer  was  not  here,  nor 
does  he  ever  appear  throughout.  Kyme  was  "  appointed  to  return  to  his 
country  till  he  should  be  sent  for  ;"  but  Anne,  "  for  that  she  was  very 
obstinate  and  heady  in  reasoning  of  matters  in  religion,  seeing  no  per- 
suasion of  good  reason  could  take  place,  was  sent  to  Newgate,  to  remain 
there  to  answer  to  the  law."^^ 

Her  next  examination  was  on  Friday  the  25th.  Upon  being  asked  as 
to  her  husband,  she  declined,  saying  that  the  Lord  Chancellor,  Wriothes- 
ly, already  knew  her  mind.  They  said  it  was  the  King's  pleasure  that 
she  should  now  open  that  matter.  She  answered,  "  she  would  not  do 
so  ;  but  if  it  were  the  King's  pleasure  to  hear  her,  she  would  shew  him 
the  truth."  They  said,  "  it  was  not  meet  for  the  King  to  be  troubled 
with  her."  She  replied,  "  Solomon  was  reckoned  the  wisest  King  that 
ever  lived,  yet  misliked  he  not  to  hear  two  poor  common  women  ;  much 
more  his  Grace  a  simple  woman,  and  his  faithful  subject." 

Wriothesly  then  inquired  as  to  the  sacrament.  "  I  believe,"  said 
she,  "  that  so  oft  as  I,  in  a  Christian  congregation,  do  receive  the  bread 
in  remembrance  of  Christ's  death,  and  with  thanksgiving,  according  to 
his  holy   institution,   I  receive   therewith  the  fruits  also  of  his  most 


21  It  was  printed  by  November  this  year,  at  Marburg  in  Hesse.  The  account  inserted  in 
Bonner's  Register  is  unquestionably  incorrect,  or  false,  not  only  as  to  the  substance,  but,  we 
have  presumed,  the  day  of  the  mouth,  viz.,  2(lth  of  March.  Its  only  value  consists  in  its  con- 
firininn  tlie  time  of  \.\\e first  examination.     This  was  in  March  1545  of  Oicir  year,  i.  e.  1546. 

22  Harl.  MS.  25fi,  fol.  224,  b.  The  seco)id  examination  was  printed  at  MarburR,  loth  .Tanuary 
I.MR. 

VOL.   11.  N 


HI4  ILI-K<iAI.    F'KltSECUTlON,  AND  SFl(K;KIN(t        [noOK  ii. 

glorious  jmssion."  Gardiner  then  toKl  her  to  f^ivc  a  direct  answer  ;  but 
Hhe  "  would  not  sing  a  new  song  in  a  strange  land  :"  on  which  he  re- 
torted that  she  spake  in  parables.  "  I  answered — it  was  best  for  him  ; 
for  if  I  shew  the  open  truth,  yc  will  not  accept  it."  He  then  said  she 
was  a  parrot  :  when  she  told  him,  "  I  am  ready  to  suffer  all  things  at 
your  hands,  not  only  your  rebukes,  but  all  that  may  follow  besides, 
and  that  gladly." 

The  Council  kept  her  before  them  for  five  hours,  and,  not  satisfied, 
next  day  commenced,  once  more,  with  the  sacrament.  Anne  replied, 
that  she  had  already  said  what  she  could  ;  after  which  they  put  her  aside 
to  confer  among  themselves.  The  Earl  of  Essex,  the  brother  of  the 
Queen,  with  Lord  Lisle,  and  Gardiner,  then  came  to  her,  requiring  that 
she  would  confess  the  sacrament  to  be  flesh,  blood,  and  bones  !  Lord 
PaiT,  the  uncle  of  the  Queen,  then  on  the  very  brink  of  the  grave,  was 
also  standing  by.  With  the  character  of  all  tfiese  men  Anne  was  well 
acquainted,  and  for  that  of  Gardiner  she  entertained  due  and  merited 
contempt.  To  the  Lords  Parr  and  Lisle,  therefore,  she  seized  that  oppor- 
tunity of  saying,  "  that  it  was  a  great  shame  for  them  to  counsel  contrary 
to  their  knowledge  ;"  but  with  Gardiner  she  declined  to  hold  any  separate 
conversation,  though  he  pressed  it.  He  had  said  that  he  would  speak 
with  her  familiarly.  She  replied — "  So  did  Judas,  when  he  unfriendly 
betrayed  Christ."  Then  he  desired  to  speak  with  her  alone  ;  Ijut  she 
pointedly  refused,  adding,  "  that  in  the  mouth  of  two  or  three  wit- 
nesses every  matter  should  stand,  after  Christ's  and  Paul's  doctrine." 
Matt,  xviii.,  16  ;  2  Cor.  xiii.  1. 

Wriothesly  once  more  began  the  oft-repeated  subject,  and  Gardiner 
followed,  by  saying  "  she  should  l)e  burned." — "  I  have  searched  all  the 
Scriptures,"  said  this  intrepid  woman,  "  yet  could  I  never  find  that  either 
Christ  or  his  Apostles  put  any  creature  to  death.  Well,  well,"  she  added, 
"  God  will  laugh  your  threatenings  to  scorn."  Paget,  the  King's  Secre- 
tary, Cox,  the  tutor  of  Edward,  and  a  Dr.  Robinson,  then  spoke  to  her  in 
succession  ;  but,  in  the  end,  she  was  sent  back  to  Newgate,  and  by  this 
time  very  unwell.  This  was  on  Saturday  the  26th  of  June.  "  Then  on 
the  Sunday,"  says  Anne  herself,  "  I  was  sore  sick,  thinking  no  less  than 
to  die  ;  therefore  I  desired  to  speak  with  Mr.  Latimer,  (still  in  the  Tower,) 
but  it  would  not  be  ; "  and  on  Monday  the  28th  she  once  more  had  to 
appear  at  Guildhall. 

By  Act  of  Parliament,  Anne  Askew  was  now  entitled  to  a  jury,  and  to 
have  challenged  any  one  of  them  ;  but  instead  of  this,  she,  with  two 
other  individuals,  were  at  once  condemned  for  the  denial  of  the  real  pre- 
sence ;  or,  in  the  language  of  the  contemporary  manuscript — "  On  Mon- 
day, Mrs.  Askew,  Christopher  White,  and  a  tailor,  (Adlam,  or  Adams,) 
who  came  from  Colchester  or  thereabout,  were  arraigned  at  the  Guild- 
hall,   and    received    their    judgment    of   my    Lord    Chancellor    (Wri- 


1.3^G.]  CRUELTIES   INFLICTED  ON   THIS  LADY.  195 

othesly)  and  the  Council,  to  be  burned,  and  so  were  committed  to  New- 
gate again."^^ 

Had  the  illegal  procedure  terminated  here,  it  would  have  been  bad 
enough  ;  but  the  brutal  servants  of  this  monarch  must  reach  the  climax 
to  which  we  have  alluded.  The  examinations,  tedious  and  frequent, 
were  now  supposed  to  be  over  ;  the  trial  was  ended,  and  Anne  had  been 
sentenced  to  the  ilames.  The  sentence  of  death  once  passed,  was  it  to 
be  imagined  that  examinations  of  any  sort  were  to  be  resumed  ?  But  so 
they  were  indeed.  Fifteen  days  after  Wriothesly  had  pronounced  sen- 
tence, he  must  degrade  himself  below  the  vilest  of  men.  On  Tuesday 
the  13th  of  July  Anne  was  taken  from  Newgate  to  the  Tower,  alter- 
nately the  Bastile  and  the  palace  of  Henry  the  Eighth.  Having  stopped 
first  at  the  sign  of  the  Crown,  there  Bonner  and  Richard  Rich,  that  tho- 
rough-paced persecutor,  awaited  her,  and  spent  their  flattery  in  vain, 
attempting  to  turn  her  from  the  truth.  Nicholas  Shaxton,  too,  having 
now  recanted  and  obtained  his  pardon,  also  came  and  presumed  to 
address  her.  After  many  faithful  monitions,  she  closed  by  saying — "  It 
had  been  good  for  him  never  to  have  been  born  !  "  Rich  then  sent  her 
on  to  the  Tower,  thus  affording  another  specimen  of  his  legal  views  ;  but 
at  thi'ee  o'clock  commenced  one  of  the  most  cruel  and  shameful  scenes 
on  record.  Rich,  by  that  hour,  had  followed  the  prisoner,  and  he  was 
accompanied  by  no  other  than  my  Lord  Chancellor  once  more.  Some 
device,  full  of  Satanic  malignity,  was  now  in  view.  They  began  by 
charging  her  to  name  any  man  or  woman  of  her  sect  that  she  knew.  In 
the  legal  sense  of  the  term  she  knew  none.  That  interesting  lady,  the 
Duchess-Dowager  of  Suffolk,  the  Countesses  of  Sussex,  Hertford,  and 
Southampton,  and  Lady  Denny  were  then  named  to  her  ;  when  she  replied, 
that  if  she  should  pronounce  any  thing  against  them,  (in  their  estima- 
tion,) she  could  not  prove  it.  They  then  said,  "  The  King  was  informed 
(by  themselves  or  Gardiner,  no  doubt)  that  she  could  name,  if  she  would, 
a  great  number  of  her  sect."  Here  was  employment  for  a  Lord  Chan- 
cellor and  a  Privy  Counsellor  after  sentence  of  death  had  been  pro- 
nounced !  But  Anne  only  replied — "  The  King  was  as  well  deceived  in 
that  behalf,  as  dissembled  with  in  other  'matters.'''' 

Thinking  to  discover  and  ensnare  the  ladies,  on  whom  their  eyes  were 
fixed,  they  then  tried  another  course.  Little,  if  any,  prison  allowance 
seems  to  have  been  granted  for  Anne's  support,  as  they  then  commanded 
her  to  show  how  she  had  been  maintained.  This  was  her  answer — "  As 
for  the  help  that  I  had  in  the  Counter,  it  was  by  means  of  my  maid.  For 
as  she  v^ent  about  in  the  streets,  she  nvxde  moan  to  the  prentices,  and  they  by 
her  did  send  me  money  ;  but  who  they  were  I  never  hiew'''     Ten  shillings 


23  Otwell  Johnson  to  his  brother,  2d  July.  See  also  MS.  Records  in  the  Tower.  Ellis's  Let- 
ters, sec.  ser.  ii.,  p.  177.  After  her  condemnation,  Anno  addressed  a  letter  to  the  King,  and 
another  to  the  Lord  Chancellor;  but  whether  the  former  was  ever  delivered  is  uncertain. 


196  CRUELTIES  INFLICTED  ON   THIS  LADY.  [book  II. 

had  been  sent  to  her  from  Lady  llcrhert,  and  eif^ht  from  Lady  Denny  ; 
but  as  these  examinators  could  not  reach  the  ladies,  the  gentlemen  came 
next ;  for  they  then  said,  (with  an  eye  to  Cranmer  or  some  other,)  "  there 
were  of  the  Council  that  did  maintain  her."     She  only  answered,  "  No." 

"  Then,"  says  the  heroic  sufforer  herself,  "  then  they  did  putnie  on  tlic  racA-, 
because  I  confessed  no  ladies  or  gentlemen  to  be  of  my  opinion,  and  tliereon 
tbcy  kept  me  a  long  time  ;  and  because  1  lay  still  and  did  not  cry,  my  Lord 
Clianccllor  and  Master  Rich  took  pains  to  rack  mo  inth  their  own  handg  till  1 
was  nigh  dead  !  Tlicn  the  Lieutenant  (Sir  Anthony  Kncvct)  caused  me  to  be 
loosed  ;  incontinently  I  swooned,  and  then  they  recovered  me  again.2-«  After 
that  I  sat  ticu  luiiij  hvurs,  I'easoning  with  my  Lord  Chancellor,  on  the  bare  floor, 
where  he,  with  many  flattering  words,  persuaded  me  to  leave  my  opinion.  Then 
was  1  brought  to  a  house,  and  laid  in  a  bed,  with  as  weary  and  painful  bones  as 
ever  bad  patient  Job." 

That  two  such  human  beings  should  have  been  found,  and  these  two 
sustaining  the  offices  of  Lord  Chancellor  and  a  Privy  Counsellor,  may 
appear  incredible  :  but  Rich,  as  we  have  seen  already,  had  shown  him- 
self, in  point  of  baseness,  capable  of  any  thing  ;  and  as  for  Wriothesly, 
it  is  in  vain,  after  this,  to  talk  of  his  general  character.  Burnet  allows 
that  he  was  "  fiercely  zealous  for  the  old  learning  ;"  and  Rapin  describes 
him  as  "  extremely  ambitious,  very  conceited  of  his  own  merit,  haughty, 
imperious,  and  very  angry  that  his  advice  was  not  always  followed — but 
he  showed  his  heat  and  passion  chiefly  on  occasion  of  religiovs  matters." 
The  entu-e  narrative  of  Anne  Askew  carries  with  it  such  verisimilitude, 
that  no  candid  reader  can  fail  to  perceive  that  far  more  agony  was  in- 
flicted, than  meets  the  ear.  Let  not  Henry  VIIL  therefore  sustain  more 
than  his  own  share  of  blame,  which  was  more  than  sufficient  for  a  mul- 
titude ;  though  "  if  a  ruler  hearken  to  lies,  all  his  servants  are  wicked  ;" 
but  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  when  the  King  was  informed  of  all 
this,  even  he  was  shocked  ;  and  Wriothesly,  as  well  as  Rich,  somewhat 
afraid  of  the  consequences.  The  reader  can  feel  no  surprise,  if,  soon  after 
this,  he  should  hear  Henry  designate  this  Lord  Chancellor  as  a  beast. 
Let  this  horrible  scene  serve,  in  part,  as  a  key  to  the  epithet.^^ 

Three  days  after  this,  or  on  the  16th  of  July,  the  tragedy  came  to  an 
end  !  The  entire  proceedings  had  fonned  one  continued  series  of  deeds 
of  darkTiess,  and  in  perfect  consonance  with  this  term,  instead  of  the 
morning  of  the  day,  as  usual,  they  deferred  the  execution  till  night-fall, 


2<  ' '  The  lady  hath  been  racked  since  her  condemnation,  as  men  say,  which  is  a  strange  thing  in 
my  understanding;  the  Lord  be  merciful  to  us  all!"  Otwell  Johnson,  2d  July,  as  formerly 
quoted. 

a*  By  his  Lord  Chancellor  indeed  the  King  was  repeatedly  provoked.  Thus  on  Wednesday, 
or  the  very  day  after  this  horrid  barbarity,  he  had  condemned  to  the  flames  a  gentleman  of  the 
King's  Privy  Chamber,  Sir  Geor<ie  niage,  who  had  been  committed  to  Newgate  only  on  Sunday 
last.  He  was  rather  a  favourite  of  Henry's,  and  the  tidings  having  reached  his  ear,  Blage  was 
saved,  and  went  immediately  to  the  royal  presence;  but  Wriothesly  had  greatly  offended  his 
royal  Master. 


1546.]       MARTVRDOM  OF  ANNE  ASKEW  AND  OTHERS.  197 

to  make  the  sight  more  territic.  Upon  a  bench,  apart  and  elevated,  sat 
this  man  Wriothesly  once  more  ;  his  Grace  of  Norfolk ;  John,  Lord 
Russell  ;  Bowes,  the  Lord  ]\Iayor,  and  others,  as  if  they  had  come  to  see 
a  pageant.  To  the  spot,  Anne,  her  bones  being  dislocated,  required  to 
be  carried  in  a  chair,  and  there,  in  the  gloom  of  night,  she  was  joined  by 
three  companions  ;  Mr.  Lascelles,  one  of  the  King's  household,  John 
Adams  from  Colchester,  ah-eady  mentioned,  and  a  priest  named  Belenian 
of  Otterdeu,  Avho  were  all  to  suffer.  Before  the  fire  was  kindled,  it  hav- 
ing been  whispered  that  gunpowder  was  to  be  employed  in  some  manner, 
several  of  these  cowards  sitting  on  high,  l)egan  to  be  afraid,  lest  the 
faggots  on  fire  should  come  whizzing  about  their  ears  ;  but  upon  Lord 
Russell  informing  them  that  the  gunpowder  was  not  deposited  under 
the  faggots,  but  attached  to  the  bodies  of  the  martyrs,  the  murderers 
sat  still. 

That  wretched  being,  strangely  named  Bishoj^  Shaxton,  who,  after 
seven  years'  confinement,  had  abjured,  stood  in  a  pulpit  on  the  scaffold, 
fronting  this  young  woman,  to  preach.  In  full  possession  of  her  mental 
powers,  Anne  listened,  and  whenever  he  uttered  any  sentiment  inconsist- 
ent with  the  Scriptures,  she  dissented.  "  There,"  said  she,  "  he  misseth, 
and  sjDeaketh  without  the  book."  Once  finished,  Wriothesly's  last  act 
followed,  that  of  presenting,  and  to  her  first,  the  King's  pardon,  if  she 
would  recant.  "  I  came  not  hither,"  said  Anne,  "  to  deny  my  Lord  and 
Master."  Iler  fellow-sufferers,  greatly  encouraged  by  her  fortitude  and 
firmness,  would  not  look  on  the  instrument  presented  for  their  accept- 
ance. Bowes,  the  ignorant  and  brutal  Mayor,  then  called  out  with  a 
loud  voice — "  Fiat  JvMitia  !"  and  the  flames  were  kindled. 

A  scene  more  disgraceful  to  the  persecutors  of  the  human 
mind,  had  never  before  occurred,  nor  one  in  which  the  power 
of  Divine  Truth  was  more  conspicuous,  A  weak  and  unpro- 
tected female,  abandoned  to  all  the  furv  of  the  enem}'^,  stood, 
like  a  pillar  of  brass,  while  other  men  were  proving  traitors  to 
the  cause,  and  falling  around  her.  On  the  day  before  her 
trial,  Crome  was  reading  his  recantation  in  public,  and  White, 
tried  on  the  same  day  with  herself,  had  also  failed  and  followed 
his  example.  As  for  Shaxton,  so  refuted  by  her,  only  a  few 
moments  before  she  went  to  the  immediate  presence  of  God, 
he  lived  for  ten  years  longer,  but  proved  a  miserable  character 
ever  after.  Lascelles,  who  suffered  with  her,  having  before 
that  night,  expressed  some  anxiety  respecting  her  constancy — 
"  O  friend,""  she  replied  in  writing,  "  most  dearly  beloved  in 
God — I  marvel  not  a  little  what  should  move  you  to  judge  in 
me  so  slender  a  faith  as  to  fear  death,  which  is  the  end  of  all 


198  MAHTVKUUM  OF   ANNK   ASKEW    AND   OTllKKS.     [booK  II. 

misery.  In  the  Lord,  I  dewire  you  not  to  believe  in  nie  such 
wickedness."  The  fact  was  that  Anne  Askew  was  in  such 
perfect  self-possession,  as  even  to  become  poetical  in  the  prison, 
amidst  all  the  rage  of  her  persecutors.  It  has  been  said  that 
she  actually  sang  her  stanzas  at  her  death ;  but  be  this  as  it 
might,  to  say  nothing  of  the  simple  beauty  and  sublimity  of 
the  sentiment ;  when  compared  with  the  rhyme  of  more  than 
a  century  later,  even  in  point  of  euphony,  they  appear  extra- 
ordinary. The  following  specimen,  in  which  Henry  and  his 
Council  occupy  no  enviable  place,  will  speak  for  itself. 

On  thee  my  care  I  cast,  Absorpt  was  righteousness, 

For  all  their  cruel  spite  ;  As  by  the  raging  flood  ; 

I  set  not  by  their  haste,  Satan,  in  his  excess, 

For  thou  art  my  delight.  Suck'd  up  the  guiltless  blood. 

I  am  not  she  that  ust  Then  thought  I,  Jesus  Lord  ! 

My  anchor  to  let  fall  When  thou  shait  judge  us  all, 

For  every  drizzling  mist ;  Hard  is  it  to  record, 

My  ship's  substantial.  On  these  men  what  will  fall — 

/  saw  a  Royal  throne,  Yet  Lord  1  thee  desire, 

Where  jiistice  should  hare  sit.  For  that  they  do  to  me. 

But  in  her  stead  was  one  Let  them  not  taste  the  hire 

Of  moody  cruel  v:it:  Of  their  iniquity. 

Before  the  flames  of  persecution  for  the  Truth's  sake,  were 
kindled  for  the  last  time,  under  this  reign,  the  only  thing  now 
to  be  desired  was  the  testimony  of  some  noble  martyr  to  the 
all-sufficiency  of  the  Sacred  Volume.  And  here  it  is  from  the 
pen  of  Anne  Askew,  before  she  suffered. 

"  Finally,  I  believe  all  those  Scriptures  to  be  true,  which  He  hath  confirmed 
with  his  most  precious  blood.  Yea,  and  as  St.  Paul  saith,  those  Scriptures  are 
sufficient  for  our  learning  and  sal  ration,  that  Christ  hath  left  here  icith  us  ;  so  that 
I  believe  we  need  no  unwritten  verities  to  rule  his  Church  with.  Therefore, 
look,  what  he  hath  said  unto  me  with  his  own  mouth  in  his  Holy  Gospel,  that 
have  I,  with  God's  grace,  closed  up  in  my  heart ;  and  my  full  trust  is,  as  David 
saith,  that  it  shall  be  a  lantern  to  my  footsteps." 

As  far  as  fire  and  faggot  were  employed,  so  ended  that  war 
of  opinion  under  Henry  the  Eighth,  which,  from  the  arrival 
of  Tyndale's  New  Testament  in  England,  had  now  lasted  for 
twenty  years.^^ 

sfi  One  artist  has  bcKun  to  pay  the  homage  due  to  this  the  highest  of  all  subjects;  leading  the 
way,  no  doubt,  to  other  efforts  of  the  pencil.— In  the  beautiful  historical  painting  by  Harvey  of 
Edinburgh,  now  finished,  "  The  fitfl  rctidhifi  o/lhf  Bii;r,K,  in  lli,'  Crypt  o/OM  St.  Paul's,  in  1540," 
just  before  the  downfall  of  Crumwell.  To  Muiimouth,  as  the  representative  of  Tvndai.k,  then 
gone  to  his  reward,  whom  he  had  bo  befriended,  has  bceu  given,  most  deservedly,  a  very  con- 
spicuous place.— Str  vol.  i.,  p.  IH/.  Munmoulli,  as  one  at  the  commencement,  and  the  intreiiid 
Aiinf  Afkrtv.  as  one  at  the  close  of  the  sufferers  under  Henry  VIII.,  lend  a  peculiar  charm  to 


LVU).]       THE  LAST  MAKTYRS  UNDER  HENRY.  19.9 

The  hardened  cruelties  of  the  monarch  are,  it  is  true,  not 
even  yet  at  an  end  ;  but  these  were  the  last  martyrs  under 
his  reign.  The  termination  is  very  observable.  To  these 
men  it  had  seemed  a  most  grievous  offence,  that  even  icomen, 
and  those  of  good  families,  had  begun  to  have  any  fixed 
opinions  gathered  out  of  Scripture  ;  and  it  was  therefore 
worthy  of  the  majesty  of  Divine  Truth,  that,  before  the 
tempest  ceased,  the  savage  fury  of  this  final  storm  should  be 
braved  by  a  female  mind  and  frame.  It  was  an  eminent 
instance  of  the  Alnn'ghty  choosing  the  feeble  things  of  the 
world  to  confound  the  things  that  were  mighty ;  and  that 
also,  just  before  his  blessed  Word  was  on  the  eve  of  being 
more  generally  circulated  and  read,  than  it  had  ever  yet  been.^ 


the  entire  gcpup,  here  listening  with  so  much  caserness  to  the  Word  of  Life.  This  picture,  now 
in  the  hands  of  the  London  engraver,  when  once  pubhshed,  cannot  fail  to  prove  an  appropriate 
household  ornament,  not  only  in  this  kinf;dom,  but  wherever  the  English  Bible  is  now  being 
read,  whether  at  home  or  abroad.  In  the  grand  battle,  however,  ;»-t'i(0!(.?/^  fought  and  won, 
there  is  yet  to  be  found  more  than  one  heart-stirring  scene,  worthy  of  the  pencil  of  our  highest 
artists.  It  is  now  more  than  time  that  Tvnd.vle  and  Fryth  in  England,  as  well  as  Ales  and 
Hamilton,  about  to  be  noticed  in  Scotland,  should  occupy  that  place,  whether  in  painting  or 
poetry,  which  ought  to  have  been  assigned  to  them  long  before  the  present  day,  in  the  sober 
prose  of  authentic  history. 

27  This  revolting  tragedy  has  proved  rather  an  awkward  subject  for  the  pen  of  Dr.  Lingard. 
In  his  first  edition,  he  had  said  of  Anne  Askew—"  She  was,  after  tvo  recantations,  condemned 
to  the  flames  by  the  same  Prelate,  (Cranmer  ■')  and  several  other  Bishops!"  Obliged  to  alter 
this,  in  his  fourth  and  last  edition,  after  alluding  to  her  case,  he  adds — "  Numerous  examina- 
tions followed ;  those  who  submitted  to  a  recantation,  were  remanded  to  prison  ;  the  more 
obstinate  were  sent  before  Ike  Eccltsiastical  Court,  of  which  the  Archbishop  was  itrobahly  the 
chief  judge  ;  and  t)ial  court  excommunicated  them  as  incorrigible  heretics,  and  delivered  them 
over  to  the  civil  power.  Among  the  former  were  Latimer  and  Crome  himself,  who  by  submis- 
sion escaped  the  flames  ;  the  sufferers  were  Askew,"  &c.  That  a  historian,  not  indisposed  to 
research  at  other  times,  should  make  the  first  assertion,  and  by  way  of  correction  substitute  the 
second  passage  in  explanation,  seems  to  force  upon  us  the  conclusion,  that  there  must  here  be 
some  secret  invincible  prejudice. 

It  was  too  much  to  expect  that  the  Doctor  should  appear  in  any  sense  as  a  lady's  man,  except, 
perhaps,  in  the  case  of  Catharine  Howard,  on  account  of  her  party  ;  but  we  have  a  right  to  look 
for  some  regard  to  impartiality,  when  he  refers  to  a  conscientious  martyr,  of  either  sex.  The 
double  recantation  has  been  given  up.  It  was  a  calumny,  which  Anne  repelled,  in  writing,  at 
the  moment.  "  As  the  Lord  liveth,"  said  she,  "  I  never  meant  a  thing  kss  than  to  recant," 
and  this  all  her  examinators  had  felt  ;  but  still  Lingard  is  extremely  reluctant  to  let  Cranmir 
go.  He  now  talks  ui  an  Eccksiaslical  Court,  of  which  Cranmer  probably  was  the  President  ! 
Forgetting  to  observe,  that  these  Bishops  were  not  now  standing  on  the  high  ground  they  too 
often  occupied  before  and  after.  The  hand  of  Crumwell  had  been  upon  them  in  1.')3j,  and  even 
that  of  Cranmer  in  1")44  ;  and  up  to  this  moment  no  suspected  heretic  could  le(jalty  be  brought 
before  any  Bishop,  as  in  former  days.  Mr.  Todd,  to  extricate  Cranmer,  repels  the  assertion  of 
Lingard,  by  referring  to  Bonner  as  the  Ordinary,  and  that  the  Archbishop  therefore  could  not 
descend  to  the  court  of  a  suffragan.  But  the  fact  was,  that  Anne  was  not,  as  in  former  days, 
called  before  a  suftVagan  court  at  all.  She  was  first  before  the  Inquest,  such  as  it  was,  for  even 
they  acted  illegally ;  and  of  this  Inquest  Bonner  was  merely  one  member ;  but  when  he  at- 
tempted to  insinuate  himself  personally,  the  heroic  martyr  treated  him  as  he  deserved  ;  and 
would  say  nothing  till  the  hour  fixed  for  all  others  to  be  present.  In  other  days,  Stokesly  be- 
fore, or  Bonner,  some  years  after,  would  have  sent  her  to  the  Coal-house,  or  Lollard's  Tower  ; 
but  at  this  moment  the  Bishops  were  muzzled.  It  was  the  Lord  Mayor  or  Inquest  who  com- 
mitted Anne  to  prison  under  the  first  examination  ;  and  the  Lord  Chancellor  acting  with  thf 
Privy  Council,  who,  under  the  second,  sent  her  to  Newgate  and  the  Tower.  These  were  the 
parties,  not  Bishops,  who  examined  and  condemned  her  to  the  flames.  It  is  true  that  as  Privy 
Counsellors,  two  Bishops,  and  only  two,  were  present ;  and  why  could  not  the  Dotlnr,  when  hp 


2(10  HUGH    LATIMER  [book  II. 

Althouiili  tliesc  four  wore  the  principal  individuals  now  put 
to  death  for  opinions  held,  those  gentlemen  of  the  Privy 
Council  had  been  extremely  busy  with  various  other  examina- 
tions.-" Besides  Crome  who  recanted  openly;  on  the  13th  of 
May,  say  they,  "  we  look  for  Latimer ;  for  the  Vicar  of  St. 
Bride''s,  {i.  e.  John  Taylor,  who,  eight  years  after,  suffered  at 
the  stake,)  and  some  others  of  those  that  have  specially  com- 
forted Crome  in  his  folly.'"-''  When  the  first,  or  by  far  the 
most  illustrious  of  these  appeared,  they  put  him  on  his  oath, 
as  to  his  intercourse  with  Crome,  and  presented  him  a  string 
of  questions,  which  he  was  to  answer  in  writing.  Latimer  re- 
tired, and  began  to  reply ;  but  he  had  not  proceeded  beyond 
two  or  three  queries,  when  the  Council  were  informed,  that, 
without  an  interview,  he  could  not  go  on.  Tunstal  of  Dur- 
ham, and  Sir  John  Gage,  the  comptroller,  were  then  deputed 
to  converse  with  him.  In  his  own  frank  manner,  he  told 
them  it  was  dangerous  to  answer  to  such  questions,  and  that 
the  course  pursued  was  more  extreme  than  it  would  have 
been,  if  he  had  lived  undei'  the  Turk.  Besides,  "  he  doubted 
whether  it  were  his  Majesty ""s  pleasure,  that  he  should  be 
thus  called  and  examined."  He  wished  to  speak  with  the 
King  himself,  before  he  made  farther  answer,  as  he  had  been 
once  deceived  in  that  way,  when  he  left  his  bishoprick.  It 
had  been  intimated  to  him,  by  Crumwell^  "  that  it  was  his 
Majesty's  pleasure  he  should  resign  it,  which  his  Majesty 


faw  their  names  in  the  manuscript  which  he  quotes,  have  rather  mentioned  Hum  ?  These, 
however,  were  Gardiiwr  and  Tunstal;  and  they  must  be  passed  over  in  silence,  in  order  to 
reach  Cranmcr  by  a  jirdbabilHii!  But  to  erect  an  Archbishop's  Court,  and  put  Cranmer  in  the 
cliair,  was  too  bad.  He  hail  quite  enouKh  to  answer  for,  in  the  deatli  of  Joan  Bochtr,  under 
the  next  rei^n  ;  but  the  present  far  nobler  martyr  was  the  victim  of  Gardiner's  and  Wriothesly's 
malice.    Cranmer  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  shockinp;  business,  from  beginning  to  end. 

It  is  curious  enough  to  see  the  caution  of  Dr.  Lingard  in  questioning  the  fact  of  Anne  having 
been  subjected  to  the  i-aek,  on  the  ground  of  its  ilU'ijaVilii  without  an  order  from  tlie  Council! 
and  tliat  under  a  Monarch  who  so  sported  with  law,  as  will  as  humanity  and  common  sense; 
with  a  Council  most  of  whose  members  were  so  virulent  and  cruel.  But  "  the  Archbishop's 
Court,"  having  had  no  existence  here,  we  have  nothing  but  the  Council  before  us,  by  whose 
authority  poor  Anne  was  tormented  from  first  to  last.  As  for  illegality,  the  steps  taken  from 
the  beginning  to  the  end,  were  in  the  face  of  two  Acts  of  Parliament,  one  in  1.53.5,  and  especially 
that  of  1.544.  This  last,  too,  was  carried  througb^l'arliament  by  Cranmer;  and  had  it  been 
obeyed,  the  life  of  Anne  Askew  bad  almost  to  acertainty  been  saved.  It  hajjpens  unfortunately 
for  the  Doctor's  last  edition,  that  he  has  made  what  was  incorrect,  still  more  so ;  while  not  satis- 
fied, he  must  now,  moreover,  defame  Latimer.  As  for  his  "  recanting,  and  so  escaping  the 
flames!"   be  will  come  before  us  presently. 

2"  According  to  Foxe,  there  was  one  other  martyr, — "  Like  as  Winchester ,  and  other 
bishops  did  set  on  King  Henry  against  Anne  Askew  and  her  fellow  martyrs,  so  Dr.  Repps, 
Bishii|>  of  Norwich,"  (a  successor  worthy  of  the  old  blind  Bishop  Nix,)  "  did  incite  no  less  the 
old  Duke  of  Niirfolk  against  one  Hoi/ers,  in  the  county  of  Norfolk;  but  within  half  a  year, 
both  the  King  himself,  and  the  Dnke's  house,  decayed." 

»9  Gov.  State  Papers,  i..  p.  H4'i. 


1546.]  UNDER    EXAMINATION.  ^'201 

a,iter  denied,  and  pitied  his  condition."'"'  In  tine,  "  he  thought 
tliere  were  some  who  had  procured  this  against  him  for 
malice ;"  and  then  he  named  Master  Gardiner,  the  J3ishop  of 
Winchester ;  specifying  two  instances  of  his  ill-will  in  former 
days  :  the  first  occurred  in  a  conversation  they  had  held,  in 
Henry ''s  presence ;  and  the  second  was  evident,  in  that  he 
had  icritten  to  Cnimicell  against  his  (memorable)  sermon  in 
the  Convocation  !  On  the  latter  he  dwelt,  as  a  grievous  proof 
of  malice.'''  By  this  time  Latimer  had  been  again  introduced 
before  the  Council,  when  Olardiner  immediately  replied,  and 
in  a  style  worthy  of  his  deep  hypocrisy.  "  I  declared  plainly,"" 
says  he,  "  how  much  I  had  loved,  favoured,  and  done  for  his 
person,  and  that  he  had  no  cause  to  be  offended  with  me  ! 
though  I  were  not  content  with  his  doctrine."'''  They  then 
repeated  Latimer"'s  allusion  to  Turkey — said  that  the  interro- 
gatories were  not  captious  ;  and  told  him  that  he  spoke  "  as 
though  no  credit  or  estimation  should,  now-a-days,  be  given 
to  his  Highnesses  Council  or  his  Highnesses  Ministers.'''' ^^  But 
all  was  to  no  effect.  Latimer,  indeed,  finished  the  writing  he 
had  commenced ;  but  they  were  then  obliged  to  report — "  for 
the  purpose,  we  be  as  wise  almost,  as  we  were  before  !"'"'  In 
the  afternoon  of  the  day,  they  remitted  him  to  Henry  Hol- 
beach,  then  Bishop  of  Worcester,  (originally  recommended  to 
the  King  by  Latimer  himself,)  who,  Avith  the  rest  of  the  doc- 
tors, and  in  the  elegant  language  of  the  Privy  Council,  were 
"  to  fish  out  the  bottom  of  his  stomach."'"'  But  as  far  as  all 
the  official  records  go,  they  had  fished  in  vain.''^  No  more 
mention  is  made  of  Latimer ;  and  although  Liugard  has 
chosen  to  say  that  he  now  recanted,  it  is  but  a  groundless  as- 
sumption. Once  indeed,  it  is  to  be  regretted,  he  did  subscribe 
certain  articles,  and  crave  forgiveness ;  but  this  was  fourteen 
years  ago,  and  the  days  of  recantation  were  with  him  long 
since  past.  Crome  had  fallen  a  second  time,  but  Latimer 
never  again  ;  on  the  contrary,  he  was  left  in  prison  nine 
months  longer.  Like  one  of  old,  who,  "  to  do  the  Jews  a  plea- 
se See  under  15.'i9,  \i.  68,  iiutc. 

31  Sec  what  a  watchful  eye  Gardiner  retained  over  England  wliile  in  Fiance.  No  wonder 
llian  he  diixlt  on  the  sermon.  It  was  now  ten  years  since  it  had  been  delivered,  and  as  a  ser- 
mon delivered  in  St.  Paul's,  addressed  to  bishojis,  it  stands  by  itself,  to  the  jiresent  day. 
•  iardiner  did  not  himself  hear  it ;  but  it  had  been  printed  in  Kniilish  after  its  delivery  in  Latin, 
and  must  have  rung  in  the  ears  of  these  men  for  many  a  day.  -Sv  vol.  i.,  pp.  4!)()-4f)I. 

-■'-  And  this  was  very  much  in  harmony  with  what  his  Majesty,  in  person,  had  already  told 
them.     What  he  had  said  to  Cranmcr  respecting  them  was  still  worse.     Sec  before,  pp.  I7f!  17;) 
■''••'  Hov.  State  Papers,  i.,  pp.  a4«  84f). 


202  KNMITV    TO    KN(iLIHH    HOOKS.  [BOOK   U. 

sure,  left  Piiul  bound  ;""  .so  perliap.s  to  please  others,  Henry 
loft  this,  the  most  faithful  subject  of  his  realm,  in  the  Tower. 
At  least  this  much  is  certain,  that  to  the  man  whom  he  had 
so  courageously  warned  in  1530,  Latimer  was  not  to  be  in- 
debted for  deliverance  from  durance  vile ;  so  that  every  thing 
conspired  to  tinge  with  a  darker  shade  the  evening  of  that 
monarch's  life.  On  Sunday  the  20th  of  February  1547,  or 
the  day  on  which  Edward  was  crowned,  a  general  pardon  was 
granted  to  all  prisoners,  except  Norfolk,  Pole,  and  Courtney, 
the  eldest  son  of  the  Marquis  of  Exeter,  at  home  ;  and  Throg- 
morton  and  Pate  abroad.  It  was  then  that  Latimer,  released 
from  his  honourable  imprisonment  of  more  than  six  years, 
went  to  Lambeth,  to  live  for  some  time  privately,  under  Cran- 
mer's  roof.'* 

In  the  very  midst  of  all  this  fixed  enmity  to  moral  worth, 
there  was  still  time  found  for  Henry  to  vent  his  final  malice  to 
the  dead,  as  well  as  the  living;  and  among  them  all,  special 
reference  must  be  made  to  by  far  the  greatest  benefactor  of  his 
reign — William  Tyndale.  It  seems  to  have  been  for  the  ex- 
press purpose  of  lending  additional  terror  to  the  night  in 
which  Anne  Askew  and  her  companions  were  to  illuminate 
Smithfield,  by  being  consumed  in  the  flames,  that  a  proclama- 
tion had  been  devised  and  issued  against  books.  Authorised 
by  the  King's  name,  it  was  dated  the  8th  of  July,  just  eight 
days  before  the  martyrs  were  burnt. 

"  From  lienceforth  no  man,  icumaii,  ox*  person,  of  what  estate,  condition,  or 
degree,  he  or  tliey  be,  (to  reach  the  highest  ladies  or  gentlemen  about  the 
Court,)  shall,  after  the  last  day  of  August  next  ensuing,  receive,  have,  take,  or 
keep  in  his  or  their  possession,  the  text  of  the  New  Testament  of  Ti/ndafe's  or 
L'oTi-rdale'f,  nor  any  other  than  is  pei-mitted  by  the  Act  of  Parliament  made 
in  the  session  of  the  Parliament  holden  at  Westminster  in  the  thirty-fourth  and 
thirty-fifth  year  of  his  Majesty's  most  noble  rcign.35  Nor,  after  the  said  day, 
shall  receive,  have,  take,  or  keep,  in  his  or  their  possession,  any  manner  of 


•■"  Tliere  is,  however,  reason  to  suppose  tliat  the  Vicar  of  St.  Bride's  recanted  three  months 
after  this.  At  Iciust  Wriotlu  »ly  and  Gardiner,  on  the  lOth  of  September,  tell  the  Privy  Coun- 
cil,— "  It  may  like  your  Lord8hi))s  to  declare  to  the  KiiiR's  Majesty  that  Dr.  Taylour,  upon 
further  conference  with  Mr.  Shaxton,  hath  subscribed  all  Mr.  Shaxton's  articles.  He  was 
never  indicted;  whereupon  he  is  put  to  liberty,  with  bond  not  to  depart  from  LonAon."— State 
Fiipers,  i.,  p.  Wi6.  The  editor  there,  indeed,  supposes  this  to  have  been  Tailour,  afterwards 
Bishop  of  Lincoln  ;  hut  from  what  we  have  related,  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  John  Tay- 
lour, aliiif  Cardmaker,  the  Vicar  of  St.  Bride's  since  November  154.'1,  is  the  person  now  referred 
to.  See  ff'iioci's  Fatti,  by  Bliss.,  p.  !>2,  or  Bonner's  Register.  He  died  at  the  stake,  however, 
on  the  .3()lh  of  May  1555. 

•"'■'>  As  this  rarliamcnt  sat  from  .lanuary  to  May  1.142,  it  embraced  both  years.  Henry's 
rPRal  year  commenced  with  April  2l'. 


154.G.]  IMPOTENCE  OF   HUMAN   RAGE.  203 

books  printed  or  written  in  the  English  tongue,  whicli  be,  or  shall  be  set  forth 
in  the  names  of  Fryth,  Tyndale,  Wldiffc,  Joye,  Roye,  Basil  (i.  e.  Becon)  Bale, 
Barnes,  Corerdale,  Turner,  Tracy,  or  by  any  of  them  ; — but  shall,  before  the 
last  day  in  August  next  coming,  deliver  the  same  English  book  or  books  to  his 
master,  if  he  be  a  servant,  or  dwell  under  any  other  ;  and  the  master  or  ruler 
of  the  house,  and  such  others  as  dwell  at  large,  shall  deliver  all  such  books  to 
the  mayor,  bailiff,  or  chief  constable  of  the  town  where  they  dwell,  to  be  by 
them  delivered  over  openly  to  the  sheriff,  bishop's  chancellor,  or  commis- 
sary,— to  the  intent  that  they  may  cause  them  incontinently  to  be  openly 
burned  ;  wliich  thing  the  King's  Majesty's  pleasure  is,  tliat  every  of  them  shall 
see  executed  in  most  effectual  soi-t,  and  thereof  make  certificate  to  the  King's 
Majesty's  Most  Honourable  Council,  before  the  first  day  of  October  next  coming." 

Providentially,  however,  once  more,  before  "  the  jfirst  of 
October  next  coming,"  both  Council  and  King  will  have  widely 
different  subjects  to  engross  their  attention,  rather  than  the 
burning  of  books.  During  the  month  before,  Wriothesly  and 
Gardiner  will  be  worried  out  of  their  lives  to  provide  the  need- 
ful, even  to  pay  the  ivages  of  the  royal  household  !  The  fiery 
Lord  Chancellor,  at  his  wit's  end,  shall  not  know  what  is  be- 
fore him,  and  Gardiner  be  sinking,  to  rise  no  more  in  the 
favour  of  Henry  VIII. ;  while  the  poor  King,  fractious  and 
full  of  disease,  will  be  entering  on  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of 
death.  Meanwhile,  let  it  be  observed,  we  have  now  a  most 
expressive  intimation  of  the  impotence  of  all  former  denuncia- 
tions. The  proclamation  itself,  indeed,  at  this  late  period,  is 
a  proof  of  this  ;  but  see  the  tameness  of  what  follows.  It  is 
like  the  giving  up  of  the  ghost  in  despair.  Before  Henry  dies 
he  is  constrained  to  crouch  before  the  power  of  the  new 
learning. 

"  And  to  the  intent  that  no  man  shall  mistrust  any  danger  of  such  penal  sta- 
tutes as  be  passed  in  this  behalf,  for  the  keeping  of  the  said  books,  the  King's 
Majesty  is  most  graciously  covtenied,  by  this  proclamation,  to  pardon  that  of- 
fence to  the  said  time  appointed  by  this  proclamation,  for  the  delivery  of  the 
said  books  ;  and  commandeth  that  no  bishop,  chancellor,  commissary,  mayor, 
bailiff,  sheriff,  or  constable  shall  be  curious  to  mark  who  bringeth  forth  such 
books,  but  only  order  and  burn  them  openly,  as  is  in  this  proclamation  ordered." 

With  this  proclamation,  or  immediately  after  it,  there  was 
published  a  long  list  of  the  books  interdicted.  It  was  the  last, 
and  is  only  to  be  found  in  the  first  edition  of  Foxe's  Acts  and 
Monuments,  where,  with  his  too  frequent  indifference  to  the 
order  of  time,  he  has  inserted  it  under  1589  !  From  the 
books  mentioned  he  micht  have  seen  that  it  could  not  have 


204  THE  OPPOSITION    REPROBATED.  [noOK  II. 

been  issued  before  the  preceding  proL-liiin;ition.*'  The  procla- 
mation it.self  is  a  proof  of  the  spii-it  wliicli  was  coiujuering 
"  the  old  learning,''"'  and,  in  farther  illustration,  it  is  only  ne- 
cessary to  glance  over  the  publications  in  English  from  1542, 
as  given  in  Herbert's  Ames,  while  this  list  of  books  serves  as 
a  commentary  on  the  names  denounced.-^ 

Alread}'  sinking  under  the  weight  of  mortal  disease,  such 
was  the  last  puldic  manifestation  of  the  monarch's  malicious 
folly.  Not  that  the  proclamation  could  have  much  effect,  if 
indeed  any,  beyond  the  precincts  of  London.  The  only  re- 
ported notice  of  books  having  been  consumed  at  this  period  is 
confined  to  that  city,  and  this  was  probably  to  give  some  eclat 
to  the  vain  and  expiring  effort.  A  copy  of  the  different  pub- 
lications having  been  obtained,  "  soon  after  this  proclamation," 
says  Collier,  "  the  books  of  the  authors  mentioned  were  burnt 
at  Paul's  Cross,  by  the  order  of  (Bonner)  the  Bishop  of 
London."*' 

Thus  Henry,  at  the  very  close  of  life,  and  his  Council,  as 
such,  were  drawing  afresh  the  line  of  demarcation  between 
themselves  and  all  the  good  that  had  been  effected.  As  much 
as  to  say,  "  let  no  future  historian  confound  our  names  with 
it ;  or,  above  all,  ascribe  to  us  the  commencement  and  pro- 
gress of  a  cause  against  which  we  fought  to  our  dying  day  ! 
The  Bible  of  Tyndale  had,  indeed,  been  sanctioned  ;  "  but  in 
this,"  might  his  Majesty  have  added,  "  I  was  little  else  than 

36  This  list  may  now  be  seen,  under  its  proper  year,  in  the  octavo  edition  of  Foxe,  published 
by  Seeley  and  Burnsidc. 

37  Among  the  dead  were  Wickliffe,  Tyndale,  and  Fryth,  Tracy,  Barnes,  and  Rove  ;  but  Cover- 
dale  and  Joye,  Basil,  /.  e.  Bccon,  Bale,  and  Turner,  were  alive.  At  the  same  time  it  is  easy  to 
see  the  hand  of  Gatdhter  in  the  parties  denounced.  Htbides  his  share  in  the  deaths  of  Tyndale 
and  Fryth,  that  of  Barnes  was  still  ascribed  to  him  ;  while  Joye,  and  Bale,  and  Turner  were 
his  chief  oiiponcnts  in  print  at  this  moment.  The  name  of  Ificklijfcis  here  noted,  probably  be- 
cause his  "  Wicket"  had  been  printed  tliis  year  at  Nurenburg,  along  with  Traa/'s  Testament, 
expounded  by  Ti/mluk.  The  name  of  Royc  may  have  been  owing  to  the  republication  of  his 
famous  Satyre,  and  more  especially  as  it  was  now  made  to  apply  to  the  bishops  (;.7i/'n)%,  instead 
of  its  more  powerful  ai)i)lication  to  Wolsey  at  first.  It  is,  however,  more  important  to  observe 
that,  at  the  very  top  of  this  list  of  interdicted  bofiks,  stands  "  The  whole  Bible,  by  Miles  Cover- 
ilak."  He  had  been  patronised  by  Crumwell,  with  whose  name  great  liberties  were  now  used. 
The  New  Testaments  only  of  Ti/itdule  are  denounced,  in  divers  ]>rints,  at  the  head  of  his  other 
publications  ;  but  his  translations  entire  were  secure  in  those  Bibles  which  no  Gardiner,  Tun- 
stal,  or  Bonner  dared  to  remove,  and  thousands  of  his  Testaments,  away  down  throughout  all 
the  country,  could  never  be  reached.  Indeed,  in /our  mo»  Ihs  oi\\y ,  after  the  1st  of  October,  they 
were  not  seizable,  but  might  be  read  in  open  day,  and  were  so  everywhere. 

38  Collier's  Ecc.  Hist.,  ii.,  p.  211.  As  a  signal  proof  that  it  was  vernacular  literature  before 
which  the  old  learning  party  now  trembled,  we  have,  in  the  list  already  referred  to,  not  fewer 
than  eighty-five  items,  or  distinct  publications  in  Kiiplixh,  not  one  in  Latin.  Luthcranism,  as 
such,  never  prevailed  in  England,  nor  was  Lutheran  the  name  of  terror  now  employed.  In  this 
'ist,  indeed,  we  have  one  small  tract  of  Luther's,  a  translation  ;  but  of  the  publications  of  Tyn- 
dale and  Fryth  we  have  at  least  a  score.  Of  Becon's  small  pieces  about  fourteen  ;  f>f  Cover- 
dale's,  ten;  of  .love's,  seven  ;  of  Bale's,  four  ;  and  of  Dr.  William  Turner's,  two. 


1546.]  THE  OPPOSITION   REPROBATED.  20.5 

a  passive  instrument — I  was  superintended — I  was,  to  all 
intents  and  purposes,  only  a  man  overruled." 

The  enmity  now  shown  was  not,  however,  suffered  to  pass 
without  notice,  and  that  in  a  style  and  manner  confirmatory 
of  that  marked  distinction  Avhich  wc  have  seen  to  prevail 
throughout.  So  far  from  confounding  the  Government,  or  the 
King  and  his  advisers,  with  the  progress  of  Divine  Truth,  that 
cause  appears  to  be  now,  as  it  had  ever  done,  an  entirely  sepa- 
rate concern.  Accordingly,  by  one  contemporary  writer,  and 
in  the  name  of  many  other  individuals,  the  Government,  in 
its  widest  sense,  of  which  Henry  was  the  determined  head, 
was  then  placed  in  contrast  or  opposition  to  the  Sacred  Scrip- 
tures, and  their  unfettered  perusal  by  the  people  at  large. 

The  reader  cannot  have  forgotten  what  a  commotion  was 
excited  in  1526,  just  at  the  moment  when  the  New  Testament 
of  Tyndale  had  been  introduced  into  England,  by  a  very  small 
publication,  entitled  the  Supplication  of  Beggars^  which  Sir 
Thomas  More  laboured  to  answer.  But  it  is  curious  enough 
that,  as  the  commotion  at  first  Avas  thus  distinguished,  so  its 
close  was  marked  by  a  second  supplication,  entitled,  "  The 
Supplication  of  the  poor  Commons  to  the  Kingy  The  au- 
thor of  this  last  has  never  been  ascertained,  but  both  supplica- 
tions w^ere  now  published  in  one  book,  being  alike  distinguished 
for  the  same  boldness  of  style.''" 

His  Majesty  well  knew,  having  read  for  himself  the  former 
publication — whether  he  ever  saw  the  latter  is  uncertain — but, 
in  conjunction  with  the  Government  State  Papers,  it  finishes 
the  picture  of  his  times.  While  from  these  papers  it  has 
appeared  that  the  Lord  Chancellor  was  "crying"  to  the  Lord 
Mayor  and  Aldermen  for  money,  that  the  Mint  was  "  drawn 
dry,"  the  Exchequer  shut,  the  other  courts  of  revenue  able  to 
aftord  but  little,  "•  that  the  conduits  being  nearly  run  dry,  his 
Majest^^'s  servants  were  tarrying  for  the  Avater;"from  this 
last  Supplication  it  is  no  less  evident  that  the  "  Commons," 
and  especially  the  inhabitants  of  the  metropolis,  were  groaning 
under  certain  burdens,  and  greatly  exasperated  by  one  mea- 
sure relating  to  tythes  in  London,  sanctioned  by  Henry's  final 
Parliament  in  November  last.     As  the  House  had  been  so 


39.  This  Supplication  is  not  to  be  confounded  with  "  An  Information  and  Petition  against  the 
Oppressors  of  the  ))nor  Commons,"  by  Kobcrt  Crowley,  in  ].")4(t. 


206  SUPPLICATION  OF  [book  ii. 

liberal  to  his  Majesty,  perhaps  he  had  winked  at  this  bill,  if 
he  did  in)t  intend  it  as  a  compliment  in  return  to  the  Convo- 
cation, and  especially  to  the  clergy  then  living  in  the  imme- 
diate vicinity  of  the  throne. 

This  "  Supplication,"  says  the  industrious  Strype,  "  is  a 
notable  piece,  and  it  gives  such  a  light  into  tiie  affairs  of  those 
days,  that  a  better  history  can  scarce  be  given  thereof,  being 
writ  in  those  very  times."  It  was  printed  and  published  this 
year,  1546;  but  in  Strype's  time,  hardly  to  be  met  with. 
Two  or  three  extracts  will  here  be  sufficient.  After  alluding 
to  the  first  Supplication,  circulated  in  1526,  and  now  repub- 
lished, and  to  "  the  great  and  infinite  number  of  '  valiant  and 
sturdy  beggars'  who  then  had  got  into  their  hands,  more 
than  the  third  part  of  the  yearly  revenues  and  possessions 
of  his  Highness'  realm ;"  and  from  whose  exactions  his 
Majesty  had  delivered  his  kingdom ;  still  both  the  country, 
and  more  especially  the  capital,  were  noto  again  suftering 
from  another  quarter. 

"  Instead  of  these  sturdy  beggars,  there  is  ci'ept  iu  a  sturdy  sort  of  extor- 
tioners. These  men  cease  not  to  oppress  us,  your  Highness'  poor  Commons  ; 
in  such  sort  that  many  thousands  of  us,  which  here  before  hved  honestly  upon 
our  sore  labour  and  travail,  bringing  up  our  children  in  the  exercise  of  honest 
labour,  are  now  constrained,  some  to  beg,  some  to  boiTow,  and  some  rob  and 
steal,  to  get  food  for  us,  and  our  poor  wives  and  children." — "  Such  of  us  as 
have  no  possessions  left  to  us,  can  now  get  no  farm,  tenement,  or  cottage,  at 
these  men's  hands,  without  we  pay  unto  them  more  than  we  are  able  to  make. 
Yea,  this  was  tolerable,  so  long  as  after  this  extreme  exaction  we  were  not,  for 
the  residue  of  our  years,  oppressed  with  much  greater  rents,  than  hath  of 
ancient  times  been  paid  for  the  same  grounds  :  for  then  a  man  might,  within  a 
few  years,  be  al)le  to  recover  the  fine,  and  afterwards  live  honestly.  But  now 
these  extortioners  take  of  forty  shillings  fine  £40,  and  of  five  nobles  rent  £5  ;  yet 
not  sufficed  with  this  oppression,  they  buy,  at  your  Highness'  hands,  such 
abbey  lands  as  you  appoint  to  be  sold.  And  once  full  seized  therein,  they  make 
us,  your  poor  Commons,  so  in  doubt  by  their  threatcnings,  that  we  dare  do  none 
other,  but  bring  into  their  courts  our  copies  taken  of  the  convents  and  monas- 
teries, and  confirmed  by  your  High  Court  of  Parliament.  They  make  us 
believe  that,  by  virtue  of  your  Highness,  all  our  former  writings  are  void  and 
of  no  effect :  and  that  if  we  will  not  take  new  leases  of  them,  we  must  forth- 
with avoid  the  grounds.  Moreover,  when  they  can  spy  no  commodious  thing  to 
be  bought  at  your  Highness'  hands,  they  labour  for,  and  obtain  leases  for  twenty- 
iine  years,  on  such  abbey  lands  as  lie  commodious,  and  then  dash  us  out  of 
countenance,  making  us  believe  that  our  copies  are  void  :  so  that  they  compel 
us  to  surrender  our  former  writings,  whereby  we  ought  to  hold,  some  for  two, 
some  for  three  lives  ;  and  to  take  by  indenture  for  twenty-one  yeare,  overing 
both  fines  and  rents,  beyond  all  reason  and  conscience." 

"  Defer  not,  most  dread  Sovereign  Lord,  the  reformation  of  these  so  great 
enormities,  for  the  wound  is  even  unto  death.     We  mean  the  great  and  mighty 


1540'.]  THE   PODlt   COMMONS.  207 

abomination  of  vice  that  now  roigneth  within  tliis  your  Higlmeps'  realm. 
Simony  liath  lost  his  name — usury  is  lawful  gains.  Last  year  they  obtained 
by  their  importunity  (in  Parliament)  a  grant,  which  if  it  be  not  revoked,  will,  in 
continuance  of  time,  be  the  greatest  impoverishment  of  us  your  poor  Commons, 
and  chiefly  in  the  Citif  of  London,  that  ever  chanced  since  the  first  beginning 
thereof.  They  liavc  obtained,  and  it  is  enacted,  that  every  man  within  the 
said  City,  shall  yearly  pay  unto  them  sixpence  ob.  of  every  ten  shillings'  rent. 
So  that  if  the  lord  of  the  grounds  please  to  double  and  treble  the  rents,  as 
they  do  indeed,  then  must  the  poor  tenant  pay  also  double  or  treble  tenths,  as 
due  increase  of  their  riches.  Have  compassion  upon  us,  most  gracious 
Sovereign  ;  suffer  not  these  insatiable  dogs  to  eat  us  out  of  all  that  we  have. 
Consider,  that  it  is  against  all  reason  and  conscience,  that  we,  your  poor  Com- 
mons, should  be  thus  oppressed  ;  that  where  the  landlord  demandeth  of  us 
double  and  treble  rent,  that  then  we  shall  pay  also  to  the  parson  double  and 
treble  tenths.  But,  most  dear  Sovereign,  how  craftily  have  they  wrought  this 
feat  !  They  require  not  the  tenths  of  the  landlords,  that  have  the  increase, 
but  of  the  tenants,  who,  of  necessity,  are  constrained  to  pay  to  the  lords  their 
asking,  or  else  to  be  without  their  dwelling-places  !  They  know  right  well,  that 
if  they  should  have  matched  themselves  with  the  landlords,  they  happily  would 
have  been  too  weak  for  them  at  the  length :  but  they  were  in  good  hopes  that 
we,  poor  Commons,  should  never  be  able  to  stand  in  their  hands." — "  If  we 
have  not  wherewith  to  pay  them,  they  may,  by  virtue  of  the  Act,  distress  such 
implements  as  they  shall  find  in  our  houses." 

Throughout  this  Supplication,  that  the  parties  petitioning 
were  not  now  all  of  the  same  sentiments  with  those  of  whom 
they  complain,  is  manifest,  and  will  soon  be  more  so.  This, 
of  course,  rendered  such  exactions  peculiarly  grievous.  They 
saw  their  oppressors  to  be  men  of  immoral  conduct — they 
complain  of  their  not  even  "  taking  the  pains  to  biny  a 
dead  corpse,  unless  they  had  their  duty,  as  they  call  it  C  and 
thus  proceed — 

"  Judge  then,  most  victorious  Prince,  what  an  unreasonable  sum  the  whole 
and  gi'oss  sum  of  these  enhanced  tenths,  with  other  \X\e\v  2)etty  briberies,  draweth 
to.  They  receive  of  every  hundred  pounds  £13,  15s,,  and  of  the  thousand, 
£137,  10s.  :  then  may  your  Highness  soon  be  certified  what  they  receive  of 
the  whole  rents  of  the  city.  No  doubt,  they  receive  of  us  yearly  more  than 
your  Highness  did  at  any  time,  when  you  were  beset  on  every  side  with 
mortal  enemies." 

"  Help,  merciful  Prince,"  they  had  said,  "  in  this  extremity.  Suffer  not 
the  hope  of  so  noble  a  realm  utterly  to  perish,  through  the  insatiable  desire 
of  the  possessioners.  Remember  that  you  shall  not  leave  this  kingdom  to  a 
stranger,  but  to  a  child  of  great  towardness,  our  most  natural  prince  Edward. 
Employ  your  study  to  leave  him  a  commomceal  to  govern,  and  not  an  island  of 
brute  beasts,  among  whom  the  stronger  devour  the  weaker.  If  you  suffer  Christ's 
members  to  be  thus  oppressed,  look  for  none  other  than  the  rightful  judgment  of 
God,  for  your  negligence  in  your  office  and  ministry.  Be  merciful,  therefore,  to 
yourself  and  us,  your  most  obeisant  subjects.  Endanger  not  your  soul  by  the 
suffering  of  us,  your  poor  Commons,  to  be  brought  all  to  the  names  of  beggars,  and 
most  miserable  wretches.     Let  ns  be  unfa  your  flighness,  as  the  inferior  members 


2(»8  THE  GRIEVANCK8  OK  [iioOK  ir. 

u/ lite  bull  1/  unto  llicir  head.     I{fm<iiil>rr  that  your  limir  hair*  are  a  lnki'ii  that 
nature  makfth  haste  to  absolrc  the  cour»c  of  yotir  life." 

These  pointed  warnings,  were  n-ndfrcJ  inucli  more  so,  tVoiii 
tlio  petitioners  having  laid  before  liis  Majesty  their  grievances 
and  coinphiints  in  reference  to  the  Sciui'ti'hks.  Indeed  it  was 
with  this  subject  tliej  had  be[/un ;  and  we  have  reversed  the 
order,  simply  to  show,  that  these  were  not  the  mere  ebulitions 
of  discontented  or  worldly  men,  who  did  not  know  their  value  ; 
or  of  men  who  cared  nothing  about  the  recent  base  attempts  to 
take  the  Sacred  Volume  out  of  the  hands  of  the  useful  orders 
of  society.  This  they  placed  in  front  of  all  their  complaints. 
Hear  what  they  said  to  Henry  on  this  subject — 

"  The  remnant  of  the  sturdy  beggars  not  yet  weeded  out — tell  us,  that  vice, 
uncharitableness,  lack  of  mercy,  diversity  of  opinions,  and  other  like  enormities, 
have  reigned  erer  since  vieii  had  the  Scriptures  in  English.  And  what  is  this 
other,  than  to  cause  men's  consciences  to  abhor  the  same,  as  the  only  cause  and 
original  of  all  this  ?  They  say,  it  sufficeth  a  layman  to  believe,  as  they  teach  ; 
and  not  to  meddle  with  the  interpretation  of  Scripture.  And  what  meaneth 
that,  but  that  they  would  have  us  as  blind  again,  as  we  were  ?" — "  They  have 
procui-ed  a  law,  that  none  shall  be  so  hardy  as  to  have  the  Scripture  in  his  house, 
unless  he  may  spend  £10  by  the  year,"  (i.  e.  equal  to  £150  now.)  "  And  what 
meaneth  this,  but  that  they  would  famish  the  souls  of  the  residue,  withholding 
their  food  from  them  ? — Hath  God  put  immortal  souls  in  none  other  but  such 
as  be  possessioners  in  this  world  ?  Did  not  Christ  send  word  to  John  the  Ba])tist, 
that  the  poor  received  the  gospel  ?  Why  do  these  men  disable  them  from  reading 
the  Scriptures,  that  are  not  endued  with  the  possessions  of  this  world  ?  Un- 
doubtedly, most  gracious  Sovereign,  because  they  are  the  very  same  that  shut 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  before  men.  They  enter  not  in  themselves  ;  nor  suffer 
they  them  to  enter  that  would. 

"  But  some  will  probably  say,  they  were  not  all  sturdy  beggars,  that  were  in 
the  Parliament,  when  this  law  was  established  :  for  many  of  them,  and  the 
most  part,  were  secular  men  ;  and  not  of  such  ability,  that  this  law  would  per- 
mit them  to  have  the  Scriptm-es  in  their  houses.^"  Wherefore  this  law  is  in- 
different (im]iartial)  and  taketh  not  the  Word  of  God  from  us  ;  but  we,  with  our 
full  consent,  have  committed  it  to  them,  in  that  said  law  limited.  Whereunto 
we  answer,  that  if  wc  have  given  it  over  from  us  to  the  possessioners  of  this 
world,  we  may  be  well  likened  to  the  Gadarites,  (Mark  v.)  which  desired  Christ 
to  depart  from  their  country ;  and  the  lurking  birds,  which  cannot  abide  the 
brightness  of  the  sun.  If  we  have  rejected  this  merciful  ]>roffer  of  our  most 
merciful  Father,  to  have  the  Scriptures,  the  declaration  of  God's  will,  if/(en  he 
used  your  Highness,  as  his  instrument  to  publish  and  set  forth  his  most  lively 


■*"  Tlie  ten-jimniil  qualification  must  have  been  sonic  popular  version  of  flic  Act  of  Parliament, 
as  no  such  sum  is  therein  mentioned.  Hut  this,  incidentally,  is  a  curious  disclosure,  as  to  the  M.  P.s 
of  the  day,  and  shows  how  far  such  a  sum  then  went.  It  was  an  amount,  it  seems,  not  unworthy 
of  a  King  to  bestow,  as  an  annual  pension  ;  for  this  was  the  royal  annuity  bestowed  by  Henry 
VIII.,  through  Paget,  upon  Koger  Ascham.  Hence  the  princely  character  of  Hunijihry  Mun- 
mouth  in  giving  the  same  sum  to  Tyndalc.  on  his  setting  off  for  the  Continent  to  translate  the 
English  nible.     Put  here  were  M.P.s  who  could  not  "  spend  f  10  by  the  year." 


154.6.]  THE  POOK   COMMONS.  209 

word — let  us  fall  down  prostrate  with  rcpi  ntaiicc  of  this  contempt  of  his  merci- 
ful gift:  most  humbly  beseeching  him  to  behold  the  dolours  of  our  heart,  and 
to  forget  our  obstinacy  therein — giving  your  Highness  such  desire  of  our  salva- 
tion ;  and  that  you  will  as  favourably  restore  unto  us  the  Scripture  in  our  Eng- 
lish tongue,  as  you  did  at  the  first  set  it  abroad.  Let  not  the  adversary  take 
occasion  to  say,  the  Bible  was  of  a  traitor's  setting  forth,  and  not  of  your  High- 
ness' own  doing :  for  so  they  report  that  Thomas  Crumwell,  late  Earl  of  Essex, 
was  the  chief  doer,  and  not  your  Highness,  but  as  led  by  him.4l 

"  When  your  Highness  gave  commandment  that  the  Bishops  and  Clergy 
should  SCO  that  there  were  in  every  parish  07ie  Bible  at  the  least,  set  at  liberty  ; 
so  that  crcrijman  m'ujht  freely  come  to  it  and  read  therein — many  of  this  wicked 
generation,  as  well  priests  as  others,  their  faithful  adherents,  would  pluck  it, 
either  into  the  choir,  or  into  some  pew,  where  poor  men  durst  not  presume  to 
come  ;  yea,  there  is  no  small  number  of  churches,  that  hath  no  Bible  at  all. 
And  yet  not  sufficed  with  the  withholding  it  from  the  poor  of  their  own  parishes, 
they  never  rested  till  they  had  a  commandment  from  your  Highness,  that  no 
man,  of  what  degree  soever^  should  read  the  Bible  in  the  time  of  God's  service, 
as  they  call  it.  As  though  the  hearing  of  their  Latin  lies,  and  conjuring  of 
water  and  salt,  were  rather  the  service  of  God,  than  the  study  of  his  most  holy 
Word.  This  was  their  diligence  in  setting  forth  the  Bible.  But  when  your 
Highuess  had  devised  a  proclamation,  for  the  burning  of  certain  translations  of 
the  New  Testament,  they  were  so  bold  as  to  burn  the  whole  Bible,  because 
tliey  were  of  those  men's,  Tyndale's  or  Coverdale's  translation  ;  and  not  the 
New  Testament  only. 42 

"  We  heard  say  that  they  proffered  your  Highness,  that  if  you  would  please 
to  call  in  the  Bible  again,  forasmuch  as  it  was  not  faithfully  translated  in  all 
parts,''^/(c^  icoiild  oversee  it,  and  within  seven  years  set  it  forth  again  !  Your 
Bishops,  most  victoi'ious  Prince,  if  they  might  have  gotten  in  the  Bible  for  seven 
years,  would  have  trusted,  that,  by  that  time,  either  your  Highness  should  have 
been  dead,  or  the  Bible  forgotten :  or  they  themselves  out  of  your  Highness' 
reach  ;  so  that  you  should  not  have  like  power  over  them,  as  you  have  now. 

"  When  your  Majesty  appointed  two  of  them,  Tu.nstal  and  Heath,  to  over- 
look the  translation  of  the  Bible,  they  said  they  had  done  your  Hif^hness'  com- 
mandment therein  :  yea,  they  set  their  names  thereunto  :  but  vsdien  they  saw  the 
world  somewhat  like  to  wring  on  the  other  side,  they  denied  it  ;  and  said,  they 
never  meddled  therewith.  Causing  the  printer  to  take  out  their  names,  which 
were  erst  set  before  the  Bible,  to  certify  to  all  men  that  they  had  diligently 
perused  it,  according  as  your  Highness  had  commanded  !  !"43 

The  outrageous  advisers  of  Henry  the  Eighth,  taking  every 
advantage  of  his  failing  strength,  having  run  riot  with  the 


o  And  he  as  led  by  Cranmer,  then  in  despair  of  all  official  men ;  though  not  until  the  New 
Testament  had  passed  through  at  least  twenty  editions,  and  had  been  reading  in  England  for 
above  ^'H  years.,  independently  of  all  the  three— King,  Primate,  and  Vicar-general;  nay,  in 
spite  of  all  opposition.  This  flying  report,  however,  accounts  for  Henry's  command  to  Tinislrd 
and  Heath,  and  for  their  names  inserted  on  the  title-page  of  two  editions. 

■42  The  whole  Bible  refers  to  Coverdale's,  as  "The  whole  Bible  by  Miles  Coverdale,"  stood  at 
the  top  of  the  list  of  books,  now  prohibited  and  condemned. 

■13  This  bold  and  distinct  statement,  as  to  the  two  Bishops,  published  in  open  day,  was  never 
met  or  contradicted  by  either  the  one  or  the  other ;  and  what  docs  it  import  ?  That  Tunstal  and 
Heath  had  felt  no  scruple  in  thus  falsely  lending  their  names  to  Henry's  mandate  ;  nor,  what 
was  infinitely  worse,  no  scruple  in  thus  treating  the  Sacred  Volume  !  The  printer,  however,  durst 
not  obey  them,  and  so  there  the  names  remain,  to  the  indelible  disgrace  of  both  the  men. 
throughout  all  time. 

VOL   II.  O 


210  THK  QUKEN    IN    DANGEK.  [bouK   H. 

body  and  blood  of  his  subjects,  were  now  liasteuing  to  that 
rigliteous  retribution,  wljich,  even  in  this  life,  so  often  falls  on 
the  heail  of  the  wieked.  Too  lon<j;  hud  they  walked  after  the 
lusts  and  devices  of  their  own  hearts.  Neither  Wriothesly  nor 
(rardiner,  nor  their  ducal  leader  his  Grace  of  Norfolk,  must  be 
permitted  to  escape.  The  long-sufTering  of  God  was  now  very 
nearly  exhausted.  These  men  had  walked  in  pride,  and  they 
nmst  be  abased.  As  the  enemies  of  light  and  of  all  moral 
excellence,  but  especially  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures  in  the  rer- 
nacular  toupiu\  and  of  all  who  prized  them^  having  now  vent- 
ed their  malice,  it  was  time  that  there  should  be  some  reaction  ,• 
and  what  must  have  rendered  it  peculiarly  galling,  was  the 
quarter  from  whence  that  reaction  came.  Instead  of  commit- 
ting other  people  to  the  flames,  they  must  now  look  after  their 
own  personal  safety  ;  and,  instead  of  hunting  after  books  to 
burn  them,  the  question  will  be,  what  is  to  be  the  term  of  their 
own  official,  or  even  actual  existence. 

Perhaps  the  last  occasion  on  which  the  King  appeared  in  gorgeous 
array  was  on  the  24th  of  August,  when  he  met  the  French  ambassador, 
d'Anncbaut,  and  the  recent  treaty  of  peace  was  ratified  ;  as  from  that 
period  he  gradually  sunk  into  a  state  of  complicated  misery.  For  some 
time,  however,  this  was  a  subject  of  such  delicacy  that  no  man  near  the 
throne  dared  to  commit  himself  in  writing  ;  so  that  the  first  recorded 
hint  of  failing  health  is  from  the  pen  of  a  foreigner,  in  crating  to  Paget, 
as  late  as  the  17th  of  September.'*''  The  most  partial  historians  have 
allowed  that  Ilenry  had  been  distinguished  for  sensuality,  and  that,  as  a 
natural  consequence,  he  became  a  mass  of  disease,  so  unwieldy  as  to  be 
moved  from  room  to  room  only  by  the  aid  of  machinery,  llis  temper, 
always  headstrong,  now  displayed  itself  }>y  sudden  paroxysms  of  resent- 
ment or  fury.  From  the  state  of  his  body,  to  approach  and  wait  upon 
him  soon  became  a  loathsome  task,  to  which,  however,  the  Queen  herself 
submitted,  and  with  most  commendable  perseverance.  Katherine's  in- 
fluence, in  these  circumstances,  was  considerable.  She  used  to  converse 
freely  with  the  dying  man,  and  had  ventured  occasionally  to  express  her 
own  opinion  in  distinction  from  his.  One  day,  however,  having,  as  his 
Majesty  thought,  gone  too  far,  he  became  irritated  ;  and  Gardiner  coming 
in  the  way  afterwards,  of  course  chimed  in  with  the  King's  humour  ; 
nay,  at  last,  even  pressed  the  propriety  of  some  investigation  into  the 


**  Gov.  State  Papers,  !.,  p.  868.  Nicasius  Yctsweirt  to  Paget.  Nicasiiis  became  Clerk  of  the 
Privy  Seal  under  EIiz.ihcth.  He  and  his  son  Charles  were,  in  succession,  her  Majesty's  Secre- 
taries for  the  French  tonRue.  Charles  and  his  widow  Jane  were  also  }trinter>  under  the  same 
reif-n. 


151.G.]  WIUOTHESLY   IN  TROUBLE.  211 

opinions  of  her  Majesty.  The  fracfcious  j)atient,  unmindful  of  his  obli- 
gations to  his  assiduous  nurse,  who  had  not  unfrequently  soothed  his 
aTiguish,  actually  complied  ;  and  Wriothesly,  as  well  as  Gardiner,  were 
busy  once  more  in  their  favourite  sphere  of  action.  But  the  tide  was 
now  in  the  very  act  of  turning  against  them,  so  that,  so  far  from  suc- 
ceeding, their  ready  acquiescence  in  their  master's  frenzy  only  proved 
the  precursor  of  another  storm  against  themselves.  Most  unaccountably, 
the  paper  on  which  at  least  the  imprisonment  of  the  Queen  hung,  had 
dropped  from  the  pocket  of  Wriotliesly,  and  having  been  conveyed  to 
Katherine  by  one  of  her  friends,  she  was  overwhelmed  ;  and  well  she 
might,  as  his  Majesty's  signature  is  said  to  have  been  affixed  !  The  King, 
we  are  told,  heard  her  cries  ;  and,  being  carried  to  the  apartment,  by  her 
manner  of  reply  he  was  so  soothed,  that  all  danger  was  now  past.  Next 
day,  however,  the  Lord  Chancellor  must  keep  his  appointment,  and,  with 
forty  guards,  had  arrived  to  convey  Katherine  to  the  Tower.  The  tem- 
pest, averted  from  its  former  object,  had  changed  in  its  ciu'rent  the  night 
before,  and  now  burst  in  fury  on  the  head  of  Wriothesly.  All  that  the 
King  said  was  not  audible  ;  but  the  following  terms  in  reply — "  Arrant 
knave  !  beast  and  fool  ! "  uttered  with  a  louder  voice,  wei-e  heard  dis- 
tinctly, and  even  by  the  Queen.  Henry  then  commanded  him  out  of 
his  sight. 

Ey  Michaelmas  Even,  the  28th  of  September,  there  are  some  curiously 
ambiguous  expressions,  fi-om  the  man  thus  designated,  addressed  to  the 
King's  Secretary,  Paget,  which  he  had  prefaced  by  saying — "  I  write 
this  to  you  as  to  myself." — "  The  world  is  so  doubtfiiZ  and  dangerous, 
whereof  we  have  good  experience,  as  I  pray  God  we  may  put  our  trust 
in  him,  and  look  loell  to  our  own  state,  with  good  entertainment  of  the 
rest,  that  our  plainness  be  not  deceived  hy  the  double )iess  of  the  world,  as 
it  hath  been  of  late  days."  But  whatever  he  meant,  the  scene  referred 
to  must  have  taken  place  about  this  very  time.  At  all  events,  by  the 
11  th  of  October  the  name  of  Gardiner  occurs  for  the  last  time  before  he 
also  had  sunk  in  the  royal  favour,  when  the  influence  of  the  "  old  learn- 
ing" party  was  gone.45  The  three  leaders,  Gardiner,  Norfolk,  and  Wri- 
othesly, were  on  the  brink  of  a  precipice  ;  each  of  them,  in  succession, 
will  be  in  distress,  as  a  few  days  only  will  begin  to  discover. 

The  Lord  Chaiuellor  Wriothesly  appears  first  in  hand.  He  was  in 
great  alarm  lest  the  proposed  New  Court  of  Augmentations  should  inter- 
fere with  the  privileges,  or  rather  the  emoluments,  of  the  Great  Seal  and 
the  Court  of  Chancery.     He  is  most  urgent,  in  writing  to  Paget,  "  to 


■•5  Gov.  State  Papers,  i.,  p.  880.  It  is  strange  that  this  letter  from  Gardiner  should  relate  to  a 
negotiation  respecting  a  proposed  marriage  between  Philiy>  Duke  of  Bavaria  and  the  Princess 
Mary,  as  well  as  a  treaty  between  Henry  and  the  Duke's  uncle,  the  Elector  Palatine.  Of  course 
nothing  took  place  ;  but  the  idea'of  Gardiin'r  being  so  occupied,  shows  that  he  was  willing  to  do 
any  thhui  if  he  might  only  retain  or  recover  his  Majesty's  favour.  By  him  and  his  party  every 
such  alliance  had  been  dei>recated. 


■212  UAKDINEK   IN    DANGKU.  [uoOK  11. 

move  his  Majesty  to  be  good  and  gracious,  and  jjicscrvc  the  course  of  his 
most  ancient  Court  and  Seal,  with  the  poor  estimations  and  livings  of 
his  Ministers."  "  Surely,  Mr.  Secretary,"  says  he  on  the  ICth  of  October, 
"  to  write  frankly  unto  you,  I  shall  have  cause  to  be  soiry  in  my  heart, 
during  my  life,  if  the  favour  of  mi/  gracious  Master  shall  so  fail,  that,  partly 
in  respect  of  his  poor  servant,  ho  do  not  somewhat  of  his  clemency  tem- 
per it."^*^  Whether  Flenry  hearkened  to  him  or  not,  it  is  certain  that  the 
old  Court  of  Augmentations  was  dissolved,  and  the  new  one  was  esta- 
blished. 

Gardiner  came  next  in  order.  After  Monday  night  the  11th  of  Oc- 
tober, when  he  wrote  his  letter,  his  name  is  never  once  mentioned  till  the 
beginning  of  December.  For  some  time  he  had  sunk  so  low  that  he 
durst  not  approach  the  royal  i)resencc  ;  but  on  Thursday  the  2d  of  that 
month  he  presumed  so  far  as  to  address  one  last  letter  to  his  royal  mas- 
ter, with  another  to  Paget,  begging  him  to  deliver  it.  The  former  is 
distinguished  for  its  cringing  and  hypocritical  style  ;  and  so  eager  was 
he  with  Paget  about  his  restoration  to  favour,  as  to  whine  to  him  in  ser- 
vile Latin.''''  But  the  attempt  was  vain  ;  at  least  there  is  no  reply  in 
existence,  even  from  the  Secretary.''^  By  the  end  of  the  month  his  name 
was  known  to  have  been  excluded  from  the  number  of  his  Majesty's 
executors  ;  a  stej)  on  which,  it  has  been  said,  Henry  had  resolved  before 
going  to  France  in  1544.  But,  be  this  as  it  may,  the  exclusion  now  was  a 
loss,  at  once  of  honour  and  emolument.  Sir  Anthony  Browne  after  this 
had  ventured  to  mention  Gardiner's  name  to  the  King,  when  his  Majesty 
replied,  that  if  he  repeated  it  again,  his  own  name  would  also  be  excluded. 

This  man  never  recovered  Henry's  favour,  and  during  the  reign  of 
Edward,  of  course,  he  bore  no  sway.  On  the  contrary,  he  was  deprived 
of  his  See  on  the  14th  of  February  1551,  as  well  as  confined  to  the 
Tower.  Whatever  of  severity  there  might  be  in  this,  the  measure  seems 
to  have  been  adopted  from  fear  of  the  public  tranquillity  ;  and  it  formed 
a  degree  of  retribution  by  no  means  corresponding  to  the  fearful  and 
bloody  years  of  his  domination.  Immediately  upon  the  accession  of 
Queen  Mary,  he  was  not  only  restored  to  all  that  he  had  lost,  but 
became  Lord  Chancellor  of  England,  when  he  will  cross  our  path  for 
the  last  timc.'»9 

To  return,  however,  to  the  present  crisis  ;  that  there  was  not  one 


««  Gov.  state  Papers,  i.,  p.  WIS.  *7  Idem,  p.  H84. 

<8  In  this  last  letter  to  tlic  King  he  refers  to  some  refusal  or  misunderstanding  as  to  an  ex- 
change of  land  with  his  Majesty  ;  but  there  is  evidently  much  else  involved,  and  more  meant 
than  meets  the  ear. 

<9  Some  able  writers  occasionally  labour  under  an  unfortunate  propensity,  when  sitting  down 
to  vindicate  a  bad  man  in  all,  or  almost  all,  that  he  ever  did.  Gardiner's  life  and  character 
have  been  treated  too  much  after  this  fashion  in  the  "  Bingraphia  liritannica."  The  article 
was  labour  in  vain  before  any  record  of  his  deeds  approaching  to  accuracy,  and  the  only 
apology  for  Campbell,  the  reputed  author,  is,  that  he  was  bnt  imperfectly  informed  of  his  hero, 
and  not  aware  of  many  facts  which  have  been  since  brought  to  light,  verified  by  Gardiner's 
own  correspondence,  as  well  as  that  of  others. 


1546.]        NORFOLK  AND  HIS   SON  ALIKE  ARRAIGNED.  213 

momeut  left  to  listen  to  Mr.  Stephen  Gardiner,  is  now  no  matter  of  sur- 
prise, since  the  entire  Comt  circle,  with  the  King  included,  were  en- 
grossed, in  prospect  of  an  event  which  was  to  produce  a  sensation  far 
deeper  than  could  have  been  occasioned  by  the  disgrace  and  imprison- 
ment of  more  Bishops  than  one.  "  Title  and  ancestry,"  says  Addison, 
"  render  an  ill  man  more  contemptible,"  and  yet  the  pride  of  ancestry, 
in  the  worst  of  men,  has  occasionally  wrought  their  ruin.  Tue  Duke 
OF  Norfolk  had  for  some  time  not  spent  all  his  wrath  upon  "  the  new 
learning  and  its  adherents."  There  was  another  source  of  irritation 
which  came  much  nearer  home.  In  consequence  of  Heni-y  having  mar- 
ried Jane  Seymour,  who  left  a  son,  now  about  to  succeed  him  on  the 
throne,  that  family  had  been  raised  by  the  King  to  the  honours  of 
nobility  ;  and  Seymour,  Earl  of  Hertford,  the  uncle  of  young  Edward, 
was,  naturally  enough,  cherishing  the  prospect  of  being  Lord-Protector 
at  no  distant  day.  The  honours  bestowed  on  this  "  young"  family,  had 
often  grated  on  the  ears  of  the  ancient  house  of  Howard  ;  and  a  bitter 
rivalry  had  existed  for  years  between  the  two  parties.  The  old  Duke 
had  a  son,  "  the  flower  of  the  English  nobility,"  Henry  Howard,  Earl  of 
SiuTcy,  and  certainly  a  very  diiferent  person  from  his  father  ;  but  a  cir- 
cumstance had  occurred  which  highly  inflamed  his  mind.  He  was  a 
man,  according  to  Herbert,  "  of  deep  understanding,  sharp  wit,  and  high 
courage,"  and  therefore  sure  to  be  the  more  exasperated  by  any  indig- 
nity. He  had  been  superseded  in  his  command  at  Boulogne,  and  the 
Earl  of  Hertford  sent  in  his  room.  Surrey  also  had  often  expressed 
great  contempt  of  the  neiv  nobility  ;  but  this  step  had  been  felt  as  such 
an  affi'ont,  that  he  is  said  to  have  vowed  vengeance  on  his  successor  in 
arms  as  soon  as  the  King  should  die.  On  the  other  hand,  Hertford, 
fully  aware  of  the  influence  and  disposition  of  both  father  and  son,  saw 
that  the  chief  obstacle  to  his  promotion  would  be  found  in  the  old  Duke, 
or  his  accomplished  and  impetuous  son,  the  Earl  of  Surrey. 

The  disease  of  the  Monarch  was  in  progress ;  his  mind  naturally 
leaned  towards  the  family  of  his  child,  and  to  the  Earl  at  the  head  of 
it ;  a  man  of  inferior  talent  to  Surrey,  yet  daring  in  his  designs  ;  and, 
however  young  in  point  of  honours,  having  his  own  share  of  ambition, 
as  well  as  the  oldest  nobleman  in  England.  To  the  public  services  of 
both  the  Duke  and  his  son,  his  Majesty  had  been  often  indebted  ;  but 
with  his  natural  temper,  even  in  health,  we  are  already  familiar ;  and 
in  his  present  state,  if  there  was  the  slightest  danger  connected  with 
Edward's  succession  to  the  crown,  nothing  could  be  easier  than  to  ex- 
cite both  his  fear  and  jealousy.  These  once  excited,  no  man  was  likely 
to  stand  before  them.  Whatever,  therefore,  the  King  in  his  cruelty 
may  now  sanction,  it  seems  but  equal  justice  to  allow,  that  in  the  ambi- 
tion, the  jealousy  and  fear  of  the  Hertford  family,  may  be  traced  the 
origin  of  what  took  place.  At  the  same,  time,  and  though  he  be  in  the 
act  of  sinking  into  the  grave,  Henry  will  appear  quite  in  character. 


2li  DUKK  OF    NORFOLK  [book   II. 

Jt  was  upon  Sunday  the  I'itli  of  December,  "  upon  certain  surmigcs  of  trea- 
son," tliat  the  Duke  of  Norfolk  and  tlie  Karl  of  Surrt^y  were  conveyed  to  the 
Tower,  the  one  by  water,  the  other  by  land,  and  neither  aware  of  the  appre- 
hension of  the  other.  The  only  suHpicion  of  guilt  of  which  the  old  man  chose, 
some  time  after,  to  express  liimself  as  conscious,  should  be  given  in  his  own 
words — "  Undoubtedly,"  said  he  to  the  King,  "  I  know  not  that  I  have  of- 
fended any  man,  or  that  any  man  was  offended  with  me,  unless  it  he  such  as  be 
(iiiijri/  with  me  for  bctng  quick  against  such  as  hare  been  accused  for  sacrauie.n- 
tarlcs."  Once  upon  a  time,  this  language  miglit  have  had  its  effect,  but  not  so 
now.  Indeed,  the  indecent  ha.ste  of  the  proceedings  is  perhaps  more  marked 
than  it  Iiad  ever  been  upon  any  similar  occasion.  On  that  very  Sunday  night, 
immediately  after  the  arrest,  we  sec  not  fewer  than  three  men,  by  royal  autho- 
rity, hasting  after  the  spoil  belonging  to  the  merely  suspected  prisoners.  Tliesc 
three.  Sir  John  Gate,  Sir  Richard  Soutliwell,  and  Wymounde  Carew,  must  have 
travelled  in  good  style  for  these  days  ;  as  they  proceeded  to  Keiming  Hall, 
near  East  Harling  in  Norfolk,  the  principal  seat  of  the  family,  distant  eighty 
miles,  and  ai'rived  there  by  Tuesday  morning  at  break  of  day,  before  the  in- 
mates were  out  of  bed.  The  Duchess  of  Norfolk,  for  certain  reasons  to  be 
explained  presently,  was  not  there  ;  they  only  found  the  Countess  of  Surrey 
and  her  children,  with  Mary  the  Duchess  of  Richmond,  daughter  of  the 
Duke,  and  widow  of  Henry  Fitzroy,  tiie  King's  natural  son,  and  a  Mrs.  Eliza- 
beth Holland. 

The  two  latter  were  but  "  newly  risen,  and  not  ready  to  appear."  Tliesc 
three  early  visitors,  "  after  order  first  taken  with  tlie  gates  and  back  doors," 
declared  their  desire  to  speak  with  these  two  ladies,  "  when  the  first  news  of 
the  Duke  of  Norfolk  and  his  son"  were  communicated.  The  Duchess  of  Rich- 
mond "  perplexed,  trembling,  and  like  to  fall  down,"  having  recovered,  "  ere 
long  humbled  herself  in  all,  unto  his  Highness."  But  the  object  in  view  was 
not  to  convey  intelligence.  They  saw  the  children  of  Surrey,  "  with  certain 
women  in  the  nursery  attending  upon  them,"  and  they  report  that  the  Countess 
was  within  six  weeks  of  her  confinement ;  but  grandfather's  ])roperty  was  the 
main  look  out  ;  they  must  proceed  to  business,  and  in  the  evening  of  the  day 
they  all  unite  in  reporting  i)rogress  "to  the  King's  most  excellent  Majesty," 
direct  by  "  the  post  in  haste  for  his  life  !" 

Tliey  had  looked  most  eagerly  after  the  spoil,  but  were  mortified  in  finding 
so  little  ;  though  it  was  well  if  these  gentlemen  went  through  the  search,  and 
left  the  mansion  with  clean  hands.  However,  having  got  the  keys  from  the 
Duchess,  they  inform  the  dying  monarch — "  her  coffers  and  chambers  (be)  so 
bare,  as  your  Majesty  would  hardly  think — her  jewels,  such  as  she  had,  sold, 
or  lent  to  gage  to  pay  her  debts — we  will,  nevertheless,  for  our  duty,  make  a 
farther  and  more  earnest  search."  This,  let  it  be  remembered,  was  the  widow 
of  Henry's  own  natural  child.  They  then  proceeded  with  Mre.  Elizabeth  Hol- 
land's "  gear  ;"  wliere  they  found  "  divers  girdles,  beads,  buttons  of  gold,  pearls 
and  rings,  whereof,  with  all  other  things,  we  make  a  book  to  be  sent  unto  your 
lliijhuess!  And  as  we  have  begun  here,  at  this  head  house,  so  have  we, 
presently  and  at  one  instant,  sent  to  all  his  houses  in  Norfolk  and  Suffolk,  that 
nothing  shall  be  eml)ezzled  till  we  shall  have  time  to  see  them.  We  do  not 
omit  Elizabeth  Holland's  house,  newly  made  in  Suffolk,  wliicli  is  thought  to  be 
well  furnished  with  stitff,  whereof  your  Highness  shall  also  be  advertised.  The 
almoner  here  chargeth  himself  with  all,  or  the  most  part,  of  the  Duke's  jdatc, 
ready  to  be  delivered  into  our  hands.  Money  of  the  said  Duke  he  hath  none, 
but  supjtoscth  the  steward  hath,  on  this  last  account,  such  as  doth  remain.  By 
our  next  letters,  your  Majesty  shall  be  ascertained  of  the  said  Duke's  jewels, 


15 10,]  AND   HIS   FAMILY.  2J5 

here  and  elscwlierc,  and  of  the  clcai*  yeai'ly  value  of  all  his  possessions,  and  all 
otliei-  liis  yearly  revenue,  as  near  as  we  can  learn  by  his  books  of  accounts,  and 
other  his  records." 

Nor  were  they  yet  done.  The  Duchess  and  Mrs.  Holland  were  taken  into 
custody,  and  to  be  sent  on  as  witnesses  to  London  next  morning.  The  old 
Duchess  was  found  much  nearer  to  the  city  ;  and  as  for  the  Countess  and  her 
children,  those  men  on  the  spot  at  once  actually  "  beseech  his  Majesty  to  signify 
whether  he  will  have  the  whole  household  continue,  or  in  part  be  dissolved, 
reserving  such  as  unto  his  Highness  shall  seem  meet  to  attend  upon  the  said 
Earl's  wife" — "  beseeching  your  Highness  to  signify  to  us  when,  and  in  what 
place,  your  pleasure  is  to  bestow  her  for  the  time. "5" — "  Most  lunubly  beseech- 
ing your  royal  Majesty  graciously  to  receive  these  pi'emises  as  a  commencement 
of  our  doings  !"51 

And  these  "  doings"  were  within  forty-eight  hours  of  the  father  and  son, 
unknowu  to  each  other,  having  been  appx'ehended  upon  "  certain  sunnises," 
a  montli  before  even  Surrey  was  brought  to  trial,  and  only  six  weeks  before  the 
Monarch  himself  died.  The  writers  of  this  letter,  of  course,  had  consulted  hi 
Majesty's  well  known  taste  upon  such  occasions,  and  must  have  expressed 
themselves  iu  the  way  most  likely  to  please  :  but,  at  all  events,  such  was 
Henry's  personal  concern  in  the  business  at  its  very  commeuccineut,  and  such, 
the  not  miusual  modes  of  procedure  under  his  reign. 

Nor  did  the  haste  end  here.  The  Lord  Chancellor  Wriothesly  had,  for 
yeare,  been  the  warm  friend  and  supporter  of  both  Norfolk  and  Gardiner. 
What  then  must  have  been  his  mortification,  when  his  Majesty  ordered  him 
"  to  advertise  the  ambassadors  in  foreign  parts,  that  the  Duke  of  Norfolk  and 
his  sou  had  conspired  to  take  upon  them  the  goverinnent  of  the  kingdom  during 
his  Majesty's  life,  as  also  after  his  death  to  get  into  their  hands  the  Lord 
Prince  !  but  that  their  devices  were  revealed,  and  they  committed  to  the 
Tower. "52  Willing  or  unwilling,  the  Chancellor  had  then  also  to  turn  his 
hand  towards  framing  the  "  chai'ges  against  the  Duke  of  Norfolk  and  Earl  of 
Surrey,"  which  afterwards  were  actually  corrected  by  the  King  himself,  in  a 
tremulous  hand  '.''3     And  all  this  before  the  mockery  of  law  was  conmienced. 

On  turning  away  from  this  disgraceful  course  of  proceeding,  to  the  parties 
in  prison,  and  the  interior  of  the  Duke's  family,  we  meet  with  auother  scene, 
aud  in  its  way,  not  less  revolting. 

With  the  character  of  the  Duke  himself,  the  father  of  this  family,  the 
first  peer  of  the  realm,  and  uow  about  seventy-three  years  of  age,  the 
reader  is  already  but  too  familiarly  acquainted.  He  has  seen  him 
personally  engaged,  or  presiding,  on  the  most  cruel  and  melancholy' 
occasions  of  i)ast  years  ;  from  the  death  of  Anne  Boleyn  on  the  scaffold, 
down  to  that  of  Anne  Askew  in  the  gloom  of  night,  at  the  stake.  lie 
had  sanctioned  also  the  deaths  of  Fisher,  and  More,  and  Ciumwell  ;  and 
now  his  own  day  of  degradation  and  terror  has  come.  A  materia^ 
distinction,  indeed,  is  to  be  drawn  between  the  father  and  the  son 
although  that  son,  it  cannot  be  forgotten,  then  a  youth  of  twenty,  if  not 


50  Such  was  the  treatment  of  Frances,  tlie  daughter  of  Vcre,  Earl  of  Oxford,  tlic  late  Lord 
(ireat  Chamberlain  of  Henry's  household. 

5'  Gov.  State  Papers,  i.,  )>.  H88.  *-  Herbert. 

35  For  this  document,  widi  Henry's  corneliuns  priulid  in  capitals,  sec  Gov.  State  Tapers, 
I.   p.  flPl 


216  DUKE  OF  NOKFOLK  [bOOK  II. 

still  younger,  presided  with  bis  father,  at  the  decided  commenceinent  of 
Henry's  worst  career  of  cruelty  and  legalised  murder  ;  of  which  he  him- 
self was  now  about  to  become  the  very  last  victim.  Both  sat  by,  and 
the  lather  not  tamely,  at  the  mock  trial  of  Anne  Boleyn,  the  niece  of 
the  one,  and  cousin  of  the  other. 

Now  in  turning  our  eye  to  this  family,  notwithstanding  all  its  pride 
of  ancestry,  we  sec  a  picture  of  human  nature,  such  as  no  family  in 
humble  life  perhaps  ever  exhibited  ;  and  it  is  only  in  consequence  of 
the  conspicuous  figure  made  by  this  Duke  of  Norfolk  all  along,  that  wc 
are  placed  under  the  necessity  of  looking  into  it.  For  these  twenty 
years  we  have  seen  a  party  standing  out  in  determined  hostility  to  the 
Word  of  God  in  the  vernacular  tongue  ;  and  this  man,  from  year  to  year, 
has  been  the  ducal  head  of  it.  Whether  Christianity,  therefore,  or  even 
morality,  be  regarded,  it  is  of  importance  to  ascertain  what  were  his 
pretensions  to  be  a  leader.  If  he  had  been  so  severe  upon  Crumwell 
and  his  character,  it  would  be  but  blind  partiality  to  pass  by  his  own. 

TIic  bitter  divisions  under  this  domestic  roof,  had  been  of  long  standing  ;  for 
after  making  every  allowance  for  excited  passions,  for  the  warmth  of  jealousy 
and  wounded  pride,  if  we  follow  the  light  afforded  by  existing  original  letters, 
and  merely  record  the  facts,  the  pictui'e  afforded  is  still  of  the  darkest  hue. 
The  Duke  of  Norfolk,  who  was  born  in  the  year  1473  or  4,  while  yet  Earl  of 
Surrey,  had  married,  for  his  second  wife,  Elizabeth,  eldest  daughter  of  that 
Duke  of  Buckingham  who  suffered  under  Wolsey,  by  whom  he  had  five  child- 
ren ;  Henry  Earl  of  Surrey  and  the  Duchess  of  Richmond  being  well  known. 
In  1524  he  had  become  Duke  of  Norfolk,  but  before  then,  there  had  been  un- 
pleasant feeling  between  him  and  his  lady  ;  a  servant  of  hcr's,  named  Hol- 
land, having  attracted  his  notice,  and  "  she,"  says  the  Duchess,  "  lias  bceu  the 
cause  of  all  my  trouble."''-*  The  Duke  could  have  no  complaint  as  to  the  age 
of  his  wife,  for  slie  was  above  twenty  years  younger  than  himself  ;  but  such 
was  the  animosity  between  them,  that  an  entire  separation  had  taken  place  so 
early  as  the  spring  of  1533.  The  King  himself  was  well  acquainted  with  this 
feud,  and  by  way  of  quelling  it,  had  commanded  her  to  address  the  Duke  by 
letter.  She  obeyed,  but  there  was  no  answer  to  this,  though  it  was  her  third 
letter.  In  1537,  we  find  the  Duchess  in  earnest  correspondence  with  Crum- 
well, as  Lord  Privy  Seal,  not  with  any  view  to  reunion,  but  in  reference  to  her 
very  limited  circumstances  ;  and  to  him,  in  six  successive  letters,  she  pours 
out  all  her  complaints.')-''  Crumwell  had  advised  her  to  go  home  to  the  Duke  ; 
she  had  no  inclination,  and  stated  her  fears.  Norfolk  then  sternly  addresses 
Crumwell  in  a  letter  from  Buntingford,  Herts  : — "  It  has  come  to  my  know- 
ledge that  my  wll/iil  wife  is  come  to  London,  and  hath  been  with  r/ou  yester- 
night, to  come  to  me  to  London.  This  I  will  never  allow  ;"  but,  again,  he 
adds,  "  if  she  write,  confessing  her  slander,  and  then  sue  to  the  King,  I  will 
never  refuse  the  King's  command. "5C  And  here  the  matter  seems  to  have 
dropped  at  that  time. 

5-«  This  woman,  tliough  orifiin.illy  a  lauiidry-maid,  the  Duchess  allows  to  have  been  allieil  to 
Lord  Hussy,  who  had  been  cxcc-ufed  at  Lincoln.  She  had  ap]Kared  in  the  jewels  already  enu- 
merated, and  occupied  .nijartments  in  Kensington  Palace. 

S5  Cotton  MS.,  Titus,  b.  i.,  aSS-aUT),  and  Vespa.s.,  F.  xiil..  79. 

5«  Idem,  fol.  .'W!fi.    The  wretched  representations  in  these  letters  addressed  In  Crumwell,  may 


154G.]  AND  HIS   FAMILY.  2)7 

Tlie  Duchess,  it  is  true,  has  been  represented  as  a  woman  of  high  spirit,  and 
vindictive  temper,  though  the  circumstances  in  which  she  was  placed,  have 
generally  been  passed  over  ;  but  after  making  the  very  largest  allowance  for 
resentment,  if  only  a  tithing  of  what  she  wrote  to  Crumwcll  be  admitted,  it 
is  impossible  to  resist  the  conviction,  that,  as  it  has  often  happened,  the  perse- 
cutor of  others  abroad,  had  been  far  from  correct  at  home,  and  a  tyrant  there. 
By  the  letter  already  quoted  from  Kenninghall,  we  have  a  separate  testimony, 
and  from  the  place  which  llollaud  there  occupied,  there  was  evidently  no 
room  for  the  Duchess.  If  we  turn  away  from  husband  and  wife,  to  the  father 
and  his  children,  there  is  still  nothing  to  compensate  for  this  long  and  deadly 
dissension.  The  children  had  united  with  their  father  for  years,  against  the 
mother  ;  but  by  this  time  there  had  been  some  misunderstanding  between  the 
Duke  and  his  son  ;  for,  wdiercvcr  the  fault  lay,  they  had  quarrelled  ;  and  upon 
Surrey  being  first  criminated,  the  Duke  felt  no  scruple  in  writing  him  down  as 
his  "  foolish"  son  !  As  for  the  Duchess  of  Richmond,  whose  mild  and  fine 
countenance  would  seem  to  have  given  the  lie  to  any  such  thing,  she  was  ready 
to  witness  against  her  own  brother  ! 

At  this  alarming  crisis,  therefore,  when  both  father  and  son  were  in  separate 
cells,  what  were  the  consequences  of  such  a  state  of  things  ?  A  house  divided 
against  itself  cannot  stand.  The  fire  which  had  been  kindled  more  than 
twenty  years  ago,  and  been  smouldering  ever  since,  now  burst  out  into  open 
violence,  and  to  the  disgi-acc  of  all  concerned.  The  proceedings  were  against 
the  first  peer  of  the  realm,  an  old  man  about  73  ;  and  yet  the  first  witness 
examined  was  this  woman  Holland  !  But  then  the  wife  was  now  ready,  after 
examinations  held,  to  witness  against  the  husband  !  and  the  sister  against  the 
brother,  if  not  the  father  also  !  In  short  they  all  came  forward  aud  thus 
acted,  though  their  united  testimony  coidd  not  prove  high  treason. 

As  in  a  picture,  sufficiently  humiliating,  here  then  stood  the  head  of 
"  THE  OLD  LEARNING  "^j«/"^y,  and  at  the  head  of  his  own  family.  This  was 
the  man,  who,  in  his  public  and  official  character,  had  engaged  with 
such  ardour  in  the  war  of  opinion.  The  man  who,  to  gain  his  own  ends, 
and,  if  possible,  beguile  Crumwell,  could  so  basely  play  the  hypocrite 
in  1539  ;  and  who  yet  now,  when  under  the  fear  of  death,  and  referring 
to  Crumwell  and  himself  in  comparison,  could  say  to  the  Privy  Council, 
— "  he  was  a  false  man,  and  surely  I  am  a  true  poor  gentleman." •'•'' 
Above  all,  this  is  the  same  individual  who,  for  twenty  years,  had  been 
so  bitterly  opposed  to  the  English  Bible,  as  well  as  to  its  being  read 
by  the  people,  and  who  persecuted  aU  who  prized  its  contents ;  but  it  is 
no  mystery  now,  why  he  pursued  such  a  com-se.  No  wonder  now,  that 
he  carried  about  with  him  certain  persomd  objections  to  the  sacred  vo- 
lume. It  was  the  Earl  of  Rochester,  at  a  far  later  period,  and  after  he 
came  to  a  sense  of  his  own  depravity,  of  whom  it  has  been  testified  that, 
laying  his  hand  on  the  Bible,  he  would  say — "  There  is  true  philosophy. 


he  seen  in  the  avi'cndix  to  Nott's  Life  of  Surrey.     In  the  end  of  I.J37,  the  Duchess  says  she  had 
lieen  married  to  him  25  years  before,  and  that  she  was  now  past  40.     This  would  make  hei  a 
bride  at  the  early  age  of  fifteen  or  sixteen,  when  tlic  Dul<c  was  about  thirty-nine. 
57  Cotton  MS.,  Titus,  b.  i.,  fol.  04. 


218  rJlKK  OK  NORFOLK    AND    HIS    I  AMILV.  [noOK  11. 

This  is  the  wisdom  that  speaks  to  the  heart.  A  bad  life  is  tlie  oixly  objec- 
tion to  this  bool:^' 

These  disclosures,  so  mortifying  to  family  pride,  were  not  without 
their  value.  The  friends  of  truth  and  righteousness  could  not  be  insen- 
sible to  their  bearing,  and  they  might  now  judge  for  themselves,  and  no 
doubt  did,  whether  they  had  any  occasion  to  be  ashamed  because  of  their 
titled  opponent.'''* 

Hut  the  King's  business,  not  to  say  his  rapid  disease,  demanded  haste, 
and  there  must  be  no  delay.  They  first  j)roceeded  with  Surrey,  lie 
had  returned  from  France  in  April  ;  and,  having  spoken  unguardedly  of 
Hertford,  had  been  committed  as  a  prisoner  to  Windsor  Castle  in  July, 
but  only  for  a  very  short  time.  When  the  French  amlmssador  was  enter- 
tained with  such  great  magnificence  in  August,  the  Earl,  along  with  his 
father  and  Craumer,  had  the  most  conspicuous  places  assigned  to  them 
in  all  the  ceremonies  ;  but  it  was  with  this  pageant  that  the  career  of 
Surrey  came  to  an  end. 

68  We  are  now,  however,  let  at  least  into  oin'  secret  cause  of  the  bitter  liostility  between  Kor- 
/olk  and  Cntmuvll,  which  lias  never  been  pointed  out.  It  was  not  sinii>ly  because  CrumwcU 
politically  leaned  towards  "  the  new  learning,"  but  Norfolk  must  have  owed  him  a  RrudRC — and 
at  last  had  his  rcvenRc.  The  situation  of  the  Lord  Privy  Seal  was  often  difficult  and  critical. 
The  fact  was,  that,  from  LIS?  to  153!),  he  had  either  got  himself  embroiled  with  this  divided  fa- 
mily, or  been  drawn  into  the  vortex.  In  l.'i,'}?  we  have  seen  him  in  corrcsi)ondence  with  the  ba- 
nished Duchess,  and  this  was  hazardous  enough  ;  but  in  l.'i.'Ui  he  comes  in  contact  with  "  the 
Lady  of  Richmond,"  as  she  was  often  styled.  Her  husband,  Henry's  natural  son,  had  died  on 
the  22d  July  153C,  when  she  was  left  pcnsionlcss  !  She  begs  her  father's  aid,  or  to  be  allowed  to 
sue  in  person  to  his  Majesty,  in  1.5.311.  Crumwell,  then  in  the  height  of  power,  is  apjilied  to  ns 
Lord  Privy  Seal,  when  both  Uair;/  titxl  himsdf,  as  if  not  altogether  unwillinR  to  evade  her  claim 
by  some  technical  question  respecting  the  validity  of  the  marriage,  ai>])ly  to  Cranmer!  He,  how- 
ever, affirmed  it  to  be  good  ;  but  "  as  for  the  demand  of  the  woman  by  the  law  civil,"  he  pro- 
fessed his  ignorance,  and  referred  to  the  lawyers.  In  June  153B  the  jointure  had  been  granted. 
AVhen  Norfolk  first  saw  his  Majesty  afterwards,  he  not  only  thanked  him,  but,  professing  to  do 
every  thing  according  to  his  pleasure,  craftily  enough  made  an  overture  of  his  daughter  in  mar- 
riage. For  the  young  and  beautiful  widow  he  knew  of  hut  two  persons,  one  of  whom  was  Sir 
Tliomas  Seymour,  (afterwards  Lord  Seymour,  who  married  Queen  Katharine  Parr,  soon  after 
Henry's  death  ;)  and  the  King,  professing  to  be  quite  pleased,  spoke  to  Seymour.  But  observing 
both  the  King  and  Norfolk  to  be  alike  bent  on  the  match,  he  referred  to  Cnimnvll,  as  bis  good 
lord,  because  Crumwell's  son,  Gregory,  "  had  married  Seymour's  sister."  He  thought,  there- 
fore, my  Lord  Privy  Seal  "  might  the  rather  have  the  {mai/ninff)  management  of  the  matter." 
All  this  Sadler  communicates  to  Crumwell,  by  commuint  of  the  King,  on  the  14th  of  July  l.VSf, 
adding,  that  as  the  young  duchess  was  going  into  the  country  ne.vt  day,  "  his  Grace  the  King 
Jiraycth  you  to  take  your  time  the  sooner."  Whether  Crumwell  managed  the  way  for  Seymour 
to  escape,  or  the  duchess  declined,  it  is  evident  that  there  could  have  been  nothing  but  ill-will 
on  Norfolk's  part,  after  such  collisions  regarding  both  wife  and  daughter,  for  the  marriage  never 
took  place. 

In  projmsing  this  match  to  the  King,  Norfolk's  pride  of  ancestry  is  very  observable.  "  Per- 
ceiving," said  he,  "  there  cnsueth  commonly  no  great  good  by  conjunction  of  ffrcat  bloods  toge- 
ther, he  sought  not,  therefore,  to  marry  his  daughter  in  any  fiit/h  blooil  or  dcffrce."  Most  extra- 
ordinary, as  well  ;ls  foolish,  language  to  be  addressed  to  Henri/,  when  referring  to  the  brother  of 
his  own  Queen,  Jane  Seymour  !  To  maint.iin  the  Norfolk  sway  in  time  to  come,  through  his 
alliance  with  the  rising  Seymour  family,  was  unquestionably  the  Duke's  real  object,  and  the 
craft  involved  was  not  forgotten.  But  will  it  be  believed,  after  the  part  th.it  the  King  had  act- 
ed, by  Sadler's  holoiiraph  letter,  that  this  very  proposal  was  now  interwoven,  and  in  the  most 
disgusting  language,  with  "  the  Charges  "  now  drawn  up,  and,  to  crown  all,  actually  in  Henry's 
own  tremulous  handwriting?  As  for  that  family  which  Norfolk  had  styled  as  "  not  of  any 
high  blood  or  degree,"  they,  with  the  King,  were  now  determined  on  the  death  of  both  the  Duke 
and  his  .son.  Compare  Cotton  MS.,  CIcop.,  F.  xiii.,  (o\.'i:>;  E.  v.,  fol.  101,  with  Crumwell's 
Corr.,  bundle  S.,  holograph,  once  in  the  Chapter-Housc,  and  now  in  the  State  Paper  Office.  Or 
sec  Ellis's  Lett.,  2d  Ser  ,  ii..  R3 ;  Cranmer's  Remains,  i..  p.  22(!-22f»;  and  Gov.  Stale  Papers,  i., 
)'P  :<H>-1,  and  8!n. 


15^0.]  EXECUTION   OP  SURREY.  210 

Richard  Southwell,  one  of  the  busy  se.archcrs  at  Kcnninghall  and 
elsewhere,  had  first  offered  to  criminate  the  Pjarl  ;  when  he  vehemently 
demanded  justice,  or,  as  an  alternative,  offered  to  fight  his  accuser  in  his 
shirt.  In  addition  to  the  members  of  his  own  family.  Sir  Edmund  Kne- 
vet,  and,  according  to  Herbert,  one  Thomas  Pope,  then  appeared  as  wit- 
nesses, but  with  trifling  evidence.'"''  The  depositions,  however,  such  as 
they  were,  were  then  sent  down  to  the  Judges,  who  were  at  Norwich. 
By  the  7th  of  Januaiy  a  verdict  was  returned,  and  Surrey  was  indicted 
for  high  treason.  A  special  commission  was  appointed  to  tri/  him,  and 
the  Earl  was  put  on  his  defence,  as  a  commoner,  at  Guildhall,  before 
Wriothedy,  as  Chancellor,  and  Ilovcrthorn,  the  Lord  Mayor,  on  the  13th 
of  January.  It  was  then  alleged  that  he  had  assumed  the  armorial 
bearing  of  Edward  the  Confessor,  which,  they  said,  (falsely,)  had  been 
hitherto  exclusively  used  by  his  Majesty  and  his  predecessors.  The  fact 
was  admitted,  and  the  authority  of  the  heralds  adduced,  but  pled  in 
vain  ;  and  as  the  legal  ground  was  the  sweeping  section  of  more  than 
one  statute,  which  made  it  high  treason  "  to  do  any  thing  by  word, 
writing,  or  deed,  to  the  scandal  or  peril  of  the  established  succession  to 
the  crown,''  the  Earl  was  convicted  by  a  jury  of  twelve  notable  men  of 
Norfolk,  eight  knights  and  four  squires,  one  of  whom,  by  the  way,  was 
named  BoleynP  Surrey  defended  himself  with  great  boldness  and  abi- 
lity :  but  what  could  any  defence,  however  able,  now  avail  ?  It  was  on 
Friday  the  21st  of  January  that  the  poetical  genius  of  this  young  man 
was  extinguished  for  ever,  and  by  the  authority  of  a  monarch  now  himself 
"  lying  in  the  agonies  of  death." *^'  Such  a  proceeding  could  not  fail  to 
cover  the  Seymours  with  lasting  odium.^^ 


'9  There  was  but  one  man  of  this  name,  well  known— Sir  Thomas  Pope,  the  founder  of  Trinity 
College,  Oxford. 

60  Ten  years  ago  he  had  sat  in  judgment  on  his  cousin  Anne  Boleyn.and  now  some  connexion 
of  that  family  sits  in  judgment  upon  him.  The  knights  were.  Sirs  William  Paston,  James  Bul- 
leyn,  Francis  Lorde,  Richard  Givsliam,  Jiihn  Gresham,  John  Clerc,  Thomas  Clere,  W.  Wood- 
house.     The  squires— C.  Haydcn,  N.  L'Estrange,  P.  Hubhcrt,  and  H.  Btdingtield. 

*"  The  19th  has  been  often  stated  as  the  day  of  execution  ;  but  in  the  notes  in  Lord  Burleigh's 
handwriting,  preserved  in  Murden's  State  Papers,  there  is  this  entry — "  1.547.  21  Jan-  il.  Co. 
Surrcji  decol."  The  Lords  had  passed  their  bill  of  attainder  against  Norfolk  and  his  son  the 
day  before,  and  did  not  sit  on  the  21st.  The  reason  is  not  stated  ;  but  this  seems  to  have  been  the 
day  when  Surrey  was  beheaded  privately  in  the  Tower. 

•"2  Lord  Surrey  is  said  to  have  been  about  thirty  years  of  age.  Having  been  singularly  unfor- 
tunate in  his  biographers,'  whether  Birch,  Lord  Oxford,  or  Warton,  Notts'  Life  of  Surrey  must 
be  consulted.  In  Chalmers'  Biog.  Diet.,  art.  Henry  Howard,  the  former  inaccuracies  or  fables 
.arc  glanced  at.  The  Countess  survived  him  many  years  ;  having  had  five  children,  and.  from 
the  letter  already  quoted,  one  of  them,  not  improbably,  a  postlnimous  child.  The  mother  mar- 
ried, for  her  second  husband,  Thomas  Stcyning,  Esq.  of  Woodford,  in  Sufiblk,  and  was  living 
in  LW-I. 

It  is  pleasing  to  add  that  the  young  Duchess  of  Richmond  turned  out  a  very  different  woman 
indeed.  The  children  of  Surrey  were  committed  to  her  charge  ;  and.  stung  with  remorse  at  the 
jiartshe  had  acted,  thanks  to  the  iiav  learning  !  she  admirably  fulfilled  her  duty  as  aunt  to  the 
fatherless  children,  training  them  up  in  a  way  very  difierent  from  what  tlicy  must  otherwise 
have  been.  It  is  well  known  that  John  Foxe,  the  Martyrologist,  was  chosen  as  their  jireceptor ; 
and  though  the  eldest,  Thomas  Duke  of  Norfolk,  ended  his  days  on  the  scaffold,  through  his  in- 
fatuated correspondence  with  Queen  Mary  of  Scotland,  his  instructions  to  his  children  asa  dyiiiB 
man,  arc  well  worthy  of  ]>crusal,  and  more  especially  as  coming  from  the  house  of  Norfolk. 


220  NORFOLK   DOOMED  TO   DII;:.  [bOOK  li. 

As  for  the  Duke  himself,  what  with  the  gradual  progress  of  that 
"  learning,"  which  he  hated,  and  contempt  for  the  new  nohility,  as  well 
as  fiiiiiily  dissension,  the  spirit  of  the  old  man  was  greatly  broken  down. 
Still  his  desire  for  life  was  extreme,  and  he  pled  for  it,  in  language  as 
abject  as  that  of  Wolscy  or  Crumwell  who  had  preceded  him.  I\Ien  who 
have  sported  with  the  lives  of  their  fellow-creatures  have  often  displayed 
great  cowardice  as  to  their  own.  So  it  happened  with  Wolscy,  Crum- 
well. and  the  Duke  of  Norfolk  in  succession. 

Tlirougliont  life,  Henry  had  been  always  very  punctilious 
respecting  forms  of  his  own  devising ;  and  Norfolk,  a  peer, 
could  not  be  despatched  after  the  same  fashion  with  his  son. 
Parliament  had  met  for  one  day  on  the  4th  of  November, 
and  before  the  close  of  that  month  the  various  parts  of  this 
bloody  tragedy  were  nearly  cast.  At  all  events,  the  House  had 
been  prorogued,  and  was  now  to  meet,  very  opportunely,  on 
the  14th  of  January;  or  the  day  after  Wriothe.sly  had 
pronounced  sentence  on  Surrey.  On  the  following  Tuesday, 
the  18th,  a  bill  of  attainder  against  the  Duke  was  brought  in, 
and,  next  day,  it  was  read  the  second  time.  It  was  on  this 
day,  or  within  two  days  after,  that  the  fallen  INIinister  was 
writing  his  letter  to  the  King ;  a  most  earnestly  imploring 
one  for  mercy.  This  had  been  preceded  by  one  to  the  Privy 
Council,  begging  for  alleviations  in  his  imprisonment,  and 
presenting  four  separate  confessions  with  an  eye  to  mercy. 
As  another  precaution  against  his  vast  possessions  being  scat- 
tered among  his  rivals,  he  conveyed  them  entire  to  Prince 
Edward,  and  this  perhaps  with  a  view  to  mollify  the  King. 
But  all  was  in  vain  ;  it  was  blood  that  was  wanted,  and  that 
once  shed,  every  shilling  must  come  to  the  Crown.  On  the 
20th,  the  bill  passed  the  Lords.  The  Commons  were  no  less 
expeditious  :  a  Sabbath  interrupted  them,  but  on  Monday  the 
24th  they  returned  the  bill  to  the  Upper  House. '•^  Thus  the 
very  man  who  had  made  himself  so  busy  in  hurrying  through 
Parliament  the  proceedings  against  Crumwell,  was  served  by 
the  House,  as  he  had  served  others.  Not  a  moment  was  now 
to  be  lost ;  but  the  custom  hitherto  liad  been  to  reserve  all 
such  bills  to  the  close  of  the  session,  and  so  it  had  been  done 


"a  "  Hodic  allata  est  Billa  a  Domo  Conimiini  pro  aUinclura  r/Hom-  Ditcis  Korf.  rl  lUnrici 
Comilis  Surrep,  que  cxpcdita  est."    Sec  the  Lords'  Journals,  p.  284-288. 


154.6.]  THE  DEATH   OV  THE  KING.  221 

with  the  Lord  Privy  Seal.  Yet  if  the  King  is  to  have  his 
last  dying  wishes,  and  if  the  Seymours  are  to  gain  their  end, 
wonted  forms  must  be  disregarded.  Accordingly  so  they 
were.  The  royal  assent  was  given  on  Thursday  the  27tli ; 
Norfolk  was  ordered  for  execution  nei't  morning,  and  left  to 
count  the  hours  till  break  of  day.  Such  was  the  last  act  of 
power  on  the  part  of  Henry  the  Eighth  I 

But  "  there  is  no  man,"  subject  or  sovereign,  "  that  hath 
power  over  the  spirit,  to  retain  the  spirit ;  neither  hath  he 
power  in  the  day  of  death,  and  there  is  no  discharge  in  that 
war."  By  that  God,  who  had  borne  with  him  so  long, 
Henry's  own  hour  of  call  was  already  fixed,  and  "  about  two 
of  the  clock  in  the  morning  of  Friday,"*"^  the  28th  of  January 
1 547,  he  had  been  summoned  to  a  higher  tribunal,  there  to  an- 
swer for  his  long  and  weighty  catalogue  of  cruelty  and  crime. 

To  die,  as  it  were,  in  the  very  act  of  embruing  his  hands 
in  blood,  was  the  close  of  the  King''s  existence  on  earth  ; 
while  no  subject  had  been  so  unwelcome  to  himself,  as  that  of 
his  oicn  dissolution.  No  man  dared  even  to  hint  such  a  pro- 
spect, till  within  a  few  hours  of  his  ceasing  to  breathe.  Even 
then,  some  degree  of  courage  was  required,  and  it  was  Sir 
Anthony  Denny  who  told  the  dying  man,  in  so  many  words, 
"  that  the  hope  of  human  help  was  vain.''''  These  were  terms 
which  betrayed  an  eager  clinging  to  life  still.  Henry,  "  visibly 
disquieted,"  had  to  be  informed  that  the  intimation  was 
founded  upon  the  judgment  of  the  physicians.  He  was  then 
asked  whether  he  wished  to  confer  with  any  one.  "  With  no 
other,"  said  he,  "  but  the  Archbishop  Oraumer,  and  not  with 
him  as  yet ;  I  will  first  repose  myself  a  little,  and  as  I  then 
find  myself,  will  determine  accordingly."  Determine,  how- 
ever, he  did  not  for  nearly  two  hours,  when  it  was  of  little  or 
no  moment  who  should  come.  Cranmer  was  sent  for  in  all 
haste,  but  he  arrived  only  in  time  to  receive  one  fixed  look, 
when  Henry  grasped  his  hand  and  expired  !  He  was  in  the 
fifty-sixth  year  of  his  age,  and  within  three  months  of  com- 
pleting the  thirty-eighth  of  his  reign. 

Thus  narrowly,  or  by  a  space  of  about  six  hours,  did  the 
Duke  of  Norfolk  escape  with  his  life,  though  he  must  no  more 
preside  at  the  public  and  disgraceful  execution  of  his  fellow- 


64  So  the  Earl  of  Sussex  informed  liis  Countess.     Titus,  b.  ii.,  fol.  51,  i>nntcd  by  Ellis. 


222  DEATH   UK   TMK    KING.  [boOK  11. 

lucji.     Oil  tlio   contrary  he,   as  will    as  (jiardiiier  afterward.s, 
must  remain  in  durance  for  years.*" 

To  the  close  of  this  nionarcirs  existence,  we  have  toiled 
througli  the  record  of  human  depravity,  certainly  not  on  its 
oic?i  account ;  but  because  of  the  moral  lesson  it  now  affords, 
as  well  as  its  bearing  on  the  main  object  of  these  pages.  If 
it  be  one  of  those  laws  by  which  God  appears  to  govern  the 
world,  that,  "  meti  en</afjed  in  an  evil  cause,  Jwtceter  harmonious 
they  may  he  in  the  outset,  shall,  sooner  or  later,  be  at  variance ," 
here  we  have  an  illustration  of  that  law,  well  worthy  of  re- 
membrance. Gardiner  and  Tunstal,  Norfolk  and  Wriothesly, 
had  been  the  leading  and  uniform  opponents  of  the  progress 
of  Divine  truth  among  the  people,  and  often  had  they  played 
into  each  other's  hands  ;  while  the  King,  to  say  nothing  of 
his  habitual  depravity,  having  but  one  fixed  principle,  or  the 
love  of  power,  had  died  as  he  had  lived.  Before  that  event, 
however,  he  scowls  on  these  men,  by  whose  advice  he  had 
been  so  often  swayed.  They  were,  to  a  man,  his  oldest  coun- 
sellors, the  ablest  men  around  him,  and  the  very  pith  of  "  the 
old  learning"  party.  These  recent  events,  therefore,  cannot 
loosely,  or  with  propriety,  be  consigned  to  the  gulf  of  human 
passion  alone,  and  there  left.  This  was  the  breaking  up  of  an 
old  confederacy,  by  its  own  leader,  or,  at  least,  the  man  on 
whom  it  depended,  and  then  he  himself  died.  It  was  Provi- 
dence, by  degradation,  and  imprisonment,  and  death,  "  put- 
ting down  the  mighty  from  their  seats,  scattering  the  proud 
in  the  imagination  of  their  hearts,"  and  preparing  the  way 
for  a  very  different  scene  in  the  reign  of  Edward,  especially 
so  far  as  the  printing  and  free  perusal  of  the  Sacred  Volume 
was  concerned. 

The  remarkable  period  which  we  have  now  contemplated,  has  been  often 


«s  By  the  Journals,  the  House  of  Lords  appears  to  have  met  on  Saturday  the  29th,  and, 
strange  to  say,  sanctioned  some  (inferior)  business.  Next  day  was  still  allowed  to  jiass,  and,  on 
Monday  the  3Ist  of  January,  Edward  w.ts  proclaimed  Kinj;.  The  delay  of  three  days  would, 
in  our  time,  be  censured  as  a  daring  assumption  ;  and  if,  as  it  li.is  been  supposed,  the  life  or 
death  of  Nor/ulk  was  discussed,  it  only  shews  that  it  was  not  Henry  alone,  who  sought  liis 
death.  The  Duke's  escape  from  the  block,  by  only  a  far  hours,  added  nearly  eight  years  to  his 
existence  ;  most  of  which,  however,  he  spent  in  jirison.  The  Duchess  of  Richmond  did  all  that 
she  could  to  procure  his  relea,se,  but  in  vain.  On  the  accession  of  Mary,  lie  w.is  not  only  de- 
livered, and  by  herself  personally,  but  his  honours  were  restored,  and  dying  at  Kenninghall,  in 
September  1554,  above  eighty  years  of  age,  he  was  there  interred.  The  Duke  must  certainly 
have  been  softened  in  his  character ;  as  he  left  jC.'jtH)  to  the  Duchess  of  Richmond,  not  only 
"  for  her  cost  and  charges  in  making  suit  for  my  delivery  out  of  prison,"  ll>ut  also  "  in  l/rinijhio 
up  til jj  son  of  Siinrp't  chilihm."  Now  as  John  /■V.iv  w.->s  the  tutor,  of  this  tuition  he  had 
approved  ;  though  poor  Gardiner,  semper  iileiii,  w:is  then  hunting  for  the  tutor's  life  ! 


l.'itG.]  HENRY   ANU    HIS   COUKTIERS.  223 

compared  to  a  resurrection  of  the  human  mind,  and  certainly,  since  that 
auspicious  morning,  it  has  never  slept.  But  the  Lords  of  the  soil,  so  far 
from  bidding  it  welcome  to  life  and  activity,  were  filled  with  alarm,  and 
Mindly  chose  to  confound  its  movements  with  civil  revolt.  In  the  three 
leading  princes  of  Europe,  who  have  been  ever  in  view,  there  was  at 
least  this  one  point  of  resemblance.  They  all  persecuted  ;  they  all  in- 
terfered with  the  inalienable  rights  of  the  human  mind.  Charles  and 
Francis,  in  conjunction  with  the  original  and  ancient  usurper  at  Rome  ; 
but  Henry  in  a  path  of  his  own.  In  his  own  proper  person,  he  had 
arrogated  to  himself  the  entire  sovereignty.  As  an  historical  event,  it  is 
of  great  importance  to  observe  this.  The  step  taken,  so  far  from  its 
being  with  the  concurrence  of  the  nation,  was  one  to  which  even  the 
majority  of  his  Council  were  opposed,  and  it  was,  in  truth,  the  Monarch's 
own  deed.  The  duties  of  his  subjects,  in  body,  soul,  and  spirit,  were  to 
be  summed  up  in  one  word — obei/  ;  and  so  he  died,  leaving  this  his  per- 
sonal interference  or  usui'pation,  as  a  species  of  leaven  in  his  kingdom,  or 
his  legacy  to  posterity.  One  eminent  author  of  our  own  day,  though  so 
tenderly  alive  to  Henry's  honour,  and  eager  to  soften  the  asperities  of 
former  writers,  is  constrained  to  give  way  here.  Had  his  Majesty,  he 
says,  "  confined  himself  to  the  mere  official  and  temporal  acts  that  be- 
came necessary,  only  benefit  would  have  resulted  from  the  change.  But 
opinions,  feelings,  and  modes  of  worship,  came  into  question,  collision 
and  alteration,  as  well  as  matters  of  revenue,  dignity,  and  power  :  and 
Henry  conceived  that  he  had  not  only  the  right,  but  was  placed  in  the 
duty,  of  guiding  and  ruling  the  faith  and  doctrines  and  religious  reason- 
ings of  his  people" — a  conception  which  would  never  have  occurred  to 
him,  but  for  his  odious  lust  of  power.  "  A  wide  career  of  evil  was 
opened  by  this  strange  assumption,  in  which  the  most  energetic  mind, 
especially  if  unchecked  by  the  kind  sensibilities,  was  sure  to  be  the  most 
tyrannical,  and  from  principle,  uni'elenting."'''' 

As  it  regarded  the  King  personally,  the  position  which  he  had  so 
resolutely  assumed,  may  be  seen,  in  a  very  striking  point  of  view,  and 
by  way  of  warning,  if  we  observe  the  language  which  that  position 
induced  his  courtiers  to  employ.  Wolsey  was  a  perfect  mastei',  in  the 
art  of  obsequious  management,  but  it  could  never  have  entered  even  into 
/lis  imagination  to  frame  expressions,  such  as  his  successors  conspired  to 


'■<'  Turner's  Henry  VIII.,  ch.  xxxi. — We  have  not  indeed  quoted  the  last  sentence  entire — 
"  A  wide  career  of  ei'il,"  says  the  author,  "  was  opened  by  this  strange  assumption,  in  wliieh 
the  most  energetic  mind,  ivithiiul  any  had  motives,  and  even  from  its  ver)i  best  jiin-poses,  especi- 
ally if  unchecked,"  &c.  The  italics  we  have  omitted,  for  reasons  we  trust  sufficiently  obvious  to 
the  reader.  Can  any  such  human  character  exist,  as  that  of  a  man  running  "most  tyrannically" 
in  "  a  wide  career  of  evil,"  without  an;/  bad  motives  ?  No  man,  whatever  be  his  station,  can  be 
relieved  from  his  personal  responsibility  to  God,  merely  because  he  has  placed  himself  in  the 
midst  of  temptation,  or  chosen  to  walk  upon  forbidden  ground.  The  assumption  was  Henry's 
own  choice,  and  one  which  he  cherished  with  ardour  to  his  dying  hour.  Mr.  Turner  elsewhere 
refers  to  the  imperious  and  impelling  circumstances  by  which  he  was  surrounded  ;  but  certainly 
if  nny  man  ever  took  the  liberty  of  walking  aceordintj  to  Ids  own  wilt,  it  was  Henry  the  Kighth. 


221.  HENRY   AND   HIS   COURTIERS.  [book  ii. 

pour,  on  certain  occasions,  into  the  royal  car.  No,  these,  it  should  be 
observed,  were  the  luiturol  fruit  of  his  Majesty's  assumption.  Henry, 
thougli  affecting  to  hear  adulation  with  indiH'crcnce,  was  olwerved  to  be 
exceedingly  fond  of  i)raise.  Wolsey  first  applied  to  him  the  epithet 
Majesty  instead  of  "  Highness  ;"  but  it  was  left  for  his  successors  to  add 
the  terms  most  sacred.  Whenever  these  words  were  repeated  before  him, 
in  Parliament,  all  the  Lords  rose  up,  and,  of  course,  the  whole  assembly, 
bowing,  in  token  of  assent.  We  need  not  repeat  the  ill-timed  language 
of  Cranmer  to  him,  before  Anne  Bolcyn's  death  ;''7  nor  the  fulsome  style 
in  which  Crumwell  wrote,  immediately  after  the  murder  of  Lambert, 
when  Henry  had  presided  as  Head  of  the  Church  of  England  ;  on  which 
occasion  he  wished  that  all  the  princes  of  Europe  had  been  present,  to 
witness  the  scene  1*^^  But  on  another  occasion  Crumwell  said  he  was 
unable,  and  "  he  believed  all  men  were  unable  to  describe,  the  unutter- 
able qualities  of  the  royal  mind,  the  sublime  virtues  of  the  royal  heart !" 
Richard  Rich,  that  devoted  friend  of  "  the  old  learning,"  and  practised 
persecutor,  told  him  in  public,  that  in  wisdom,  he  was  equal  to  Solomon, 
in  strength  and  courage  to  Samson,  in  beauty  and  address  to  Absalom  J 
Stephen  Gardiner,  addressing  the  University  of  Cambridge,  wrote — 
"  The  King's  Majesty  hath,  by  the  insjnration  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  com- 
poned  all  matters  of  religion  !"  Audley,  the  Lord  Chancellor,  declared 
in  his  presence,  that  God  had  anointed  him  with  the  oil  of  wisdom 
above  his  fellows — above  the  other  kings  of  the  earth — above  all  his 
predecessors  ;  that  He  had  given  him  a  perfect  knowledge  of  the  Scrip- 
tures ! — a  perfect  knowledge  of  the  art  of  war  ! — a  perfect  knowledge  of 
the  art  of  government  !"  In  short,  both  parties  were  alike  guilty,  and 
vied  with  each  other  in  svich  profane  and  disgusting  flatteiy. 

The  assumption  of  supremacy  over  the  mind,  or  despotic  power  over 
the  utterance  of  religious  sentiment,  was  thus  demonstrated  to  have  been 
mentally  injurious  not  only  to  the  usurper  himself,  but  to  all  who  drew 
near  him.  It  must  have  produced  some  characteristic  species  of  delirium, 
before  Henry  could  have  stood,  with  gravity,  expressions  such  as  these. 
Any  other  man  would  have  regarded  them  as  the  height  of  personal 
insult.  His  Majesty,  however,  held  fast  by  his  assumed  position  to  his 
dying  day,  and  continued  to  be  hailed  with  frankincense  upon  every  side. 
On  all  public  occasions,  and  before  the  world,  it  was — 

Tlius  they  roll'd  themselves  before  him  in  the  dust, 
Then  most  deserving,  in  their  own  account. 
When  most  extravagant  in  his  applause  : 
As  if  exalting  him,  tliey  raised  themselves. 
Thus  by  degi'ecs,  self-cheated  of  their  sound 
And  sober  judgment,  that  he  was  but  man, 

«■  Sec  vol.  i.,  ]i.  iC".  '8  See  the  present  volume,  p.  121. 


154G.]  HENRY— FRANCIS— CHARLPX  225 

Tliey  denii-deify'd  and  fuinod  him  so, 
That  in  due  season  ho  forgot  it  too. 
Inflated  and  astrut  with  self-conceit, 
He  gulp'd  the  windy  diet,  and  ere  long, 
Adopting  their  mistake,  profoundly  thought 
The  world  was  made  in  vain,  if  not  for  him. 
Thenceforth  they  were  his  cattle  :  drudges,  born 
To  bear  his  burdens,  drawing  in  his  gears. 
And  sweating  in  his  service  ;  his  caprice 
Became  the  soul  that  animated  all  ! 

Such  were  some  of  the  effects  resulting  from  Henry's  assumption  of 
absolute  power,  especially  in  the  vicinity  of  his  throne.  The  minds  of 
all,  without  exception,  who  came  within  the  sphere  of  his  personal  in- 
fluence, sustained  serious  injury.  Even  unprincipled  men,  tempted  by 
their  love  of  pelf  and  power,  became  still  worse  in  his  service  ;  men  of 
better  principles  receive^  damage  for  life  ;  and  we  have  seen  one  and 
another,  as  it  were,  shivered  to  atoms  on  this  rock  of  absolute  power. 
Well  would  it  have  been  for  the  interests  of  humanity,  had  the  assump- 
tion died  with  him  ;  but,  monstrous  as  it  was,  it  gave  a  caste  to  the  age — 
nay,  it  produced  a  confusion  in  the  minds  of  men  for  generations  to 
come,  and  one  from  which,  even  at  this  moment,  many  in  Britain  are 
not  exempt. 

Upon  the  intelligence  of  Henry's  death  being  communicated  to  his  al- 
ternate ally  and  enemy,  the  King  of  France,  he  became  more  pensive  ; 
and  being  already  in  bad  health,  he  drooped  and  died,  at  Rambouillet,  in 
two  months  after,  or  the  31st  of  March.  The  aged  Pontiff,  who  had  so 
thundered  against  the  King  of  England,  lived  only  two  summers  longer  ; 
and  thus  Charles  was  left  sole  survivor  on  the  field  in  which  they  had 
all  fought  so  long. 

In  these  cii'cumstances,  and  so  far  as  these  men  were  concerned,  it  is 
certainly  not  a  little  singular,  that  the  tumultuous  scene  may  be  said 
to  have  closed  with  an  act  which  astonished  all  Etirope  at  the  moment. 
It  was  the  abdication  of  his  throne,  by  the  Emperor,  three  years  before 
his  death  ;  and  it  deserves  notice  here,  on  account  of  one  of  its  conse- 
quences. Of  these  Sovereigns,  he  was  the  only  one  who  is  reported  to 
have  at  last  seen  the  folly  and  futility  of  all  such  dictatorial  interfer- 
ence by  civil  rulers  with  the  human  mind,  as  they  had  all  practised. 
The  Emperor  "  Avas  particularly  curious  with  regard  to  the  construction 
of  clocks  and  watches  ;  and  having  found,  after  repeated  trials,  that  he 
could  not  bring  any  two  of  them  to  go  exactly  alike,  he  reflected,  it  is 
said,  with  a  mixture  of  surprise,  as  well  as  regret,  on  his  own  follij,  in 
having  bestowed  so  much  time  and  labour  on  the  more  vain  attempt  of 
bringing  mankind  to  a  precise  uniformity  of  sentiment  concerning  the 
profound  and  mysterious  doctrines  of  religion."^ 

O'J  Robertson's  Charles  V.     Ue  Thou.     Bayle. 
VOL.   II.  P 


220  HENRY— FRANCIS— CHARLES.  QboOK  U. 

That  there  was  any  magnanimity  of  mind  in  the  abdication  of  Charles, 
has  been  denied,  and  ascribed  simply  to  his  declining  health  ;  but,  at  all 
events,  this  surjyrise  came  over  him  only  after  he  had  left  his  throne, 
antl  the  rer/ret  also  came  too  late  to  Jiciicfit  maiikiiul.  That  the  chief 
energetic  actor  throughout  the  whole  of  this  remarkable  period,  should 
have  now  seen  that  "  all  was  vanity  and  vexation  of  spirit,"  is  not  im- 
probable ;  and  granting  that  his  cogitations  were  those  only  of  a  man 
who  had  become  incapable  of  wielding  a  sceptre  he  Avas  reluctant  to  re- 
linquish, still  the  inference  drawn  from  his  clocks  and  watches,  was 
more  sound  and  important  than  any  that  he  ever  drew  when  reigning 
in  his  full  strength.  Such  is  the  difference  between  a  man  in  such 
power,  and  the  same  man  oi/t  of  it. 

But  alas  for  the  poor  Emperor  !  If  the  clocks  and  watches  had  made 
any  impression  whatever,  this  soon  passed  away.  For  what  else  could 
be  expected  from  a  man  who  delivered  himself  uji,  body  and  soul,  into 
the  hands  of  his  confessor  ?  And  what  was  the  result  ?  "  Two  days 
before  his  death,  he  added  a  codicil  to  his  will,  in  which  he  exhorts  his 
son  to  inflict  signal  and  severe  punishment  on  heretics,  without  excep- 
tion of  any  criminal,  and  without  regard  to  the  prayers  or  to  the  rank 
of  the  person  !"  "  It  is  dangerous,"  says  he,  "  to  dispute  with  heretics. 
I  always  refused  to  argue  with  them,  and  referred  them  to  my  theo- 
logians ;  alleging  with  truth  my  own  ignorance  ;  for  I  had  scarcely 
begun  to  read  a  grammar,  when  I  was  called  to  the  government  of  great 
nations  !  ! "  "'^ 

Yet  after  all,  Charles  was  merely  one  of  a  species  ;  for  how  many 
thousands  are  there  still,  and  such  men  too  as  have  never  once  felt  the 
intoxicating  influence  of  power,  who  are  yet  far  from  comprehending 
the  incumbent  docti'ine  of  non-interference  ?  It  is  saying  but  little  for 
poor  human  nature,  that  there  has  been  no  sentiment  so  tardy  in  its 
progress.  So  long  as  men  held  fast  by  the  dogmas  of  astrology  with 
regard  to  the  heavens,  and  of  alchemy  as  to  the  earth,  the  right  of 
private  judgment  in  the  arts  and  sciences  was  not  understood.  That 
is  a  right,  however,  which  has  been  long  since  conceded,  and  what  has 
followed  ?  The  perfection  of  science  as  far  as  it  has  gone.  But  among 
the  nations  of  Europe,  that  right,  which  in  any  degree,  is  of  all  earthly 
blessings  the  greatest.  Christian  liberty,  or,  in  other  words,  the  liberty 
to  be  a  Christian,  like  the  loftiest  trees  of  the  forest,  which  spring  from 
very  small  seeds,  has  had  to  sustain  the  strife  of  many  a  winter.  Yet 
genuine  Christian  liberty,  which  these  European  nations  have  been  so  slow 
to  understand,  is  still  the  monarch  of  the  woods  ;  and  when  once  Chris- 
tianity comes  to  be  drawn  fresh  from  the  pure  fountain  of  Revelation 
alo'm ;  when  the  Sacred  Volume  shall  be  elevated  to  its  due  place,  by 

70  Sir  James  Mackintosh,  quoting  from  Llorentc. 


\5iG.2  UETllOSPKCT.  227 

the  appeal  direct,  and  no  other  appeal,  then,  and  not  till  then,  will  this 
subject,  like  many  others,  be  better  understood. 

Thus  teiTuinated  by  far  the  most  important  period  thruugh  which  Old 
England  had  ever  passed.  Important,  as  far  as  Divine  and  eternal  truth, 
introduced  to  the  people,  in  their  own  tongue,  through  the  medium  of 
the  press,  was  superior  to  all  the  passing  events  of  the  day.  That  period 
has  proved,  it  is  true,  one  continued  ferment,  one  incessant  turmoil  of 
human  passion  and  depravity.  The  civil  and  political  worlds  have  been 
in  perpetual  agitation,  or  one  storm  has  come  in  the  neck  of  another. 
Should  we  specially  fix  our  eye  upon  Henry,  surrounded  by  all  his  cour- 
tiers, for  these  twenty  years,  from  first  to  last,  what  have  we  witnessed  ? 

"  The  whole  has  been  a  scene  of  civil  jar, 
Chaos  of  contrarieties  at  war  ; 
Where  Obstinacy  took  her  sturdy  stand. 
To  disconcert  what  Policy  had  planu'd  ; 
Where  Policy  was  busy  all  night  long 
In  setting  right  what  Faction  had  set  wrong  ; 
Blind  to  the  working  of  that  secret  Power 
Which  balanced  still  the  wings  of  evei-y  hour." 

But  then,  amidst  all,  have  we  not  beheld  a  sepai'ate  cause  and  interest, 
which  it  was  far  above  the  power  of  kings,  as  conquerors,  to  control  ? 
Nay,  one  by  which  the  King  of  England  and  his  Counsellors  have  been 
signally  overruled  again  and  again  1  A  cause  which,  apart  from  the 
tumults  of  worldly  policy,  still  prospered  in  defiance  of  them  all  1  Or, 
in  other  words,  have  we  not  descried  all  along,  for  twenty  years,  an 
under-current  meandering  through  the  country,  in  spite  of  all  interfer- 
ence maintaining  its  own  separate  and  jDCCuliar  channels,  and,  as  it  were, 
disdaining  to  mingle  with  the  waves  above  ?  Though  too  much  over- 
looked by  historians  hitherto,  it  was  cherishing  at  the  roots  all  that  has 
been  healthy,  and  vigorous,  and  praiseworthy  in  this  kingdom  ever  since. 
Whatever  of  Christianity  has  prevailed  in  England,  from  that  time  to  the 
present,  its  origin  is  to  be  found  here,  perfectly  distinct  from  all  the 
councils  and  edicts,  or  the  proclamations,  whether  for  or  against,  of 
Hem-y  the  Eighth.  These,  after  more  than  ten  years  of  positive  hosti- 
lity had  passed  away,  when  they  once  or  twice  happened  to  be  in  favour 
of  the  vernacular  Scriptures — these  tokens  of  defeat,  after  the  tug  of  war 
had  slackened,  and  after  Henry,  and  all  around  him,  had  been  obliged  to 
give  way,  had  some  influence.  But  even  these,  if  we  are  to  believe  the 
King,  instead  of  all  that  party  writers  have  chosen  to  afiirm,  were  con- 
fessed by  himself,  as  we  have  heard,  and  towards  the  end  of  his  days,  to 
have  been  comparatively  impotent.  A  month  or  two  was  the  measure 
of  their  power,  while  still  the  cause  went  on,  under  the  hand  of  that 
God  who  had  been  with  it  from  the  beginning,  and  is  with  it  still. 

With  reference,  therefore,  to  the  history  of  the  Engli.sh 


22H  RETROmPKCT  [book  II. 

Uible,  as  far  as  we  have  come,  and  afUT  such  a  detail  as  the 
past,  with  all  its  iinperfectious,  what,  for  example,  can  any 
reader  think  when  he  finds  one  writer,  in  summing  up  the 
reign  of  Henry  the  Eighth,  express  himself  in  such  terms  as 
the  following  ?  "  HU  largest  claim  to  our  gratitude  is,  that  he 
at  last  permitted  the  great  fountain  of  religious  truth  and  of 
intellectual  piety  to  be  opened  to  the  people,  by  sanctioning 
the  translation  and  circulation  of  the  Scriptures  in  the  national 
language  ;  thus  making  fre^  to  evert/  one  what  millions  have 
blessed  him  for  !  "^  This  is  even  exc^^ded  by  another  modem 
historian.  "  He  resolutely  maintained  to  the  end  of  his  life 
the  exclusive  right  of  God''s  undoubted  \Vord  to  be  the  reli- 
gious instructor  of  the  rational  creation.  The  assertion  of  this 
fundamental  principle  is  the  brightest  distinction  of  Henry  s 
reijm  1 1 "" 

All  this,  and  much  more  to  the  same  effect,  has  been  actu- 
ally reported  of  a  man  who,  above  ten  years  after  the  Scrip- 
tures of  the  New  Testament  had  been  introduced  into  this 
kingdom,  in  spite  of  all  his  power,  and  the  hostility  of  his  asso- 
ciates— a  man  who,  after  he  bad  been  signally  overruled  to 
sanction  the  very  translation  he  had  condemned,  to  say  nothing 
of  his  share  in  the  guilt  of  leaving  the  translator  to  the  flames, 
did  indeed  at  last  inform  his  subjects  that  "  it  had  pleased 
him  to  permit  and  command  the  Bible,  being  translate  into 
their  mother  tongue,  to  be  openly  laid  forth  in  every  parish 
church.""  But  then  this  is  the  same  man  who,  in  less  than 
six  years  after,  enjoined  that  "  no  women  but  noble  women, 
•no  artificers,  apprentices,  journeymen,  servingmen,  husband- 
men, nor  labourers,  were  to  read  the  Bible  or  New  Testament 
in  English,  to  themselves  or  to  any  other,  privately  or  openly  I " 
And  who,  in  three  years  after  this,  told  all  England,  "  it 
ought  to  be  deemed  certain  that  the  reading  of  the  Old  and 
New  Testament  is  not  neceuary  for  all  those  folks  that  of  duty 
ought  to  be  bound  to  read  it,  but  as  the  Prince  and  the  policy 
of  the  realm  shall  think  contenient  to  be  tolerated  or  taken 
FROM  IT !  Consonant  whereto,  the  politic  law  of  our  realm 
hath  now  restrained  it  from  a  arectt  many  .'^^  This  daring 
profanity  was  crowned  by  Henry's  last  public  act,  within  six 
months  of  his  dissolution — his  endeavour,  by  proclamation,  to 
consifm  to  the  flames  above  thirtv  editions  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment  by  Tyndale — denouncing  the  translation  as  "  crafty, 


1546.]  RETROSPECT.  22f) 

false,  and  untrue,"  though  it  was  the  very  same  with  that 
which  was  included  in  the  liible  he  had  sanctioned  in  1537  !"' 
All  this  contemptible  spleen  and  fury,  it  is  true,  had  been 
lield  in  derision,  and  most  remarkably  thwarted  and  counter- 
wrought, till  at  last  God  began  to  deal  with  the  man  in  the 
way  of  disease  and  death.  Now  if  historians,  at  the  distance 
of  three  hundred  years,  will  thug  write  of  his  Majesty  the 
reigning  King,  it  may  abate  the  surprise  of  some  at  the  lan- 
guage of  his  courtiers  when  crouching  before  him  ;  but,  in  the 
name  of  truth,  and  of  all  that  is  honest  in  historical  narrative, 
why  should  we,  in  this  age,  be  directed  to  a  source  of  grati- 
tude such  as  this  ?"  Man  praises  man,  indeed  ;  and  if  a  king, 
however  profane,  or  however  hostile,  is  to  enjoy  the  posthu- 
mous fame  or  personal  credit  of  all  the  good  that  was  done 
during  the  days  of  his  mortal  life,  then,  of  course,  no  room  is 
left  for  any  other  individual ;  but, 

"  Thus  idly  some  men  waste  the  breath  of  praise, 
And  dedicate  a  tribute,  in  its  use 
And  just  dii'ection  sacred,  to  a  thing 
Doom'd  to  the  dust,  or  lodged  already  there." 

The  worst  effect  of  such  language  is,  not  that  of  its  spoiling 
one  of  the  most  deeply  interesting  and  instructive  chapters  in 
the  history  of  our  country,  or  its  turning  away  the  eye  from 
her  real  human  benefactors.  There  is  a  far  higher  considera- 
tion. For  if  man  only  is  to  be  regarded  here,  when  or  where, 
in  the  whole  compass  of  English  history,  is  God,  by  himself 
alone,  to  be  specially  adored  I  After  all  that  we  have  read, 
may  it  not  now,  with  reverence,  be  said  of  Him,  that  He  had 
trodden  an  uncommon,  nay,  unprecedented  path  I  Other  na- 
tions, it  is  gi'anted,  received  the  Scriptures,  and  by  the  kind 
providence  of  heaven,  but  not  after  the  same  singular  manner. 
There  is  no  passage  in  the  history  of  Germany  or  in  that  of 
any  other  nation,  of  a  similar  character ;  though,  strange  to 
say,  this  has  never  yet  been  distinctly  explained,  nor  at  any 
time  sufficiently  observed. 

"  It  is  the  glory  of  God  to  conceal  a  thing  :  but  the  honour  of 
Kings  to  search  out  a  matter  ,•"  and  perhaps  there  never  before 
had  occurred  a  more  striking  commentary  on  that  sacred  pro- 


''  The  Epistles  of  which  were  then  reading  in  public,  and  continned  to  be  so  for  more  than  n 
liiindrcd  years  after  Henry  was  in  liis  grave,  and  the  Psalms  of  which  are  read  publicly  in  Eng- 
land and  Ireland  to  the  present  hour. 


230  RKTROSPKCT.  [book  li. 

verb.     Let  the  reader  of  English  historv,  say,  wliether  there 
lias  been  any  one  equal  to  it  sinee. 

JJet'ore  ever  the  book  arrived,  AVolsey  had  been  forewarned 
by  Cochlaeus,  a  service  of  which  he  boasted  for  years  after,  and 
complained  bitterly  that  our  Kinj^  had  never  rewarded  him. 
It  was  only  strange  that  ho  could  not  give  the  name  of  the 
Englishman,  the  translator,  or  that  he  did  not,  if  he  could. 
The  "  concealment''''  of  Providence  had  already  commenced. 
But  still,  and  before  the  volume  came,  the  Cardinal  had  pre- 
meditated "a secret  search  and  at  one  time,"  in  London,  Cam- 
bridge, and  Oxford,  for  all  hated  books ;  and  of  this  search^ 
his  Majesty  on  the  throne,  warmly  approved.  Yet  when  the 
set  time  was  come  for  the  Sacred  Volume  to  be  given  to  Eng- 
land, here,  accordingly,  the  book  was  !  But  by  whom  trans- 
lated, no  one  could  tell,  at  least  no  one  told  ;  and  tchere  it  was 
printed,  is  only  now  in  discussion,  at  the  distance  of  more  than 
three  hundred  years.  The  book  was  found  in  Oxford,  at 
Cambridge,  in  London,  dispersed,  they  said,  after  a  few  months, 
"  in  great  numbers,"''  and  it  must  be  publicly  denounced.  But 
still  the  author  could  not  be  named.  Its  continued  transit 
to  this  country,  its  introduction,  its  dispersion,  far  from  the 
cities  and  the  court,  were  still  involved  in  mystery  :  and 
though  Solomon  adds  in  his  proverb — "  it  is  the  honour  of 
Kings  to  search  out  a  matter,"  here  was  one  which  baffled 
the  King,  and  all  his  searchers.  Certain  individuals,  belong- 
ing to  another  nation,  and  not  speaking  our  language,  were 
moved  to  take  up  the  "  concealed  thing,"  and  one  edition 
followed  after  another,  like  "  the  ploughman  overtaking  the 
reaper,  and  the  treader  of  grapes  him  that  soweth  seed."  Here 
they  were  in  England,  aye,  and  Scotland  too ;  but  the  time 
when,  the  channel  of  conveyance,  or  the  places  to  which  the 
treasure  came,  were  still  so  many  mysteries.  Wolsey  and 
Warham,  Tunstal  and  Stokesly,  not  forgetting  Sir  Thomas 
More,  were  shrewd  and  able  men  ;  and  probably  every  one 
of  them  thought  so  of  himself.  Their  days  were  spent  in 
searching.  State  secrets  on  the  Continent,  they  penetrated, 
detected,  and  counter-wrought  ;  but  here  was  an  affair  by 
which  they  were  all  entangled,  as  among  the  briars  in  a  wil- 
derness. They  all  searched  out  the  matter,  and  groped  their 
way,  blindly  supposing  it  was  for  the  honotir  of  their  King; 
but  there  was  still  a  secret  working,  still  a  "  concealment"  in 


1546  J  RETROSPECT.  231 

the  business,  by  which  tliey  were  all,  individually  and  in  suc- 
cession, baffled  and  pei'plexed.  Tlie  moaning  of  Sir  Thomas 
More,  in  the  sixth  year  of  progress,  at  once  a  commentary  on 
the  vexatious  concealment,  and  a  eulogium  on  the  parties  em- 
ployed, is  worthy  of  repetition  even  now. 

"  These  fellows,"  said  he,  "  that  naught  had  hci-e,  and  therefore  naught  car- 
ried hence,  nor  nothing  finding  there  to  live  upon,  be  yet  sustained  and  main- 
tained with  money  sent  them  by  some  evil-disposed  persons  out  of  this  realm 
thither." — Such  was  the  writer's  random  conjecture,  for  to  fathom  the  matter 
was  beyond  his  power  ;  but  then  there  were  these  books,  and  of  them  he  could 
speak  by  experience, — "  which  books  albeit  that  they  neither  can  be  there 
printed,  without  <;reat  cost,  nor  here  sold,  without  great  adventure  and  peril  : 
j-et  cease  they  not  to  print  them  there,  and  send  them  hither,  by  the  whole  vats 
full  at  once :  and  in  some  places,  looking  for  710  lucre,  cast  them  abroad  by 
night :  so  great  a  pestilent  pleasure  have  some  devilish  people  caught,  with  the 
labour,  travail,  cost,  charge,  peril,  harm  and  hurt  of  themselves,  to  seek  the 
destruction  of  others  !" 

Such  was  the  language  of  the  second  baffled  Lord  Chancel- 
lor of  England  ;  but  what  was  all  this,  save  the  writhing  of 
the  mind,  under  the  concealments  of  that  God,  whose  highest 
glory  was  concerned  in  thus  giving  his  Word  to  England,  in 
spite  of  all  her  rulers?  Here  and  there  already,  "  the  voice 
of  rejoicing  and  salvation  was  in  the  dwellings  of  the  righteous. 
The  right  hand  of  the  Lord  had  done  valiantly." 

If,  however,  it  be  "  the  glory  of  God  to  conceal  a  thing," 
and  many  such  things  are  with  him  ;  in  the  course  of  his 
providence,  the  curtain  may,  at  last,  be  drawn  aside  ;  and 
then — what  then?  After  rendering  praise  to  Him,  to  whom 
it  is  first,  nay,  and  in  one  sense,  only  due ;  yet,  as  far  as 
human  agency  had  been,  or  was  still  employed,  whether  are 
we  to  give  the  glory  to  the  men  whom  God  overruled,  or  the 
man  he  employed  ?  the  men  He,  all  the  while,  controlled  and 
checked,  and  turned  as  the  rivers  of  water  ?  or  the  man  into 
whose  heart  he  had  infused  his  determined  purpose  ? — the 
men  agitated  by  little  else  than  wayward  and  tumultuous 
passions  ?  or  the  man  possessed  by  "  the  spirit  of  love,  and 
power,  and  of  a  sound  mind  V 

But  enough,  and  more  than  enough,  of  Henry  the  Eighth 
and  his  courtiers  in  general.  The  heart  now  cannot  but  in- 
stinctiv^ely  recoil  from  looking  in  that  direction.  Other  his- 
torians, however,  have  directed  the  gratitude  of  their  country 
to  other   individuals.     The  renown  of  the  contest  has  been 


232  RKTROSPECT.  [book  II. 

ascribed  to  corljiin  nioii  whom  we  liiive  soon  wait  on  tlic 
times,  till  the  battle  was  actually  fought  and  won ;  and  the 
credit  of  all  that  followed  has  been  given  to  such  as,  led  by 
|)olitical  motives,  were  overruled  to  lend  the  cause,  since  it 
must  advance,  that  countenance,  which  literally  cost  them 
nothing.  Our  preceding  history  may  be  referred  to  in  ex- 
planation ;  and  whether  his  Majesty,  as  far  as  he  was  a  patron, 
did  not  even  then  "  encumber  them  with  help,"  we  leave  the 
reader  to  judge. 

Wc  only  repeat,  as  not  the  least  remarkable  fact  in  the 
entire  narrative,  that  the  able,  though  unpretending  man,  so 
evidently  raised  up  by  God  to  commence  and  carry  forward 
the  war  of  truth  and  righteousness  unto  victory,  has  been 
hitherto  left  in  the  background.  With  this  never-to-be- 
forgotten  period,  other  names  have  been  associated,  so  as 
almost  to  overshadow  him ;  these  have  been  repeated  a 
thousand  times,  and  become  familiar  as  household  words ; 
while  there  arc  not  wanting  those  who  still  inquire — And 
who  was  Tyndale  ?  But  if  we  mean  to  speak  of  the  first  per- 
sonal and  determined  preparations  for  this  groat  contest — of 
the  man  who,  by  first  applying  the  art  of  printing  to  the 
Sacred  Volume  in  our  native  tongue,  effectually  placed  the 
"  leaven"  of  divine  truth  in  the  heart  of  this  kingdom  ;  if  we 
intend  to  refer  to  the  first  victories  gained  upon  English 
ground,  to  the  brunt  of  the  battle,  or  to  the  burden  and  heat 
of  the  day,  these  wore  not  the  men.  Tyndale,  with  Fryth 
by  his  side,  occupy  a  place  in  the  foreground  of  the  picture, 
from  which  they  never  can  be  moved  by  any  impartial  his- 
torian. But  we  have  not  yet  done  with  the  influence  of  our 
martyred  Translator.  The  providence  of  God,  under  the  reign 
of  Edward,  will  interpret  how  much  more  we  owe  to  his 
memory,  and  whether  the  people  of  England  did  not  testify 
their  gratitude  and  veneration,  as  soon  as  they  were  let  alone 
to  act  for  themselves. 


THE  HISTORY  OF 

THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE. 

BOOK    III-ENGLAND. 

jfiom  etiluartr  Wh  to  tf)e  CommonluealtO, 


SECTION  I.     REIGN  OF  EDWARD. 

A  REIGN,  HOWEVER  BRIEF,  DISTINGUISHED  AS  HAVING  NO  PARALLEL  IN 
BRITISH  HISTORY,  WITH  REGARD  TO  THE  PRINTING  AND  PUBLICATION 
OF  THE  SACRED  SCRIPTURES  IN  THE  LANGUAGE  OP  THE  PEOPLE. 

^<L2s^¥i'2j  HE  storm  has  changed  into  a  calm ;  so  that  in  re- 
^^^^  viewing  the  Christianity  of  England  from  the  six- 
pif^M^  teenth  century,  there  have  been  those,  as  there  are 
(^Vcw^.s?^  still,  who  prefer  to  begin  with  the  reign  of  Edward 
the  Sixth  ;  while  others  repudiate  every  event  before  the  reign 
of  Elizabeth.  But  whatever  may  be  the  inducement  to  either 
preference,  such  parties  must  not  expect  to  be  acknowledged  as 
possessing  much,  if  any,  energy  of  purpose  in  tracing  effects  to 
their  cause  ;  or  any  measure  of  that  disposition,  which  cannot 
be  satisfied  without  accounting  fully  for  circumstances,  still 
existing  before  every  eye.  The  reign  of  Henry  the  Eighth, 
whatever  had  been  his  personal  character,  was,  in  many  re- 
spects, not  only  initial  but  germinmit.  Every  day  since,  has 
so  testified ;  and  the  broad  surface  of  the  kingdom  still  bears 
witness  to  the  weight  and  pressure  of  his  sceptre.  He  left 
behind  him  certain  marks,  which  are  still  acknowledged  as 
memorials  of  his  power. 

It,  therefore,  becomes  only  so  much  the  more  observable. 


234  THE  REIGN  OF  EDWARD.  [book  hi. 

that  the  genuine  or  correct  history  of  the  English  Bible  has 
never  allowed  us,  as  it  never  allowed  him,  to  come  down  and 
confound  the  Sacred  Volume,  either  with  the  ecclesiastical 
arrangements,  so  called,  of  his  time,  or  with  the  fallible  in- 
terpretations of  erring  men.  No  historical  line  could  be  more 
distinctly  drawn,  whether  while  the  King  and  his  advisers 
were  arrayed  ar/ainst  the  Scriptures,  or  after  they  were  over- 
ruled to  admit  them  into  England.  Then,  indeed,  his  Ma- 
jesty himself  became  the  remarkable  instrument  in  not  per- 
mitting the  English  ]}ible  to  be  at  all  identified  with  the 
ecclesiastical  body  he  had  set  up  and  sanctioned.  Not  only  did 
he  not  consult  it  on  this  subject,  but  frowned  upon  his  Bishops, 
when  once  presuming  to  sit  in  judgment  upon  the  tran.slation. 

And  now  that  the  King  is  dead ;  now  that  the  New  Testa- 
ment Scriptures  had  been  reading  for  twenty  years,  and  the 
Bible  entire  for  nearly  ten,  not  unfrequently  in  the  face  of  the 
flames,  we  are  escaped  from  what  may  be  regarded  as  the  grand 
tempest.  One  furious  blast,  indeed,  under  Queen  Mary,  we 
have  yet  before  us;  but  still  with  mere  political,  or  any  other  af- 
fairs, there  will  be  less  occasion  for  perplexing  ourselves  any  more. 
These  might  afford  instructive  warning  and  monition ;  but  the 
leading  design  of  these  pages,  now  disentangled  from  the  past, 
may  be  regarded  Avith  an  eye  but  occasionally  diverted  from 
itself.  That  history  can  now  be  viewed  throughout,  under 
successive  reigns  ;  or  in  those  of  Edward  and  Mary,  Elizabeth 
and  James,  when  we  come  to  the  version  universally  in  use. 
In  other  words,  for  the  main  practical  purpose  which  we  have 
in  view,  from  the  beginning  to  the  end,  we  no  longer  require 
to  proceed  only  year  by  year,  as  we  have  done  ;  nor  is  it  any 
longer  necessary  to  notice  the  editions  of  the  Scriptures  in 
regular  succession.  We  have,  it  is  true,  all  this  time  been 
only  laying  the  foundation,  and  in  so  doing  feel  perfectly  con- 
scious that  we  may  have  trespassed  on  the  patience  of  certain 
readers ;  but  more  especially  on  that  of  any  who  have  never 
been  before  aware  of  what  a  superstructure  has  been  reared 
upon  it.  They  have  now  before  them  the  groundwork  of 
infinitely  the  laraest  undertaking  which  Britain  has  to  show, 
whether  to  her  own  people,  or  those  of  surrounding  nations. 
When  compared  with  it,  every  thing  else  without  exception, 
throughout  this  kingdom,  is  but  local  and  limited. 

At  the  close  of  this  volume,  however,  will  be  found,  at  least 


1547-1553.3  A  SINGULAR   CONTRAST.  235 

SO  far,  one  index  to  our  history,  in  a  List  of  the  Editions  of 
the  Bible,  and  New  Testament  separately,  from  the  year  1525 
down  to  our  present  version  in  1611  and  1613;  soon  after 
which  the  Scriptures  in  English  actually  become  a  multitude 
which  no  man  can  number.  At  the  same  time  this  fact  will 
at  last  lend  its  assistance,  in  any  attempt  to  estimate  our 
present  most  singular  condition  as  a  nation,  as  well  as  our 
position  in  reference  to  the  world  at  large. 

In  the  reign  of  Edward  the  Sixth  we  are  presented  with  a  contrast 
between  father  and  son  ;  or  between  two  men,  seated  in  succession  on 
the  same  throne,  such  as  England  had  never  witnessed  ;  and  this  be- 
comes still  more  striking,  from  the  rights  of  conscience  being  now  no  bet- 
ter understood,  than  they  had  been  under  the  previous  government.  The 
blame  then,  however,  recoiled  upon  the  King  ;  now  it  will  fall  upon  his 
Ministers.  Of  the  father,  it  might  in  truth  be  said — "  As  the  whirl- 
wind passeth,"  so  the  man  was  no  more  ;  but  after  the  oppressive  and 
tormenting  misery  endured  by  so  many,  and  especially  after  he  became 
"  his  own  Minister,"  the  reign  of  his  son  must  have  come  to  the  best 
of  his  subjects,  exhilarating  as  the  morning  breeze  over  a  beanfield  to 
the  traveller.  It  was  not  indeed  "  a  morning  without  clouds  ;"  but  as 
far  as  such  a  history  as  the  present  is  concerned,  it  was  like  "  clear 
shining  after  rain."  We  speak  only  with  reference  to  the  Sacred  Vo- 
lume ;  and,  in  this  point  of  view,  justice  still  remains  to  be  done  to  the 
brief  reign  of  that  youthful  and  amiable  monarch — the  Josiah  of  his  day. 

Henry  VIII.  being  interred  at  Windsor  on  Wednesday  16th  of  Fe- 
bruary, four  days  after,  or  upon  Sunday  the  20th,  his  son,  then  only  in 
his  tenth  year,  was  crowned.  An  incident  occurred,  indicative  of  the 
change  which  had  taken  place,  so  far  as  the  crown  was  concerned. 
Upon  that  day,  when  three  swords  were  brought  before  Edward,  as 
tokens  of  his  being  king  of  three  kingdoms,  he  said  there  was  one  yet 
wanting.  The  noblemen  around  him,  not  exactly  catching  his  mean- 
ing, inquired  which  that  was  ?  He  answered — the  Bible.  "  That  book," 
said  the  young  Prince,  "  is  the  sword  of  the  Spirit,  and  to  be  preferred 
before  these  swords.  That  ought,  in  all  right,  to  govern  us,  who  use 
them  for  the  people's  safety,  by  God's  appointment.  Without  that 
sword,  we  are  nothing,  we  can  do  nothing,  we  have  no  power  :  from 
that  we  are,  what  we  are,  this  day  :  from  that  alone  we  obtain  all 
power  and  virtue,  grace  and  salvation,  and  whatsoever  we  have  of 
Divine  strength."  After  some  other  similar  expressions,  Edward  com- 
manded the  Sacred  Volume  to  be  brought  with  reverence,  and  so  earned 
before  him.^ 

I  Hayward.  Strype.  Though  the  former  mistakes  the  day  of  cnronatinn  for  the  lOlh,  and 
the  latter  says  Sunday  the  21st,  it  was  the  20th  of  February. 


236  I'HK   Nl'MIJKK  OK   EDITIONS  [book  III. 

In  the  ch.angc  which  now  conimcuccd,  the  attentive  observer  may 
discover  one  feature  of  Divine  interposition,  often  displayed  in  other 
instances.  In  the  wonderful  works  which  our  blessed  Lord  condescend- 
ed to  perform,  when  dwelling  here  below,  a  rule  m.ay  be  observed, — in 
his  never  doing,  by  miracle,  more  than  was  requisite,  or  whatever  might 
be  effected  by  ordinary  means.  ^  And  so  now,  the  days  of  direct, — that 
is,  to  our  eye,  of  more  striking  interposition  of  Divine  Providence,  in 
favour  of  the  Sacred  Volume,  were  not  so  frequent,  and  under  this  reign, 
at  least,  they  were  but  seldom  demanded.  The  season  forhuman  agency 
had  come.  Printers  and  publishers  may  do  the  rest,  and  purchasers  will 
not  be  wanting  ;  though,  at  the  same  time,  the  unseen,  yet  overruling 
hand,  is  not  withdrawn.  That  cause  which  we  have  already  seen  weather 
many  a  gale,  will  continue  to  retain  its  own  singular  character  for  inde- 
penilence,  whether  the  reigning  power  smile,  as  under  Edward,  or  frown, 
as  in  the  days  of  his  sister,  Queen  Mary. 

With  regard  to  the  various  editions  of  the  Sacred  Scrip- 
tures issued  from  the  press  in  tlie  brief  reign  of  King  Ed- 
ward, we  have  already  hinted  that  no  justice  has  ever  been  done 
to  the  subject.  To  say  nothing  of  older  historians,  even  so 
recently  as  the  year  1792,  his  readers  were  informed  by  New- 
come,  Archbishop  of  Armagh,  nay,  and  as  a  proof  of  "  ear- 
nest endeavour  that  the  Word  of  the  Lord  miglit  have  free 
course  and  be  glorified ;"  that  "  during  the  course  of  this 
reign,  that  is,"  said  the  author,  "  in  less  than  seven  years  and 
six  months,  eleven  impressions  of  the  whole  English  Bible 
were  published,  and  six  of  the  New  Testament ;  to  which 
may  be  added,  an  English  translation  of  the  whole  New  Tes- 
tament, paraphrased  by  Erasmus,"^  This  only  shews  how 
little  attention  has  been  paid  to  the  subject,  when  a  period  so 
heart-stirring  could  be  thus  reported ;  but  that  the  blunder- 
ing statement  should  have  been  literally  repeated  up  to  this 
hour,  and  in  our  best  introductions  to  the  study,  or  the 
translations,  of  the  Scriptures,  is  more  surprising  still. 

We  need  not  remind  the  reader  that,  instead  of  seven 
years  and  a  half,  Edward  did  not  reign  quite  six  and  a  half ; 
but  how  stand  the  facts  under  this  brief  period?     Why,  that 


2  When  He  had  raised  Lazarns  from  the  dead,  he  was  "  bound  hand  .nnd  foot  with  Rravc 
clothes,"  .lesus  said  to  those  who  stood  by,  "  loose  him  and  Ul  him  fjo."  When,  and  after  hav- 
jnfi  been  "  lauKlied  to  scorn,"  the  dead  younH  maid  arose  at  his  bidding,  and  her  spirit  came 
aRain  ;  He  "  commanded  Ihnn  to  pive  her  moil."  As  nuicli  as  to  say,  in  both  instances,  that 
thonRh  raised  by  miracle,  they  were  not  to  live  by  miracle. 

•T  Ncwcomc's  Historical  View  of  Knglish  Biblical  Translations,  ]i.  (14. 


1. 547-1. ».").-5.]  IN   THE   DAYS  OK   EDWARD.  237 

SO  far  from  only  sir  cHlitions  of  the  New  Testament,  tlicre 
were  nearly  t/tirtf/  more ;  instead  of  eleven  editions  of  the 
Bible  entire,  there  were  at  least  fourteen ;  and  all  these 
within  the  space  of  less  than  six  years  and  a  half,  for  Edward 
reigned  no  longer.  In  other  words,  instead  of  only  nineteen 
distinct  issues  of  the  Scriptures,  including  Erasmus,  as  often 
so  erroneously  reported,  wo  have  ascertained  nhout/iftf/  ;  and 
as  for  the  ]3ibles,  all  these  editions  issued  from  the  press  in 
less  ihan  four  years,  or  from  August  1549  to  July  1553. 

Such  a  period,  therefore,  well  deserves  a  better  survey,  fur- 
nishing, as  it  does,  several  instructive  and  memorable  results. 
With  regard  to  the  printing  and  circulation  of  the  Sacred 
Volume  in  the  days  of  Henry  the  Eighth,  we  have  seen  that 
it  was  throughout,  at  best,  but  a  troubled  scene,  and  distin- 
guished for  bitter  persecution  ;  the  days  of  Edward  the  Sixth, 
when  properly  examined,  stand  altogether  unrivalled,  even 
by  any  subsequent  reign,  for  non-interference  with  the  Scrip- 
tures. Nay,  the  truth  is,  that  in  the  history  of  England,  it 
so  happens  that  we  have  not  another  reign  of  a  similar  charac- 
ter to  exhibit;  it  stands  alone.  It  is,  however,  curious 
enough,  that  the  reign  of  the  most  youthful  sovereign  that 
has  ever  since  reigned  in  Britain,  should  have  made  the 
nearest  approach,  and  promises  before  long  to  equal,  and,  it 
may  be,  far  excel  it.  We  refer  to  the  absence  of  monopoly,  and 
of  course  to  our  present  benignant  Queen  Victoria.  Mean- 
while, even  the  present  age  would  do  well  to  look  back  and 
acquire  a  little  wisdom  from  this  early  period  ;  for,  although 
a  strict  regard  to  impartiality  has  left  us  no  choice  but  to  re- 
cord other  things  of  Cranmer,  which  must  ever  be  condemned, 
he  will  now  be  entitled  to  a  meed  of  praise,  which  his  most 
partial  admirers  have  either  never  observed,  or,  at  least,  never 
marked,  as  they  might  have  done. 

As  there  was  none  of  that  arrogance  and  impiety  on  the 
part  of  the  Crown,  with  which  Henry  was  ever  insulting  his 
subjects ;  talking  to  them,  at  one  moment,  as  if  they  were 
children,  or  were  to  have  no  mind  of  their  own  ;  and  at  an- 
other, as  if  they  had  no  right  to  form  any  opinion  whatever 
for  themselves  ;  so,  on  the  contrary,  groat  liberty  now  pre- 
vailed in  printing  any  one  translation  already  made.  No 
change  for  the  better,  could  then  be  greatei-.  The  last  act 
of  the  father  was  to  brand  the  name  and  memory  of  Tyndale  : 


238  A    I'EKIOD   inSTlNUL'ISllKD  [UOOK  111. 

in  tin-  first  Pailiaineiit  held  hy  lii.s  sun,  that  act  was  repealed, 
and  diclaivd  to  ho  "  utterly  void  and  of  none  cllect ;"  nay, 
the  portrait  of  Edward  will  soon  be  seen  and  sold,  in  imme- 
diate conjunction  with  the  name  and  translation  of  Tyndale. 

l*ossessed  of  such  power  of  control  as  Cranmer  now  enjoyed, 
one  might  have  imagined  that  he  would  have  pressed  forward 
his  own  correction  of  Tyndale's  version,  and  in  superiority  to 
all  others.  But  there  is  no  such  personal  leaning  to  be  dis- 
covered— quite  the  reverse.  The  people  had  been  left  freely 
to  make  their  choice,  or  declare  their  preference,  and  wo  shall 
soon  see  the  result.  Here,  then,  was  one  trait  in  Cranmer''s 
character,  and  one  which  has  never  been  pointed  out,  even  by 
those  who  have  sought  to  justify  other  steps  which  cannot 
be  defended.  True,  it  may  be  said  that  he  was  altogether 
engrossed  with  "  his  Book  of  Homilies  and  his  Catechism, 
with  King  Edward's  Service  Book,  his  Book  of  Articles,  and 
the  Reformatio  Legum,"  to  say  nothing  of  his  Parliamentary 
and  official  engagements.  This  is  granted,  for  such  indeed 
was  the  course  he  chose  to  pursue ;  but  still,  had  Cranmer 
been  disposed  to  have  interfered  with  the  printing  of  the 
Scriptures,  he  certainly  could  have  found  time  to  have  both 
discovered  and  exerted  his  power.  On  the  contrary,  with  his 
name  at  the  head  of  the  Regency,  and  on  such  a  subject 
possessing  great  sway,  he  appears  to  have  acted  with  a  degree 
of  candour  and  liberality  which  has  never  been  surpassed,  nay, 
never  equalled  by  any  man  in  power  ever  since. 

One  important  consequence  has  been,  that  we  are  able  now 
to  see  at  once  what  was  the  popular  taste.  Twenty-one 
years  after  the  New  Testament  of  Tyndale  had  been  sent  into 
England,  an  opportunity  had  at  last  presented  itself,  for  the 
people  as  such  to  speak  out,  and  say  what  they  wanted.  The 
printers  were  ready  to  print,  and  the  stationers,  as  they  were 
called,  to  sell ;  but,  of  course,  theij  would  not  press  any  one 
translation  except  that  which  they  knew  beforehand  was  most 
likely  to  remunerate  them.  As  all  the  editions  were  indi- 
tidual  undertakings  by  men  engaged  in  business,  they,  it 
must  be  evident,  would  print  chiefly  that  book  which  was 
most  frequently  and  eagerly  sought  after. 

That  zeal  for  the  art  of  printing  which  burst  forth  in- 
stantaneously after  Henry's  death,  will  prepare  us  for  the 
numerous  editions  of  the  Scriptures  which  immediately  fol- 


1547-1553,]  FOR  NON-INTERFERENCE.  239 

lowed.  This  noble  art  had  been  introduced  into  England 
under  Edward  IV.,  when  there  were  three  or  four  printers ;" 
under  Henry  VII.  there  were  five  ;  and  four  of  these  survived 
to  print  under  his  son :  but  during  his  long  reign  of  nearly 
thirty-eight  years,  not  fewer  than  forty-one  printers  had  com- 
menced business  in  London,  or  forty-five  in  all.  Now,  the 
first  importation  of  Tyndale's  New  Testament  into  England 
had  taken  place,  not  till  more  than  eighty  years  after  the  in- 
vention of  printing,  and  about  fifty-eight  after  the  art  had 
been  introduced  into  the  country  ;  but  it  is  worthy  of  notice, 
that  from  that  period,  of  these  forty-five  printers  not  fewer  than 
thirt^'-three  had  started  in  business,  and  that  eight  of  them 
were  ultimately  connected  with  printing  the  Sacred  Volume.^ 
Let  us  then  now  observe  Avhat  ensued,  as  soon  as  Henry 
had  "  ceased  from  troubling,"  and  Gardiner,  Bonner,  and 
Tunstal,  were  bereft  of  the  power.  Of  the  forty-five  printers 
under  Henry,  fourteen  survived  when  Edward  came  to  the 
throne.  While  his  father,  the  subject  of  loathsome  disease, 
was  sinking  into  the  grave,  and  in  less  than  twelve  mouths 
after  his  death,  as  many  as  eight  new  men  had  started  in 
business  as  printers.  Next  year,  however,  there  were  not 
fewer  than  eleven  more,  and  in  the  next  two,  eighteen,  besides 
six  others  in  155]  and  1552,  or  forty-three  in  all ;  raising 
the  number  of  printers  under  this  youthful  monarch  to  not 
fewer  than  fifty-seven,  in  the  brief  space  of  six  years  !  Now  if 
it  be  inquired,  Avhat  connexion  had  all  this  with  the  diftusion 
of  the  Divine  Record  ?  it  was  no  less  than  this — that  out  of 
these  fifty-seven  printers,  more  than  the  half\  or  not  fewer 
than  thirty-one^  and  these  the  most  respectable,  were  engaged 
either  in  printing  or  publishing  the  Sacred  Scriptures. 

As  neither  London  itself,  or  the  broad  surface  of  England,  has  ever 
since  exhibited  any  thing  similar  to  this  state  of  things,  it  would  be  un- 
pardonable to  withhold  the  names  of  those  printers  and  publishers,  who 
so  adorned  this  reign,  by  their  zeal  and  assiduity  in  forwarding  the 
interests  of  Divine  Truth.  The  fourteen  men  first  mentioned  belonged 
to  Henry's  reign,  with  four  of  whom  we  are  already  familiar,  but  seven 
more  of  these  now  found  employment  in  connexion  with  the  Scriptures. 


*  Into  Oxford  14(J8 ;  Westminster  about  14/4 ;  London  and  St.  Albans  148fl.  See  Cotton's 
Typographical  Gazetteer,  second  edition. 

5  These  were  Bcrthelet,  Nvcolson,  Grafton,  Wliitehurch,  Redman.  Treveris,  Petyt,  and 
Bvddle. 


2+0 


TIIK    rUINTKRS   ()l<'  TIfK  TIMK. 


[UOOK  HI. 


To  these  eleven  we  are  now  to  add  twenty  more,  or  at  the  least  t/iirti/' 
otie,  so  engaged.  We  give  the  year  of  their  commencing  l)usines8,  and 
the  names  in  italic  mark  the  men  who  arc  known  to  have  been  employed 
in  either  printing  or  selling,  in  whole  or  in  part,  the  Sacred  Volume  in 
our  vernacular  tongue.  Indeed  many,  if  not  most  of  them,  both  printed 
and  sold. 


l.VK).  Tho.  liirlheM. 

l.'>.{7.  Hithnril  Gm/laii. 

\r,:rj.  Kiltciml  friiitchurrhe. 

l.VK).  Thoimis  Pilijl. 

LVJ?.  John  irai/ltiml. 

IM».  Tliiimns  lUiiluaUl. 

l.')41.  Will.  Middletoii. 

).->41.  RoImH  Tvij. 

\:A2.  JVHliixm  Ihinham. 

1542.  Kifhiird  Ljuit. 

I.'U.'t.  Ryiniild  irolje. 

\r,U.  .Iiihn  llirfonk. 

\r,Vu  Rkhanl  Kele. 

KM.').  Michael  Loblcy. 


1-.4G-7.  John  Dayc. 
154(r7.  Nicholas  Uyll. 
1.540-7.  -John  fyalkif. 


1.147.  nil-hard  Jii<iuf. 

l.M?.  Gualtir  Lyiiiic. 

LM?.  lloRcr  Madeley. 

1547.  Tlioma-s  Powell. 

1547.  fyiUiam  Powell. 
1541).  UoKcr  Carr. 
154H.  Ifumiihri/  Pouvll. 
154(1.  Hicharil  lyyer. 
^:>^^\.  IVHUam  Hyll. 
154H.  Hobert  SUiuRhton. 
l.'>4fi.  John  Overton. 
154H.  John  Osiccn. 
1541).  lyilliam  Copland. 

1548.  fyilliam  Seres. 
154K.  Antli.  Scoloker. 
1.541).  Hnfih  Sinfileton. 
154!*.  Herforde's  Widow. 
l.M!).  John  Harrington. 

1549.  tyilliam  rille. 
1549.  William  Baldwin. 


I54!».  Ilvhrri  Crowley. 

1.549.  .fohn  3/yehell. 

1.549.  .lohn  Cawood. 
1.54.').  Anth.  KytKon. 

1550.  Rich.  C'harleton. 
155(1.  Harrington 's  Widow. 
1.5.5(t.  John  Wycr. 

1.550.  .^ndro  llister. 
1.5,50.  St.  Myerdman. 
1.5.5(».  Tho.  Oiiallier. 
1.5.50.  Jolin  Turk. 
1.5.50.  John  KynH*^- 
1.5,50.  John  Tysdalc. 
1.55)1.  Homjihrey  Toy. 

1.551.  John  Case. 
1.551.  Abraliam  Veale. 

1551.  John  Ifyijhte. 

1.551.  Hichard  Tottel. 

1.552.  William  Riddle. 

1552.  Gerard  Dewes. 


Had  Edward  lived,  or  the  same  course  l)een  pursued,  it  is  impossible 
to  calculate  what  must  have  been  the  consequences.  Of  the  men  now 
mentioned,  three  had  already  carried  the  art  to  Canterbury,  Ipswich, 
and  Worcester,  and  a  fourth  to  the  capital  of  Ireland.  In  1549,  Mychell 
at  Canterhury  was  printing  the  Psalter  ;  at  ^\'ol•cestel\  Oswen  was  print- 
ing the  New  Testament  in  1548  and  1550  ;  Humphrey  Powell,  after 
printing  the  Psalter  for  Whytchurch,  had  commenced  business  in 
Dublin  by  the  year  1551  ;  while  not  fewer  than  twenty-eight  other 
substantial  men  were  concerned  with  the  Scriptures  in  the  metropolis 
itself.  Though  the  printers  in  London  may  now  amount  to  five  hundred 
in  number,  nothing  wearing  the  most  distant  approach  to  this  state  of 
things,  has  ever  been  exhibited  since.^ 

But  the  editions  of  the  Scriptures  themselves  will  now 
furnish  us  with  another  view  of  this  memorable  period.  For 
Bibles  'n\  folio,  there  may  have  been  not  so  much  need  as  yet, 
considering  the  number  which  had  been  printed  in  1540  and 


•>  One  of  the  first  printers  who  commenced  business  in  prospect  of  Edward  mounting  the 
throne,  very  well  serves  to  mark  the  crisis.  This  was  John  Day,  and  his  first  publication,  im- 
mediately after  the  King's  de.ith,  in  1547,  was—"  The  sum  of  Holy  Scripture,  imprinted  by  John 
Day,  dwelling  in  Scjiulchre's  jiarish,  at  the  sign  of  the  Ucsitrreclion  ;"  alluding  to  the  rebus  or 
device  he  had  adopted  and  often  employed,  viz.  one  youth  awaking  another  out  of  sleep,  at  the 
moment  of  sunrise,  with  this  motto — "  Arise,  for  it  is  da  v."  Another  man  was  Richard  Jugge; 
or  two  printers,  with  whose  names  so  many  editions  both  of  the  Uible  entire,  and  the  New 
Testament,  were  now  to  be  .associ.itcd.  The  latter  will  soon  print  two  of  the  smallest  and 
most  beautiful  editions  of  Tyndale's  New  Testament,  in  24mo,  with  the  portrait  of  Kdward 
himself  prefixed ! 


1.U7-15j3.]  the  editions  PRINTKI).  24.1- 

1541  ;  for  althougli  Henry  had  licensed  Antliony  Marler  to 
print  for  five  years  longer,  he  was  then  over-stocked,  and  the 
sale  must  have  tiaggod,  as  the  wayward  monarch  only  frowned 
on  the  undertaking  ever  after.  New  Testaments,  however, 
were  in  great  request,  and  the  people  will  now  discover  which 
translation  they  preferred. 

To  our  List  of  editions  at  the  close  of  tliis  history  we  are  now  under  the  ne- 
cessity of  referring,  both  for  ilhistration  and  proof.  Should  therefore  any  slight 
discrepancy  be  discovered,  between  any  general  statement,  and  the  editions 
there  put  down,  though  in  no  case  will  it  affect  our  argument  on  the  whole,  the 
reader  will  find  it  safe  to  abide  by  the  List.  At  the  same  time  should  any  in- 
stance occur  it  will  be  there  noted.  At  present  we  confine  ourselves  to  a  cur- 
sory survey.  Looking  at  the  entire  period  of  six  years  and  a  half,  there  ap- 
pear to  have  been  about  fifty  distinct  publications,  whether  of  the  Sacred  Vo- 
lume entire,  or  the  New  Testament  separately  ;  that  is,  fifteen  of  the  former, 
and  thirty-five  of  the  latter  ;  though  it  is  not  improbable  that  one  or  two  more 
may  yet  bo  discovered. 

Of  Coverdale's  version  thei'e  was  one  edition  though  in  two  issues,  first  in 
1,550  by  Andro  Hester,  and  in  1553  by  R.  Jugge.  Of  Taverner's  version  there 
was  one,  in  five  volumes  in  1549,  and  another,  though  this  has  been  questioned, 
in  1551.  Of  Cranmer's  Bible  there  seem  to  have  been  seven  editions.  Of 
Matthew's  there  were  at  least  five ;  but  then  one  of  these,  about  to  be  mentioned, 
was  so  large  an  impression  that  it  has  been  mistaken  frequently  for  a  number 
of  distinct  editions.  Allowing  to  each  separate  individual  embarked,  his  own 
Bibles,  there  were  not  fewer  than  eight  distinct  issues  of  this  one  edition.  This 
would  make  twelve  in  all,  of  Matthew's. 

With  respect  to  the  New  Testament,  besides  the  English  translation  inserted 
in  the  paraphrase  of  Erasmus  in  1548,  of  which  there  was  a  second  edition,  at 
least  of  the  first  volume,  in  1551,  and  one  edition  generally  ascribed  to  Sir 
John  Cheke  ;  of  Cranmer's  Testament  there  appear  to  have  been  eight  editions, 
but  then  of  Tyndale's,  whether  under  his  own  name  or  that  of  Matthew,  there 
were  not  fewer  than  twenty-four,  besides  one  of  Coverdale  corrected  by  Tyn- 
dale's version  .7 

On  the  whole,  therefore,  if  the  public  demand  had  called  for  Cranmer's  cor- 
rection of  Tyndale,  fifteen  times,  it  had  done  so  for  Tyndale's  version,  as  it 
stood,  fully  double  that  number  ;  and  if  six  men  were  concerned  in  the  former, 
eighteen,  at  least,  were  in  the  latter. 

The  edition  to  which  we  have  alluded,  of  Tyndale's  or  Matthew's 
translation  in  May  1551,  is  worthy  of  special  notice,  as  indicative  of 
the  zeal  now  abroad,  so  unfettered  by  interference.  In  this  Bible  not 
fewer  than  nine  difterent  respectable  men,  printers  and  booksellers  in 
Loudon,  were  concerned,  and  the  impression,  therefore,  must  have  been 


7  The  first  Testament  of  Cranmer,  though  dated  in  1546,  as  their  year  ran  on  to  the  25tli  of 
March,  we  place  under  Edu-ard,  as  it  was  most  jirobably  not  published  till  after  Henry's  death. 
So  scarce  is  it,  that  we  have  known  of  thirty-five  guineas  beiuR  offered  for  a  copy.  Unfortu- 
nately fur  Cranmer's  next  Testament,  by  Whitchurch  as  printer,  not  fewer  than  eleven  verses 
were  omitted  in  one  chapter,  viz.  Bev.  i.  i)-2().  It  has  been  surmised  that  the  book  had  been 
called  in,  but  at  least  one  copy  now  exists  in  London,  in  the  collection  of  .Mr.  Offor. 

vol..   M.  Q 


242  T"K  EDITIONS  PRINTED.  [book  ill. 

a  very  large  one.  It  may  lie  regarded  as  an  ornament  of  its  kind,  pointing 
to  the  reign  of  England's  youngest  monarch.  With  the  exception  of 
one,  to  l)e  noted,  under  Elizabeth,  London  ever  since  has  never  furnished 
a  parallel.  The  following  is  its  title,  with  a  colophon  partly  corrobo- 
rative of  the  fact  as  now  stated  : — 

"  Tlie  Bible,  that  is  to  saye,  all  the  holy  Scripture  :  In  whiche  are  contayned 
the  Oldc  and  newe  Testament,  truly  and  purely  translated  into  Eiiglishc, 
now  lately  with  great  industry  and  diligence  recognised,"  &c.  Small 
folio.  Colophon — "  Here  endoth  the  wiiole  Bilde  after  the  translation  of 
Thomas  Mathew. — Imjirynted  at  Lomioii  hy  Nycolas  Ilyll,  dvrelling  in 
Saynct  Johii's  Streete,  at  the  cost  and  chanjes  of  certayne  honest  vienne  of 
the  occujMcyon,  xchose  names  be  upon  their  bokes." 

Separate  titles  were  printed  for  each  of  these  "  honest  menne,"  who 
were  at  least  eight  in  number,  viz.,  John  Wyghtc,  Willyam  Bonham, 
Thomas  Petyt,  Thomas  Raynolde,  Richard  Kele,  John  Walley,  Abraham 
Veale,  Robert  Toye.  The  first  and  last  three  books  are  in  the  Bristol 
Museum  ;  and  most  of  the  others,  if  not  the  whole,  have  been  seen  by  the 
writer  in  other  collections.  The  copies  with  the  names  of  Wyghte  and 
Bonham  are  said  to  be  printed  by  them,  indicative  of  their  being  part- 
ners in  the  expense  with  Hyll,  the  actual  printer.  The  others  have 
Hyll's  name  as  printer  for  each  of  them,  or  generally,  as  in  the  above 
colophon  for  Robert  Toye  ;  but  the  book  is  the  same  throughout,  though 
it  may  have  been  often  mistaken  for  three,  if  not  eight  or  nine,  different 
editions.^ 

Tyndale"'s  Bibleswere  published  under  tlic  nanieof  Matthew  ; 
but  as  for  the  New  Testament  separately,  the  name  of  William 
Tyndale  was  now  inserted  in  the  front  titles  of  fifteen  editions, 
if  not  more.  At  the  same  time  it  may  be  observed,  in 
farther  proof  of  the  freedom  of  the  press,  and  of  the  absence  of 
all  jealousy  or  interference  on  the  part  of  Cranmer,  that  the 
impressions  of  Matthew's  Bible  took  precedence  of  his  own  in 
point  of  time.  That  of  the  former,  by  Day  and  Seres,  was 
finished  in  August  1549,  and  that  by  Ile^'nolde  and  Hill  in 
October ;  but  Cranmer's,  by  Grafton  and  Whitchurch,  not 
till  December  of  that  year.^ 


»  It  was,  however,  more  than  could  have  been  expected  that  such  acourse  should  goon  to  the 
end  without  some  itching  after  a  mono])oly.  Richard  Jigoe,  when  bordering  on  the  last  year 
of  Edward,  began  to  discover  his  cupidity,  and  obtained  a  license  from  the  Privy  Council,  dated 
Idth  June  1.552,  "  forbidding  all  other  men  "  from  printing  the  New  Testament.  But  he  did  not 
profit  by  it,  and  his  son  will  be  plentifully  paid  back  in  the  father's  own  coin,  by  Christopher 
Barker,  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth.  AVHiTtHi'RCH,  too,  is  said  by  Herbert  to  have  applied  for  a 
patent  to  jirint  Crivimer't  Bible  for  seven  years !  But  if  so,  it  was  inoperative.  Nicolas  Hyll 
printed  Cranmer  in  the  face  of  any  such  thing,  and  the  reign  of  iMary  was  at  hand. 

»  The  edition  liv  Dav  and  Seres  has  been  mistaken  for  Tavenier's.     It  is  Tyndale's  version. 


J. '547-1 553.]  VERY  OBSERVABLE  CONTRAST.  243 

Thus,  if  a  version  ever  received  distinguished  marks  of  pub- 
lic approbation,  it  was  that  of  our  first  translator.  There  had 
been  certain  verbal  alterations  in  the  text,  whether  by  Cran- 
mer,  Coverdale,  orTaverner — some  of  which  were  no  improve- 
ments ;  and  so  it  now  appears  the  people  at  large  had  thought 
throughout  the  days  of  Edward  the  Sixth.  They  had  said,  in 
a  manner  not  to  be  mistaken,  "  We  decidedly  prefer  the  ver- 
sion of  our  original  Translator,  as  he  gave  it  to  his  country." 

It  is  now,  however,  of  importance  to  observe,  that  the  pre- 
ceding remarkable  course  of  events  with  regard  to  Divine 
Truth,  so  interesting  in  itself,  becomes  still  more  so,  as  prov- 
ing that,  when  the  people  were  let  alone,  they  could  act  with 
vigour  for  themselves  ;  and  that  they  were  acting  well  and 
nobly,  in  a  direction  from  which  nothing  but  good  could  ensue. 
But  our  interest  is  greatly  increased  upon  observing  two  of  its 
peculiar  features,  namely,  the  dissimilarity  of  this  course  to 
every  other,  and  its  marked  independence  of  the  reigning  power. 

There  was  actually  no  other  train  of  things  of  a  similar  character  un- 
der Edward  VI.,  but,  on  the  contrary,  quite  the  reverse.  For,  without 
plunging  into  politics,  no  sooner  do  we  turn  our  eyes  than  the  leaven  left 
by  Henry  is  to  be  seen  in  operation.  There  was  free  course  for  the  Book 
of  God,  but  everywhere  else  constraint  would  now  and  then  discover 
itself.  Whether  we  turn  to  the  old  learning,  or  to  the  official  men  pro- 
fessing the  neiv,  or  to  heresy  itself,  properly  so  c?vlled,  it  was  still  the 
same.  No  man  in  power  conceived  of  any  remedy  save  one.  Instead  of 
reason,  argument,  and  the  exposition  of  Divine  Truth  being  left  with  God 
to  their  own  eflfects,  the  only  ultimate  resort  was  personal  constraint,  and 
even  unto  death.  The  reader  of  history  need  not  be  reminded  of  the 
short-sighted  policy  pursued  towards  Mary,  the  presumptive  heir,  who 
was  siu"e  to  repay  the  restraint  imposed  upon  her  with  double  interest  as 
soon  as  she  came  to  the  throne.  With  respect  to  the  characters  of  Gar- 
diner and  Bonner,  there  could  be  but  one  opinion  as  to  their  just  deserts 
in  the  sight  of  God.  "  Their  hands  were  defiled  with  blood,  and  their 
fingers  with  iniquity  ;  their  lips  had  spoken  lies,  and  their  tongue  still 
muttered  perverseness  ;"  but  the  policy  pursued  by  their  opponents  was 
sure  to  recoil  upon  themselves.  By  their  course  with  Mary  and  these 
two  men  they  were  for  years  preparing  a  threefold  cord  against  another 
day,  or  rather  a  scourge  of  three  thongs,  to  be  steeped  in  their  own  blood 
and  that  of  many  more.  The  same  blind  zeal  was  displayed  in  the  la- 
mentable intolerance  of  Cranmer,  and  even  Ridlej'^,  towards  the  zealous 
and  learned  John  Hooper,  when  actually  "  forcing"  him  to  be  a  bishop, 
according  to  their  own  ideas  of  that  office.     Their  conduct,  too,  appears 


244  TllH  SCKIPTUUKS  IN  CONTUAST  [bOOK  MI. 

much  more  reprehensible  when  contrasted  with  that  of  their  amiable  and 
youthful  King.  These  old  men  could  not  learn  a  lesson  of  wisdom  and 
moderation,  though  tendered  to  them  even  by  the  lips  of  their  youthful 
Monarch.  Hooper  having  objected  to  the  oath  imposed,  as  well  as  to  the 
old  priestly  garments,  Edward  himself  erased  the  exceptionable  words, 
and  was  inclined  to  dispense  with  the  garments  also.  But  no  ;  ultimately 
committed  to  the  custody  of  Cranmer,  Hooper  was  consigned  to  the 
Fleet  prison — although  the  dispute  had  to  be  settled  at  last  by  mutual 
concession.  Nor  did  they  stop  here — though,  had  Edward's  feelings  been 
consulted,  his  reign  had  never  been  stained  with  blood.  Even  the  tears 
of  the  young  Monarch  were  shed  in  vain  ;  heresy  was  to  be  punished 
with  death,  and  the  names  of  Joan  of  Kent  and  of  George  Van  Pare  will 
always  recur  to  sully  the  character  of  this  otherwise  bloodless  reign.  It 
may,  however,  be  received  as  one  redeeming  point,  that  the  blood  of  not 
one  disciple  of  the  old  learning  was  shed  ;  while  the  other  events  con- 
spire to  render  the  freedom  enjoyed  as  to  the  Scriptures  only  the  more 
observable. 

Nor  is  the  dissimilarity  of  which  we  speak  less  striking,  when,  from 
men  and  things,  we  turn  to  certain  books,  proposed  to  be  enforced,  during 
this  reign,  by  royal  authority.  In  justice  to  the  history  of  the  Sacred 
Volume,  let  that  of  two  others,  for  a  few  moments,  be  observed.  We  refer 
to  what  were  styled  "  The  Articles  in  Religion,"  and  to  the  "  Revision 
of  the  Ecclesiastical  Laws."  These,  it  is  well  known,  engrossed  much  of 
the  time  and  attention  of  Cranmer  throughout  the  whole  six  years  and  a 
half,  while  other  men  were  busy,  and  left  free  to  supply  the  demand  for 
Sacred  Scripture  itself.  That  there  is  an  infinite  difference  between  the 
words  of  men  and  those  of  God,  is  a  truth  to  which  all  subscribe  ;  hut  the 
question  is,  whether  any  palpable  line  of  distinction  was,  by  certain 
occurrences,  now  drawn  between  them,  and  made  perfectly  apparent,  as 
a  lesson  or  monition,  to  posterity.  If  there  was,  he  can  scarcely  be  said 
to  go  below  the  surface  of  the  times  who  does  not  observe  and  record  it. 

It  was  in  the  year  153G  that  "  Articles  of  Religion"  were  first  started 
by  Archbishop  Cranmer  in  the  Convocation.  From  the  dexterous  and 
successful  advantage  which  such  a  mode  of  procedure  had  afforded  to 
Stephen  Gardiner  and  his  party  afterwards,  one  might  have  imagined  that 
Cranmer  by  this  time  would  have  discovered  his  mistake,  and,  but  for  his 
situation,  perhaps  he  might  ;  but  the  all-sufficiency  or  perfection  of  the 
Divine  Word  itself  was  an  idea  which  neither  he  nor  any  other  man  in 
public  understood.  Cranmer,  indeed,  was  now  even  far  more  bent  upon 
"  Articles  "  than  ever  before.  In  15.36  they  were  only  nine  in  number, 
but  they  had  now  grown  under  his  hand  to  forty-two  ! — thus  enlarging 
the  debatable  ground  to  nearly  five  times  its  original  size.  But  then 
"  it  is  remarkable,"  says  an  intelligent  writer,  "  that  though  much 
promptitude  was  shown  under  Henry  VIII.  in  drawing  up  formularies  of 


1547-1553.2  WITH  OTHER   BOOKS.  245 

f-dith,  fine  i/ears  were  allowed  by  his  successor  without  a>iy  publication  of 
this  nature."  '**  This  extraordinary  delay,  indeed,  went  farther,  even  to 
within  a  month  of  Edward's  death  ;  nay,  the  royal  mandate  to  procure 
adhesion  by  subscription  is  dated  only  a  fortnigld,  and  that  by  Cranmcr 
only  eiffkt  da^sheiovG  that  event.  The  King's  printer  had  only  finished  the 
book  at  press,  when  all  the  labour,  not  to  say  all  the  expense,  was  in  vain  ! 

But  how,  it  may  well  be  inquired,  could  Cranmcr  thus  proceed  with 
the  slightest  hope  of  success  /  Did  he  not  see  the  youthful  Prince  daily 
and  evidently  descending  to  the  grave  ?  No  doubt  he  did,  and  the  blind- 
ing effect  of  what  has  been  styled  "  politic  handling"  becomes  strikingly 
apparent.  The  Primate  was  dreaming  on  the  edge  of  a  volcano,  in  vain 
expectation  of  another  successor  to  Edward  than  the  one  appointed. 

One  obvious  advantage,  however,  of  Cranmer's  long  delay  in  printing 
these  Articles  was  this — that  the  public  mind  was  much  less  diverted 
from  the  sacred  page  itself ;  and  this  delay  is  the  more  remarkable,  as  it 
appears  to  have  originated  in  little  else  than  a  mistaken  flight  of  the  ima- 
gination. The  most  feasible  explanation  which  can  be  given  is  the 
following.  For  years,  and  in  conjunction  with  Philip  Mdancthoii, 
Cranmer  had  dreamt  of  attempting  "  a  Oeneral  Confession  of  Faith  "  for 
the  churches  or  communities  abroad,  as  well  as  at  home.  Full  of  this 
intention,  he  had  invited  certain  foreigners  to  visit  England,  as  the  most 
suitable  or  safest  place  for  conference  at  that  period.  Melancthon,  Bul- 
linger,  and,  it  has  also  been  supposed,  Calvin  were  invited.  Cranmer 
continued,  it  is  certain,  to  press  the  subject  up  to  the  spring  of  1552, 
when  his  final  invitation  to  Melancthon,  dated  27th  March,  was  despatch- 
ed. Not  one  of  the  parties  invited,  however,  arrived  ;  and  so  Cranmer, 
despaii-ing  of  success,  proceeded  at  last  with  his  own  ideas,  entitled 
"  The  Book  of  Articles  of  Religion."  In  May  1552,  it  was  laid  before 
the  Privy  Council,  who  retained  it  till  November  ;  but  the  royal  authority 
was  not  signified  till  the  end  of  June,  when  the  King  was  nearly  breath- 
ing his  last.  Thus,  it  is  very  observable,  the  present  "  Articles,"  proposed 
for  "  avoiding  controversy"  and  establishing  "  concord,"  met  with  even 
less  notice  than  those  first  put  forth  under  Henry,  with  the  vain  expecta- 
tion of  producing  "  peace  and  contentation."  How  much  of  mercy  had 
been  involved  in  the  people  at  large  having  all  these  years  full  and  free 
access  to  Scriptui-e  itself,  and  the  opportunity  of  drawing  their  faith 
directly  from  that  well  of  life  or  living  water,  it  is  impossible  to  say. 
This,  however,  above  all  others,  and  beyond  all  question,  had  proved  the 
crowning  mercy  of  the  times. 

The  other  book,  to  which  we  have  alluded,  the  "  Revision  of  Ecclesi- 
astical Law,"  met  with  no  better  success,  though  noAv  completed,  and 
that  chiefly  through  the  persevering  exertions  of  Cranmcr.     It  was  now 

'"  Cranmer's  Remains,  by  Jcnkyns.    Preface, 


24.(>  THE   SCRIPTURES  STILL   PRESERVED  [huoK  111. 

above  twenty  years  since  this  revision  had  been  first  projected  in  1532  ! 
Two  years  after,  in  March  1.'j:}4,  an  Act  was  passed,  enii)owering  Henry 
VIII.  to  nominate  commissioners,  and  enacting  that  the  canons  approved 
by  them,  if  fortified  by  the  Royal  assent  under  the  Great  Seal,  should 
be  kept  and  observed  within  the  realm.  This  Act  was  renewed  in  153(!, 
and  again  in  1.044.  After  this,  and  at  last,  commissioners  were  appointed, 
a  body  of  what  they  called  Ecclesiastical  Law  was  digested,  and  a  letter 
of  ratification  prepared  for  the  King's  signature  ;  but  this  signature  was 
never  affixed.  Henry  died,  and  the  powers  granted  to  the  Crown  died 
with  him.  A  fresh  Act,  therefore,  under  Edward,  was  passed  in  1.049. 
Commissioners  are  said  to  have  been  appointed  shortly  after  ;  but  it  is 
certain  they  had  done  little,  or  rather  nothing,  as  a  new  commission  was 
issued  in  October  1551.  This  was  directed  to  eight  bishops,  eight 
divines,  eight  civilians,  and  eight  common  lawyers,  of  whom  eight  were 
still  only  to  "  gather  up  and  put  in  order  the  materials."  They  had,  of 
course,  now  not  been  i)leased  with  the  former  "  digest,"  under  Henry, 
which  was  only  waiting  for  his  signature  ;  and  now,  under  Edward  his 
son,  after  all  these  preliminaries,  the  whole  affair  was  intrusted  by  the 
King  to  Cranmer,  Avho  employed  three  others,  Taylor,  P.  Martyr,  and 
Haddon,  to  assist.  From  the  manuscript  copy,  however,  now  in  the  Bri- 
tish ]\Iuseum,  it  is  manifest  that  Cranmer  and  Peter  Martyr  were  the 
chief  labourers  ;  but  what  came  of  it  all  at  last  ?  We  need  scarcely 
add,  they  had  laboured  in  vain  I  "  Such,"  says  Mr.  Todd,  in  his  Life  of 
Cranmer,  "  such  is  the  unauthoritative  code,  often  altered,  it  appears,  in 
its  progress  through  the  reigns  of  Henry  and  Edward  ;  in  vain  endea- 
voured to  be  brought  into  use  in  that  of  Elizabeth  ;  merely  reprinted  in 
that  of  Charles  the  First ;  and  at  last  ineff'ectually  suggested  to  public 
notice,  with  a  view  to  its  establishment,  by  Bishop  Burnet." 

In  the  providential  history,  therefore,  of  these  two  books,  in  compari- 
son with  that  of  the  Sacred  Volume,  no  line  of  distinction  could  be  more 
palpable — no  contrast  more  bold  and  striking.  The  undertakings  of  men, 
and  these,  let  it  be  observed,  men  in  power,  though  backed  by  royal  en- 
couragement, had  not  only  dragged  on  heavily,  but  the  ruler's  smiles 
turning  soon  away,  they,  with  the  ruler,  died.  We  have  heard  of  "  the 
voice  of  past  years,"  and  this  is  one,  not  without  signification  to  the 
present  age. 

The  reader  may  already  be  disposed  to  regard  the  contrast  as  suffi- 
ciently strong,  but  the  unbroken  or  continued  inde^yemlence  of  this  cause, 
as  it  regarded  official  men,  as  well  as  books,  is  now  not  less  worthy  of 
particular  notice.  Under  Henry  VIII.,  the  history  of  the  Sacred  Scrip- 
tures in  English,  has  appeared  to  be  a  separate  or  distinct  undertaking, 
carried  forward  by  a  succession  of  private  individuals,  at  their  own 
proj)cr  cost  and  risk  :  but  so  far  from  this  being  obsened  to  continue 
under  Edward  VI.,  perhaps  many,  if  not  all,   have  been  accustomed  to 


1547-1553.]       AS  A  SEPARATE   UNDERTAKING.  247 

regard  the  course  pursued  as  quite  the  reverse.     The  substantial  pro- 
cedure, however,  even  now,  was  neither  suggested,  undertaken,  or  pur- 
sued at  the  instigation  of  either  the  King  or  Privy  Council,  the  Con- 
vocation, or  the  Parliament.     It  is  true,  that  before  even  the  first  Par- 
liament was  assembled,  the  Privy  Council,  seizing  time  by  the  forelock, 
and  grounding  their  proceedings  upon  that  outrageous  Act  of  Henry's, 
liy  which  the  King's  letters  were  to  carry  equal  authority  with  an  Act 
of  Parliament,  did  issue  certain  injunctions  ;  and  by  them,  one  chajiter 
of  the  Old,  and  another  of  the  New  Testament,  was  to  form  a  part  of 
public  service  ;  the  parish  church,  too,  was  to  be  provided  with  a  copy 
of  the  Scriptui-es,  of  which  many  of  them  were  still  destitute,  and  to 
this  was  added  the  paraphrase  of  Erasmus  on  the  Gospels.     But  still, 
as  in  the  year  1537,  the  Bible  was  introduced  into  England,  indepen- 
dently of  the  Privy  Council,  the  Convocation,  or  the  Parliament ;  even 
so  now  the  Scriptures  must  be  plentifully  printed  and  circulated.     No 
injunctions  were  issued  on  this  subject.     There  was  no  royal  proclama- 
tion.    Nor  must  the  Senate  be  permitted  to  have  a  voice  with  regard  to 
the  reading  of  the  Scriptm-es.     On  the  contrary,  in  the  very  first  year 
of  Edward's  reign,  or  1547,  when  a  certain  bill,  bearing  on  the  subject, 
was  introduced  into  Parliament,  it  failed,     And  when  the  capricious, 
nay  profane  treatment  of  the  Sacred  Volume  by  that  Assembly,  as  well 
as  by  the  Convocation,  is  remembered,  every  one  must  see  the  propriety 
of  their  not  being  allowed  now  to  interfere,  in  the  way  of  hollow,  though 
professed  favour.    No,  the  cause  had  stood  the  battle  and  the  breeze,  with- 
out their  hypocritical  friendship,  before  Edward  was  born  ;  and  it  will 
do  so  again,  when  these  men  are  either  gone  to  the  grave,  or  have  basely 
changed  sides,  as  many  of  them  did  in  a  few  years.     This  Parliament 
may  frown  upon  the  sanguinary  Acts  of  the  late  King,  and  especially 
on  that  which  so  absurdly  and  cruelly  restrained  the  useftd  classes  from 
reading  the  Scriptui'es  ;  but  they  must  proceeed  no  farther.     They  might 
brand  the  deeds  of  the  preceding  Senate,  by  repealing  the  statutes  they 
had  dared  to  pass  ;  but  as  for  the  positive  perusal  of  the  Scriptures,  they 
must  not  falsely  enjoy  any  credit  for  enforcing  it.     They  must  not  legis- 
late.    The  subject  was  mooted,  it  is  true,  but  it  seems  as  if  this  had  been 
intended  only  to  show  more  visibly  to  posterity,  the  independence  which 
we  have  observed  all  along.     Upon  Tuesday  the  15th  of  November,  in 
the  House  of  Lords  a  bill  was  introduced,  by  whom  is  not  stated,  though 
Cranmer  was  present,  "/or  the  reading  of  the  Script^ires ;"  but  it  actu- 
ally never  reached  a  second  reading,  nor  was  any  such  measui'e  even 
hinted  throughout  the  reign."     Legislation  was  once  proposed,  but  it 
must  be  abandoned  ;  and  although  there  was  no  Act  of  Parliament — no 
Act  of  Convocation — no  imperative  injunctions — no  new  translation — 


">  Sec  llie  Lords"  Journals,  p.  2f)7. 


2+8  HDWAltU'S  I'EUSONAL  KXAMl'Lfc:.  []lioOK   III. 

)io  new  false  title  pages,  similar  tu  the  jnut'aiie  mockery  of  Henry's 
(lays,  there  was,  so  far  as  one  individual  youtli  was  concerned,  something 
of  far  dill'erent  and  better  effect,  and  more  congenial  with  God's  own 
glorious  purpose  and  design — Edward's  own  visible  and  marked  venera- 
tion for  the  Siicred  llecord  itself. 

The  cause,  therefore,  continues  to  stand  out  before  us,  as 
the  spontaneous  act  of  individual  enterprise,  in  reply  to  the 
voluntary  and  urgent  calls  of  the  people  themselves,  and 
especially  for  the  New  Testament  Scriptures.  They  were 
anxious  to  proceed  according  to  the  good  old  French  maxim, 
"  Laissez  nous  faire"" — Leate  us  to  act;  and  the  Government 
was,  providentially,  strong  enough  to  comply.  For  many 
years,  it  is  true,  the  votes  or  voice  of  Parliament  could  have 
formed  no  index  whatever  to  the  consent  or  non-consent  of 
the  people  at  large.  From  the  way  in  which  members  were 
summoned,  or  both  Houses  constituted,  this  was  impossible ; 
but  then,  at  the  same  time,  both  Houses  were  most  obsequi- 
ous, and  had  wavered  with  the  Crown.  Now,  in  these  cir- 
cumstances, it  is  only  the  more  obsei'vable,  that  the  Parlia- 
ment of  Edward  should  become  conspicuous  for  non-interfer- 
ence,  when  the  King  himself  was  a  sincere  and  ardent  admirer 
of  the  Scriptures.  Thus,  though  unconsciously.,  the  House 
was  witnessing  to  posterity  the  benefits  which  ensue  from  not 
touching  with  this  subject.  Of  these  benefits,  we  have  al- 
ready given  substantial  evidence ;  and  the  reader  will  be  still 
more  struck,  when  he  turns  to  the  particular  statement  of  all 
these  precious  volumes,  in  our  list  at  the  close  of  this  work. 
Meanwhile,  no  one  could  desire  more  evident  proofs,  in  long 
succession,  of  a  "  separated  cause,"  a  sacred  undertaking ; 
and  these,  too,  present  themselves  at  a  period,  when  the 
unprincipled  changes  perpetually  occurring,  whether  in  the 
Privy  Council  or  the  Parliament,  were  loudly  saying  of  every 
other  department — "  it  is  but  the  cause  of  men,  of  fallible 
and  chanijino'  men." 

Here,  then,  was  the  distinguishing  feature  of  this  brief,  but 
memorable  reign  ;  and  it  certainh'  becomes  the  more  worthy 
of  notice  from  the  facts  already  stated  ;  for  in  this  one  point 
of  view,  there  has  been  no  reign,  of  a  similar  character,  ever 
since.  In  contrast,  too,  with  Edward's  immediate  predeces- 
sor, far  from  any  thing  to  repel  in  the  young  Pi-ince,  there  is 
mucli  to  invite  our  love  and  admiration.     Whatever  was  ob- 


\54'7-\ 553.2  "^"^^  DP:AT1I   of  EDWARD.  249 

jectionable  duriug  his  sway — of  which  there  were  more  steps 
tlian  one  or  two — an  enlightened  judgment  will  ever  ascribe 
to  his  Ministers  ;  for,  in  the  age  in  which  he  flourished  and 
faded  so  soon,  he  stood  like  an  apple  tree  among  the  trees  of 
the  w^ood,  if  not  as  a  lily  among  thorns.  To  say  nothing  of 
the  precocity  of  his  talents,  which,  no  doubt,  has  been  exag- 
gerated, though  he  must  have  been  more  than  usually  intel- 
ligent, there  w'as  his  strong  aversion  to  the  shedding  of 
blood,  which  so  painfully  places  Goodrich,  and  Cranmer,  and 
even  Ridley,  before  us  ;  but,  above  all,  his  profound  and  often 
expressed  veneration  for  the  Sacred  Volume  itself.  It  was 
this  that  brought  him  so  near  to  the  character  of  Josiah  of  old, 
though  even  yet  so  much  younger  than  the  Jewish  monarch, 
when  the  Book  of  the  Law  was  found,  and  read  before  him. 

But,  lo  !  the  clouds  are  gathering  ;  the  young  King,  to  the 
grief  of  many,  and  these  certainly  the  best  in  the  laud,  is  seen 
to  be  slowly  descending  to  the  grave ;  and  all  the  enemies  of 
Divine  Truth  in  the  vulgar  tongue,  begin  to  rally  and  look 
up.  A  lurid  gloom  begins  to  settle  on  the  realm.  A  time  of 
trouble  and  vexation,  of  banishment  and  blood,  is  at  hand. 
But  there  was  no  wisdom,  nor  understanding,  nor  counsel, 
against  Him  by  whom  all  things  were  foreseen.  We  must 
enter  the  storm,  and  there,  even  there,  delight  to  trace  once 
more,  the  peculiar  care  of  the  Most  High,  over  his  own  Word. 

It  was  upon  the  evening  of  Thursday,  the  6th  of  July  1553, 
that  Edward  died  of  consumption.  His  favourite  and  inse- 
parable friend.  Sir  Henry  Sidney,  had  him  in  his  arms,  when 
he  suddenly  exclaimed — "  I  am  faint ;  Lord  have  mercy  upon 
me,  and  take  my  spirit !"  He  instantly  expired,  at  the  early 
age  of  fifteen  years,  eight  months,  and  twenty-two  days.  Few 
kings  have  fallen  so  soon ;  far  fewer  still,  as  safe  ;  and  per- 
haps none  in  English  history  more  sincerely  lamented,  by  dis- 
cerninof  survivors.  Lender  such  counsellors  he  mifjlit  have 
been  corrupted.     He  was  taken  away  from  the  evil  to  come. 

Before  King  Edward  was  interred  at  Westminster,  on  the  8th  of 
August,  there  had  already  occurred  gi'eat  changes  ;  and  that  storm  had 
commenced,  which  was  to  end  only  with  the  reign  then  begun.  Had 
the  short  rule  of  the  deceased  Prince,  been  one  of  only  unmixed  good, 
the  judgment  which  now  fell  upon  England  for  about  five  years,  would 
have  been  inscrutable.  The  reign  of  Mary  having  been  so  awfully 
tempestuous,  has  always  been  designated  as  tyrannical  and  bloody  ;  but 


2.')0  TMK  CROOKED   POLICY  [booK  HI. 

since  it  (lid  occur,  the  judgment,  as  a  national  one,  must  have  been 
righteous.  God  doth  not  afflict  willingly,  nor  grieve  the  children  of 
men.  Before  leaving  the  present  reign,  therefore,  the  reason,  or  pro- 
curing cause,  must  be  sought  for  in  the  six  years  and  a  half  which  had 
now  passed  away.  By  how  much  the  following  years  were  severe,  the 
l)rcceding  only  demand  the  more  attention. 

The  Privy  Council  of  the  deceased  King,  therefore,  on  whom  the 
executive  power  had  rested,  and  the  nation,  as  such,  equally  require 
notice.  With  regard  to  the  first  party,  they  had  rendered  themselves 
notorious,  as  a  set  of  men  fighting  for  their  own  individual  interests. 
But  whatever  might  be  reprehensible  at  other  times — and  there  was  not 
a  little — it  is  curious  enough,  that  if  we  fix  our  eye  only  upon  fifteen 
days,  or  even  only  three,  at  the  commencement,  and  twelve,  or  only  two, 
at  the  close  of  their  sway,  we  have  sufl5cient  evidence  that  all  was  not 
right,  in  the  sight  of  either  God  or  man.  Over  the  first  three  days, 
there  has  long  hung  a  degree  of  mystery  which  has  puzzled  all  our  pre- 
vious historians.  Sir  James  Mackintosh  has  remarked  that  the  delay  of 
three  days  in  officially  announcing  the  death  of  Henry  VIIL,  would  be 
regarded,  in  our  time,  as  a  piece  of  daring  presumption  ;  but  what  these 
men,  the  Earl  of  Hertford  and  his  associates,  were  doing,  in  the  course 
of  these  days  has  been  the  question,  and  no  one  could  inform  us  till 
very  recently.  The  validity  of  Henry's  will  has  been  often  canvassed, 
but  whatever  was  its  character,  it  turns  out  that  this  State  document 
was  in  the  Earl's  private  keeping,  and  that  no  Pri\'y  Counsellor  could 
even  see  it,  until  he  sent  the  key  from  Hertford,  where  he  was,  twenty 
miles  distant  from  London,  and  twenty-five  hours  after  Henry  had 
breathed  his  last.  The  truth  is,  that  as  soon  as  the  King  died,  early  on 
Friday  the  28th  of  January  1547,  Hertford  had  proceeded  to  this  place, 
as  Edward  was  there  ;  and  his  letter  to  the  other  executors  is  dated 
from  thence  "  between  three  and  four  in  the  (next)  morning. "'^  Forty- 
four  hours  more  pass  away,  and  Hertford,  at  eleven  o'clock  on  Sunday 
night,  is  only  at  Enfield,  still  ten  miles  distant  from  town.  Both  Edward 
and  Elizabeth,  (not  Mary,)  were  under  his  care,  and  here  he  first  in- 
formed these  children,  of  their  father's  death.  Elizabeth  was  left  in 
the  country,  and  it  was  not  till  three  o'clock  on  Monday  that  Edward 
had  arrived  at  the  Tower  ;  the  decease  of  the  monarch  not  having  been 
communicated  to  Parliament  till  they  assembled  that  daj'.  On  Tuesday, 
or  the  first  of  February,  the  greater  part  of  the  nobility  arrived  at  the 
Tower,  to  bow  the  knee  before  their  young  Sovereign  ;  and  to  hear  from 


'2  Though  Parliament  was  of  course  dissolved  by  the  King's  death,  it  met  next  day,  or  Satur- 
day, and  proceeded  to  business) !  This  not  only  pave  time  to  tbe  Junto,  but  PaRct  seems  to  have 
been  tryinR  to  take  care  of  himself.  Besides  other  busincs-s  there  was  a  "  Bill  for  assuring  cer- 
tain lands  to  Sir  William  Papet,  Secretary  to  the  King's  Majesty,"— and  the  King's  Majesty 
ilfad.  thirty  Imurs  before  they  met !  They  then  adjoi'Iinkd  to  lHoiidat/,  whiclt  was  to  eerve  fo 
carrying  on  the  delusion. 


1547-1553.]  OF  THE    PRIVY  COUNCIL.  251 

Wriothesly,  as  Chancellor,  the  purport  of  his  father's  will  and  testa- 
ment.'''  The  deed,  as  far  as  declared,  of  course  exactly  served  the  design 
of  Hertford  and  his  party  ;  for  what  had  they  actually  done  1  They  had 
ojiened  the  will,  before  either  the  King  or  the  Parliament  were  informed 
of  Henry's  death,  and  had  held  consultation  what  portioiis  were  to  be 
communicated  !  Thus  while  Parliament  and  the  nation  believed,  or 
were  left  to  suppose,  that  their  Sovereign  was  still  alive,  all  the  intended 
measures  were  already  fixed,  and  by  a  faction  to  whom  no  resistance 
could  be  made.  In  short,  the  Earl  of  Hertford  was  already  regarded 
as  Protector  by  his  fellows,  three  days  before  the  accession  of  Edward 
was  announced.''* 

There  is  no  occasion  here,  however,  for  going  on  in  detail.  The  pro- 
ceedings of  Hertford,  who  was  soon  created  Duke  of  Somerset  ;  of  the 
Lord- Admiral  Baron  Seymour,  his  brother  ;  and  of  Dudley,  Earl  of  War- 
wick, afterwards  Duke  of  Northumberland,  are  well  known.  The  two 
former  had  perished,  and  the  last  is  now  about  to  die,  on  the  scaffold. 
But  if  the  first  steps  taken  under  Edward  were  wrong,  the  last  were 
much  worse.  If  Henry's  last  will  was  valid,  and  it  had  been  read  as 
their  guide,  great  freedoms  had  been  used  with  it,  by  these  Counsellors, 
at  the  beginning  ;  but  they  finished,  by  putting  it  aside  altogether  ! 
The  duplicity  practised  in  both  cases,  serves  to  show  the  ambition  with 
which  they  were  filled.'^  To  then-  crooked  and  short-sighted  policy  was 
then  ultimately  sacrificed,  one  of  the  loveliest,  the  best  educated,  and 
most  refined  young  women  in  all  England — Lady  Jane  Grey,  the  illus- 
trious daughter  of  the  Duke  of  Suffolk,  the  Queen  of  ten  days.  She  had 
been  married  only  in  May  to  Lord  Guilford  Dudley,  fomih  son  of  the 


'3  Here  we  may  as  well  take  leave  of  this  unprincipled  and  cruel  man,  the  Lord  Chancellor. 
Immediately  after  Henry's  funeral,  in  consequence  of  the  creation  of  Peers  at  Edward's  coro- 
nation, Wriothesly  was  elevated  to  be  Earl  of  Southampton  ;  Fitzwilliam,  the  last  Earl, 
having  died,  s.  p.  in  1543.  Pcrha])s  the  new  Peer  had  been  congratulating  himself  on  being 
through  the  storm,  as  through  he  was,  had  he  not  immediately  brought  another  on  himself;  for 
the  first  business  of  importance  after  the  coronation  was  his  fall.  Retaining  his  office  as  Lord 
Chancellor,  he  had,  of  his  cnvti  authority,  appointed  three  deputies  in  the  Court  of  Chancery  to 
act  for  him  there.  The  Judges  decided  that  he  had  thus  forfeited  his  office,  and  become  liable 
to  fine  and  imprisonment.  His  passion  at  this  decision  availed  him  nothing,  and  his  insolence 
to  Hertford,  then  Duke  of  Somerset  and  Lord-Protector,  completed  his  ruin.  Crumwell  had 
)iossessed  an  Earldom  little  more  than  three  months,  but  the  new  Earl  of  Southampton  was  in 
disgrace  by  that  day  month  on  which  Henry  died.  The  Great  Seal  was  taken  from  him,  he  was 
put  under  arrest,  and  not  relieved  till  the  2.0th  of  June,  after  entering  on  a  recognizance  of 
^£'4000  to  pay  whatever  fine  should  be  imposed.  Recovering  his  influence  in  some  degree,  he 
became  the  hope  of  his  party,  but  by  the  end  of  154!)  he  precipitately  left  the  Court ;  and,  ac- 
cording to  Poynet,  Bishop  of  Winchester,  "  fearing  lest  he  should  come  to  some  shameful  end, 
(loisoncd  himself,  or  pined  away  for  thought."  From  whatever  cause,  he  died  on  the  3tlth 
of  July  l.'i5(». 

'4  It  is  to  Mr.  Tytler  that  we  have  been  recently  indebted  for  these  particulars,  in  his  "  Eng- 
land under  the  reigns  of  Edward  VI.  and  Mary."  Vol.  i.,  pp.  15-19.  The  information  is  con- 
tained in  original  manuscripts,  only  now  first  printed. 

^^  The  objections  of  the  young  and  dying  King  to  set  aside  his  father's  will,  and  so  injure  liis 
sisters,  are  not  upon  record  ;  but  he  can  only  be  regarded  as  the  tool  of  Northumberland's 
wicked  ambition,  and  of  sophistry  no  less  wicked,  on  the  l>art  of  tliosc  who  sympathised  with 
the  schemes  of  the  Duke. 


252  A  SEPAHATK   I'KoPLR  [book  hi. 

Duke  of  NortbumbeilanJ.  When  jtoor  .Jane,  like  a  devoted  victim,  was 
carried  in  state  procession,  on  Monday  the  loth  of  July,  it  was  intended 
that  Law  and  Goverunient,  the  Lord  Mayor  and  Aldermen,  the  Nobility 
and  Clergy,  should  all  appear  to  l)e  in  her  favour  ;  but  though  the  con- 
course was  great,  it  was  merely  to  see  the  pageant  ;  there  was  only  faint 
j>raisc  from  the  people,  and  but  few  acclamations  ;  nor  had  the  feeling 
of  the  better  orders  been  at  all  consulted.  At  that  moment,  indeed, 
Mary,  little  else  than  a  lonely  fugitive,  and  fled  to  Framlingham  Castle, 
might  seem  unlikely  ever  to  be  Queen  of  England  ;  but  a  few  days  only 
passed  away,  when  the  enchantment  of  those  who  had  sought  to  disin- 
herit her  was  dissolved.  In  one  week  Il(Miry's  eldest  daughter  found 
herself  supported  by  forty  thousand  men,  foot  and  horse,  at  their  own 
expense,  without  costing  her  a  crown  piece  !  The  enthusiasm  was  ex- 
cessive, and  characteristic  ;  so  that  when  Mary  was  proclaimed  at  Paul's 
Cross,  the  very  next  week,  or  Wednesday  the  19th,  it  was  amidst  accla- 
mations from  the  multitude,  which  drowned  the  voice  of  the  heralds  ! 
If  Cranmer,  therefore,  and  Ridley  too,  as  well  as  some  others,  would  sit 
in  council  with  such  men,  and  would  "  go  in  with  dissemblers,"  they 
must  now  abide  the  consequences  ;  but  the  manner  in  which  the  event 
was  hailed,  forcibly  points  us  to  the  peojjle  at  large,  or  the  state  of  the 
nation  as  such. 

We  have  witnessed  it  is  true,  a  very  remarkable  progress 
iu  the  diflfusion  of  Divine  Truth ;  but  we  have  also  seen  that 
this  was  effected,  not  by  the  encouragement  or  sanction  of 
Parliament,  nor,  of  course,  with  the  consent  of  the  nation  as 
such  in  any  form  ; — no  :  the  cause  itself,  though  in  the  king- 
dom, was  not  of  the  kingdom  ;  since  no  rulers  in  Europe  had 
discovered  greater  hostility  to  Divine  Revelation.  The  pre- 
sent convulsion,  therefore,  though  only  the  commencement  of 
a  storm,  served  at  once  to  clear  the  moral  atmosphere,  and 
forcibly  distinguish  between  the  passions  of  men,  and  the 
cause  of  God.  It  enables  us,  even  now,  to  see,  with  far  greater 
precision,  the  actual  state  of  things. 

As  there  had  been  a  separate  undertakiu(j,  which  we  have 
descried  all  along,  so  it  now  appeared,  as  the  consequence, 
that  there  had  existed  a  separate  people,  not  to  be  identified  or 
mingled  up  with  any  intrigue  of  the  times.  So  far  as  the  human 
mind  was  concerned,  the  changes  which  had  ensued,  from  the 
first  step  taken  by  Henry  VIII,  until  now,  were  not  national 
changes.  The  nation,  as  suc/t,  though  so  long  and  singularly'' 
visited  by  Divine  Truth,  cared  not  for  it ;  and  still  clinging 
to  its  old  ceremonies  and  habits,  leaped  at  the  prospect  of 


1553-1558.]  REIGN   OK  MARY.  253 

falling  back  into  its  long  repose  under  the  shade  ot"  llotnc. 
As  a  warning  to  the  age,  therefore,  and  especially  to  posterity, 
to  distifif/uis/i  things  that  differ^  some  fearful  lesson  of  instruc- 
tion was  demanded,  and  this  must  no  longer  be  withheld. 

Meanwhile,  what  the  Almighty  had  so  mercifully  done  for 
England  was  analogous  to  that  which,  to  use  the  words  of 
Scripture  itself,  was  done  by  Him,  "  at  the  first,"  when  Ho 
did  "  visit  the  nations^  to  take  out  of  them,  a  people  for  his 
name.''''  Such  a  people,  however  despised  and  trampled  on, 
we  have  beheld  in  England,  in  the  days  of  John  Fryth,  and 
before  then.  Some  of  the  best  among  them  we  have  seen  by 
the  light  of  those  fires,  which  the  enemy  had  kindled;  and  they 
had  been  increasing  in  numbers  all  along.  Under  Henry 
VIII.  the  war  had  commenced  against  the  Sacred  Volume 
itself,  without  even  knowing^  the  translator ;  and  it  went  on 
against  all  who  imported,  received,  or  retained  it.  Under 
the  reign  of  his  son,  it  had  been  plentifully  printed,  purchased, 
and  read  ;  and  it  will  now  become  a  decided  proof  oi progress, 
however  heart-rending  in  detail,  that  the  persecution  about 
to  commence  was  to  be  against  all  who  had  believed  its  con- 
tents, and  held  its  sacred  truths  to  be  more  precious  than 
life  itself.  This,  however,  in  the  end,  will  materially  further 
the  cause  of  Divine  Truth,  not  retard  it. 


SECTION  II.     REIGN  OF  QUEEN  MARY. 

A  REIGN,  DISCOVERING  THE  ACTUAL  STATE  OF  THE  NATION,  AS  SUCH  ;  BUT 
ONE,  HOWEVER  PAINFUL  IN  ITS  DETAILS,  WHICH  SO  FAR  FROM  RETARDING 
THE  PROGRESS  OP  DIVINE  TRUTH,  ONLY  DEEPENED  THE  IMPRESSION  OF 
ITS  VALUE  ;  AND  AS  IT  BECAME  THE  OCCASION,  SO  IT  AFFORDED  THE 
OPPORTUNITY    FOR    THE     SACRED    SCRIPTURES    BEING    GIVEN    AFRESH    TO 

ENGLAND,    MORE  CAREFULLY  REVISED THE  EXILES  FROM  THE    KINGDOM 

PROVING,  ONCE  MORE,  ITS  GREATEST  BENEFACTORS. 

.PON  the  Oth  of  July  1553,  at  the  age  of  thirty-six,  Mary, 
the  eldest  daughter  of  Henry  VIII.,  succeeded  to  the 
throne,  and  reigned  as  Sovereign  alone  for  one  year. 
Afterwards,  allied  by  marriage  to  Philip  of  Spain,  the  Queen 
died  in  less  than  four  years  and  four  months,  on  tlie  17th  of 


251.  PROVIDENTIAL   CAUK  OVKK  [book  III. 

Novomber  1558.  This  reign  throughout,  has  been  all  along, 
and  generally  regarded  as  a  portion  of  English  liistory  dis- 
tinguished by  little  else  tlian  the  shedding  of  blood.  Few, 
however,  have  sufKciently  observed,  that  this  blood-shedding 
for  opinions  lield,  did  not  commence  till  February  1555,  or 
more  than  a  year  and  a  lialf  after  Mary  held  the  sceptre. 
And  if  this  fact  has  been  but  slightly  regarded,  fewer  still 
have  ever  noticed  its  bearing  on  the  Sacred  Volume,  and  those 
who  prized  it. 

That  Volume,  printed  for  a  period  of  fully  ten  years  on  the 
Continent^  had  been  very  strangely  introduced  into  England ; 
or  in  a  manner  which  must  ever  distinguish  it,  historically, 
among  all  other  European  versions.  Yet  now,  as  if  to  fix  the 
eye  upon  it  still  more  intensely,  it  was  about  to  be  carried 
abroad,  or  back  to  that  same  Continent  from  whence  it  first 
came,  and  by  all  such  as  valued  the  boon,  above  their  neces- 
sary food.  Yes,  now,  when  the  first  edition  of  the  New 
Testament  was  already  twenty-seven  years  old,  and  the  first 
Bible  printed  on  English  ground  had  left  the  press  fourteen 
years  ago,  as  many  copies  as  could  be,  must  be  carefully  con- 
cealed at  home,  and  even  huilt  up,  as  they  actually  were,  and 
the  rest  must  be  carried  abroad  !  For  years  that  were  past, 
the  people  had  read  those  Oracles  of  God  on  English  ground, 
which  had  been  prepared  for  them  on  the  Continent :  they 
must  now,  scattered  all  over  that  Continent  itself,  read  the 
volumes  which  had  been  printed  in  the  metropolis  of  their  native 
island  !  Formerly,  they  perused  at  home,  what  came  from 
abroad;  they  must  now  read  beyond  seas,  what  had  been  pre- 
pared for  them  at  home.  No  doubt,  also,  copies  which  had 
been  printed  on  the  Continent,  were  then  carried  back  to  it. 
Still,  however,  time  must  be  aflforded  for  escape.  The  wind 
of  persecution  being  restrained,  that  it  should  not  blow  on  the 
land  for  fully  a  year  and  a-half,  those  who  valued  the  truth 
of  God,  carrying  with  them  the  Sacred  Volume,  as  their 
highest  treasure,  soon  departed  by  hundreds,  as  best  they 
could.  The  clouds  were  gathering  over  England,  a  time  of 
trouble  and  rebuke  to  a  nation,  which,  as  such,  had  too  long 
"  despised  the  Word  of  the  Lord,"  was  at  hand  ;  yet  could 
those  who  fled,  have  seen  only  a  few  years  before  them,  they 
miirht  have  sunir  in  concert  over  the  result,  as  thev  were 
sailing   to   the    difterent   seaports    to   which   they   fled    for 


1553-1558.3    THE  SCRIPTURES   ALREADY  PRINTED.  255 

shelter.     But  tlie  prctace  or  introduction   to  this  iicry  trial 
first  demands  notice. 

The  Privy  Council  of  Edward  had  concluded  his  reign,  as  they  began 
it,  by  a  course  of  dissimulation.  But  they  were  not  now  to  succeed  as 
they  had  done  before.  They  had  placed  double  guards  to  maintain 
greater  secrecy,  and  then  tried  to  conceal  the  King's  death  for  two  days. 
But,  what  was  much  worse,  they  had  sent  a  false  letter  to  Mary,  the 
heir,  at  least  by  her  father's  will,  which  they  formerly  professed  to 
follow,  siiying  that  "  her  brother  was  very  ill,  and  earnestly  desired  the 
comfort  of  her  presence."  This  foolish  expedient  to  inveigle  the  Princess, 
and  get  her  in  their  power,  only  served  as  a  sure  token  to  confirm  her 
suspicion  of  a  plot.  Under  the  impression  of  fair  dealing,  she  had  at 
first  actually  set  out  from  Hunsden  in  Hertfordshire  ;  but  by  the  time 
she  was  only  eight  miles  on  her  way,  or  seventeen  from  London,  she  was 
met  at  Hoddesdon  by  her  goldsmith,  sent  direct  from  town.  He  in- 
formed her  distinctly  of  the  hour  of  her  brother's  death.  Somewhat 
suspicious  of  the  quarter  from  whence  the  information  came,  the  Prin- 
cess ruminated  for  a  little  while  ;  but  the  snare  was  broken,  and,  with 
constitutional  firmness  of  mind,  she  immediately  bent  her  way  towards 
Sawston,  near  Cambridge.'  Early  next  morning,  and  seated  behind  the 
servant  of  the  proprietor,  Sir  John  Huddleston,  Mary  had  left ;  but  they 
were  not  out  of  sight  of  Sawstonhall,  before  it  was  in  flames.^  Passing 
through  Bury  St.  Edmonds,  she  got  to  Kenninghall,  which  had  been 
assigned  to  her  as  a  residence.^  From  thence,  next  day,  or  the  9th, 
she  addressed  the  Lords  of  Council,  claiming  the  Crown.  Very  foolishly 
for  themselves,  and  as  full  of  infatuation  as  ever,  they  replied  on  the 
evening  of  the  same  day.  Although  Mary  was  now  to  ascend  the  throne, 
in  terms  of  a  will,  imrts  of  which  they  could  read  aloud,  as  law,  when 
these  answered  their  own  ambitious  views  ;  they  now,  in  no  measured 
terms,  addressed  their  correspondent,  as  an  illegitimate  daughter,  by  the 
everlasting  laws  of  God  ;  though  Lady  Jane  Grey  was  certainly  not  even 
proclaimed  till  next  day.  To  this  reply  were  affixed  the  names  of 
twenty-three  members  of  Council,  at  the  head  of  which  stood  Cranmer's, 
for  to  all  these  proceedings  he  had  been  a  party.  If  they  thus  yet 
dreamt  of  intimidating  the  future  Queen,  never  had  men  so  reckoned 
without  their  host.     Destitute  of  money,  without  an  army,  or  even  ad- 


'  It  is  worthy  of  special  notice,  that  Mary  was  indebted  for  timely  warning,  lutl  to  any 
gentleman  of  the  old  learning,  but  to  one  professedly  of  the  wcjc.  Sir  Nicholas  Throckmorton  ; 
and  it  was  this  that  made  her  hesitate  for  a  moment.  Sir  N.  was  not  only  a  friend  to  legitimacy, 
but  an  enemy  to  Northumberland  and  all  his  ambitious  projects. 

2  The  house  was  rebuilt  for  Sir  John,  at  least  the  Queen,  says  Fuller,  "  bestowed  the  bigger 
part  of  Cambridge  Castle  upon  liim,  with  the  stones  whereof  he  built  his  fair  house  in  this 
county."  This  ancient  family  is  represented  at  present  by  Richard  Huddleston,  Esq.,  High 
Sheriff  in  1834  of  the  counties  of  Cambridge  and  Huntingdon. 

*  The  scat  of  the  Duke  of  Norfolk,  still  in  prison,  but  restored  to  him  soon  after  this. 


2r>(>  MAKY    I'ltoCLAIMKl)   IN    LONDON.  [book  mi. 

vinerH,  on  tlie  morning  of  the  11th,  Mary,  ou  horsehack,  with  her  foniaie 
attendanta,  set  off  for  Framlingham  Castle,  twenty  miles  farther  distant 
from  London,  to  be  still  nearer  the  coast,  in  case  of  any  disaster ;  but 
the  moment  she  entered  it,  she  appears  to  have  acted  at  least,  as  if  the 
undisputed  Sovereign  of  England.  A  courage  and  self-possession  were 
displayed,  on  which  the  deluded  Counsellors  had  never  calculated.  They 
proclaimed  Lady  Jane  to  be  Queen,  in  London,  on  the  10th  ;  it  was  but 
the  second  day  after,  when  Mary  ordered  her  own  proclamation  on  the 
12th  at  Norwich  ;  and  remaining  where  she  was,  immediately  formed  a 
Council  out  of  the  gentlemen  who  had  already  resorted  to  her  presence. 
Finding  herself  before  the  end  of  July  surrounded  by  an  anny,  which 
had  cost  her  nothing,  so  eager  were  the  people  to  support  her  claims, 
she  moved  forward  from  the  old  Castle  on  the  31st,  towards  London. 
Her  progress  vvas  but  one  continued  triumph,  for  she  had  been  pro- 
claimed even  in  Loudon,  so  early  as  the  19th.  Her  grand  opponent, 
Northumberland,  had  joined  the  people  in  doing  the  same  thing  at  Cam- 
bridge ;  and  he,  as  well  as  the  Lady  Jane,  with  her  husband,  were  now  in 
the  Tower.  On  her  way.  Queen  Mary  had  been  met  at  Ipswich  by  Cecil, 
the  future  Lord  Burleigh,  whose  character  has  recently  suffered  so  much, 
as  a  time-server.  As  one  of  the  Counsellors  whose  names  were  affixed 
to  the  preceding  letter,  he  was  the  first  to  approach.  He  secured  his 
own  personal  safety,  and  afterwards  bowed  to  the  magic  of  "  the  old 
learning,"  but  could  never  obtain  office  under  the  present  Queen.  On 
the  3d  of  August  Mary  entered  her  capital,  and  going  direct  to  the 
Tower,  at  once  a  palace  and  a  prison,  she  immediately  released  the  Duke 
of  Norfolk,  Gardiner,  and  Tunstal,  or  three  men  with  whom  the  reader 
has  been  long  familiar.  Gardiner  was  sworn  into  the  Privy  Council  the 
second  day  after,  and  the  Queen  remained  in  the  Tower  till  after  her 
brother's  funeral. 

The  lingering  decline  of  Edward's  health,  who  had  never  fully  re- 
covered the  effect  of  small-pox  and  measles  in  the  spring  of  1552,  had 
certainly  given  timely  warning  of  the  approaching  tempest  ;  but  those 
strange  proceedings  of  his  Council,  so  far  as  they  were  known,  were 
directly  calculated  to  beguile  certain  parties  into  false  repose.  Even 
Cranmer  seems  to  have  pleasingly  deceived  himself.  For  surely  he 
could  never  have  issued  those  "  Articles"  of  his  for  signature,  by  an 
official  mandate,  only  a  few  days  before  Edward  expired,  except  he  had 
imagined  that  there  was  nothing  but  plain  sailing  before  him  ;  and  that 
the  present  Queen  would  never  ascend  the  throne.  At  all  events,  few 
persons  seem  to  have  yet  left  the  kingdom  ;  for  the  friends  of  Divine 


*  Of  all  the  Counsellors  who  had  so  replied  to  the  Qiioen,  only  two  suifcred;  Northumber- 
land himself,  and  Sir  John  Gates.  Cranmer,  though  arraigned,  was  pardoned,  but  retained  in 
prison.  Some  liinc  cl.apsed  before  the  execution  of  Lady  Jane  and  Lord  Dudley,  the  victims  of 
this  ambitious  Council. 


1553-1558.]  TIMK  FOR  ESCAPE.  257 

Truth  were  now  to  be  divided  into  two  bands  ;  namely,  those  who  were 
able  and  inclined  to  escape  persecution  by  flight,  and  those  who  cither 
could  not,  or  would  not,  leave  the  country. 

Many,  unquestionably,  were  taken  by  surprise  ;  and,  in  these  circum- 
stances, had  this  new  made  Queen  immediately  stepped  into  blood,  the 
consequences,  dreadful  as  they  ultimately  were,  would  have  been  far 
more  so  :  but  although  she,  without  disguise,  will  soon  discover  her 
political  intentions,  much,  very  much  of  the  restraining  mercy  of  God 
was  to  be  first  displayed. 

Communication  must  now  first  be  held  with  Rome  once  more,  the 
ancient  magazine  of  persecution  ;  and  the  last  Cardinal  that  was  ever 
to  visit  England,  must  first  arrive  from  thence,  before  ever  blood  will 
begin  to  flow  freely.  In  the  meanwhile,  Mary,  though  firmly  fixed  in 
her  principles  as  a  Roman  Catholic,  and  something  more,  found  herself 
placed  in  a  singular  and  anomalous  position,  owing  to  the  strange 
movements  and  wild  ambition  of  her  father.  In  consequence  of  these, 
the  gentlemen  of  "  the  old  learning,"  whatever  they  might  say,  could  no 
longer  boast  of  their  unity.  They  were  now  divided,  very  distinctly 
divided,  into  two  bands.  There  were  those  who  longed  for  full  alliance 
with  Rome  :  there  were  those  who  strongly  deprecated  this,  and  who, 
though  still  drawing  their  faith  from  abroad,  wished  the  Sovereign  at 
home  to  be  their  only  Head  upon  earth.  The  very  Sovereign  herself  en- 
tertained scruples  on  this  subject,  but  here  was  even  Stephen  Gardiner, 
and  about  to  be  appointed  Lord  Chancellor,  who  expressed  himself  as 
strongly  averse  from  any  re-union  with  the  PontiiF,  except  simply  as  a 
foreign  prelate.  Mary,  who  could  refer  to  the  Bible,  when  it  answered 
her  views  or  inclination,  pled  Scripture  in  her  favour.  "  Women,"  said 
she,  "  I  have  read  in  Scriptui-e  are  forbidden  to  speak  in  the  Church. 
Is  it  then  fitting  that  your  Church  should  have  a  diimh  head." 

There  were  two  measures  now  in  prospect,  in  the  way  of  alliance,  to 
both  of  which,  in  succession,  the  Queen  was  secretly,  but  firmly  in- 
clined. The  first  was  full  alliance  with  Rome  ;  the  next,  alliance  by 
marriage  with  Philip  of  Spain.  To  the  first,  a  strong  party  stood  op- 
posed ;  to  the  second,  the  nation  entire  ;  and  certainly  her  Majesty  dis- 
covered no  inferior  tact  in  accomplishing  both,  though  to  her  own  con- 
fusion, or  ultimate  heart-felt  vexation. 

Thus,  however,  it  was,  that  while  waiting  for  Rome,  a  breathing  time 
was  granted,  for  escape.  Many  in  those  days  might  well  ponder,  and 
most  probably  did,  over  what  had  been  said  long  ago,  in  reference  to 
another  and  different  pause  or  crisis.  "  When  ye  shall  see  the  abomi- 
nation of  desolation,  spoken  of  by  Daniel  the  prophet,  standing  where 
it  ought  not,  then  let  them  that  be  in  Judea  flee  to  the  mountains." 
And  although  London  was  not  Jerusalem,  nor  England  Judea,  the  voice 
of  Providence  was  sufficiently  distinct.    .  It  was  now  heard  and  obeyed, 

VOL.   II.  R 


.ij»  IMPRISONMENTS   IN    KNGLANI).  [BOOK  III. 

■iis  we  shall  see  presently.  But  above  all,  whether  this  remarkable  pause, 
or  restraint  fri>ni  )*erBonal  violence,  was  not  also  a  distinct  demonstration 
in  faroxr  of  the  Sacred  Volume  in  our  native  tongue,  we  shall  leave  the 
reader  to  judge,  before  the  reign  is  ended. 

Meanwhile,  there  were  notable  men  who  were  not  permitted  to  avail 
themselves  of  flight,  and  although  Mary  had  been  so  singularly  indebted 
to  Throckmorton,  a  gentleman  professedly  of  the  new  learning,  for  her 
own  personal  deliverance  from  the  snare  laid  for  herself ;  that  learning 
was  not  to  obtain  any  favour  from  her,  the  moment  she  felt  herself 
securely  seated.  It  was  in  fact  only  four  days  after  her  brother's  inter- 
ment, when  she  had  very  distinctly  expressed  to  the  Lord  Mayor  and 
Recorder  of  London  what  were  her  sentiments  and  intentions  ;  and  these 
they  delivered  in  the  following  terms — "  Albeit  her  Grace's  conscience  is 
staid  (or  fixed)  in  matters  of  religion,  yet  she  meaneth  graciously,  not 
to  compel  and  constrain  other  men's  consciences,  otherwise  than  God 
shall,  as  she  trusteth,  put  into  their  hearts  a  persuasion  of  the  truth  that 
she  J>  in,  through  the  opening  of  his  word  by  godly,  virtuous  and  learned 
preachers."^  At  the  same  time  the  Lord  Mayor  was  not  to  allow  ant/ 
open  reading  of  the  Scriptures  in  the  Churches,  or  preaching  by  the  cur- 
ates, without  her  special  license,  which,  of  course  she  never  granted. 

Upon  leaving  the  Tower  for  her  palace  at  Richmond,  but 
a  few  days  had  elapsed  before  Mary  issued  her  "  Inhibition^' 
against  preaching,  reading  or  teaching  any  Scriptures  in  the 
churches,  and  printina  any  books  !  The  Word  of  God  in  the 
vulgar  tongue,  and  the  printing-press,  being  the  objects  of 
special  dread.  But  even  two  days  before  this,  there  were 
certain  men  at  large,  who  must  be  so  no  longer.  On  the  16th 
of  August,  Bradford.  Vernon  and  Becon,  were  committed  to 
the  Tower ;  while  no  other  than  John  Ropers,  alias  Matthew, 
the  editor  of  the  Bible  received  by  Henry  in  1 5.S7,  was  com- 
manded to  keep  himself  within  his  own  house,  and  to  have  no 
communication  with  any  persons  except  those  of  his  own 
family.  They  had  already  taken  certain  steps,  if  not  com- 
menced proceedings  against  many  persons,  and  by  the  1 5th  of 
September,  Latimer,  and  Hooper,  as  well  as  Cranmer,  were 
safe  in  the  Tower.  As  for  Bidleij,  having  preached  at  Paul's 
Cross   in  favour   of  Queen   Jane,  he   had   chosen,    however 


s  These  irord*  hare  been  quoted  aa  a  proof  that  Marr  acted  with  bad  faith,  bnt  then  the 
word«  in  italic  have  heen  left  out.  Nothing  can  so  destroy  the  moral  lesson  to  be  drawn  from 
history  as  unfaimrtt  to  an  opponent.     The  word*  quoted  arc  from  the  Privy  Council  book  itself. 

5  •'  Given  at  Richn^ond  the  18th  day  of  Aueust.  in  the  first  year  of  our  most  firotjtrrout  reign." 
She  had  been  proclaimed  only  upon  the  19th  of  July,  and  was  not  yet  crowned.  The  1st  of  Oc- 
tober, was  ihp  day  of  her  coronation,  hv  G.Trdinrr. 


l.j;33-l.);>8.]  KXILKS  TO  THE  CONTINENT.  259 

strangely,  to  proceed  to  Frainlingliaiu  to  salute  Mary,  where 
he  was  instantly  dispoiled  of  his  dignities,  and  sent  back  to 
the  Tower,  by  the  26th  of  July,  or  only  ten  days  after  he 
had  preached  his  sermon.  But  still  there  were  as  yet  no  tor- 
tures, no  murder,  nor  any  threatened  martyrdom. 

Most  providentially,  the  Queen,  though  only  thirty-six 
yeai-s  of  age,  was  to  reign  no  longer  than  five  3^ears  and  four 
months  ;  but  those  fires  which  never  ceased  to  blaze  for  three 
years  and  nine  months,  were  not  kindled,  as  already  hinted, 
till  February  1555,  or  a  year  and  a  half  after  she  had  come 
to  the  throne.''  Gardiner  and  Bonner,  as  the  leading  dogs 
of  war,  had  not  only  been  let  loose,  but  reinstated  as  Bishops, 
and  there  was  the  most  cordial  feeling  in  harmony  with 
Eome ;  but  still  the  arm  of  the  oppressor  was  stayed,  nor 
must  one  stake  be  prepared,  or  fire  lighted  up,  for  more  than 
sixteen  months  after  these  imprisonments.  Cardinal  Pole, 
also,  must  first  come  from  Italy  to  England  before  the  king- 
dom could  be  formally  reconciled  to  Rome  ;  while  Gardiner, 
now  raised  to  be  Lord  Chancellor,  Avas,  from  personal  ambi- 
tion, not  a  little  anxious  to  retard  his  return,  and,  in  the 
meanwhile,  seeking  greater  things,  if  possible,  for  himself. 
Bonner,  it  is  true,  at  once  brutal  and  rash,  was  ready,  at  a 
moment's  warning,  to  plunge  into  his  favourite  occupation 
with  fury ;  but  a  compass  must  be  fetched ;  and  Gardiner 
was  there  to  guide  it.  Cautious,  as  well  as  vindictive,  he 
will  steadily  watch  the  time,  and  not  fail  to  end  in  blood  ; 
when  both  he  and  Bonner  will  be  in  at  the  death  of  the  best 
men  in  all  England. 

It  must,  however,  have  very  soon,  and  thus  mercifully,  ap- 
peared, that  good  faith  and  clemency  were  out  of  the  question. 
Conscientious  men,  in  considerable  numbers,  were  bent  upon 
escape  to  the  Continent,  and  facilities  shall  not  be  wanting. 
All  foreigners  were  to  be  allowed  to  depart  without  hinder- 
ance.  There  were  not  only  Germans  and  Frenchmen,  but 
Italians  and  Spaniards,  Poles  and  Scotsmen,  harbouring  not 
in  London  alone,  but  elsewhere,  and  enjoying  a  degree  of  free- 
dom from  molestation,  unknown  at  the  moment  in  any  other 
part  of  the  world  !     They  must  now  seek  safety  by  flight. 

"  Before  this,  it  will  be  remembered,  that  the  lovely  victim  of  Edward's  counsellors,  Lady 
Jane  Grky,  with  her  husband.  Lord  Guildford  Dudley,  had  suffered  on  the  scaflFold  in  Fe- 
bruary 1.';.54  ;  but  we  here  speak  of  martyrs  for  opinion,  condemned  to  the  flames. 


260  MANY    PKKSONS    E.SfAlMN(f  [buOK  III. 

Early  in  the  luuiitli  of  September,  that  interesting  Polish 
nobleman,  John  a-Lasco,  the  uncle  of  the  King  of  Poland, 
einbarkcd  from  London,  carrying  a  considerable  number  of  his 
congregation  with  him."  About  the  same  time  many  French, 
and  other  foreigners,  left  England.  Orders  were  sent  down 
to  Rye  and  Dover,  that  no  impediments  should  be  placed  in 
their  way ;  and  to  these  orders,  not  a  few  of  the  English,  the 
salt  of  the  land,  were  indebted  for  their  escape.  Many  went 
under  the  character  of  servants,  and  others,  by  what  means 
they  could,  till  at  last  it  has  been  computed  that  there  were 

8  This  formed  one  of  the  most  striking  aud  affuctitif;  illuiitriitioiiB  of  the  difference  between 
Ihe  reifins  of  Edward  and  Mary.  Creeds  ami  cvn/essiims  had  lieun  the  order  of  tlie  day,  abroad 
as  well  as  at  home,  instead  of  an  immediate  and  patient  appeal  to  the  Sacred  Record  alone. 
Notwithstanding  this,  Edward,  with  a  nobility  of  soul  peculiar  to  himself,  among  living 
monarchs.  and  unknown  to  his  very  Council  as  such,  had  granted  to  this  able  and  learned  man, 
John  aLasco,  and  all  who  listened  to  him,  as  Superintendent  of  his  congregation,  the  most 
perfect  liberty  of  conscience  and  worship.  By  Shjk)  iiileiiiUiil  was  meant  an  office  akin  to  that 
of  Bishop,  as  he  had  four  ministers  under  him  ;  for  it  is  well  known  that  under  this  reign, 
the  title  of  Bishop  had  rather  fallen  into  disuse ;  and  no  marvel,  considering  the  part  which 
most  men  sustaining  it,  had  so  long  and  so  often  acted.  Edward's  patent,  dated  :^4th  July 
15.50,  is  given  at  length  by  Burnet,  in  which  he  says,—"  We  strictly  command  and  charge  the 
Mayor  and  Aldermen  of  our  city  of  London,  and  their  successors,  » ith  all  others.  Archbishops, 
Bishops,  and  Justices  of  ours  whatsoever— that  they  permit  the  said  Superintendent  and  Minis- 
ters, freely  and  quietly  to  enjoy,  use,  and  exercise,  their  own  rites  and  ceremonies,  and  their 
ow^n  peculiar  ecclesiastical  discipline,  notwithstanding  that  they  do  iiut  agree  with  the  rites  and 
ceremonies  used  in  our  kingdom."  "  The  care  of  our  Church,"  said  a-Lasco  afterwards,  "  was 
committed  to  us  chiefly  with  the  view,  that  in  the  ministration  thereof,  we  should  follow  the 
rule  of  the  Dieiiie  fVurd  and  Apostolic  observance,  rather  than  any  rules  of  other  churches." 
"  The  King  himself,"  he  affirms,  "  was  both  the  chief  author  uud  defender  of  this  measure  ; 
and  Cranmcr  promoted  it  also,  witli  all  his  might."  Tlie  King,  too,  had  admonished  them  "  to 
use  this  great  liberty,  rightly  and  faithfully,  not  to  please  men,  but  for  the  glory  of  God,  by  pro- 
moting the  reform  of  his  worship."  What  a  contrast  was  here  to  the  entire  surface  of  Europe 
at  the  moment !  And  the  only  one  found  to  read  such  a  lesson  to  his  country  and  posterity, 
was  an  intelligent  boy,  not  yet  thirteen  years  of  age!  The  step  taken  by  young  Edward  has 
been  remarkably  acknowledged  up  to  the  present  hour,  and  the  church  of  Austin  friars,  then 
given  by  him  to  a  Lasco,  and  styled  "  The  temple  of  Jesus,"  still  exists,  to  be  occupied  by 
/oreiffners  ;  and  to  call  up  this,  as  well  as  some  interesting  /nevious  recollections,  for  the  reader 
has  heard  of  the  building  before.     See  vol.  i.,  pp.  177,  333,  iS:c. 

But  now,  with  the  accession  of  Mary,  these  worthy  strangers  must  depart,  and  whither  shall 
they  go,  to  find  such  an  asylum?  They  knew  not.  It  was  the  publication  of  what  was  styled 
the  interim  by  Charles  \'.,  tliat  had  driven  them,  and  others,  into  England,  where,  however, 
they  can  now  no  longer  remain.  Two  Spanish  ships  were  lying  in  the  Thames,  and  on  board  of 
them  a-Lasco,  with  175  of  his  friends,  embarked.  There  were  Foh's  and  Germans,  Italians  and 
Spaniards,  Freneh  and  Seats,  anA  all  o{  one  faith  ;  a  most  interesting  and  precious  body  of 
passengers!  They  arrived  on  the  Danish  coast  in  the  beginning  of  a  severe  winter.  But  they 
had  not  signed,  and  could  not  sign,  the  Lutheran  eonfession  of  faith.'  They  were  more  of  the 
opinion  of  Zuinglius,  the  spiritual  father  of  their  Superintendent— and  what  then  ?  They  were 
not  suffered  to  land,  nor  even  to  anchor,  above  two  days  !  They  then  attempted  Luln^ek—  ff'is- 
imir—Uaml/uryh.—  hul  with  no  better  success!  Thus  men,  women  and  children,  were  tossed 
on  the  billows,  through  all  these  dreary  winter  months,  and  after  many  jicrils  and  |)rivalions,  it 
was  absolutely  not  till  the  winter  was  long  past,  that  they  were  permitted  to  disembark  at 
Emden,  and  finally  settle  in  friesland.  From  September  to  March  they  had  been  driven  about 
on  the  seas,  and  flying  from  the  wrath  of  one  woman  in  England  ;  till  the  jiity  so  long  and  bar- 
barously denied,  was  at  last  found  in  the  breast  of  one  female  abroad.  It  was  the  good  Countess 
Dowager,  Anne  of  Oldenberg  ;  a  friend  in  former  days  of  Johna-Lasco.  How  instructive  as 
well  as  affecting,  is  such  a  story  !  Creeds  or  confessions  imply  belief,  which,  by  imposition,  can 
never  be  produced.  But  once  drawn  up,  and  then  im|iosed  by  men  who  were  themselves  as  yet 
but  imperfectly  acquainted  with  the  tenets  of  Sciipture;  such  wasone  among  other  palpable 
results.  Already  they  had  become  fountains  of  sorrow  to  Christians,  as  they  were  to  be  sources 
of  objection,  by  the  intidel  and  unbelieving,  to  the  pure  fountain  of  Hcvelation  itself 


1,553-1558.]]  TO  THE  CONTINENT.  201 

from  eight  hundred  to  a  thousand  learned  Englishmen,  beside 
those  in  other  conditions,  who  were  now  to  sustain  the 
honourable  character  of  exiles  from  their  native  land,  on  ac- 
count of  their  attachment  to  Divine  Truth.  There  can  be  no 
question  that,  as  far  as  they  could,  they  took  their  most 
valued  treasure,  their  hooks,  with  them,  but,  above  all,  their 
copies  of  the  Scriptures;  and  thus  it  was  that  the  volume 
which  had  been  originally  translated  for  England,  upon  the 
European  continent,  was  now  to  be  read  by  more  than  a 
thousand  of  her  sous  and  daughters,  and  all  over  these  coun- 
tries, from  Emden  to  Geneva  I 

These  exiles,  of  whom  their  native  land  at  the  moment  was 
not  worthy,  found  refuge  at  Eniden  in  Friesland,  as  a-Lasco 
and  his  flock  had  done ;  at  Wesel  on  the  Rhine  in  Prussia  ; 
at  Duisbmy,  a  town  of  Guelderland  in  Holland  ;  at  Strashurg 
in  France  ;  at  Zurich  and  Berne,  Basle,  Geneva,  and  Aran  in 
Switzerland  ;  at  Frankfort  in  Germany,  and  a  few  fled 
to  Worms,  the  spot  where  the  first  English  New  Testaments 
had  been  completed  at  press.  Many  of  these  people  had,  in 
the  end,  no  great  occasion  to  regret  the  storm  that  had  driven 
them  from  home,  so  far  as  they  themselves  were  personally 
concerned.  The  improvement  and  enlargement  of  their  minds 
was  the  result,  in  many  instances  ;  while  their  being  all  alike 
sufferers  from  one  common  calamity,  gave  occasion  to  a  far 
finer  display  of  Christian  sympathy  and  bounty,  both  abroad 
and  at  home,  than  they  ever  could  have  experienced  in  other 
circumstances,  or  ever  left  for  posterity  to  admire.  There 
were  at  least  three  Ladies  of  title,^  at  least  six  Knights,'"  bcr 
sides  other  persons  of  property,  among  the  number  who  had 
fled,  and  they  regarded  all  the  rest  as  brethren  in  adversity. 
Many  pious  individuals  too,  chiefly  in  London,  contributed 
freely  to  their  relief,  by  sending  money,  clothes  and  provisions. 
Strype  gives  a  list  of  twenty-six  as  the  most  eminent.  Abroad, 
the  King  of  Denmark,  Henry,  Prince  Palatine,  the  Duke  of 
Wirtenberg,  and  Wolfgang  Duke  of  Bipont,  with  all  the  states 
and  free  cities  where  the  English  sojourned,  were  very  bounti- 
ful to  them.      So  were  foreign  divines,    especially  those   of 


!>  The  Duchess  of  Suflolk,  cousin  to  Queen  Mary,  Lady  D.  Staflord,  and  Lady  Elizabeth 
Berkeley. 

in  Sirs  Richard  Moryson,  Francis  Knollys,  Anthony  Cook  willi  liis  lcariu<l  tUiiisliters.  PoUr 
Tarcw,  Thomas  Wroth,  and  John  Chckc. 


'i<i2  Till-:    AIAKTVKS  [bOOK   III. 

Zurich,  whusr  small  stipeiuls  scarcely  served  to  njiiintain 
tliuiiiselves,  Peter  Martyr''s  house  at  Strasburg  was  filled, 
where  the  iniuates,  liviii<j  at  one  common  table,  j)aid,  if  any 
thing,  easy  charges  for  their  diet.  Several  of  the  learned 
exiles  subsisted  partly  by  their  own  exertions.  John  Foxe 
had  now  leisure  to  comj)ose  and  jmblish  tlie  first  edition  of  his 
history  in  Latin,  and  Grafton  the  printer  had  time  to  write 
his  chronicle,  to  say  nothing  of  other  works ;  but  we  shall 
hear  of  labours  infinitely  more  valuable,  for  which  this  tem- 
j)orary  banishment  from  their  native  land  was  to  prove  the 
time  appointed. 

These  may  be  regarded  as  an  army  of  confessors ;  but  there 
were  many  who  could  not,  while  others  would  not,  avail  them- 
selves of  safety  by  flight,  and  these  formed  a  distinguished  por- 
tion of  the  noble  army  of  martyrs.  England,  as  we  have  wit- 
nessed, under  Edward  VI.  had  proved  an  asylum  for  the  op- 
pressed among  other  nations  :  it  was  ere  long  to  become  an 
Aceldama.,  or  field  of  blood.  In  the  first  Parliament  under 
Mary  at  the  close  of  15o3,  the  statutes  of  the  preceding  reign, 
as  well  as  some  of  Henry  VIII,,  had  been  repealed.  The 
state  machine  was  rolled  back  to  its  old  position,  and  the 
kingdom  in  1554  was  once  more  placed  under  the  protection 
of  Rome.  Her  Majesty  though  not  at  all  times  a  quies- 
cent votary  of  the  Pontiff,  was,  both  from  principle  and  past 
circumstances,  a  persecutor ;  while  she  could  not  have  found 
in  all  England  two  spirits  more  congenial  with  her  intentions 
than  those  of  Stephen  Gardiner  and  Edmund  lionner.  If  they 
led,  others  on  the  bench,  and  many  unprincipled  underlings 
were  ready  to  follow.  All  statutes  which  stood  in  the  way 
being  entirely  removed,  as  there  was  "  a  clear  field,"  so  there 
was  to  be  '"  no  favour."  Men  and  women,  of  whatever  cha- 
racter, office,  or  condition,  even  the  lame  and  the  blind,  and 
from  the  child  to  the  aged  man,  all  who  had  any  conscientious 
opinions  not  in  harmony  with  the  "  old  learning,"  all  were 
appointed  unto  death. 

From  the  4th  of  February  1555,  to  within  only  seven  days 
of  the  Queen's  exit,  on  the  17th  of  November  1558,  a  period 
of  only  three  years,  nine  months  and  six  days,  the  number 
burnt  to  ashes,  and  who  died  by  starvation,  slow  torture  and 
noisome  confinement  in  prison,  can  never  be  given  with  ac- 
curacy by  any  human   |»(ii.      In  reading  through  the  details, 


1 0.53-1.558.]  UNDER  THIS   REIGN.  2f)3 

as?  the  heart  grows  sick,  so  every  one  must  come  to  the  same 
conclusion — that  there  is  but  one  list,  and  that  one  accurate  and 
indelible — but  it  is  one  above.  The  highest  point  of  human 
guilt,  is  to  be  found  in  persecution  for  the  trutJis  sake,  or  in 
violence  done  to  conscience ;  and  when  at  last  inquisition  is 
made  for  blood,  the  Judge  of  all  will  remember  every  drop 
that  has  been  shed,  for  "  the  Word  of  God  and  the  testimony 
of  Jesus  Christ." 

The  different  calculations,  however,  which  have  been  made 
by  Foxe  and  Burnet,  by  Strj'^pe  and  Speed,  as  well  as  an  ac- 
count by  Cecil  Lord  Burghley,  have  been  carefully  collated : 
and  we  have  thus  made  out  a  distinct  list  of  three  hundred 
and  eighteen  individuals.  Of  these,  two  hundred  and  eighty- 
eight  were  consumed  in  the  flames,  eight  or  ten  were  positively 
famished,  and  twenty  more  pined  and  expired  in  their  dun- 
geons. Of  almost  all  these  we  have  the  names,  as  well  as  the 
time  and  place  of  their  last  triumphs ;  but  the  number  of 
deaths,  without  doubt,  must  have  been  greater,  especially 
from  imprisonment."  In  a  treatise  often  ascribed  to  Lord 
Burghley  himself,  but  certainly  sanctioned  by  him,  and  com- 
ing from  authority,  in  1583,  we  have  the  following  passage — 

"  lu  the  time  of  Queen  Mary,  there  were  by  imprisouraent,  tormeuts, 
famine,  and  fire,  of  men,  women,  maidens,  and  children,  almost  the  number  of 
four  hundred — lamentably  destroyed.  And  most  of  the  youth  that  then  suffered 
cruel  death,  both  men,  women,  and  childi-en,  (which  is  to  be  noted,)  were  such 
as  had  never,  by  the  sacrament  of  baptism  or  by  confiiniation  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." 

Now,  whatever  may  be  said  as  to  the  precise  number  of 
victims,  the  information  conveyed  by  the  closing  paragraph, 
which  we  are  requested  to  note,  is  of  eminent  value.  This 
summary  was  given  for  a  political  purpose,  and  as  for  these 
people  not  having  heard  of  any  other  kind  of  religion,  this 
was  merely  a  flourish  of  the  pen,  and  a  very  absui'd  one  ;  but 
the  statement,  after  all,  may  be  received  as  a  memorable 
testimony  to  the  source  from  whence  these  martyrs  had 
derived  their  faith  and  principles  ;  a  testimony  to  the  power 


'  I  The  number  of  those  who  suffered  in  each  year,  of  whose  cases  we  have  any  distinct  ac- 
count, appears  to  have  been  in  1655,  IKi ;  in  15o(i,  104  ;  in  I5."i7,  78  ;  and  in  1.'558,  .50,  or  in  all  .'il«. 
<H  these  were  martyred  in  LM.'),  77 ;  in  l."».")S,  K7  ;  in  1557,  77  ;  in  1558,  47  ;  or  ?88.  Cecil's  list,  as 
printed  by  Strypc,  is  incorrectly  given. 


2()+  THE  MARTYRS  [noOK  III. 

of  the  Sacred  Oracles  as  read  by  the  youth  of  the  kingdom  ; 
for  as  to  preach'uKj  the  truth,  this  had,  with  a  few  exceptions, 
ever  been  at  the  lowest  ehh. 

If,  therefore,  the  number  who  lost  their  lives  by  every 
species  of  cruelty  be  stated  at  rj7o,  this  gives  an  average  of 
one  hundred  deaths  annually,  in  three  years  and  nine  months. 
Of  the  counties  in  England,  21  suffered,  and  2  in  Wales  ; 
but  the  persecution  lay  heaviest  upon  those  parts  where  the 
Scriptures  were  best  known.  In  Essex  and  Middlesex  the 
victims  were  at  least  114;  in  Kent  and  Sussex,  88;  in 
Suttblk  and  Norfolk,  32  ;  in  Gloucester  and  Warwick,  1 8  ; 
so  that  in  these  eight  counties  alone,  two  hundred  and  fifty- 
two  had  triuniphed  at  the  stake.  Nothing  could  exceed  the 
more  than  savage  barbarity  by  which  these,  the  most  valuable 
subjects  in  the  kingdom,  were  put  to  torture  and  death.  Of 
the  entire  number,  more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  had  been 
consigned,  in  groups^  to  one  common  fire  I  Thus  we  find  of 
such  companies,  that  there  were  six  instances  of  three  indi- 
viduals, at  different  times  ;  five  oi  four,  and  four  of  five  ;  six 
instances  of  six,  and  four  of  seven  !  There  were  two  dreadful 
cases  of  ten  the  same  day  ;  the  first  at  Lewis  in  Kent  of  six 
men  and  four  women,  including  the  master  and  servant,  the 
mother  and  lier  son,  in  one  common  conflagration  !  The 
second  was  at  Colchester  of  five  men  and  five  women,  six  of 
whom  were  martyred  in  the  morning,  and  four  in  the  after- 
noon. Several  of  these  must  have  been  advanced  in  life,  as 
their  united  ages  amounted  to  about  406  years. 

But  the  most  horrible  scene  of  all,  in  point  of  number,  was 
at  Bow,  near  London,  when  not  fewer  than  thirteen,  eleven 
men  and  two  women,  were  consumed  in  one  pile,  on  Tuesday 
the  27th  of  June  1556.  The  number  of  persons  present  was 
estimated  at  tu-entij  thousand ;  "  whose  e7ids  generally  in 
coming  there,"  says  Strype,  "  and  to  such  like  executions, 
were  to  strengthen  themselves  in  the  profession  of  the  Gospel, 
and  to  exhort  and  comfort  those  who  were  to  die."  Yes,  and 
notwithstanding  all  the  fury  of  the  enemy,  this  disposition  on 
the  part  of  the  people  went  on  to  increase  throughout  tlie 
years  15.57  and  1558,  till  upon  this  very  day  of  the  week,  two 
years  hence,  we  shall  see  what  happened.  AVhen  the  present 
martyrs  appeared  at  the  stake,  a  few  words  were  all-sufHcient 
to  socure  an  echo.     The  short  expressive  ejaculation  on  the 


1. 5.53-1  r)58.]  UNDER   THIS    REIGN.  26;) 

part  of  only  one  bystander,  was  replied  to  by  an  Amen, 
which  came  upon  the  ears  of  their  murderers  with  a  voice  of 
thunder ;  and  such  a  voice  had  made  them  quail.  These 
noble  confessors  indeed  actually  triumphed  at  last,  so  far  as 
to  paralyze  the  arm  of  Bonner,  and  banish  the  fire  at  least 
from  Smithfield,  nearly  five  months  before  Mary  was  called 
away  by  her  final  judge  !  The  very  last  time,  when  seven 
martyrs  were  there  consumed,  on  the  28th  of  June  1558, 
was  a  memorable  one,  and  as  it  has  never  been  sufficiently 
pointed  out  by  any  historian,  must  not  pass  unnoticed  here. 

The  reader  cannot  fail  to  remember  that  there  was  a  "  Congregation'' 
in  London,  that  had  assembled  in  secret,  many  years  ago.  The  term  im- 
plied organisation,  and  set  times  for  Christian  worship.  He  has  heard 
of  it,  as  early  as  1531,  before  the  death  of  Bainham,  and  in  1533,  before 
the  heroic  martyrdom  of  John  Fryth.  For  more  than  twenty-five  years, 
however  harassed  and  perplexed,  this  Congregation,  whose  meetings 
varied  from  eighty  to  two  hundred,  had  never  been  broken  up.  Under 
the  present  fearful  reign,  they  had  met  not  only  in  Bow  Lane,  Cheap- 
side,  but  wherever  else  they  could  ;  in  Blackfriars,  Battle  Bridge,  Aid- 
gate,  Thames  Street,  Ratcliff,  Islington,  and  occasionally  on  board  ship 
in  the  Thames.'^  Strype,  in  one  place,  speaks  of  them  as  so  many 
separate  congregations,  and  no  doubt  there  were  separate  meetings  at 
the  same  moment  ;  but  they  formed  but  one  community,  devotedly  at- 
tached to  each  other — "  a  chosen  generation,  a  peculiar  people,"  in  the 
midst  of  a  crooked  and  perverse  generation.  Of  one  ancient  primitive 
church,  this  is  recorded  to  its  honour — "  I  know  thy  works,  and  where 
thou  dwellest,  even  where  Satan's  seat  is  :  and  thou  boldest  fast  my 
name,  and  hast  not  denied  my  faith,  even  in  those  days  wherein  Antipas 
was  my  faithful  martyr,  who  was  slain  among  you,  where  Satan  dwelleth." 
He  who  condescended  thus  to  testify  from  heaven  itself,  is  "  the  same 
j-^esterday,  to-day  and  for  ever  ;"  and  without  doubt  had  his  Sovereign 
eye  upon  every  movement  in  the  metropolis  of  England  ;  though, 
from  first  to  last,  how  many  of  this  despised  congregation  had  received 
the  crown  of  martyrdom,  in  London,  the  head-quarters  or  seat  of  all  the 
persecution,  no  man  can  tell.  But  this  month  of  June  1558,  forming, 
as  it  did,  at  once  a  crisis  and  a  climax  in  its  history,  is  well  worthy  of 
observation. 


'2  On  the  evening  of  New  Year's  Day,  or  Tuesday  IMS,  about  thirty  of  their  number,  with  Mr. 
Thomas  Rose  their  minister,  were  seized  in  Bow  Church  Yard,  and  all  committed  to  prison. 
Rose,  well  known  to  Cranmer,  and  once  recommended  by  him  to  be  Archbishop  of  Armagh, 
was  examined  by  Gardiner,  but  befriended  by  the  Earl  of  Sussex  and  Sir  William  Woodhouse, 
he  escaped  to  the  Continent.  After  this  the  Congregation  met  as  they  could,  and  often  during 
the  night.  "  At  these  meetings  they  had  collections  in  aid  of  those  who  were  in  prison,  and 
sometimes  would  gather  Im  jumnds  at  a  night  meeting,  "  or  an  amount  equal  in  value  to  above 
.I'lOOof  the  present  ri.iv! 


2r,l\  THE  CONGREGATION  LnooK  III. 

For  some  time  the  whole  Church  had  been  in  inuninont  danger  ;  and 
how  they  had  contrived  to  meet  and  worship  so  often  and  so  long  would 
form  a  history,  certainly  of  the  most  singular  character.  But  Honner  and 
his  spies  seem  as  though  they  had  recently  resolved  to  exterminate  them 
in  a  body.  The  method  adopted  was  one  of  ancient  usage.  "  They 
watched  them,  and  sent  forth  .spies,  which  should  feign  themselves  just 
men,  that  they  might  take  hold  of  their  words,  and  so  deliver  them  to  the 
power  and  authority"  of  this  the  most  cruel  of  living  men.  Throughout 
Mary's  reign,  this  Chvirch,  or  Congregation,  had  been  favoured  with  a 
succession  of  pastors.  First  Mr.  Rose,  and  then  Mr.  John  Pullain,  a 
native  of  Yorkshire,  both  of  whom  escaped  to  the  Continent.  There  suc- 
ceeded Mr.  Thomas  Fowler,  Mr.  Edmund  Seamier,  and  Mr.  Augustine 
Bemher,  a  Swiss,  once  in  the  service  of  Latimer.  He  was  of  great  com- 
fort to  the  prisoners,  martyi'S,  and  exiles  ;  the  widows  and  children  be- 
reaved by  martyrdom  looked  to  him  as  to  their  common  benefactor,  and 
in  this  most  honourable  of  all  human  occupations  he  had  been  occasion- 
ally styled  the  "  Angel  of  God."  But  their  next  minister  had  been  a 
character  too  well  kno^vn  in  past  years  to  remain  long  unmolested.  This 
was  Mr.  John  Rough,  a  native  of  Scotland.  In  early  life  one  of  the 
Black  Friars  at  Stilling,  he  was  afterwards  chaplain  to  the  Earl  of  Ar- 
ran,  when  his  eyes  were  first  opened  to  see  the  truth.  And  this  was  no 
other  than  the  man  who,  ten  years  before  this,  in  his  own  name  and  that 
of  his  brethren  at  St.  Andrews,  had,  with  so  much  solemnity,  called  Jo/ui 
Knox  to  engage  in  the  work  of  the  ministry.  From  this  period  he  had 
been  known  in  England,  and  received,  through  Henry  VIII.  himself,  as 
chaplain  of  the  garrison,  ,£20  a-year.  Since  then  he  had  been  twice  as 
far  distant  as  Rome,  and  there  seen  all  that  he  had  so  often  heard  of  be- 
fore. During  the  time  of  Edward,  the  same  annual  amount  having  been 
assigned  to  him,  he  had  preached  at  Carlisle  and  Berwick,  Newcastle  and 
Hull ;  but,  in  the  beginning  of  the  present  reign,  he  fled  to  Norden,  in 
East  Friesland.  Here  he  and  his  wife,  an  Englishwoman,  had  honour- 
ably supported  themselves  by  the  humble  occupation  of  knitting  caps  and 
hose.  Being  destitute  of  yarn,  he  had  ventured  to  England,  in  1557,  for 
a  supply,  but  hearing  of  this  "  Secret  Society  "  of  the  faithful,  upon  once 
joining  them,  he  was  immediately  chosen  minister  and  preacher.  It  was 
not  long  before  he  witnessed  more  than  suflScient  to  have  alarmed  any 
timid  disciple.  On  the  17th  of  September,  four  martyrs,  sent  up  from 
the  country,  had  been  burnt  at  Islington,  the  very  place  where  this  Con- 
gregation occasionally  met.  Rough  was  there  present,  he  afterwards 
said,  "  to  learn  the  way  ; "  and  as  there  were  three  others  consimied  in 
Smithfield  on  the  18th  of  November,  he  may  have  been  there  also,  since 
he  had  evidently  resolved  neither  to  leave  his  charge,  nor  yield  one  iota 
of  his  faith.  Such  a  man  was  not  to  be  tolerated  long.  It  was  upon 
Sabbath  morning  the  12th  of  December,  when  the  Congregation  had  pur- 


1J53-15.)8.]  IN   LONDON.  267 

posed  to  meet  for  worship,  that  no  less  than  Sir  Ileury  Jernyngham  of 
Norfolk,  one  of  the  first  favourites  of  the  Queen,  her  Vice-Chamberlain 
and  Captain  of  the  Guard,  appeared  at  Islington.  He  was  led  there  by 
Sergeant,  one  of  the  spies  sent  out.  Apprehending  Mr.  Rough  and  one 
of  their  most  valuable  members,  a  deacon  of  the  Church,  Mr.  Cuth1)ert 
Symson,  they  were  both  immediately  carried  before  the  Council,  who,  in 
three  days  more,  handed  them  over  to  Bonner  for  his  disposal.  The 
Chui'ch  had  never  before  been  thus  bereaved  of  a  pastor  ;  and  the  only 
anxiety  felt  by  him  related  not  to  himself,  but  to  the  flock  he  was  about 
to  leave  in  the  midst  of  wolves.  Two  days  before  he  suffered,  he  sent 
them  a  letter,  alike  worthy  of  his  character  and  office,  which  is  given  in 
full  by  Foxe. 

"  My  dear  sons,"  says  he,  "  now  departing  this  life,  to  my  great  advantage, 
I  make  cliange  of  mortality  with  immortality,  of  corruption  to  put  on  incorrup- 
tion,  to  make  my  body  like  to  the  com  east  into  the  ground,  which,  except  it  die 
first,  can  bring  forth  no  good  fruit.  Wherefore  death  is  to  my  great  advantage  ; 
for  thereby  tlie  body  ceaseth  from  sin — but  after  shall  be  changed,  and  made 
brighter  than  the  sun  or  moon." — "  What  a  journey,  by  God's  power,  1  have 
made  these  eight  days  !  (from  the  12th  to  the  20th  December  :)  it  is  above 
flesh  and  blood  to  bear  ;  but,  as  Paul  saith,  1  may  do  all  things  in  him  which 
worketh  in  me,  Jesus  Christ.  My  course,  brethren,  have  1  run  ;  I  have  fought 
a  good  fight  ;  the  crown  of  righteousness  is  laid  up  for  me  ;  my  day  to  receive 
it  is  not  long  to.  Pray,  brethren,  for  the  enemy  doth  yet  assault.  Stand  con- 
stant unto  the  end  :  then  shall  ye  possess  your  souls.  Walk  worthily  in  that 
vocation  wherein  ye  are  called.  Comfort  the  brethren.  Salute  one  another  in 
my  name.  Be  not  ashamed  of  the  Gospel  of  the  Cross,  by  me  preached,  nor 
yet  of  my  suffering  ;  for  with  my  blood  I  affirm  the  same.  I  go  before  ;  I  suf- 
fer first  the  baiting  of  the  butcher's  dogs  :  yet  I  have  not  done  what  I  should 
have  done  ;  but  my  weakness,  I  doubt  not,  is  supplied  in  the  strength  of  Jesus 
Christ,  and  your  wisdoms  and  learning  will  accept  that  small  talent,  which  I 
have  distributed  unto  you,  I  trust,  as  a  faithful  steward." — "  The  Spirit  of  God 
guide  you,  in  and  out,  i-isiug  and  sitting  :  cover  you  with  the  shadow  of  his  wing  ; 
defend  you  against  the  tyranny  of  the  wicked,  and  bring  you  happily  to  the  port 
of  eternal  felicity,  where  all  tears  shall  be  wiped  from  your  eyes,  and  you  shall 
always  abide  with  the  Lamb  ! '' 

And  this  is  the  man  condemned  to  be  bui-ned  alive,  and  for  his  senti- 
ments !  Immediately  before  or  after  wi-iting  this  letter  he  was  again 
before  the  Bishop  :  and  having  once  mentioned  his  being  at  Rome,  with 
what  he  had  seen  there,  Bonner,  rising  up  like  a  savage,  laid  hold  of  him 
by  the  beard,  and  actually  tore  a  part  of  it  from  the  roots  !  Delivering 
him  up  to  the  secular  power  on  the  21st  of  December,  he  was  brought  to 
the  stake  next  morning  by  half-past  five  o'clock,  in  company  with  another 
determined  female  confessor. 

That  wealthy  and  generous  citizen  of  London,  Mr.  Symson,  who  had 
been  seized  along  with  Mr.  Rough,  was  reserved  in  prison  for  three 
months  longer,  and  for  far  greater  suffering.     He  had  possessed  a  list  of 


2<)S  .MANV    I'l  r    ro    DKATII,    liur  [book   III. 

all  thu  inomliers  of  the  Church,  and  the  great  ohject  with  IJoiincr  was  to 
get  hold  of  this,  or  compel  him  to  name  his  fellow-disciples.  But  they  had 
laid  hold  of  a  man  whom  no  terrors  could  shake — no  agony  could  move. 
He  was  conveyed  to  the  Tower,  and  there  tortured  actually  three  times, 
upon  which  even  Bonner  himself  could  not  suppress  his  astonishment. 
"  Ye  sec  this  man,"  said  he  to  his  Consistory  ;  "  what  a  pcrsonaldc  man 
he  is.  And  furthermore,  concerning  his  patience,  I  say  unto  you,  that  if 
he  were  not  an  heretic,  he  is  a  man  of  the  greatest  patience  that  yet  ever 
came  before  me  ;  for  I  tell  you  he  hath  been  thrice  racked  upon  one  day 
in  the  Tower.  Also  in  my  house  he  hath  felt  some  sorrow,  and  yet  I 
never  saw  his  patience  broken."  After  this  testimony,  from  whatever 
motive,  still  there  was  no  mercy  ;  and  Mr.  Symson,  with  two  other  mem- 
bers of  the  same  body,  all  suffered  in  Smithfield  about  the  28th  of  March.''' 

Thus  bereaved  of  their  pastor  in  December,  of  their  deacon  and  two 
other  men  in  March,  what  were  they  to  do  ?  To  "  forsake  the  assem- 
bling of  themselves  together  ?"  No,  by  no  means.  Only  two  days  be- 
fore his  death,  Mr.  Rough  had  encouraged  them  in  these  terms  : — "  God 
knoweth  you  are  all  tender  unto  me  ;  my  heart  bursteth  for  the  love  of 
you.  Ye  are  not  without  your  Great  Pastor  of  your  souls,  who  so  loveth 
you,  that  if  men  were  not  to  be  sought  out,  as  God  be  praised  there  is 
}io  want  of  men,  He  would  cause  stones  to  minister  unto  you.  Cast  your 
care  on  that  Rock  ;  the  wind  of  temptation  shall  not  prevail.  Fast  and 
pray,  for  the  days  are  evil."  And  it  is  remarkable,  that  almost  imme- 
diately after,  they  had  been  supplied  with  another  minister,  although 
he  must  come  all  the  way  from  Switzerland.  This  was  Mr.  Thomas 
Bentham,  a  man  of  learning,  and  of  such  courage  as  the  moment  de- 
manded ;  for  the  persecution  still  raged  with  unabated  vigour,  sharpened 
by  the  hope  of  destroying  the  whole  body.  Bentham  had  been  an  exile 
for  years  ;  but  either  from  his  own  motion,  or  pressed  by  the  zealous 
Thomas  Lever,  then  at  Aran,  had  arrived  early  this  year. 

A  month,  however,  had  not  elapsed  after  the  last  fiery  trial,  when 
about  forty  of  this  peoi^le,  men  and  women,  having  assembled  in  the 
vicinity  of  Islington  for  prayer,  "  were  virtuously  occupied  in  the  medi- 
tation of  God's  holy  word,"  with  their  Bibles  or  Testaments  in  their 
hands.  First  their  books  were  demanded  by  the  constable,  and  his  as- 
sistants coming  in  sight,  they  seized  and  secured  twenty-two  of  this 
number.  They  were  all  conveyed  to  Newgate,  where  they  had  remained 
for  seven  weeks  without  being  once  called  up  for  examination. 

But  now  the  more  eventful  month  of  June  was  come.  On  the  (ith, 
there  was  issued,  in  name  of  Philip  and  Mary,  a  proclamation  against 


'■I  By  Mr.  Symson's  own  written  statement,  it  apiirars  that  lie  was  first  set  in  an  engine  of 
iron,  called  .Sktvinston's  Gyves,  wliere  lie  rcinainct)  ahoiit  Mivc  hniim.'  And  another  day.  be- 
sides being  otherwise  tormented,  he  was  racked  twice,  •'■'ee  the  "  Letters  of  the  Martyrs,"  p. 
.■.'29,  ed.  iaT7. 


l.').VJ-l 55S.]      THK  SCRIPTURKS   NEVKK   DliXOUNCEU.  2G9 

certain  books.  Not  Bihles  or  Testaments  hy  name,  however  ;  for  it  is  cer- 
tainly a  memoruhle  fact,  that  throughout  the  ivhole  course  of  this  reign,  from 
whatever  cause,  there  was  not  even  one  such  proclamation  as  had  been  issiied 
under  Henry  VIII.  The  present  one  was  against  books,  not  even  named, 
but  said  to  be  filled  with  "  heresy,  sedition,  and  treason."  Foxe  says, 
they  were  such  as  were  "  godly  and  wholesome  ;"  but  at  all  events, 
"  any  person  having  or  finding  them,  and  not  immediately  burning 
them,  shall,  without  delay,  be  executed  according  to  martial  law^ 

Of  the  twenty-two  individuals  apprehended  in  the  open  field  at  Is- 
lington, two  had  already  died  in  prison  ;  and  on  the  14th,  Bonner  had 
called  the  remaining  twenty  before  him.  In  ten  days  he  had  condemned 
thirteen  to  the  flames,  and  seven,  not  without  much  trouble,  hardly  es- 
caped with  their  lives.  Of  the  former  number,  seven  had  been  sen- 
tenced as  early  as  the  17th,  and  they  were  to  be  burned  in  Smithfield. 

It  so  happened,  however,  that  one  of  these  seven  martyrs  was  a  Mr. 
Roger  Holland,  a  person  evidently  above  the  common  rank.     Lord 

Strange,  afterwards  Earl  of  Derby,  Sir  Thomas  Jarret, Eglestone, 

Esq.,  a  kinsman,  Avith  several  other  relatives  and  friends  from  Cheshire 
and  Lancashire,  had  earnestly  intreated  Bonner  for  his  life.  They  were 
present  at  his  third  or  final  examination.  With  an  intrepidity  not  to 
be  shaken,  and  intelligence  far  superior  to  the  Bishop,  he  answered  most 
distinctly  for  himself.  Bonner,  with  all  the  meanness  of  his  character, 
tried,  by  flattery,  to  separate  him  from  his  Christian  brethren.  Calling 
them  "  worse  than  hogs,"  he  added — "  But,  Roger,  if  I  did  not  bear 
thee  and  thy  friends  good  will,  I  would  not  have  said  so  much  as  I  have 
done,  but  I  would  have  let  mine  ordinary  alone  with  you."  Nothing, 
however,  could  move  the  good  man  one  point ;  and  so  after  he  had 
uttered  several  wholesome  truths,  Bonner  read  the  sentence  of  condem- 
nation. Holland  heard  the  whole  with  patience  ;  but  when  the  Bishop 
rose  to  depart  he  then  said — "  My  Lord,  I  beseech  you  suffer  me  to 
speak  two  words."  At  first  he  would  not,  but  one  of  Holland's  friends 
interposing,  at  last  said  Bonner,  "  Speak,  what  hast  thou  to  say  V 

"  Even  now,"  replied  the  martyr,  "  I  told  you  that  your  authority 
was  from  God,  and  by  his  sufferance.  And  now  I  tell  you,  God  hath 
heard  the  prayer  of  his  servants,  which  hath  been  poured  forth  with 
tears  by  his  afflicted  saints,  which  daily  you  persecute,  as  now  you  do 
us.  But  this  I  dare  be  bold  in  God  to  speak,  which  by  his  spirit  I  am 
moved  to  say,  that  God  will  shorten  your  hand  of  cruelty,  that  for  a  time 
YOU  shall  not  molest  his  Church.  And  (turning  to  his  friends)  this  shall 
you  in  short  time  u^ell  perceive,  my  dear  brethren,  to  be  most  true ;  for 
after  this  day,  in  this  place,  shall  there  not  be  any  by  him  jiul  to  the 
trial  of  fire  and  faggot^ 

An  intimation  sufliciently  pointed  and  solemn,  as  coming  from  the 
lips  of  a  man  he  had  now  doomed  to  death,  and  not  unworthy  of  being 


270  POWKR   or  THE    KAITIIFI'L  [book  IH. 

repeated  here,  since  it  was  about  to  be  ho  exactly  fulfillcil.  At  tlio 
moment,  indeed,  nothing  could  seem  to  be  bo  unlikely  as  the  announce- 
ment made  ;  but  now  Tuesday  the  2.Sth  of  June  had  arrived,  when 
Holland  and  his  six  comj)anions  must  suffer.  And  with  this  day  came 
the  trial  of  strength — the  victory  of  moral  power  over  the  brutal  fury  of 
the  King  and  Queen,  as  well  as  of  Bonner  and  all  his  Vloody  underlings. 
To  render  this  only  the  more  conspicuous,  there  came  down,  in  the  name 
of  Philip  and  Mary,  a  proclamation,  to  be  read  first  at  Newgate  and  then 
at  the  stake.  It  strictly  charged  and  commanded,  that  "  no  man  should 
cither  y^rfT^y /or,  or  speak  to,  the  martyrs,  or  once  say — '  God  help  them.'  " 

A  great  multitude  had  assembled  by  appointment ;  but  so  far  from 
the  first  reading  of  this  proclamation  having  any  effect,  no  sooner  did 
the  seven  martyrs  appear  in  sight,  than  a  scene  ensued,  for  which  the 
authorities  had  not  provided.  In  the  bosom  of  this  multitude  was  "  the 
congregation,  with  its  pastor  ;"  and  both  in  union,  with  one  general 
sway,  made  towards  the  prisoners,  so  that  "  the  bill-men  and  other  offi- 
cers" thrust  back,  could  do  nothing,  nor  even  come  nigh.  There  was 
no  attempt  at  any  rescue,  but  once  meeting  the  martyrs,  embracing  and 
encouraging  them,  there  they  were  at  the  place  of  suffering  in  Smithfield. 

The  people  now  left  the  bill-men  and  officers  to  act.  The  proclama- 
tion in  name  of  the  King  and  Queen,  enjoining  profound  silence,  was 
again  read,  with  a  loud  voice.  Mr.  Bentham  was  there,  and  now  came 
his  time  to  speak.  Immediately  upon  seeing  the  fire  kindled,  turning  his 
eyes  to  the  people,  he  cried  out  and  said — "  We  know  they  are  the  people 
of  God,  and  therefore  we  cannot  choose  but  wish  well  to  them,  and  say 
God  strengthen  them."  Then  more  boldly — "  Almighty  God,  for  Chrisfs 
sake,  strengthen  them  !  "  With  entire  consent,  and  one  voice,  all  the  people 
followed  with — "  A  men  !  A  men  !"  The  noise  was  so  astounding,  and  the 
voices  so  numerous,  that  the  officers  did  not  know  what  to  say,  nor  whom 
to  accuse.  Holland  then,  embracing  the  stake  and  the  reeds,  closed  his 
life  with  these  words — 

"  Lord  !  I  most  humbly  thank  thy  Majesty  that  thou  hast  called  me  from  the 
state  of  death  unto  the  thjlit  of  thy  hearenly  word,  and  now  unto  the  fellowship  of 
thy  saints,  that  T  may  sing  and  say — Holy,  holy,  holy.  Lord  God  of  Hosts  !  And 
Lord,  into  thy  hands  I  commit  ray  .spirit.  Loi'd  bless  these  thy  people,  and 
save  them  from  idolatry." 

The  whole  seven  died  in  joyful  constancy,  in  prayer,  and  praising 
God.>4 


'*  Bentham  himself,  in  writing  to  his  friend  Lever,  in  Switzerland,  on  the  I7th  of  Jnlv,  says— 
'■  A  fearful  and  cruel  proclamation  being  made.  that,  under  pain  o{  jircsrni  (hath,  no  man  should 
cither  approach  nigh  unto  them,  touch  them,  neither  si)eak  to  nor  comfort  them  ;  vet  were  they 
so  mightily  spoken  to,  so  comfortably  taken  by  the  hands,  and  so  godly  comforted,  notwithstand- 
ing that  fearful  proclamation,  and  the  present  threatenings  of  the  shcriffand  sergeants,  that  the 
adversaries  themselves  were  asloitied."     Harkian  .MS.,  No.  41fi,  p.  0,1. 


1553-1558.]  IN  STAYING  PERSECUTION.  271 

Such  a  triumph  well  deserved  to  be  traced,  for  it  was  a 
decisive  one.  Mary  had  yet  nearly  five  months  to  reign,  but  she 
must  no  more  burn  a  single  martyr  at  the  wonted  place,  nor 
at  any  other,  within  her  own  capital.  Bonner's  occupation, 
too,  was  gone  ;  for,  as  far  as  we  know,  he  never  personally  sen- 
tenced one  individual  to  the  flames,  in  any  place,  after  being 
thus  addressed  by  Roger  Holland.  Six  men,  indeed,  out  of 
the  twenty-two  seized,  still  remained  to  be  disposed  of,  and,  a 
few  days  after  Holland,  they  had  been  examined  ;  but  all  this 
the  Bishop  had  prudently  left  to  Thomas  Darbyshire,  his  ne- 
phew, the  Chancellor ;  nor  were  they  put  to  death  till  the 
J  3th  or  14th  of  July.  But  even  then  they  cannot  be  burnt  in 
London ;  they  must  be  sent  down  to  Brentford,  and  the  writ 
to  execute  come  from  the  Lord  Chancellor's  office.  All  this  is 
distinctly  stated  to  have  been  done  in  "  post-haste,"  and  at 
night,  either  from  fear  or  craft  on  the  part  of  Bonner  ;  '^  but 
never  again  must  the  fire  blaze  in  Smithlield.  Such  was  "  the 
Congregation  of  the  Faithful^''  assembling  for  worship  in  the 
days  of  Queen  Mary  ;  and,  with  all  its  imperfections,  there 
certainly  never  was  in  England  a  body  of  Christians  more 
highly  honoured  by  God,  in  "  resisting  unto  blood,  striving 
against  sin." 

In  adverting  to  the  character  of  Mary's  administration,  owing  to  these 
detestable  cruelties  some  historians  have  consigned  the  entire  period  to 
unmitigated  or  indiscriminate  censure  in  every  other  point  of  view  ;  but 
the  fact  is,  that  the  odious  character  of  persecution  for  opinions,  on  the 
part  of  Government,  is  rendered  much  more  so  when  the  state  of  Eno-land 
in  other  respects,  is  candidly  observed. 

The  Queen  herself,  indeed,  was  very  frequently,  perhaps  the  most  un- 
happy living  being  in  the  kingdom,  and  certainly  so  for  the  last  year  of 
her  life  ;  but  when  we  embrace  the  entire  period,  once  exclude  the  war 
of  opinion,  and  turn  the  eye  away  from  those  ever-blazing  fires  of  the 
later  years,  the  commercial  interests  of  the  country  were  not  unprosper- 
ous,  at  least  up  to  January  1558,  when  Calais  was  lost.  Her  expulsion 
of  those  worthy  foreigners  at  the  commencement  of  her  reign,  who  with 
an  ingenuity  they  had  brought  with  them,  were  naturalizing  their  arts 
and  manufactures  in  England,  was  at  once  impolitic  and  hurtful  ;  but 
Mary  concluded  an  advantageous  commercial  treaty  with  Russia,  and 
put  an  end  to  the  injurious  monopoly  so  long  carried  on  by  the  Easter- 
lings,  or  Merchants  of  the  Steel-yard.    One  very  intelligent  foreigner  was 


IS  Harleian  MS.,  No.  41C,  p.  C,3. 


272  I'JIK  !STATK   OF    K.\(iLAM»  [»0(»K   III. 

then  living  in  England,  Signor  Giovanni  Michele,  the  Venetian  ambassa- 
dor, who,  of  course,  troubled  not  himself  about  the  cruelties  of  the  day  ; 
but  he  has  left  his  own  interesting  survey  of  the  country,  as  he  reported 
it  officially  to  his  native  states,  part  of  which  it  must  be  some  relief  to 
peruse.  Having  mentioned  a  certain  profusion  which  had  struck  him  as 
peculiar  to  the  country,  he  thus  proceeds  :  — 

"  I  use  the  term  profusion,  as  there  is  no  nation  wliicli,  in  its  maimer  of  liv- 
ing and  ordinary  expenditure,  is  more  extravagant  tlian  thu  Engli.sli  ;  because 
they  keep  more  servants,  with  a  greater  distinction  of  offices  and  degi'ees  in 
which  these  servants  are  placed.  In  this  manner,  to  mention  only  one  particu- 
lar, in  order  to  give  an  idea  of  other  expenses  of  greater  moment,  the  expense 
of  the  Court  in  the  mere  article  of  living,  that  is,  of  eating  and  drinking,  and  of 
what  solely  relates  to  the  table,  amounts  to  from  fifty-four  to  fifty-six  thousand 
pounds  sterling  a-year,  making  230,000  of  our  .scudi.  It  is  a  monstrous  thing  to 
see  the  quantity  of  victuals  usually  consumed,  with  the  allowances  to  attend- 
ants and  servants  ;  and  yet  not  the  fourth  part  is  now  expended  of  what  was 
spent  in  the  time  of  Henry  and  Edward,  the  predecessoi-s  of  the  Queen — her 
Majesty  having  succeeded  in  correcting  many  abuses,  and  regulating  superflui- 
ties, partly  by  limiting,  and  partly  by  entirely  abolishing,  many  tables,  and 
taking  away  all  arbitrary  supplies  of  provisions." 

Among  servants,  the  ambassador  here  evidently  included  that  numer- 
ous class  of  retainers,  granted  by  the  Crown  to  officers  of  the  household, 
and  special  favourites.  A  retainer  was  a  servant,  not  menial,  but  wear- 
ing the  livery  of  his  Master,  and  attending  upon  all  special  occasions. 
The  number  had  been  diminishing  from  the  days  of  Wolsey,  and  not- 
withstanding her  retrenchments,  Mary  far  exceeded  her  successor,  Eliza- 
beth, in  this  source  of  expense.  Stephen  Gardiner,  who  was  extremely 
fond  of  style  as  well  as  of  money,  led  the  way  under  Mary,  by  contriving 
to  obtain  for  himself  as  many  as  tu-o  hundred  retainers  ;  the  only  other 
man  who  then  had  as  many  being  the  Earl  of  Arundel.  Elizabeth  never 
yielded  more  than  one  hundred  to  any  person  of  the  highest  rank,  and 
that  but  rarely.  Mary,  in  five  years,  had  granted  thirty-nine  such 
licenses  of  retainer  ;  Elizabeth  will  grant  only  fifteen  in  thirteen  years. 

With  the  general  state  of  the  country  in  other  respects  our  ambassador  was 
particularly  struck.  "  But  the  liberty  of  this  country  is  really  singular  and  won- 
derful ;  indeed  there  is  no  other  country,  in  my  opinion,  less  burdened  and  more 
free.  For  they  have  not  only  no  taxes  of  any  kind,  but  they  are  not  even  thought 
of :  NO  TAX  on  salt,  %dne,  beer,  i-lolr,  meat,  cluth,  and  other  necessaries  of  life, 
which  in  all  parts  of  Italy  especially,  and  in  Flanders,  are  the  more  productive 
the  greater  is  the  number  of  inhabitants  who  consume  them.  But  here  every 
one  indifferently,  whether  noble,  or  of  the  common  people,  is  in  the  free  and 
unmolested  enjoyment  of  all  he  possesses,  or  daily  acquii-es,  relating  either  to 
food  or  raiment,  buying  or  selling,  except  in  those  articles  which  he  imports  or 
exports  by  way  of  traffic." 

The   last  exception,  of  custom,  on  every  export  and  import,  this  in- 


1553-1558.]  IN   THE    EYE   OK   A    VENETIAN.  273 

telligent  foreigner,  had  before  explained,  as  well  as  the  various  other 
sources  of  revenue  ;  but  it  becomes  doubly  striking  now,  that  so  much 
as  this,  or  any  thing  like  it,  could  be  asserted  respecting  the  people  at 
large,  at  the  very  moment  when,  as  we  have  seen,  there  was  one  excep- 
tion, so  cruel  and  profane.  It  was  to  be  found  in  the  case  of  all  those, 
whether  high  or  low,  male  or  female,  who  dared  to  thmk  for  themselves, 
or  who  either  read  or  believed  the  oracles  of  God!  Our  Venetian  was  him- 
self a  disciple  of  "  the  old  learning,"  but  he  was  far  too  shrewd  to  sup- 
pose that  the  change  enforced  by  this  reign  of  terror  would  last  long. 
On  the  contrary,  he  regarded  the  nation  as  a  vessel  loosened  from  its 
long  accustomed  mooring. 

"  Generally  speaking,"  says  he,  "  your  Serene  Highness  may  rest  assured, 
that  with  the  English  the  example  and  authority  of  the  Sovereign  is  every 
thing,  and  religion  is  only  so  far  valued  as  it  inculcates  the  duty  due  from  the 
subject  to  the  Prince.  They  live  as  he  lives,  they  believe  as  he  believes,  and 
they  obey  his  commands,  not  from  any  inward  moral  impulse,  but  because  they 
fear  to  incur  his  displeasure  ;  and  they  would  be  full  as  zealous  followers  of  the 
Mahometan  or  Jewish  religions,  did  the  King  profess  either  of  them,  or  com- 
manded his  subjects  to  do  so.  In  short  they  will  accommodate  themselves  to  any 
religious  persuasion,  but  most  readily  to  one  that  promises  to  minister  to  licen- 
tiousness and  profit." 

Such  was  the  judgment  formed  by  Michele,  about  eighteen  months  be- 
fore Mary's  death,  for  he  had  retm-ned  to  Venice  in  1557  ;  and  no  doubt 
to  some  persons,  at  first  reading,  it  will  appear  to  be  distinguished  for 
severity.  But  when  it  is  remembered  that  in  the  mouth  of  such  a  man, 
licentiousness  might  be  only  his  epithet  for  "  entire  freedom  from  all  the 
superstitious  trammels  of  the  old  learning,"  and  by  pro/it  he  may  have 
referred  simply  to  the  desire  after  commerce  ;  then  the  terms  may  be 
allowed  to  pass,  as  no  very  inaccui-ate  description  of  two  leading  senti- 
ments or  feelings  which  prevailed  throughout  the  country.  Already  he 
teUs  us  that  "  all  eyes  and  hearts  were  turned  towards  the  Lady  Eliza- 
beth as  successor  to  the  throne  ;"  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  thou- 
sands were  now  sick  unto  death  of  Bonner's  brutal  sway  ;  though  at  the 
same  time,  even  after  noticing  the  final  scenes  at  Smithfield  and  Brent- 
ford, Mr.  Bentham  added — "  And  yet  men,  for  the  most  part,  were  never 
more  careless,  nor  maliciously  merry  than  they  are  now."^^ 

On  the  whole,  the  reader  can  now  easily  distinguish  between 
the  people  at  large,  and  those  who  had  been  so  shockingly 
persecuted  ;  nor  need  he  imagine  that  the  English  as  a  nation 
had  all  of  a  sudden  become  more  distinguished  for  cruelty  than 


'6  The  report  of  Signor  Michele,  containiiiR  many  curious  particulars  as  to  this  reign,  may  be 
seen  entire,  in  the  letters  printed  by  Sir  Henry  Ellis.     Second  series,  vol.  ii.,  p.  218-240. 

VOL.   H.  S 


27-4  I'KUSKCUTIO.V    l''()|,I,<)\VKI)    nV  [hook  III. 

tlic  lUMghbouring  nations  on  tlio  Continent.'"  They  had  in- 
deod,  at  first,  asked  for  such  a  Queen  as  Mary,  and  obtained 
their  desire ;  they  had  unwillingly  submitted  to  such  a  King 
as  Pliilip,  and  to  such  Ministers;  and  under  their  united 
sway  that  salutary  horror  was  implanted  in  the  nation,  which 
was  not  to  leave  it  for  generations  to  come  ;  but  it  was  the 
leaders  of  this  people  who  destroyed  them,  but  more  especially, 
as  a  body,  the  Bishops,  who  were  now  fighting  with  fury  for 
"  their  kingdom  of  this  world,"  as  they  so  manifestly  had 
done,  ever  since  the  Scriptures  were  introduced  in  1526.  For 
these  five  years  past  they  had  been  powerfully  backed,  and 
occasionally  goaded  on,  by  both  the  King  and  Queen  ;  nor 
had  the  diocese  of  Canterbury  under  Cardinal  Pole  formed  any 
exception  to  the  raging  cruelty.'^ 


'7  The  same  rampant  fury  against  what  they  called  heresy  had  raqed  liorribly  on  the  Conti- 
nent. Paul  Sarpi  assures  us,  that  from  tlic  first  edict  of  Charles  V.  to  tlie  treaty  of  Cateau- 
Canibresis,  in  l')58  fiflij  thousaml  had  been  hanged,  beheaded,  burned  and  buried  alive  for  their 
opinions  !  And  Philip,  following  his  father's  counsel,  disposed  of  an  equal  number,  during  the 
next  thirty  years!  Grotius  states  the  entire  number  at  1(IO.O(M) !  Such  was  the  course  run 
first  by  the  father-in-law,  and  then  by  the  husljand,  of  our  Mary  the  First!  Lonk  at  S/xiiii,  sow'. 

'"  That  anxiety  which  has  been  often  shown  by  biograiihers  to  exempt  their  hero  from  the 
guilt  of  persecution,  forms  one  powerful  testimony  against  its  wickedness.  Tunstal  and  Pole 
have  been  often  so  treated.  The  former  appears  to  have  been  softened  by  his  advanced  age,  for 
under  the  M.irian  persecution,  be  was  now  above  eiiilitij,  and  died  the  year  after  it,  aged  eighty- 
five  :  and  Pole,  in  private  life,  might  have  been  mild  in  his  deportment,  but  what  does  this  sig- 
nify when  we  come  to  facts  ?  Phillips  in  his  life,  of  the  Cardinal,  has  told  us,  that  he,  the  biogra- 
pher, had  "too  real  a  respect  for  the  public,  to  trouble  it  with  wrangles  on /cW*  or  dales  or 
rt!/(/ior(7/«  of  little  or  no  consequence;"  but  this  was  after  he  had  informed  that  public,  as  afacl, 
that  "  not  our  was  put  to  death  in  the  diocese  of  Canterbury  after  Cardinal  Pole  was  promoted  to 
that  see!"  Now,  to  say  nothing  of  the  diocese  at  large,  Pole  took  his  scat,  the  very  next  day 
after  Cranmer's  martyrdom,  by  which  time  nineteen  had  been  put  to  death  in  Caiiterbiirij  itself, 
and  in  the  same  city,  tiiyiilii-Uinv  more  followed,  five  of  whom  had  been  famished  in  prison. 
In  truth,  the  very  last  burning  was  in  Canterbury,  when  five  perished  at  once,  and  only  eight  days 
before  the  Cardinal  himself  died,  all  these  had  been  delivered  up  to  the  secular  arm  in  July, 
by  Pole's  own  written  certificate  to  the  Queeu.  And  what  can  be  said  in  reply  to  the  language 
of  Pole  himself!'  So  late  as  the  close  of  \.'t^>~,  in  writing  to  the  Pontiff",  he  informs  him, — "my 
whole  employment  and  labour  is  that  1  may  daily  gain  more  to  the  Church,  and  to  cut  o/fthosc 
that  arc  obstinate  as  rotlfn  nuitibers.  Your  Holiness  hath  reaped  greater  fruit  of  honour  from 
mi/  labours,  than  ani/  Pope,  by  aiii/  Legate,  for  vinnti  ages  ever  did." 

Even  Gardiner's  character  has  been  mistaken,  simply  from  want  of  attention  to  dates.  Speak- 
ing of  this  period.  Sir  .T.  Mackintosh  has  said — "  Justice  to  Gardiner  requires  it  to  be  mentioned 
that  his  diocese  was  of  the  bloodless  class."  But  Gardiner  was  th-ad.  He  died  only  nine  months 
after  the  persecution  had  begun,  and  before  then  he  had  cordi.ally  sanctioned  the  death  of  Rogers, 
and  Saunders,  and  Bradford  ;  of  Hooper  and  Ferrar,  Ridley  and  Latimer  :  men  who  might  be 
styled  "  the  bead  deer  "  of  the  whole  liock  afterwards  sl.iin.  No,  Gardiner  died  in  November 
LWS,  and  hence  it  bears  so  much  harder  on  the  predominant  counsellor  who  succeeded  him, 
who  for  threi'  xiears  after  this,  wilfully  sanctioned  persecution.  This  counsellor,  it  is  well  known, 
wiis  Reginald  Pole,  -whom  Mary  would  not  permit  even  to  reside  in  Canterbury,  that  she  might 
have  his  advice  on  (j// occasions.  Gardiner,  however,  had  been  concerned  in  the  death  of  al- 
most every  rmitntit  martyr,  and  these,  with  the  exception  of  Cranmer,  had  all  been  cut  ofi", 
when  Pole  succeeded. 

Fuller  has  survejed  this  persecution  by  looking  to  e^•ery  liwct'KC  in  succession,  as  if  the  cha- 
racter of  its  bishop  were  to  be  seen  by  such  a  survey  ;  biit  the  criterion  is  a  very  imperfect  one. 
Wherever  dCiiisiiDi  oft'ered,  no  bishop  would  have  found  it  safe  to  resist ;  and  even  Bonner  him- 
self was  qnii'kened  by  royal  authority.  There  is,  however,  an  important  and  far  more  correct 
key  to  l)hii)d  being  shed,  or  not  shed,  in  any  district,     ^fo.<l  blood  was  shed,  and  most  misery 


1553-1558.]  TOKKNS   OF    RP:TRIBUTI0N.  275 

111  return  for  all  this  violence  and  bloodshed,  the  moment  of  reaction, 
of  course,  arrived  at  last.  The  day  of  retribution  began  to  dawn.  Our 
Venetian  ambassador  had  left  England  immediately  before  the  period 
which  would  have  constrained  him  to  modify  his  style.  Persecution 
employed  by  any  Government,  without  recoiling  on  its  authors,  is  un- 
known to  history  ;  and  whether  it  did  so  now,  let  the  reader  judge. 
Death  and  banishment  and  deprivation  of  office  had  been  the  leading 
punishments  inflicted,  and  although  this  be  not  the  world  where  we  are 
to  expect  perfect  retribution,  there  is  always  enough  to  prove,  that 
"  Verily  there  is  a  God,  who  judgeth  in  the  earth."  The  extent  to 
which  those  very  evils  fell  upon  the  parties  in  power,  is  well  worthy  of 
observation. 

In  the  language  of  sacred  writ,  "  Judgment  had  begun  at  the  house  of 
God  ;"  and  was  there  nothing  to  befall  those  who  obeyed  not  the  truth, 
and  especially  those  who  had  despised  and  rejected  the  Woi'd  of  God  ? 
Prevailing  disease,  by  fever  and  ague,  was  nothing  more  than  the  pre- 
face or  introduction  to  other  evils  :  but,  by  the  summer  of  1557,  these 
diseases  are  said  to  have  gone  to  such  extent  as  to  endanger  the  produce 
of  the  earth.  "  In  some  places  corn  had  stood  and  shed  on  the  ground, 
for  want  of  reapers  ;  and  in  others,  they  would  have  willingly  given  one 
acre  of  corn,  to  reap  and  carry  another."  Disease  too  had  fallen 
especially  upon  "  gentlemen  and  men  of  great  wealth  ;"  but  all  this  was 
merely  a  preparation  for  the  year  1558,  or  Mary's  last. 

In  the  spring  of  1557,  the  Queen  had  been  visited  by  her  cold  hus- 
band, Philip,  and  for  the  last  time.  He,  without  difficulty,  drew  her 
into  war  with  France  ;  and  by  the  7th  of  January  1558.  she  had  lost 
Calais  in  seven  days.  It  had  cost  Edward  III.  eleven  months  of  siege, 
the  English  flag  having  floated  on  its  battlements  for  above  two  hundred 
years.  The  loss  was  more  deeply  lamented  indeed  than  it  deserved  ;  still 
it  was  felt,  not  merely  as  a  national  degradation,  but  by  the  mer- 
cantile interests  especially,  as  one  which  might  prove  of  serious  injiuy 
to  commerce,  an  object  to  which  thousands  had  become  much  alive. 

The  summer  and  autumn  of  1558  turned  out  to  be  more  unhealthy 
than  those  of  the  year  preceding.  Parker,  afterwards  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  calculated  that  three  parts  out  of  four,  throughout  the 
country,  were  sick.  Gentlemen,  who  kept  twenty  or  thii-ty  servants  had 
not  above  three  or  four  to  help  the  residue.  Even  the  harvestmen  had 
become  so  scarce  that  twelve  pence  were  given  for  work,  wont  to  be 
done  for  three.  And  if  it  be  recollected  that  all  this  misery  occurred 
at  the  close  of  five  years  of  violence  and  injustice,  of  oppression  and 
slaughter,  no  Avonder  if  thousands  were  exclaiming  with  one  of  old — 


endured,  in  all  those  districts  where  Ihe  fl'nrd  nf  God  had  been  moxt  rrnd  ;  and  wherever  there 
was  but  little  or  none,  there  the  Scriptures,  as  yet,  bad  been  but  little  known.  Ilente  the  diftor- 
ence  butwecn  the  northern  and  some  other  counties,  compared  with  others  nearer  to  London. 


27(;  PKUSKCUTION    FUlXOWKl)  bV  [^iiooK   in. 

What  shall  1)0  the  cud  of  these  things  t"      The  cud,  however,  was  now 
near  at  hand. 

Parliament  assembled  on  the  5th  of  November.  Financial  embarrass- 
ments were  disclosed,  and  pressed  for  consideration.  A  subsidy  was 
proposed,  and  might  perhaps  have  passed  the  Upper  House,  but  what 
could  this  signify  now  I  On  the  14th,  the  Lord  Chancellor,  the  Trea- 
surer, and  the  Lords  in  a  body,  ccuiie  down  to  the  Commons  to  reason  with 
them,  but  they  would  not  move,  and  came  to  no  decision.  The  close  of 
Mary's  life  might  well  serve  as  a  lesson  of  terror  to  all  persecutors.  At 
the  outset  of  her  reign,  she  had  paid  no  regard  whatever  to  freedom  of 
opinion,  and  then  remitted  a  subsidy  in  order  to  fix  herself  on  the 
throne.  She  then  obstinately  determined  to  espouse  a  Spanish  husband, 
not  having  the  sagacity  to  perceive,  that  Charles  V.  and  his  son  Philip 
were  only  practising  their  ambition  upon  her.  It  was  a  step  which  the 
nation  never  forgave.  Then  came  that  outrageous  course  of  blood  and 
torture,  with  which  thousands  were  now  so  thoroughly  disgusted.  The 
rough  physic  of  Providence  had  produced  its  destined  effect.  On  the 
fifth  day  after  this  Parliament  sat  down,  five  martyrs  had  suffered  at 
Canterbury.  They  prayed  at  the  stake,  that  they  might  be  the  last,  and 
they  were  the  last.  And  now,  in  five  days  more,  the  Government  is  at 
an  end ;  the  supplies  are  stopped  ;  pecuniary  aid  can  be  obtained  no 
more,  and  the  Queen,  full  of  chagrin  and  disappointment,  has  little 
more  than  forty-eight  hours  to  live.  She  had  been  attacked  in  summer 
by  the  prevailing  fever,  then  so  fatal  ;  and  early  on  the  morning  of 
Thursday  the  17th  of  November,  she  breathed  her  last,  at  the  very  mo- 
ment when  her  own  husband  and  Henry  the  Second,  "  the  Spanish  and 
French  Monarchs,  were  meditating  the  extension  over  all  Europe,  of 
such  a  tribunal  as  the  Inquisition  had  already  shewn  itself  to  be,  by  its 
exercise  of  authority  in  Spain. ''^ 

The  Queen  herself,  in  conjunction  with  that  body  of  men  denominated 
ecclesiastical,  had  been  the  responsible  agents  in  the  kingdom,  and  one 
naturally  turns  to  this  quarter  as  to  the  moving  spring  of  all  that  had 
been  perpetrated.  Adverting  to  this  period,  the  close  of  1558,  Mr. 
Strype  has  told  us  that  the  mortality  among  the  priests  was  such  "  that 
a  great  number  of  parish  churches,  in  divers  parts  of  the  realm  were  un- 
served, and  no  curates  could  be  gotten  for  money."  But  with  the 
Bishops,  and  their  immediate  agents,  lay  the  chief  responsibility  ;  and 
if  \vc  can  arrive  at  certainty  as  to  their  mortality,  as  this  has  never  been 
sufficiently  observed,  there  may  be  enough  to  arrest  attention  even  now, 
at  the  distance  of  more  than  two  hundred  and  eighty  years. 

The  Bench  of  Bishops  under  Mary  consisted  of  twenty-seven  indivi- 
duals.   Now,  besides  the  hundreds  of  martyrs  whom  they  had  consigned 

'»  M.ickintosh. 


1553-15.58.]  TOKENS  OF  RETRIBUTION.  277 

to  the  flames,  it  is  well  known  that  they  had  put  to  death  five  of  their 
own  number,  namely  Hooper  and  Fcrrar,  Latimer  and  Ridley  in  1555, 
and  Cranmer  in  1556.  How  then  had  it  fared  with  this  order  of  men 
throughout  the  reign  1  By  the  month  in  which  Mary  herself  was  in- 
terred, twenty-four  Bishops  had  expired,  and  in  only  thirteen  months 
after,  six  more  had  followed  ;  that  is  tkirti/  such  men  had  died  "  by  the 
visitation  of  God."  These  included  two  Lords  Chancellor,  Goodrich  and 
Gardiner,  and  two  Cardinals,  Pole  and  Peyto.  In  the  short  space  of 
four  years,  from  the  death  of  Gardiner  (the  next  after  Latimer  and  Rid- 
ley) in  November  1555,  to  that  of  Tunstal  inclusive,  in  November  1559, 
twenty-four  had  died  ;  n&j,  fourteen  of  these  had  expired  in  less  than  six- 
teen  months,  before  and  after  the  Queen's  own  decease.  Death  has  been 
sometimes  denominated  "  a  great  teacher  :"  but  here  was  a  lesson,  which 
surely  could  not  fail  to  be  the  subject  of  frequent  remark  at  the  time.  ^ 

Fuller,  the  old  historian,  had  been  struck  with  this  mortality  ;  and,  in 
his  own  quaint  manner,  he  has  said  "  There  were  nine  Bishops  now  dead, 
who  were  the  death-gihard  of  Queen  Mary — as  expii-ing  a  little  before 
her  decease  ;  namely,  John  Capon  or  Salcot,  Bishop  of  Salisbury  ;  Robert 
Parfew,  Bishop  of  Hereford  ;  Maurice  Griffith,  (Grijin)  Bishop  of 
Rochester ;  William  Glynn,  Bishop  of  Bangor.  These  were  Queen 
jNLiry's  ushers  to  her  grave.  Or,  as  expiring  a  little  after  her  departure, 
as  Reginald  Pole,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  ;  John  Hopton,  Bishop  of 
Norwich  ;  James  Brookes,  Bishop  of  Gloucester ;  John  Holyman,  Bishop 
of  Bristol ;  Morgan,  Bishop  of  St.  David's  ;  these  were  Queen  Mary's 
train-bearers  to  the  same." 

But  if  the  historian  would  take  up  the  catalogue  of  the  dead,  from 
Parfew  to  Morgan,  and  thus  assemble  them  round  the  body  of  the  Queen, 
the  funeral  procession  was  far  more  striking  than  this.  The  following 
would  have  been  more  correct ;  and,  placed  in  the  order  in  which  they 
were  called  away  by  death,  it  exhibits  a  spectacle  with  which  there  is  few, 
if  any,  in  history  to  compare.  We  have  intermingled  with  the  Bishops, 
however,  several  other  appropriate  characters,  as  the  proper  place  and 
time,  for  announcing  their  decease. 

2"  Those  statements  arc  fouiuled  on  the  followinR  table,  in  which  the  reader  may  at  once  dis- 
cover in  italic,  the  martyrs,  or  the  number  put  to  death  by  man,  and  the  number  consigned  to 
tlie^rave  by  the  God  of  life  and  death.  There  died  in  1554,  Goodrich  of  Ely,  10th  May;  Sampson 
of  Lichfield,  25th  Sep.  ;  Voisey  of  Exeter,  Oct.  In  15.55,  Hooper  of  Gloucester,  Pth  Feb  ;  Ferrar 
of  St.  DaficTs,  3<lth  Feb.  ;  Latimer  of  fVorcester  and  Ridley  of  London  IRth  Oct. ;  Gardiner  of 
Winchester,  12th  Nov. ;  Cotes  of  Chester,  Dec.  In  155(5,  Aldrich  of  Carlisle,  5th  March  ; 
Cranmer  of  Cantcrbimi,  21st  March  ;  Bell  of  Gloucester,  2rt  Aug. ;  Day  of  Chichester,  2d  AuR.  ; 
Man  of  the  Isle  of  Man ;  Chambers  of  Peterborough  ;  Bird  of  Chester.  In  1557,  Parfew  or 
Warton  of  St.  Asaph,  22d  Sep.  ;  Salcot  or  Capon  of  Salisbury,  6th  Oct.  ;  King  of  Oxford,  4th  Pec. 
In  15.58,  Peyto  elect  of  Salisbury,  April :  Glynn  of  Ban?or,  21st  May,  Brookes  of  Gloucester,  7th 
Sep.  ;  Bnsheof  Bristol,  11th  Oct.  ;  Pole  of  Canterbury,  l/thNov. ;  Griffin  of  Rochester,  2(llh  Nov. 
HopKm  of  Norwich,  Nov. ;  Holj-man  of  Bristol,  20th  Dec.  ;  Christophcrson  of  Chichester,  Dec.  ; 
Reynolds  elect  of  Hereford,  died  in  prison.  In  1.550,  Baync  of  Lichfield,  Jan. ;  Allen  of  Roches- 
ter. Oct.  ;  Tunstal  of  Durham,  llith  Nov. ;  Morgan  of  St.  David's,  2.3d  Dec.  In  1.560,  Oglethorpe 
of  Carlisle,  4th  Jan.  ;  and  White  of  Winchester,  11th  January.  Poinet  of  Winchester,  died 
:il)ioad  nth  April  l.l.Wi.— See  NiedUii   Si/nopsis.     ff'oofl's  Mt.  Oxon. 


27S  OKATil    UY    TIIK    VIMTATlON    OK   tiOD.  \_lun>K  111. 

Takkku-  of  .s'.  Atiiiih,  '1-IA  Sep.,  .'17.— SaU'ot  of  Salittiurt/,  (Itli  Oct.— Kinu  of  Oxford,  4tli  Die. 

William  Wurliuiii,  I'rebcnd,  uiid  neplicw  of  tlic  Arclibiohop,  Uc-t. 

Sir  Kicliard  Kocliciitc'r,  C'unipt roller  of  tliu  Queen's  liouae  :  a  williii);  perbecutor,  Nov. 

C'AHDIN.AL  I'KYTo,  Kleet  of  .Vu/l/i/KCi/,  Apr.  IMH. 

Glv.ss  of  JUiiiiior,  2NI  Muy.  — Bhookks  of  (lldfler,  7tli  Sep.— Himik  of  Uristnl.  IHli  Oct. 

Tho.  Clietlelmin,  I'rebeml,  the  Miccensor  of  HoKern  the  I'rolo-Mnrlyr,  Oct. 

Edward  Mowlc,  I'reheiid  uiid  Arcliileucoii  of  Kkhex,  Oct. 

Tho.  Uciinet,  Treasurer  of  St.  Paul's,  10th  Oct. 

QUEEN  MARV,  l/th  Nov. 

C'.\RDI.NAL  Rkuinali)  I'ol.K  of  Cunterbiirii,  18lh  Nov. 

UiiiFKlN  of  lliichiuli');  2lllh  Nov.— Hoiton  of  Karwiili,  Nov. 

Ituhcrt  Johnson,  Principal  Kcgistcr  of  Honner,  and  Proctor-liencral  of  Canterbury,  -JM  Nov. 

Basset,  Esq.  one  of  the  Queen's  Privy  Chamber,  2(jth  Nov. 

GuliriH  Diiniii;  Prrbfiid,  the  Ijflratifr  ufTymiale,  Hlli  Dec. 

.^ir  T.  Cheync,  Ma.ster-Treasurer  to  the  Queen,  Btli  Dec. 

Ihinh  Weston,  in  disgrace,  opponent  of  Latimer,  Kidley  and  Cranmer,  tjlh  Dec. 

Verney,  Master  of  the  Queen's  Jewel-house,  12tli  Dec. 

Queen  interred,  in  Westminster  Abbey,  l.'lth  Dec. 

lloLViMAN  of  lltislol,  2(ith  Dec  — Chriktophbbson  of  Cliiclieslir,  Dec. 

Rkv.nolds,  Elect  of  Heirfunf,  Dec. !'— Bavnk  of  Luhjiild  and  Covnilry,  Jan.  1.J.VI. 

Ai.i.KN  of  liodnskr,  Oct.— Ti  nstai.  of  Diiiliani,  IHth  Nov.— Morgan  of  St.  David's,  23d  Dec. 

And  only  the  next  month  afterwards, 

OoLKTHORPK  of  Carlisle,  4tli  Jan. — Whitk  of  ff'ineliester,  lltli  Jan. 

Sir  John  Baker,  Chancellor  of  the  Court  of  Augmentations,  Jan.^' 

Beside  the  Queen  herself,  we  see  that  not  fewer  than  thhty-one  con- 
spicuous oflBcial  individuals  had  been  swept  away  by  death  ;  twelve  pre- 
ceding, and  nineteen  following  her  Majesty  to  the  grave — or  five  con- 
nected with  the  Crown,  and  twenty-six  ecclesiastics.  Of  these,  four  had 
been  Prebends,  and  nineteen  Bishops  ;  two  of  whom  were  Cardinals. 
The  first,  Peyto,  was  never  allowed  to  enter  the  kingdom  ;  the  second, 
Reginald  Pole,  was  the  last  Cardinal  who  set  his  foot  in  England. 

Under  the  authority  of  these  men,  however,  not  only  had  blood  been 
shed,  but  deprivation  of  ofl5ce,  and  flight  beyond  seas,  had  ensued  ;  and 
in  the  change  which  now  took  place,  at  least  one  hundred  and  ninety- 
two  of  the  most  noted  chamcters  thus  suffered.  Of  these,  fourteen  were 
bishops,  three  of  Avhom  fled,  and  the  rest,  in  free  custody,  shorn  of  their 
office  and  emoluments,  so  died.  Only  one  of  the  entire  Bench,  an  old 
man,  was  sufl'ered  to  remain — Kitchen  of  Llandaff,  who  conformed,  and 
died  in  1566.  But  besides  these,  there  were  at  least  eighty  Rectors, 
fifty  Prebends,  fifteen  Masters  of  Colleges,  twelve  Archdeacons,  twelve 
Deans,  and  six  Abbots  and  Abbesses — all  of  whom  were  deprived,  and 
not  a  few  fled.^ 

After  all,  there  can  be  no  question,  that  many  a  man  who  had  em- 
brued  his  hands  in  blood,  or  had  been  instrumental  in  the  infliction  of 
unmerited  misery,  still  survived,  with  apparent  impunity ;  hut  this  was 
not  without  an  end.  "  Slay  thein  not,"  said  the  sacred  writer,  "  lest  my 
people  forget^'' — but  "  scatter  them  by  thy  jiower,  and  bring  them  down, 
0  Lord."     Such  petitions  at  least  had  been  literally  fulfilled.     As  a 


SI  Wood's  Athena-  and  Fasti.     Nicolas' Synopsis.     Strype's  Annals,  aniiu  l.'j.'in.     Newcoiirl! 
Kepertorium.     By  this  time  there  were  ?i\M\\\\  fourteen  Sees  vacant  I 
"  Collon  MS..  Titus.  (•   X.     Cambden.     Sirype. 


1.553-] 558. 3  SURVIVORS,  IN    DlSGKAfE.  270 

combiuatiou  of  humau  beiugs  against  all  righteousness  aud  truth,  they 
had  been  "  brought  down  ;"  the  chief  ring-leaders  had  been  sent,  in 
quick  succession  to  the  grave,  and  the  impious  conspii-acy  was  at  an 
end.  Every  man  who  loved  Divine  Truth  might  say,  ''  Thou  hast  smitten 
all  mine  enemies  on  the  cheek-buue  ;  Thou  hast  broken  the  teeth  of  the 
ungodly." 

To  some  persons,  however,  after  such  a  review,  the  greatest  mystery 
of  all,  may  seem  to  be  the  comparative  escape,  aud  long  sm-vival,  of  by 
fai'  the  most  active  agent  in  cruelty  and  blood — the  man  who  appeared 
almost  to  congratulate  himself  on  the  number  of  his  victims.  If  his  ori- 
ginal name  had  been  Savage,  it  ought  never  to  have  been  changed.  This 
was  Edmund  Bonner,  who  survived  almost  all  his  contemporaries,  and 
his  royal  mistress  nearly  eleven  years.-^  Elizabeth  on  her  accession  was 
distinguished  for  caution  in  disclosing  her  intended  course  ;  but  of  all 
his  brethren  on  the  Bench,  Bonner  was  the  onlt/  man  whom  the  Queen 
marked  out,  by  withholding  her  hand,  when  she  gave  it  to  the  rest, 
and  not  permitting  him  to  touch  it.  Familiar  with  the  Satanic  work  of 
persecution  from  the  earliest  days  of  his  appointment,  under  Hemy-  the 
Eighth,  eighteen  years  ago,  he  was  now  a  veteran  in  crime ;  and  well 
acquainted  with  the  Marshalsea  prison,  he  was  finally  sent  back  to  it 
once  more.  Had  he  expired  soon,  with  so  many  of  his  fellows,  his  ex- 
ample might  soon  have  been  forgotten  ;  but  Bishop  qv.ondam,  as  he  was 
called,  shall  live,  iu  contempt,  to  excite  most  salutary  recollections,  and 
keep  in  remembrance  the  flames  of  Smithfield.  "  A  jail,"  says  Fuller, 
"  was  conceived  the  safest  place  to  secure  liim  from  the  people's  fury." 
Had  he  thus  died,  by  the  hand  of  man,  it  must  have  been  regarded  as 
nothing  more  than  an  act  of  private  revenge  ;  but  surviving  iu  disgi-ace, 
as  the  most  significant  "  memento"  of  past  times,  it  was  as  if  Providence 
had  ''  set  a  mark  upon  him,"  that  he  might  live  as  the  standing  object 
of  universal  execration.  As  a  living  monument  of  Divine  displeasure,  he 
died  in  prison,  unchanged,  on  the  5th  of  September  1569,  and  was  bm-ied, 
under  the  cloud  of  night,  among  the  condemned,  in  Southwark  cluu'ch- 
yard.  3Iidnight  was  ordered  by  Edmund  Grindal,  as  the  safest  time,  to 
prevent  any  disturbance  by  the  citizens. 


A  far  (liftereut  subject,  or  the  history  of  the  English  Bible 
during  this  reign,  now  claims  our  attention  ;  although  it  is 
probable  that  not  a  few  may  be  disposed  to  inquire, — "  And 
what  can  possibly  be  said  at  such  a  time  as  this  C  That  •'  all 
things  went  backward,"'  is  an  expression  which  has  been  often 


23  "  Cum  tc  Renueril  Sacrifex  Saviijiut ;  Pic  unde  Boiuri,  ropo.  nornen  tibi?"  is  !be  e)>igrain 
Riven  by  Parklmrst.  The  name  of  Sav.-ipe  has  been  falhereil  uiou  liim  even  bv  Aiilhony  Wond, 
but  Stryjie  denies  it  as  a  calumny,  on  the  aulliority  of  a  Baron  Lccbraorc. 


280  THE  SCRIPTURES  UNDER    MARY.  [BOOK  III. 

employed,  it  is  true,  in  reference  to  the  days  of  Mary  the  First; 
but  it  is  one,  strictly  speaking,  far  from  being  correct.  There 
was,  to  a  certainty,  one  exception,  and  that  one  was  worth  all 
other  things  put  together ;  so  that  for  every  feeling  excited, 
or  rather  harrowed  up,  by  the  recital  of  martyrdoms,  cruelty 
and  bani.shmcnt,  there  is  yet  balm  in  reserve ;  and  as  that  is 
to  be  found  nowhere  else,  except  in  the  positive  progress 
of  Divine  Truth,  it  only  renders  the  history  of  the  Sacred 
Volume  one  of  deeper  interest. 

The  purpose  of  Heaven,  in  keeping  the  history  of  the 
country,  and  that  of  the  Divine  Word,  in  our  vernacular 
tongue,  perfectly/  distinct,  has  been  made  apparent,  we  presume, 
in  all  that  is  past :  but  the  distinction  was  now  to  be  more 
marked  than  ever.  In  other  words,  the  Government  having 
fallen  back  into  its  old  condition,  the  same  singular  course 
which  had  been  pursued  at  first,  was  now,  as  we  shall  see  pre- 
sently, to  be  repeated.  As  far  as  Divine  Revelation  in  the 
language  of  any  people  is  allowed  to  be  an  infinite  blessing, 
it  cannot  be  too  deeply  impressed  upon  every  English  reader, 
that  the  history  of  no  other  European  version  aff'ords  such 
peculiar  proofs  of  the  fixed  purpose  of  God.  Let  what  will 
take  place,  to  the  people  of  this  insular  kingdom  were  to  be 
committed  these  Living  Oracles,  and  that  independently,  nay, 
and  in  defiance,  of  all  that  could  be  done  to  the  contrary. 
Nor  is  there  any  other  kingdom  in  Europe  of  which  it  can  be 
said,  that  the  Scriptures  were  originally  prepared  for  its  inha- 
bitants, and  afterwards  so  perfected  for  their  perusal,  beyond 
the  boundaries  of  the  country  itself.  Curiosity  may  therefore 
well  be  excited  to  observe  the  progress  now,  when  this  glorious 
design  must  appear  to  have  arrived  at  what  is  familiarly 
termed,  a  dead  stop. 

It  is  true  that  all  the  authorities,  styled  civil  and  ecclesi- 
astical, were  up  in  arms  against  it ;  and  now,  banded  together 
as  the  soul  of  one  man,  they  could  officially  alter  or  destroy 
every  thing  else  of  human  appointment  or  device :  but  they 
might  as  well  have  expected  to  succeed  rooting  out  in  the  violet 
or  the  rose  from  the  soil  of  England,  as  to  do  so  in  banishing 
the  Word  of  Life  from  the  country,  or  in  snatching  it  from 
all  the  people  who  had  already  received  and  prized  it,  as  their 
only  and  all-sufficient  guide  to  a  better  world. 

No  sooner,  indeed,  had  January  lo55  arrived,  than  it  seemed 


1553-1558.]  ROGERS  AND  COVERDALE.  281 

as  if  something  of  this  kind  had  been  meditated,  by  their  hasty 
attempt  to  brand  certain  persons  with  odium.  There  were  two 
individuals  still  remaining  in  England  to  whom  the  country 
had  stood  indebted  for  the  Scriptures — John  Rogers  and  Miles 
Coverdale ;  and  these  were  among  the  earliest  victims  seized 
by  Government.  With  both  characters  the  reader  is  already 
intimately  acquainted  ;  the  first,  as  the  original  editor  of  Tyn- 
dale's  Bible,  which,  after  so  many  editions,  was  now  in  use ; 
and  the  second,  not  only  as  a  translator,  but  the  diligent  cor- 
rector at  the  press,  of  several  of  these  editions. 

When  Queen  Mary  entered  London,  and  had  reached  the 
Tower,  on  Tlmrsday,  the  Sd  of  August  1553,  it  is  well  known 
that  on  the  second  day  after,  she  released  Gardiner,  and  Bon- 
ner, and  Tunstal,  from  imprisonment,  styling  them  "  her  own 
Bishops."  The  first  of  these  she  immediately  appointed  to  be 
Lord  Chancellor.  He  had  been  distinguished  as  one  of  the 
most  eminent  enemies  of  the  vernacular  Scriptures,  and  we 
have  seen  him,  many  a  time,  vent  his  enmity.  It  will  be  recol- 
lected that,  in  the  year  1537,  when  the  Bible  edited  by  John 
Rogers  was  introduced  into  England  by  Grafton,  and  with  such 
success,  Gardiner  was  in  France  ;  and  that,  after  his  return 
in  September  ]  538,  he  did  all  in  his  power  to  thwart  the  cir- 
culation of  the  Scriptures  in  the  English  tongue.  Rogers, 
tlien  on  the  Continent,  had  remained  for  twelve  years  longer, 
ministering  to  a  German  congregation.  During  the  reign  of 
Edward,  either  attracted  by  the  state  of  the  country,  or  per- 
sonally invited,  he  had  returned  to  England  by  the  year 
1550,  and  afforded  occasion  for  one  of  those  singular  scenes, 
which  had  not  unfrequently  taken  place  under  the  roof  of  St. 
Paul's.  The  reader  cannot  have  forgotten  one  in  1536,  while 
Latimer  was  preaching  his  noted  sermon  to  "  the  children  of 
liffht  and  the  children  of  darkness."  Both  classes  were  con- 
gregated  here  still ;  but  perhaps  no  discordancy  had  ever  ex- 
ceeded the  following.  At  the  risk  of  a  little  repetition  we 
present  the  picture  entire.  In  September  ]  549,  Bonner  had 
been  deprived  of  his  office  as  Bishop  of  London,  and  who  should 
be  officiating  in  his  room  for  the  following  half  year,  but 
Gabriel  Dunne,  as  residentiary  prebend  1 — the  man  who,  with 
Phillips,  had  ensnared  Tyndale  at  Antwerp,  and  at  Brussels 
did  his  best  to  secure  his  death  !  Dunne's  official  services, 
as  bishop  ;:>ro  tempore,  bad  ended  by  the  appointment  of  Nicholas 


282  TllK  CRUEL  TREATiMfclNT  [nuuK  in. 

Ridley  to  the  See  of  London  in  April  1550.  and  it  is  the  very 
next  month  that  we  have  certain  evidence  of  Rogers  being  in 
London.  He  may  have  come  earlier,  but  we  are  told  that 
"  when  he  returned  to  England  ho  was  admitted  Rector  of  St. 
Margaret  Moyses,  and  after  tliat,  Vicar  of  St.  Sepulchres, 
Loudon,  on  the  10th  of  May  1550."  The  Rectory,  however, 
he  resigned  next  year,  on  the  10th  of  September,  having  been 
appointed  by  Ridley,  one  of  the  Prebendaries  of  St.  Paul,  on 
the  24th  of  August  preceding.  Here  then,  we  have  Dunne^  as 
prebend,  sitting  in  the  twelfth  stall  on  the  right  side  of  the 
choir,  and  liof/ers,  as  Pancrass  prebend,  in  the  sixth  on  the 
left ;  but  this  is  rendered  still  more  remarkable  from  its  being 
the  very  stall  which  had  been  occupied  by  Mobert  Ridley^  the 
uncle  of  Nicholas,  once  so  furious  in  opposition  to  Tyndale  and 
his  translation  !  '■• 

Any  person  can  now  clearly  perceive,  with  what  good  will 
both  Gardiner  and  Bonner  must  have  welcomed  the  day  when 
they  should  be  able  to  triumph  over  both  the  Bishop  and  his 
Prebend,  Ridley  and  Rogers,  and  wreck  their  vengeance  on 
them  both,  Ridley,  it  must  be  confessed,  by  the  warmth  of 
his  zeal  in  favour  of  Lady  Jane  Gray,  had  hastened  himself 
into  the  Tower  before  his  fellows  ;  having  been  sent  there  by 
Mary,  even  before  her  arrival  in  the  capital.  It  was  the  first 
specimen  of  her  power,  and  significant  of  all  that  followed. 

But  John  Rogers  had  done  nothing  to  call  for  any  inter- 
ference. He  had  occasion,  it  is  true,  to  preach,  in  his  turn, 
at  Paul's  Cross,  and  then  he  warned  the  people  against  ido- 
latry and  superstition.  This  was  after  the  Queen's  arrival  in 
London.  He  was  immediately  charged  with  preaching  erro- 
neously, but  he  so  defended  himself  before  the  Council,  that  he 
was  freely  dismissed.  At  this  moment,  had  he  felt  disposed, 
he  might  have  escaped  abroad,  and  he  had  strong  inducements 
so  to  do.  He  had  a  wife  and  teii  children,  and  in  Germany 
he  must  have  been  secure  of  a  living ;  but  he  would  not  de- 
part. By  the  ISth  of  August  1553,  a  proclamation  was  is- 
sued, forbidding  all  preaching ;   after  which,  Rogers  was  or- 


^■i  Sec  his  memorable  letter,  and  some  farther  account  of  this  man,  under  1.V27.  vol.  i.  H 
may  be  added,  that  in  a  corresjionding  stall  to  that  of  Holers,  on  the  right  side  of  the  choir'  sat 
John  Uiiijisllild,  the  noted  persecntor,  who  stepped  into  Dunne's  seat,  at  his  death,  in  lA.'ty ; 
while  .fdliii  Drad/iird,  the  martyr,  occupied  the  tenth  stall  on  the  same  side.  A  house  divided 
.ti;ainst  itself  cannot  stand  ;  bnt  what  a  monstrous  mi.vlure  of  character  was  here?  And  hence 
the  lanKuaRC  of  Nicholas  Hidley  in  his/(OV(Ci7/  to  St.  Panl's.     See  vol.  i.,  p.  .Wfi. 


l.'>.")3-la.58.3  OF  THE   I'ROTO-MARTYR.  283 

dered  to  remain,  as  a  prisoner,  in  his  own  house,  and  commu- 
nicate with  no  one,  save  his  own  family.  He  happened  to 
live  not  far  from  Bonner  himself,  who,  with  the  sanction  of 
Gardiner,  as  Chancellor,  at  last  got  him  sent  to  Newgate,  the 
worst  of  all  the  prisons  ;  where,  among  thieves  and  mui'derers, 
he  remained  throughout  the  whole  of  1554,  and  there  he  is 
said  to  have  been  of  use  to  the  prisoners.  "  My  Lord,"  said 
Rogers  to  the  Chancellor,  "  ye  liave  dealt  with  me  most 
cruelly ;  for  ye  have  put  me  in  prison  without  laxc^  and  kept 
me  there  now  almost  a  year  and  a  half.  For  I  was  almost 
half  a  year  in  my  house,  where  I  was  obedient  to  you,  God 
knoweth,  and  spake  with  no  man.  And  now  have  I  been  a 
full  year  in  Newgate,  at  great  cost  and  charges,  having  a  wife 
and  ten  children  to  find ;  and  I  had  never  a  penny  of  my 
livings,  which  was  against  the  law."  They  had,  in  short,  left 
him  to  pine  or  perish  in  prison,  and  there  having  been  no  spe- 
cific charge,  the  whole  course  was  illegal. 

At  last,  however,  Rogers  was  called  up  for  examination. 
The  year  1555  was  to  be  distinguished  for  persecution,  and 
on  the  1st  of  January  they  had  commenced  in  good  earnest, 
by  the  apprehension  of  thirty  individuals.  On  the  22d,  both 
Rogers  and  Hooper  were  before  Gardiner,  and  other  members 
of  Council,  as  the  Queen's  Commissioners.  The  parties  pre- 
sent were  perfectly  characteristic.  Besides  Gardiner,  there 
was  Tunstal,  Heath,  and  Thirlby,  Sir  Richard  Southwell, 
Sir  John  Bourne  Secretary  of  State,  and  others,  evidently 
eager  to  sit  in  judgment  on  such  a  man  as  this  ;  and  as  if  it 
had  been  to  point  out  to  posterity  the  precise  animus  or  spirit 
of  the  persecutors,  as  well  as  give  still  greater  prominence 
to  the  history  of  the  Sacred  Volume,  Rogers  must  die  first  of 
all.  He  must  now  lead  the  van  in  the  army  of  martyrs,  and 
obtain  ever  after  the  honourable  appellation  of  Proto- Martyr 
in  Queen  Mary"'s  reign. 

Towards  this  good  man,  it  is  evident,  that  Lord  Chancellor 
Gardiner  had  behaved  with  peculiar  harshness  and  cruelty. 
He  had,  in  fact,  owed  him  a  grudge  for  eighteen  years,  and 
now  illegally  had  imprisoned  him,  for  nearly  eighteen  months, 
tliough  the  martyr  had  frequently  implored  his  release.  Ro- 
gers had  married  when  abroad,  and  presuming  that  a  female, 
and  a  foreigner,  and  she  not  far  from  the  time  of  her  confine- 
ment, might  have  some  influence,  he  had  sent  her  to  Gardiner, 


•2Sl  THK  CUUKL  TREATMKNT  [book  III. 

with  certain  feiualu  companions,  so  long  ago  as  Christmas 
15r)3,  and  as  hr  as  Kichinond,  "  humbly  craving  that  ho 
might  be  set  at  liberty,"  there  being  nothing  laid  to  his  charge. 
The  only  answer  to  this  was  his  being  committed  by  Bonner 
to  Newgate  !  From  Newgate,  Mr.  Rogers  had  not  only  sent 
two  petitions  to  the  Chancellor,  but  his  wife  many  times,  with- 
out any  effect.  A  Mr.  Gosnold,  and  other  benevolent  gentle- 
men, had  also  petitioned  on  his  behalf,  but  all  was  in  vain  ; 
and  now  that  the  prisoner  is  brought  up  for  examination,  it 
seemed  as  if,  in  the  first  instance,  it  had  been  only  to  gratify 
Gardiner''s  spleen  and  passion. 

He  was  called  up  once  more,  before  a  far  more  formidable 
array  of  persecutors,  on  the  28th,  and  finally  the  next  day,  at 
nine  o^clock,  when  Gardiner  read  his  sentence  condemnatory, 
giving  him  over  to  the  tender  mercies  of  Bonner  and  the 
Sheritt".  Not  one  word  had  been  said  respecting  his  publica- 
tion of  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  but  the  Chancellor,  in  condemn- 
ing him,  had  thought  this  ftir  too  fine  an  opportunity  not  to 
east  a  slur  upon  the  Bible,  and  thus  hold  up  Rogers  to  the 
terror  of  all  its  readers,  at  the  very  commencement  of  this  fiery 
day.  In  his  sentence,  when  naming  Rogers,  three  times,  he 
took  special  care  not  to  omit,  "  otherwise  called  Mattheicy 
We  have  no  proof  that  this  was  the  intention,  but  it  served 
such  a  purpose  for  the  moment.  Gardiner  having  finished, 
gratuitously  told  him  that  he  was  now  "  in  the  great  curse," 
and  that  no  man  was  to  speak  to  him.  Rogers,  who  through- 
out had  spoken  with  great  boldness  as  well  as  ability,  and,  as 
we  shall  see  presently,  to  Gardiner''s  utter  confusion,  if  not 
dismay,  then  replied — 

"  Well,  my  Lord,  here  I  stand  before  God  and  you,  and  all  this  honourable 
audience,  and  take  Ilim  to  witness,  that  I  never  wittingly  nor  willingly  taught 
any  false  doctrine  ;  and  therefore  have  I  a  good  conscience  before  God  and  all 
good  men.  I  am  sure  that  you  and  I  shall  come  before  a  Judge  that  is  righte- 
ous, before  whom  I  shall  be  as  good  a  man  as  you  ;  and  I  nothing  doubt  but 
that  T  shall  be  found  there  a  true  member  of  the  true  Catholic  Church  of  Christ, 
and  cverla-stingly  saved.  And  as  for  your  false  Church,  ye  need  not  to  excom- 
municate me  forth  of  it.  I  have  not  been  iu  it  these  Urcnly  years — the  Lord  be 
thanked  therefore  !  But  now  yc  have  done  what  ye  can,  my  Lord,  I  pray  you 
yet  grant  me  one  thing  ?" 

What  is  that  ?  said  Gardiner.  ''  That  my  poor  wife, 
being  a  stranger  (a  foreigner)  may  come  and  speak  with  me. 
so  Ions  «^s  I  live — for  she  hath  ten  children,  that  are  her's 


15.)8-1558.]  OF  THE   PROTO-MARTYR.  285 

and  mine,  and  somewhat  I  would  counsel  her,  what  were  best 
for  her  to  do.''"'  Will  it  bo  believed,  that,  at  once  discovering 
a  mind  of  the  vilest  character,  the  solitary  request,  and  so 
touchingly  put,  was  with  disgusting  barbarity  denied  !  And 
Rogers,  though  he  had  told  the  Chancellor  that  he  had  been 
married  eighteen  years,  saw  the  man  no  more.  The  amount 
of  such  wickedness,  it  is  not  for  us  to  describe. 

Hooper,  Bishop  of  Gloucester,  his  honourable  companion, 
had  been  also  condemned  the  same  day,  and  both  were  to  be 
conveyed  to  Newgate.  There  was  now,  however,  some  cowardly 
fear  of  the  people.  The  sentence  had  not  only  been  pronounced 
with  closed  doors,  but  they  waited  till  tii^kt,  before  their  vic- 
tims were  sent  off.  Even  then,  they  conducted  them  from 
the  Clink  Prison  to  Winchester''s  house,  close  by,  and  passing- 
through  it,  along  London  bridge,  officers  had  been  sent  before 
them,  ordering  the  costermongers,  who  sat  at  stalls  in  the 
street,  to  put  out  their  lights  !  Why  all  this  caution,  if  there 
was  no  apprehension  of  a  rescue  ?  Their  coming,  however, 
had  been  anticipated,  and  pious  householders  appeared  on 
both  sides  of  the  streets,  with  candles.  On  their  part,  as  the 
prisoners  passed  along,  there  was  nothing  but  salutations  of 
affectionate  sympathy,  thanksgiving  for  their  constancy,  and 
earnest  prayers  for  its  continuance. 

This  was  on  Tuesday  the  29th,  and  Eogers  had  only  to 
live  till  Monday  following.  Early  that  morning,  the  4th  of 
February,  not  aware  of  what  awaited  him,  like  Peter  of  old, 
he  was  sound  asleep.  The  jailor's  wife  went  and  had  some 
difficulty  in  awaking  him.  She  then  warned  him  to  make 
haste,  and  prepare  himself  for  the  fire  !  "  If  it  be  so,"  said 
the  good  man,  "  I  need  not  tie  my  points."  Bonner  was 
already  in  waiting.  Both  Hooper  and  he  were  then,  what 
they  chose  to  call  degraded,  by  being  bereaved  of  their  eccle- 
siastical trappings ;  a  process,  which  necessarily  occupied 
some  time,  as  they  had  first  to  be  arrayed,  and  then  the  seve- 
ral parts  were  torn  from  them  piecemeal.  Hooper  was  to  be 
sent  off  next  day  to  Gloucester ;  but  the  stake  was  already 
prepared  for  Eogers.  Then  once  more,  to  Bonner  he  tendered 
the  same  solitary  request,  he  had  done  to  Gardiner  ;  but  it 
was  now  reduced  to  this — "  that  before  going  to  the  stake,  he 
might  be  permitted  to  speak  a  few  words  to  his  wife."  But 
this,  like  his   fellow,  the  inhuman   monster  denied  !      Foxe 


28(5  MAKTYKDOM    (IK    l<()(;KKS.  [hook  lit. 

supposes  that  it  was  cliiclly  to  inform  licr  of"  lii.s  examinations 
ami  answers,  in  his  own  handwriting,  which  he  liad  left  be- 
hind him,  concealed  in  the  prison.  IJut  if  it  was,  the  Bishop's 
denial  went  for  nothing,  as  they  were  afterwards  found. 

Upon  being  delivered  up  to  the  Sheriff,  Woodroff,  before 
they  left  the  prison,  urged  Rogers  to  revoke  his  opinions. 
"  That,"  replied  the  martyr,  "  which  I  have  preached,  I  will 
seal  with  my  blood."" — "  Then,"  said  Woodroff,  "  thou  art  an 
heretic." — "  That,"  replied  Rogers,  "  will  be  seen  at  the  day 
of  judgment." — "  Well  then,"  said  the  Sheriff,  "  I  will  never 
pray  for  thee." — "  J3ut,"  said  Rogers,  mildly,  "  I  will  pray 
for  thee^''     Thus  they  proceeded  to  the  stake. 

Upon  entering  the  street,  they  found  an  immense  crowd 
awaiting  them.  In  walking  towards  Smithfield,  Rogers  was 
repeating  a  portion  of  that  blessed  book  he  had  given  to  his 
country — the  51st  Psalm.  The  people  were  giving  thanks 
for  his  constancy ;  but  there  among  the  crowd,  there  met  him 
the  wife,  whom  neither  Gardiner  nor  Bonner  would  permit 
him  to  see.  His  wife,  the  foreigner,  with  all  her  children — 
one  of  these,  a  youth  named  Daniel,  if  the  eldest,  now  nearly 
seventeen  years  of  age  ;  the  youngest,  or  the  eleventh  child,  an 
unconscious  babe,  now  hanging  at  the  mother''s  breast  !  In 
the  midst  of  this  overwhelming  scene,  the  husband  and  father 
stood  firm,  and  having  got  through  it,  the  bitterness  of  death 
was  past  ! 

At  the  stake  they  brought  him  a  pardon,  upon  condition 
that  he  would  recant.  This,  of  course,  he  pointedly  refused 
to  do,  and  at  last,  washing  his  hands,  as  it  were,  in  the  flames, 
he  cried  with  his  final  breath,  "  Lord,  receive  my  spirit." 

We  have  referred  to  his  examinations  and  answers,  as  they 
were  afterwards  printed  in  full,  from  the  copies  left  behind ; 
and  by  John  Foxe,  who  knew  the  martyr  well.  It  so  hap- 
pened that  Mrs.  Rogers,  with  her  son  Daniel,  had  gained 
access  to  the  prison,  and  after  looking  in  vain  for  these  manu- 
scripts, they  were  about  to  depart,  wdien  the  youth,  looking 
round  once  more,  spied  his  father's  papers,  deposited  in  a  cor- 
ner under  the  stair. 

John  Rogers  appears  to  have  been  the  son  of  a  father  of 
the  same  name,  and  born,  not  in  Lancashire,  as  it  has  some- 
times been  stated,  but  in  Warwickshire,  at  Deritend,  in  the 
ininiodiato  vicinitv  of  Birmingham.     Rogers  had  been  mar- 


15.>3-i:)58.]  ESCAPE   OF  COVERDALE.  287 

vied  in  1537,  or  the  same  year  in  which  he  had  completed  the 
Bible,  to  Adriana  Pratt,  alias  de  Weyden.  She  now  returned 
with  her  children  to  Germany,  and  the  lad  who  had  found  his 
father's  papers  was  afterwards  better  known,  as  an  Ambassador 
from  Queen  Elizabeth  to  different  countries.^-' 

With  regard  to  Miles  Coyerdale,  without  farther  expla- 
nation it  must  appear  almost  incredible  that,  only  fourteen 
days  after  the  death  of  Rogers,  or  on  the  18th  of  February, 
Queen  Mary  was  writing  a  letter,  of  which  he  was  to  be  the 
bearer,  to  the  Kino-  of  Denmark.  He  also  had  been  in  trouble, 
as  well  as  Rogers,  since  1553,  though  not  confined  to  prison. 
This  letter  was  written  only  on  Monday  week  after  the  scene 
at  Smithfield,  and  the  same  day  on  which  a  splendid  embassy 
was  leaving  London  for  Rome ;  and  yet  the  very  next  day 
Coverdale  had  his  passport,  "  for  himself  and  two  servants," 
by  which  was  most  probably  meant  his  wife  and  one  servant ; 
and  so  he  left  England  for  Denmark.  Thus,  if  the  one  man 
connected  with  the  Scriptures  nmst  lead  the  van  of  martyrdom, 
the  other  can  easily  be  extricated  from  the  grasp  of  Govern- 
ment by  the  overruling  providence  of  God. 

The  deliverance  has  been  ascribed  solely  to  the  repeated  and 
very  earnest  interposition  of  his  Danish  Majesty  ;  and  but  for 
this,  humanly  speaking,  he  might  not  have  survived  :  but  there 
was  a  very  curious  concurrence  of  circumstances  in  favour  of 
Ooverdale's  deliverance  at  thu  moment,  for  King  Christian's 


2'  Daniel  Rogers  studied  at  Wittenberg,  under  Melancthon,  as  mentioned  in  one  of  his  let- 
ters, and  understood  the  German,  Dutch,  and  Latin  languages,  as  well  as  English.  He  then 
came  to  England,  and  at  Oxford  had  taken  his  degrees  in  July  and  August  1501.  In  the  years 
l.W8and69,  he  lived  with  Lord  Henry  Norris,  as  his  secretary.  Having  married  Susan,  the 
youngest  daughter  of  Nicasius  Yetsweirt,  French  Secretary  to  Queen  Elizabeth  ;  and  once  intro- 
duced to  public  notice,  he  not  only  became  Clerk  of  the  Council,  but  was  afterwards  enii)loy(il 
as  ambassador  to  Belgium  in  1575,  to  Germany  in  1577,  and  to  Denmark  in  1.50!!.  Thus  he  be- 
came the  frequent  correspondent  of  Cecil  Lord  Burleigh,  as  he  was  the  valued  friend  of  Camdtii 
the  historian.  He  died  in  February  1.592,  and  was  interred  close  by  his  father-in-law,  in  the  )ia 
rish  church  of  Sunbury,  Middlesex.  See  Strype's  Annals,  anno  15«4.  Wood's  Athena?  by  Bliss, 
i.,  57(1.  Tanner's  Bibl.  Brit.,  p.  (OT.  Wood,  it  is  true,  has  sent  Rogers,  the  fatherof  Daniel,  abroad. 
and  noticed  the  martyr  .as  though  he  were  a  dift'erent  person  ;  and  Chalmers  in  his  Biog.  Diet, 
follows  the  Oxford  annalist.  But  from  Foxe  we  know  the  martyr's  son  was  named  Dairiil,  and 
from  the  son  himself,  the  ambassador,  that  he  added  Alhi-movtanus  to  his  name,  as  descriptive 
of  his  birth  in  Germany.  Now,  though  we  are  indebted  to  Wood  for  the  name  of  the  martyr's 
father  and  his  wife,  nothing  can  be  more  improbable  than  that  there  should  be  two  men  ot 
the  same  name,  hoth  of  whom  went  abroad,  and  both  returned,  both  in  trouble  at  the  beginning 
of  Queen  Mary's  reign,  bulk  married  to  foreigners,  and  both  having  a  son  named  Daniel,  about 
the  same  age  !  Strype,  who  had  the  manuscripts  of  the  ambassador  in  his  possession  and  ex- 
amined them,  positively  afhnns  him  to  have  been  the  son  of  the  martyr.  This  too  he  does  in  his 
Annals,  under  15.58,  or  Ini  years  after  he  had  published  his  life  of  Whitgift,  in  which  he  had 
only  conjectured  the  fact.  But  besides  Daniel,  there  is  some  ground  for  believing  that  an  old 
and  eminent  minister,  Richani  Batier.i  of  Wethevsfield  in  Essex,  was  another  son.  At  least, 
William  .Tenkin,  father  of  the  expositor  on  .hide,  was  brought  up  under  liix  eye,  and  it  is  well 
known,  m.irricd  the  iinimliiaufiliter  of  Rogers  the  martyr. 


288  SINGULAR  CIRCUMSTANCES  CONNECTED        [UOOK  ill. 

second  letter  to  Mary  on  his  bilialt"  was  nearly  five  months 
old.  Why,  then,  should  Coverdale,  a  married  JJishop,  and  an 
old  offender  in  their  opinion,  be  suftered  to  escape,  and  that 
ininicdiatelv  after  the  lire  had  been  kindled  for  llofrers  \  It 
will  certainly  prove  to  have  been  a  memorable  fact  if  the  exa- 
mination and  martyrdom  of  the  one  man  should  have  contri- 
buted to  the  escape  of  the  other^  and  more  especially  as  llogers 
could  have  had  nothini;  of  the  kind  in  view. 

The  circumstances,  therefore,  now  referred  to  are  the  more 
worthy  of  notice,  as  they  not  only  stand  in  immediate  con- 
nexion with  the  examination  of  the  Proto- Martyr,  but  disco- 
ver not  a  little  of  the  true  character  of  these  unprincipled  men 
in  power.  Taken  all  in  all,  they  form  the  richest  scene  in  the 
reign  of  Mary,  though  scarcely,  if  it  all,  before  observed. 

The  martyrdom  of  John  Rogers,  in  February  1555,  con- 
nects itself  with  that  of  the  heroic  female,  Anne  Askew,  in 
March  1546.  There  had  been  no  fires  in  Smithfield  since  the 
memorable  night  on  which  she  sufl'ered,  almost  nine  years  ago. 
Considering  tlie  progress  which  had  been  made  during  the 
reign  of  Edward,  through  the  medium  of  the  Scriptures,  the 
death  of  Rogers  must  have  been  regarded  by  many  in  London 
with  unmingled  horror ;  but,  beside  this,  a  large  and  promis- 
cuous assembly  had  been  present  at  his  notable  examination 
on  the  28th  of  January,  when  he  caught  Gai'diner  and  his 
bishops  in  a  snare,  and  the  people  marked  it.  The  language 
of  Gardiner  could  not  fail  to  have  been  in  the  mouth  of  thou- 
sands ever  since,  and  the  excitement  in  a  few  days  was  such  as 
to  frighten  for  a  moment  all  these  men  of  blood,  from  King 
Philip  downwards.  The  present  juncture,  embracing  a  space 
of  less  than  three  weeks,  will  explain  this. 

It  was  on  Tuesday  the  22d  of  January  that  Rogers  was  first 
examined.  This  was  before  Gardiner,  as  Lord  Chancellor, 
and  other  members  of  the  Council,  such  as  Lords  Howard  and 
Paget,  Sir  Richard  Southwell  and  Sir  John  Bourne,  as  Com- 
missioners from  the  Queen.^  But  on  Monday  the  28th,  to 
Wednesday  the  30th,  Gardiner  and  many  more  sat  by  com- 
mission from  Cardinal  Pole  ;  and  yet  only  the  next  week, 
when  six  other  men  were  examined  and  condemned,  they  were 


28  Next  day  all  the  Bishops  were  down  to  Westminster,  to  receive  the  blessing  and  advick 
of  Cardinal  Pole.    Must  not  the  advicb  be  inferred,  from  what  followed  ? 


1,3.53-1558.]  WITH  COVERDALES  ESCAPE.  2Sy 

not  brought  before  the  same  tribunal,  but  merely  before  Bonner 
and  his  Consistory,  with  the  Lord  Mayor  and  Aldermen  of 
London.  Here  were  three  distinct  forms  of  proceeding,  within 
the  short  compass  of  eighteen  days.  Then,  to  crown  all,  the 
very  next  day,  or  Sunday  the  lOth  of  February,  we  have  a  ser- 
mon preaching  before  King  Philip,  and  by  a  Spaniard  ;  but 
upon  what  subject  I  The  sin  of  persecution  for  conscience  sake  ! 
Now,  why  this  erratic  course  on  the  part  of  the  persecutors  ? 
Why  could  they  not  go  straight  forward  ?  And  if  this  sermon 
was  a  base  artifice,  of  which  there  is  now  no  doubt,  why  was 
it  resorted  to  at  the  present  moment  ?  The  true  character  of 
all  the  parties  in  power  is  here  involved. 

Stephen  Gardiner,  who  plumed  himself  on  his  sagacity  or 
cunning,  had,  no  doubt,  imagined  that  if  he  once  proceeded 
against  certain  leading  men  ;  or,  in  the  cant  phrase  of  the  day, 
if  the  head  deer  were  only  brought  to  the  ground,  the  common 
people  would  shrink  with  terror,  and  succumb  to  their  autho- 
rity. It  was  full  of  this  idea  that  he  commenced,  in  a  high 
tone,  with  John  Rogers  on  the  22d  of  January  ;  but  the  very 
man  with  whom  he  thus  began,  proved  to  be  more  than  a  match 
for  his  proud  and  imperious  temper.  On  the  28th,  as  soon  as 
Rogers  entered,  nothing  daunted,  we  know  from  himself  that 
he  remarked  the  change  on  the  Court.  Gardiner  was  there, 
of  course,  as  Chancellor  and  Bishop,  and  chief  persecutor  ; 
but  "  there  were,"  says  Rogers,  "  a  great  sort  of  netc  men,  his 
fellow  bishops,  of  whom  I  knew  few" — after  eighteen  months'' 
confinement.  There  were,  in  fact,  not  fewer  than  thirteen  in 
all,  six  on  each  side  of  the  Chancellor,  besides  three  notaries, 
three  noblemen,  eleven  knights,  and  a  very  great  multitude.^ 

Gardiner  perhaps  never  forgot  himself  so  far  as  he  did  this 
day ;  but  he  could  not  stand  the  replies  or  remarks  of  his  pri- 
soner, and  found  it  not  so  easy  to  examine  these  men  as  he  had 
anticipated.  In  his  wrath  he  actually  called  King  Edward  an 
tisurper,  and  then  tried  clumsily  to  recall  the  term ;  but  another 
expression,  in  reference  to  the  reigning  Queen,  turned  out  to  be 
vastly  more  awkward  for  him  and  all  his  order.  Rogers  had 
intimated  his  persuasion  that  "  her  Majesty  would  have  done 


27  Gardiner  being  in  the  centre,  on  his  right  side  sat  Bonner  of  London,  Ilcntfi  of  Worcester, 
Tldrlbi)  of  Ely,  Bourn  of  Bath  and  Wells,  Brookes  of  Gloucester,  and  Ifoli/iixin  of  Bristol ;  on 
his  left  sat  Tunsial  of  Durliani,  Aldrichui  Carlisle,  A/ 'u/ion  of  Lincoln,  iUo/yun  of  St.  David's, 
Jiopton  of  Norwich,  and  an/ne  of  Lichfield  and  Coventry.    See  here  the  result  of  Pole's  a  DV  U.K. 

VOL.   11.  T 


-•'<•  niK   I'EUSKCUTOK.S  THRUWiN  [BOOK    111. 

Well  tHou(fh  but  for  liis  (Gardiner's)  counsel."  When,  in  his 
haste,  in  reference  to  the  persecution  now  commenced,  he 
replied — '•  The  Queen  icent  before  me,  and  it  was  fieu  own  mo- 
tion .'"  Thus  affording  another  instance  of  persecutors  wish- 
ing to  shift  the  blame  from  themselves  ;  though  certainly,  at 
such  a  time  as  this,  the  assertion  was  very  hazardous,  whether 
it  was  true  or  false.  But  Rogers  replied — "•  Without  fail,  I 
neither  can,  nor  will  I  ever,  believe  it  !"  Aldrich  of  Carlisle, 
in  name  of  himself  and  all  his  brethren,  immediately  said — 
"  They  would  bear  Gardiner  witness."  "  Yea,''''  said  Rogers, 
"  that  I  believe  tcell.''''  On  which  the  laugh  went  round  among 
the  crowd  assembled.  Upon  this,  even  Sir  Richard  South- 
well, the  Master-Comptroller  of  the  Royal  Household,  and 
Sir  John  Bourne,  Principal  Secretary  of  State,  stood  up  to 
confirm  the  Chancellor's  assertion.  Never  had  men  more  fully 
committed  themselves.  Rogers  then  said — "  It  was  no  great 
matter ;  but  I  think  that  they,"  the  Bishops,  "  were  good 
helpers  thereunto  themselves^  Such  a  dialogue  was  easily  car- 
ried away,  and  every  word  nmst  have  told  upon  the  people 
throughout  the  metropolis  ;  but  the  assertion  first  made,  in 
open  court,  and  before  such  a  crowd,  for  "  the  thousandth  man 
could  not  get  in,"  was  felt,  in  the  cool  of  the  day,  to  have  been 
no  light  matter.  If  it  was  true,  they  had  betrayed  a  state 
secret !  Accordingly,  next  morning,  when  Rogers  and  Hooper 
were  brought  up  for  condemnation,  it  was  found  convenient  to 
do  so,  as  already  hinted,  with  closed  doors. 

Gardiner,  however,  both  this  day  and  the  next,  was  equally 
nettled  in  the  examinations  of  Tailour,  Bradford,  and  Saun- 
ders. From  Rogers,  to  the  last  man  examined,  he  had  had 
his  own  book, — "  De  vera  obedientia,"  or  "  true  obedience," 
quoted  against  himself,  and  his  present  conduct.  To  this 
book,  Bonner  had  affixed  a  preface,  or  high  eulogium  ;  and 
both  having  been  translated  into  English,  and  printed  abroad, 
many  had  it  in  tlieir  hands,  many  more  in  their  mouths,  and 
it  was  now  quoted,  or  referred  to,  before  both  the  authors,  by 
men  who  had  been  long  familiar  with  the  original  publication 
in  Latin.  Tunstal  also  was  forcibly  reminded  of  his  famous 
sermon  before  Henry  VIII.,  printed  by  Berthelet  in  1539, 
or  sixteen  years  ago.  It,  therefore,  could  not  fail  to  be  no 
small  mortification,  after  his  furious  attack  on  the  head  deer, 
when  my  Lord  Chancellor  found  that  here  were  six  more  men 
waiting  to  be  examined;  one  of  them,  indeed,  a  gentleman. 


1.5.53- 1. '5.58.]  INTO  SINUULAU  CONKUSION.  2!»  I 

Mr.  Hawkes,  but  the  other  live  precisely  of  that  humbler 
class  on  whose  boldness  and  principle  poor  Gardiner  had  not 
calculated.  Hence,  when  these  individuals  came  to  be  ex- 
amined and  condemned,  neither  the  Chancellor  nor  eleven  of 
his  Bishops  were  there  !  The  whole  process  was  despatched, 
and  that  speedily,  by  Bonner  alone,  as  Ordinary,  who  had 
called  the  Lord  Mayor,  Sir  John  Lyon,  and  certain  alder- 
men, to  sit  with  him  and  his  underlings. 

Bonner  had  examined  the  whole  number  on  Friday,  and 
condemned  them  all  to  the  flames  on  Saturday  the  9th  of 
February,  or  the  fifth  day  after  the  Proto-Martyr  had  been 
consumed  to  ashes ;  and  what,  then,  could  the  reader  expect 
to  follow  only  next  day  I  If  it  was  a  sermon — which,  in 
these  times,  was  a  great  rarity,  and  therefore  the  more  to  be 
observed — must  it  not  have  been  a  sermon  in  praise  of  the 
Bishops,  for  their  burning  zeal  on  behalf  of  "  the  old  learn- 
ing V  It  was  quite  the  remrse.  The  blundering  assertion  of 
Gardiner  to  Rogers,  only  thirteen  days  since,  confirmed  as  it 
had  been  by  all  the  Bishops  present,  and  even  two  official 
laymen,  had  neither  been  forgotten  nor  unfelt.  It  had  cer- 
tainly placed  her  Majesty  before  the  country  in  one  of  the 
most  critical  of  all  positions,  as  the  sole  and  imperative  per- 
secutor ;  and  there  can  be  no  doubt,  from  what  followed,  had 
made  her  tremble,  not  only  for  herself,  but  the  husband  on 
whom,  at  this  moment,  she  doated.  The  truth  is,  that  public 
feeling  still  ran  very  high  against  the  Queen*'s  marriage.  She 
had  allied  herself  to  a  Spanish  prince,  and  the  people  had  been 
foretold  that,  to  a  certainty,  he  would  introduce  the  Court  of 
Inquisition  into  England.  Nothing,  therefore,  could  have  been 
more  dangerous  to  the  Queen  than  the  positive  affirmation  of 
Gardiner,  before  a  large  and  promiscuous  audience.  So,  at 
least,  it  had  been  felt,  but  more  especially  by  King  Philip ;  and 
what  was  the  miserable  artifice  to  which  he  resorted  l  He 
had  brought  with  him  into  England,  as  his  confessor,  Francis 
Alphonso  di  Castro,  a  Spanish  divine,  himself  an  author 
against  heretics ;  and  this  was  the  man  appointed  by  the  King- 
to  preach  before  the  Court,  on  the  10th  of  February,  and 
against  religiovs  persecution.^^ 


28  The  first  edition  of  his  treatise  "  Dc  H.-ercsibus,"  had  been  printed  at  Paris  in  I'M,  and  an 
enlarged  edition  the  year  after  this,  or  1.55«.  He  died  at  Brussels,  in  February  l.V.(l,  soon  after 
having  been  appointed  Archbishop  of  Compostclhi. 


2!C2  TIIK   TAMC  CUN  I'KIBL'TKS  [uOOK   III. 

We  ruj^ri't  nut  bt-ini^  ublc  to  Ihid  out  his  text ;  but  iu  the 
course  of  liis  sermon  he  enlarged  on  the  sin  of  taking  away 
the  lives  of  any  for  their  religion — reprobated  the  practice  of 
burning  men  on  account  of  their  opinions — and  affirmed  that 
the  Bishops  would  search  the  Scriptures  in  vain  for  any  autho- 
rity to  spill  the  blood  of  their  flocks.  The  Scriptures,  he  in- 
sisted, taught  Bishops,  in  the  spirit  of  meekness,  to  instruct 
those  who  opposed  them,  and  not  to  bur7i  them  for  their  con- 
scientious opinions  ! 

]Jut  the  Lord  Chancellor  of  England,  at  the  moment,  was 
a  Jiishop,  and  President  of  the  Court  for  burning ;  Tunstal, 
who,  in  former  days,  led  the  van  of  persecution,  had  sat  on 
his  left  hand,  and  Bonner  on  his  right,  who,  only  the  day 
before,  at  one  sweep,  had  appointed  not  fewer  than  six  men 
to  the  flames.  By  the  authority  of  these  men,  and  ten  others 
of  the  same  order,  on  Monday  before,  Rogers  had  been  con- 
sumed to  ashes ;  on  Friday,  at  Coventry,  Saunders  liad 
followed ;  and  only  twenty-four  hours  before  the  sermon. 
Hooper  was  in  the  flames  at  Gloucester,  and  Dr.  Tailour  at 
Hadley  ! 

As  an  exhibition,  therefore,  next  day,  nothing  could  have 
exceeded  this.  A  Spanish  priest  upon  English  ground,  preach- 
ing before  the  Court,  and  against  the  Bishops  of  England, 
especially  those  in  power  !  Arraigning,  nay  denouncing  them 
in  public,  for  having  embrued  their  hands  in  blood  !  While 
there  sat  Philip  to  sanction  the  sermon,  not  without  some 
fear  for  his  personal  safety  or  favour;  and,  like  Pilate  of  old, 
he  seemed  "  to  take  water  and  wash  his  hands  before  the 
multitude,'"  saying,  "  I  am  innocent  of  the  blood  of  these 
just  men."  The  occurrence  was  a  remarkable  one;  and  the 
more  so,  since  it  is  evident,  that  nothing  less  than  apprehen- 
sion of  some  sort  in  the  breast  of  the  Monarch,  could  have  been 
the  impelling  motive.  "  It  was  believed,"  says  Collier,  "  that 
the  Queen  was  overruled  since  her  marriage,  and  that  these 
fires  had  been  kindled  by  Philip  :  liowever,  the  King,  it  seems, 
had  no  mind  to  lie  under  this  imputation." 

Where  Gardiner  and  Tunstal  were,  or  how  engaged,  at  the 
moment  when  the  Spaniard  was  preaching,  we  are  not  in- 
formed ;  but  certainly  our  exulting  Lord  Chancellor  liad  but 
little  imagined,  that  the  Editor  of  Tyndales  Bible  would  live 
to  come  to  England,  and  lead  him,  in  the  last  year  of  liis  life. 


loSG-I.'ioS.]  TO  COVEROALES  ESCAPE.  293 

SO  to  expose  the  Bench  and  the  Court,  at  one  stroke  !  Still 
less  could  he  have  supposed  that  the  same  man  would  so  hit 
the  mark,  as  to  cause  him  eventually  to  shrink  behind  the  cur- 
tain, and  retire  from  playing  at  the  game  of  persecution  ever 
after  ! !  Such  at  least  was  the  fact,  for  "  he  never  afterwards," 
says  Lingard,  "  took  his  seat  on  the  bench :" — "  whether  it 
was,"  says  the  same  author,  "  that  Gardiner  disapproved  of 
the  measure,  or  that  he  was  called  away  by  more  important 
duties ! r  The  latter  alternative  is,  to  say  the  least,  strangely 
expressed;  but  neither  the  one  nor  the  other  will  now  serve  the 
purpose  of  history,  in  accounting  for  the  Chancellor's  non-ap- 
pearance. "  Gardiner,"  says  Soames,  "  having  kindled  the 
fires  of  persecution,  left  to  others  the  hateful  office  of  supply- 
insr  them  with  a  succession  of  victims  :"  but  we  have  no  evi- 
dence  whatever  of  any  change  of  disposition  in  the  man.  The 
circumstances  now  related,  alone  and  perfectly  account  for  that 
change  of  tactics  which  ultimately  ensued.  At  present,  how- 
ever, there  was  a  dead  pause ;  the  execution  even  of  the  con- 
demned prisoners  was  suspended  ;  and  the  crisis  occasioned 
farther  debate  in  the  Council  itself. 

Now,  it  was  precisely  at  this  moment  that  Coverdale  was  re- 
leased, and  sent  out  of  the  country.  On  Monday  week  after 
this  sermon,  it  had  been  thought  advisable  for  the  Queen  at 
last  to  write  her  letter.  It  might  very  conveniently  seem 
almost  to  contradict  what  Gardiner  had  said  in  open  court, 
that  day  three  weeks  before,  and  on  Tuesday  the  passport  was 
also  ready.  It  will,  perhaps,  therefore  now  be  conceded,  that 
there  was  at  least  some  connexion,  between  the  examination 
of  Rogers,  and  the  escape  of  Coverdale :  though  the  interfer- 
ence of  his  Danish  Majesty  must  not  pass  unexplained. 

It  so  happened  that  Coverdale,  as  well  as  Rogers,  was  a 
married  man  ;  and  strange  as  it  may  appear,  that  which  had 
formed  a  source  of  such  a";onizin2;  distress  to  the  one  man,  be- 
came  one  of  relief  and  safety  to  the  other ;  a  circumstance  the 
more  remarkable,  as  marriage,  though  "  honourable  in  all," 
was  alone  sufficient,  after  the  accession  of  Queen  Mary,  to 
ensure  the  bitterest  mockery,  as  well  as  privation  and  punish- 
ment. So  Rogers  had  felt,  especially  during  the  last  ten  days 
of  his  life.  It  was  to  an  excellent  woman,  Elizabeth  Macheson, 
that  Coverdale  had  been  allied  for  a  number  of  years,  and  they 
were  botli  at  Exeter  when  he  was  summoned  to  appear  before 


2!»-i  KING  (»1'  DKNMAUK  INTERPOSKS.  [houk  ill. 

tlie  Council  ;it  Jliclinioiid,  in  August  li)5li.  From  that  time 
he  Iiad  been  committed,  thougli  as  a  prisoner  at  large.^-'  JJut 
then  he  and  an  exile  from  Scotland  had  married  two  sisters, 
known,  from  monumental  inscription,  to  be  of  Scotish  ex- 
traction, though  they  might  have  been  bom  abroad.  This 
exile,  who  had  passed  through  England  to  the  Continent,  was 
John  Macbee,  named  in  his  own  country  Macalpine,  and 
known  abroad  as  Dr.  MaccabsBUS.  Having  retired  to  Den- 
mark, he  had  been  of  great  use  to  Christian  II. ;  was  not  only 
one  of  his  Chaplains,  and  professor  of  Theology  in  the  Univer- 
sity of  Copenhagen,  founded  by  the  King,  but  had  been  one 
of  the  translators  of  the  Danish  Bible,  first  printed  in  1 560.** 
It  was  through  his  intercession  for  his  brother-in-law,  Cover- 
dale,  that  the  King  interfered,  and  himself  wrote  a  letter  to 
Mary,  so  early  as  the  seventh  calends  of  May,  or  25th  April 
1554.  This  drew  forth  a  tardy  and  evasive  reply,  as  if  the 
only  cause  of  displeasure  with  Ooverdale  had  been,  that  he 
was  in  debt  to  the  Treasury,  or  in  arrears  with  his  tenths. 
Taking  advantage  of  this  admission,  his  Majesty  wrote  a  still 
more  urgent  letter — "  it  was  only  a  debt,  and  the  bishopric 
had  not  been  enjoyed  long  enough  to  afford  to  pay  anything 
— he  would  not  trouble  her  Majesty  by  repeatim/  the  petition  ;"■ 
but  "  we  plainly  hope  for  such  an  end,  that  Coverdale  himself 
shall  shortly,  in  our  presence,  make  declaration  concerning  the 
benefit  of  his  welfare  obtained  of  your  Majesty."  In  this  let- 
ter, dated  from  "  our  city  of  Otton  (Odensee)  the  24th  of 
September  1554,"  the  case  was  actually  so  put,  as  if  a  refusal 
might  affect  the  good  understanding  between  the  two  king- 
doms;  and  yet  we  have  seen  that  four  months  passed  away,  till 
at  last  they  came  to  the  examination  of  Rogers  and  its  conse- 
quences. It  may  therefore  be  said,  in  conclusion,  that  to  the 
influence  of  two  men,  Maccabeus  and  Rogers,  both  of  whom 
had  been  connected  with  the  translation  of  the  Scriptures,  the 
third,  Coverdale,  was  indebted  for  his  deliverance  ! 

After  an  absence  of  more  than  three  years  and  a  half,  Coverdale  re- 
turned to  England  ;  and  though  his  name  will  occur  once  more,  under 
Elizabeth,  since  his  labours  in  editing  any  edition  of  the  Scriptures  had 
now  closed,  we  here  briefly  notice  his  remaining  days.     He  was  now 

29  So  in  May  I.5.'>4,  when  Rogers,  Hooper,  Bradford,  Philpot  and  others  were  in  confinement,  Co- 
verdale subscribed  his  nameaftcr  theirs,— "  with  these  mine  afflicted  brethren,  being  prisoners." 
■.w  Froheri  Tlicatnim,  pp.  174.  Dd:..    Townlev's  Bib.  I,it.,  vol.  ii..  •I'SI. 


1553-155S.]  PEACEFUL  DEATH  OF  COVEKDALE.  295 

entering  on  his  sixty-eighth  year.    It  was  in  July  IflSl  that  he  had  been 
nominated  as  Bishop  of  Exeter,  and  in  July  1553  that  his  appointment 
came  to  an  end — having  sustauied  the  office  only  two  years  out  of  eighty- 
one.     During  his  incumbency,  in   1552,  Covcrdale  had  republished  his 
translation  of  Bullinger  on  "  The  Christian  State  of  Matrimony,"  and 
well  might  he  print  on  this  subject ;  though  not  as  yet  aware  that  to  his 
marriage  he  was  to  owe  his  life,  while  to  his  bishopric  he  had  now  owed 
his  imprisonvient.     Once  released,  on  the  18th  of  February  1555,  and  his 
passport  signed  next  day,  (though  he  was  to  be  buried  in  London,  hon- 
ourably, that  day  fourteen  years  after,)  with  all  despatch  he  repaired  to 
Copenhagen,  and  after  expressing  his  obligations  to  his  Royal  benefactor, 
he  went  to  "Wesel  in  Fricsland,  where,  by  this  time,  he  met  with  at  least 
one  hundred  refugees  from  England.    After  a  short  stay  he  proceeded  to 
Bergzabern,  at  the  request  of  Wolfgang,  the  Duke  of  Deux-ponts,  where 
he  had  a  pastoral  charge  assigned  to  him.     In  December  1558,  we  find 
him  at  Geneva,  and  next  year  he  returned  to  England.     Though  urged 
repeatedly  to  return  to  his  office  as  a  Bishop,  he  could  not  now  accept  of 
it,  nor  assume  the  dress  imposed.     Grindal,  however,  in  1563,  gave  him 
the  small  living  of  St.  Magnus,  near  London  Bridge,  remitting  the  first 
fruits,  as  he  had  nothing  to  pay  them,  and  with  respect  to  dress,  he  was 
permitted  to  do  as  he  pleased  ;  but  in  about  two  years  more  he  either 
resigned,  or  was  obliged  to  do  so.    Still,  however,  he  continued  to  preach  ; 
only  he  who  so  zealously  preached  against  the  sectaries,  about  seventeen 
years  before,  was  now  called,  at  the  age  of  seventy-eight,  to  experience 
what  was  involved  in  being  one.     On  a  Saturday,  his  hearers  used  to 
send  inquiring  where  he  was  to  officiate  next  day,  but  even  this  he  at 
last  declined  mentioning,  lest  it  should  give  offence  !    Yet,  as  long  as  he 
was  able  he  continued  to  preach,  and  died,  most  happily,  in  February 
1569,  in  the  eighty-first  year  of  his  age.     His  remains  were  honourably 
interred  in  Bartholomew's  Chiorch,  behind  the  Exchange,  on  Saturday, 
the  19th  of  Febi-uary,  when  a  vast  crowd  attended.*^'     Thus,  in  the  end, 
alas  !  was  left  to  England  no  ground  for  congratulation,  with  regard  to 
her  treatment  of  cmy  of  the  men  concerned  in  her  earliest  editions  of  the 
Sacred  Volume  !     Recently,  after  the  Royal  Exchange  was  burnt,  Bar- 
tholomew's   Church  being  to  be  taken   down,    the  supj^osed  bones  of 
Coverdale  were  removed  to  the  spot  where  he   often   ministered,   St. 
Magnus,  and  a  marble  tablet  has  been  erected  to  his  memory,  dated 


On  account  of  the  intimate  connexion  of  Rogers  and  Cover- 


s' "  Miles  Coverdale,  doctor  of  divinity,  was  buried  ano.  I,5fif),  the  1.0th  of  February."— Hcgia- 
ter  of  Burials  in  the  parish  Church  of  St.  Bartholomew's  by  the  Exchange.  The  date  here  being 
that  of  the  olil  style,  was  in  our  15()9. 

3-  See  our  former  reference  to  this  tablet,  vol.  i.,  p.  S-W,  where  the  reader  is  requested  to  cor- 
rect the  misprivl  of  1,5.77  instead  of  mi7. 


'2l»(;  THE  PANIC  SOON  OVER.  [nonK  III. 

dale  with  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  it  was  to  be  expected  that  the 
death  of  the  one,  and  the  (hllverance  of  tlie  other,  would  here 
be  fully  explained  ;  but  before  hastening  to  the  history  of  the 
Scriptures  themselves,  it  is  not  less  necessary  to  glance  at  the 
events  immediately  following  this  crisis. 

That  the  sermon  of  the  Spanish  friar  was  not  merely  a 
shallow  artifice,  but  a  piece  of  profane  mockery,  appeared  but 
too  soon.  Lingard  takes  care  to  tell  us,  that  "  it  made  a 
deep  impression,^^  and  providentially  it  was  so  deep,  as  to  ad- 
mit of  Coverdale''s  escape,  like  a  brand  from  the  burning ; 
but  as  if  to  render  that  escape  only  the  more  observable,  we 
search  in  vain  for  one  other  happy  result  or  lenient  measure. 
And  if  the  impression  was  deep,  it  was  little  more  than  a  mo- 
mentary panic  ;  as  perhaps  no  reader  could  divine  how  soon 
the  patience  of  the  Court,  the  Council,  and  the  Bench,  was 
exhausted.  Only  five  short  weeks  had  passed  away,  when 
Philip  and  Mary,  and  the  Bishops  by  their  authority,  and 
that  of  Cardinal  Pole,  were  once  more  fairly  started  on  their 
pursuit  after  blood.  Six  individuals,  it  will  be  remembered, 
were  under  condemnation  at  the  moment  when  dl  Castro  was 
denouncing  all  cruelty.  Five  of  these  it  was  found  expedient 
to  send  to  the  country,  and  put  to  death  in  different  places  ; 
one  of  whom,  Mr.  Hawkes,  did  not  suffer  till  so  late  as  the 
10th  of  June;  but  even  so  early  as  the  1 6th  of  March,  the 
fire  was  first  kindled  for  one  of  the  six,  Tomkins,  and  in 
Smithfield  itself.  Only  ten  days  after  this  step,  an  order  was 
sent  to  the  Justices  of  Norfolk^  in  which  they  had  special  in- 
structions to  look  after  all  preachers  of  heresy  and  private 
meetings ;  and  this  order,  let  it  be  observed,  was  by  no  other 
than  the  King  and  Queen  .^  Nay,  before  the  24th  of  May 
they  had  sent  their  "  Letters  unto  the  Justices  within  every 
of  the  counties  of  this  our  realm,"  and  even  Bonner  himself  must 
be  roused  and  urged  to  proceed  to  extremities ;  their  Majes- 
ties at  the  same  time  actually  expressing  "  no  little  marvel" 
that  there  had  been  such  relaxation  on  the  part  of  certain 
Justices.**  Pawlet,  Marquess  of  Winchester,  "  the  willow  tree 
and  not  an  oak,"  who  bent  with  every  blast,  was  specially 
vigilant  in  the  Council,  and  Richard  Lord  Rich,  a  persecutor 
from  the  days  of  Sir  Thomas  More,  was  no  less  active  down 

ssrotton  MS.  Titus,  B.  ii.,  11(1.  ••"  Rugist.  Bonn.  fol.  .'Ki.'i 


1553-1 658.]  DP:aTH  OF  GARDINER.  297 

in  the  country  ;  but  still,  even  to  the  close  of  this  year,  15,55, 
it  was  found  necessary  to  proceed  with  caution  in  London. 
Out  of  above  eighty  mai-tyrs  before  the  18th  of  December,  not 
more  than  seven  appear  to  have  suffered  in  the  capital. 

It  was  in  January  the  next  year,  1556,  that  the  persecutors 
set  off  in  full  vigour,  Avhen  seven  individuals  were  committed 
to  the  flames  at  Smithfleld,  in  one  fire,  and  five  at  Canter- 
bury, in  another  !  In  short,  Gardiner,  unchanged,  must  go 
the  way  of  all  the  earth,  and  Cardinal  Pole  succeed  as  the 
adviser ;  when,  what  with  his  official  authority,  administered 
with  characteristic  policy,  and  that  of  the  King  and  Queen, 
at  certain  convenient  moments,  Bonner,  as  "  the  chief  slaugh- 
terman of  England,"  powerfully  aided  by  his  Satanic  assist- 
ants, and  other  persecuting  prelates,  contrived  to  perpetrate 
all  the  cruelties,  or  the  sickening  enumeration,  which  has  been 
already  given. 

Throughout  the  month  of  September,  1555,  the  health  of  Gardiner, 
Bishop  of  Winchester,  had  been  declining  rapidly.  On  Monday  the  21st 
of  October,  Parliament  was  opened.  That  day  he  was  present,  and  the 
next,  for  the  last  time ;  when  he  spoke  and  exerted  himself  beyond  his 
strength.  On  Wednesday,  or  seven  days  after  Latimer  and  Ridley's 
martyrdom  at  Oxford,  he  was  confined  to  his  chamber,  and  after  linger- 
ing for  three  weeks,  he  expired  at  Westminster,  early  on  the  morning  of 
Tuesday  the  12th  of  November.  His  body  was  immediately  removed  to 
his  house  in  Southwark,  but  not  carried  to  Winchester  for  above  three 
months,  on  the  24th  of  February  1556.  His  true  character  we  need  not 
now  depict  ;  as  it  is  to  be  read  in  the  various  transactions  already  re- 
corded. In  point  of  talent,  he  was  certainly  one  of  the  most  able  men 
of  his  times  ;  but  this  only  increased  an  amount  of  guilt  which  the  day 
of  final  reckoning  will  disclose.  Before  his  death  he  is  generally  under- 
stood to  have  been  in  great  trouble,  if  not  agony  of  mind.  At  one  time 
he  is  said  to  have  requested  the  account  of  the  Saviour's  last  sufferings 
to  be  read  to  him,  and  when  they  came  to  the  denial  of  Peter,  he  de- 
sired the  reader  to  stop.  "  I  have  denied,"  said  he,  "  I  have  denied  with 
Peter  ;  I  have  gone  out  with  Peter ;  but  I  have  not  as  yet  learned  to 
weej")  bitterly,  with  Peter  !" 

As  for  Latimer  and  Ridley,  they  died,  it  is  known  and 
confessed  by  all,  triumphantly  at  Oxford,  twenty-seven  days 
before  this,  on  the  16th  of  October.  Cranmer  followed  on 
Saturda}'^  the  21st  of  March  1556,  in  the  sixty-seventh  year 
of  his  age,  and  after  the  manner  which  has  been  so  plentifully 


2.'IS  MAUTVItDOM  OF  CHANMKK  [hoOK   HI. 

desci-ibed  elsowlicre,  by  coiiHictiiig  authorities.  Whatever 
imperfections  were  to  be  found  in  his  character,  the  virulence 
with  wliich  it  has  occasionally  been  attacked,  only  proves, 
that  for  the  part  he  acted  as  a  wliolc,  he  is  never,  by  certain 
parties,  to  be  forgiven.  His  enemies,  even  still,  will  scarcely, 
if  at  all  allow,  that  before  his  death  he  had  learnt,  what  Gar- 
diner had  never  done — "  to  weep  bitterly  with  Peter :"  even 
though  a  spectator  of  the  last  scene,  and  he  of  opposite  senti- 
ments, has  told  us  that  he  stood  there  with  a  heart  bursting 
with  grief — "  his  face  bedewed  with  tears,  sometime  lifting 
his  eyes  to  heaven  in  hope,  sometime  casting  them  down  to 
the  earth  for  shame  ;  and  to  be  brief,  an  image  of  sorrow.'''' 
His  recantations  assuredly  were  the  more  to  be  lamented,  after 
the  firm  and  heroic  testimony  borne  by  his  two  precursors 
four  months  before  ;  and  whom,  it  is  said,  he  saw  from  his  cell 
when  they  were  on  the  way  to  the  stake.  But  still  the  burn- 
ing of  his  right  hand — "  that  unworthy  hand  "^ — "  that  hand 
hath  offended,"  as  he  emphatically  repeated,  and  as  long  as  his 
tongue  would  suffer  him,  was  a  testimony  to  the  deepness  of 
his  regret,  as  powerful  and  expressive,  as  it  was  then  possible 
for  him  to  give  ;  and  still  more  so,  from  its  being  the  only  one 
then  left  to  him. 

In  a  history  such  as  the  present,  however,  the  character  of 
Cranmer  now  comes  before  us,  under  an  aspect  altogether  dif- 
ferent from  that  which  it  may  have  done  in  any  other  histoiy. 
To  every  impartial  reader  of  the  preceding  pages  it  must  be 
evident  that  the  present  writer  is  not  only  relieved  from  en- 
tering farther  into  its  merits  or  dements,  but  that  there  is 
high,  because  sacred  ground,  for  his  abstaining.  The  "  Arti- 
cles," whether  nine  in  number,  as  in  ]  536,  or  forty-two  after- 
wards ;  the  "  Institution  of  a  Christian  Man,"  in  1537;  the 
English  Litany,  in  1544;  the  Primer  in  1545;  the  First 
Book  of  Homilies  in  1547;  the  Liturgies  or  Service  Books  of 
1548  and  1552;  the  Body  of  Ecclesiastical  Law,  with  some 
other  pieces,  are  properly  to  be  discussed  in  connexion  with 
Cranmer"'s  character  and  principles.  These  productions  have 
been  regarded  as  either  his  own,  or  nearly  so ;  but  the  trans- 
lation of  the  Sacred  Volume  was  the  Avork  of  another.  So  far 
as  Cranmer  followed  up  the  subject,  under  Henry's  reign,  in 
conjunction  with  Crumwell,  we  have  endeavoured  to  do  him 
ample  justice.     LTnder  Edward  he  never  appears  to  have  per- 


1553-1558.]  POSITION  OF  THE  SACRED  VOLUME.  2US> 

sonally  returned  to  the  work  ;  but  his  abstaining  from  all 
interference  with  any  otliers  so  engaged,  ought  never  to  be 
forgotten. 

In  a  manner  to  which,  in  our  English  history,  there  is  lite- 
rally nothing  parallel,  the  history  of  the  English  Bible,  pro- 
perly understood,  had  been  preserved  separate  or  aloof  from 
the  possibility  of  its  being  identified  with  the  imperfections, 
the  timidity,  or  inconsistency,  of  any  one  man  living  in  Eng- 
land. The  volume  was  originally  prepared  beyond  the  boun- 
daries of  the  kingdom,  and  ever  since  its  very  singular  intro- 
duction, no  human  being  could  as  yet  be  at  all  regarded  in  the 
light  of  what  is  properly  styled  a  patron.  Nay,  what  should 
never  be  forgotten,  in  every  instance  of  human  agency,  on  the 
part  of  official  men,  we  have  discovered,  not  what  any  man 
can  correctly  style  "  only  the  pure  and  unadulterated  love  of 
Divine  Truth  itself,  or  for  its  own  sake."  All  official  men, 
without  exception,  have  come  before  us,  as  either  impelled  by 
circumstances,  moved  by  political  considerations,  or  overruled. 
As  to  even  the  last  of  these,  and  at  the  very  outset  or  begin- 
ning, no  man  was  more  distinctly  moved  than  Cranmer,  and 
moved  from  abroad  ;  but  even  then  he  appeared  first  in  sight, 
in  the  humble  attitude  of  a  petitioner  without  power.  Nothing- 
is  more  clearly  or  frequently  marked  in  his  correspondence, 
than  entire  subserviency  to  Crumwell,  when  at  the  top  of  his 
ascendancy.  He  sent  an  imploring  letter  to  Crumwell,  and 
he  petitioned  Henry,  and  he  was  overruled  !  The  King's  heart 
was  never  more  distinctly  "  in  the  hands  of  the  Lord"  through- 
out the  entire  compass  of  English  history. 

Let,  therefore,  the  history  of  the  English  Bible  be  still 
regarded  as  altogether  sui  generis^  for  certainly  so  it  ought  to 
have  been,  all  along.  As  yet,  the  general  thread  of  our  nar- 
rative has  never  been  broken,  or  even  disturbed ;  and  what 
shall  we  say,  should  an  all-wise  Providence  continue  to  pre- 
serve the  Sacred  Volume  in  the  same  high  and  singular  posi- 
tion, throughout  the  long  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  and  oven 
down  to  our  own  day.  At  present,  however,  we  have  first  to 
look  at  the  reign  of  Mary,  when  there  will  be  no  risk  of  con- 
founding this  cause  with  any  official  person,  whether  at  home 
or  abroad. 

Upon  the  accession  of  Henry's  eldest  daughter,  and  with 
immediate  reference  to  the  Scriptures,  it  need  scarcely  be  re- 


nOO  NO  Ol'KiriAl.  DKNUNCIATION  [booK  III. 

marked,  tliat  tlie  country  at  large  was  in  a  veiy  difl'erent 
state  from  what  it  had  been  less  than  thirty  years  ago,  when 
there  was  neither  a  printed  IJiblc,  nor  even  a  New  Testament 
in  print,  within  its  borders.  Just  before  Mary  assumed  the 
Crown,  England  seemed  to  be  fairly  on  the  way  for  becoming 
a  land  as  distinguished  for  the  possession  of  the  Sacred  Vo- 
lume, as  God  had  appointed  it  should  be,  in  the  end.  About 
sixty-five  editions  of  the  New  Testament,  and  thirty  of  the 
entire  Bible  had  passed  through  the  press :  but  here  now  was 
an  opposing  party,  not  only  in  full  power,  but  determined  to 
exercise  it.  Resolved  to  carry  every  thing  before  them,  it 
might  naturally  have  been  supposed,  that  one  of  the  very  first 
movements  must  have  been  a  systematic  attempt  to  destroy  all 
these  Tolumes.  Could  the  burning  of  the  sacred  hooks^  have 
been  a  more  obnoxious  measure,  than  the  burning  of  men  and 
women,  old  and  young  ?  Was  the  seizing  of  the  Scriptures, 
and  at  once  burning  them  in  open  day,  not  as  easy  as  the 
seizure  and  imprisonment  of  w^M?  And  yet,  however  mucli 
blood  was  shed  ultimately,  and  how^ever  much  cruelty  inflict- 
ed, on  the  part  of  Government  there  was,  on  the  whole,  a 
most  mysterious  silence  maintained,  with  regard  to  the  Eng- 
lish Bible,  which  has  never  been  sufficiently  observed. 

In  the  days  of  Henry  the  Eighth,  it  was  the  hook  by  way 
of  eminence,  the  "  pestiferous  poison,"  as  Tunstal  prof;inely 
styled  it ;  the  "  heretical  fountain  of  all  novel  and  dangerous 
opinions  ; "  oi',  the  Sacred  Volume,  under  various  abusive 
epithets,  against  which  they  gave  forth  their  loudest  thunder, 
and  after  which,  under  orders,  they  daily  hunted.  The  very 
possession  of  it,  or  its  distribution,  whether  by  gift  or  sale, 
were  crimes  denounced  and  punished.  There  were  a  thousand 
copies  in  England  now,  for  one  at  that  period  ;  and  yet,  under 
Queen  Mary  the  great  Iiue  and  cry  had  almost  entirely 
changed.  Justification  by  faith,  as  a  tenet  of  Scripture,  but 
above  all,  transubstantiation,  as  a  chief  corner-stone  of  "  the 
old  learning,"  were  the  engrossing  topics  ;  mixed  up  with  an 
endless  measure  of  low  and  even  obscene  abuse  on  the  part  of 
the  examinators.  But  throughout  these  tedious  and  repeated 
cross-examinations,  the  cautious  abstinence  from  reference  to 
the  Bible,  as  a  book,  or  to  the  possession  of  it,  is  very  remark- 
able. The  examinators  never  appear  to  have  been  enjoined  to 
abstain,  and  yet  they  did.    Throughout  the  entire  reign  there 


1553-1538.]  OF  THE  SACRKD  SCRIPTURES.  301 

were  three  proclanuitions,  and  in  the  second  only  were  any 
books  whatever  specified  by  name.  The  first  of  these,  18th 
August  1553,  ah-eady  mentioned,  merely  forbade  the  public 
reading  of  the  Scriptures.  The  second  was  not  issued  till 
twenty-two  months  after,  on  the  13th  of  June  1555.  In  this, 
twenty-five  authors  are  distinctly  denounced  by  name,  or 
thirteen  foreigners,^  and  twelve  Englishmen  %^  thus  hinting, 
by  the  way,  a  continued  and  powerful  importation  of  books 
from  abroad,  but  nothing  is  enjoined  as  to  burning  the  Scrip- 
tures alread}'  printed  and  possessed.  The  injunction  related 
solely  to  the  books  specified  being  imported  from  henceforth?^ 
The  last  proclamation  was  certainly  the  most  dreadful.  It 
referred  to  books,  in  general  terms,  wicked  and  seditious,  to 
be  delivered  up  on  pain  of  death.,  without  delay.,  by  martial 
late  !  But  this  was  not  issued  till  three  years  after  the  for- 
mer, on  the  6th  June  1558,  or  only  five  months  before  Mary's 
death ;  and  still  no  mention  is  made  of  the  Bible,  or  New 
Testament,  separately.  It  was  a  proclamation  against  books 
of  human  composition  only,  not  the  Sacred  Scriptures.  '^ 

Under  the  reign  of  Henry,  we  have  seen  first  the  New 
Testament  Scriptures,  and  then  the  Bible  entire,  distinguished 
by  name.,  and  condemned  in  royal  proclamations.  We  have  seen 
the  name  of  Tyndale  in  immediate  connexioii  with  the  Sacred 
Scriptures,  as  well  as  that  of  Coverdale,  distinctly  branded ; 
but  it  is  material  to  observe  that  no  similar  proclamation  is 
upon  record  by  Philip  and  Mary :  nor  was  the  Divine  Ee- 
cord,  as  such,  in  our  language,  whether  as  issued  by  Tyndale 
or  Rogers,  by  Coverdale,  Crumwell,  Cranmer,  or  Taverner, 
once  formally  denounced  by  the  throne  !  Yet  Tunstal,  on 
the  borders  of  eighty,  and  having  yet  five  years  to  live,  one  of 
the  earliest  enemies,  was  now  in  power ;  with  Gardiner  by  his 
side,  for  two  years,  and  as  Lord  Chancellor.  Cardinal  Pole, 
with  powers  unlimited,  was  in  the  country,  for  the  express 
purpose  of  bringing  every  thing  back  to  its  ancient  position. 
The  Queen  was  so  zealous  as  to  urge  even  the  Bishops,  and 


35  Luther,  CEcoIampadius,  Zuinglius,  Calvin,  Pomeraine,  Alasco,  Bullinger,  Biiccr,  Melanc- 
thon,  Ochine,  Sarcerius,  Martyr,  and  Justus  Jonas.     See  Herbert's  Ames,  iii.,  p.  Ifliio-T- 

36  Tyndale,  Fryth,  Latimer,  Barnes,  Bale,  Hooper,  Coverdale,  Cranmer,  Turner,  Becon,  Roye. 
and  Halle's  Chronicle  by  name,  the  only  book  specified. 

37  One/mo/c  importer,  Elizabeth  Young,  was  examined  by  these  iii<iuisitors  Wi/r/i.';;  times, 
of  which  Foxe  records  nine.     After  all  she  escaped  martyrdom. 

38  Strypc's  Annals. 


302  COl'IKS   BURNT,   HIT  [nOOK   IH. 

Bonner,  to  tlicir  duty  ;  having  a  Imshand  lor  King,  the  future 
hero  of  the  Spanish  Armada,  who  w(nihl  now  have  most  wil- 
lingly introduced  the  Inquisition  into  England.  Why  then 
was  even  Gardiner's,  the  Lord  Chancellor's  pen  so  restrained  ? 
Why  not  now  have  come  out,  in  round  set  terms,  with  all  his 
malignity  to  the  Book  against  which  he  had  wrought  hard  for 
years  ?  And  after  him,  why  was  the  pen  of  the  Lord  Cardi- 
nal fettered  ?  A  royal  proclamation  could  have  been  very 
easily  penned,  and  surely  at  some  moment  of  wild  exaspera- 
tion, in  the  course  of  five  years,  the  royal  signature,  or  signa- 
tures, might  have  been  as  easily  obtained  ? 

But  let  us  not  be  mistaken.  Copies  of  the  Scriptures  no 
doubt  were  consigned  to  the  flames,  though  we  can  fix  upon 
no  more  than  three  occasions.  The  first  is  mentioned,  three 
years  after  Mary  had  been  on  the  throne,  when  at  least  one 
foreign  author,  Cabrera,  has  told  us  that  "  many  of  the  Bibles, 
chained  to  desks  in  churches,  were  burnt  about  this  time  ;*" 
and  again,  in  the  opening  of  1557,  when  the  Universities  of 
Cambridge  and  Oxford  were  visited  by  Ormaneto,  a  furious 
Italian,  datary  of  the  Pontifl^",  or  chief  officer  of  the  Court  of 
Rome.  When  the  bones  of  Bucer  and  Fagius  were  actually 
dug  up  and  burned  at  the  former.  Bibles  as  well  as  other  books 
were  also  consumed ;  and  the  same  course  is  said  to  have  been 
pursued  at  Oxford,  when  the  dead  body  of  Peter  Martyr's 
wife  was  treated  with  such  indignity.  But  still,  in  the  midst 
of  so  much  Satanic  opposition,  and  the  royal  denunciation  of 
other  books  and  human  authors,  perhaps  there  has  never  been 
a  more  striking  line  of  distinction  drawn,  in  reference  to  the 
Sacred  Volume.  What  renders  the  fact  already  stated  still 
more  observable  is — that  the  translations  of  the  Bible  by 
Tyndale  and  Coverdale  had  been  once  pointed  out,  or  referred 
to,  at  least  by  the  priests  or  clergy,  and  for  destruction.  In 
an  address  by  the  Loicer  to  the  Upper  House,  these  were  their 
words — "  We  the  clergy  of  the  province  of  Canterbury  do 
humbly  pray" — "  that  all  suspect  translations  of  the  Old  and 
New  Testament,  the  authors  whereof  {not  however  here  named) 
are  recited  in  a  statute  made  year  of  Henry  VIII.  &;c. 

may  be  destroyed  and  burnt  throughout  this  realm."*'  These 
few  words  are  buried  among  twenty-eight  other  items,  and 

39  Parker  MS.  Col.  Cor.  Chr.  Cant,  or  Burnet,  book  2,  Records  xvi. 


1553-lo5S.]        OTIIEUS  SINGULARLY  PRESERVED.  303 

the  reference  made  must  be  to  the  Act  of  S-ith  of  Henry ; 
but  still  no  express  law  followed,  nor  was  there  a  single  pro- 
clamation in  compliance,  or  one  in  which  the  Sacred  Volume 
was  pointed  out  for  destruction,  either  by  royal  authority  or 
that  of  the  Convocation,  or  that  of  Cardinal  Pole.  Why  then 
not  acknowledge  the  Overruler  ?  "  He  maketh  the  wrath  of 
man  to  praise  Him,  and  the  remainder  thereof  He  restrains." 
Certainly  neither  Philip  or  Mary  intended  to  draw  such  a 
line  of  distinction  between  the  words  of  7nen  and  the  "  Word 
of  Godr  When  Henry's  wrath  was  up,  he  drew  no  such  dis- 
tinction, and  that  he  might  shew  that  he  imagined  a  vain 
thing,  and  fought  in  vain,  he  was  permitted :  but  thus  far 
Philip  and  Mary  were  restrained,  and  this,  in  connexion 
with  what  follows,  was  progress. 

Nor  was  this  the  only  point  worthy  of  observation  under 
this  reign.  Providentially,  time  was  afforded  for  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  Scriptures,  and  by  two  distinct  methods.  One 
was  by  their  being  carried  abroad,  beyond  the  reach  of  dan- 
ger. The  pause  at  the  commencement  of  Mary"'s  reign  was 
not  unimproved  as  to  personal  safety,  and  the  exiles  unques- 
tionably availed  themselves  of  the  opportunity  as  to  that 
which  they  valued  above  most  fine  gold.  A  single  copy,  if 
more  could  be  carried  away,  would  not  satisfy  any  one  among 
them  ;  and  it  was  far  more  easy  for  them  to  carry  books 
away  at  the  time  they  went,  than  it  was  afterwards  for  some 
of  these  exiles  to  import  their  own  writings.  This,  however, 
they  afterwards  did,  and  to  such  extent,  as  to  provoke  the 
royal  inhibition  of  June  1555,  which,  after  all,  could  not 
stem  the  influx.  The  stern  proclamation  of  death  by  martial 
law,  three  years  after,  was  a  proof  of  failure;  and  the  Queen 
was  thus,  in  effect,  only  declaring — what  her  father  before  his 
death  had  done — that  royal  edicts,  in  certain  circumstances, 
if  not  nearly  impotent,  possess  no  sovereign  power. 

But  the  other  mode  of  preservation  was  by  co7icealment ; 
and  this  was  practised  to  no  small  extent,  whether  in  the 
crowded  city  or  the  hamlets  of  England.  Even  in  the  cot- 
tages of  the  latter  there  are  supposed  to  have  been  methods  of 
concealment  so  ingenious  as  to  baffle  all  search — 

"  Fierce,  wliisker'd  guards  that  Volume  sought  in  vain, 
Enjoy'd  by  stealth,  and  hid  with  anxious  pain  ; 


304  THE  SCRIPTURKS  CAREFULLY  Mil).  [^BOuK  111. 

Wliile  all  around  was  misery  and  gloom, 

This  Hlicw'd  tlio  boundless  bliss  beyond  the  tomb  ; 

Freed  from  the  venal  priest — the  feudal  rod, 

It  led  the  sufl'rer's  weary  steps  to  God  ; 

And  when  his  painful  course  on  earth  was  nin. 

This,  his  chief  wealth,  descended  to  his  son." 

This  course,  however,  from  its  very  nature,  did  not  admit 
of  its  being  put  on  record,  and  yet  we  are  not  without  evidence 
of  the  fact.  The  liighly-prized  treasure,  read  often  in  the 
dead  of  the  night,  was  concealed  under  the  bed,  in  hay-lofts, 
or  in  out-houses  ;  and  we  have  one  notable  instance  of  another 
mode.  Mary  had  not  dismissed  from  her  immediate  service 
all  who  had  any  value  for  the  Scriptures  ;  on  the  contrary, 
Strvpe  assures  us,  from  manuscript,  that  the  Gentlemen 
Ushers  of  the  Queen  were  "  almost  all  favourers  of  the  Gos- 
pel." These  had  been  in  the  service  of  Edward,  her  brother, 
with  the  exception  of  others  that  she  had  appointed.  Of  one 
of  them  the  same  laborious  author  gives  a  long  account  in  his 
"  Memorials," — Mr.  Underbill,  a  gentleman,  who,  though 
imprisoned  and  molested,  after  all  continued  to  receive  his 
pension,  and  outlived  the  present  reign.  At  one  period,  "  a 
diligent  search  being  made  for  all  suspicious  books,"  he  was 
then  living  in  Wood  Street,  Cheapside.  Underbill  forthwith 
"  sent  for  a  bricklayer,  and  built  up  a  wall  in  his  chamber, 
against  the  place  where  all  his  books  were,  and  so  inclosed 
them  in  security  from  the  danger  of  being  taken,  preserving 
them  for  himself  against  better  times."  Similar  precautions 
were,  no  doubt,  taken  by  others  ;  and  it  is  impossible  to  say 
how  many  precious  volumes,  if  not  also  printing  materials, 
were  built  up  until  Mary  should  draw  her  last  breath.'"' 

It  may  now,  however,  be  observed  that,  of  all  the  other 
books  printed  up  to  this  period  in  England,  there  are  not  a 
few  of  which  not  a  vestige  remains  ;  while,  in  reference  to  the 
Scriptures^  of  which  so  many  editions  had  been  printed,  nay, 
and  innumerable  editions  since,  it  is  a  most  singular  fact,  that 
there  are  very  few,  perhaps  not  above  three  or  four,  of  which 
we  have  not  a  copy,  and  of  the  great  majority  several  copies, 
either  in  England  or  Scotland.     In  this  point  of  view,  our 


♦0  Unhappy  woman !  the  day  before  she  expired  was  actually  styled,  and  by  the  best  of  her 
subjects,  Uoi>e- H'cdnuday  ■' 


1.3,53-1.558.]        THE  NEW  TESTAMENT  REVISING.  305 

list  of  editions  at  the  end  of  this  work  becomes  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  in  the  entire  range  of  English  literature. 

Returning,  however,  to  the  reign  of  Mary,  it  may  be  re- 
marked by  some  that  the  writer  has  been  only  putting  the 
best  face  upon  a  gloomy  period.  Be  it  so.  Then  this  need 
not  prevent  us  from  looking  round  only  once  more. 

Rogers,  indeed,  has  been  martyred,  and  Coverdale  banished  ; 
(rrafton  and  Whitchurch,  though  imprisoned,  and  excepted 
in  the  general  pardon  granted  at  Mary's  accession,  have  es- 
caped to  the  Continent.  John  Day,  the  spirited  printer,  and 
above  twenty  more  beside,  can  act  no  more  as  they  were  wont 
to  do,  up  to  July  1553,  when  Edward  died.  Leaving,  then, 
the  numerous  editions  of  the  Scriptures  which  had  been 
printed,  to  be  preserved  from  the  hand  of  tjie  destroyer,  whe- 
ther at  home  or  abroad,  and  as  they  best  might,  was  there 
absolutely  nothing  to  be  done,  under  this  Queen's  reign,  in  the 
way  of  farther  progress  I  With  regard  to  printing  the  Scrip- 
tures, however  humbling  to  national  vanity,  we  are  obliged  to 
answer — in  England,  absolutely  nothing.  The  press,  we  have 
seen,  was  fettered  or  suppressed,  and  not  a  leaf  could  be  issued. 
The  text  of  the  translation  also  required  to  be  reviewed  with 
far  more  leisure  and  superior  skill  than  it  had  ever  yet  been 
upon  English  ground,  or  since  the  first  edition  by  Rogers  ; 
but  this  cannot  be  done,  or  rather,  as  Providence  had  deter- 
mined, must  not^  in  any  corner  of  our  native  land.  The  Go- 
vernment has  fallen  back  into  very  much  the  same  condition 
in  which  it  was  in  1523,  when  Tyndale  found  at  the  last,  that 
there  was  "  not  only  no  room  in  my  Lord  of  London's  house 
to  translate  the  New  Testament,  but  that  there  was  no  place 
to  do  it  in  all  England." 

But  what  did  all  this  signify  \  Providence  had  at  the  first 
spoken  to  this  Island,  in  a  way  not  common  to  the  other  na- 
tions of  Europe,  and  there  was  nothing  now  to  prevent  a  re- 
petition of  the  same  singular  mode.  There  was,  indeed,  per- 
plexity and  confusion  in  the  councils  of  England,  and  all 
things  were  turning  upside  down  ;  but  human  nature,  strained 
to  its  highest  pitch,  in  opposition  to  Divine  Truth,  presents 
but  a  feeble  barrier ;  and  "  God's  eternal  thoughts  moved  on 
— His  undisturbed  affairs." 

An  exile  from  his  native  country,  first  accomplished  the 
translation,  and  some  how  or  other  got  the  book  introduced  into 

VOL.   II.  u 


30G  'I'HK  GENEVA  REVISION  [boOK  III. 

the  kiniiduin,  in  spite  of  Henry  VIII.,  and  Z;/*' Cardinal  Wol- 
sey.  Then,  an  exile  shall  do  the  same  thing  once  more;  by  cor- 
recting and  printing  the  New  Testament,  and  sending  it  into 
England  in  spite  of  either  Philip  or  Mary^  or  their  Cardinal 
Pole.  In  every  point  of  view  this  was  no  other  than  a  similar 
triumph  ;  and  in  both  instances  at  a  moment,  when  there  was 
nothing  but  opposition  from  the  Crown  and  the  bench  of 
Bishops,  as  well  as  a  Cardinal,  by  authority  from  Home,  trium- 
phantly presiding  in  the  country.  It  also  deserves  remark, 
that,  in  both  cases,  the  Testament  was  published  anonymously^ 
without  ostentation,  or  a  dedication  to  any  official  individual 
whatever.  In  the  first  instance,  the  name  of  the  translator 
was  not  known,  nor  till  Tyndale  was  compelled  by  circum- 
stances to  disclose  it.  In  the  second  instance,  nothing  having 
occurred  to  compel  the  improver  of  this  version  to  disclose 
his  name,  it  has  been  overlooked  to  the  present  hour.  Both 
books  were  prepared,  and  sent  into  England,  when  persecution 
was  the  order  of  the  day,  and  every  seaport  seemed  to  be  shut 
against  them.  No  analogy  could  be  more  striking,  or  complete. 
But  was  this  second  triumph  eft'ected  while  Mary  was  yet 
on  the  throne  \  It  was.  The  recension  of  the  text  must  have 
commenced  not  long  after  the  time  when  the  stake  was  first 
prepared  ;  the  book  left  the  press  on  the  10th  of  June  1557, 
one  of  the  most  awful  months  in  the  record  of  persecution  ;^' 
and  it  was  perusing  in  England,  for  sometime  before  the 
Queen''s  death.  By  how  many  indeed,  it  is  impossible  to  say; 
but  one  authentic  instance  will  be  sufficient  proof  of  the  fact. 

There  was  a  priest  of  some  learning  at  Auburn  near  Lincoln,  who  had  been 
appointed  to  the  place  by  Old  Longland  the  Bishop,  Henry's  Confessor  in  the 
days  of  Wolsey.  This  man,  named  William  Living,  had  married,  and  with  his 
wife  had  taken  up  his  abode  in  London,  where  he  seems  to  have  tried  to  sup- 
port himself,  in  the  time  of  Mary,  by  the  sale  of  buttons.  One  Cox,  a  spy,  or 
as  they  phrased  it,  a  promoter,  having  lodged  information  against  him,  the  con- 
stable and  his  assistants  soon  came,  and  upon  examining  his  books,  they  made 
sure  that  he  could  not  be  a  safe  man.  This  happened  to  be  in  August  or  Sep- 
tember 1558,  when  the  Queen  was  far  from  being  well.  Among  the  books, 
Dean,  the  Constable,  had  fastened  his  eye  on  one  that  was  bound  and  ci'ilt, 
which  happened  to  be  a  work  on  Astronomy — the  "  De  Sphcera"  of  Manilius. 
On  observing  the  figures,  round,  triangular  and  quadrilateral,  this  was  enough  ! 
Carrying  this  book  open  with  liim  in  the  street,  along  with  its  owner  and  his 


■*'  \\\  four  dayt,  from  the  18tli  to  the  22d  of  this  month,  at  least  twcnty-«even  martyrs  died  ! 
yiz.  one  in  the  diocese  of  Bath  and  Wells,  two  at  Newington,  seven  at  Maidstone,  seven  at  Can- 
terbury, and  ten  at  Lewis !    Twenty^even  were  thus  consumed  to  ashes  in/oi'r  days ! 


1.553-1.558.]  ALREADY  IN  ENGLAND.  30? 

wife, — "  I  have  found  liini  at  loiigtli,"  said  the  constable,  "  and  it  is  no  marvel 
the  Queen  be  sick,  seeing  there  be  such  conjurors  in  privy  cornel's ;  but  now  I 
trust  he  shall  conjure  no  more  !" 

Delivering  up  both  parties  to  Tho.  Darbyshire,  Bonner's  relative  and  the 
Chancellor  of  London  diocese,  after  ascertaining  who  Living  was,  and  charging 
him  with  being  a  schismatic,  he  immediately  ordered  the  husband  to  the 
Bishop's  Coal-house,  and  the  wife  afterwards  to  the  Lollard's  Tower.  In  con- 
veying the  former  to  his  prison,  however,  the  jailor  can-icd  him  first  to  his  own 
house  in  Paternoster  Row,  and  "  there,"  says  Living  himself,  "  he  robbed  me  of 
my  purse,  my  girdle,  my  Psalter,  and  a  JVeic  Testament  of  Genera." 

Bringing  his  \'ictim  to  the  nauseous  Coal-house  and  to  the  stocks, — "  Put  in 
both  your  legs,  and  your  hands  also,"  said  the  cruel  and  avaricious  man,  "  and 
except  yon  fine  with  me,  "  I  will  put  a  collar  about  your  neck."  "  What  is  the 
fine,"  it  was  asked.  "Forty  ,ShilHngs,"  said  the  jailor  ;  a  sum  equal  in  value 
to  at  least  twenty  pounds  of  the  present  day  !  "  I  am  never  able  to  pay  it," 
said  Living.  "  You  have  friends  that  be  able,"  was  the  reply  ;  for  well  they 
knew  how  to  take  advantage  of  the  generosity  and  sympathy  of  the  lovers  of 
truth.  He  then  ordered  both  limbs  into  the  stocks  till  supper-time,  or  six 
o'clock  ;  when  a  cousin  of  the  prisoner's  wife,  actually  paid  forty-pence  (equal 
to  about  two  pounds,),  to  this  monster  in  waiting,  for  one  hour's  ease  to  partake 
of  food  !  Then  from  seven  that  evening  to  two  the  next  day  he  lay  thus  con- 
fined without  any  intermission  ;  the  man  waiting  no  doubt  for  another  fee. 
After  this  he  also  was  carried  to  the  Lollard's  Tower,  "  having  the  favour," 
says  the  prisoner  himself,  "  to  put  my  leg  in  that  hole  which  Master  John 
Pliilpot's  leg  was  in  ;  and  so  lay  all  that  night,  nobody  coming  to  me,  with 
either  meat  or  drink."  Next  day,  however,  Living  was  delivered,  on  the  pay- 
ment of  fifteen  shillings  for  his  fees.  Thus,  on  the  most  moderate  calculation, 
the  imprisonment  had  cost  a  sum  equal  to  about  eleven  pounds  of  our  present 
money  ;  but  had  this  happened  one  year  earlier,  or  had  the  Queen  even  now, 
been  as  lirety  as  the  man  himself,  he  certainly  would  not  have  escaped  with  his 
life.     The  "  Testament,"  of  course,  which  he  most  of  all  valued,  was  gone. 

His  partner  in  life  had  been  separately  handled,  and  one  of  her  repUes  was 
sufficiently  expressive.  "  You  be  not  ashamed,"  said  Dale,  a  promoter,  "  to 
tell  wherefore  you  come  hither."  "  No,"  replied  the  good  woman,  "  that  I  am 
not,  for  it  is  for  ChrisVs  Testament."^ 

But  what  was  this  Testament  of  which  they  spake  ?  It  was 
the  book  to  which  we  have  referred ;  a  very  beautiful  one, 
and  now  of  rare  occurrence,  printed  with  a  silver  type,  and  on 
the  best  paper  ;  by  far  the  best  review  of  the  Sacred  text 
that  had  yet  been  made,  "  diligently  revised  by  the  most  ap- 
proved Greek  examples,  and  conference  of  translations  in 
other  tongues."  It  is  the  first  English  New  Testament, 
divided  into  terses,  and  formed  an  important  preliminary  step 
to  the  revision  of  the  whole  Bible. 


<2  Foxe. — Herbert  mentions,  "  Celius  Secundus  Curio  to  his  dear  friend  Fulrius  Morato,"  as 
translated  into  English  by  W.  Living.  "  Printed  by  John  Aide,  1576."  It  is  an  epistle  for  the 
godly  bringing  up  of  children,  and  concludes  :  "  From  Luce,  1542,  the  iiii.  of  the  ides  of  June, 
quoth  fy.  Lia»g,"^o{  Saint  Swithen's  by  London  Stone.  Curio  may  be  remembered  as  one  of 
the  most  interesting  characters  in  M'Crit's  Italy. 


308  WILLIAM   WHITTINGHAM  [book  III. 

Few  mistakes  have  been  more  common,  and  even  up  to  the 
present  day,  than  that  of  ascribing  the  translation  of  the 
Scriptures  into  English  to  a  number  of  individuals.  Thus 
the  name  of  Tyndalo  has  frequently  been  associated  with 
various  other  men  :  with  even  an  amanuensis,  Roye,  who  was 
only  about  fifteen  months  in  his  service;  with  George  Joye, 
though  never  an  associate;  with  Constantino,  though  little  else 
than  one  of  those  agents  who,  in  early  times,  conveyed  copies 
of  the  New  Testament  into  England.  The  same  confusion 
has  prevailed,  when  referring  to  this  "  Testament  of  Geneva." 
"  This  translation,"  it  has  been  said,  "  was  made  by  many 
of  the  principal  English  Reformers." *•"'  The  translation,  cor- 
rectly speaking,  is  an  improvement  of  Tyndale's,  on  compar- 
ing it  with  the  Greek  original,  once  more  :  but  so  far  from 
many  being  engaged,  the  address  to  the  reader  at  the  begin- 
ning incontestibly  proves  it  to  have  been  the  work  of  only  one 
man  ;  and  although  it  cannot  even  yet  be  very  positively  as- 
serted who  that  individual  was,  we  now  offer  some  interesting 
particulars  respecting  one,  which  will  probably  leave  no  hesi- 
tation as  to  his  being  the  person  to  whom  his  country  stood 
indebted. 

WilUam  Whittingham^  the  branch  of  a  family,  not  ex- 
tinct in  the  male  line,  till  so  recently  as  1758,  was  born  in 
the  year  1524;  at  Holmeset,  afterwards  called  Holmeside  Hall, 
six  miles  from  Durham,  in  the  parish  of  Lanchester.'*'*  His 
father,  William  Whittingham,  Esq.  of  Holmeset,  had  sent 
him  to  Oxford,  where  he  became  a  commoner  at  Brazen-nose 
College  about  1540,  and  made  such  proficiency  in  learning, 
that  in  1545  he  was  elected  a  fellow  of  All-Souls.  Anthony 
Wood  affirms  that  he  was  after  this  chosen  one  of  the  senior 
students  in  Christ  Church,  formerly  Cardinal  College ; 
"  Henry  VIIT.  endeavouring  to  replenish  it  with  the  choicest 
scholars  in  the  University,"  precisely  as,  the  reader  may  re- 
member, Wolsey  had  first  attempted.  This  is  curious 
enough,  as  Whittingham  was  thus  following  in  the  same 
path  by  which  John  Fryth  had  been  led,  twenty  years  ago. 
Whittingham,  however,  so  far  from  being,  like  his  predeces- 
sor, confined  in  the  dungeon  below,  in  May  1550  had  leave 


<3  Lewis,  Newcomc,  Home,  Lowndes,  and  others. 

44  It  is  pcrlin]>s  the  name  of  this  parish  which  has  lid  lo  a  mistake,  not  unusual,  that  lio  w.is 
Imtu  in  the  city  of  Chester. 


J553-155S.]  OBLIGED  TO  LEAVE  ENGLAND.  OOt) 

granted  him,  by  the  dean  and  canons,  to  travel  for  three 
years.  He  embarked  for  France,  intending  to  go  into  Italy  ; 
but  being  taken  unwell  at  Lyon,  he  proceeded  first  to  Paris, 
and  then  to  Orleans  University,  spending  at  least  a  year  and 
a  half  between  these  two  cities.  After  having  visited  several 
parts  of  Germany,  his  travels  terminated  at  Geneva,  where  he 
remained  till  about  May  1553,  when  his  three  years  had  ex- 
pired. But  what  a  change  awaited  him  on  his  return  !  Ed- 
ward died  on  the  6tli  of  July.  Christ  Church  now,  must 
soon  have  proved  as  dangerous  to  him,  as  Cardinal  College,  or 
the  same  spot,  had  done  to  Fryth.  Whittingham,  with  a 
mind  now  enlightened,  had  no  idea  of  waiting  till  another 
Cardinal  should  bear  sway,  and  his  agents  at  Oxford  burn 
Bibles,  as  Wolsey  had  treated  the  New  Testament  Scrip- 
tures. Instead,  therefore,  of  "  leave  granted"  a  second  time, 
just  as  if  to  make  the  parallel  more  complete,  like  Fryth  or 
Tyndale  before  that,  he  must  now  fly  to  the  Continent,  where 
he  arrived  in  safety,  and  at  Frankfort,  on  the  27tli  of  June 
1554,  with  the  first  exiles  who  there  took  up  their  abode. 

Into  the  painful  and  unseemly  dissensions  which  arose  among  the  exiles  ut 
this  place,  in  March,  the  next  year,  well  known  since  by  the  title  of  "  The 
Troubles  of  Frankfort,"  it  is  happily  not  our  province  to  enter.  They  come 
befoi'e  us  in  connexion  with  Whittingliam,  only  in  passing,  but  it  is  in  a  light 
hitherto  but  little,  if  at  all,  observed.  The  war  of  opinion  in  England  was 
rising  to  its  utmost  virulence,  and  the  flames  about  to  be  kindled  by  it  were  to 
blaze  in  every  direction.  Nothing,  therefore,  could  be  more  himiiliating,  than 
to  see  a  number  of  good  and  able  men,  who  had  fled  in  haste,  and  but  narrowly 
escaped  with  their  lives,  all  at  once  discover  so  much  pertinacity.  Surely  the 
ground  which  both  parties  had  previously  occupied,  must,  in  itself,  have  been 
uutcuable,  before  such  a  scene  could  have  occurred.  There  was  no  difference 
of  opinion,  at  least  expressed,  as  to  the  way  of  a  sinful  creature's  acceptance 
before  his  Maker  ;  none  as  to  repentance  towards  God,  or  faith  towards  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ  ;  none  as  to  justification,  or  the  necessity  for  a  holy  life,  the 
resurrection  from  the  dead,  or  eternal  judgment.  But,  strange  to  say,  without 
taking  time  to  exchange  sentiments  on  these  fundamental  truths  ;  without  any 
time  to  recognise  and  bow  to  them,  as  the  only  cement  of  any  acceptable  or 
lasting  union  ;  taking  no  time  first  to  kindle  up  the  spirit  of  individual  devo- 
tion, and  of  mutual  love  or  esteem  ;  although  no  difierence  of  sentiment  ex- 
isted as  to  the  obligations  of  social  worship,  they  at  once  plunged  into  a  vor- 
tex, respecting  its  mere  external  form  of  display  !  Had  they  been  a  company 
of  simple-hearted  disciples,  no  such  misery  need  to  have  occurred,  nor  pro- 
bably would  ;  but  they  were  not  only  possessed  of  learning,  in  a  greater  or  less 
degree,  but  mostly  official  men  ;  and,  alas  !  "  the  wisdom  that  cometh  down 
from  above,  which  is  first  pure,  then  peaceable,  gentle,  and  easy  to  be  en- 
treated," was  not  there.  It  had  been  usual  to  urge  conformity  to  ceremonial 
observances,  from  respect  due  to  the  rcijal  authority  ))y  which  they  were  en- 


310  \VlirniN(iIIAM   must  LKAVK  IRANKKoRT,        [book   III. 

joiiud  ;  Ijiit  licro  there  was  no  autliurity  whatever,  (juite  the  revei-se.  Yet  tlio 
Service  Hook,  (hawn  up  by  Cniiimcr,  whieh  hail  been  set  fortli  Vty  the  authority 
of  a  Moiiareli,  under  age,  Edward  VI.,  now  no  more,  net  them  unliappily  wrong. 
Neither  party  liad  suftieicnt  hght  to  take  tlie  liigh  and  sacred,  the  only  safe 
ground,  and  stand  upon  it.  Tiiat  is,  ueitlier  party  saw,  so  as  to  adore,  tlie/«//- 
ncss  and  all-sujficleiicy  of  the  Sacred  Record  itM'lf,  as  a  Service  Book,  and  Prayer 
Book,  and  every  thing  else  in  the  shape  of  a  book  ;  and  the  contention  actually 
became  so  sharp  between  them,  that  in  the  space  of  less  than  one  solitary  fort- 
night, or  from  the  l.'Uh  to  the  '2.5111  of  March,  they  were  divided  into  two  hos- 
tile bands  !  Had  both  parties  immediately  died  on  the  spot,  no  conseijuences 
might  have  ensued,  and  the  hasty  contest  might  have  passed  away,  as  the 
crackling  of  thorns  under  a  pot.  But  Providence  had  appointed  otherwise,  and 
that  with  immediate  reference  to  Sacred  Writ,  as  infinitely  above  all  human 
compo.sition.  One  party  retired  to  Geneva  and  Basil,  and  the  other,  who  had 
conquered,  and  remained  at  Frankfort,  were  nerer  united  among  themselves. 
Their's  was  indeed  a  chapter  of  "  troubles"  from  beginning  to  end  ;  thus  afford- 
ing to  posterity  a  striking  lesson  of  instruction  and  warning,  from  which  it 
might  have  learned  much.  At  this  distance,  indeed,  it  may  be  ea.sy  for  many 
to  see  the  cause  of  this  division  ;  and  say — "  it  is  perfectly  evident  that  they 
were  too  precipitate,  too  hasty  or  impatient,  than  which  nothing  can  be  so  in- 
jurious to  Christianity ;  but  besides,  they  seem  to  have  been  mistaken  altoge- 
ther as  to  the  essential  origin  of  *  social  religion  exemplified.'  They  w  ere  bent, 
and  at  once,  on  '  the  unifoi'raity  of  profession  in  the  bond  of  ignorance,'  in- 
stead of  '  the  unity  of  the  Spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace.'  "  Be  it  so,  only  it  would 
have  been  well  for  thousands  since,  had  they  not  foundered,  again  and  again, 
on  the  self  same  rock.4.'j 

Had  Whittingliam  not  gone  to  Frankfort,  or  had  he  not 
been  a  party  concerned  in  this  scene,  we  should  have  been 
saved  the  necessity  of  any  reference  whatever  to  the  subject ; 
but  as  he  was  not  only  present,  but  deeply  interested,  and 
then  one  of  the  retiring  party ;  in  retiring  with  him  we  shall 
now  have  occasion  to  mark  the  Avatchful  care  of  the  Almighty 
over  his  own  Word ;  once  more  about  to  be  given  to  a  coun- 
try, which  was  once  more  fighting  against  it.  He,  and  let  it 
be  observed,  immediately  after  this,  found  out  for  this  con- 
fessedly eminent  scholar,  far  different  and  nobler  occupation 
than  that  of  fighting  at  Frankfort,  about  the  words  which 
mans  wisdom  teacheth.  Amidst  all  the  war''s  tumultuous 
noise,  God''s  own  revealed  will,  must  not  be  neglected.  Whit- 
tingham  had  hitherto  sustained  only  the  character  of  a 
Christian  and  a  scholar.  Having  had  no  official,  that  is,  no 
ministerial  character  in  the  Church,  he  bore  still  nearer  re- 
semblance to  John  Fryth ;  and  in  his  own  apprehension,  we 


<*  For  an  account  of  "  the  troubles  of  Frankfort,"  anno  I.'kM,  see  the  original  edition,  1.57.i,  or 
the  reprint  in  the  Phoenix,  vol.  ii.,  46.  Old  Thoinas  Fuller  gives  a  very  candid  statement  in  his 
characteristic  Church  History. 


1553-1558.]  AND  REPAIR  TO  GENEVA.  311 

know,  that,  "  from  his  former  travels  and  observations,  and 
his  acquisition  of  several  languages,"  he  imagined  "  he  had 
fitted  himself  more  for  civil  or  state  employment  than  any 
other."  No  matter ;  this,  we  presume,  is  the  individual  now 
selected  to  sit  down,  with  greater  skill  and  more  composure, 
to  the  New  Testament,  than  any  man  since  Tyndalo  himself; 
and  like  him  also,  happily  now  unfettered  by  any  human  au- 
thority whatever.  Hitherto  Whittinghara  had  lived  a  single 
life,  but  after  retiring  to  Geneva,  where  he  had  arrived  in  the 
autumn  of  1555,  he  was  married  to  Catharine,  the  sister  of 
John  Calvin.'*^  Whatever  may  have  been  the  date  of  his 
marriage,  this  was  the  time  in  which  he  must  have  applied 
assiduously  to  the  English  New  Testament,  with  "  the  most 
approved  Greek  examples  "  before  him.  To  his  recension  of 
Tyndale's  version,  he  prefixed  two  things.  First,  "an  Epistle 
declaring  that  Christ  is  the  end  of  the  Law,  by  John  Calvin," 
his  brother-in-law  ;  and  then  his  own  address,  of  three  leaves, 
"  To  the  reader."  In  this,  he  speaks  throughout  in  the  sin- 
gular number,  taking  the  entire  responsibility  upon  himself ; 
and  after  the  broil  in  which  he  had  previously  been  involved 
at  Frankfort,  his  language  becomes  the  more  impressive.  Ad- 
verting to  three  distinct  classes  of  men,  he  says — 

'<  Some  are  malicious  despisers  of  tlie  Word,  and  graces  of  God,  who  turn  all 
things  into  poison,  and  a  farther  hardening  of  their  hearts  :  others  do  not 
openly  resist  and  contemn  the  Gospel,  because  they  are  stricken  as  it  were  in 
a  trance  with  the  majesty  thereof ;  yet  either  they  quarrel  and  cavil,  or  else 
deride,  and  mock  at  whatsoever  thing  is  done,  for  the  advancement  of  the 
same.  The  third  sort  are  the  simple  lambs,  which  partly  are  already  in  the 
fold  of  Christ,  and  so  hear  willingly  their  Shepherd's  voice,  and  partly  wander- 
ing asti-ay  by  ignorance,  tarry  the  time  till  the  Shepherd  find  them,  and  bring 
them  unto  his  flock.  To  tkls  kind  of  people,  in  this  translation,  /  chiefly  had 
respect,  as  moved  with  zeal,  counselled  by  the  godly,  and  drawn  by  occasion, 
both  of  the  place  where  God  hath  appointed  us  to  dwell,  and  also  of  the  store 
of  heavenly  learning  and  judgment,  which  so  aboundeth  in  this  city  of  Geneva. 

...  To  these,  therefore,  who  are  of  the  flock  of  Christ,  which  know  their 
Father's  will,  and  are  affectioned  to  the  truth,  /  render  a  reason  of  my  doing 
in  few  lines,  &c." 


**>  Wood,  in  his  Athena-,  speaks,  though  with  hesitation,  of  Whittingham  having  been  mar- 
ried at  Orleans,  on  his  first  visit  to  the  continent,  and  to  Katharine,  daughter  of  Lewis  Jac- 
quierre,  near  that  city ;  but  we  have  no  evidence  whatever  of  his  having  been  the  husband  of 
more  than  one  wife,  and  that  he  was  married  to  the  sister  of  Calvin  is  certain,  from  the  words 
in  his  epitaph—"  Mariti  Catharinse  Sorroris  Johannis  Calvin  thcologi."— Willis,  i.,  p.  2.53, 
where  no  mention  is  made  of  any  other.  Whittingham's  name  will  occur  again  under  the  reign 
of  Elizabeth,  but  any  account  of  him  taken  from  Anthony  Wood  must  he  compared  with,  and 
corrected  by  other  writers.  See  Hulcliison's  History  of  the  C.  Pal.  of  Durham,  ii.,  143,  \M\  ,178. 
Forbes  State  Papers,  ii.,  207,  418,  48?. 


:U'2  TIIK  GKNKVA  NKW  TESTAMKNT.  [uooK  III. 

"  Counselled,""  us  he  tells  ua,  by  others,  it  is  evident  that 
the  writer  had  obtained  the  palm  for  scholarship  among  his 
brethren  :  now  as  Whittingham  will  come  before  us,  presently 
as  the  c/iief  person  engaged  with  the  entire  Scriptures,  or  the 
Geneva  Bible  of  1560,  there  can  remain  little  or  no  doubt 
that  he  is  the  man  now  speaking  in  this  preface.  Afterwards 
ho  will  appear  to  have  availed  himself  of  the  learning  of  some 
other  individuals,  though  by  no  means  to  the  extent  which 
has  been  all  along  so  vaguely  reported. 

This  New  Testament,  in  duodecimo,  neatly  printed  in  roniaii  and  italic 
types,  consists  of  4.5(J  leaves,  including  the  title — "  The  Newe  Testament  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  conferred  diligently  with  the  Greke  and  best  approued 
translations.  With  the  arguments  as  wcl  before  the  chapters  as  for  every  Boke 
and  Epistle  ;  also  diversities  of  readings  and  moste  profiitable  annotations  of  all 
harde  places  ;  whereunto  is  added  a  coi)ious  table. — At  Geneva,  printed  by  Con- 
rad Badius,  m.d.lvii."  And  at  the  end,  "  Printed  by  Conrad  Badius,  m.d.lvii. 
this  X  day  of  June."  The  date  is  worth  notice  on  one  account,  that  Whitting- 
ham died  only  six  miles  fi'om  the  spot  where  he  was  born,  or  at  Durham,  on  the 
very  same  day,  twenty-two  years  afterwards,  the  10th  of  June  1.579.  A  copy 
of  this  book,  at  public  sale,  li;us  brought  as  much  as  £11,  5s. 

Here,  then,  was  one  set-oft'  for  the  reign  of  Queen  Mary, 
which  she  and  her  husband  would  have  gladly  di.spensed  with. 
Literally,  in  the  time  of  "  blood  and  fire,  and  vapour  of 
smoke,"  in  a  dark  and  cloudy  day  for  England,  that  was  ac- 
complished which  liad  never  been  overtaken  all  the  time  of 
King  Edward.  The  New  Testament  did  require  revision, 
but  it  must  be  done  by  an  exile  upon  foreign  ground,  and  be 
printed  much  nearer  to  Home  than  London,  while  the  book, 
as  we  have  seen,  was  already  in  the  kingdom.  More  than 
this,  the  entire  Jiible,  still  more  improved  by  a  careful  compa- 
rison of  the  original  Hebrew  and  Greek,  was  already  com- 
menced ;  nay,  during  the  last  year  of  this  Queen's  reign,  the 
revisers  at  Geneva  were  engaged  with  it  literally  night  and 
day.  Whatever,  therefore,  had  been  overturned  or  trodden 
down  in  England,  this  cause  had  sensibly  advanced.  The 
storm  had  only  enlivened  its  progress,  and  actually  brought  it 
into  afar  better  state  than  it  was  before.  We  have  yet  to  see 
liow  it  fared  with  "  the  Exiles"""  IJible,  and  what  a  blessing  it 
proved  to  the  families  of  our  native  laud,  for  a  period  equal  to 
ten  times  the  duration  of  Queen  Mary's  reign.  The  Queen 
expiring  on  the  1  7th  of  November  1 .5.58,  she  was  succeeded 
by  her  sister  Elizabeth. 


L    --^lo    ] 


SECTION  III.     REIGN  OF  ELIZABETH. 

A  BEIGN,  EXTENDING  TO  MOKE  TITAN  FOHTV-FOUR  YEARS,  BUT  HOWEVER 
POWERFUL  IN  EVERY  OTHER  DEPARTMENT,  HAVING  NO  ACTUAL  CONTROL 
OVER  THE  CHOICE  OR  PREFERENCE  OF  THE  PEOPLE  OF  ENGLAND,  WITH 
REGARD  TO  THE  SACRED  SCRIPTURES  IN  THEIR  NATIVE  TONGUE,  AND 
THUS  PRESENTING  THE  ONLY  EXCEPTION  TO  UNLIMITED  SWAY. 

fi^  HE  second  daughter  and  only  surviving  child  of  Henry 
i  VIII.,  or  the  last  branch  of  the  Tudor  family,  now- 
ascended  the  throne,  at  the  age  of  twenty-five.  Born 
with  the  finest  natural  capacity,  the  education  of  Elizabeth, 
followed  by  the  discipline  through  which  she  had  passed,  en- 
abled her  to  hold  the  sceptre  with  a  firmer  grasp  than  that  of 
any  of  her  family  who  had  preceded  her ;  and  throughout  the 
long  period  of  above  forty-four  years,  England  had  no  occasion 
to  complain  for  want  of  what  certain  persons  have  styled  a 
strong  government.  The  preservation  of  the  Queen  to  the 
present  hour  was  very  remarkable,  and  it  proves,  in  the  most 
striking  manner,  that  a  nation  can  no  more  judge  of  what 
may  contribute  to  its  stability,  than  any  single  man  can  tell 
what  is  good  for  him  all  the  days  of  his  vain  life,  which  he 
spendeth  as  a  shadow.  Thus,  the  English  people,  when  Mary 
was  proclaimed,  had  drowned  with  joy  the  voice  of  the  heralds  ; 
but  their  hearts  revolted  at  the  very  prospect  of  her  marriage 
to  a  Spanish  prince,  and  the  step  once  taken  was  never  for- 
given. Yet  that  prince  must  come  into  the  country,  and 
enjoying,  as  he  did,  entire  sway  over  his  English  Queen,  thus 
pi'ove  one  instrument,  and  in  no  inferior  degree,  of  preserving 
her  sister  from  the  block.  The  life  of  no  heir  to  a  throne 
was  ever  worth  less  than  that  of  Elizabeth  at  one  period  ;  and 
had  Mary  only  remained  single,  with  Stephen  Gardiner  for 
her  adviser,  humanly  speaking,  her  sister  might  have  ended 
her  days  on  the  scaffold.  One  providential  purpose  for  which 
Philip  had  come  to  England  being  answered,  he  may  live 
abroad,  and  another  day,  with  his  armada,  seem  to  be  bent 
on  the  ruin  of  the  princess  he  had  saved ;  but  she  will  out- 
live liim,  as  well  as  every  storm  that  shall  be  raised  against 
lier. 


,3 II-  KLIZAUETII  MKMLY  RESOLVKU  [BOOK  III. 

Without  entering  into  politics,  or  the  character  of  particular  acts,  it 
is  allowed  by  all,  that  capacity  for  ruling  formed  the  leading  feature  of 
the  entire  reign,  whether  we  look  to  the  Queen  herHclf,  or  to  the  men  by 
whom  she  was  surrounded.  Under  other  nionarchs,  it  is  by  no  means 
difficult  to  fix  upon  one  man,  as  minister,  who  was,  in  fact,  the  presiding 
genius  of  the  age,  but  Elizabeth,  in  her  own  person,  formed  a  .striking 
exception.  Of  all  her  ministers,  it  has  been  remarked,  that  they  owed 
their  advancement  to  her  choice,  and  that  they  were  supported  by  her 
constancy,  but,  with  all  their  abilities,  they  were  never  able  to  acquire 
any  undue  ascendancy  over  her.  "  In  her  family,  in  her  court,  in  her 
kingdom,  she  remained  equally  mistress."  Inflexibly  resolved  never  to 
divide  her  power  with  any  man  living,  and  never  to  marry,  her  object 
throughout  life  was  to  reign  alone,  a  course  which  she  pursued  with 
a  sagacity  which  has  seldom,  if  ever,  been  exceeded.  Should  there  hap- 
pen, therefore,  to  be  one  palpable  exception  to  her  imperative  sway, 
more  especially  should  there  be  only  one,  and  that  one  embrace  the  con- 
tinued history  of  the  Sacred  Volume,  this  will  not  merely  extend  that 
line  of  distinction  between  it  and  all  other  affairs,  which  we  have  beheld 
as  unbroken,  throughout  three  successive  reigns  ;  but  it  will  show  that, 
as  far  as  the  current  of  events  had  any  voice,  the  God  of  providence  was 
lending  increasing  energy  to  that  course  which  He  had  maintained  from 
the  beginning. 

The  first  months  of  this  able  monarch  were,  however,  remarkably  dis- 
tinguished by  caution.  At  once  she  discovered  a  miind  which  seemed  to 
have  been  accvistomed  to  consult  only  with  itself.  As  far  as  worldly 
prudence  could  foresee,  she  had  i-esolved  to  mark  out  her  o^vn  })ath, 
and  in  the  meanwhile  to  do  absolutely  nothing  rashly.  On  this  account, 
her  future  course  became  the  subject  of  deep  solicitude  and  anxious  spe- 
c\ilation,  rather  than  that  of  certain  hope  to  either  of  the  two  parties, 
into  which  her  council,  as  well  as  her  kingdom,  was  divided.  Had 
the  Queen  at  once  listened  to  either  party,  and  implicitly  followed 
its  advice,  there  can  be  no  question  that  persecution  must  have  been  the 
immediate  result ;  for  notwithstanding  all  that  had  passed  over  both, 
still  neither  the  one  nor  the  other  understood  how  to  separate  power 
from  persecution,  or  the  exercise  of  mental  freedom  from  obedience  to 
civil  authority.  No  more  did  Queen  Elizabeth,  or  rather  less,  but  deter- 
mined, if  possible,  to  make  herself  beloved  by  her  people  as  a  whole  ; 
some  time  was  required,  for  a  mind  like  hers,  to  trace  out  such  a  path 
as  she  supposed  was  most  likely  to  secure  that  end. 

The  caution,  however,  to  which  we  have  referred,  has  been  noticed 
here,  on  account  of  its  having  distinctly  embraced  the  Sacred  Volume. 
Even  this,  also,  must  be  regarded  with  what  Elizabeth  imagined  to  be 
prudent  expediency.  It  is  tnic,  that  on  Saturday,  the  i4th  of  January 
1559,  as  has  been  often  repeated,  on  proceeding  through  London,  in  public 


1558-1603.3  TO  PROCEED  WITH  CAUTION.  315 

procession,  when  an  elegant  English  Bible  was  presented  to  her  majesty, 
at  the  Conduit,  in  Cheapside,  she  received  it  with  a  grace  peculiar  to 
herself,  and  kissing  it,  said,  while  pressing  it  to  her  bosom,  that  she 
would  "  oftimes  read  that  holy  book."  The  Queen  had  just  passed  the 
spot  where  the  Scriptures  had  been  often  burnt ;  and  the  present  gift  had 
been  adopted,  no  doubt,  with  the  view  of  drawing  forth  some  pointed 
declaration ;  but  it  went  no  farther,  and  then,  the  very  next  morning, 
or  that  of  her  coronation,  it  was  not  to  be  understood  that  she  had 
already  signified  her  approbation  of  either  printing  or  circulating  the 
Sacred  Volume ! 

"  Queen  Elizabeth,"  says  Lord  Bacon,  "  the  morrow  of  her  coronation,  it 
being  the  custom  to  release  prisoners  at  the  inauguration  of  a  prince,  went  to 
the  chapel,  and,  in  the  great  chamber,  one  of  her  courtiers,  who  was  well 
known  to  her,  either  out  of  his  own  motion,  or  by  the  instigation  of  a  wiser 
man,  presented  her  with  a  petition,  and,  before  a  number  of  courtiers,  besought 
her,  with  a  loud  voice, — '  That  now  this  good  time,  there  might  be  four  or  five 
principal  prisoners  more  released.'  It  was  inquired  who  they  were,  when  he 
replied, — '  These  were  the  four  Evangelists  and  the  Apostle  Paul,  who  had 
been  long  shut  up,  as  it  were,  in  prison,  so  as  they  could  not  converse  with  the 
common  people,  who  were  eager  to  see  them  abroad.'  The  Queen,  however, 
answered  very  gravely, — '  That  it  was  best  first  to  inquire  of  themselves, 
whether  they  would  be  released  or  no.'  "  ^ 

The  last  Queen  had  now  been  dead  two  months,  but  nothing  definite 
had  ever  escaped  from  the  lips  of  her  successor.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
steps  actually  taken  conveyed  no  certainty  of  signification,  so  that  the 
hopes  and  fears  of  two  adverse  parties  were  alike  quivering  in  the  beam. 
Thus,  in  reference  to  her  Council,  Elizabeth  had  retained  a  majority  of 
professed  disciples  of  "  the  old  learning,"  some  of  whom  had  been  active 
in  its  defence,  and  all  of  them  men  distinguished  either  for  capacity  or 
influence  ;  but  to  these  she  added  eight  others  of  opposite  sentiments, 
not  exempting  some  who  had  suffered  imprisonment  or  exile  for  their 
opinions.  Cecil,  the  Queen's  principal  adviser  and  Secretary,  as  well 
as  herself,  had  conformed  under  the  late  reign,  and  though  it  was  under- 
stood that  they  had  merely  bowed  to  the  storm,  from  a  Council  so  con- 
stituted, it  was  impossible  to  augur  anything.  There  was  in  fact  a  very 
different,  or  secret  cabinet,  of  much  smaller  dimensions,  with  whom 
rested  the  power  of  control. 

A  number  of  steps  had  only  prolonged  the  public  uncertainty.  Thus, 
on  the  14th  of  December  Elizabeth  had  buried  her  sister,  with  all  the 
rites  of  the  old  learning,  and  on  the  23d  ordered  a  solemn  dh'ge  for  the 
sovl  of  the  Emperor  Charles  :  but  then  two  days  after,  the  prisoners  on 
account  of  religious  opinion  were  released,  while  on  the  27th  all  preach- 


!  '  This  courtier,  says  Heylin,  was  named  Rainsford,  probably  Sir  John  Rainsford,  a  Knipht 
of  Essex,  said  to  have  been  the  generous  protector  of  George  Buchanan  on  his  flight  from  Scot- 
land in  15.3!i. 


310'  KLIZABETIl  STILL  CAUTIOUS.  QboOK  III. 

ing  by  any  party  was  imperatively  suspcndcil,  till  consultation  was  held 
by  the  Queen  with  the  three  estates.  She  had  passed  through  London 
indeed  with  great  eclat ;  but  the  very  next  morning,  as  we  have  seen, 
checked  her  too  forward  courtier.  The  Princess  Regnant  must  be  let 
alone,  to  think  out,  and  resolve  upon,  her  own  course,  and  to  consult 
farther  with  Cecil  and  Bacon  ;  but  this  is  not  to  be  done  now,  in  open 
Hall,  and  before  the  Crown  has  yet  been  set  upon  her  head.  Parliament 
itself  must  first  assemble,  as  it  did  in  ten  days  after,  when  her  Majesty 
had  no  reason  to  be  dissatisfied  with  the  amount  of  power  conferred  upon 
her.  Its  very  opening  however  must  be  distinguished  by  the  charac- 
teristic ambiguity.  It  was  on  the  25th  of  January,  when  Elizabeth 
assisted,  in  state,  at  a  solemn  high  mass  ;  but  after  this  followed  a  ser- 
mon, and  by  no  other  than  Dr.  Cox,  the  tutor  of  Edward,  and  one  of  the 
e.ciles  just  returned  from  banishment.  Not  a  little  business  was  done, 
while  a  cautious  expediency  is  still  very  observable.  Certain  laws  of 
Henry  the  Eighth  were  renewed,  many  of  Edward's  revived,  and  those 
of  Mary  repealed  :  but  in  Parliament  there  must  not  be  a  single  move- 
ment as  to  faith  of  any  kind.  They  were  summoned  to  consult  respect- 
ing an  uniform  "  order"  of  religion.  Analogous  to  Cranmer's  proposal, 
twenty-three  years  ago,  they  must  first  decide  upon  the  ceremonial  or 
external  order  ;  only  now  no  "  Articles"  in  reference  to  doctrine  or  the 
fundamental  truths  of  Christianity  must  be  once  propounded.  In  the 
Convocation  indeed,  also  assembled,  "and  which,  owing  to  the  times," 
says  Fuller,  "  was  very  small  and  silent,"  the  adherents  of  "  the  old 
learning,"  with  Bonner  for  their  leader,  were  broaching,  for  the  last  time, 
certain  articles,  but  though  presented  to  Bacon,  the  Lord  keeper,  and 
they  led  to  a  discussion  afterwards,  such  subjects  are  not  to  be  admitted 
within  the  walls  of  Parliament. 

The  "  Supremacy,"  however,  must  now  be  both  discussed,  and  settled. 
But  here  again,  her  Majesty  had  objected  decidedly  to  a  title,  first  as- 
sumed by  her  Father,  and  one  in  which  he  gloried, — "  the  Head  of  the 
Church."  The  world,  it  has  been  said,  is  ruled  by  names  ;  and  so  the 
a])j)are7it  rejection  of  a  cherished  title  on  the  one  hand,  and  non-inter- 
ference, as  to  faith,  at  present,  on  the  other,  must  have  had  their  re- 
spective objects.  Abroad  at  least,  the  first  movement  might  sound  au- 
spiciously for  the  moment,  and  the  last,  if  it  had  no  softening  effect  at 
home,  at  least  left  the  way  still  open  for  indulging  a  pleasing  dream,  or 
the  hope  of  amalgamating  two  hostile  parties.  INIeanwhile  the  title  by 
which  Elizabeth  chose  to  be  distinguished  was  that  of  "  Governor  of  the 
Church  ;"  but  according  to  P'uUer,  complaints  were  heard  still,  "  that  the 
simplicity  of  poor  people  was  abused  ;  because  while  the  Queen  declined 
the  former  title,  and  assumed  the  latter,  though  less  offensive,  it  was 
more  exjrressive  ;  so  that  while  their  ears  were  favoured,  in  her  waving  the 
word,  their  souls  were  deceived  with  the  sense  under  another  expression. 


1558-1603.]  CUSTOMARY  ROYAL  INJUNCTION.  317 

There  was  now  to  be  no  Parliament  or  Convocation  for 
three  years,  bnt  at  last,  and  without  therefore  having  con- 
sulted either  the  one  or  the  other,  about  midsunnner  or  the 
autumn  of  this  year  we  hear  sometiiing  respecting  the  Scrip- 
tures ;  and  by  virtue  of  Elizabeth"'s  authority,  certain  injunc- 
tions were  issued.  Among  these  were  the  following,  left  with 
every  parish  visited. 

"  To  provide  within  three  months  after  tliis  visitation,  at  the  charges  of  the 
parish,  one  book  of  tlie  whole  Bible  of  the  largest  volume  in  English,  and  within 
one  twelve  months  the  paraphrases  of  Erasnms  also  in  English,  and  the  same  to 
be  set  up  in  some  convenient  place  within  the  said  Church,  where  the  parish- 
ioncre  may  most  conveniently  resort  and  read  the  same.  All  parsons  under  the 
degree  of  A.M.,  shall  buy  for  their  own  use  the  New  Testament  in  Latin  and  Eng- 
lish with  paraphrases,  within  three  months.  Enquiry  was  to  be  made  whether 
any  Parsons,  Vicars,  or  Cui'ates,  did  discourage  any  person  from  reading  any 
part  of  the  Bible,  either  in  Latin  or  English." 

No  intimation  was  given,  here,  or  any  where  else,  as  to  how 
or  where  suck  volumes  were  to  be  found,  and  hence  it  has  been 
inferred  by  Lewis,  that  under  the  late  reign  they  had  not  been 
destroyed  or  burnt  to  any  very  great  extent.  At  the  same 
time,  it  may  be  observed  that  this  was  nothing  more  than  a 
roi/al  injunction ;  buried  too  among  not  fewer  than  fifty 
others,  some  of  which  are  strange  enough ;  and  if  the  effects 
resembled  those  which  resulted  from  Henry's  voice,  then  there 
would,  in  many  instances,  be  a  reluctant,  in  others,  only  a 
tardy  compliance. 

As  for  the  preparation  of  more  copies,  Elizabeth  said  not 
one  word,  while  the  printing  press,  as  we  shall  see  presentl}^ 
far  from  approaching  its  freedom  in  the  days  of  Edward,  has 
become  more  fettered  than  it  had  ever  been,  since  the  art  was 
first  introduced  into  England  ! 

All  this,  however,  will  only  render  the  progress  in  printing 
of  the  Sacred  Volume  still  more  remarkable.  This  was  a 
cause  in  which  neither  the  reigning  Prince  nor  the  Privy 
Council,  the  Parliament  or  Convocation,  had  ever  been  much 
consulted,  and  never  with  a  view  to  its  essential  progress.  It 
had  commenced  contrary  to  the  will  of  all  these  parties,  and 
as  certainly  proceeded  without  taking  orders  from  them.  For 
the  progress,  therefore,  at  this  crisis,  as  we  were  accustomed 
to  do  in  the  days  of  Elizabeth's  father,  we  must  now  look 
abroad.    From  thence  the  Queen  requires  to  be  pvt  on  her  icay. 


318  KKVISION  OK  TIIK  HIBI-K  [nOOK  III. 

and  in  a  manner  not  unlike  to  Henry's  reception  and  sanction 
ol"  the  Bible  at  first,  in  1537. 

Before  turning  to  her  Majesty  on  the  throne,  however,  we  are  met  by 
an  old  acquaintance  still  alive,  in  perfect  keeping  with  our  nairative  ; 
a  man  who,  as  an  instrument,  at  least  in  this  history,  occupies  a  place 
superior  to  that  of  any  reigning  Prince.  We  refer  to  no  other  than 
Richard  Grafton,  the  printer  of  the  ^-»are?i^  Bible,  and  others  following. 
Before  Elizabeth  had  done  any  thing,  nay,  when,  as  Jewel  informs 
Peter  ]\Iartyr,  she  was  "  wonderfully  afraid  of  any  innovations,"  Richard 
appears  again  in  sight,  and  quite  in  character,  as  if  summoning  afresh 
to  their  work,  the  friends  of  Divine  Truth.  But  before  he  called,  they 
were  answering,  for  they  had  been  busy  "  night  and  day."  Only,  let  it  be 
observed,  that  as  it  happened  in  the  days  of  Henry,  the  answer  or  echo  will 
once  more  come  from  abroad.  It  was  in  IG.OfJ  that  Grafton  began  by  a  re- 
print, first  published  at  the  accession  of  Edward  in  1.547,  after  his  father 
had,  only  with  his  breath,  ceased  to  frown.  The  title  is, — "  A  godly  invec- 
tive in  the  defence  of  the  gospel,  against  such  as  murmv/r  and  work  what 
they  can,  that  the  Bible  should  not  have  free  passage,  very  lucessary  to  be 
read  of  every  faithful  Christian."  By  Philip  Gerrard,  yeoman  of  King 
Edward's  chamber. "^  We  are  thus  reminded  of  the  "Supplication" 
which  preceded  the  New  Testament,  under  the  Queen's  father,  as  well 
as  of  the  fine  opening  of  King  Edward's  reign  :  but  the  reigning  Prin- 
cess is  resolved  to  be  as  cautious  as  she  was  vigilant  and  powerful.  We 
shall  see,  therefore,  whether  these  can  prevent  her  from  being  overruled, 
and  to  the  end  of  her  long  sovereignty. 

While  Elizabeth  was  yet  in  jeopardy  of  her  life,  and  under 
the  guardianship  of  Sir  Thomas  Pope,  we  have  already  seen 
that  an  edition  of  the  New  Testament  had  been  printed  at 
Geneva — that  copies  were  finding  their  way  into  England,  in 
despite  of  all  opposition, — and  that  an  edition  of  the  entire 
Scriptures  was  already  commenced,  in  the  same  city.  The 
exiles  themselves  inform  us  when  this  was  begun.  It  was 
when  "  the  time  was  dangerous,  and  the  persecution,  in 
England,  sharp  and  furious."  The  fact  is,  that  no  sooner  had 
the  New  Testament  left  the  press,  than  Whittingham,  with 
one  or  two  others,  were  preparing  for  their  larger  undertak- 
ing, and,  at  the  latest,  by  January  1558  they  had  commenc- 
ed. These  men  tell  us  that  "  they  thought  they  could  be- 
stow their  labours  and  study  in  nothing  more  acceptable  to 

2  MaunscH's  Catalogue,  p.  .W.     Herbeil's  Ames,  pp.  5S3-538. 


1 558-1 G03.]  PROCEEDING  AT  GENEVA.  319 

God,  and  comfortable  to  his  Churcli ;"  and  they  add, — "  God 
knoweth  with  what  fear  and  trcmblino-  wo  have  been  for  the 

o 

space  of  two  years  and  more,  day  and  night,  occupied  herein.*'"' 
The  space  referred  to,  therefore,  was  from  Januaiy  1558  to 
the  10th  of  April  1560,  when  the  last  sheet  was  put  to  press. 
Considering  the  high  character  of  this  version,  and  the 
number  of  editions  through  which  it  passed,  it  would  have 
been  gratifying  could  wo  have  fixed,  with  more  positive  cer- 
tainty, on  the  individuals  to  whom  the  nation  stood  indebted. 
They  were  most  probably  not  more  than  three  in  number,  or 
four  at  the  most ;  but  whether  it  arose  from  modesty  or  mo- 
tives of  prudence,  we  are  left  to  find  out  the  real  parties.  The 
revision  has  been  often,  it  is  true,  and  very  loosely  ascribed, 
to  six,  and  even  nine,  individuals,  as  though  engaged  in  one 
body:  viz.,  William  Whittingham,  Anthony  Gilby,  Miles 
Coverdale,  Thomas  Sampson,  Christopher  Goodman,  Thomas 
Cole,  John  Knox,  John  Bodleigh  and  John  Pullain.  This, 
however,  is  doing  nothing  else  than  numbering  up  certain  men 
possessed  of  learning,  who  happened  to  be  then  living  at 
Geneva.  It  requires  but  a  little  investigation  to  reduce  the 
number  to  one-third,  and  then,  we  presume,  the  great  burden, 
if  not  the  entire  responsibility,  will  appear  to  have  fallen 
upon  three  of  these  scholars.  It  is  true  that  all  these  men, 
with  many  others,  Avere  intimately  and  affectionately  con- 
nected with  each  other.  They  were  members  of  the  same 
Christian  church,  and  a  church,  be  it  observed,  who  as  a 
body  felt  deeply  interested  in  this  edition  of  the  Sacred  Vo- 
lume. The  entire  expense  not  only  of  this  Bible,  but  of  an 
edition  of  the  Psalms  by  itself  was  to  be,  and  was  defrayed 
by  "  such  as  were  of  most  ability  in  that  congregation." 
There  was  no  application  to  their  native  country,  no  solicita- 
tion of  one  farthing  from  without.  Amidst  the  storm  that 
raged  against  the  truth,  they  had  been  driven  into  a  corner, 
and  thus  the  Church  was  employed.  In  the  fullness  of  their 
hearts,  the  sound  learning  of  certain  members,  and  the  pe- 
cuniary substance  of  others,  being  devoted  to  the  cause  of 
their  common  Saviour,  nothing  could  be  a  finer  exhibition  of 
Christian  zeal  for  the  highest  interests  of  their  native  land. 
Thus,  as  the  first  translation  of  the  Sacred  Word,  commenced 
in  1524,  had  sprung  from  the  devoted  zeal  of  a  solitary  Chris- 
tian exile,  whose  heart  had  bled  with  pity  for  his  country  ;  so 


320  TIIH  TIIRKK  REVISKRH  AT  ({KNKVA.  [hOoK  HI. 

the  next  thorough  revision  of  tlu!  ciitin-  Sacred  text,  must 
come  from  the  bosom  of  a  small  Christian  community,  also  in 
exile,  "  for  the  word  of  God  and  tho  testimony  of  Jesus  Christ." 
The  accession  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  however,  in  November 
1558,  naturally  filled  this  entire  circle  with  joy,  and  the 
men  we  have  named,  as  well  as  others,  were  as  naturally 
separated ;  but  then  this  was  with  the  exception  of  those  who 
had  devoted  themselves  to  tho  revision  and  printing  of  the 
Bible.  The  good  news  had  reached  Geneva  in  December, 
and  at  that  moment,  we  are  informed,  that  the  greater  part  of 
the  book  was  not  finished ;  but  "  Whittingham,  with  one  or 
two  more,  did  tarry  at  Geneva  an  year  and  a  half  after  Queen 
Elizabeth  came  to  the  CroMn,  being  resohed  to  go  through  with 
the  work?  Le  Long  has  affirmed  that  "  the  chief  and  most 
learned"  of  the  men  already  mentioned,  were  Coverdale, 
Whittingham,  and  Gilby ;  but  Coverdale,  now  seventy  years 
of  age,  cannot  be  traced  as  at  Geneva  sooner  than  December 
1558,  and  it  is  certain  that  he  returned  in  1559 ;  how  early 
we  cannot  tell.  He  was  preaching  at  Paul's  Cross  on  the 
12th  of  November.*  In  short,  Knox  had  left  Geneva  as  early 
as  January  1559  ;  Goodman  followed  him  to  Scotland,  where 
we  find  him  in  September ;  while  it  is  as  certain  that  Cover- 
dale  and  Cole,  Pullain  and  Bodleigh,  returned  to  England  in 
the  same  year.^      The  only  three  left,  therefore,  were  AMiit- 


3  Wood's  Athenae,  4to,  i.,  p.  447-  ''  Strypc's  Life  of  Grindal. 

'>  Wood's  Athena?,  &c.  That  Coverdale  and  Knox,  the  most  conspicuous  of  those  who 
now  left  Geneva,  could  not  have  been  en{;agcd  with  this  translation,  may  be  made  more 
evident.  Coverdale,  as  already  mentioned,  had  left  England  in  February  15.")'),  and  went  direct 
to  Denmark,  where  the  King  would  have  sustained  him  ;  but  bent  on  being  useful,  he  went 
first  to  his  expatriated  countrymen  at  Wesel  in  the  duchy  of  Clcves.  Being,  however,  ac- 
quainted with  German,  and  having  formerly  ministered  to  a  church  at  liergzabern,  in  Bavaria, 
there  he  sojourned  ;  the  first  time  his  name  is  to  be  found  any  where  else  is  at  Geneva,  on 
the  1  jih  of  December  lo.58.  Now,  as  the  Bible  was  bepun  nearly  a  year  before  this,  and  as  he 
so  soon  took  his  departure  for  England,  some  casual  or  i>assing  advice  was  the  utmost  that  his 
time  afforded.  The  same  thing  is  equally  evident  with  regard  to  John  Knox.  He  had  gone  to 
Frankfort  from  Geneva  in  I.5.')4,  where  he  first  met  with  Whittingham.  when  by  the  unanimous 
suffrages  of  his  brethren  he  was  chosen  pastor  of  the  church.  It  was  in  March  following,  that 
he  was  unceremoniously  ejected  by  Dr.  Cox  and  his  supporters,  just  arrived  from  England.  By 
the  12th  of  June  l.'i.").').  Knox  had  returned  to  Geneva.  It  was  then  only,  and  on  the  borders  of 
.SO,  that  he./i'rW  began  li>  stiiil;/  Hcbrciv ;  but  in  August  he  left  Geneva  for  Scotland,  and  was  in 
Edinburgh  by  November.  In  the  spring  of  l.Wfi  we  find  him  in  Ayrshire,  at  Edinburgh  ag.iin 
in  Mav.  which  he  left,  with  his  family,  in  July,  for  France,  proceeding  by  Dieppe  to  Geneva. 
But  by  March  I.').')7,  he  was  anxious  to  return  to  Edinburgh,  and  had  gone  to  Dieppe  in  Octo- 
ber, where  he  remained  two  months,  returning,  however,  to  Geneva  early  in  lill),  when  the 
Geneva  Bible  was  already  undertaken.  The  English  Church  at  Geneva  had  chosen  two  pas- 
tors. Knox  was  one  of  them,  and  Anthony  Gilby  had  ministered  in  his  place  when  absent. 
But  even  now,  throughout  LWH,  Scotland  still  dwelt  on  his  mind,  as  it  was  in  thisye.irhe  penned 
his  letter  to  the  Queen  Regent,  as  well  as  his  Appellation  .ind  Fxhortalion.  By  November  of 
this  year,  indeed,  letters  from  his  native  country  had  arrived,  urging  his  return,  and  he  left 
Geneva  for  the  last  time  in  January  15.'i!);  Whittingham  having  been  ordained  as  his  successor. 


I.'>.5S-1608.]  THE  GENEVA   BIBLE.  321 

tinghain,  Gilby  and  Sampson,  and  witli  their  names  only  the 
transhition  should  have  been  associated ;  since  the  men  who 
completed  "  the  greater  part,"  must  have  been  those  by 
whom  it  had  been  begun.  Many  of  their  brethren,  indeed, 
they  tell  us,  "  put  them  on  this  work  by  their  earnest  desire 
and  exhortation ;"  while  others  encouraged  them  "  not  to 
spare  any  charge  for  the  furtherance  of  such  a  benefit  and 
favour  of  God  toward  his  Church/'' 

Although  we  cannot  now  notice  every  edition  here,  but 
refer  to  our  list,  yet  as  the  only  English  Bible  distinctly 
pointed  out  in  any  patent,  from  Elizabeth  downwards,  and 
especially  as  the  basis  of  so  many  editions  for  above  eighty 
years  to  come,  this  demands  some  farther  notice. 

Title "  The  Bible  and  Holt  Scriptures  conteyned  in  the  Olde  and  Newa 

Testament.  Translated  according  to  the  Ebrue  and  Greke,  and  conferred  with 
the  best  translations  in  divers  langages.  With  moste  profitable  annotations 
upon  all  the  harde  places,  and  other  thinges  of  great  importance  as  may  ap- 
peare  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Reader."  Beneath  is  a  wood-cut,  of  the  Israelites 
passing  through  the  red  sea.  "  At  Geneva.  Printed  by  Rouland  Hall,  mdlx." 
Collation — After  a  dedication  to  the  Queen,  and  an  Epistle  to  the  Readers,  about 
to  be  noticed,  we  have  the  text  from  Genesis  to  2d  Maccabees,  fol.  i.,  474. 
"  The  Newe  Testament  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,"  &c.,  with  the  same  wood- 
cut and  imprint  as  before.  "  The  Holy  Gospel,"  &c.,  fol.  ii,,  cxxii.  A  table 
of  interpretation  of  proper  names — of  principal  things — the  yeai"s  from  Adam 
to  Christ — and  the  years  from  Paul's  conversion.  There  is  no  Colophon.  The 
Sacred  text  is  in  Roman,  the  contents  of  chapters  in  Italic  type.  A  full  page 
contains  63  lines. 

Not  at  all  aware,  perhaps,  of  the  cautious  expediency  by 
which  the  Queen  of  England  was  now  guided,  they  subjoined 
a  dedication  to  her  Majesty,  remarkably  free  from  that  ful- 
some adulation,  which  had  been  far  too  common,  and  express- 
ing with  great  frankness  their  zeal  for  further  progress  in  the 
cause  of  truth  and  righteousness.  But  there  was  a  second 
address  or  "  Epistle,"  still  more  worthy  of  notice.  In  what 
they  had  done,  the  translators  now  fixed  an  eye  of  sympathy 
and  love,  not  upon  England  alone,  but,  taking  a  nobler  flight, 
upon  all  those  to  whom  the  English  language  was  vernacular. 
Such  was  the  happy  effect  of  adversity  and  travel ;  the  one 
softening,  the  other  enlarging  their  minds.  Their  epistle  of 
explanation,  therefore,  as  to  this  version,  is  addressed  to  no 


Ri'turning  by  Dieppe,  he   landed  at  Leith  on   the  2d  of  May.     To  say  nothing,  therefore,  of 
Knox's  but  recent  attention  to  Hebrew,  it  is  evident  from  these  movements,  that,  however  in- 
terested, he  coiilf]  never  have  been  eng-tged  with  this  new  version  of  the  Bible. 
VOL.   II.  X 


322  I'Hb;  UENICVA    IJIULK    ANU    US  [houK   Ml. 

narticiiliir  party;  but — "  To  ouu  uKi-OViio  in  the  Loud;  the 
itiuciiiKKN  01'  England,  Scotland,  and  Ikeland."  A  most 
judicious  title,  and  if  there  must  be  any  Epistle  to  the  Chris- 
tian Reader  at  all,  it  would  have  been  well  for  the  interests 
of  the  United  Kingdom  had  the  words  been  preserved  invio- 
late from  that  day  to  this.  Amidst  all  that  has  occurred 
since,  it  is  the  onlt/  one  to  which  no  objection  worth  notice, 
could,  or  can,  be  brought ;  to  say  nothing  of  its  being  so  akin 
to  the  simple  majesty  of  the  Divine  Record,  and  to  that  only 
lif^lit  in  which  God  has  regarded  the  entire  number  of  his 
people,  in  this  highly  favoured  country,  all  along. 

The  last  sheet  of  this  Bible  having  been  committed  to  the 
press  on  the  10th  of  April  1560,  Whittingham,  Gilby,  and 
Sampson  returned  home  immediately  ;  but  of  all  the  men 
already  mentioned,  there  was  one,  who  had  not  only  fostered 
the  translation  when  proceeding  at  Geneva,  but  was  specially 
interested  in  its  circulation  throughout  England,  immediately 
afterwards,  and  he  must  not  now  be  passed  over.  Bodeleigh 
or  Bodlev  is  a  name  that  one  should  have  imagined  would 
not  have  escaped  notice,  as  it  has  generally  done." 


«  Neither  Foxe,  Burnet,  or  Strype,  Mr.  Todd  or  Mr.  Whiftaker,  give  us  any  information. 
Lewis  glances  at  him  as  one  John  Bodleigh  ;  and  Mr.  Townley,  in  his  valuable  "  Biblical  Litera- 
ture," after  some  notice  of  all  these  men,  closes  by  saying—"  Of  John  Bodkigh  no  account  has 
been  obtained."  Of  the  three  men  who  returned  last,  it  may  here  be  added,  that  they  never 
appear  to  have  made  any  public  statement  respecting  the  good  work  in  which  they  had  en- 
gaged ;  leaving  the  translation  to  be  estimated  by  its  own  merits.  At  one  period  or  another,  in 
future  life,  all  the  three  seem  to  have  been  befriended  by  Henry  Hastings,  Earl  of  Huntingdon. 
As  for  Gilby,  he  lived  and  died  at  an  advanced  age,  as  Rector  of  Ashby-dela-Zouche,  the  gift  of 
this  nobleman.  Whittingha.'m's  talents  we  have  mentioned  as  of  the  first  order.  This  partly 
apjieared  as  soon  as  he  returned  home.  He  was  immediately  nominated  to  accompany  the  Earl 
of  Bedford  on  a  mission  to  the  Court  of  France,  and  on  his  return  went  with  the  Earl  of  War- 
wick, through  whose  influence  with  Elizabeth  he  was  chosen  Oean  of  Durham.  Soon  after 
this,  his  character  and  abilities  being  known  and  acknowledged,  when  Sir  W.  Cecil,  Principal 
Secretary  of  State,  was  made  Lord  Treasurer,  Whittingham  was  thought  of,  and  according  to 
A.  Wood,  (who  was  no  admirer  of  course),  actually  nominated  among  others  to  succeed  him. 
Whittingham,  however,  was  not  in  the  least  anxious  for  Court  favour,  and  remained  where  he 
was,  at  Durham.  Neither  he,  nor  his  two  friends,  were  ever  reconciled  to  the  dress  im)>osed  by 
authority  on  the  clergy,  and  in  several  things,  like  Coverdalc,  never  conformed ;  but  it  was  not 
until  near  the  close  of  his  life  that  Whittingham  was  molested.  This  had  reference  to  the  va- 
lidity of  his  ordhialion.  He  had,  it  is  true,  been  only  an  eminent  Christian  scholar,  till  he 
went  to  Geneva  the  second  time,  where  he  was  called  to  the  ministry  by  the  unanimous  suffrage 
of  his  brethren,  and  was  then  ordained,  precisely  as  John  Knox  had  been  before  him.  Edwin 
Sandys,  though  himself  once  also  an  exile,  was  now  Archbishop  of  York,  and  with  .35  articles, 
and  4!)  interrogatories,  he  now  fell  upon  the  Dean  ;  but  the  chief  charge  related  to  his  Geneva 
ordination.  Whittingham  denied  the  power  of  Sandys  to  visit  Durham  at  all,  and  ap|>ealed  to 
Elizabeth.  But  her  commission  being  addressed  to  Hastings,  Earl  of  Huntingdon,  as  Lord  Pre- 
sident of  the  North,  and  to  Ilutton,  Dean  of  York,  (Sec,  as  well  as  to  the  Archbishop,  the  two 
fonner  were  warm  in  favour  of  Whittingham.  On  one  occasion,  the  Dean  of  York  made  no 
scruple  in  teJhng  Sandys,  though  his  own  superior,  that  Whittingham  was  "  ordained  in  a 
better  manner  than  the  Archbishop  himself."  After  two  attcmjits  to  visit,  they  alike  failed, 
and  our  transUator  died  soon  after,  on  the  Illth  of  June  \:>7i>  ;  or  twenty-two  years  after 
his  New  Testament  was  finished  at  press.  Sampson,  after  his  return,  was  offered  the  See 
of  Ni)rwich   by  the  Queen,  hut    he  declined,  and   in  .Vliehaelnias  l.'iCl   was  elected    Dean  ol 


1658-1003.3  MOST  ARDENT  I'ROMOTElt.  323 

John  Bodley,  Esq.,  was  a  native  of  Exeter,  according  to  the  statement 
of  his  own  son.  "  In  the  time  of  Queen  Mary,"  he  says,  "  after  being 
cruelly  threatened  and  narrowly  observed,  by  those  that  maliced  his  re- 
ligion, for  the  safety  of  himself  and  my  mother,  (formerly  Miss  Joan 
Hone,  an  heiress  in  the  hundred  of  Ottery  St.  Mary,)  who  was  wholly 
affected  as  my  father,  knew  no  way  so  secure  as  to  fly  into  Germany  ; 
where,  after  a  while,  he  found  means  to  call  over  my  mother,  with  all 
his  children  and  family,  whom  he  settled  for  a  while  at  Wesel  in  Cleve- 
land, and  from  thence  we  removed  to  the  town  of  Frankfort.  Howbeit, 
we  made  no  long  tarriance  in  either  of  these  towns,  for  that  my  father 
had  resolved  to  fix  his  abode  in  the  city  of  Geneva,  where,  as  far  as  I 
remember,  the  English  Chui'ch  consisted  of  some  hundred  members." 
Here  it  was  that  the  father  first  took  that  deep  interest  in  the  Geneva 
Bible,  which  comes  before  us  presently,  and  here  too  it  was  that  this  son 
acquired  that  taste  for  literature  and  books,  for  which  so  many  genera- 
tions, ever  since,  have  had  such  reason  to  revere  his  memory.  For  who 
was  this  son  ?  No  other  than  Thomas,  afterwards  Sir  Thomas  Bodley, 
who,  under  his  father's  care,  spent  from  his  twelfth  to  his  fifteenth  year 
in  Geneva,  and  then  studying  Greek  and  Hebrew,  as  well  as  other  sub- 
jects under  the  best  teachers.  On  returning  home,  his  father  in  1559 
or  1560  placed  him  in  Magdalene  College  under  Mr.  Laurence  Hum- 
phry, and  in  six  years  after,  at  the  age  of  twenty- one,  he  was  reading 
publicly  a  Greek  lecture  in  Merton  Hall,  or  the  College  of  Wickliffe. 
The  founder  of  the  Bodleian,  one  of  the  most  magnificent  of  all  libraries, 
at  home  or  abroad,  is  annually  remembered  by  a  solemn  speech  in  the 
schools  ;  and  certainly  on  the  day  when  the  visitation  of  the  library  is 
held,  all  petty  prejudice  aside,  Geneva  may  well  be  glanced  at,  as  the 
spot  where  the  seeds  of  learning  were  first  sown  in  the  founder's  mind, 
and  his  taste  for  literature  was  first  implanted.  At  all  events,  whatever 
be  done  or  said  at  Oxford,  in  the  present  day,  let  not  the  zeal  of  his 
worthy  Father  be  forgotten  elsewhere,  on  behalf  of  the  Sacred  Volume 
itself,  and  that  in  a  translation  which  was  read  in  the  families  both 
of  England  and  Scotland,  for  more  than  half  a  century  to  come. 

Although,  however,  these  exiles  had  completed  their  trans- 
lation of  the  Bible,  and  borne  the  charge,  it  by  no  means  fol- 
lowed that  the  book  should  be  forthwith  admitted  into  Ensr- 


Christ  Church,  Oxford.  In  the  application  to  Elizabeth  on  his  behalf,  subscribed  by  twenty 
men  of  letters,  they  say  that  they  found  "  none  to  be  compared  to  him,  and  it  was  very 
doubtful  whether  there  was  a  better  man,  a  greater  linpiiisl,  a  more  complete  scholar,  or 
profound  divine."  Yet  in  four  years  after  he  was  removed,  and  simply  for  non-conformity 
as  to  dress:  the  mere  garb  of  the  man  being  regarded  as  a  superior  consideration  to  all  others. 
On  the  13th  of  September  1570,  he  was  collated  to  the  prebend  of  Pancras  in  St.  Paul's, 
tlius  occupying  to  his  death  the  same  stall  which  Robert  Ridley  and  John  Ropers  had  done 
before  him.  Though  much  disabled  by  palsy  for  the  last  fifteen  years  of  his  life,  yet  as 
master  of  the  hospital  at  Leicester,  he  was  of  great  service;  where  he  died  0th  April  1580, 
aged  ^■2. 


."{24  PATENT   OF    FMZABKTH  [buOK  ill. 

land,  ami  more  especially  by  autliurity.  Tbey  had  laboured 
"  night  and  day,"  indeed,  but  though  so  zealous,  this  was  a 
point  yet  to  be  ascertained.  The  New  Testament  of  1557 
had  been  secretly  introduced,  but  it  was  then  an  interdicted 
book — it  had  not  since  been  recognised  as  lawful,  and  already 
we  have  witnessed  the  extreme  caution  of  the  reigning  Queen. 
Besides,  there  was  a  translation  under  the  name  of  Matthew, 
and,  above  all,  of  Cranmer,  both  of  whom  had  been  once,  or 
already  sanctioned ;  while  this  new  version  had  been  accom- 
plished by  men,  who,  like  Tyndale  of  old,  had  been  obliged  to 
fly  the  kingdom.  But,  notwithstanding,  the  time  had  come 
for  the  Geneva  book  to  be  admitted,  and  this  was  as  soon  as 
it  was  finished  ;  only  all  these  circumstances  render  its  recep- 
tion at  the  moment  more  worthy  of  notice.  On  returning  to 
our  native  land,  while  not  one  word  has  yet  been  said  as  to 
any  reprint  of  Cranmer^  and  in  the  face  of  John  Cawood  and 
Richard  Jugge  having  been  already  appointed  her  Majedifs 
prititers,  the  first  distinct  notice  of  the  Geneva  Bible  having 
arrived  in  England  is  by  no  less  than  a  patent  from  the  Queen, 
granted  in  favour  of  John  Bodeleigh  already  mentioned." 

"  Elizabeth,  &c. — To  all  manner  of  printers,  booksellers,  &c. — We  do  you  to 
understand,  that  of  our  grace  special,  we  have  granted  and  given  privilege  and 
license,  and  hy  these  pi-esents  for  us,  our  heirs,  and  successors,  do  grant,  and 
give  privilege  and  license,  unto  our  well  beloved  subject  John  Bodeleigh,  and  to 
his  assignes,  for  the  term  of  fere n  years  next  ensuing  the  date  hereof,  to  imprint, 
or  cause  to  be  imprinted,  the  Eiiglifh  Bible,  iciih  An  notations, faithfully  translated 
and  finished  in  this  present  year  of  our  Lord  God,  a  thousand,  fire  hundred  and 
three  score,  and  dedicated  to  us  ;  straitly  forbidding  and  commanding,  as  well 
printei-s  and  booksellers  as  other  pei*sons,  within  our  realms  and  dominions,  in 
any  manner  of  wise,  to  imprint,  or  cause  to  be  imprinted,  any  of  the  foresaid 
English  Bibles,  that  the  said  John  Bodeleigh  shall,  by  the  authority  of  this  our 
license,  imprint,  or  cause  to  be  imprinted,  or  any  part  of  them,  but  only  the  said 
John  Bodeleigh  and  his  assignes  ;  and  that  every  offender  shall  forfeit  to  our 
use  forty  siiillings,  of  lawful  money  of  England,  for  every  such  Bible  at  any  time 
so  printed,  and  all  such  books  to  be  forfeited,  &c.  In  witness  whereof,  &c. 
Rth  Jan.  1560-1. 56 !."« 

Whether  this  patent  was  of  much  advantage  to  the  patentee 
is  at  present  of  secondary  moment ;  but  it  forcibly  reminds  us 


7  C.iwood  had  been  appointed  by  Marr  her  printer  for  /(fr.  Klizabeth  siistnintd  the  appoint- 
ment, but  joined  Richard  JuK)!e  along  with  him.  to  print  either  separately  or  together.  Btit 
fill  the  year  I.IT",  or  sixteen  years  later,  the  printing  of  Bibles  and  Testaments  was  cnmmoti  lo 
all  pi-inlrrt  who  took  ont  a  license.  Sec  I  nnsdowne  MS.  4K,  .Vo.  78.  and  the  subsequent  pages, 
where  the  nibject  will  be  more  fully  explained. 

8  Their  rear  of  1  j«)0  ran  on  to  the  I'.'ith  of  .M.ircU. 


l.JJS-lO'U-li.]  FOR   THE  GENEVA    VERSION.  ;]2.') 

of  Heury  VIII.,  in  the  year  1537.  It  presents  Elizabeth 
before  us,  now  at  the  first  call  from  abroad,  and  without  any 
hesitation,  herself  opening;  the  way  for  the  general  circulation 
of  this  Bible  throughout  her  dominions,  for  seven  years  to 
come.  Little  did  the  exiles  imagine,  when  flying  abroad  for 
theirWyes,  that  one  grand  intended  purpose  was  the  improve- 
ment of  the  Book  oi  Life  itself,  and  that  no  sooner  should  that 
be  finished,  than  it  should  be  at  once,  and  so  received  ! 
]3oth  Philip  and  Mary  had  thus,  unconsciously,  been  pushing 
forward  the  cause  they  wished  to  destroy,  and  Elizabeth,  how- 
ever imperative  at  other  moments,  or  however  cautious,  must 
not  now  stand  in  the  way. 

But  is  this  the  selfsame  Queen  who  spake  so  warily  before 
all  her  courtiers,  less  than  a  year  ago  2  It  is  the  same.  Her 
reign  was  the  commencement  of  a  new  era,  in  many  respects ; 
but,  in  the  present  case,  one  is  forcibly  reminded  of  another, 
in  the  reign  of  her  father,  twenty-four  years  ago,  and  the 
analogy  is  not  faint.  As  only  eleven  months  had  elapsed 
between  Henry's  winking  at  the  martyrdom  of  Tyndale  and 
the  royal  sanction  of  his  translation,  so  only  eleioen  months  had 
now  passed  between  the  evasive  or  cautious  reply  of  his  daugh- 
ter and  her  royal  patent.  Both  volumes  had  been  prepared 
upon  foreign  ground,  and  both  in  the  face  of  clouds  and  dark- 
ness, or  the  frown  of  the  reigning  government ;  yet  the  second 
is  now  come  into  England,  as  did  the  first,  by  the  declared 
consent  of  the  Sovereign.  Henry  had  not  read  the  Bible  he 
sanctioned,  nor  had  his  daughter  assuredly  examined  the  pre- 
sent volume.  In  this  second  instance,  however,  there  is  equal, 
if  not  superior,  emphasis.  The  present  Sovereign,  no  less 
arbitrary  and  inflexible,  was  far  more  quicksightcd  and  vigilant 
than  her  father.  It  has  been  said  that  "  her  eye  was  every- 
where," and  as  far  as  free  inquiry  through  the  medium  of  the 
press  was  concerned,  the  reader  may  now  form  his  own  opi- 
nion, as  to  whether  it  had  ever  been  in  a  more  singular  state 
or  more  guarded,  since  the  introduction  of  the  art  into  Eng- 
land. One  of  the  injunctions  which  the  Queen's  Majesty  had 
recently  issued  was  the  following  : — 

**  Item,  Becatise  thei-e  is  a  great  abuse  in  the  printers  of  books,  which  for  co- 
vetousness  regard  not  what  they  print,  so  they  may  have  gain,  wliercby  ariseth 
great  disorder,  by  publication  of  unfruitful,  vain,  and  infamous  books  and  papers  ; 
the  Queen's  Majesty  straitly  chargeth  and  commandetli,that  no  manner  of  per- 
son shall  print  any  manner  of  Hook  or  paper,  of  irhat  sort,  nature,  or  in  %chat- 


.•J2G  TIIK   PRKSS    FETTERED,   BUT  [book  III. 

ioet^r  laiiijiMijc  it  ie,  except  tlie  same  be  fii-st  licensed  \)\  lier  Majesty,  \>y  ex- 
press words  in  writing,  or  by  silr  of  her  Priry  t'oitnci/,  or  be  perused  antl  licensed 
by  the  yhrhbishops  of  Cuntcrbury  and  York,  the  Jii.ihofi  of  London,  the  Chancellors 
of  both  I'nirersities,  the  Jlishop  beimj  Ordinary,  and  the  Archdeacon  also  of  the 
place,  where  any  such  shall  be  printed,  or  by  two  of  them,  whereof  the  Ordi- 
nary of  the  place  to  be  always  one,  and  that  the  names  of  such  as  shall  allow 
the  same  be  added  at  the  end  of  every  such  work,  for  a  testimony  of  the  allowance 
thereof,  inc.  And  touching  all  other  books  of  mattei-s  of  reli<jion  that  hath 
been  printed,  either  on  this  side  the  seas,  or  the  other  side,  because  the  diversity 
of  them  is  gi'cat,  and  that  there  needeth  good  consideration  to  be  had  of  the  jxir- 
ticularities  thereof,  her  Majesty  referrcth  the  prohibition,  or  the  permission 
thereof  to  the  order  which  her  Commissioners  within  the  city  of  London  shall 
take  and  notify.''  According  to  the  which  her  Majesty  strictly  commandeth 
all  manner  her  subjects,  and  specially  the  Wardens  and  Company  of  Stationers, 
to  be  obedient."  l" 

Under  these  circumstances,  the  patent  granted  to  Mr.  Bodley  for  the 
Geneva  Bible,  with  annotations,  must  appear,  in  its  true  light,  as  not  a 
little  extraordinary.  Here,  as  it  had  happened  before  under  Henry 
VIII.,  no  reference  could  have  been  made,  either  to  Parliament  or  to  the 
Convocation,  for  they  did  not  assemble  for  two  years  to  come  ;  nor  was 
there  any  reference  to  the  Privy  Council,  much  less  to  such  Commission- 
ers in  London.  As  Crumwell  formerly  at  once  obtained  Henry's  admis- 
sion of  Tyndale's  Bible,  without  the  King  being  aware  of  what  he  was 
doing,  80  some  one  now,  perhaps  Cecil,  had  gained  the  assent  of  Eliza- 
beth. Such,  however,  was  the  fact.  The  Bible,  completed  by  these 
exiles,  being  intended  for  English  eyes,  the  habitual  caution  of  the 
Queen  must  be  laid  aside,  and  her  Ji/st  oflScial  act  in  reference  to  the 
Scriptures,  sanction  its  printing  in  England,  and  that  without  the  slight- 
est reference  to  any  Bible  previoxcsly  admitted  or  sanctioned  by  her  fa- 
ther or  brother. 

As  already  stated,  the  expense  of  the  Geneva  Bible  of  1560  had  been 
defrayed  by  the  English  Church  in  that  city,  but  there  had  been  an  edi- 

9  The  supremacy  now  granted  to  the  Queen,  gave  licr  iiower  to  depute  any  persons  to  exer- 
cise it  in  her  name  whom  she  chose  to  appoint,  and  this  gave  rise  to  a  court,  but  too  well 
known  afterwards— /Ac  High  Commission  Court.  It  exercised  the  same  power  whicli  had  been 
lodged  by  her  father  in  the  person  of  one  man,  Crumwell,  as  Vicegerent  and  Vicar-Gtncral.  It 
continued  throughout  the  whole  of  tlie  present  reign,  and  for  two  in  succession,  or  till  its  deeds 
had  rendered  its  very  name  odious.  On  being  dissolved  by  Parliament,  the  Act  declared  that 
"  No  such  jurisdiction  should  be  revived  for  the  future  in  any  court."  But  wliatever  may  be 
said  of  the  Commissioners  now  appointed,  Elizabetli's  I'atent  was  her  mm  deed. 

10  The  "  Company  of  Stationers'"  had  reference  to  llie  preceding  reign,  a  creation  of  Philip 
and  Mary's.  On  the  4th  May  I5.''.fi  they  had  appointed  "  the  Stationers'  Company,"  including 
printers  and  booksellers  in  London,  to  the  number  of  ninety-seven.  The  Company  liad  been 
talked  of  loosely,  from  the  days  of  Wynken  de  Worde  ;  but  there  was  no  charter  granted  before 
this  ;  and  what  was  the  leading  object  in  then  doing  so?  To  prevent  "  the  renewal  and  pro- 
pagating very  great  and  detestable  heresies  against  the  faith  and  sound  Catholic  doctrine  of 
Holy  Mother  the  Church."  Under  that  reign,  this  language  was  perfectly  iiitelligiblf  ;  but  what 
meant  Elizabeth  ?  On  the  10th  of  November,  or  two  months  before  granting  her  patent  to  Bod- 
ley, Elizabeth  confirmed  the  Stationers'  charter  in  these  words:—"  We  ratifying  and  allowing 
the  foresaid  letters,  and  all  and  rirry  thing  contained  therein,  do,  as  much  as  in  us  lies,  accept 
and  apjirove  them /or  OMCiTf/iv'jt,  our  heirs,  and  successors,  and  do  ratify  and  confirm  them  to 
ourbeloved  Bcynold  Wolfe,  now  the  master  of  the  h^resaid  mystery, "A-c- See  Herbert's  Ames, 
vol.  iii.,pr   l.'>i"0  KK"' 


1 558-1  ()(»3.]  NOT  THE  SCRIPTURES.  .327 

tion  of  the  New  Testament  in  IGmo,  suitable  for  the  pocket,  and  in  both 
of  these  Mr.  Bodley,  as  a  member  of  that  Chiu'ch,  had  borne  his  share. 
By  the  day  on  which  his  patent  was  granted,  however,  a  second  edition 
of  the  Bible,  in  folio,  was  far  advanced  at  Geneva,  and  finished  by  the 
10th  of  April  1561,  or  precisely  one  year  after  the  former.  For  this 
book  he  seems  to  have  been  personally  or  chiefly  responsible ;  and  the 
patent,  applied  for  and  obtained,  would  aid  him  in  the  sale.  Rowland 
Hall,  the  former  printer,  having  returned  home,  had  })y  this  time  begun 
business  in  England,  so  that  he  had  no  concern  in  this  folio  ;  and  pro- 
bably, from  prudential  motives,  owing  to  the  critical  state  of  the  times, 
no  printer's  name  was  affixed  to  it. 

Such  was  the  commencement  of  those  numerous  editions  of 
the  Geneva  version  which  followed,  not  only  during  the  long- 
reign  of  Elizabeth,  but  down  to  nearly  the  middle  of  the  next 
century.  As  for  the  present  moment,  placed  in  circumstances 
the  most  critical,  but  surrounded  by  men  of  high  renown  as 
politicians,  a  Prince  more  potent  had  never  swayed  the  sceptre 
of  England ;  only  we  have  yet  to  see  whether  Elizabeth  had 
power  sufficient,  either  to  control,  or  in  the  slightest  degree 
regulate,  the  stream  of  Divine  Truth  which  in  a  few  years 
flowed  over  the  land  ;  or,  in  other  words,  whether  the  public 
opinion  and  taste,  as  to  the  translation  of  the  Sacred  Word, 
was  influenced  by  regal  authority  or  not. 

After  that  two  editions  had  been  executed  abroad,  besides 
two  of  the  New  Testament  in  a  separate  f(jrm,  it  was  certainly 
time  for  the  English  printers  to  bestir  themselves  ;  and  the 
man  who  had  printed  for  Queen  Maiy  all  along,  John  Ca- 
wood,  must  be  allowed  to  take  the  lead.  He  had  changed 
with  the  times,  and  now  came  forward  with  an  edition  of 
Cranmer's  Bible  in  quarto  ;  while  Richard  Jugge,  silent  since 
the  days  of  Edward,  now  gave  two  editions  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, one  of  Tyndale's,  and,  it  has  been  affirmed,  one  of  Cover- 
dale's.  Richard  Harrison,  too,  though  ?iot  printer  to  her  Ma- 
jesty, having  obtained  license,  had  printed  an  edition  of  Cran- 
mer's  Testament."  Thus,  and  before  the  year  1561  had  ex- 
pired, it  is  curious  enough,  the  people  had  Tyudale  and  Cover- 
dale,  Cranmer  and  the  Geneva  version  all  before  them.    Seven 


' '  Whoever  printed,  it  was  necessary  to  obtain  a  license,  of  whicli.  however,  be  it  observed, 
there  were  at  present  two  descriptions,  viz.,  one  fiom  the  Crown,  another  from  the  StationerR 
Conniany.  Harrison,  in  I5(i2,  printing  a  second  Tcstamfiit,  had  disregarded  even  the  latter. 
"  Hence,"  sajs  Herbert,  "  it  appears  that  lie  printed  two  editions  at  least  ol  tin-  Xnc  Testament. 
But  doinc  this  withmit  Hcensc.  lie  was  fined  viii.  fli." 


328  CRANMEK'S    UIBLE    HY    IIAKKISON.  [book  III. 

years  must  pass  away  before  another  coiiipetitor  appears ;  but 
tliis  will  be  no  other  than  Parker's  or  the  lii.shoj)s'  Bible,  and 
the  result  remains  to  be  seen.  These,  even  including  Parker's 
Bible,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind,  were,  without  exception,  per- 
sonal undertakings,  or  attains  managed  with  certain  stationers 
— that  is,  printers  or  booksellers  for  the  time  being,  the  license 
granted  for  every  single  edition  being  applied  for  to  secure  the 
parties  against  loss  by  their  outlay  of  capital.  The  difterent 
versions  were  like  so  many  candidates  for  public  choice,  or  so 
many  feelers,  put  forth  through  an  all-wise,  overruling  Provi- 
dence, leaving  time  to  discover  which  was  to  prevail, as  esteemed 
by  the  readers  to  be  the  best,  or  nearest  to  the  Divine  original. 
But  before  referring  to  the  Bible  of  Parker  in  1 568,  thei'e 
were  intervening  events  not  unworthy  of  notice.  In  the  year 
J  562,  an  edition  of  Cranmer's  Bible  appeared,  the  first  in 
folio  under  Elizabeth  :  and  it  is  worthy  of  notice,  that  this 
came  from  neither  of  her  Majesty's  printers,  but  from  the 
press  of  Richard  Harrison,  already  mentioned.'^ 

A  pause  of  four  years  succeeded,  before  any  other  Bible  appeared, 
when  Mr.  Bodley  comes  before  us,  and  once  more  calling  attention  to 
the  subject.  The  Geneva  Bible,  it  must  be  remembered,  was  not  much 
read  in  public  assemblies,  or  at  least  not  understood  to  be  so,  so  that 
there  could  be  but  little  demand  from  them  ;  but  it  had  proved  such  a 
favourite  in  family  reading,  that  the  two  editions,  already  noticed,  had 
been  exhausted.  In  1565  Bodley  was  preparing  for  a  new  impression  ; 
and  by  March  the  next  year,  a  careful  review  and  correction  being 
finished,  this  zealous  man,  anxious  to  print  upon  English  ground, 
wished  to  renew  his  privilege  beyond  the  seven  years  first  granted. 
With  this  view  he  applied  to  Sir  William  Cecil ;  but  Parker's  Bible 
being  already  in  hands,  the  cautious  Secretary  suspended  all  reply,  till 


1*  Lewis  has  led  to  a  mistake  sometimes  made,  that  there  were  luo  editions  of  Ihii  year.  Dr. 
Gifford  upon  his  copy  now  in  the  Bristol  Museum,  had  written  as  follows:—"  This  seems  to 
have  been  the  first  Bible  printed  in  folio,  in  Q.  Elizabeth's  reifin,  and  agrees  with  that  edition  of 
the  Great  Bible  printed  in  1541,  oversene  by  the  Bishojis  of  Dureme  and  Rochester,  which  I 
call  the  6i.\th,  seventh,  or  ciphth  edition.  Though  it  is  the  same  date  at  the  beRinning  and  end, 
and  the  same  printer,  and  has  the  same  title-page,  and  has  both  the  callender  and  prologue 
with  that  described  by  Lewis,  p.  2^,  yet  it  is  doubtless  a  (liferent  edition— from  its  having 
quite  a  different  title-page  in  the  AVic  Testament."  The  title,  says  Lewis,  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment runs  thus:—"  The  New  Testament  in  English  after  the  last  recognition  and  setting  forth 
of  Erasmus;"  that  in  Dr.  Gifford's  Bible  being  "The  New  Testament  in  English  translated 
after  the  Greek."  But,  says  an  intelligent  correspondent  of  the  author—"  I  have  no  doubt 
that  the  copy  from  which  Lewis  took  his  description,  had  been  made  up  with  a  New  Testament 
title,  or  perhaps  more,  from  the  Cranmcr"s  Bible  printed  by  I'etyt  and  Redman  for  Berthelet, 
1540,— the  title  of  which  is  the  same  with  that  which  he  quotes.  Singularly  enough,  when  I 
bought  my  copy  of  Berthelet,  1.54(1,  the  first  leaf  of  Matthew  was  from  '  the  edition  of  Harri- 
»on,  156:?,  with  which  it  reads  word  for  word,'"  After  this  there  can  be  no  question  that  there 
»a»  only  one  edition  of  the  Birle,  though  apparently  two  of  the  New  Testament. 


1 558-1 0'03.]    PARKER'S  ARTFUL   PROPOSAL,   IN   VAIN.  320 

he  had  consulted  the  Archbishop,  and  Grindal,  Bishop  of  London.    They 
both  replied  ;  Parker  himself  writing  to  the  Secretary,  that — 

"  He  and  the  Bishop  of  London  thought  so  well  of  the  first  impression  of 
this  Bible,  and  the  review  of  those  who  had  since  travelled  therein,  that  they 
wished  it  would  please  him  to  be  a  means,  that  twelve  years'  longer  term,  might 
be  by  special  privilege  gi-anted  to  Bodleigh,  in  consideration  of  the  cliarges 
sustained  by  him  and  his  associates  in  the  first  impression,  and  the  review 
since  :  that  though  another  special  Bible  for  the  Churches  were  meant  by  them 
to  be  set  forth,  as  convenient  time  and  leisure  hereafter  should  permit  ;  yet 
should  it  nothing  hindei',  but  rather  do  much  good  to  have  diversity  of  transla- 
tions and  readings.  And  that  if  the  liceuse  hereafter  to  be  made  went  simply 
forth,  without  proviso  of  their  oversight,  as  they  thought  it  might  so  pass  well 
enough  ;  (and  as  it  will  be  remembered  every  license  had  so  done,)  yet  they 
told  the  Secretary,  that  the//  would  take  such  order  with  the  party,  in  writimj 
tinder  his  hand,  that  wo  impression  should  pass,  6i<f  by  their  direction,  consent, 
and  advice!     Dated  '  Lambeth,  9th  March  1565,'  l.  e.  1566."13 

The  condition  here  proposed,  was  exactly  the  same  for  which  the 
Bishops  as  a  body  had  panted  all  along.  It  was  this  "  direction  or  con- 
trol" which  they  had  been  aiming  at,  ever  and  anon,  from  the  begin- 
ning, though  never  permitted  to  enjoy  it.  As  now  offered  for  accept- 
ance, and  in  such  a  singular  style  by  Parker  ;  in  the  page  of  history  it 
serves  for  a  striking  contrast  to  the  non-interference  of  Cranmer, 
throughout  the  entire  reign  of  Edward,  when  he  possessed  double  the 
power  which  Parker  ever  did.  But  if  the  condition  or  proviso  itself  ex- 
cites notice,  how  much  more  the  manner  in  which  he  proposed  to  enforce 
it  1  The  Queen  is  here  understood  to  act,  precisely  as  she  had  done 
before,  nay,  as  lihely  to  do  so.  Suppose  then,  that,  without  reference 
to  any  Bishop,  or  any  restriction  whatever,  Elizabeth,  under  her  sign- 
manual,  granted  the  privilege  requested.  Then  was  to  come  the  Arch- 
bishop, and  stepping  between  her  Majesty  and  her  patentee,  he  proposes 
to  "  take  order  from  Mr.  Bodley,  in  meriting,''''  that  no  impression  shall 
pass,  but  by  "  the  direction,  consent,  and  advice"  of  himself  and  his 
brethren  !  Where,  then,  lay  any  advantage  in  applying  to  her  Ma- 
jesty ?  Was  the  Archbishop  about  to  make  so  little  account  as  this  of 
the  royal  authority  ?  Or  did  he  not  perceive  the  illegality  of  his  pro- 
posed step  ?  Under  a  Sovereign  so  alive  to  her  supremacy,  he  might 
have  found  the  course  proposed,  to  have  been  rather  dangerous — only 
he  was  now  saved  all  farther  trouble.  The  idea  of  such  a  rider  on  his 
royal  privilege,  once  communicated  to  Bodley,  seems  to  have  been  quite 
sufficient,  for  after  this  date,  we  hear  not  one  word  more  of  the  patent  ; 
and  the  Geneva  translation  must  be  printed  again  and  again,  without 
one  being  either  asked  or  granted  !  After  all  that  had  passed  in  Eng- 
land, the  proviso  specified  was  one,  to  which  subjection  could  be  yielded, 

'3  Strvpe's  Life  of  Parker. 


330  liNULlSIl    IJlllLK    I'IUNTIN(i    UOTil  [hoOK   111. 

no,  not  for  an  hour.  Neither  Matthew's  Bihlc,  when  first  imported,  nor 
Taverner's,  or  Cranmcr's  afterwards,  when  first  printed,  had  ever  hecn 
Kuhjected  to  the  "  direction,  consent,  and  advice  of  the  Bishops  ;"  and 
Mr.  Bodiey,  however  zealous,  had  no  idea  of  the  Geneva  version  l)eing 
made  an  exception.  By  Cecil's  caution,  indeed,  most  cordial  approba- 
tion of  the  translation  itself,  as  well  as  of  the  present  "  review,"  had 
been  drawn  forth  in  writing,  under  the  hand  of  both  Parker  and  Grin- 
dal,  and  so  far  all  was  well ;  but  if  their  "  direction,  consent,  and  ad- 
vice" are  to  be  imposed,  then  the  "  review,"  as  it  stood,  must  be  sent 
as  far  distant  as  Geneva,  and  the  Bible  be  printed  in  the  city  from 
whence  it  first  issued.  There  was  an  ingenious  and  learned  printer, 
John  Crespin  or  Crispin,  who  still  lingered  behind,  and  printed  there 
from  1556  to  1570.'^  Accordingly,  as  soon  as  Archbishop  Parker  was 
ready  with  his  Bible  in  1568,  if  not  before,  another  edition  of  the 
Geneva  Bible,  from  the  press  of  this  man,  was  finished,  as  well  as  an 
additional  impression  of  the  New  Testament,  both  in  quarto. 

This,  however,  was  not  for  more  than  two  years  to  come ;  and  the 
printing  of  the  Scriptures  must  not  be  suspended,  no,  not  for  one  day. 
Already  indeed  two  j^rinting  presses  were  fully  occupied.  An  edition  of 
Cranmcr,  in  folio,  for  public  reading  was  wanted,  and  it  was  time  for  the 
Book  to  be  brought  into  a  more  portable  shape.  Accordingly,  we  have 
two  other  fine  instances  of  individual  enterprise,  one  even  in  France, 
the  other  in  London,  and  both  of  them  equally  independent  of  the  Arch- 
bishop, or  either  of  her  Majesty's  printers. 

About  twenty-eight  years  ago,  or  in  1538,  the  reader  can- 
not fail  to  remember  an  edition  of  Matthew's  Bible  being  com- 
menced under  Coverdale''s  inspection  at  Paris,  which  however 
had  to  be  finished  in  London.  But  if  the  state  of  France 
was  unpropitious  to  such  an  attempt  then,  it  seemed  to  have 
been  much  more  so  now.  There  happened,  however,  to  be  a 
short  pause  in  the  civil  wars  which  for  forty  years  had  desolated 
that  fine  country.  The  King  of  Navarre  had  been  killed  at  a 
siege,  the  Duke  of  Guise  assassinated,  and  fifty  thousand  Hugo- 
nots  already  slain.  Elizabeth,  for  her  own  safety's  sake, 
had  aided  this  people ;  and  in  1 56.S  a  peace  was  concluded 
which  lasted  till  1567.  A  gentleman,  then  living  at  Rouen 
in  Normandy,  belonging  to  the  customs,  and  of  good  repute, 
resolved  to  seize  the  opportunity  here  presented  him ;  and  at 


K  Cri»piii,  a  native  of  Arr.ns  in  France.  oriRinally  clerk  to  diaries  dii  Moulin,  and  admitted 
advocate  to  the  i>arliament  of  Paris,  having  formed  a  friendsliiii  with  Beza,  retired  to  Geneva, 
where  lie  Rained  reimtation  by  his  printing,  till  his  death  by  the  plaRUe  in  I.'i72.  He  was  anthor 
i)f  a  fircek  Lexicon,  Cnieva  l.'>74,  reprinted  in  London  I.IHI,  Ito. 


1558-1(503.]  AT   ROUEN   AND  IN    LONDON.  331 

his  own  cost  and  charges,  committed  to  the  press  an  edition  of 
Cranmer''s  Bible  in  folio.  This  is  a  very  fine  book,  on  royal 
paper,  printed  "  at  Rouen  by  0.  Hamilton,  cum  privUegio, 
1566."  This  gentleman,  Richard  Carmarden,  the  frequent 
correspondent  of  Cecil,  as  in  the  Lansdowne  manuscripts,  was 
afterwards  in  the  London  Custom  House,  and  living  as  late 
as  the  year  1599.'^ 

The  other  instance  referred  to,  at  home,  was  no  other  than 
the  last  edition  printed  by  the  same  man,  who  in  the  midst 
of  actual  pestilence,  and  with  but  doubtful  prospect  of  success, 
frst  brought  the  Bible  of  1537  into  England,  Richard  Grafton. 
He  had  weathered  the  storm  in  Mary's  reign,  and  now  saw 
his  old  virulent  enemy,  Bonner,  still  living,  but  under  general 
contempt,  and  in  prison.  Though  advanced  in  life,  Grafton 
ventured  on  an  edition  of  Cranmer"'s  Bible,  evidently  intended 
for  family  use.  It  was  the  Jirst  edition  of  the  English  Bible 
in  one  volume  octavo  ;  and  seems  to  have  been  a  very  large  im- 
pression. At  least  there  is  a  passage  in  the  annals  of  Queen 
Elizabeth,  by  Sir  James  Ware,  the  Irish  Camden,  which,  if 
correct,  could  bear  upon  no  other  than  the  present  octavo 
Bible.  "  In  the  year  1566,"  says  he,  "  John  Dale,  a  book- 
seller, imported  seven  thousand  copies  of  the  Bible  from  Lon- 
don, and  sold  the  whole,  in  Ireland,  within  two  years." 
What  a  singular  contrast  to  so  many  succeeding  years  !  But 
it  would  be  a  circumstance  no  less  memorable,  if  the  very  same 
individual  who  first  brought  the  Sacred  Volume  into  England 
in  1537,  should,  before  his  death,  have  been  the  first  employed 
in  printing  it  even  for  Ireland  itself.  Accordingly,  there  does 
not  appear  to  be  one  copy  left  in  the  possession  of  any  private 
collector,  or  public  library,  on  this  side  of  the  channel,  nor 
have  we  heard,  whether  there  be  one  left  in  Ireland.^^ 

At  last,  in  1568,  or  the  tenth  year  after  Elizabeth  had 


•s  In  the  Bibl.  Harl.  No.  172,  there  is  an  edition  of  this  Bible  dated  1562,  which  has  been  in- 
serted by  Herbert ;  but  this  appears  to  be  a  clerical  error  for  1566,  or  it  may  have  been  ;>JC- 
siimed  from  a  copy  without  the  title,  as  the  Almanac  prefixed,  begins  at  1561 . 

16  This  eminent  printer,  Grafton,  as  the  first  who  brought  the  Bible  into  England,  is  never  to 
be  forgotten.  After  which  he  continued  to  employ  the  press  in  London,  at  intervals,  for  nearly 
thirty-five  years.  His  fine  printing  may  be  traced  on  nearly  15fl  distinct  pieces  ;  of  which  about 
65  were  the  chief,  and  of  these  the  Bible  in  folio  was  \\\e  first,  and  the  Bible  in  octavo  the  last. 
By  a  fall,  when  far  advanced  in  life,  he  had  his  leg  broken  in  two  places,  which  ever  after  lamed 
him.  Of  his  sickness,  death,  and  burial  no  account  is  left,  nor  is  there  any  notice  of  him  later 
than  the  year  1.572.  Eduard  WniTriiincH,  his  partner  from  I.'>,'i7  to  1541,  who  afterwards  printed 
separately,  is  said  to  have  married  the  widow  of  Crannur  :  but  he  is  not  to  be  traced  later 
than  1.560. 


332  Tin:  uisiioi-s    uiulk  [uook  hi. 

asceiuled  the  throne,  tlic  first  edition  of  the  Bible,  superin- 
tended by  Parker,  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  was  published. 
Great  care  had  been  taken  in  this  revision  of  the  text,  by  more 
than  fifteen  learned  men,  Greek  and  Hebrew  scholars,  besides 
Parker  himself,  who  superintended  the  several  portions,  as 
they  came  from  the  hands  of  those  to  whom  he  had  com- 
mitted them. 

The  Pentateuch  was  consigned  to  W.  E.  or  William  Alley,  Bishop  of  Exeter  ; 
Joshua,  Judges  and  Ruth,  to  R.  M.  or  Richard  Davies  of  St.  Davids,  who  had 
previously  been  engaged  in  translating  the  Bible  into  Welsh  ;  Samuel,  the 
Kings  and  Chnmkles  were  assigned  to  Edwyn  Sandys  of  Worcester  j  Ezra, 
Nehemiah,  Esther  and  Job,  to  A.  P.  C.  or  Andrew  Pearson,  Prebendary  of  Can- 
terbury ;  the  Psalms  to  T.  B.  or  Thomas  Bentham  of  Litchfield  and  Coventry  ; 
the  Proverbs  to  A.  P.  C. ;  Ecclesiastes  and  Solomon's  Song,  to  A.  P.  E.  or 
Andrew  Perne,  Dean  of  Ely  ;  Isaiah,  Jeremiah,  and  Lamentations  to  R.  W.  or 
Robert  Horn  of  Winchester  ;  Ezekiel  and  Daniel  to  T.  C.  L.  or  Thomas  Cole, 
once  at  Geneva,  afterwards  Dean  of  Lincoln  ;  the  minor  Prophets  to  E.  L.  or 
Edmundo  Grindel  of  London  ;  the  Apocrypha  to  J.  N.  or  John  Parkhurst  of 
Norwich  ;  the  four  Gospels  and  the  Acts,  to  R.  E.  or  Richard  Cox  of  Ely  ;  the 
Romans  to  Edmund  Guest  of  Rochester  ;  the  Corinthians  to  G.  G.  or  Gabriel 
Goodman,  Dean  of  Westminster.  Mr.  Laurence,  a  learned  Grecian,  was  also  en- 
gaged, with  one  or  two  other  individuals.  From  the  majority  of  these  men 
being  on  the  Bench,  this  translation  has  been  styled  "  the  Bishops'  Bible," 
the  initials  above  mentioned,  being  printed  at  the  end  of  their  respective  parts. 

Parker  had  now  at  last  accomplished  that  which  Cranmer 
had  attempted  in  vain,  or  a  version  of  the  English  Bible,  ge- 
nerally revised  from  the  preceding,  in  conjunction  with  certain 
brethren  on  the  Bench,  and  other  scholars.  It  was  a  decided 
improvement  on  the  whole.  They  had  watched  Cranmer's  or 
Coverdale's  leaning  to  the  Vulgate  ;  they  expunged  the  three 
verses  from  the  fourteenth  Psalm,  which  the  latter  first  in- 
serted at  Paris,  and  in  Timothy,  they  altered  Cranmer''s 
rendering  "  by  authority  of  the  priesthood''''  to  that  of  "  the 
eldership,"  besides  other  amendments  of  the  text. 

This  Bible,  as  presented  to  the  Queen,  was  by  far  the  most  splendid 
that  had  ever  been  printed,  containing  not  fewer  than  143  engravings 
in  copper  or  wood,  of  maps,  portraits,  and  coats  of  arms.  The  portraits 
include  one  of  Elizabeth  on  the  title  ;  one  of  Dudley,  Earl  of  Leicester, 
at  the  beginning  of  Joshua  ;  and  one  of  Cecil,  afterwards  Lord  Burleigh, 
at  the  Psalms.  In  short,  Parker  had  left  nothing  undone  to  secure  the 
favour  of  his  royal  mistress  ;  and  yet  one  is  immediately  struck  with 
several  points  of  contrast  between  this  book,  and  those  large  Bibles  put 
forth  under  Elizabeth's  father.  Parker  had  certainly  paid  far  more  at- 
tention to  this  edition,  than  Cranmer  had  ever  done  to  any,  or  to  all  of 


1558-1603.3  NOT  ORDERED  BY   THE  QUEEN.  333 

his  put  together  ;  but  whether  it  arose  from  jealousy  of  prelatic  autho- 
rity in  the  reigning  Princess,  or  any  other  cause,  his  name  must  not  be 
emblazoned  on  the  title-page  like  Cranmer's,  nor  indeed  anywhere  else, 
throughout  the  volume.  The  primate,  indeed,  had  slipped  his  paternal 
arms,  empaled  with  those  of  Christ  Church,  Canterbury,  into  an  initial 
letter  T  at  the  genealogical  table  in  the  Old  Testament,  and  at  the  pre- 
face to  the  New  ;  and  his  brethren,  by  his  orders,  had  placed  their  ini- 
tials only,  at  the  end  of  their  several  parts,  as  already  noted,  but  there 
must  be  nothing  more.  The  book  was  beautifully  executed  by  Richard 
Jugge,  with  the  customary  addition  to  his  colophon — "  Cum  privilegio 
Regife  INIajestatis,"  but  without  any  token  whatever  of  Elizabeth's  pecu- 
liar preference.  There  is  here  no  dedication  to  the  Queen  Regnant,  and 
to  crown  all,  the  simplicity  of  the  titles  is  a  very  marked  feature  of  the 
book.  They  are — "  The  Holie  Bible,  conteyning  the  Olde  Testament  and 
the  NewT  "  The  New  Testament  of  oibr  Saviour  Jesus  Christe,^'' — nothing 
more.  In  short,  so  far  from  the  royal  smile  having  been  already  obtain- 
ed, some  protection  must  be  implored  for  Jugge,  lest  any  one  else 
should  print  the  version  !  These  circumstances  only  invite  farther  ex- 
planation. 

It  has  been  long  erroneously  supposed  that  this  revision  was  undertaken 
by  Royal  command.  Le  Long  had  said  as  much,  (and  others  have  blindly 
followed  him),  but  it  was  on  no  higher  authority  than  the  mere  asser- 
tion of  Arnold  Boot,  the  Dutch  physician.  There  is  not  only  no  direct 
proof,  but  the  evidence  presented  forbids  any  such  idea.  When  the 
book  was  finished  in  the  autumn  of  1568,  Parker  was  in  such  poor 
health,  that  he  "  dared  not  adventure"  to  wait  upon  the  Queen  person- 
ally. He  therefore  addi^essed  her  by  an  inclosure,  on  the  5th  of  October, 
directed  under  cover  to  Sir  William  Cecil,  Principal  Secretary  to  the 
Queen's  Majesty,  &c.,  when,  if  Elizabeth  had  ever  laid  her  commands 
upon  him,  he  could  not  have  so  expressed  himself.  He  prays,  through 
Cecil,  that  her  Majesty's  "  gracious  favour,  license,  and  protection  to  be 
communicated  abroad,"  may  be  extended  to  this  "  recognition  of  the 
Bible," — "  not  varying  much  from  that  translation  which  was  commonly 
used  by  public  order,  except  where  the  verity  of  the  Hebrew  and  Greek 
moved  alteration,  or  where  the  text  was,  by  some  negligence,  mutilated 
from  the  original."  He  begs  this  gracious  favour  of  her  Majesty,  "  not 
only  as  many  churches  want  their  books,  as  that  in  certain  places  be 
pvhlicly  used  some  translations  which  have  not  been  laboured  in  her 
realm ;^''  plainly  alluding  to  the  Geneva  book,  now  being  read,  not  only 
in  private  but  in  public.  When  presenting  this  Bible,  here  bound  in  a 
style  fit  for  Royalty  to  accept,  Parker  intreats  that  Cecil  will  apologise 
to  the  Queen  for  his  "  disability  in  not  coming  himself  ;"  informing  him 
that  the  initials  of  the  assistants  concerned  was  a  policy  of  his  own,  to 
make  the  parties  "  more  diligent,  as  answerable  for  their  doings."     He 


33+  THE  UISHOPS'    IJIIJLK    I'UINTING  [^BOOK  III. 

iutreats  his  houour  to  olitain  of  the  Queen's  llij^hness  a  license  for  this 
version,  "  to  be  otdy  coninicndeJ  in  public  reading  in  churches,  to 
draw  to  one  uniformity,"  and  "  that  Jugge,  only,  may  have  the  prefer- 
ment of  this  edition  ;  for  if  any  other  should  hirche  him,  to  steal  from 
him  these  copies,  he  were  a  great  loser  in  this  first  doing."  '7 

Such  were  the  letters  of  Parker,  to  which  there  seems  to  have  been 
no  written  reply,  at  least  there  is  none  extant  ;  while  subsequent 
events  prove  that  the  requests  as  preferred  were  not  granted.  At  the 
very  moment  in  which  the  requests  were  made,  the  same  printer  was 
issuing  Cranraer's  version  as  "  The  Bible  in  English,"  having  the  words 
— "  according  to  the  tratislation  appointed  to  he  read  in  the  churches,'''  on 
its  title,  and  his  fellow  printer  Cawood  did  the  same  thing  next  year. 
While,  on  the  other  hand,  the  same  simplicity  of  title-page,  as  that 
which  we  have  quoted,  continued  on  all  the  editions  of  Parker  as  long 
as  he  lived.  He  expired  on  the  17th  of  May  1575,  but  on  the  editions 
of  1569,  1570,  1572,  or  the  second  folio  with  only  30  engravings  ;  on 
that  of  1573  in  quarto,  of  which  there  is  a  splendid  presentation  copy  in 
Lambeth  Library,  painted  and  richly  bound  in  five  volumes  ;"'  and 
finally  in  the  third  folio  of  1574  without  engravings,  there  is  no  in- 
dication of  any  advance  in  point  of  royal  privilege  or  authority.  Cran- 
mer's  version  had  been  long  pointed  out  in  the  title-page  as  "  appointed 
to  be  read"  in  public,  but  Parker's  version  never  as  yet.  Moreover,  in 
this  the  very  year  of  that  primate's  death,  we  have  the  decided  evi- 
dence that  no  exclusive  privilege  had  been  granted  to  the  printer  for 
whom  he  had  interceded.  Jugge,  it  may  be  remembered,  had  been  aiming 
after  a  monopoly  for  printing  the  New  Testament,  under  Edward,  but 
failed  in  it.'^  Now,  however,  he  was  actually  "  printer  to  the  Queen's 
Majesty,"  and  that  since  15G0 ;  but  this,  then,  as  ever  before,  lent  to  him 
no  exclusive  privilege,  and  hence  the  application  of  Parker  through 
Cecil.^  But  if  the  Archbishop  had  failed  in  obtaining  the  royal  autho- 
rity for  his  revision  of  the  Bible  to  be  the  only  one  used  in  public  wor- 
ship ;  so  neither  had  he  succeeded  in  obtaining  his  request  on  behalf  of 
Mr.  Jugge.  The  proof  of  this  is  to  be  seen  in  the  edition  of  Parker's 
version,  printing  at  the  season  of  the  primate's  death. 

This  Bible  deserves  particular  notice,  otherwise  the  book  may  be  mis- 


'7  See  the  letters  hy  Parker,  amoiiR  the  collection  of  EccIcb.  Papem  in  the  State  Paper  Office. 
They  have  been  printed  by  Mr.  PcttiRrew  in  the  Sussex  Descriptive  Catalogue. 

'8  The  author  is  not  aware  whether  the  Hible  first  sent  to  Elizabeth  be  in  existence  ;  but  after 
cxamininf;  these  volumes  in  the  Lambeth  Library,  they  seemed  to  almost  w,irr.int  the  supposi- 
tion of  another  effort  on  the  part  of  the  Archbishop.  The  book  has  been  mistaken  for  an  edi- 
tion of  Crmimer.  I9  See  before,  jiage  242,  note. 

*"  To  Cecil's  prurience  indeed,  he  left  the  whole  affair.  "  I  havecauscd  one  booke  to  l)e  bound, 
an  ye  see,  which  I  heartily  pray  you  to  present  favourably  to  the  Queen's  M.ajcsty,  with  your 
friendly  excuse  of  my  disability,  in  not  cominR  myself.  I  have  also  written  to  the  Queen's  Ma- 
jesty, the  copy  whereof  I  have  sent  you.  the  rather  to  use  i/otir  niiiiorhiiiifi/  of  delivery,  if  your 
prudence  shall  )wl  l?iitik  them  lolerahle."  .\fter  such  lanKU-age,  it  is  certain  that  there  had  been 
MO  royal  command  on  the  subject. 


1 558-1 G03.]  FOR   VARIOUS   INDIVIDUALS.  335 

taken,  as  it  actually  has  been,  for  so  many  as  six  separate  editions,  iu 
the  same  year.  It  is  a  very  pretty  volume,  in  small  folio.  On  certain 
titles  will  be  found  "  Printed  by  Richard  Jugge,"  but  on  others  '■'■printed 
by  Richard  Kde" — by  John  Walley,  by  Lucas  Harrison,  hy  John  Judson, 
or  by  William  Norton.  It  was  evidently  a  joint  undertaking,  Jugge 
being  able  to  bear  nothing  more  than  his  own  share,  though  most  pro- 
bably the  printer  of  the  whole  impression.  They  are,  without  excep- 
tion, the  same  book,  having  only  different  titles,  and  the  last  leaf  an- 
swers equally  for  them  all.  Here,  it  is  curious  enough,  were  printers 
or  booksellers,  who  had  lived  under  four  successive  Sovereigns,  all 
grouped  together.  Kele,  if  not  Walley,  under  Henry  VIII ;  Jugge,  un- 
der Edward;  Judson,  under  Mary;  Harrison  and  Norton,  under  Eliza- 
beth, and  all  equally  concerned  in  one  book,  one  Bible.  This  edition,  in 
short,  was  analogous  to  that  of  1551,  under  Edward.  These  five  men 
had  home  their  proportions,  along  with  Jugge,  in  the  expense  or  cost 
of  this  large  imi:)ression,  and  their  names,  therefore,  must  be  so  inserted 
in  the  title.  At  this  moment  a  more  striking  instance  could  not  have 
occurred  in  proof,  that,  as  yet,  the  prirUing  of  the  Sacred  Volume  was  no 

EXCLUSIVE  PRIVILEGE  OF  THE  CrOWN  PRINTER  FOR  THE  TIME  BEING,  OB 
OF  ANT  OTHER. 

As  far,  however,  as  printing  editions  could  carry  it,  all  jus- 
tice had  now  been  done  to  the  Bishops'*  Bible ;  and  backed  by 
the  influence  of  so  many  men  on  the  Bench,  personally  inter- 
ested, it  must  have  been  presumed  that  this  book  would  at 
last  carry  the  palm  of  superiority,  and  put  not  only  Oran- 
mer's  version  out  of  sight  and  out  of  mind,  but  the  Geneva 
Bible  also.  Had  not  Parker  completed  his  task,  and  even 
his  final  corrections  ?  He  was  now  deceased,  a  circumstance 
which  might  be  supposed  to  lend  additional  interest  to  his 
labours  ;  and  he  had  been  succeeded  by  Edmund  Grindal, 
one  of  the  translators  actually  engaged  in  the  work.  The 
Queen,  therefore,  if  she  had  any  zeal,  such  as  the  Bishops  de- 
sired, seemed  to  owe  it  to  the  Primate''s  memory^  that  this, 
and  this  alone^  should  be  the  Bible  in  general  use ;  and  so,  it 
may  be  supposed,  certain  parties  anticipated.  Besides,  to 
make  this  the  more  probable,  there  had  evidently  been  some 
hindrance,  if  not  demur,  about  allowing  the  Geneva  Bible  to 
be  printed  at  all.  We  know  not  whether  it  was  owing  to 
Archbishop  Parker''s  fixed  determination  to  have  it  under  his 
control ;  but  it  is  certain  that  while  he  lived,  no  edition  was 
printed  upon  English  ground.  After  Mr.  Bodley's  attempt, 
there  had,  it  is  true,  been  three  impressions,  dated  in  1.568, 


33G  THE  GENEVA    AND  THE   DISHOPS'  [dook  III. 

ir)G9,  and  1570;  but  all  these  had  been  printf^l  at  Grcneva. 
Since  1570  tliere  had  been  no  reprint,  and  in  1575,  the  six- 
teenth year  of  the  reigning  Queen  had  come.  By  this  time, 
complaint  as  to  the  long  delay  in  printing  it  at  home,  had 
been  publicly  and  strongly  expressed.  "  If  that  ]Jible,"  it 
was  said,  "  be  such,  as  no  enemy  of  God  could  justly  find 
fault  with,  then  may  men  marvel  that  such  a  work,  being  so 
profitable,  should  find  so  small  favour  as  not  to  be  printed 
again  ."^^ 

Such  was  the  state  of  things  in  the  year  when  Archbishop 
Parker  expired.  With  regard  to  that  version  of  the  Bible 
frequently  distinguished  by  his  name,  and  that  which  had 
been  accomplished  by  his  expatriated  countrymen,  matters 
now  stood  ver}'  much  in  the  same  position,  as  they  had  done 
in  the  days  of  Henry  and  Edward,  when  Tyndale"'s  and 
Cranmer''s  versions  were  before  the  people  of  England.  The 
reader,  therefore,  may  be  the  more  curious  to  inquire,  whether 
the  present  course  of  events  bore  any  resemblance  to  the  pre- 
ceding. The  former  result  under  Edward's  reign,  as  to  the 
public  choice,  we  have  seen  ;  and  seen  also  Cranmer's  memor- 
able non-interference  with  the  public  press  as  to  the  Scriptures  : 
but  Parker,  as  already  witnessed,  was  a  different  man.  He 
had  indeed  very  cordially  expressed  his  approbation  of  the 
foreign  or  Geneva  production  ;  but  this  proposal  of  his,  to 
have  every  edition  under  his  own  "  direction,  consent,  and 
advice,"  had  formed  the  boldest  possible  contrast  to  his  pre- 
decessor in  the  same  chair.  If,  therefore,  this  "  direction  and 
advice"  were  not  now,  or  rather  never  to  be,  conceded,  where 
was  there  any  prospect  of  the  Geneva  circulating  far  and 
wide,  compared  with  the  Bishops"*  Bible  ?  Besides,  though 
Cranmer  had  chosen  to  act  with  such  superiority  to  all  per- 
sonal prejudice,  the  slightly  altered  version  was  only  his  own, 
with  Covcrdale  to  assist ;  so  that  he  had  no  other  man's  feel- 
ings to  consult  on  the  subject ;  but  in  the  present  case, 
though  Parker,  the  superintendent,  be  gone,  here  were  at 
least  seven  Bishops,  and  other  learned  men,  possessing  the 
feelings  at  least  of  correctorship,  and  living  in  the  favour  of 
their  Sovereign.  On  the  other  hand,  the  version  imported 
from   abroad,   was   the   production   of  merely    three  or    four 


«'  See  "  The  Troubles  of  Frankfort." 


1.j.)8-1(j03.]  VBRSIONS  in  COMPARISON.  337 

exiles,  by  no  means  ever  popular  with  Government,  after 
their  return  home.  Where  then  was  even  the  shadow  of  suc- 
cess for  the  latter,  in  comparison  with  the  former  ?  Was 
Queen  Elizabeth,  so  resolute  and  so  imperative  on  every  other 
subject,  down  to  the  merest  trifle,  to  give  way  here,  and  on  a 
subject  of  such  magnitude  ?  Was  a  sceptre  so  potent  in 
general,  to  be  powerless  here  I  To  these  queries,  we  merely 
reply — We  shall  see,  presently,  and  for  more  than  a  genera- 
tion to  come. 

In  the  meanwhile,  let  it  be  observed,  that  her  Majesty  was 
never  applied  to  again,  to  license  by  patent  the  Geneva  Bible. 
Mr.  Bodley''s,  of  course,  had  expired  in  1568;  and  it  may 
have  been  on  the  strength  of  his  expiring  patent  that  the 
book  was  edged  into  England,  as  it  was  also  into  Scotland. 
If  it  was  now  to  be  printed  in  London,  and  far  more  frequently 
than  any  other  version ;  if,  after  it  begins  to  be  so,  scarcely  a 
year  is  to  pass  without  one,  or  two,  or  three  editions  issuing 
from  the  press,  then  this  must  be  brought  about  in  some 
other  w^av.  But  if  under  a  government  so  rioid,  so  inter- 
meddling,  so  imperative,  there  is  to  be  one  palpable  deviation 
from  all  other  affairs,  throughout  the  entire  reign  and  beyond 
it ;  and  one  with  which  neither  her  Majesty,  the  Parliament, 
or  Convocation,  must  ever  interfere  ;  it  will  only  confirm  what 
has  been  so  frequently  pressed  upon  our  notice — that  the 
history  of  the  Bible  had  a  character  of  its  own,  or  one  by  it- 
self, which  it  steadily  retained.  Of  this  before  long,  the 
reader  will  be  able  to  judge  for  himself;  but  in  such  a  history 
as  the  present,  of  all  the  events  of  the  time,  whether  civil  or 
religious,  we  know  not  one  that  is  more  worthy  of  considera- 
tion. However  imperative  in  a  thousand  other  things,  great 
and  small,  there  was  to  be  no  force  applied  here.  So  far  as 
the  Queen  was  concerned,  and  her  authority  was  paramount 
to  all  other,  there  were  to  be  no  "  injunctions'"  that  Parker's 
Bible  was  to  be  received  into  families,  or  alone  read  under  the 
domestic  roof.^^  N^J?  there  had  positively  been  none  what- 
ever as  yet,  as  to  its  being  read  in  public  assembly.  The 
man  too,  styled  "  her  Majesty's  printer,"  and  now,  moreover, 


22  The  only  a)>proacli  to  the  domesiic  circle  was  a  curious  one.  It  pointed  only  at  the  digni- 
tnrii-s,  and  their  own  Bible,  iliiVf  years  after  its  first  aiipearance.  In  the  Convocation  of  Ifl?!, 
it  was  ordered,  for  it  required  to  be  ordered,  that  copies  should  be  provided  by  all  diynitarirs 
for  their  private  houses.     ll'iU.his'  Cone,  iv.,  ]>.  2()3. 

VOL.    II.  V 


33H  TliK   t^lKKN    NO    I'AUIISAN    H>l<  [uuoK  ill. 

lio  alone,  shall  continue,  from  year  to  year,  to  meet  the  choice 
and  wishes  of  the  pcoph' :  and  thouj^h  in  many  other  things, 
connected  with  their  ideas  as  to  the  supposed ybrm  of  religion, 
Elizabeth  be  determined  to  have  her  own  way,  and  so  to  cross 
their  will ;  one  whisper  of  disapprobation  as  to  the  people's 
HiBLE,  or  its  domestic  use,  and  almost  universal  perusal,  shall 
never  be  recorded  to  have  escaped  from  her  lips  I  If  the 
silence  of  her  sister  Mary,  in  issuing  no  denunciation  of  the 
English  Bible  by  name,  was  remarkable,  considering  the  gene- 
ral tone  ^f  Elizabeth's  character,  he?'  silence  was  far  more  so ; 
for  tet  it  only  be  remembered  that  after  Parker's  decease  in 
1575,  Elizabeth  had  yet  twenty-eight  years  to  reign,  yet 
this  shall  not  prevent  the  Geneva  Version  from  being  now 
printed  either  in  folio  or  quarto,  and  being  read  in  churches 
also.  Parker  has  already  told  us,  that  they  were  so  read  in 
his  days,  and  twelve  years  afterwards,  we  know  they  were. 
For  the  proof  of  this  fact  we  are  indebted  to  the  best  of  all 
witnesses,  then  living  in  the  kingdom,  the  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  Wliitgift,  himself.  "  Divers,"  says  he  in  the 
year  1587,  "  Divers,  as  well  Parish  Churches,  as  Chapels  of 
Ease,  are  not  sufficiently  furnished  with  Bibles,  but  some  have 
either  none  at  all,"  (observe  still  !)  "  or  such  as  be  torn  and 
defaced,  and  yet  not  of  the  translation  authorised  by  the  synods 
OF  Bishops."-''  But  the  preference  shewn,  both  before  the  sway 
of  Wliitgift,  as  well  as  under  it,  survived  him  for  years.  If 
the  Queen  knew  any  difference  between  the  two  versions,  it 
must  have  frequently  met  her  Majesty's  ear,  when  present  at 
sermons  before  the  Court ;  and  it  might  have  met  her  eye,  if 
she  deigned  to  look  into  what  was  printed  around  her.  Thus 
Gervase  Babington,  a  pupil  of  Whitgift's,  who  preached  his 
funeral  sermon,  and  had  been  successively  Bishop  of  Llandafl', 
Exeter  and  Worcester  ;  if  we  turn  to  his  "  comfortable  notes 
on  the'  Pentateuch,"  to  his  other  expositions,  or  his  sermons 
preached  before  the  Court  at  Greenwich,  or  at  Paul's  Cross  in 
1591,  we  find  him  uniformly  quote  the  Geneva  Bible,  as  well 
as  read  his  text  from  it.  Thus  George  Abbot,  the  successor 
of  Bancroft,  and  predecessor  of  Laud,  when  Master  of  Univer- 
sity College,  Oxford,  under  Elizabeth  and  Wliitgift,  not  only 
preached,  but  published  in  1600,  his  sermons  upon  Jonah, 

-•'  CarilwelTs  Dociinu-nlary  Annals,  ii.  p.  11.     This,  hnwcvor.  was  not  flovu/ authority. 


l.)58-l  ()();}.]        ANV    PARTICULAR   TRANSLATION.      *       ,  339 

and  throughout  lie  used  the  same  version.  Other  instailces 
might  be  adduced,  but  however  striking,  they  would,  taken 
altogether,  prove  but  a  feeble  indication  of  that  decided  pre- 
ference which  began  to  be  shewn  by  the  people  at  large,  from 
the  year  immediately  after  Parker's  death. 

Here  then  we  are  met  by  a  course  of  events,  and  the  moving 
cause  of  that  course,  or  two  indelible,  if  not  the  most  signal 
features  of  Elizabetirs  reign,  which  after  all  that  has  been 
written,  have  been  passed  over  by  most  historians,  and  never 
fully  explained  by  any.  But  are  they,  on  this  account,  of  but 
inferior  moment  ?  An  extraordinary  demand  for  the  Sacred 
Volume,  and  supplied  by  means  not  less  extraordinary,  can 
never  be  unimportant  in  the  estimation  of  many  ;  while  at 
the  same  time  the  caiise  of  this  demand  was  of  such  a  charac- 
ter, as  to  form,  in  the  history  of  the  English  Bible,  one  of  its 
brightest  pages.  To  each  of  these  in  turn,  therefore,  the  at- 
tention of  the  reader  is  now  solicited. 

This  eager  desire  for  the  word  of  life,  and  decided  prefer- 
ence for  it,  in  the  Geneva  Version,  were  simultaneous,  in  the 
year  ].575.  There  are  therefore  several  circumstances  con- 
nected with  the  times,  as  well  as  the  character  of  Elizabeth's 
sway,  which  here  invite  notice,  and  will  reward  it.  If  the 
reader,  however,  will  first  turn  for  a  moment  to  our  List  of 
Bibles  at  the  close  of  this  work,  he  cannot  fail  to  be  struck 
with  one  peculiarity  in  its  appearance.  For  a  period  extend- 
ing to  fifty  years,  or  from  1525  to  1575,  he  may  observe  what 
a  number  of  different  men  had  been  engaged  in  printing  the 
Scriptures;  after  which,  or  from  1577,  one  name  alone  meets 
his  eye,  from  year  to  year.  That  name  is  Barker,  and  since 
the  change,  or  rather  the  origin  of  the  change,  has  never  been 
explained,  so  that  great  confusion  still  prevails  on  the  subject, 
it  becomes  of  no  little  importance  to  understand  it  now. 

Had  the  government  of  Elizabeth  not  been  distinguished  for  economy, 
and  at  the  same  time  the  advancement  of  several  great  national  objects, 
it  could  never  have  been  endured.  Frugal  in  her  own  expenditure,  she 
could  carry  measures  in  Parliament,  with  a  higher  hand  than  her  father  ; 
and  far  from  resembling  him,  in  perpetually  craving  money  from  the 
senate,  she  could  there  assume  even  a  loftier  tone  of  language.  Her 
unbending  sway  must  be  traced,  in  part,  to  her  superiority  to  all  extra- 
vagance, as  this  alone  lent  her  not  a  little  power.  Instead  of  contract- 
ing debt,  she  discharged   that  of  her  deceased  brother  and  sister,  both 


31-0  KXPKDIKNTS   FOU    MONKY  [book  III. 

Ininoi|);iI  and  interest.  She  re-stored  the  deliased  coin  to  its  foniier 
jmrity  ;  and  so  far  from  receiving  any  j)ension  from  France,  like  her 
l>redecessors,  or  from  any  foreign  power,  she  controlled  foreign  politics 
\>y  the  money  of  England.  But  then,  on  the  other  hand,  this  deter- 
mination of  Elizabeth's  to  economise,  led  to  different  modes  of  procuring 
supplies  ;  and  among  these,  to  one,  which  it  might  have  heen  supposed 
such  a  Queen  could  never  have  deigned  to  stoop — moneys  received  for 
granting  monojiolies  to  her  subjects.^'' 

For  the  word  patent,  as  an  adjective,  or  free  to  all,  her  Majesty 
seemed  as  though  she  had  entertained  an  instinctive  dread  ;  but  upon 
the  same  term,  as  a  noun  substantive,  or  exclusive  privilege,  she  almost 
doated,  for  the  better  part  of  thirty  years.  The  truth  seems  to  be,  that 
up  to  this  period  Elizabeth  had  entertained  no  idea  of  granting  patents 
for  nothinxj  in  return,  even  at  the  request  of  a  Bishop,  and  he  might  be 
her  Primate  ;  but  now,  at  last,  if  any  thing  may  be  gained,  any  debt  or 
obligation  discharged,  merely  by  her  royal  seal  and  signature,  it  became 
by  no  means  difficult  to  gain  the  royal  ear.  Iler's,  in  short,  by  way  of 
eminence,  became  the  age  of  patents.  In  such  a  course  she  must  have 
been  encouraged  by  her  advisers,  several  of  whom  very  largely  shared 
in  the  spoil  ;  but  jealous  to  a  proverb  of  her  prerogative,  the  granting 
of  patents  became  one  of  the  most  cherished  modes  of  displaying  it. 

Since,  however,  this  potent  Prince  is  about  to  lead  the  way  in  grant- 
ing a  patent  such  as  will  now  be  described,  we  have  only  to  request  the 
reader's  attention  to  the  manner  of  its  operation,  not  only  at  this  crisis, 
but  dui'ing  all  the  days  of  her  mortal  existence.  Every  one  knows  with 
what  a  watchful  eye  Elizabeth  regarded  all  the  prelates  in  her  kingdom 
— that  she  was,  with  a  high  hand  too,  her  own  Vicar-General,  main- 
taining throughout  life,  both  a  tight  and  a  steady  rein  ;  nay,  by  this 
moment  even  her  Primate,  Edmund  Grindal,  was  in  disgi-ace  -^  and  yet 
this  very  year,  1577,  as  if  in  marked  contrast  to  her  rigidity  in  all  such 
matters,  if  any  exclusive  privilege  be  put  forth  with  reference  to  the 
Scriptures,  the  Queen  will  be  no  party  to  any  one  version  in  preference 
to  another. 

This,  it  is  freely  gnintcd,  could  not  justify  the  iutcrfercnce,  and  such 


2<  There  wa8  still  another  mode.  So  early  as  1507,  the  Queen,  borrowinf;  a  hint  from  some  of 
the  continental  Rovernments,  had  recourse  to  the  expedient  of  a  State  Lottkry,  the.rfr.?/  ever 
known  in  KuRland.  In  the  ab.senee  of  niodern  ]iufting,  she  adopted  the  mode  of  personal  ap- 
plication, throuf^h  the  Lords  of  the  Privy  Council,  in  her  Grace's  n.ime!  The  prizes  wcie  tar- 
dily paid,  if  i)aid  at  all !  Klizaheth  had  recourse  to  a  second  in  l.iai.  The  contrast  to  all  this, 
under  her  sister  Queen  Mary,  only  twenty  years  In  fore,  cannot  fail  to  strike  many  readers. 
See  before,  p.  27"--  At  the  same  time,  it  must  not  he  fiirnotten  that  M.iry  had  her  com)iulsory 
loans  and  arliitrary  exactions  ;  that  she  had  borrowed  large  sums  of  money,  and  died  deep  in 
debt,  leaviriR  her  sister  to  discharge  it. 

*''  The  shameful  treatment  of  this  excellent  man  will  come  before  us  before  long.  But  it 
may  tie  stated  here  that  Orindal  had  condemned  the  wicked  and  disfjusting  marriage  of  Julio 
Hergarucci,  an  Italian  physician,  to  the  wife  of  another  man.  .lulio  was  a  great  favourite  of 
the  Earl  of  Leicester's.  That  nobleman  interfered,  and  Orindal  lost  the  Queiii's  favour  for 
ever  '    See  Lodge's  illustrations,  l)vo,  vol.  ii.,  p.  Ki. 


1558-1603.]  BY  LOTTERIES  AND  PATENTS.  .341 

a  step  as  a  patent  or  monopoly  applicable  to  the  Sacred  Volume,  ought 
to  have  received  far  more  deliberate  and  serious  reflection.  To  many, 
no  doubt,  it  might  appear  as  nothing  different  from  any  other  commer- 
cial transaction,  though  upon  second  consideration,  there  was  a  distinc- 
tion, demanding,  before  such  a  step,  the  deepest  cogitation  from  any 
Monarch,  as  well  as  in  every  age. 

"  The  questioji  itself,"  said  tiie  late  Robert  Hall  one  day,  at  Leicester, 
"  wliether  the  Sacred  Volume  was  designed  to  be  communicated  to  mankind  at 
large  without  distinction,  or  to  a  particular  class,  with  a  discretionary  power  of 
conmumicating  it  at  such  times,  and  in  such  proportions  as  they  may  deem  fit, 
can  only  be  determined  by  itself.  If  it  bear  decisive  indications  of  its  being 
intended  for  private  custody  ;  if  it  be  found  to  affirm,  or  even  to  insinuate,  that 
it  is  not  meant  for  universal  circulation  ;  we  must  submit  to  hold  it  at  the  dis- 
cretion of  its  legitimate  guardians,  and  to  accept,  with  becoming  gratitude,  such 
portions  as  they  are  pleased  to  bestow.  From  the  Word  of  God  there  can  be  no 
appeal  :  it  must  decide  its  own  character,  and  determine  its  own  pretensions. 
Thus  much  we  must  be  allowed  to  assume  ;  that  if  it  was  originally  given  to 
mankind  indiscriminately,  no  power  upon  earth  is  entitled  to  restrict  it ;  be- 
cause, on  the  supposition  which  we  are  now  making,  since  every  man's  original 
right  in  it  was  equal,  that  right  can  be  cancelled  by  no  authority  but  that 
which  bestowed  it.  If  it  was  at  first  ])romulgated  under  the  character  of  a 
universal  standard  of  faith  and  practice,  we  are  bound  to  recognise  it  in  that 
character  :  and  every  attempt  to  alter  it,  to  convert  into  private  what  wus 
originally  public  property,  or  to  make  a  monopoly  of  a  universal  (jrant,  is  an  act 
of  extreme  presumption  and  impiety.  It  is  to  assume  a  superiority  over 
revelation  itself,"^'' 

Whether  the  "  patent  of  privilege"  first  granted  by  Queen  Elizabeth, 
including  as  it  did,  the  Holy  Scriptures,  did  not  come  within  the  sweep 
of  this  pointed  and  solemn  language,  we  shall  leave  the  reader  to  deter- 
mine, after  he  has  read  a  few  pages  farther.  But,  in  the  meanwhile,  her 
Majesty  began  and  continued  to  abound  in  granting  patents  of  various 
descriptions,  to  the  close  of  her  career.  After  pursuing  this  course  for 
more  than  twenty  years,  we  find  the  Lord-Keeper  standing  up  in  Par- 
liament, in  reply  to  the  Speaker,  when  the  subject  was  introduced.  lie 
said — 

"  The  Queen  hoped  her  dutiful  and  loving  subjects  would  not  take  away  her 
prerogative,  which  was  the  choicest  flower  in  her  garden,  the  principal  and 
head  iicarl  in  her  crown  and  diadem  ;  but  would  rather  leave  that  to  her  dis- 
position ;  promising  to  examine  all  patents,  and  abide  the  touchstone  oi' 

THE  LAW." 

But  were  they  examined  ?  Nothing  of  the  kind.  Iler  Majesty  had, 
in  four  years  more,  increased  the  number  of  such  grievances,  so  that  in 
the  Parliament  of  1601,  at  the  close  of  the  session,  a  debate  ensued,  and 
such  confusion  as  the  Secretary  of  State  had  never  before  witnessed.  A 
list,  though  imperfect,  of  such  commodities,  for  the  exclusive  traftic  in 


2"  Spoken  at  the  Leiccstor  Bible  Socit-ty  Aniiiveisarv.  I.itli  Ajiril  1(112. 


342  VAKIKTY  (»!<■  I'ATIiNT.S.  [huok   hi. 

which,  patents  had  been  granted,  was  read  to  the  House  by  Sir  Robert 
Wroth.  These  had  been  given  away  in  certain  cases,  as  rewards  for 
service  done,  or  to  be  done — not  a  very  princely  mode  of  payment  ;  but, 
in  general,  they  had  been  sold  to  the  parties  concerned.  Tliis  list  com- 
prehended not  only  such  important  necessaries  of  life  as  salt  and  coal, 
leather  and  cloth,  but  steel  and  lead,  tin  and  glass,  Spanish  v:ool  and  Irish 
yarn  ;  or,  in  short,  above  forty  different  articles,  and  certainly  a  suffi- 
cient proof  of  the  extent  to  which  the  evil  had  gone.^  After  the  list 
was  finished,  a  member  of  the  House,  and  of  considerable  celebrity,  Mr. 
Hakewil,  of  Lincoln's  Inn,  rose  and  in<]uired — Is  not  bread  there  ? 
"  Bread,"  said  one, — "  Bread,"  said  another,  "  this  voice  seems  strange." 
"  Nay,"  said  he,  "  if  no  remedy  be  found  for  these,  bread  will  be  there, 
before  the  next  Parliament."  After  four  days  of  warm  debate,  the 
Queen  and  Council  at  last  taking  alarm,  a  gracious  message  from  the 
throne  was  sent  down  to  the  House,  which  the  Secretary  of  State, 
Robert  Cecil,  improved  by  an  assurance  that  the  existing  patents  should 
be  repealed,  and  no  more  granted.  The  language  in  which  the  Secre- 
tary insulted  the  House  is  worth  quoting  : — 

"  And  because  you  may  eat  your  meat  more  saxoury  than  you  liave  done, 
every  man  shall  have  salt  as  good  and  cheap  as  lie  can  buy  it,  or  make  it, 
freely,  without  danger  of  that  patent,  wliich  shall  be  presently  revoked.  The 
same  benefit  shall  tliey  have  which  have  cold  stomachs  both  for  aijiiarifa'  and 
aqua  rovi}i(j!<Ua,  and  the  like  :  and  they  that  have  weak  stomachs,  for  their 
satisfaction  shall  have  rlneqar  and  ahijar  and  the  like,  set  at  liberty.  Train  oil 
shall  go  the  same  way  ;  oil  of  blubber  sliall  march  in  efjual  rank  ;  bnnfKS  and 
bottles  endure  the  like  judgment.  Those  that  desire  to  go  sprucely  in  tlieir 
ruffs,  may,  at  less  charge  than  accustomed,  obtain  their  wish  ;  for  the  patent 
for  starch,  which  hath  so  nmch  been  prosecuted,  shall  now  be  repealed." 

Nine  other  articles  he  enumerated  which  were  to  be  tried  at  law. 
The  complaints  of  many  years  seemed  as  though  they  were  to  be  imme- 
diately redressed  ;  while  her  ]Majesty,  who  was  never  at  a  loss  for  choice 
expression,  now  appeared  as  if  to  render  assurance  doubly  sure. 

"  Gentlemen,"  said  the  Queen,  addressing  the  deputies  of  the  Commons,  "  1 
owe  you  hearty  thanks  and  conmiendations  for  your  singular  goodwill  towards 
me,  not  only  in  your  hearts  and  thoughts,  but  which  you  have  openly  expressed 
and  declared,  whereby  you  have  recalled  me  from  an  t'^vor,  proceeding  from  niv 
ignorance,  not  my  will.  These  things  had  undeservedly  turned  to  my  disgi-ace, 
to  whom  nothing  is  more  dear  than  the  safety  and  love  of  my  people,  had  not 
such  harpies  and  horse-leeches  as  these  been  made  known  and  discovered  tome 
by  you.  /  had  rather  mi/  heart  or  hand  should  perish  than  that  either  wy  heart 
or  hand  should  allow  such  pririlcijes  to  vionopolists  as  mai/  be  prejudicial  to  my 
people.  The  splendour  of  regal  majesty  hath  not  so  blinded  mine  eyes  that 
licentious  power  should  prevail  with  me  more  than  justice.  The  glory  of  the 
name  of  a  king  may  deceive  princes  that  know  not  how  to  rule,  as  gilded  pills 


-'"  Sic  Herbert's  Histury  of  the  I.iviry  Ccmniniiies,  vol.  i..  ))ji.  ]r>2-]'i.'^. 


I5.)8-I()U;3.]  PATENTS  OK  PRlVlLKCiE.  '.)  IS 

may  deceive  a  side  i)atieiit.  But  I  am  none  of  those  princi'S  ;  for  1  knoiv  that 
the  commouwcaltli  is  to  be  governed  fur  the  (jood  and  ad puiitaije  nf  those  (hat  arr 
committed  to  me,  not  of  mi/u/f,  to  whom  it  is  intrusted  ;  and  that  an  account  is  one 
day  to  be  given  before  anotlier  judgment-seat." — "  I  beseech  you,  that,  whatever 
misdemeanoui-s  and  miscarriages  others  arc  guilty  of  by  their  false  suggestions 
may  not  be  imputed  to  me  :  let  the  testimony  of  a  clear  conscience  in  all  re- 
spects excuse  me." 

The  subdued  tone  of  this  hmguage  from  the  lips  of  this  sagacious  and 
imperative  monarch  is  remarkable,  and  it  becomes  more  impressive  from 
its  being  addressed  to  her  hint  Parliament.  The  sentiments,  so  well  ex- 
pressed, may  have  been  of  value  to  posterity  ;  and  they  possess  the  ad- 
vantage of  iiever  being  unimportant  as  out  of  date.  The  only  regret  left 
is,  that  the  speech  itself,  in  one  point  of  view,  bears  so  strong  an  analogy 
to  the  extraordinary  address  of  Henry  VIII.,  the  Queen's  father,  to  his 
last  Parliament ;  and  that  the  fine  language  now  employed  must  be  taken 
for  no  more  than  it  was  worth  afterwards.  These  grievances  had  been 
complained  of  and  reprobated  for  many  years  ;  and  ignorance  of  almost 
any  subject,  much  less  of  this,  was  not  one  of  Elizabeth's  infirmities.  Was 
her  ]\[ajesty  ignorant  also  of  her  message  in  1597,  just  quoted,  and  as  deli- 
vered by  the  Lord-Keeper  to  the  House  when  the  debate  on  monopolies 
ran  not  so  high  ?  When  redress  was  promised,  and,  so  far  from  being 
performed,  the  evil  increased  1  But,  after  all  these  last  smooth,  yet 
pointed  expressions,  was  relief  at  hand  now  ?  Certainli/  not  to  any  de- 
gree worth  notice,  and  that  is  but  vague  conjecture.  With  salt,  perhaps, 
something  was  done,  as  Sir  Edward  Hoby  had  asserted  in  the  House  that 
it  had  been  raised  by  the  patent  from  16d.  to  15s.  a  bushel  !  But  still  a 
list  of  these  very  monopolies  granted  by  Elizabeth,  indorsed  by  the  Earl 
of  Shrewsbury,  is  to  be  found  unrepealed  under  the  next  reign.  It  is 
dated  25th  May  1603,  or  two  months  after  the  Queen  had  ceased  to 
live,  and  they  were  still  about  forty  in  number  !  ^^ 

Among  these  patents,  however,  there  was  one  class,  styled,  by  way  of 
eminence  or  distinction,  Patents  of  Peivilege — the  privilege  of  some 
one  man  selling  a  license,  or  licenses,  to  the  highest  bidder  ;  and  these, 
as  affecting,  not  only  the  Livery  Companies,  but  the  Stationers''  Com- 
pany, had  pi'oduced  great  discontent.  These  were  given  to  gentlemen 
or  courtiers,  either  as  rewards  or  under  the  i^retence  of  at  once  benefiting 
the  public  and  filling  the  coffers  of  her  Majesty.  What  then,  meant  the 
poor  old  subdued  Queen's  plea  of  ignorance  in  1601  ?  Thus  Lord 
Mountjoy,  in  1565,  had  a  patent  for  copperas  ore.  Thus  Sir  Thomas 
Gorges,  in  1580,  eager  to  be  appointed  "  Ganger  of  Beer,"  brought  the 
wrath  of  the  Brewers'  Company  upon  himself.  He  was  to  put  £200 
a-year  into  the  Treasury  ;  but  the  Company  proving  that  he  would  make 


2"  Jcc  tlic  lihl  ill  LoiIhc's  llliistialioiis,  (Ivo,  vol.  iii  ,  li.  ^     lH. 


;M.4  TllK  PATKXT  OK  JMtlVII^KGK  [boOK  111. 

£lO,lK.t(>  annually  to  himself,  and  the  Queen  nothing,  no  patent  was 
granted.  Thus  Sir  Walter  Raleigh  had  a  patent,  in  1588,  to  make 
licenses  for  keeping  of  taverns  and  retailing  of  wines  throughout  all  Eng- 
land !  lie  is  said  to  have  blushed  in  the  House,  under  the  debate  on 
monopolies  ;  but  his  patent  was  left  unrepealed  by  Elizabeth.  Edward 
Darcy,  Esq.,  a  courtier,  in  1590,  succeeded,  but  for  little  more  than  a 
year,  in  reference  to  leather  ;  as  his  privilege,  brought  up,  in  formidable 
array,  a  swarm  of  more  than  thirteen  dealers  in  the  article,  and  his  pa- 
tent was  revoked.  Even  an  Italian  had  a  license  granted  to  him  by  the 
Queen,  and  no  doubt  for  some  consideration,  that  he  only  should  bring  into 
England  "  common  and  sallad  oil,"  and  to  sell  the  same  at  his  own  beam; 
against  which  the  Grocers'  Company  remonstrated.  After  the  same 
mode  we  find  one  man  dealing  largely  in  tin,  and  Sir  Thomas  Wilkes, 
about  to  be  mentioned,  in  white  salt.  Nor  should  the  Earl  of  Oxford's 
case  be  overlooked,  of  which  her  Majesty  could  not  plead  ignorance.  He 
attempted  an  excise  patent  against  the  Pewterers'  Company  :  but  the 
Privy  Council,  aware  of  the  general  discontent  against  those  "  pateiits 
of  privilege^'  submitted  the  proposal  to  the  Attorney-General  ;  and  what 
was  the  result  ?  The  question  was — "  Whether  sucn  j^Ment  might  stand 
ivith  tlie  laws  and  statutes  of  tlie  realm,  or  not  V  He  negatived  the 
application,  when  the  Queen  conferred  the  privilege  on  the  Company 
itself.^  In  short,  it  was  the  age  of  patent-hunting  ;  and  we  have  now 
to  see  how  far  the  Stationers''  Company  had  been  affected. 

To  all  who  have  only  glanced  at  the  history  of  patents  it  is  well  known 
that  the  noble  art  of  printing  did  not  escape.  On  the  contrary,  it  was 
about  the  earliest  of  the  arts  which  came  under  their  power,  whether 
direct  or  indirect. 

Under  the  reign  of  Elizabeth  there  were  two  gentlemen,  Francis 
Flower,  Esq.,  a  Justice  of  the  Peace,  afterwards  in  the  service  of  the 
Lord  Chancellor,  Sir  Christopher  Ilatton  ;*'  and  Thomas,  afterwards  Sir 
Thomas  Wilkes,  well  known  as  Clerk  to  the  Pri\^  Council,  as  an  Am- 
bassador of  Elizabeth's  to  France,  Holland,  and  Germany,  and  who,  but 
for  Lord  Burleigh's  influence,  would  have  succeeded  Sir  Francis  Wal- 
singham  as  Secretary  of  State."^'  To  the  former  was  granted,  in  1573, 
one  of  those  "  Patents  of  Privilege"  as  "  her  Majesty's  printer  of  the  La- 
tin ;  "  and  to  Six  Thomas,  about  1575,  another  as  her  printer  of  the  Eng- 
lish tongue.  The  foraier,  of  inferior  value,  was  forthwith  farmed  out  to 
more  assignees  than  one,  Thomas  Vautrollier,  a  Frenchman,  being  one, 
if  not  the  chief. 

Wilkes,  immediately  after  obtaining  his  patent,  first  bestowed  the 


2"  Herbert's  History  of  the  Livery  Coimmnics,  i.,  p.  1,'J6.     Strype's  Stow,  ii.,  204. 
;'"  Lansduwno    MS.,  (ill,  no.   la").     He  is   petitioning   Bnrleinh  that  he  may  continue,  afle 
HaltonV  Heath,  to  cnjny  his  profits  in  the  First  I'rnits  Oflice,  I.WI. 
■11  See  Cotton  MS8.,  /Kis.sini  :  and  Lodnc's  lllustratinns  of  lirilisli  History,  nvn.  ii,.  p.  42ti. 


1558-1 G03.]       RECtARDED  AS  A  GREAT  GRIEVANCE.  345 

chief  part  of  it  on  John  Jugge,  son  of  Richard  the  printer,  with  whose 
name  we  are  already  familiar.  The  evidence  on  which  this  fact  is 
founded  is  no  other  than  a  formal  complaint,  addressed  to  the  authori- 
ties, and  subscribed  by  twenty-five  stationers  and  printers,  in  the  name 
of  one  hundred  and  seventy-five,  all  members  of  the  Stationers'  Com- 
pany. To  this  are  adhibited  the  names  of  all  in  London  who  lived  by 
bookselling,  being  free  of  other  Companies,  but  "  also  hindered  by  the 
said  privileges."  This  document,  subscribed  by  forty-five  men,  in  name 
of  not  fewer  than  one  hundred  and  eighty-five,  being  the  first  formal 
voice  raised  in  England,  upon  record,  against  what  they  conceived  to  be 
the  injurious  operation  of  such  privileges,  is  not  only  curious  in  itself, 
but  entitled  to  special  notice  by  any  who  wish  to  understand  a  subject 
hitherto  involved  in  obscurity.  Though  it  be  above  two  hundred  and 
sixty  years  since  these  persons  came  forward  in  a  body,  as  one  man,  and 
subscribed  their  names,  the  ground  of  their  complaint  and  their  main 
grievance  cannot  be  uninteresting  or  of  little  moment  even  at  the  present 
hour,  since,  in  the  united  apprehension  of  the  entire  craft,  accuracy  in 
printing,  and  the  jurice  of  boohs  were  alike  in  jeopardy.  Thus  they  ex- 
pressed themselves  : — 

"  The  privileges  lately  granted  by  her  Majesty,  under  her  Highness's  Great  Seal 
of  England,  to  the  2:>ersons  underwritten,  concerning  the  art  of  printing  books, 
hath  and  will  be  the  overthrow  of  the  printers  and  stationers  within  this  city, 
being  in  number  175,  besides  their  wives,  children,  apprentices,  and  families,  and 
thereby  the  kxcessive  prices  of  books,  prejudicial  tu  the  state  of  the  whole  realm, 
besides  the  false  printing  of  the  same. 

"  1.  John  Jugge,  besides  the  being  her  Majesty^s  printer,  hath  gotten  the  privi- 
lege for  the  printing  of  Bibles  and  Testaments,  the  which  was  common  to  all 
the  printers.3- 

Thus,  whatever  may  be  said  of  this  unanimous  opinion,  the  language  of  the 
complaint  establishes  two  historical  facts.  First,  That  for  a  period  of  about 
forty  years,  or  from  153G,  when  the  New  Testament  first  began  to  be  printed  in 
London,  up  to  the  present  moment  in  1576,  the  printing  of  the  Sacred  Scrip- 
tures in  England  had  been  cummon  tu  all  printers — that  is,  to  any  printer  who 
applied  and  secured  a  license  for  the  edition,  or  to  any  gentleman,  such  as  Mar- 
ler  and  Bodley,  both  of  whom  had  obtained  one.  Second,  That  the  printing  of 
the  Sacred  Volume  had  never,  all  along,  been  regarded,  as  in  any  sense  or  de- 
gree attached  to  the  office  or  title  of  the  King's  or  Queen's  printei-.  The  pre- 
vious history,  indeed,  as  well  as  our  list  of  editions  at  the  end,  alike  demonstrate 
this  ;  but  still  it  is  satisfactory  to  have  it  from  the  pen  of  the  craft  as  a  body. 

Of  the  complaint  recorded  in  the  authentic  manuscript  now  quoted,  we  have 
here  only  to  remark  that,  among  the  names  subjoined  to  it,  there  is  that  of  one 
man,  then  a  member  of  the  "  worshipful  Company  of  Drapers,"  and  not  as  yet  of 
the  Stationers'  Company,  but,  living  as   he   did  by  bookstV/i«</,  he  subscribed 


32  Lansdowne  MS.,  48,  no.  78  This  is  dated,  externally,  by  some  person  in  1582,  confound- 
ini;  it  with  a  following  document  oUhat  date,  tlioUnli  it  has  been  tal<i.-n  for  correct  in  tliu  Av- 
chaoh.Kia,  xxv.,  p.  101.  It  is  printed  in  Strype's  St<iw.  ii.,  p.  22;^,  anno  \:>^^,■,  and  this  we  believe 
to  be  correct,  only  recollecting  that  such  was  lluir  year  till  the  i'ith  March  i:>7(l.  Ikskia  thite 
175,  ten  more  stihscritieil  who  lind  hp  booksellimj.  or  XKt  in  nil. 


■HG  THIS  I'ATENT  EXI'LAINKD  [no(iK  in. 

JMJCordiiigly  ;  iirnl  tliih  is  no  otiicr  tli;in  <'liri»t.,j>lur  Jiurkcr,  a  name  wliicli  tlu- 
ivader  may  boar  in  niiuil  till  lie  Hce  wliat  I'Dllowcd. 

Joiin  t'awood  aii<l  Ricliard  Jngj^o,  it  will  be  rt'collecti'd,  had  been  her  Majes- 
ty'H  printers.  The  former  died  on  the  Ist  of  April  l.j?-,  and  tiie  latter,  soon 
after  printing  hin  last  edition  of  the  Bishops'  Bible,  in  1.^77.  Jnhn  Jiii/je,  of 
whom  all  the  stationers,  inclnding  Jidiker,  here  complained,  lived  but  a  very 
short  time,  and,  in  fact,  never  ohcc  exercised  the  privilege  lield  up  as  so  inju- 
rious. He  never  printed  either  a  Bible  or  even  a  New  Testament.  On  the  con- 
trary, from  what  soon  followed,  or  so  early  as  September  1.577,  it  is  almost  evi- 
dent that  he  must  have  been  dead  before  then.  At  all  events,  the  consequences 
deprecated  by  the  printers  and  booksellers  commenced  not  with  him. 

It  was  on  the  '28th  Sejjtember  1.577  that  an  exclusive  patent  was  purclia.sed, 
not  frovi  her  Majedy  for  this  time,  as  has  been  all  along  supposed,  but  from  Mu. 
Wilkes,  and  of  a  far  more  extensive  character  than  that  of  wliicli  complaint 
had  been  made,  but  very  specially  including  the  Old  and  2iew  Testament  in  the 
English  language ;  nay,  and  of  whatever  translation,  with  notes,  or  without 
them  I  ! 

In  these  circumstances,  it  is  very  curious  to  observe  the  last  expiring  effort  of 
Richard  Jugge,  and  it  may  be  seen  now  in  his  final  edition  of  the  Bishops'  Bible 
this  year.  He  was  still  "  Pi'intor  to  her  Majesty,"  and  though  posses.sing  no 
exclusive  privilege  on  that  account,  he  had  printed  this  version  all  along,  no 
one  else  interposing.  Probably,  after  Parker's  decease,  Jugge  had  not  the 
means  or  the  spirit  to  bring  out  ^  folio,  but,  at  all  events,  the  present  Bible  was 
only  in  large  octavo.  To  the  simple  title  of  all  previous  editions,  however,  he 
now  added  the  words — "  ISetfoorthby  authoritie."  What  he  meant  to  convey  by 
this,  more  than  his  customary  "  cum  privilegio,''  it  is  difficult,  if  not  impossible, 
to  divine.  If  it  was  merely  some  limited  authority  from  Primate  Grindal  or  his 
brethren,  he  was  entirely  out  of  royal  favour  by  the  month  of  June  this  year. 
But,  at  all  events,  it  was  no  direct  authority  from  her  Majesty,  for  that  wa.s 
already  given  away  to  Mr.  Wilkes  ;  nay,  nearly  at  the  very  moment  when 
Jugge  was  printing  his  Bible,  a«t/^/i<.'r  man  was  negotiating  with  Wilkesas  to  the 
very  extensive  patent  to  which  we  have  alluded.  Moreover,  as  if  to  crown  all, 
Elizabeth  at  this  moment  actually  appears  as  if  she  had  entertained  no  more 
taste  or  preference  for  the  Bishops'  version  than  she  had  discovered  for  the  head 
of  the  Bench.  Certainly  the  Geneva  version,  in  folio,  of  this  very  year,  1577, 
had  been  presented  to  her,  and  as  certainly  the  covers  were  embroidered  by  her 
Majcsty^s  own  hand.  This  identical  book  was  formerly  in  the  Duchess  of 
Portland's  museuni,  and  it  is  now  in  the  »S«.vf.r  Library,  never,  it  is  to  be  hoped, 
to  leave  this  kingdom. 

But  to  proceed. — By  whom  was  the  purchase  of  this  unwonted  patent  from 
Wilkes  secured  ?  By  no  other  than  one  of  the  men  who  had  conijilained  so 
lately  and  so  loud — Christopher  Barker  I  This  was  certainly  not  a  very  honour- 
able connnencement  of  such  business  ;  and  the  fact  might  have  been  questioned, 
had  we  not  Barker's  own  evidence  at  hand — for  a  few  monllis  only  had  .served 
to  change  his  tone.  When  jirotesting  against  a  grievance  likely  to  produce 
"  the  overthrow  of  many  entire  families,"  he  could  speak  as  already  expressed  ; 
but  when  once  enjoying  the  fruits  of  that  grievance,  he  will  express  himself  in 
very  difl'erent  terms. 

It  so  happened,  that,  in  the  end  of  1.5>i2,  or  about  si.x  years  after  his  com- 
plaint. Barker  addressed  Lord  Burleigh,  whether  of  his  own  accord  or  by  re- 
ijuest,  does  not  appear.  He  gives,  however,  a  "  Note  of  the  offices,  and  special 
licenses  for  pi-inting,  granted  by  her  Majesty  to  divers  persons,"  with  his  own 
conjecture  of  their  value.     The  selfish  special  pleading  by  which  the  whole  do- 


1558-1003.]  HV  THE  FIRST  PATENTEE.  347 

cuinent  is  distinguislied,  cannot  fail  to  amuse  the  gentlemen  printers  of  the  jjre- 
sent  day  throughout  the  kingdom.'*''  ]iut  part  of  it,  in  relation  to  himself,  is 
essential  to  our  present  narrative,  and  must  not  here  be  omitted.  He  had  spoken 
of  Mr.  Flower,  already  referred  to,  and  then  he  comes  to  himself. 

"  Christopher  Barker. — Mine  own  office  of  her  Majesty's  px-inter,  i/ire«  to 
Mr.  Wilkes,  is  abridged  of  the  chiefest  commodities  belonging  to  the  office,  as 
shall  hereafter  appear  in  the  patents  of  Mr.  Seres  and  Mr.  Daye  ;  but  as  it  is, 
T  have  the  printing  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament,  the  Statutes  of  the  realm, 
Proclamations,  and  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  byname,  and,  in  general 
words,  all  matters  for  the  Church."  After  complaining  of  inferior  existing  pa- 
tents as  preventing  his  gains,  and  speaking  lightly  of  other  privileges  included 
in  his  own,  he  comes  to  the  Scriptures.  "  Te-itainents  alone  are  not  greatly 
commodious,  by  reason  the  prices  are  so  small  as  will  scarcely  bear  the 
charges  !  The  whole  Bible  together  requireth  so  great  a  sum  of  money  to  be  em- 
ployed in  the  imprinting  thereof,  as  Mr.  Jugge  kept  the  realm  twelve  years 
without  before  he  durst  adventure  to  print  one  impression.3^  But  T,  considering 
the  great  sum  I  paid  to  ]\[r.  Wilkes,  did,  us  some  have  termed  it  since,  give  a 
desperate  adventure  to  imprint  four  sundry  impressions  for  all  ages  ;  wherein 
I  employed  to  the  value  of  three  thousand  pounds  in  the  term  of  one  year  and  a 
half,  or  thereabout  ;  in  which  time,  if  I  had  died,  my  wife  and  children  had  been 
utterly  undone,  and  many  of  my  friends  greatly  hindered  by  disbursing  round 
sums  of  money  for  me,  by  suretyship  and  other  means,  as  my  late  good  Mr. 
Master  Secretary  for  one.  So  that  now,  this  gap  being  stopped,  I  have  little  or 
nothing  to  do  but  adventure  a  needless  charge,  to  keep  many  journeymen  in 
work,  most  of  them  servants  to  my  predecessors." ^^ 

The  reader  may  be  ready  to  suspect  that  this  man  was  now  about  to  throw 
up  his  monopoly  as  a  losing  concern  ;  but  he  indulged  in  no  such  dream.  He 
well  knew  what  he  was  about,  when  he  paid  "  the  great  sum  "  to  Mr.  Wilkes, 
and  as  well,  when  he  "  gave  a  desperate  adventure  "  to  the  public.  He  saw 
clearly  that  whatever  the  Bishops  thought  of  their  Bible,  it  was  never  likely  to 
afford  him  any  munificent  return  in  the  way  of  business,  and,  therefore,  he  had 
taken  special  care  in  1577,  or  five  years  befoi'e  this,  that  the  Genera  version 
should   be  fully   embraced  by  his  patent.      What  is   still  moi'e  curious,  the 


33  For  example,  lie  says  to  the  Lord  Treasurer—"  There  are  22  printing-houses  in  London, 
where  eiyhl  or  ten  at  the  most  would  suffice  for  all  Rncjland  ;  yea,  and  Scotland  too  !  But  if  no 
man  were  allowed  to  be  a  Mr.  printer  but  such  whose  behaviour  were  well  known  and  aucto- 
rised  by  warrant  from  her  Majesty,  the  art  would  be  most  cxcelkntlij  executed  in  England,  and 
many  frivolous  and  unfruitful  copies  kept  back  which  are  daily  thrust  out  in  print,  greatly  cor- 
ruptinj;  the  youth,  and  prejudicial  to  the  commonwealth  many  ways."  Such  was  the  magnani- 
mous proposal,  and  such  the  language  of  Christopher  Barker,  our, -first  monopolist. 

34  This  innuendo  was  very  unfair,  to  pay  the  least.  Richard  Jugge  had  no  crcliishv  patent, 
as  Barker  had  attested  with  his  own  ))en  ;  and  Jolin,  the  son,  against  whom  he  had  protested, 
soon  died.  Why,  then,  could  not  Barker  have  left  the  grievance  to  die  also,  at  least  for  consist- 
ency's sake,  so  far  as  he  was  concerned. 

35  MS.  Lansdownc,  48,  No.  82,  and  indorsed  "  December  i5Si.  Writt  by  Christopher  Barker 
to  the  Lord  Treasurer."  Wc  know  not  why,  but  before  he  got  his  patent,  this  man  spelt  and 
printed  his  name  Harkar ;  after  that,  Barker.  He  is  understood  to  have  been  related  to 
Sir  Christopher  Barker,  Garter  King-at-Arms  ;  but,  at  all  events,  it  is  evident  that  he  had  been 
in  circumstances  which  may  account  for  his  having  not  barked  in  vain.  He  had  once  been  in 
the  service  of  .S'/>  Francis  IValsitiijham. 

Such  was  by  far  the  largest  slice  of  Wilke's  "  patent  of  i>rivileRe ;"  but  this  was  not  the 
amount  of  his  gains.  To  John  Dav,  who  must  no  more  print  Bibles  as  in  young  Edward's 
reign,  Wilkes  sold  a  patent  for  j)rinting  "  the  Psalms  set  to  Music,"  "  the  Catechism,"— and 
this  at  the  suit  of  the  Earl  of  Leicesler.  To  VVim.iam  Serbs,  a  patent  for  printing  the  Psalter, 
the  Primer  for  children,  besides  several  others,  wliicli  it  is  too  tedious  to  enumerate. 


;]1.8  rillS  I'ATKNT  KXPLAINED.  [lioOK  III. 

liiMliops'  lJiI)li',  thougli  published  nine  years  before,  was  not  there  in  his 
patent,  specified  even  by  name,  nor  indeed  e.eer  vas  throiif^hout  tlie  entire 
reign  !  Tiie  terms  of  tlie  patent,  therefore,  were — "  All  liibles  and  Testa- 
ments, in  tlie  English  language,  of  whntever  translation,  ttilh  notes,  or  without 
them."  Thus,  however  unceremoniously,  the  Bishops'  vereion  was  safely  in- 
cluiled,  but  the  Geneva  also,  and  on  the  same  footing,  as  well  as  another,  Tom- 
son's,  about  to  be  mentioned.-'*' 

By  Barker  himself,  therefore,  we  ai-e  now  furnished  with  a  key  to  the  change 
which  took  place  in  printing  the  Scriptures,  even  from  the  year  1575.  There 
was  then,  it  is  true,  another  Archbisliop  of  Canterbury,  Edmund  Grindal,  and 
certjiinly  ho  had  no  objections  to  the  foreign  version,  nor  had  he  now  express- 
ed any  desire,  like  his  predecessor,  that  it  should  be  subjected  either  to  his 
"  consent  or  direction."  But  though  he  had  done  so,  this  could  not  have  ac- 
counted for  any  change  whatever,  as  he  had  already  fallen  under  the  displeasure 
of  his  royal  Mistress,  Primate  though  he  was,  and  his  inttuenco  cannot  be  esti- 
mated at  anything  more  than  that  of  a  neutral  party.  Here,  however,  was 
Barker's  "  good  Master,"  Mr.  Secretary,  l^ir  Francis  Wahinijham,  s<j  far  con- 
cerned in  the  business.  "  Hound  sums "  and  "  surety-ship"  were  at  stake, 
while  Sir  Francis  was  only  one  of  "  many  friends,"  all  alike  alive  to  the  suc- 
cess of  the  new  and  unwonted  patent. 

On  the  road  to  favour,  therefore,  and  hefurc  the  patent  was  secured,  Parker 
being  once  out  of  the  way,  and  Sir  Francis,  Secretary  of  State,  Barker  had 
commenced  in  1575,  by  employing  Vautrollier  to  print  the  Geneva  Testament. 
This  was  followed  by  editions  of  that  Bible,  both  in  quarto  and  octavo,  in  1575, 
and  again  in  quarto  in  157().  More  than  this,  as  the  Scriptures  had  hitherto, 
iu  England,  been  printed  only  iu  the  black  or  German  type,  Barker  had  now 
the  credit  of  introducing  the  Roman  letter  ;  an  improvement  which  had  com- 
menced at  Geneva.  But  iu  157G  Barker  brought  out  a  beautiful  edition  of  the 
Geneva  Bible,  in  folio  ,-  the  text  being  in  Roman,  and  the  arguments  in  italic 
type.  This  year,  also,  the  under-Secretai'y  of  Sir  Francis,  Laurence  Tomson, 
had  finished  a  translatiou  of  the  New  Testament,  with  Beza's  notes ;  the  first 
edition  of  which  was  now  also  printed  "  by  Christopher  Barkar — at  the  sign  of 
the  Tygre's  Head,  cum  privilegio."  And  well  might  he  fix  the  sign  of  the 
Tiger's  head  above  his  shop  door  in  St.  Paul's  Church-yard  :  it  was  the  crest  of 
Walsingliam,  to  whom  also  the  book  was  dedicated,  in  a  long  epistle. 

Now  all  this,  as  already  explained,  was  done  in  the  face  of  Richard  Jugge, 
her  Majesty's  pruiter  for  the  time  being,  because  no  e.vclusirc  privilege  be- 
longed to  him,  more  than  to  his  predecessoi's.     Nay,  it  was  also  in  the  face  of 


3fi  Barker,  it  is  known  to  all,  stands  at  the  liead  of  a  long  list ;  but  since  he  chose  to  com- 
mit himself  even  in  addressing  the  Lord  Treasurer,  in  common  justice  to  the  memory  of 
Richard  JiKiOK,  his  hmguagc  and  condint  ouglit  to  be  understood.  With  the  contemptible 
view  of  exalting  himself  in  the  eyes  of  Lord  liurleigh,  lie  had  basely  affirmed  that  Jugge  "  had 
kei)t  the  realm  Iwi/vc  years  before  he  durst  adventure  to  print  one  im|)ression  of  the  whole 
Bible  together."  This,  to  say  the  least,  was  a  notorious  falsehood.  By  the  luvlflh  year  of  Eliza- 
beth, Jugge  had  iirintcd  /our  Bibles,  though  even  this  is  not  a  sufficient  answer.  R.  Jugge, 
though  Queen's  printer,  never  had  an  exclusive  patent,  much  less  an  exclusive  round  and  rov- 
ing one,  such  as  that  in  which  Barker  now  gloried,  without  his  yet  being  satisfied  ;  but  even  in 
the  third  year  of  Elizabeth,  Jugge's  cojiartner,  I'awood,  had  printed  Cranmer's  Bible,  and 
Jugge  could  not  print  the  Bishops'  version  till  it  was  ready  in  the  ninth  and  tenth  year  of  the 
reign.  And  how  did  lie  proceed  then;'  After  the  splendid  folio  of  l.'Kill,  he  repeated  the 
version  in  I.Miil,  1.17(1,  I.''>72,  Vijli.  \->1i,  l-''7o,  l;")7<>.  l-''77.  and  then  he  died.  While  Barker  was 
thus  defaming  a  pitce<ling  printer  /ii'f  years  after  his  death,  he  had  printed  this  version,  and 
that  by  assignment,  how  often?  Only  <'/ii'f .'  Of  the  Geneva  version,  however,  he  had  given 
four  editions,  for  a  reason  sufheiently  obvious  -Oii-  deimimi. 


1. 358-1  ()03.]  BY  THE  FIRST  PATENTED.  34.!) 

Jolm  Jugge's  cxclusivn  patent,  of  whieli  HarUei",  among  his  lirctlircn,  was  theit 
complaining  to  the  authorities  !  To  the  othin*  printers  and  booksellers  at  that 
moment,  Barker  must  have  appeared  to  be  fighting  manfully  in  their  favour. 
But  September  1577  arrived,  and  though,  according  to  the  document  he  had 
subscribed,  not  fewer  than  175  families  might  be  "  overthrown,"  to  say  nothing 
of  the  price  of  books,  or  incorrect  printing,  he  had  altered  his  opinion  !  No 
more  sympathy  was  to  be  either  felt  or  expressed  now,  for  the  "  overthrow  of 
other  printers,  their  wives  and  children,"  within  this  city  of  London  !  Pity  of 
another  character  had  taken  full  possession  of  the  patentee.  He  now  speaks 
only  of  hit>  own  wife  and  children.  A  change  had  come  over  the  spirit  of  the 
man,  and  such  as  may  remind  some  readers  of  the  language  which  Cowper  has 
put  into  the  mouth  of  his  "  Trader  to  the  African  shore," — 

This  pity,  which  some  iieople  self-pity  call, 

Is  sure  the  most  heart-piercing  pity  of  all— Which  nobody  can  deny. 

Thus,  however,  it  was  that  Mr.  C.  Barker,  for  "  a  pj-eat  sum  paid  to  Mr. 
Wilkes,"  secui'ed  his  exclusive  privilege.  It  included  every  version,  whether 
the  Bishops',  the  Geneva,  or  Tomson's  Testament,  and  whether  with  or  without 
notes, — a  sweeping  grietancc,  as  he  had  expressed  it  in  1576,  or  six  years  ago. 

Barker  then  went  on,  and  confessedly  with  great  spirit,  printing  both  ver- 
sions of  the  Sacred  Volume  ;  and  for  the  best  of  all  reasons,  because  there  was 
such  an  eager  demand,  esjiecially  for  the  Geneva.  Had  the  patentee  himself 
evinced  any  prejudice  in  favour  of  one  version  more  than  the  other,  it  might 
have  so  far  accounted  for  what  ensued  ;  but  he  was  influenced  by  no  such  par- 
tiality. According  to  his  own  shewing,  he  was  regulated  solely  by  the  popular 
taste,  or  the  prospect  of  remuneration.  He,  as  we  have  hoard  from  himself, 
soon,  and  within  the  short  compass  of  about  eighteen  months,  advanced  not 
less  than  three  thousand  pounds  in  printing  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  an  amount 
but  little  short  of  thirty  thousand  of  the  present  day  !  In  the  entire  range  of 
English  literature  at  that  period,  there  was  nothing  once  to  be  compared  to 
this  :  and  yet  the  demand  under  this  reign  was  but  begun ;  it  will  be  long  before 
it  is  satisfied. 

Notwithstanding  his  artful  grumbling  to  the  Lord  Treasurer  Bm'leigh,  in 
1582,  the  occupation  of  the  patentee  growing  under  the  privilege  he  had  bought ; 
a  crisis  arrived,  of  which  he  was  not  slow  to  avail  himself  most  fully.  If  his 
patent  had  proved  only  a  poor  affair,  he  had  now  a  fine  opportunity  of  throwing 
it  up,  only  he  may  have  changed  his  mind,  as  he  had  done  before.  Exclusive 
patents  for  life  having  been  introduced,  in  several  inferior  cases,  it  will  be  Bar- 
ker's object  to  secure  one  ;  but  as  it  is  of  the  nature  of  all  injurious  desire  to 
rise  in  its  demands,  perhaps  there  may  be  something  more  obtained,  than  a 
patent  extending  only  to  the  day  of  his  own  decease ! 

Mr.  Wilkes,  the  gentleman  to  whom  Barker  owed  his  license,  had  gradually 
become  a  man  of  greater  importance.  As  early  as  1575,  we  observe  he  was  at 
Strasburg,  and  cori-esponding  with  the  Earl  of  Leicester ;  but  in  1586,  when  in 
Holland,  he  was  writing  not  to  Lord  Burleigh  only,  but  to  the  Privy  Council 
as  a  body,  if  not  to  the  Queen  herself.  Having  returned  home,  not  satisfied 
with  Barker's  "  great  sum,"  and  wishing  to  resemble  some  others,  he  longed 
for  another  monopoly,  and  began  to  dabble  in  one  of  the  most  important  neces- 
saries of  life.  One  "  patent  of  privilege  "  was  not  sufficient.  Perhaps  it  was 
in  consideration  of  service  done;  but  on  the  24th  of  February  1587,  Wilkes 
had  obtained  another,  for  making  white  salt  lit  Hull,  Boston,  and  Lynn.  From 
some  cause,  however,  he  got  himself  involved  in  trouble,  and  falling  under  the 
displeasure  of  his  Royal  Mistress,  it  cost  him  nearly  two  years  to  weatlier  tiie 


■J.'iO  TIIK    PATKNT    KKNKWKU,  AND  [hOOK  III. 

storm.  77(15  was  Barker's  opportunity.  Her  Majesty's  I'riiitcr  of  tlie  Enf^lish 
toii^jiio,  l)y  tit/i',  bfiiig  in  diirancc,  it  was  time  for  tlie  nrtiial  printer  to  look  out 
for  himself.  A  license  from  a  man  now  in  Fleet  prison  was  wortli  little  or  no- 
thinjj.'C  Accordingly,  well  known  to  Cecil,  ami  patronised  by  Walsingliam, 
liis  old  master,  if  not  also  his  supporter  in  business,  he  applied  and  obtained  a 
patent  fronj  the  Qiwiu  direct.  Notwithst;inding  the  great  sum  paid  to  Wilkes, 
in  September  1,)77,  Barker  was  now  ready,  no  doubt,  to  pay  another,  if  not  a 
greater ;  but  at  all  events  he  will  contrive  to  secure  a  longer  privilege. 

lie  had  an  only  son,  named  Robert,  then  comparatively  but  a  young  man. 
However,  ho  wa.s  successful  in  getting  him  included  in  this  new  patent,  dated 
!tth  August  l.iiif) ;  the  extensive  range  of  which  was  to  continue  for  both  lives.st 
The  father  died  on  the  '2.')th  of  November  1  .j.'».0,  but  the  son  survived  him,  for 
the  long  i)eriod  of  forty -six  years ;  so  that  the  interest  now  acquired  was  not 
extinct  till  the  twentieth  year  of  Charles  the  First,  or  1645  !  This,  however 
carrying  us  far  beyond  the  boundaries  of  Elizabeth's  reign,  as  the  Barker 
family  will  come  before  us  again,  we  now  return  to  the  moment  of  the  father's 
success. 

The  exteiLsive  patent  of  Christopher  and  Robert  Barker 
once  secured,  in  regard  to  the  Scriptures,  it  embraced  "  all 
Bibles  and  Testaments  whatsoever,  in  the  English  language, 
of  whatever  tran.slation,  with  notes,  or  without  notes,  printed 


3"  In  .luly  of  this  year,  15H7,  Wilkes  landed  in  Fleet  prison,  from  whence,  on  the  22d,  he  was 
writinH  to  Cecil  forhisenlarpcmciit.  and  more  earnestly  on  the  22(1  of  September.  "  I  trust,"  he 
says,  "  in  respect  that  my  case  is  no  more  heinous  than  that  of  others,  who  are  in  the  /('Av  predi- 
cament, Ihoiiiih  my  belters,  I  shall  not  be  refused,  after  two  months'  imprisonment,  to  stand  in  like 
terms  for  my  liberty  as  they  do."  It  was  not,  however,  till  1.589,  that  he  was  presenting  his  rea- 
sons for  his  patent  being  continued,  as  involving  "the  best  and  chiefest  stay  of  his  mainten- 
ance." So  capricious,  however,  was  flic  royal  favour,  that  before  the  end  of  next  year,  after 
Walsingham's  death.  Wilkes  had  risen  higher  than  ever.  "  The  resolution  for  secretaries." 
says  Mr.  Francis  Needham  to  the  Earl  of  Shrewsbury  in  l.')90,  "  licth  between  Mr.  Kobert  Cecil 
and  Mr.  tyilkcs.  Vour  Lordship  can  easily  judge  whose  creatures  they  are,  and  the  choice 
were  happy  if  they  happen  to  run  in  one  course  ;  the  one  in  respect  of  the  great  helps  he  shall 
have  from  his  fathrr ;  the  other  a  well  experimental  gentleman,  of  good  understanding,  and 
great  despatch,  and  no  less  courage."  The  j>laceof  Secretary  of  State  was,  however,  kept  vacant 
for  six  years  after  Walsingham's  death,  by  the  Earl  of  Essex's  iiielTectual  efforts  to  procure  the 
restoration  of  the  unfortunate  Davison.  Sir  Robert  Cecil,  who  in  the  meantime  conducted  offi- 
cial business,  was  at  length  appointed  in  July  1.5!»6.  From  l;"»9lt  Mr.  Wilkes  was  frequently  em- 
ployed on  foreign  embassies,  on  one  of  which  he  was  kniiihlfd,  but  by  the  King  of  France,  in 
return  for  kindness  shewn  to  him,  when  King  of  Navarre.  At  last,  in  March  15!I8,  Cecil,  the 
Secretary,  and  Herbert,  Master  of  Requests,  having  accompanied  him  to  France,  Sir  Thomas 
died  there,  as  soon  as  he  landed.  See  Lansilowne  MS.  .IJ,  art.  54.  and  71-  Idem  .')!),  art.  G6,  (W, 
fi!).  Lodge's  Illustrations,  Hvo,  vol.  ii.,  p.  42(5.  Cotton  MS.,  Julius  F.  vi.,  fol.  04 :  and  Wood's 
Fasti,  anno  \^>~-2.  Mr.  Wilkes,  however,  was  not  the  only  ambassador  whom  Elizabeth  paid 
with  sail.  There  was  another  patent.  And  hence  Wilkes  had  pled  in  158!),  "  If  the  grant  shall 
he  thought  utilawfiil,  because  it  seemeth  a  Dionojiobi,  I  beseech  their  1-ordships  to  remember 
that  her  Majesty  hath  granted  others  of  the  like  nature ;  as  that  for  the  brin;,Hng  in  of  tuxit 
tcinet,  currants,  ror/iiiifal,  carils,  making  of  starrh,  printing  of  the  common  laws,  i)raminars,  and 
such  like— and  of  the  same  nature,  viz.,  solt,  one  to  Mr.  Harborn  of  Yarmouth,"  i.  e.,  once 
ambassador  to  Constantinople.  All  these  facts  give  a  mo.st  melancholy  character  to  her  Majes- 
ty's last  Sj/ecch.  Uttered  as  it  was  within  fifteen  months  of  her  death,  the  finely  turned  expres- 
sions will  not  allow  us  to  forget  the  deliberate  falsehood  contained  in  them. 

38  It  is  quoted  at  length  by  Ames,  p.  357.  This  patent,  it  is  now  of  some  importance  to  ob- 
serve, commences  with  rccoiinishi<i  the  former  one.  dated  2tlth  September  1577-  That,  however, 
it  will  be  recollected,  was  nothing  higher  than  a  liranrh  of  a  Patknt  of  PRrviLKOE.  We  have 
already  seen  what  was  already  judged  of  such  privileges  as  being  illegal,  nor  can  the  reader 
forget  the  terms  in  which  Elizabeth  had  pledged  her  henrl  and  hand  to  Parliament  on  the  sub- 
ject ;  and  yet  all  subsequent  patents  in  relation  to  the  English  Scriptures,  take  their  rise  from 
Barker's  first. 


l.'i.^S-UJOo.]  AT   A    MAUKKO   PERIOD.  351 

before  then,  or  afterwards  to  be  printed  by  our  command."''' 
The  privileges  are  granted,  professedly,  in  consideration  of 
Mr,  Barker's  great  improvement  in  the  art  of  printing.^'  But 
the  most  singular  feature  of  the  document  at  such  a  crisis,  is 
this,  that  no  notice  whatever  is  taken  of  any  one  translation, 
as  preferable  to  another,  no,  nor  of  any  one  as  having  been 
either  ordered  or  sanctioned  by  the  Queen.  This  too  becomes 
more  remarkable,  when  it  is  observed  that  the  patent  was 
granted  under  the  sway  of  Whitgift,  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, the  strenuous  promoter  of  uniforynity  in  every  thing 
else,  and  whose  decided  preference  of  the  Bishops'  version, 
had  only  the  year  before  been  strongly  marked  and  enforced. 
Burleigh,  indeed,  and  Sir  Francis  Walsingham,  maj^  be  pre- 
sumed to  have  acquiesced  in  a  license  so  broad ;  but  at  all 
events,  here,  under  one  of  the  most  powerful  Monarchs  that 
had  ever  held  the  English  sceptre,  and  as  rigid  a  Primate  as 
had  occupied  the  See  of  Canterbury,  since  the  invention  of 
printing,  if  we  look  to  what  followed,  it  is  not  difficult  to  see 
there,  an  overruling  hand  once  more.  Whatever  may  be 
said  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  assuredly  Archbishop  Whitgift  did 
not  intend  to  promote  the  perusal  throughout  all  England  of 
any  version  of  the  Scriptures,  save  one,  now  sanctioned  by 
"  the  Synod  of  Bishops ;"  but  then  here  comes  her  Majesty, 
with  open  eyes,  and  by  her  sign  manual,  she  has  left  the  peo- 
ple free  to  choose,  in  the  highest  sense,  when,  so  far  as  her 
power  extended,  she  would  on  no  account  allow  it,  in  any  other. 
No  one  will  stand  up  now,  to  justify  the  course  pursued  by 
Barker  from  the  beginning.  It  was  a  most  mercenary  aftair 
from  first  to  last ;  and  yet  even  when  a  man  is  so  influenced, 
the  consequences,  whether  immediate  or  remote,  by  the  hand 
of  God  may  easily  be  overruled  for  good.  One  consequence, 
at  all  events,  is  here  worthy  of  special  observation.  Even 
under  an  exclusiv^e  patent,  granted  by  a  Queen  imperative 
even  to  trifles,  since  the  supply  was  after  all  regulated  solely 
by  the  demand,  and  only  the  sordid  prospect  of  remuneration, 
we  are  able  to  see,  and  as  clearly  as  we  did  under  Edward  the 
Sixth,  Avhat  was  the  taste  or  choice  of  the  great  body  of  Eng- 
lish readers. 


39  This  was  little  else  than  a  mere  flourish,  as  there  were  equal,  nay,  superior  printers.  But 
.It  all  events,  Barker,  from  this  date,  actually  printed  only  by  deputy,  the  father  retiring  to  liis 
country  house  at  Datchet,  near  Windsor,  at  the  age  of  sixty. 


352  SURVEY  OF  THE  8CRIPTURES.  (^BOOK  Ml. 

In  contemplating  this  long  and  powerful  reign,  with  imme- 
diate reference  to  the  Sacred  Volume,  there  are  three  distinct 
points  alike  worthy  of  notice  and  recollection.  The  firgt  is, 
the  number  of  editions  on  the  whole,  so  very  far  beyond  that 
which  has  ever  been  observed.  A  second  peculiarity  is  very 
manifest,  or  the  number  of  impressions  in  what  is  usually 
styled  the  Geneva  version,  in  comparison  with  others,  or  with 
Cranmer's  and  Parker's  versions  taken  together.  But  the 
third  point,  as  soon  as  our  list  at  the  close  is  glanced  at,  can- 
not escape  notice — the  large  number  of  Bibles^  as  compared 
w  ith  the  editions  of  the  Neic  Testament  separately. 

Apprehension,  approaching  nearly  to  horror,  had  been  ex- 
pressed in  Parliament,  at  the  very  idea  of  a  patent  for  bread; 
but  here  was  a  commodity  infinitely  above  it,  in  point  of  im- 
portance and  value — the  bread  of  Life  ;  and  since  it  had  been 
delivered  into  the  hands  of  one  man,  to  deal  it  out  in  con- 
formity to  privilege  granted ;  this  being  the  first  movement 
of  the  kind,  every  reader  must  be  curious  to  observe  the  ex- 
periment in  its  first  operation  and  consequences.  Here,  then, 
he  may  now  do  so,  at  the  distance  of  two  hundred  and  forty 
years,  and  for  a  space  of  time  equal  to  that  of  the  entire 
generation  first  so  circumstanced. 

The  supply  on  the  whole,  cannot  fail  to  occasion  delightful 
surprise,  even  in  those  who  have  been  long,  to  the  usual  ex- 
tent, acquainted  with  the  subject,  as  it  so  far  exceeds  what 
has  ever  been  pointed  out  in  history.  Speaking  of  the  Geneva 
version  only,  Lewis  conjectured  that  there  had  been  "  above 
thirty  editions  in  folio,  quarto,  and  octavo,  printed  from  the 
year  1560  to  the  year  1616."  And  so  very  loosely  has  the 
history  of  our  Bible  been  regarded,  that,  although  the  editions 
of  Shakspeare  have  been  scanned  and  counted  with  the  most 
vigilant  scrupulosity,  this  vague  estimate  of  the  Scriptures 
has  been  repeated  in  print,  by  Newcome  and  many  others, 
down  to  the  present  hour  !  Lewis  took  great  pains  in  his 
day,  and  then  spoke  according  to  the  extent  of  his  research  ; 
but  had  he  multiplied  by  three,  and  said  ninety  editions,  in- 
stead of  thirty,  and  added  thirty  editions  more  of  the  New 
Testament  separately,  he  would  have  been  not  far  from  the 
truth.  We  are  here,  however,  confined  to  the  reign  of  Eliza- 
beth terminating  in   1603,  or  thirteen  vears  before  the  esti- 


1538-1603.]  LNDER  QUEEN  ELIZABETH.  353 

mate  of  Lewis  ;  and,  referring  to  our  list  at  the  end  for  par- 
ticulars, we  can  now  speak  only  in  round  numbers. 

From  the  rear  1560  to  that  of  1603  inclusive,  there  had 
been  certainly  not  fewer  than  one  hundred  and  thirty  distinct 
issues  of  Bibles  and  Testaments,  or  about  eighty-five  of  the 
former  and  forty-five  of  the  latter,  which  presents  an  average 
of  three  issues  annitally  throughout  the  entire  reign ;  and  not- 
withstanding all  the  caution  exercised  for  the  first  sixteen 
years.  With  reference  to  the  Geneva  version,  out  of  the 
gross  issues  now  stated,  the  number  approaches  to  ninety 
editions,  thus  leaving  only  forty  for  all  others.  Or  if  we 
speak  of  Bibles  alone,  while  the  number  of  Cranmer's  and 
Parker's  version  put  together,  we  state  as  ticenty-tite,  that  of 
the  Geneva  Bible  had  amounted  at  least  to  sixty  editions. 
The  very  remarkable  disproportion,  however,  between  the 
New  Testaments  issued  as  compared  with  the  Bible  entire, 
demands  more  particular  observation,  and  it  will  come  before 
us  presently. 

Here,  it  is  granted,  we  have  a  subject  which  previous  his- 
torians have  overlooked,  as  either  below  their  notice,  or  un- 
worthy of  investigation.  The  imprisonment  and  death  of 
Mary  Queen  of  Scots,  the  invincible  Spanish  Armada,  and 
the  dominant  power  of  Elizabeth,  on  the  one  hand ;  or  the 
life  and  actions  of  Parker,  Griudal,  and  Whitgift,  of  Bacon 
and  Leicester,  Cecil  and  ^Valsingham,  on  the  other,  have  so 
engrossed  the  mind,  that  history  on  this  subject  has  been  cold, 
nay,  silent.  But  may  we  not  leave  it  to  the  judgment  of  every 
unbiassed  reader,  wliether  there  was  any  movement  of  the  pass- 
ing day  to  be  compared  to  this,  either  in  itself,  or  in  its  conse- 
quences I  What  are  the  footsteps  of  men  or  monarchs,  moving 
like  shadows  o'er  the  plain,  when  compared  with  the  progress  of 
Di^-ine  Truth  in  any  nation  ;  Editions  of  the  Sacred  Volume, 
at  any  given  time,  rise  in  importance  infinitely  above  those 
of  any  human  composition ;  but  at  this  period  especially, 
owing  to  peculiar  circumstances,  they  formed  the  only  unerr- 
ing index  to  the  thirst  for  Divine  revelation,  or  the  actual  pro- 
gress in  Christian  knowledge.  This,  it  will  be  granted,  is  a 
state  of  mind  the  most  vital  of  all  others,  so  far  as  Christianity 
in  its  proper  sense  is  concerned ;  while,  far  from  being  a 
transitory  ebullition,  it  extended  over  a  space  of  time  equal 
to  more  than  a  generation.     This  was  a  growing  and  pro- 

VOI..   II.  z 


1/ 


354  DEMAND  FOR  THE  SCKIPTURES  [boOK  III. 

di<;iou.s  purchase  of  tlie  Sacred  Scriptures,  lor  they  were 
ncitlier  given  away,  nor  sold  at  reduced  prices,  as  in  modem 
times.  In  short,  justice  has  never  been  done  either  to  the 
period  as  such,  or  to  tlie  people  of  the  day,  whether  in  England 
or  Scotland,  who  purchased  all  they  read,  nay,  and  paid  ten 
times  the  value  of  tlie  present  prices. 

The  CAUSE,  therefore,  of  this  remarkable  demand  for  the  Word  of 
Life,  at  such  a  time,  is  the  problem  to  be  solved  :  and  in  the  page 
of  history,  this  is  of  equal,  if  not  of  greater,  importance  to  us,  than  the 
demand  itself.  There  are  tiro  agencies,  to  which,  in  other  circumstances, 
such  a  result  might  have  been  ascribed  ;  more  especially  as  either  of 
them,  at  another  time,  would  have  been  equal  to  the  effect  produced. 
We  refer  to  the  influence  of  the  people  themselves,  providing  for  their 
own  wants  ;  or  to  the  ministry  of  the  Word,  in  the  hands  of  God,  excii- 
ing  in  them  such  desire  :  in  other  words,  the  power  of  parti/,  or  the 
power  of  preaching.  Both  of  these  may  now  be  tried,  by  any  who  are 
best  acquainted  with  the  times,  to  account  for  what  we  at  present  con- 
template ;  but  they  will  be  tried  in  vain.  Neither  the  one  nor  the  other, 
nor  both  together,  can  correctly  be  assigned  as  the  cause  of  such  a 
glorious  result,  at  this  particular  period  of  English  history.  If,  there- 
fore, we  look  at  each  of  these  in  order,  it  may  afford  another  view  of 
this  reign,  than  that  which  has  perhaps  ever  before  been  presented. 

In  the  days  of  Edward  the  Sixth,  we  have  already  witnessed  an  extra- 
ordinary demand  for  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  and  now,  under  his  sister's 
reign,  a  second  ;  but  there  is  a  material  difference  between  the  two 
cases.  In  the  time  of  that  youthful  monarch,  there  came  before  us  only 
trro  great  parties,  often  styled  the  "  Friends  of  the  Old  Learning"  and 
"  Friends  of  the  New."  Under  Elizabeth,  on  the  contrary,  and  more 
especially  from  the  moment  when  Barker  began  to  print  the  Scriptures, 
the  last  of  these  were  divided  in  opinion.  The  country,  it  is  notorious, 
was  divided  into  three  great  parties  ;  and  this  occasioned  all  the  restless 
uneasiness  of  that,  in  other  respects,  powerful  reign.  Now,  it  is  in  these 
new,  or  altered,  circumstances,  that  we  are  called  to  observe  the  History 
of  the  English  Bible,  and  to  observe  it,  as  steadily  maintaining  its  own 
high  ground,  that  is,  ground  far  above  that  of  any  party,  whether  in 
power  or  out  of  it.  Under  the  reign  of  Edward,  not  fewer  than  thirty 
men  in  business  were  engaged  in  supplying  the  thirst  of  the  people  for 
the  Sacred  Word — a  noble  and  animating  proof  of  activity  in  the  Friends 
of  the  New  Learning ;  and  had  the  same  nimiber  been  employed  at 
present,  these  editions  of  the  Geneva  version  might  have  been,  and?//ow/(/ 
have  been,  at  once  ascribed  merely  to  party  zeal.  Here,  however,  now, 
her  Majesty's  own  patent  printer  stands  in  the  way,  and  he  will  at  once 
effectually  prevent  any  such  misconception.     When  parties  have  waxed 


1558-1  G0;3.]  DURING  ELIZABETH'S  REIGN.  355 

warm,  or  party  spirit  run  high  in  a  country,  should  there  be  any  one 
thing  proceeding  at  the  same  time  as  an  index  to  the  state  of  the 
people,  xchich  cannot,  with  truth  and  accuracy,  be  ascribed  to  any  party 
as  such,  because  not  within  its  power,  that  Tcry  thing  may  prove  by  far 
the  most  important  object  for  consideration  by  posterity.  The  doings  of 
Christopher  Barker,  then,  shall  now  serve  for  such  an  index.  He,  and 
no  one  else,  is  to  satisfy  the  desire  of  the  people  for  the  Sacred  Scrip- 
tures ;  and  he  is  so  far  from  being  even  tinged  with  zeal  for  a  party,  that 
only  one  prospect  regulates  all  his  movements,  and  that  is  the  prospect 
of  sale  and  remuneration.  The  sheets  of  both  versions,  whether  the 
Bishops'  or  the  Geneva,  must  issue,  indeed,  from  his  press  alone ;  but  he 
will  not  wet  a  sheet  of  either,  except  simply  as  they  are  demanded.'"' 
Now,  had  this  man  been  a  partizan  in  favour  of  the  Bishops'  version,  or 
the  fine  book  presented  to  the  Queen,  from  whom  he  had  received  or 
purchased  his  patent,  it  must  have  been  more  frequently  printed  ;  but 
if  she  should  never  interfere,  as  she  never  did,  then  he  would  go  with  the 
stream,  that  is,  wherever  the  prospect  of  gain  may  carry  him.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  readers  of  the  Geneva  Bible,  as  a  body,  cannot  be  dis- 
tinguished by  any  opprobrious  party  epithet  of  the  day,  for  that  version 
was  to  be  found  in  all  the  families  of  England  where  the  Scriptures 
were  read  at  all.  In  running  down  the  list  of  Editions,  it  is  one  of 
the  most  pleasing  of  all  associations,  that  all  these  yrQVQ  family  Bibles  ; 
and  in  the  eye  of  impartial  posterity  these  people  can  be  no  otherwise 
now  designated  than  simply  as  "  the  readers  of  the  Bible."  But  then, 
to  supply  their  own  necessities  was  not  icithia  their  poicer.  Call  them  a 
party,  and  as  such  they  were  the  noblest  of  their  time  ;  yet,  as  a  party, 
they  could  not  help  themselves.  They  might  besiege  the  door  of  Barker, 
and  to  this  he  had  no  objections,  but  then  he  icov.ld  not  vorl-  as  the 
readers  could  have  wished,  of  which  he  has  left  behind  him  most  notable 
evidence.  Finding  the  desire  of  the  people  to  be  so  strong,  at  a  very 
early  period  he  had  firmly  made  up  his  mind  as  to  the  most  gainful  vfa.j 
of  gratifying  it.  This  he  had  done  before  1582,  or  above  seventeen 
years  before  his  death, — a  lucrative  business  being  the  man's  sole  ob- 
ject. "  Testaments  aloxe,"  said  the  poor  mercenary  monopolist,  "  Tes- 
taments  aloxe,  are  not  greatly  commodious,  by  reason  the  prices  are  so  small 
as  icill  scarcely  hear  the  charges  !"*^  Passing  strange  I  After  they  had 
been  so  comm/)dious  in  the  days  of  Edward  that  so  many  diflferent  men 
had  embarked  in  printing  them  I  But  it  is  curious  enough  that  we 
should  now,  in  any  degree,  be  obliged  to  this  man  for  his  complaint.  It 
was,  indeed,  never  heard  from  the  lips  of  any  printer  before  the  run  of 
an  exclusive  patent,  yet  it  enables  us  to  account  for  a  very  glaring  ano- 

*o  Whatever  English  Bibles  were  printed  in  Holland  will  not  affect  our  subsequent  statement, 
as  the  foreigners  were  working  under  hie  sanction  or  control. 
■•'  As  quoted  before,  see  page  34". 


a.")()  THIS  GUOWINU   UKMANU  [liOOK  111. 

lualy  ill  our  list  of  editions,  which  cannot  fail  to  strike  as  souu  as  it  is 
pointed  out,  and  one  which,  whenever  observed  before,  could  never  have 
li'cii,  explained.  We  allude  to  the  number  of  editions  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament under  Edirard,  compared  with  that  under  Elizcibeth.  In  the 
five  years  of  Edwar<l  there  were  above  thirtij  editions.  According  to  the 
same  proportion,  under  Eliza))cth,  there  might  have  been  nearly  nine 
times  more,  or  approaching  to  three  hundred  editions.  There  were,  how- 
ever, only  about  forty-five  !  However  hard,  therefore,  this  may  now  bear 
on  the  patentee  from  1577,  one  thing  is  clear  :  Barker  himself  had  stood 
in  the  way,  preventing  any  man,  however  ])iassed,  from  ascrilnng  those 
numerous  editions  of  the  entire  Scriptures  to  the  energy  of  a  pauty  ;  and 
we  are  now  as  effectually  prevented  from  such  a  supposition.  This  is  not 
the  way  in  which  such  energy  would  have  wrought.  All  we  can  say, 
therefore,  is, — such  was  the  will  of  Providence  at  this  period,  that  they 
who  desired  to  see  a  fart,  must,  in  many  instances,  pay  for  their  curiosity, 
and  jnirchase  the  entire  volume  ;  and  so  they  did,  though  generally  in 
quarto,  and  to  this  most  remarkable  extent.  It  was  an  ardent  desire, 
and  to  be  gratified  only  at  great  personal  expense. 

In  answering  this  demand,  however,  another  singular  circumstance 
occurred  ;  and  since  the  reverse  of  the  truth  has  been  generally  stated, 
and  therefore  believed,  it  must  not  be  passed  over.  We  have  already 
stated  that  the  Geneva  Bible  was  dedicated  to  Queen  Elizabeth,  with  an 
epistle  prefixed,  and  one,  in  its  title,  certainly  rising  far,  far  above  all 
party  spirit — "  To  our  Beloved  in  the  Lord,  the  Brethren  of  England, 
Scotland,  and  Ireland.'''  This  was  in  the  spring  of  1560,  soon  after  the 
storm  in  England  had  drifted  to  leeward.  Such  a  style  of  address  was  the 
first  flight  of  its  kind  that  had  ever  occurred,  holding  out  the  same  olive 
branch  to  the  three  kingdoms  ;  and  well  would  it  have  been  for  them  all 
could  they  have  only  accepted,  retained,  a>id  cherished  the  sjiirit  expressed 
by  it,  up  to  the  present  hour.  The  title  had  at  least  this  advantage — 
that  every  Christian  must  or  ought  to  approve  of  it,  if  any  prefix  what- 
ever be  necessary  for  the  Sacred  Volume.  Like  a  foreign  plant,  brought 
home  into  their  native  land  by  these  exiles,  if  it  should  afterwards  there 
droop  or  be  crushed,  let  not  the  "  readers  of  the  Bible"  be  charged 
with  the  violence  done.  The  Bible  itself,  as  we  have  seen,  was  abund- 
antly printed  in  England  ;  but  it  may  very  naturally  be  in<|uired  how  it 
fared  with  each  of  these  prefixes  ?  The  dedication  to  Elizabeth,  far 
from  being  suppressed  immediately,  as  it  has  been  often  erroneously 
stated,  was  reprinted  in  every  edition,  uj)  to  the  twenty-fifth  year  of  her 
reign — that  is,  to  1583,  or  in  twelve  editions,  including  that  of  1560, 
seven  of  which  were  ])rintcd  in  London.  It  was  then  withdrawn,  and  the 
time  will  strike  certain  readers,  as  it  was  the  first  year  of  Whitgift's 
orimacy.  Whether  this  was  done  through  his  influence  or  not,  to  every 
unsophisticated  mind  it  will  now  appear  to  have  been  an  improvement, 


1.")58-1G'03.]  TRACED  TO  ITS  ORIGIN.  357 

for  the  Bible  was  better  without  it,  while  the  omission  had  not  the 
slightest  effect  in  checking  the  sale.  After  this,  and  while  the  Queen 
reigned,  many  more  editions  were  printed,  and,  of  course,  by  her  own 
patentee,  without  any  dedication.  As  for  the  "  epistle,"  with  its  ori- 
ginal TITLE,  it  passed  through  ten  editions  up  to  nearly  the  same  period, 
or  1582,  that  being  the  last  Bible  in  which  it  isfound.'*^  In  the  edition 
of  1579,  however,  while  the  epistle  itself  remained,  down  to  the  period 
of  oiu'  present  version  and  beyond  it,  by  some  cold  and  narrow-minded 
spirit  the  title  was  altered  to  the  following  terms  : — "  To  the  diligent  and 
Christian  Reader ;''''  and  then  simply  "  To  the  Christian  Reader.''''  A 
change  from  the  social  to  the  personal — from  a  breathing  of  love  intend- 
ed to  cheer  three  kingdoms,  to  the  solitary  reader,  wherever  he  might  be 
found,  was  certainly  no  improvement  ;  but  again,  if  there  was  2^arti/  sjn- 
rit  here,  let  not  these  purchasers  and  readers  of  the  Bible  itself  be 
charged  with  this  spirit.  If  the  olive  branch  was  crushed,  it  was  not 
them  that  crushed  it  ;  though  neither  had  this  any  effect  on  the  circula- 
tion. In  the  present  day  there  are  those  who  may  remark,  that,  if  there 
had  been  no  monopoly,  the  unobjectionable  and  expansive  title  would 
have  survived  ;  but,  at  all  events,  even  incidents  such  as  these  throw 
light  on  the  times,  as  well  as  relieve  the  numerous  readers  of  the  Scrip- 
tures from  the  charge  of  a  narrow  spirit.  It  must  now,  then,  be  appa- 
rent that  we  are  constrained  to  look  for  some  higher  cause  than  mere 
party  zeal.  To  the  human  eye  all  this  was  nothing  more  than  one  man 
employed,  under  the  royal  sanction,  to  meet  a  desire  which  her  Majesty 
had  no  power,  perhaps  no  disposition,  to  control.  It  was,  however,  a  cur- 
rent too  strong  even  for  Elizabeth,  while  her  own  printer  must  stand  by, 
to  satisfy  the  demand. 

But  since  the  people  were  so  eager  for  the  Geneva  version,  as  the 
printer  has  proved,  it  may  now  be  asked — Were  they  not  excited  by 
addresses  from  the  ftdpit  ?  They  might  have  been,  and  the  ministry  of 
the  Word  would  have  accounted  for  all  that  had  occurred.  No  doubt  they 
who  feared  God  then  spake  often  one  to  another,  and  met  as  they  might ; 
but  will  any  man,  acquainted  with  the  times,  venture  to  trace  the  grow- 
ing desire  of  this  people  to  the  energy,  or  the  growing  energy  of 
preaching  1  To  the  living  voice  of  such  a  man  as  Luther,  or  such  a 
chosen  band  as  his  coadjutors  ?  No  ;  Britain,  surrounded  by  her  own 
sea,  is  little  to  be  associated  with  Germany,  from  first  to  last.  From  her 
ovm  Wickliffe  until  now,  she  has  had  a  case  of  her  own  to  be  traced  out, 
and  the  direct  dealing  of  the  Almighty  with  this  nation  is  yet  to  1)6  more 


42  For  more  than  a  century  it  has  been  said  that  the  dedication  and  preface  were  hoih  hnme- 
iValfhi  suppressed,  or  that,  after  the  first  edition  of  ISfJd,  they  were  left  out  in  all  the  subsequent 
editions  !  But  there  was  more  tlian  enough,  for  which  her  Majesty  was  responsible,  .and  let  not 
the  slightest  injustice  be  done  to  her  memory.  The  statement  now  made  may  he  relied  on,  as 
it  hns  ))ccn  verified  hy  eom)iaiison  with  all  the  Bibles  thcmselrcs. 


358  THIS  GROWING  DEMAND  [book  hi. 

carefully  studied.  Where,  then,  was  there,  throughout  this  long  reigu, 
extolled  as  so  glorious,  even  one  Apollos  or  Boanerges  permitted  to  raise 
his  voice  across  the  kingdom,  and  excite  the  people  to  read  and  live  i 
Or  one  Latimer  in  all  England  ?  As  for  Bernard  Gilpin,  the  Apostle  of 
the  North  and  Friend  of  the  Poor,  to  say  nothing  of  his  having  heen  once 
on  the  road  to  martyrdom  under  Bonner,  and  often  thwarted  since,  he 
had  died  out  of  the  way  as  early  as  the  year  1584.  Even  in  London, 
where  these  Bibles  were  perpetually  printing,  what  say  the  petitioners  to 
Parliament  i 

"  There  are  in  this  City  a  great  number  of  churches,  but  the  one  half  of  them, 
at  the  least,  are  utterly  unfurnished  with  preaching  ministers.  The  other  half, 
partly  by  means  of  non-residents,  which  are  very  many,  partly  through  the 
poverty  of  many  meanly  qualified,  there  is  scarce  the  tenth  man  to  be  found 
that  makcth  any  conscience  carefully  to  wait  upon  his  charge,  whereby  the 
Lord's  Sabbath  is  often  wholly  neglected,  and,  for  the  most  part,  miserably 
mangled." 

In  one  word,  it  is  undeniable  that,  as  far  as  intelligible  preaching  of 
the  Truth  was  concerned,  generally  speaking,  the  entire  country  was  de- 
plorably destitute.  The  people  at  large  were  living  under  a  Sovereign, 
who,  throughout  her  entire  reign,  could  never  divest  herself  of  api^rehen- 
sion  from  two  sources — the  liberty  of  preachinff,  and  the  freedom  of  the 
press — both  of  which  were  under  restraint,  as  far  as  her  power  could  ex- 
tend. As  for  the  press,  one  requires  to  look  no  farther  than  the  decrees 
of  the  Star  Chamber  ;  and,  with  regard  to  preaching,  though  historians 
of  the  most  opposite  sentiments  had  not  conceded  the  point,  the  Queen 
herself  has  not  left  them  to  inform  us  what  were  her  sentiments — for  as 
to  hearing  a  sermon  of  any  kind,  she  but  seldom  did  so.  In  the  course 
of  her  reign  she  had  three  primates  in  succession,  Parker,  Grindal,  and 
Whitgift  ;  one  of  whom  conscientiously  dared  to  speak  out  on  this  very 
subject.  No  language  could  be  more  respectful  than  that  with  which 
Grindal  approached  her  Majesty — none  required  to  be  more  argumenta- 
tive— nor,  in  the  conclusion,  more  solemn.  After  warning  the  Queen,  by 
the  authority  of  Scripture  itself,  he  did  so  by  her  own  mortality,  the  judg- 
ment-scat of  the  Crucified — by  Him  who  dwelleth  in  Heaven,  who  taketh 
away  the  spirit  of  princes,  and  is  terrible  above  all  the  kings  of  the 
earth — at  the  same  time  tendering  his  resignation . 

"  Alas,  Madam  !  "  said  he,  "  is  the  Scripture  more  plain  in  any  one  thing 
than  that  the  Gospel  of  Christ  should  be  plentifully  preached,  and  that  plenty  of 
labourers  should  be  sent  unto  the  Lord's  harvest,  which,  being  great  and  large, 
standeth  in  need,  not  of  a  few,  but  many  workmen.  There  was  appointed  to  the 
building  of  Solomon's  material  temple  a  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  ai-tificers 
and  labourei-s,  besides  thi'cc  thousand  three  hundred  ovci-seei-s  ;  and  shall  we 
think  that  a  few  preachers  may  suffice  to  build  and  edify  the  spiritual  temple 
of  Christ,  which  is  his  rimreh  !" — "  J'ubhe  and  continual   preaching  of  God's 


1558-1603.3  TRACED  TO  ITS  OKIGIN.  359 

Word  is  the  ordinary  meau  and  instrument  of  the  salvation  of  mankind.  Paul 
calleth  it  the  miiiiitri/  o/reconci/iatlon  of  man  unto  God.  By  preaching  of  God's 
Word  the  glory  of  God  is  enlarged,  faith  is  nourished,  and  charity  increased. 
By  it  the  ignorant  is  instructed,  the  negligent  exhorted  and  incited,  the  stubborn 
rebuked,  the  weak  conscience  comforted,  and  to  all  those  that  sin  of  malicious 
>*-ickedness  the  wrath  of  God  is  threatened.  By  it  also  due  obedience  to  Chris- 
tian princes  and  magistrates  is  planted  in  the  hearts  of  subjects." 

But  the  Archbishop,  though  he  manfully  discharged  his  conscience, 
might  have  saved  himself  the  trouble  of  writing,  and»especially  so  long  a 
letter,  with  his  oirn  hand  that  she  ahne  might  read  it.  In  language,  at 
once  daring  and  presumptuous,  because  arraigning  the  appointment  of 
God  himself,  the  Queen  had  already  told  him,  "  that  it  was  good  for  the 
Church  to  have  few  preachers  ;  that  three  or  four  might  suflSce  for  a 
county ;  and  that  the  reading  of  the  Homilies  to  the  peopjle  was  suffi- 
cient \ "  Nor  was  this  merely  "  a  sudden  sally,"  as,  too  much  in  the 
spirit  of  sycophancy,  it  has  been  represented.  Firm  as  a  rock,  Elizabeth 
never  relented.  Too  like  her  father,  above  all  things  else  she  could  not 
bear  to  be  told  the  truth,  however  confidentially,  by  any  man.  It  is,  in- 
deed, very  observable,  that,  near  the  throne,  in  both  courts,  there  seems 
to  have  been  a  Micaiah,  and  in  both  instances  he  met  with  similar  treat- 
ment. The  first  referred  especially  to  the  Word  of  God  itself ;  the  second 
to  the  ministry  of  that  Word  ;  and  no  unbiassed  writer,  when  estimating 
the  character  of  either  monarch,  is  likely  to  forget  the  long  imprisonment 
of  Latimer  under  Henry,  or  the  lengthened  disgrace  of  Grindal  under 
Elizabeth.  These  were  two  palpable  facts,  evincing  a  disposition  which 
lasted  from  year  to  year,  and  which  by  no  sophistry  can  be  softened 
down.  As  for  Grindal,  after  this,  if  not  for  this  alone,  he  enjoyed  the 
honour  of  never  being  admitted  to  the  Privy  Council,  so  that  he  necer  icas 
a  member  ;  and  though  the  Convocation  entire  petitioned  for  his  resto- 
ration to  freedom  and  favour,  the  Queen  remained  inexorable,  with  her 
primate  in  disgrace,  and  reigning,  as  Henry  the  Eighth  never  did,  so 
unquestioned  and  so  alone. 

Now,  all  this  happened  just  before  Barker  obtained  his  first  license  to 
print  the  Scriptures.  In  June,  the  Archbishop  was  sequestered  from  his 
office,  and  confined  to  his  house,  by  an  order  from  the  Star  Chamber ; 
and  Barker  got  his  license  in  September.  Grindal,  therefore,  could  have 
had  no  influence  whatever  in  promoting  the  sale,  much  less  in  creating 
the  thirst.'*-''  But,  again,  the  patent  was  renewed,  and  verbally  the  same 
in  August  1589,  at  the  very  moment  when  Whitgift  was  at  the  height  of 
his  power  ;  pleasing  the  Queen  too,  in  spite  of  some  others  who  were  in 
her  confidence,  and  at  her  Council  board.     But  it  was,  indeed,  of  but 


♦3  No  doubt,  not  aware  of  these  circumstances,  or  not  obseninc  dates,  the  sale,  or  popularity 
"f  the  Tersion,  has  been  aecribed  in  drindM  bv  Dr.  Cnrfltnll.  in  his  Documextary  A.vwAts. 


3(;0  THIS  GROWING  DEMAND  [nnoK  ill. 

little  moment  who  was  in  disgrace  at  that  court,  or  who  in  power.  In 
the  midst  of  many  conllicting  interests  and  opinions,  and  much  to  do, 
those  numerous  editions  of  the  Divine  Word  were  j)rinting  throughout 
the  four  seasons  of  the  year,  and  the  demand  was  rising  progressively  to 
the  glory  of  Ilim  who  so  signally  gave  that  Word,  and  at  such  a  time, — 
the  Governor  among  the  nations. 

In  conclusion,  and  on  the  whole,  we  enter  not  here  into  the 
comparative  merits  of  the  Bishops''  and  the  Geneva  versions, 
nor  should  the  attention  at  present  be  diverted  to  any  such 
point.  Both  went  on  to  be  printed,  and  they  will,  therefore, 
come  before  us  under  the  next  reign.  Suffice  it  to  say,  that, 
as  translations, — as  instruments  in  the  hand  of  God,  both 
were  all-sufficient  for  His  purpose  ;  but  it  is  of  more  immediate 
consequence,  that  the  mind  should  rest  on  the  remarkable  fact, 
that  under  the  reign  of  Elizabeth  not  fewer  than  one  hundred 
and  thirty  distinct  publications  of  the  Divine  Word  passed 
through  the  press,  mainly  to  meet  the  desires  of  the  people  ; 
while  the  di.sposition  thus  to  purchase  and  to  read  must  have 
had  a  cause. 

Unable,  therefore,  to  point  out  any  adequate  instrumental 
cause  upon  earth,  why  should  there  now  be  any  hesitation  in 
all  England,  to  refer  immediately  to  Him  "  from  whom  all 
good  counsels  and  all  such  desires  proceed  V  Considering  the 
people  as  a  people,  far  from  being  any  disadvantage  or  discredit 
to  them,  that  God  himself  should  thus  speak  to  them  more 
directly  than  usual,  and  by  his  own  Word,  it  only  placed  them 
in  a  higher  state  of  responsibility.  The  number  of  its  editions 
has  shed  quite  a  new  light,  and  in  reference  to  the  period 
itself,  it  is  questionable  whether  any  people  in  Europe  can 
now  produce  a  parallel ;  but  certainly  there  was,  at  that  pe- 
riod, no  similar  proceeding  in  any  nation. 

The  Queen  upon  the  throne  might  cast  indignity  upon  the 
ordinance  of  Heaven  for  saving  the  souls  of  men,  or  cai'e  not 
for  it.  For  this  the  primate  of  all  England,  being  of  another 
mind,  might  pine  for  years  under  her  frown  ;  or,  as  ever  after, 
his  successor,  Whitgift,  might  carry  every  thing  before  him. 
The  Commons''  House  of  Parliament  itself  might  propose  to 
meet  for  prayer,  and  to  hear  a  sermon  ;  when  being  rebuked 
by  her  Majesty  for  their  presumption  in  not  first  asking 
counsel  of  her^  to  obtain  her  sanction,  they  gave  up  the  inten- 
tion, and  never  heard  one.     One  lialf  of  tlio  buildings  called 


1558-1 G03.]  TRACED  TO  ITS  ORIGIN.  3GI 

cliurches  in  the  capital  might  stand  there,  and  no  one  faithful 
voice  be  heard  within  their  walls,  while  only  the  tenth  man 
of  the  remaining  half  possessed  any  conscience.  All  this,  and 
more  might  be,  but  the  Word  of  Jehovah  must  not  be  bound. 

Nor  was  it  that  the  Almighty  Redeemer  undervalued  the 
ministry  of  his  own  appointment.  Far  from  any  mind  be 
such  a  thought.  But  He  is  a  sovereign,  "  having  no  need 
either  of  his  own  works  or  of  man''s  gifts,"  and  for  a  season 
might  suspend  their  operation  for  a  higher  end,  even  the  glory 
and  power  of  his  Bevealed  Word.  True  religion  revived  in 
Babylon,  when  Jerusalem  lay  in  ruins,  as  it  had  prospered  in 
the  wilderness,  before  the  temple  was  built ;  and  of  that 
favoured  people,  as  the  depositaries  of  the  truth,  it  was  once 
said,  "  If  they  hear  not  Moses  and  the  prophets,  neither  will 
they  be  persuaded  though  one  rose  from  the  dead," — but  a 
greater  than  Moses  was  here. 

All  this  while,  the  nation  was  seen  rising,  confessedly,  into 
far  greater  power,  though  often  agitated  ;  and  if  without  were 
fightings,  within  were  fears.  The  reign  had  been  stained  by 
the  blood  of  persecution ;  and  as  liberty  of  conscience  was 
understood  by  no  party,  instances  of  oppression  occurred  with 
a  frequency  which  cannot  be  explained  fully,  till  the  State 
Paper  Commission  has  done  the  same  justice  to  Elizabeth 
which  it  has  done  to  her  father.  But  throughout  all  the 
tumultuous  scene — the  zeal  for  what  was  styled  uniformity 
— the  decrees  of  the  Star  Chamber,  and  the  restrictions  of 
the  press,  the  "  still  small  voice"  was  there.  In  other  words, 
from  year  to  year,  and  as  with  pointing  finger,  a  benignant 
Providence  stood  above  the  nation,  directing  it  to  the  Bible 
alone,  as  its  only  charter  to  the  skies  ;  or  God's  own  divine 
grant,  in  the  language  of  the  people,  to  all  the  glories  of  life 
eternal. 

When  the  general  character  and  proceedings,  not  to  say 
the  superior  acquirements  or  talents  of  her  Majesty  are  calmly 
reviewed ;  since,  officially,  she  never  appears  to  have  much,  if 
at  all,  concerned  herself  with  one  translation  more  than  an- 
other ;  perhaps  one  of  the  most  melancholy  circumstances  of 
the  time  was  this,  that  Elizabeth  never  seems  to  have  un- 
derstood or  felt,  that  the  circulation  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures, 
was  by  far  the  most  important  feature  of  her  entire  reign. 

We  arc  now,  however,  on  the  borders,  not  only  of  another 


3G2  RETROSPECT  SINCE  THE  [uoOK  in. 

reign,  l)ut  of  a  new  dynasty,  wlien  our  own  venerated  version 
of  the  J{il)Ic  will  cn<i;ai;o  notice;  but  as  all  that  lias  been  re- 
corded had  taken  place  before  it  was  commenced,  one  parting 
glance  is  due  to  the  past,  before  bidding  adieu  to  the  princes 
of  the  house  of  Tudor. 

To  every  unprejudiced  mind,  the  high  purpose  of  the  Al- 
mighty with  regard  to  this  nation  had  now  become  very  ap- 
parent. And  may  we  not  inquire,  whether,  througliout  the 
compass  of  four  successive  reigns,  a  period  of  seventy-seven 
years,  any  other  movement  is  to  be  discovered,  which  can  be 
either  confounded  with  this  extraordinary  procedure,  or  once 
compared  with  it,  in  point  of  importance  ?  To  convey  His 
own  J31essed  Word  to  tliis  island,  now  appears  to  have  been 
God's  one  fixed  purpose,  but  such  a  path  had  been  chosen  as  for 
ever  to  defy  any  impartial  pen  from  being  able  to  identify  the 
design  with  any  mere  'party — with  any  peculiar  or  any  private 
interest,  within  its  shores.  And  precisely  the  same  path  we 
shall  find  to  have  been  pursued  in  Scotland.  We  have  mingled 
with  the  men,  and  with  the  rulers  of  successive  governments. 
There  had  been  different  opinions  throughout  the  land,  and 
the  volumes  since  written  respecting  these,  cannot  be  num- 
bered. Mental  friction,  in  abundance,  there  had  been,  and  so 
there  was  still :  but  in  regard  to  the  Saci'ed  Scriptures  in  our 
native  tongue^  and  the  possession  of  them  by  the  people,  all  along, 
if  any  mere  circle,  or  any  section  of  men,  however  privileged,  or 
of  whatever  name,  had  put  in  its  claim  for  exclusive,  or  even 
eminent  honour  and  renown  ;  we  can  see  now  that  it  might 
with  equal  propriety  have  arrogated  credit  to  itself,  for  the 
rain  that  came  down,  or  the  snow  from  heaven. 

There  had  indeed  been  many  changes,  and  there  will  be 
many  more:  but  througliout  all  we  have  yet  beheld,  a  con- 
trast, by  way  of  relief,  has  been  presented  to  the  eye  of  pos- 
terity. It  has  been  one  continuous  or  unhrohen  design,  nor  is 
there  one  other  vein  of  English  history,  of  which,  on  the  whole, 
as  much  can  be  said.  Elizabeth  is  dead ;  but  from  the  days 
of  her  father  down  to  the  close  of  her  long  reign,  "  the  trum- 
pet has  given  a  certain  sound."  If  Providence  had  spoken  at 
all,  or  rather  had  done  so,  from  year  to  year,  and  to  more 
than  two  successive  generations,  has  not  the  voice  been  un- 
ambiguous ?  the  purpose  invariable  I  the  object  one  ]  Such  was 
the  self-moved  and  unmerited  favour  of  God. 


1558-l()03.]  REIGN  OF  HENRY  Vlll.  'Mi'^ 

The  extraordinary  number  of  the  editions  of  the  Sacred 
Volume,  in  whole  or  in  part,  having  never  before  been  marked 
or  known,  one  is  called  away  from  every  thing  else,  as  of  far 
inferior  moment  to  us  now.  What  signify  to  the  present  age, 
many  other  events,  which  have  long  since  spent  all  their  force  or 
influence  on  posterity  ?  But  there  is  a  voice  here,  which  has 
never  died  away  in  the  ear  of  this  country,  nay,  and  one  that  is 
sounding  louder  than  ever  at  the  present  hour.  Apart,  then, 
from  all  the  turmoil  of  these  successive  reigns,  let  the  eye 
only  noic  be  turned  to  those  venerated  monuments  of  the  en- 
tire period ;  for  it  is  not  the  least  remarkable  feature  in  these 
volumes  as  a  Avhole,  that  there  should  be  copies  still  in  exist- 
ence, and,  perhaps,  without  one  exception,  from  the  first  edi- 
tion to  the  last  !  At  least  we  have  no  account  to  present  of 
editions  now  no  more.  Now  in  such  peculiar  times  as  those 
of  which  we  have  read,  for  more  than  seventy-five  years  past, 
every  fresh  issue  nmst  be  regarded  as  an  event,  while,  upon  an 
average,  more  than  tkt^ee  times  evevT/  year,  the  same  event  had 
occurred — the  same  voice  was  heard.  And  is  there  then  no 
conclusion  to  be  drawn  from  such  a  series  of  volumes  ?  A 
series,  printed  and  published  amidst  contradiction  and  blas- 
phemy ;  preserved  and  read  in  the  face  of  denunciation  and 
the  flames  :  a  series,  demanded  and  perused  ever  after,  not 
by  the  voice,  or  through  the  encouragement,  of  human  autho- 
rity ;  for,  generally  speaking,  they  were  read,  as  we  have 
witnessed,  independently  of  all  such  influence  :  a  series,  not 
given  away,  or  sold  at  reduced  prices,  as  in  modern  times,  but 
purchased  by  the  people,  and  at  such  rates  as  at  first  re- 
munerated the  bookseller,  and  then  the  monopolist.  When 
the  eye  thus  runs  over  the  general  current  of  these  numerous 
editions,  and  sees  them  now  occupy  in  the  record  of  impartial 
history,  a  place  so  sacred  and  so  high  ;  we  need  not  ask 
whether  any  thing  else  of  human  composition,  is  to  be  men- 
tioned with  decorum,  at  the  same  moment,  much  less  placed 
by  their  side.  This,  it  is  presumed,  would  now  appear  to  be 
profane.  But  the  entire  range,  and  especially  in  its  historical 
character,  puts  the  same  inquiry  to  every  reader — "  Whether 
there  could  have  been  given  at  the  time,  or  left  for  the  grave 
consideration  of  posterity  now,  a  more  pointed  testimony  to 
this  one  all-important  truth — "'  The  all-sttfficiency  of  the 
Scriptures. ''^ 


.'{(fi  ACCESSION  OK  JAMKS  I.  [liOOK  lit. 

Christianity,  not  an  outw.ard  conventional  form,  being  es- 
sentially a  mental  subject,  addressing  the  heart  and  soul  of 
man,  this  first  and  fundamental  truth — "  the  all-siifficlencij 
of  the  Divine  record," — it  was  worthy  of  its  Divine  Author 
to  repeat,  so  emphatically,  in  the  car  of  the  people,  from 
month  to  month,  and  from  year  to  year,  amidst  all  their  wild 
confusion  and  the  strife  of  tongues.  This  was  a  consideration, 
which,  hhtorically^  had  taken  precedence  of  every  thing  else, 
whether  of  the  Ministry  itself,  or  the /brm  of  godliness.  Nay, 
and  it  is  a  truth  still,  which  if  the  heart  and  conscience  of 
this  nation  were  once  fixed  upon  it,  the  consequences  would 
surpass  human  foresight  :  Meanwhile  this,  and  by  way  of  emi- 
nence, seems  to  be  one  main  instruction  to  be  drawn  from  all 
that  had  yet  occurred.  By  the  man  of  mere  party,  it  is  true, 
of  whatever  class  throughout  the  kingdom,  from  Oxford  all 
round  to  the  sea,  the  monition  may  not  even  yet  be  heard ; 
and  that  simply  because  the  subject  is  one  which  happens  to 
be  above  his  customary  sphere  of  judgment.  ]iut  should  the 
slightest  hesitation  remain  in  the  mind  of  any  reader,  let  him 
read  on.  Upon  this  subject  there  is  no  ambiguity  awaiting 
him,  in  the  sequel. 


SECTION    IV. 
JAMES   I.   TO   THE  COMMONWEALTH. 

ACCESSION  OF  JAMES — HIS   JOURNEY   TO   LONDON — HIS   STRANGE   PROGRESS 
THROUGH    THE    COUNTRY — HIS    HEEDLESS    PROFUSION — CONFEKEXCE   AT 

HAMPTON      COURT      EXPLAINED REVISION     OF     THE     SCRIPTURES OUR 

PRESENT  VERSION CONSEQUENT  LETTERS — THE  REVISORS — INSTRUC- 
TIONS GIVEN — PROGRESS  MADE — REVISION  OF  THE  WHOLE — MONEY 
PAID,     BUT     NOT     BY     HIS    MAJESTY,    NOR    BY     ANY    BISHOP,    AFTER     THE 

king's     application,    BUT    BY    THE    PATENTEE THE    PRESENT  VERSION 

PUBLISHED NO    PROCLAMATION,    NO    ORDER    OF    PRIVY  COUNCIL,  OB  ANY 

ACT    OF    THE    LEGISLATURE    UPON    RECORD,    ON    THE   SUBJECT DID    NOT 

BECOME  THE  VERSION  GENERALLY  RECEIVED  THROUGHOUT  ENGLAND, 
SCOTLAND,  AND  IRELAND,  TILL  ABOUT  FORTY  YEARS  AFTERWARDS — THE 
LONDON  POLYGLOT  BIBLE  PUBLISHED  BY  THE  PEOPLE,  FOR  THE  PEOPLE 


1()03-1()50.]  ACCESSION  OF  JAMES  I.  305 

THE     LAST    ATTEMPT    TO     INTKHFEHK    WITH    THE    lONOMSU    BIBLK    BY    A 
COMMITTEE    OP    PARLIAMENT,    KEPKESENTING    ENGLAND,    IRELAND,    AND 

SCOTLAND UTTERLY  IN   VAIN TUAT  ACQUIESCENCE   OF   THE   PEOPLE  AT 

LARGE  IN  THE  EXISTING  VERSION   OF  THE   SCRIPTURES  SOON   FOLLOWED, 
WHICH  HAS  CONTINUED  UNBROKEN  EVER  SINCE. 

1'  to  the  present  moment,  the  history  of  the  English 
Bible  had  maintained  a  character  peculiar  to  itself. 
Originating  with  no  mere  patron,  whether  royal  or 
noble,  the  undertaking  had  never  yet  been  promoted  at  the 
personal  expense  of  any  such  party.  But  now  in  regard  to 
that  version  of  the  Sacred  Volume,  which  for  two  hundred 
and  thirty  years  has  been  read,  with  delight,  from  generation 
to  generation,  and  proved  the  effectual  means  of  knowledge, 
holiness,  and  joy  to  millions  ;  it  may  be  imagined  by  some, 
as  there  was  now  another  and  a  final  change,  that  our  history 
must,  at  last,  change,  or  in  other  words,  forfeit  its  character. 
If,  however,  the  accounts  frequently  given  of  our  present 
version  have  been  involved  in  as  much  inaccuracy  of  state- 
ment, as  they  have  been  with  regard  to  all  the  preceding- 
changes,  there  is  the  greater  necessity  for  the  public  mind 
being  disabused ;  and  that,  too,  whether  in  Britain,  or 
America,  or  the  British  foreign  dependencies.  This  is  a 
subject  which  alike  concerns  them  all,  as  they  all  read,  and 
prize,  the  same  version. 

If  because  that  a  dedication  to  James  the  First  of  England 
has  been  prefixed  to  many  copies,  though  not  to  many  others  ; 
and  if  because  not  only  historians  at  their  desks,  but  lawyers 
at  the  bar,  and  even  Judges  on  the  bench,  have  made  most 
singular  mistakes — it  has  therefore  been  imagined  by  any, 
or  many,  that  the  present  version  of  our  Bible  was  either 
suggested  by  this  monarch ;  or  that  he  was  at  any  personal 
expense  in  regard  to  the  undertaking  ;  or  that  he  ever  issued 
a  single  line  of  authority  by  way  of  proclamation  with  respect 
to  it,  it  is  more  than  time  that  the  delusion  should  come  to 
an  end.  The  original  and  authentic  documents  of  the  time 
are  so  far  explicit,  that,  just  in  proportion  as  they  are  sifted, 
and  the  actual  circumstances  placed  in  view,  precisely  the 
same  independence  of  personal  royal  bounty,  and,  on  the  part 
of  the  people  at  large,  the  same  superiority  to  all  royal  dicta- 
tion, which  we  have  beheld  all  along,  will  become  apparent. 


3(i(>  THK  .IDUKNEY  TO  LONDON.  [huok  III. 

JaiiU'.s  liiiihscir,  liowevor  vain,  is  certainly  not  so  niucli  to  be 
blamed  for  any  different  impression,  as  some  others  who  have 
misrepresented  his  Majesty.  On  the  other  liand,  his  charac- 
ter was  sucli  that  to  many  writers  it  has  occasioned  some 
exercise  of  patience  even  to  refer  to  it,  liut  since  liis  name 
occurs  in  connexion  with  this  final  revision  of  the  English 
Bible,  it  is  of  the  more  importance  to  ascertain  the  exact 
amount  of  this  connexion.  From  the  moment  in  which  he 
was  invited  to  the  throne,  and  to  be  King  of  Great  Britain, 
his  own  favourite  term,  down  to  the  year  in  which  our  present 
version  was  published,  his  "  royal  progress"  is  forced  upon 
our  notice. 

Elizabeth  had  expired  on  the  •2Hh  of  March  ]  ()03,  when  the  King  of  Scotland 
succeeded  as  James  the  First,  finally  assuming  the  style  of  King  of  Great  Britain, 
France,  and  Ireland.  Having  left  Edinl)urgh  for  England  on  Tuesday  the  5th 
of  April,  James  proceeded  by  way  of  Berwick  and  Newcastle,  through  York  to 
London,  where  he  did  not  arrive  till  the  7th  of  May.  Throughout  this  journey 
he  had  ah-eady  furnished  a  strong  contrast,  in  point  of  character,  to  his  prede- 
cessor. With  regard  to  rewards,  whether  in  point  of  honour  or  emolument, 
Elizabeth  had  been  so  sparing,  that  she  has  been  charged  with  avarice.  But 
James,  having  once  procured  from  London  such  supplies  as  might  enable  him 
to  advance  in  befitting  style,  actually  hunted  most  of  the  way,  scattei'iug  the 
honour  of  knighthood  with  such  profusion  along  the  road,  that  by  the  day  he 
entered  his  capital,  the  number  of  his  knights  was  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  ; 
and  before  one  fortnight  had  passed,  or  by  the  20th  of  May,  they  were  "  ac- 
counted at  two  hundred  and  thirty-seven,  or  better,  since  the  time  he  entered 
Berwick  "  on  the  Gth  of  April.  The  Queen,  with  her  children,  having  followed 
in  June,  the  coronation  took  place  in  July  ;  after  which,  his  ALijcsty  imme- 
diately returned,  with  great  ardour,  to  his  favourite  sport  of  hunting.  Though 
now  entered  into  his  thirty-ninth  year,  and  having  affaire  to  manage  which  had 
demanded  all  the  talents  of  an  Elizabeth,  never  was  a  boy  let  loose  from  school, 
more  bent  upon  his  amusement. 

It  was,  however,  but  a  few  weeks,  when  matters  all  around  began  to  assume 
a  very  grave  aspect.  From  the  beginning  of  the  year,  indeed,  there  had  been 
symptoms  of  the  plague  in  London,  but  in  the  summer  it  had  raged  with  vio- 
lence, and  so  far  from  abating  afterwards,  in  one  fortnight  before  the  13th  of 
September,  there  had  died  in  London  alone  C3fi5  persons.  The  disease,  at  the 
same  time,  was  far  from  being  confined  to  the  city.  One  might  have  imagined 
that  this  was  sufficient  to  have  made  any  man  slacken  his  rein  ;  but  no,  sixty 
miles  distant  from  the  metropolis,  at  Woodstock,  one  of  the  new  made  knights, 
Sir  Thomas  Edmonds,  on  the  13th  of  September,  informs  the  Earl  of  Shrews- 
bury, "  Since  the  time  that  your  Lordship  left  us,  we  h.ive  wholly  spent  our 
time  in  that  exercise"  of  hunting.  The  prevailing  disease,  however,  paying  no 
respect  to  persons,  by  this  time  had  reached  the  Court.  In  the  same  letter, 
therefore,  it  follows,  "  The  Court  hath  been  so  continually  haunted  with  the 
sickness,  by  reason  of  the  disorderly  company  that  do  follow  us,  that  we  are 
forced  to  remove  from  place  to  place,  and  do  infect  all  places  where  we  come. 
We  are  now  going  within  a  few  days  to  Winchester,  to  seek  a  purer  air  there  ; 


1  f)Oy-l  ()-5(l.]  THE  ROYAL  PROGRESS  AND  EXPENDITURE.  367 

where,"  sa.ys  tlio  same  writer,  on  tlie  1 7tli,  "  wo  bliall  stay  till  wo  have  also 
infected  that  place,  as  we  have  done  all  others,  whore  we  have  come  !"  On 
the  same  day,  Robert,  lately  created  Lord  Cecil,  writes  to  the  Earl,  «  I  assure 
you  our  camp  rolant,  which  every  week  dislodgeth,  makes  me  often  neglect 
writing,  otherwise  my  mind  wishcth  the  body  with  you  once  a-week  for  an 
hour."  And  why  ?  His  anxiety  docs  not  reier  to  the  plague  or  its  ravages, 
but  to  somewhat  else,  which  will  come  out  presently.  By  the  '24th  of  September, 
the  Court  had  reached  Winchester  ;  it  removed  to  Wilton  about  the  middle  of 
next  month ;  to  Basing  and  several  other  places  in  November  ;  when,  at  last, 
the  sickness  in  London  having  greatly  abated,  the  King  and  his  attendants,  after 
an  absence  of  three  months,  had  returned  to  Hampton  Court  by  the  23d  of  De- 
cember. A  more  hiarlltss  "  Royal  i)rogress"  through  England,  is  probably  not 
upon  record.  The  general  mortality  throughout  the  year  must  have  been  very 
great,  as  in  London  alone  it  had  amounted  to  not  less  than  thirty  thousand,  five 
hundred  and  seventy-eight  ! 

But  if  the  hand  of  God  had  occasioned  perplexity  to  thousands,  some  other 
men,  ofKeially  near  the  King,  had  found  a  different  source  of  daily  and  growing 
anxiety,  in  supplying  the  profusion  of  the  monarch.  Thomas  Sackville,  Lord 
Buckhurst,  the  first  Earl  of  Dorset,  had  succeeded  Burghley,  as  Lord  Treasurer, 
under  Elizabeth  ;  and  as  James  had  confirmed  him  in  office,  already  the  force 
of  contrast  had  frequently  come  in  his  way.  He  was  now  in  his  seventy-seventh 
year,  and  though  a  hale  old  man,  no  situation  in  the  kingdom  could  well  surpass 
his  for  anxiety.  This  was  not  owing  to  the  expense  of  a  coronation,  in  the  midst 
of  the  plague,  in  July,  A\hich,  by  the  way,  had  cost  twenty  thousand  pounds ; 
but  to  the  rate  at  which  the  King  went  on.  It  was  not  two  months  after  that 
pageant,  when  Edmonds  reported  to  Lord  Shrewsbury — "  My  Lord  Treasurer 
is  much  disquieted  how  to  find  money  to  supply  the  King's  necessities,  and  pro- 
tested to  some  of  us  poor  men,  that  were  suitors  to  him  for  relief,  that  he 
knoweth  not  how  to  procure  money  to  pay  for  the  King's  diet.  We  do  here  all 
apprehend  that  the  penury  will  more  and  more  increase,  and  all  means  be  shut 
up  for  affording  relief  1 "  Nor  was  this  merely  the  language  of  some  solitary 
suppliant,  complaining  to  a  distant  friend  ;  for  very  shortly  we  have  farther  ex- 
planation. "  The  inconveniences  that  have  grown  by  the  late  profuse  gifts, 
hath  caused  a  restraint  to  be  made  of  passing  any  new  grants  till  there  be  a 
consideration  how  to  settle  things  in  some  better  state,  and  to  improve  some 
means  for  the  raising  of  money  for  supplying  of  the  King's  necessities  ;  about 
which,  some  of  the  Lords  that  are  selected  commissioners  for  that  pm'pose,  have 
been  all  this  week  much  busied,  and  all  inventions  sti-ained  to  the  uttermost,  for 
the  serving  of  that  turn."  On  the  same  day.  Lord  Cecil  tells  Shrewsbury — 
"  Our  Sovereign  spends  £100,000  yearly  in  his  house,  which  was  wont  to  be 
£50,000.  Now  think  what  the  country  feels,  and  so  much  for  that."  Thus  he 
wrote  so  early  as  the  1 7th  of  September,  after  which,  as  far  as  James  was  con- 
cerned, the  monotony  of  hunting  was  only  interrupted  by  the  compliments  and 
congratulations  of  ambassadors  at  their  first  accesses,  by  the  bestowment  of 
more  grants,  with  "  a  royal  and  ample  jointure  to  the  Queen,  his  Majesty's 
dearest  wife,"  and  the  choosing  of  her  household.  On  arriving  at  Hamjiton 
Court  late  in  December — "  We  are  now,"  says  Cecil,  "  to  feast  seven  ambassa- 
dors ;  Spain,  France,  Poland,  Florence  and  Savoy,  besides  masks  and  much 
more  ;  during  all  which  time  I  would,  with  all  my  heart,  I  were  with  that  noble 
Lady  of  yours,  (Shrewsbury,)  by  her  turf  fire ;  and  yet  I  protest  I  am  not  re- 
conciled thoroughly,  nor  will  not  be,  till  we  meet  at  Parliament,  from  whence 
whosoever  is  absent,  I  will  protest  they  do  it  purposely,  because  the}'  would  say 


3(;S  THE  CONFERENCE  AT  HAMPTON  COURT.        [uooK  111. 

No  to  til,'  Viiiuii.  It  is  intoiiik'il  thiit  the  I'arliaiiiciit  shall  hcgiii  in  March,  if'tlio 
sickihfst^Uiy."  Ill  one  word,  Juinos  liatl  licen  led  to  consider  tho  treasure  left  by 
Elizabeth,  and  the  further  resources  of  the  kingdom,  as  an  inexhaustible  mine, 
and,  ignoitint  uf  the  value  of  raouey,had  become  immeasui'ably  profuse.' 

We  are  now  within  only  a  few  days  of  the  time  when  the  subject  of  a 
new  translation  or  revision  of  the  Sacred  Volume  wa.s,  unexpectedly, 
first  suggested  before  this  monarch  ;  but  every  reader  will  anticipate, 
that  whether  it  related  to  suitable  men,  or  the  necessary  expense,  his  Ma- 
jesty must  have  been  equally  at  a  loss.  Of  the  learning  or  talent  to  be 
found  in  England,  where  he  had  done  little  else  than  follow  the  hounds 
and  the  hares,  James  as  yet  could  know  next  to  nothing.  Of  Oxford  and 
Cambridge  he  was  equally  ignorant.  lie  had  not  called  any  circle  of 
learned  men  around  him,  nor  indeed  ever  did.  Such  also  was  the  state 
of  his  finances,  when  necessity  forced  him  to  call  a  Parliament.  "  It 
was,"  says  Sir  James  Mackintosh, "  his  last  resource.  lie  had  exhausted 
his  credit  with  the  money-dealers,  both  in  London  and  Holland,  to  sup- 
ply his  prodigalities,  before  he  issued  his  i^roclamation  for  the  meeting 
of  Parliament  on  the  19th  of  March." 

It  was  in  the  midst  of  his  sport  at  Wilton,  and  his  preparations  for  the 
arraignment  of  Sir  Walter  llaleigh,  that  James  issued  a  proclamation, 
dated  the  24th  of  October —  "  Touching  a  meeting  for  the  hearing,  and 
for  the  determining,  things  pretended  to  be  amiss  in  the  Church."^  This 
meeting,  known  ever  since  as  "  the  Conference  at  Hampton  Court,"  was 
held  in  the  drawing-room  there,  on  Saturday,  Monday,  and  Wednesday, 
the  14th,  16th,  and  18th  of  January  1604.  The  conference,  it  will  be 
understood,  was  not  with  ani/  official  hody  of  men  whatever  ;  and  it  should 
also  be  remembered,  that  however  exalted  were  the  ideas  of  James  him- 
self as  to  his  prerogative,  or  of  his  right  and  title  to  the  throne  ;  strictly 
speaking,  or  according  to  law,  he  was  not  yet  King  of  England,  nor  could 
he  be,  till  the  assembling  of  Parliament.  That  was  the  point  to  which, 
as  we  have  seen,  Lord  Cecil  was  looking  forward.  This  was  a  conference, 
therefore,  of  the  King  by  courtesy,  for  the  time  being,  with  only  nine 
Bishops,  eight  Deans,  an  Archdeacon,  two  Professors  of  Divinity  from 
Oxford,  two  from  Cambridge,  to  which  one  native  of  Scotland,  Mr.  Pa- 
trick Galloway,  formerly  of  Perth,  was  also  admitted.^  Nor  were  even 
all  these  parties  present  on  any  one  day.  On  the  first,  the  five  indivi- 
duals last-mentioned  were  not  there  ;  and  on  the  second,  the  Bishops  of 
London  and  Winchester,  or  Bancroft  and  Bilson,  seem  to  have  been  the 
only  prelates  present,  but  certainly  the  only  two  who  spoke.  It  is  with 
a  part  only  of  what  passed  on  this  day,  Monday,  the  IGth  of  January, 


'  See  Lodf;e'8  Illust.  of  British  History,  for  these  letters.  -  Lodfic. 

3  He  was  present  merely  as  beiiii;  one  of  the  Kind's  domestic  chaplains  (from  l.T}i9  to  1C<)7) 
for  there  was  no  eye  to  Scotland,  in  the  version  to  be  proposed.  His  son  was  created  Lord 
Dunkeld. 


l(>03-lb\>0.]      THE  CONFERENCE  AT  HAMITON  COURT.  .%!) 

that  we  have  here  to  do.  This  was  the  time  appointed  for  hearing  of 
things  "  prctendid  to  be  amiss,"  as  the  proclamation  had  phrased  it  ; 
and  it  was  among  them  that  the  necessity  for  another  revision  or  trans- 
lation of  the  Bible  was  first  mentioned.  Although  the  subject  occurred 
among  others  of  no  comparative  moment,  yet  as  it  was  the  only  result 
of  the  day,  nay  of  the  entire  conference,  of  any  lasting  consequence  to 
posterity,  the  man  with  whom  the  proposal  originated  deserves  our 
grateful  remembrance.  Whatever  might  be  the  figure  which  others 
made  at  this  anomalous  conference,  it  was  fit  that  such  a  proposal 
should  come  from  an  individual,  of  all  others  then  present,  best  able  to 
judge  ;  and  one,  of  whom  the  nation,  ever  since,  has  had  no  occasion  to 
be  ashamed.  Dr.  John  Rainolds,  a  man  of  high  and  unblemished 
character,  then  in  his  5uth  year,  was  at  that  time  nearly,  if  not  altoge- 
ther, the  most  eminent  individual  for  learning  and  erudition  in  the 
kingdom.  His  name  has  often  been  associated  with  that  of  Jewell  and 
Hooker,  as  they  were  not  only  born  in  the  same  county,  but  flourished 
in  the  same  College.  And  "  as  Jewell's  fame  grew  from  the  rhetoric, 
and  Hooker's  from  the  logic,  so  that  of  Rainolds  arose  from  the  Greek 
lecture  in  Corpus  Christi  College,  Oxford."  He  was  now  indeed  the 
President  of  that  College,  and  the  chief  speaker  on  this  occasion. 
Having  alluded  to  other  subjects — After  that,  continues  Dr.  Barlow — 

"  He,  Rainolds,  moved  his  Majesty,  that  there  might  be  a  new  translation  of 
the  Bible  ;  because  those  which  were  allowed  in  the  reign  of  King  Henry  the 
Eighth  and  Edward  the  Sixth,  were  corrupt,  and  not  answerable  to  the  truth 
of  the  original.  For  example  ;  first,  Gal.  4.  25,  the  Greek  word  is  not  well 
translated  as  now  it  is,  bordereth  ;  neither  expressing  the  force  of  the  word,  nor 
the  Apostle's  sense,  nor  the  situation  of  the  place.  Secondly,  Ps.  105.  28, 
'  They  were  not  obedient ; '  the  original  being,  '  They  were  not  disobedient.' 
Thirdly,  Ps.  1 0(5.  30,  '  Then  stood  up  Pliinehas  and  prayed  ;'  the  Hebrew  hath 
it,  executed  judij  me  lit. 

"  To  which  motion  there  was  at  the  present  no  gainsaying  :  the  objections 
being  trivial  and  old,  and  already  in  print,  often  answered  :  Only  my  Lord  of 
London  (Bancroft)  well  added — '  That  if  every  man's  humour  should  be  fol- 
lowed, there  would  be  no  end  of  translating.' 

"  Whereupon  his  Highness  wished  that  some  special  pains  should  be  taken 
'  in  that  behalf  for  one  uniform  translation  (professing  that  he  could  never  yet 
see  a  Bible  well  translated  into  English  ;  but  the  worst  of  all,  his  RLijesty 
thought  the  Geneva  to  be  ;)  and  this  to  be  done  by  the  best  learned  in  both 
Universities  ;  after  them  to  be  reviewed  by  the  Bishops  and  the  chief  learned 
of  the  Church  ;  from  tliera  to  be  presented  to  the  Privy  Council  ;  and  lastly  to 
be  ratified  by  his  royal  authority  ;  and  so  this  whole  Church  [of  England]  to 
be  bound  unto  it,  and  none  other.  Withal  he  gave  this  caveat  (upon  a  word 
cast  out  by  ray  Lord  of  London)  that  no  marginal  notes  should  be  added — 
having  found  in  them  which  are  annexed  to  the  Genera  translation  (which  he 
saw  in  a  Bible  cjireu  him  by  an  Einj/hh  lady)  some  notes  very  partial,  untrue, 
seditious,  and  savouring  too  much  of  dangerous  and  traitorous  conceits.  As  for 
example,  the  first  chapter  of  Exodus  and  the  19th  verse,  where  the  marginal 
note  allowcth  disobedience  unto  kings.  And  2  Chron.  15.  IG,  the  note  taxeth 
VOI,.    II,  2   a 


.{7(1  TJIK  CONFERKNCK  AT  HAMPTON  COURT  [hook  III. 

Asii  for  ili'iiosiiig  liis  luotlier  only,  niul  nut  killinj;  lier.  Anil  so  lie  concludtd 
tliirt  jioint,  its  all  the  rest,  with  a  ^nive  and  jiulicious  advice, — I'irbt,  that  errora 
in  matters  of  faith  inif^ht  he  rectified  and  amended  ;  Second,  that  matters  in- 
different might  rather  he  interpreted,  and  a  gloss  added." 

It  was  at  the  close  of  this  day's  conferencir  that  Harlow,  in  thegenninc  spirit 
of  sycophancy,  repeats  the  exj)ressions  of  certjiin  ])arties,  hordering  on  profanity, 
in  praise  of  his  Majesty  ;  and  he  himself,  not  willing  to  he  far  behind,  nmst  con- 
clude the  whole,  though  not  in  very  elegant  terms,  by  saying,  that  "all  wlio 
lieard  the  King  might  justly  think  him  to  be  '  a  living  library,  and  a  walking 
study  ! ' " 

As  this  strange  colloquy,  or  the  substance  of  it,  supposed  by  many  to 
have  been  at  the  expense  of  the  Geneva  translation  of  the  Bible,  has 
been  often  retailed  since,  and  even  by  the  Oxford  Clarendon  Press  up  to 
the  present  day  ;■•  it  may  not  be  improper  merely  to  glance  at  the  very 
awkward  light  in  which  Barlow,  perhaps  unconsciously,  had  placed  the 
King  and  the  Bishop  of  London,  as  well  as  himself. 

To  be  impartial,  it  is  evident,  that  neither  Bancroft  nor  Barlow  had 
wished  for  ann  revision  of  the  text,  so  that  the  King,  by  himself,  had  the 
undivided  credit  of  acceding  to  the  proposal  of  Rainolds  and  his  friends  ; 
but  as  for  the  mistranslations  quoted,  not  one  of  the  three  seem  to  have 
been  at  all  aware  of  what  the  proposer  had  already  done.  Had  his 
Majesty  discovered  only  a  little  more  patience,  no  doubt  they  might  all 
have  been  led  still  farther  astray  ;  but  as  it  was,  Rainolds,  (whether  con- 
sciously or  not,)  had  in  fact  pitted  the  Geneva  translation  against  Cran- 
mer's  and  the  Bishops'.  All  the  three  passages  as  objected  to,  were  to 
be  found  only  in  these.  Even  in  Coverdale's  and  ^Matthew's  version  at 
first,  one  of  them  was  correct,  but  all  of  them  were  so,  in  the  Geneva 
Bible,  all  along.  There,  all  was  right  ;  and  though  Barlow  tells  us,  there 
was  no  gainsaying,  it  is  curious  enough  that  all  the  three  mistranslations 
continued  to  be  read  in  the  Church  of  England  up  to  the  year  1662,  or 
more  than  half  a  century  after  our  present  version  of  the  Bible  was  pub- 
lished ;  nay,  two  of  them  in  the  Psalms,  are  still  read,  up  to  the  present 
hour  !  So  far  then  as  the  sacred  text  was  concerned,  the  Geneva  version 
was,  in  effect,  commended. 

But  the  Notes  wei'e  obnoxious,  or  conveyed  no  music  to  the  royal  ear. 
James  condescended  upon  two,  in  proof,  as  being  "  seditious  or  savour- 
ing of  traitorous  conceits."  Why  then,  could  Barlow  sit  down,  and 
deliberately  so  expose  his  Royal  INIaster,  in  connexion  with  his  Bible  ?^ 
Nay,  and  why  did  Bancroft  or  Whitgift  not  detect  this  in  the  manuscript, 
before  it  was  printed,  except,  indeed,  that  both  were  acting  as  blind  men  ? 
These  notes,  says  Barlow,  the  King  first  "  found  in  a  (Geneva)  Bible 


*  .Sec  Cardwcll's  Documentary  Annals,  with  Notes.     Oxford,  18.1!). 

■■•  For  the  Geneva  Bible  h.id  been  Ihr  Bible  of  James.     It  had  been  dedicated  to  him  as  early 
as  the  year  l.'>7!',  and  six  years  after  this,  was  to  be  so  again,  in  Kilo. 


1G03-1(;.50.]  IJUIEFLY  EXPLAINED.  371 

given  him  by  an  English  lady  ! "  Now  the  Geneva  Bible  was  the  very 
book  with  which  his  Majesty  at  least  ought  to  have  been  familiar  from 
his  childhood,  if  with  any  Bible  at  all.  It  was  that  which  had  been 
used  at  every  sermon  to  which  he  had  ever  listened  in  Scotland  for 
thirty  years  ;  and  surely  it  was  but  a  sorry  proof  of  his  Majesty  being ' 
■"  a  walking  study,"  if  he  had  never  observed  these  notes,  till  an  English 
lady  chanced  to  give  him  this  Bible  ! 

But  above  all,  if  his  IMajesty  was  chafed,  and  had  also  missed  the 
mark,  why  did  not  the  Bishop  of  London,  as  in  duty  bound,  set  him 
right  ?  Or  are  we  now  given  to  understand  that  he  was  as  ignorant  of 
the  notes  in  his  own  Bishops'  Bible,  as  the  King  was  represented  to  be  of 
those  in  his  ?  Why  did  Bancroft  not  explain — as  he  might  or  should 
have  done,  and  to  the  following  eftect  ? — 

"  Please  your  Majesty,  you  appear  not  to  be  aware  that  these,  and  other  notes 
of  similar  import,  liave  passed  current,  by  royal  sanction,  in  this  our  kingdom 
of  England  for  many  years,  and  are  by  no  means  peculiar  to  the  Geneva  ver- 
sion. As  for  the  passage  in  Exodus,  if  their  note  allotc  disobedience,  in  our 
Bishops'  Bible  we  have  gone  farther,  and  said — '  It  was  better  to  obey  God 
than  man '  ;  and  as  for  that  note  in  Chronicles,  we  have  copied  it  to  the  vei-y 
letter.  It  was  adopted,  long  ago,  by  Archbishop  Parker,  when  your  Majesty 
was  not  yet  three  years  old  ;  nay,  what  is  more,  it  was^^rsi  inserted  in  ouv  foiio 
Bible  of  1585,  under  your  Majesty's  illusti'ious  pi-edecessor,  Queen  Elizabeth  ; 
and  under  our  present  Primate  Whitgift,  with  whom  your  Highness  conferred 
upon  Saturday.  There  too  it  has  remained  ever  since,  and  you  will  find  it  in 
our  Bishops'  Bible  of  1G02,  which  had  only  left  the  press  just  before  your 
Majesty's  arrival  in  this  country  !  <>  The  exiles,  it  is  true,  fnt  made  the  re- 
mark, but  we  have  followed  them  these  thirty-five  years  past  !"  Such,  at  all 
events,  were  the  facts,  and  which,  in  all  fairness,  ought  to  have  been  adduced 
in  reply." 

Barlow's  account  of  the  entire  conference  has  justly  been  regarded  not 
only  as  inaccurate,  but  chargeable  with  great  omissions  ;  but  as  his 
statement  of  what  passed  respecting  the  Bible  is  still  referred  to,  we 
have  allowed  him  to  tell  his  own  tale  ;  and  with  what  credit  to  those 
he  laboured  to  gratify  and  extol,  let  the  reader  judge.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  account  given  by  Galloway,  was  corrected  by  the  King's  ov:n 
hand.  In  this,  the  second  of  the  articles,  comprehended  in  the  note  of 
such  things  as  shall  be  reformed,  and  as  presented  by  Rainolds,  was  the 
following  : — 

"  That  a  translation  be  made  of  the  whole  Bible,  as  consonant  as  can  he  to  the 
original  Ilebreic  and  Greek ;  and  this  to  be  set  out  and  printed,  without  any 
marginal  notes,  and  only  to  be  used  in  all  Churches  of  England,  in  time  of 

8  The  copy  in  the  Bodleian  has  manuscript  notes  for  the  then  intended  version,  and  must  have 
belonf;ed  to  one  of  the  Rcvisors. 

'  It  is  indeed  not  unworthy  of  remark  tliat  in  the  notes  of  the  Geneva  Version,  loyalty  is 
sometimes  enforced  more  strongly  than  in  those  of  the  Bishops'.  See  Titus,  iii.  1..  at  least  in 
the  Testament  hy  WhittinKham,  I'l.'i",  .ind  perhaps, some  suhscrinent  editions  of  the   Bihie. 


372  Tin:  TUANS1.AT(»KS  SELKCTEO.  [bOOK  III. 

divine  service."  Now,  by  this  version  of  the  story,  the  exchision  of  all  marginal 
tiotet  oumi.NATKt)  with  l^ainolds,  as  well  as  the  proposal  of  a  iicir  tratis- 
latlvn.  u 

The  first  Parliament  held  by  the  King  assembled  on  the  19th  of  March 
16(U,  and  the  Convocation  on  the  following  day.  The  Primate  Whitgift 
having  ex])ired  on  the  2!)th  of  February,  Bancroft,  the  Bishop  of  Lon- 
don, was  appointed  to  preside.  James  had  commenced  these  proceed- 
ings with  a  speech  longer  than  many  a  sermon,  but  at  last,  not  being 
in  the  best  humour  with  his  English  Parliament,  he  dissolved  it  on  the 
7th  of  July,  and  the  Convocation  rose.  Among  all  the  business  of  either 
House,  not  one  word  was  spoken  there  respecting  the  Scriptures  ;  nor  do 
we  hear  of  any  movement  in  consequence  of  what  had  passed  in  Jaimary 
at  Hampton  Court,  tDl  the  end  of  June.  Some  time  had  been  required 
for  the  selection  of  suitable  scholars,  and  before  the  end  of  that  month  a 
list  was  presented  to  James  for  his  acceptance.  They  had  been  selected 
for  him,  and  he  of  course  ai)proved.  To  the  intended  translators,  on  the 
30th  of  June,  Bancroft  notified  his  Majesty's  acceptance  of  the  names 
given  him  ;  and  so  to  those  at  Cambridge  he  thus  wrote — 

"  His  Majesty  being  made  acquainted  with  the  choice  of  all  them  to  be  employed 
in  the  translating  of  the  Bible,  in  such  sort  as  Mr.  Lively  can  inform  you,  doth 
greatly  approve  of  the  said  choice.  And  for  as  much  as  his  Highness  is  very 
desirous  that  the  same  so  religious  a  work  should  admit  no  delay,  he  has  com- 
manded me  to  signify  unto  you  in  his  name  that  his  pleasure  is,  you  should  with 
all  possible  speed  meet  together  in  your  University  and  begin  the  .same."  Con- 
cluding his  letter  in  these  temis — "  I  am  persuaded  his  royal  mind  rejoiceth 
more  in  the  good  hope  which  he  hath  for  the  happy  success  of  that  work,  than 
of  his  peace  concluded  with  (Spain.    At  Fulham  the  last  of  June  1604."  9 


"  We  have  already  remarked  that  Galloway,  once  minister  at  Perth,  and  afterwards  at  Edin- 
burgh, had  not  been  present,  as  representing  any  party  in  Scotland,  or  England.  But  being  one 
of  the  King's  domestic  chaplains,  he  had  snbmittcd  his  manuscript  to  the  King's  own  correction, 
which  is  therefore  far  more  worthy  of  credit  than  Barlow's  statement. 

'•>  This  reference  to  Spain  was  meant  to  be  descriptive  of  Ja.mf.s,  as  it  truly  was;  but  unfor- 
tunately it  is  left  for  any  other  man,  except  Bancroft,  to  reconcile  his  joy  in  the  otic  case,  with 
his  joy  in  the  other.  The  first  meeting  of  the  Spanish  and  English  dei)Uties  had  been  held  on 
the  .'idlli  of  May,  and  by  this  date,  the  peace,  it  appears,  was  certain ;  but,  after  holding  sixteen 
conferences,  the  day  appointed  for  its  solemn  ratification  was  not  till  Sunda;/,  the  29th  of 
August.  It  was  upon  this  day  that  the  joy  of  the  King,  if  not  also  of  Bancroft,  had  full  vent. 
"A  most  imposing  pageant,"  we  arc  told,  was  exhibited  by  the  procession  in  coaches  and  on 
horseback,  all  the  parties  clothed  in  the  most  gorgeous  attire.  In  the  ro\al  Chapel  various 
pieces  of  church  music  were  performed,  after  which  the  peace  was  ratified  by  the  King's  oath, 
on  a  copy  of  Jerome's  Latin  Bible,  before  the  Duke  de  Krias,  Constable  of  Spain,  the  Ambas- 
sador, when  the  air  w;is  rent  by  the  general  acclamation.  Then  came  the  grand  banquet  and 
drinking,  which  lasted  about  three  hours.  Meanwhile  dancing  had  commenced  in  the  drawing- 
room,  to  which  all  repaired.  The  Prince  of  Wales  opened  the  ball  with  a  Spanish  galUirda,  and 
after  various  other  dances,  it  closed  with  a  eorrenta  danced  by  the  Queen  and  Lord  Southamp- 
ton. Upon  this,  from  a  window  they  had  a  view  of  an  amphitheatre  filled  with  people,  where 
hears,  the  property  of  the  King,  were  baited  by  greyhounds  :  a  bull  running  about,  tossing  and 
goring  mastiffs  let  loose  upon  him,  followed  next  :  the  whole  scene  concluding  with  rope- 
dancing  and  feats  of  horsemanship."  The  Sunday  thus  spent,  had  been  too  much  for  the  Spanish 
Ambassador,  as  on  Monday  morning  he  found  himself  ill  with  lumbago.  In  the  course  of  the 
day,  James  himself  came  in  person  to  see  him,  and  aflrrwards,  late  in  the  evening,  his  Majesty 
set  o\it  on  a  hunting  expedition.     See  the  full  account  in  Ellis'  Orig.  Letters,  second  .series,  vol. 


1603-U;50.]  LETTER  TO  THE  BISHOPS.  373 

As  the  primacy  of  Canterbury  was  now  vacant,  ou  the  22d  of  July  the 
King  addressed  a  letter  to  the  Bishop  of  London,  then  acting  for  that 
See,  and  soon  to  be  chosen  to  it,  equally  intended  for  all  his  brethren  ; 
and  to  the  same  purport,  Cecil,  on  the  same  day,  as  Chancellor  of  Cam- 
bridge, addressed  that  University.  By  the  31st  of  that  month,  Bancroft 
was  ready,  and  the  following  is  a  copy  of  the  letter  which  must  have 
been  sent  to  all  the  Bishops,  as  in  duty  bound. — 

"  After  my  hearty  commendations  unto  your  Lonlsliip,  I  have  received 
letters  from  his  most  excellent  Majesty,  the  tenor  whereof  followeth  : — 

" '  Right  trusty  and  well  beloved,  we  greet  you  well.  Whereas  we  have 
appointed  certain  learned  men,  to  the  number  of  four  and  fifty,  for  the  trans- 
lating of  the  Bible,  and  that  in  this  number  divers  of  them  have  either  no  eccle- 
siastical pi-eferment  at  all,  or  else  so  very  small,  as  the  same  is  far  unmeet  for 
men  of  their  deserts,  and  yet.  We  o/ourself  in  any  conrenient  time  cannot  well 
remedy  it :  therefore  We  do  hereby  require  you,  that  presently  you  write,  in  our 
name,  as  well  to  the  Archbishop  of  York,  as  to  the  rest  of  the  bishops  of  the 
province  of  Canterbury,  signifying  unto  them,  that  We  do  will,  and  sti'aitly 
charge,  every  one  of  them,  as  also  the  other  bishops  of  the  province  of  York,  as 
they  tender  our  good  favour  towards  them,  that  (all  excuses  set  apart)  when 
any  prebend  or  parsonage,  being  rated  in  our  book  of  taxations,  the  prebend  to 
twenty  pounds  at  least,  and  the  parsonage  to  the  like  sum  and  upwards,  shall 
next  upon  any  occasion  happen  to  be  void,  and  to  be  either  of  their  patronage, 
or  of  the  patronage  and  gift  of  any  person  jihaferer,  they  do  make  stay  thereof, 
and  admit  none  unto  it,  until  certifying  Us,  of  the  avoidance  of  it,  and  of  the 
name  of  the  Patron,  if  it  be  not  of  their  own  gift,  that  We  may  commend  for  the 
same,  some  such  of  the  learned  men,  as  we  shall  think  fit  to  be  preferred  unto  it ; 
uot  doubting  of  the  bishop's  readiness  to  satisfy  us  herein,  or  that  any  of  the  laity, 
when  we  shall  in  time  move  them  to  so  good  and  religious  an  act,  will  be  unwill- 
ing to  give  us  the  like  due  contentment  and  satisfaction  ;  We  ourselves  having 
taken  the  same  order  for  such  prebends  and  benefices  as  shall  be  void  in  our  gift. 

"  '  What  we  write  to  you  of  others,  you  must  apply  it  to  yourself  ;  as  also  not 
forget  to  move  the  said  Archbishop  and  all  the  Bishops,  with  their  Deans  and 
Chapters  of  both  provinces,  as  toxtching  the  other  point,  to  be  imparted  otherwise 
by  you  unto  them.'''  Furthermore,  We  require  you  to  move  all  our  Bishops  to 
inform  themselves  of  all  such  learned  men  within  their  several  dioceses,  as, 
having  especial  skill  in  the  Hebrew  and  Greek  tongues,  have  taken  pains,  in 
their  private  studies  of  the  Scriptures,  for  the  clearing  of  any  obscurities  either 
in  tlie  Hebrew  or  in  the  Greek,  or  touching  any  difficulties  or  mistakings  in  the 
former  English  translation,  which  we  have  now  commanded  to  be  thoroughly 
viewed  and  amended,  and  thereupon  to  write  to  them  •,  earnestly  charging  them 
and  signifying  our  plcasui-e  therein,  that  they  send  such  their  observations 
either  to  Mr.  Lively,  our  Hebrew  reader  in  Cambridge  ;  or  to  Dr.  Harding,  our 
Hebrew  reader  in  Oxford  ;  or  to  Dr.  Andrews,  dean  of  Westminster,  to  be  im- 
l)arted  to  tlie  rest  of  their  several  companies,  &c.     Given  under  our  signet  at  our 


iii.  207-215.  At  the  conference  in  January,  Bancroft  liad  said  that  "  his  heart  melted  with  joy 
over  such  a  King,"  and  perliaps  it  melted  still;  but  it  was  in  this  manner,  that  he,  and  some 
others,  upon  all  occasions  flattered  a  prince  naturally  distinguished  for  vanity  ;  doin^  him  fear- 
ful injury,  whether  as  a  monarch  or  a  man. 

'"  The  nther  point,  which  related  to  monrij.  will  cume  out  jircscntly. 


•^Tt  Till-:  TUANSLATORS  AND  [iiooK  III. 

jialacu  of  WcBtiuinstcr,  the  two  ami  twentieth  of  July,  in  tlie  second  year  of  our 
reijjn  of  En;j;Ian(l,  Franco,  and  Ireland,  and  of  Scotland  xxxvii.' 

"  Your  Lordship  may  see  how  careful  Iub  Majesty  is  for  the  i)roviding  of 
livings  for  these  learned  men.  1  doubt  not  therefore,  but  your  lordsliip  will 
have  a  duo  regard  of  his  Majesty's  reciucst  lierein,  &»  it  is  fit  and  meet  ;  and 
that  you  will  take  such  order,  botli  with  your  Chancellor,  Register,  and  such  of 
your  Lordship's  ofHcers,  who  shall  have  intelligence  of  the  premises,  as  also 
with  the  Dean  and  CJiapter  of  your  Cathedral  Churcli,  whom  his  Majesty  hke- 
wise  roijuireth  to  be  put  in  mind  of  his  pleasure  herein  ;  not  forgetting  the  lat- 
ter part  of  liis  Majesty's  letter,  touching  the  informing  yourself  of  the  fittest 
linguists,  &.C.  I  could  wish  your  Lordshij)  would,  for  my  discliargc,  return  me 
in  some  few  lines  the  time  of  the  receipt  of  these  letters,  that  I  may  discliarge 
that  duty  which  his  Majesty,  by  these  his  letters,  hath  laid  upon  me.  And  so 
I  bid  your  Lordship  right  heartily  farewell.  From  Fulliam  this  xxxi.  of  July 
1  COl— 7?.  London." 

But,  before  proceeding  with  our  narrative,  it  is  necessary  to  give  here 
the  list  of  translators,  with  their  respective  tasks,  to  which  a  few  par- 
ticulars are  subjoined,  from  the  best  authorities. 

WESTMINSTER.     Genesis,  to  II.  Kings  inchmve. 

Dr.  Lancelot  Andrews,  then  Dean  of  Westminster,  who  is  reported  to  liave 
been  such  a  linguist  that  he  understood  fifteen.  Afterwards  Bishop  of  Chi- 
chester, 1 60.5  ;  then  of  Ely  in  1 609  ;  and  finally  of  Winchester  in  1619.  Died 
21  Sep.  1626,  aged  71. 

Dr.  John  Overall,  then  Dean  of  St.  Paul's,  Bishop  of  Lichfield  and  Coventry, 
1614.     Of  Norwich  in  1618.     Died  12  May  161.0,  aged  60. 

Dr.  Adrian  a  Saravia,  then  Canon  of  Westminster.  Of  Spanish  extraction  ; 
the  friend  of  Hooker,  and  tutor  of  Nicholas  Fuller.  Afterwards  Prebend  of 
Gloucester,  and  Canterbury,  where  he  died  15  January  1613,  aged  82. 

Dr.  Richard  Clarke,  then  Fellow  of  Christ  Coll.  Cambridge  ;  Vicar  of  Min- 
ster and  Monkton  in  the  isle  of  Thanet  :  died  in  1G34,  and  a  folio  volume  of 
his  sennons  puljlishcd  in  1637. 

Dr.  John  Laifield,  then  Fellow  of  Trinity  College,  Cambridge,  afterwards 
Rector  of  St.  Clements  Danes.  A  Fellow  of  Chelsea  College,  which,  however, 
was  never  founded.     Died  in  1617. 

Dr.  Roisert  Tighe,  or  Teigh,  (^not  Leigh  as  often  misnamed,)  then  Archdeacon 
of  Middlesex,  and  Rector  of  All-IIallows,  Barking.  An  excellent  textuary 
and  profound  linguist.     He  died  m  161 6,  leaving  his  son  £  1 000  a-year. 

Dr.  Francis  Birleigii,  then  Vicar  of  Bishop  Stortford,  if  not  of  Thoi'ley, 
Herts,  and  died  in  161.0  ? 

Dr.  Geoi  try  or  Wilfrid  Kino,  then  Fellow  of  King's  College,  Cambridge. 
As  Regius  Professor  of  Hebrew  in  that  Univei"sity,  he  succeeded  Robert 
Spalding,  about  to  be  menfioned. 

Richard  Thompson,  M.A.  of  Clare  Hall,  Cambridge  ;  born  in  Holland  of  Eng- 
lish ])arents  ;  an  admirable  philologer,  but  bettor  known  in  Italy,  France,  and 
Germany,  than  at  home. 
William  Bedw  ell,  the  best  Arabic  scholar  of  his  time.  The  tutor  of  Erpenius 
and  Pocock  ;  (but  not  W.  Bedell  of  Kilmore  as  has  been  conjectured  ;  he 
was  then  at  Venice.)  "  The  industrious  and  thrice-learned,"  said  Lightfoot, 
"  to  whom  I  will  rather  be  a  scholar,  than  take  on  me  to  teach  others." 


1003-1650.]  THEIR  RESPECTIVE  TASKS.  375 


CAMBRIDGE.     1  Chronicles  to  Ecclesiastes  inclusive. 

Edward  Livlie,  Regius  Professor  of  Hebrew  for  thirty  years  in  this  Univer- 
sity ;  an  eminent  linguist,  in  high  esteem  by  Ussher  and  Pocock.  His  death, 
in  May  1 605,  is  supposed  to  liave  retarded  the  work  in  hand. 
Du.  JonN  Richardson,  then  Fellow  of  Emmanuel  College.  Afterwards  Master 
of  Peter  House,  then  of  Trinity  College.  He  is  not  to  be  confounded  with 
Ussher's  friend  of  the  same  name.  Died  in  162.5. 
Dr.  Laurence  Chaderton,  distinguished  for  Hebrew  and  Rabbinical  learning, 
then  frst  Master  of  Emmanuel  College.  "  If  you  will  not  be  Master,"  said 
Sir  Walter  Mildniay,  "  I  will  not  be  Founder."  He  was  the  tutor  of  Joseph 
Hall  of  Norwich  and  W.  Bcddl  of  Kilmore,  who  retained  the  highest  vene- 
ration for  him,  and  died  the  year  after  him.  Chaderton,  who  never  required 
the  aid  of  spectacles,  died,  according  to  his  epitaph,  at  the  age  of  103  !  Born 
in  1537,  he  lived  to  1 3th  November  1640.  His  Ufe,  in  Latin,  by  W.  Dilling- 
ham, was  published  in  1700. 

Francis  Dillingham,  then  Fellow  of  Christ's  College,  an  eminent  Grecian.  He 
was  Parson  of  Dean,  and  beneficed  at  Wilden,  Beds.  As  an  author,  he,  as 
well  as  Overall,  continued  to  quote  the  Geneva  version  years  after  our  pre- 
sent one  had  been  published.     He  died  a  single  and  a  wealthy  man. 

Thomas  Harrison,  Vico-Chancellor  of  Trinity  College,  was  eminently  skilled  in 
the  Latin,  Greek,  and  Hebrew  tongues,  as  his  own  University  has  borne  wit- 
ness.    Dyer  ascribes  to  him  a  Lexicon  Pente  Glotton. 

Dr.  Roger  Andrews,  brother  of  Lancelot,  then  Fellow  of  Pembroke  Hall,  and 
afterwards  Master  of  Jesus  College,  and  Prebendary  of  Chichester.  Died  in 
1618. 

Dr.  Robert  Spalding,  then  Fellow  of  St.  John's  College,  and  afterwards  the  srcc- 
cessor  of  Livlie  as  Regius  Professor  of  Hebrew,  a  sufficient  proof  of  his  skill 
in  that  language. 

Dr.  Andrew  Byng,  (not  Burge,  as  in  Burnet  and  Wilkins,)  then  Fellow  of  St. 
Peter's  College.  In  1606  subdean  of  York,  and  in  1618  Archdeacon  of  Nor- 
wich. As  Regius  Professor  of  Hebrew,  he  succeeded  King,  who  had  suc- 
ceeded Spalding,  already  mentioned. 

OXFORD.     Isaiah  to  Malachi  inclusive. 

Dr.  John  Harding,  then  Regius  Professor  of  Hebrew  in  the  University,  and 
afterwards  President  of  Magdalen  College,  and  also  Rector  of  Halsey  in  Ox- 
fordshire. 

Dr.  John  Rainolds,  President  of  Corpus  Christi  College  ;  or  the  man  who 
moved  the  King  for  this  new  translation.  "  The  memory  and  reading  of  that 
man,"  said  Bishop  Hall,  "  were  near  to  a  miracle  ;  and  all  Europe  at  the 
time  could  not  have  produced  three  men  superior  to  Rainolds,  Jewell,  and 
Ussher,  all  of  this  same  College."  At  the  age  of  58,  he  died  •21st  May  1607. 
Even  during  his  sicknei$,  his  coadjutors  met  at  his  lodgings  once  a  week,  to 
compare  and  perfect  their  notes. 

Dr.  Thomas  Holland,  then  Fellow  of  Balliol  College,  afterwards  Rector  of 
Exeter,  and  Regius  Professor  of  Divinity  in  Oxford.  "  Another  Apollos," 
says  Wood,  «  and  mighty  in  the  Scriptures."    Died  1 7th  March  1 6 1 3,  aged  73, 

Dr.  Richard  Kilby,  the  Rector  of  Lincoln  College,  highly  esteemed  by  Isaac 
Walton.  He  was  afterwards  prebendary  of  Lincoln,  and  Professor  of  Hebrew 
in  the  University  of  Oxford.  He  left  commentaries  on  Exodus,  drawn  from 
the  Rabbins  and  Hebrew  interpreters.     Died  November  1  620. 


•A:r>  TMK  TRANSLATORS  AND  [book  III. 

Du.  Miles  Smith,  then  Canon  of  Uoiefonl.  A  llelirtw  an<l  CImldec,  Syriac  and 
Arabic  scliolar.  He  is  un<k'i"stoo(l  to  liavu  bei'n  tlic  writer  of  the  preface.  He 
and  Hilson  we  sliall  find  to  be  the  final  e.xaminators  of  tlie  wliole  work.  Bi- 
sliop  of  Gloucester  in  10'1'2. 

I)u.  RicnARi)  UuKTT,  then  Fellow  of  Lincoln  College.  Imminent  as  a  linguist  in 
Latin,  Greek,  aii<l  Hebrew,  to  which  he  ailded  Chaldee,  Arabic,  and  Ethio- 
pic.     Rector  of  (^uainton,  lUieks,  where  he  died  l.'>th  April  \U'.'>7. 

lliciiARD  Fairclouuii  of  Now  College,  0.\ford  ?  The  Rector  of  Bucknell,  U.\- 
fordshire,  who  died  there  in  \6oli. 

OXFORD.     Matthew  to  the  Acts  inclusive,  and  the  Revelation. 

Dk.  Thomas  Rams,  then  Dean  of  Christ-Church.  Afterwards  on  the  14th  March 
1G0.5,  Bishop  of  Gloucester,  and  in  1(J07  of  London,  where  he  died  14th  De- 
cember 160!). 

Du.  Gkorge  Abbot,  then  Dean  of  Winchester  and  Vice-Chancellor  of  O.xford. 
Bishop  of  Litchfield  and  Coventry  in  IGO!)  ;  of  Lon<lon  in  KJIO,  and  Bancroft 
dying  2d  November,  Abbot  became  primate  in  Kil  1.  Died  4th  August  KJS.'l, 
aged  71. 

Du.  Joii.N  AuLioNBY,  then  rrinci])al  of  St.  Edmund's  Hall  and  Rector  of  Islip, 
and  afterwards  chaplain  in  ordinary  to  the  King.  "  Accomplished  in  learning 
and  an  e.xact  linguist."  Dr.  Richard  Eedes  was  indeed  the  first  appointed, 
but  he  died  lOtli  November  1G04  ;  Aglionby  died  (Jth  Febi-uary  ICIO. 

Dr.  Gilks  Tomson,  then  Dean  of  Windsor,  afterwards  in  Mai-ch  Hill  Bishop  of 
Gloucester,  but  died  14th  June  next  yeai\  "  He  had  taken  a  great  deal  of 
pains  in  translating." 

Sir  Henry  Savile,  Greek  tutor  to  Elizabeth,  and  Provost  of  Eton.  He  was 
knighted  by  James  this  year,  and  losing  his  son  about  that  pci-iod,  he  devoted 
his  time  and  fortune  to  the  encouragement  of  learning.  He  contributed  seve- 
ral rare  books  and  MSS.  to  the  Bodleian,  besides  Greek  type  and  matrices 
to  the  Oxford  press.  His  fine  edition  of  t'hri/sostom's  Works,  in  Greek,  with 
notes  by  John  Bois  after-mentioned,  and  of  which  1000  copies,  in  8  volumes 
folio  were  printed,  is  said  to  have  cost  him  £oOOO.  He  died  at  Eton,  19th  Fe- 
bruary 16'22,  aged  73. 

Dr.  John  Pervn,  Professor  of  Greek,  and  afterwards  Canon  of  Christ-Church, 
died  J)th  May  16 1.5. 

Dr.  Leonard  Hi'tten,  then  Vicar  of  Flower,  Northamptonshire  ;  an  excellent 
Greek  scholar,  and  learned  in  other  branches.  He  died  at  the  age  of  75, 
1 7th  May  16.'52.     Dr.  Ravens  had  been  first  appointed,  but  his  place  vacated. 

Dr.  John  Harmar,  had  been  Professor  of  Greek,  Warden  of  Winchester  Col- 
lege. A  noted  Latin  and  Greek  scholar.  He  published  Latin  translations 
from  Ciirysostoin,  and  his  translation  of  Beza"s  sermons  into  English,  bespeaks 
him  an  excellent  writer  of  English.     He  died  lllh  October  1613. 

WESTMINSTER.     liomans  to  Jade  inclusive. 

Du.  William  Baulow,  made  Dean  of  Chester  in  December  1604,   Bishop  of 

Rochester  in  160.5,  of  Lincoln,  160!!.     Died  7th  September  1613. 
Dr.  Ralph  Hitchenson,  then  President  of  St.  John's  College,  Oxford.    Wood's 

Athena-,  by  Bliss,  ii.  p.  .02. 
Dr.  John  Spencer,  Fellow  of  Cor|)us  Christi  College,  and  afterwards  Chaplain 

to  the  King.     On  the  death  of  Dr.  Rainolds  he  succeeded  him  as  President 

of  Corpus  Christi,  and  died  3d  April  1614. 


H)03-1G50.]  THE  INSTRUCTIONS  GIVEN.  377 

Dr.  Roger  Fenton,  it  lias  been  supposed  ;  if  so,  Fellow  of  Pembroke  Hall, 

Cambridge  ;  and  Minister  of  St.  Stephen's,  Walbrook,  London. 
Michael  Rabbett,  B.D.,  was  Rector  of  St.  Vedast,  Foster  Lane,  London. 
Dr.  Thomas  Sanderson,  of  Balliol  College,  Oxford  ?  Archdeacon  of  Rochester 

in  1606'. 
William  Dakins,  B.D.,  then  Greek  Lecturer,  Cambridge,  and  afterwards  junior 

Dean  in  IGOO".     He  had  been  chosen  for  his  skill   in  the  original  languages, 

but  died  February  1(J07." 

To  these  men  the  King  is  repoi'ted  to  have  given  the  following  Instructions  or 
Rules  :— 1.  The  ordinary  Bible  read  in  the  Church,  commonly  called  the 
Bishops'  Bible,  to  be  followed,  and  as  little  altered  as  the  original  will  permit. 
2.  The  names  of  the  Prophets  and  the  holy  writers,  with  the  other  names  in  the 
text,  to  be  retained  as  near  as  may  be,  according  as  they  are  vulgarly  used.  3. 
The  old  ecclesiastical  icords  to  be  kept :  as  the  word  church  not  to  be  translated 
CONGREGATION,  &c.  4.  When  any  word  hath  divers  significations,  that  to 
be  kept  which  hath  been  most  commonly  used  by  the  most  ancient  Fathers, 
being  agreeable  to  the  propriety  of  the  place,  and  the  analogy  of  faith.  5.  The 
division  of  the  chapters  to  be  altered  either  not  at  all,  or  as  little  as  may  be,  if 
necessity  so  require.  6.  No  marginal  notes  at  all  to  be  affixed,  but  only  for  the 
explanation  of  the  Hebrew  or  Greek  Avoi'ds,  which  cannot,  without  some  cir- 
cumlocution, so  briefly  and  fitly  be  expressed  in  the  text.  7.  Such  quotations 
of  places  to  be  marginally  set  down,  as  shall  serve  for  the  fit  reference  of  one 
Scripture  to  another.  8.  Every  particular  man  of  each  company  to  take  the 
same  chapter,  or  chapters  ;  and,  having  translated  or  amended  them  severally 
by  himself  where  he  thinketh  good,  all  to  meet  together,  confer  what  they  have 
done,  and  agree  for  their  part  what  shall  stand.  9.  As  one  company  hath  dis- 
patched any  one  book  in  this  manner,  they  shall  send  it  to  the  rest,  to  be  consi- 
dered of  seriously  and  judiciously  :  for  his  Majesty  is  careful  in  this  point.  10. 
If  any  company,  upon  the  review  of  the  book  so  sent,  shall  doubt  or  differ  upon 
any  places,  to  send  them  word  thereof,  note  the  places,  and  therewithal  send 
their  reasons  :  to  which,  if  they  consent  not,  the  diff'erenee  to  be  compounded  at 
the  general  meeting,  which  is  to  be  of  the  chief  persons  of  each  company  at  the 
end  of  the  work.  11.  When  any  place  of  special  obscurity  is  doubted  of,  letters 
to  be  directed  by  authority,  to  send  to  any  learned  man  in  the  land,  for  his 
judgment  in  such  a  place.  12.  Letters  to  be  sent  from  every  bishop  to  the  rest 
of  his  clergy,  admonishing  them  of  this  translation  in  hand  ;  and  to  move  and 
charge  as  many  as,  being  skilful  in  the  tongues,  have  taken  pains  in  that  kind,  to 
send  his  particular  observations  to  the  company,  either  at  Westminster,  Cam- 
bridge, or  Oxford.  1.3.  The  Directors  in  each  company  to  be  the  Deans  of  West- 
minb.ter  and  Chester  for  that  place  ;  and  the  King's  Professors  in  the  Hebi-ew 
and  Greek  in  each  University.  14.  These  translations  to  be  used,  when  they  agree 
belter  with  the  text  than  the  Bishops'  Bible:  viz.,  1.  Tyndale's ;  2.  Matthew's  ; 
.'{.  Corerdale's ;  4.  Whitchurche's  (i.  e.  Cranmer's)  ;  5.  The  Geneva. 

The  authority,  however,  or  the  accuracy  of  these  Rules  is  considerably 
shaken  by  the  account  delivered  in  to  the  Synod  of  Dort  on  the  20th  of 

"  AVood's  Fasti  and  Atliense— Newcourf  s  Rcpertorium— Le  Neves  Fasti— Todd's  Vindica- 
tion—Whittaker,  and  several  otlier  authorities  comiiared.  In  addition  to  these  forty  men,  en- 
RaRed  on  tlic  Sacked  tkxt,  seven  more,  or  the  second  chiss  at  Cambiidgc,  were  imt  to  the 
Aiootipha;  viz.  Jolin  Dujiort,  Dr.  Brantlnvailc,  Jeremiah  Kadclitre,  Dr.  Samuel  Ward,  An- 
drew Dowries,  the  Greek  Professor,  Mr.  Ward,  and  John  Boys,  who,  however,  afterwards  was 
ennanedon  tlie  Sacred  text.  N.B.  Altlioush /'/;.»/-/ii(c  were  said  to  have  been  named,  only 
foil:/  sen n  sat  down  to  the  work. 


378  ins  MAJESTY  Al'l'LIKS  TO  [uoOK  III. 

November  1018.  They  state  tliat  only  seven  rules  were  ultimately  pre- 
scrilteil,  jukI  that  after  each  individual  had  finished  his  task,  hcelve  men 
(not  six)  assendjling  together  revised  the  whole.  Their  first,  second,  and 
fourth  rules  coincide  with  the  first,  sixth,  and  seventh  of  the  preceding 
list. 

It  is  of  more  importance  to  remark,  that  it  has  been  imagined  there 
were  other  ironh,  or  a  list,  to  the  number  of  fourteen  or  sixteen  attached 
to  the  third  rule,  and  specified  by  the  Kino.  But  this,  as  well  as  that 
the  instructions  were  drawn  up  by  him  personally,  strongly  appears  to 
be  a  poj)ular  mistake.  At  least,  after  minute  inquiry,  we  have  found  no 
such  list.  Meanwhile,  the  following  statement  most  probably  accounts  for 
the  rumour.  The  learned  Henry  Jessey  being  engaged  for  many  years 
in  critical  inquiries,  drew  up  an  essay  for  the  amendment  of  this  last  re- 
vision of  the  Bible,  and  in  conjunction  with  Mr.  John  Row,  Professor  of 
Hebrew,  the  Principal  of  King's  College,  Aberdeen,  he  aimed  after  a  new 
version.  In  his  Essay,  he  says  that  one  Dr.  Hill  declared  in  open  as- 
sembly that  Bancroft  "  would  needs  have  the  version  speak  the  prelati- 
cal  language  ;  and  to  that  end  altered  it  in  four(ee7i  several  places  ;  and 
that  Dr.  Miles  Smith,  one  of  the  translators,  complained  of  the  Bishop's 
alterations,  but  said  "  he  is  so  potent  that  there  is  no  contradicting  him." 
But  whatever  dubiety  may  rest  on  the  Instructions,  such  were  the  Men 
appointed.  Most  of  them  were  already  in  independent  circumstances, 
though  "sundry"  of  them  were  not  so,  and  the  jjosts  to  which  any  of 
them  succeeded  afterwards,  are  noted  under  each  of  their  names.  These 
appointments,  however,  it  will  be  obvious,  had  occasioned  no  personal 
expense  to  his  Majesty,  as  they  were  simply  certain  casualties,  arising 
from  death  or  otherwise,  which  required  to  be  filled  up,  at  all  events. 
But  in  the  King's  letter  there  was  another  2}oint  urged  by  him,  and 
which,  it  may  have  seemed  strange,  he  left  Bancroft  to  exj/fain  to  all  his 
brethren.  The  fact  was,  that  some  mo7iei/  did  appear  to  be  requisite,  in 
the  first  instance,  and  his  Majesty  not  choosing  to  signify  in  writing  that 
he  had  none  of  his  own,  or  that  the  Lords  in  the  Privy  Council  would 
not  agree  to  his  drawing  on  them,  or  in  other  words,  on  the  public  purse, 
he  left  another  man  to  explain  the  dilemma  ;  and,  through  him,  now 
turned  to  the  Bishops  and  Deans,  in  the  hope  that  thei/  would  furnish 
supplies.  The  sum,  which  will  be  specified  by  Bancroft,  was  not  large. 
It  was  only  a  thousand  marks,  £660,  13s.  4d.,  or  precisely  the  same 
amount  which  he  alone  had  spent  in  repairing  his  palace,  since  he  had 
been  made  Bishop  of  London.  Less  than  the  twentieth  ]iart  of  this  sum, 
therefore,  was  all  that  could  fall  to  his  share,  even  should  the  Deans  and 
Chapters  decline  to  a  man.  The  Bishop,  however,  being  under  orders, 
must,  of  course,  immediately  forward  his  circular  as  to  this  point,  which 
it  seems  he  did,  and  on  the  same  day  with  his  other  letter,  already 
quoted.     The  following  was  that  which  he  sent  to  John  Jegon,  Bishop 


1G03-1650.]  THE  BISHOPS  FOR  MONEY.  379 

of  Norwich  ;  and  as  he  was  to  warn  all  the  Bishops,  it  must  he  presumed 
that  they  were  all  warned  in  tlic  same  terms. 

"  There  are  many,  as  your  lordship  pcrcoivctli,  who  are  to  be  employed  in 
this  translating  of  the  Bible,  and  sundry  of  them  nmst,  of  necessity,  have  their 
charges  borne  ;  which  his  Majesty  was  very  ready,  of  his  most  princely  dispo- 
sition, to  liave  borne,  bat  some  of  my  lords,  ASxniNGS  now  oo,  did  hold  it  iucon- 
renieiit.  Whereupon  it  was  left  to  me,  to  move  all  my  brethren,  the  Bishops, 
and  likewise  every  several  dean  and  chapter,  to  contribute  to  tiiis  work.  Ac- 
cording therefore  to  my  duty,  I  heartily  pray  your  lordship,  not  oidy  to  think 
Yourself,  wliat  is  meet  for  you  to  give  for  this  purpose,  but  likewise  to  acfjuaint 
your  dean  and  chapter,  not  only  with  the  said  clause  in  his  Majesty's  letter,  but 
likewise  with  tlie  incauiiuj  of  it,  that  they  may  agree  upon  such  a  sum  as  they 
mean  to  contribute.  I  do  not  think  that  a  thousand  marks  will  finish  the  work 
to  be  employed  as  aforesaid.  Wliereof  your  lordship,  with  your  dean  and 
chapter,  having  due  consideration,  I  must  require  you,  in  his  Majesty's  name, 
according  to  his  good  pleasure  in  that  behalf,  that,  as  soon  as  possibly  you  can, 
you  send  me  word  what  shall  be  expected  from  you,  and  your  said  dean  and 
chapter.  For  I  am  to  acquaint  his  Majesty  with  every  man's  liberality  toicards 
this  most  ijodly  work.  And  thus  not  doubting  of  your  especial  care  for  the  ac- 
complishment of  the  premises,  and  desiring  your  loi-dship  to  note  the  date  to 
me  of  your  receipt  of  this  letter,  T  connnit  your  lordship  to  the  tuition  of  Al- 
mighty God.     From  Fulhani  this  31st  of  July  1604."!^ 

Thus  all  the  Bishops  were  warned,  and  no  orders  could  be  more  explicit 
or  more  peremptory.  Jegon  marked  on  his  letter  "  Delibat  apud  Lud- 
ham  16th  August  1604,"  or  Ludham  Hall,  a  seat  of  the  Bishop  of  Nor- 
wich ;  but  when  we  turn  to  inquire  for  his  reply,  or  indeed  for  that  of 
any  other  man,  whether  Bishop,  or  Dean,  or  of  any  Chapter,  we  search  in 
vain  !  From  the  bench  entire,  we  hear  not  one  echo  ;  for  if  there  was 
even  one  reply,  it  has  never  been  produced,  nor  has  such  a  thing  ever 
been  found  among  any  of  the  manuscripts.  The  sequel  will  shew  that 
there  probably  never  was  one,  but  certainly,  at  all  events,  no  monef/  con- 
tributed ;  so  that  Ave  are  thus  left  free  to  pvirsue  our  narrative.  The 
royal  orders  of  Heniy  the  Eighth  on  this  subject,  he  acknowledged  him- 
self, late  in  life,  had  but  a  very  transient  effect  ;  but  this  of  James  the 
First,  had  none  at  all.  One  solitary  letter  he  issued  at  the  outset,  for 
he  never  wrote  a  second,  and  having  once  let  the  Bishops  and  Deans 
alone,  it  was  vain  to  expect  any  aid  from  himself.  He  was  even  now, 
and  far  more  so  ever  after,  plunged  in  debt ;  but  so  far  as  money  was 


12  The  original  has  been  j>rinted  only  by  Lewis.  Jkqon  was  formerly  Master  of  Beniiet  Col- 
lege, afterwards  Dean  of  Norwich  and  now  Bishop,  since  January  1603.  JSancroft,  it  will  be  re- 
membered, was  now  only  acting  as  Primate,  but  very  soon  to  be  elected ;  and  it  is  not  unworthy  of 
notice,  that  only  one  instance  has  occurred  before,  of  letters  craving  mciiiri/  having  passed  be- 
tween parties  occupying  precisely  the  same  situations.  The  reader  may  recollect  that  this  was 
when  Archbishop  Warham  was  addressing  Nix,  then  Bishop  of  A'onrich.  But  then,  it  was 
with  a  view  to  hurninp  the  Scriptures,  when  there  was  a  ready  and  cordial  response,  with  a  con- 
tribution, and  great  zeal  displayed  on  both  sides.  We  have  now,  therefore,  to  witness  what 
was  the  result  of  an  application  for  an  opjiosUc  purpose  ;  only  it  is  curious  enough  that  in  the 
only  recorded  instance  in  hulh  cases,  it  should  be  the  Primate  and  the  Bishop  of  Norwich.  No 
other  having  yet  been  found  in  any  of  our  manuscript  collections,  the  contrast  is,  as  it  were, 
forced  upon  us. 


3H0  TllK  UKVISUKS  ONLY  WKKK  I'AID,  [liuoK  III. 

concerned,  when  we  come  to  the  actual  publication  of  the  Scriptuies  in 
]()1 1,  that  will  be  the  proper  time  to  observe  how  his  Majesty  had  gone 
on,  from  this  year  to  that.  Providentially,  most  of  the  translators  were 
already  in  situations,  and  with  regard  to  some  others,  we  shall  find 
Boys,  one  of  the  most  able  among  them  all,  if  not  the  most  diligent, 
eating  his  "commons"  first  at  one  College  table,  and  then  at  another, 
in  Cambridge,  during  the  entire  period  in  which  he  was  there  engaged. 

It  has  been  questioned  when  these  men  sat  down  to  their  work  ;  whe- 
ther immediately,  or  not  till  1607  ;  but  to  suppose  that  they  did  not 
connnence  till  then,  is  out  of  the  (juestion,  and  indeed  Anthony  Wood 
gives  1(107,  as  the  termination  of  their  first  revision.  Livelie,  afine  and 
ardent  scholar  answering  to  his  name,  would  certainly  not  delay  ;'^  and 
above  all,  the  original  proposer  of  the  work,  Dr.  Rainolds,  was  busy,  as 
we  have  seen,  to  his  dying  day,  in  1607.  The  different  parties  might 
not  all  commence  at  the  same  moment,  but,  on  the  whole,  it  may  be  pre- 
sumed that,  with  the  Hebrew  of  the  Old  Testament  and  the  Greek  of 
the  New  before  them  all  along,  the  first  revision  of  the  Sacred  text,  by 
the  forty-seven,  occupied  about /o?«'  years  ;  the  second  examination  by 
twelve,  or  two  selected  out  of  each  company,  nirce  months  more,  and  the 
sheets  passing  through  the  press,  other  two  years,  when  the  Bible  of  1611 
was  finished  and  first  issued. 

In  confirmation  of  this  statement,  we  shall  have  occasion  to  refer  to 
the  only  manuscript  memoir,  known  to  exist,  of  any  of  the  translators, 
which  affords  information  ;  though  before  doing  so,  it  may  be  remarked, 
that  we  are  now  to  be  furnished  with  evidence  in  proof,  that  7io  money 
had  been  paid  to  the  forty-seven,  or  the  six  companies  when  working 
separately,  at  Westminster,  Cambridge,  and  Oxford.  But  upon  the  ter- 
mination of  their  labours,  when  two  out  of  each  company,  or  twelve  in 
all,  were  selected,  and  met  in  London,  pecuniary  sujjply,  to  a  moderate 
extent,  had  become  necessary.  The  entire  Bible,  as  it  came  from  the 
forty-seven,  was  now  before  these  twelve  men,  -who  met  at  Stationers' 
Hall,  and  were  thus  daily  occupied  in  their  second  revision  for  nine 
months  ;  or  thirty-nine  weeks.  They  were  paid  weekly,  though  certainly 
not  by  his  Majexty,  nor  by  any  of  the  prelates  or  parties,  to  Avhom  he  had  so 
urgently  applied.  A  sum,  however,  of  more  than  "  a  thousand  marks"  had 
been  at  last  required,  and  the  only  question  will  be,  from  whence  it  came. 

The  memoir  to  which  we  have  alluded  is  that  of  John  Bois  or  Boys  al- 
ready mentioned.  Born  at  Elmset,  near  Hadlcigh  in  Sxiffolk,  he  was  taught 
the  first  rudiments  of  learning   by  his  father,  William  Boys,  rector  of 

13  Livelie  or  Lively,  the  Hebrew  professor,  living  contented  with  his  stipend,  after  many 
troubles,  and  the  loss  of  his  wife,  the  mother  of  a  numerous  family,  was  ajipointed  one  of  the 
translators  ;  and  taking  a  very  deei>  interest  in  the  work,  he  was  well  jirovided  for  by  Harlow, 
not  King  James:  but  in  May  IfiOS  he  died  by  a  (juinsey,  after  only  four  days'  illness,  leavinR 
t-leivn  orphans,  "  destitute  of  necessaries  for  their  maintenance,  hut  only  such  as  God  and  good 
friends  should  provide."  See  his  funeral  sermon,  lOth  May  Ifiti.'i,  by  Thomas  Playferc,  Lady 
Margaret's  professor  in  C'ninbridfie.     Printed  by  Thomas  Legat  ;  Ifill. 


lfi03-lC50.]  BUT  NOT  BY  ANY  OF  THE  CLKRflY.  ,'381 

West  Stow  in  that  county  ;  and  even  when  yet  a  boy,  his  acquaintance 
with  Hebrew  was  remarkable,  being  able  to  read  the  Old  Testament  with 
fluency  in  the  original,  as  well  as  to  write  the  language  Avith  elegance. 
At  the  age  of  fourteen  he  was  admitted  of  St.  John's  College,  Cambridge, 
where  with  Greek  he  became  equally  familiar  ;  and  for  ten  years  out  of 
the  twenty-two,  in  which  he  resided  in  that  College,  he  was  the  chief 
Greek  lecturer.  Voluntarily  he  read  a  lecture  in  the  same  language,  for 
some  years,  at  four  in  the  morning,  attended  by  many  fellows,  among 
whom  was  the  well-known  Thomas  Gataker.  His  life,  at  once  curious 
and  interesting,  by  Dr.  Anthony  Walker  of  St.  John's,  is  among  the  Har- 
leian  manuscripts,  proving  that  his  interest  in  the  translation  of  the 
Bible  was  conspicuous.'* 

"  When  it  pleased  God,"  says  the  writer,  "  to  move  K.  James  to  that  excel- 
lent work,  the  translating  of  the  Bible  ;  when  the  translators  were  to  be  cho- 
sen for  Cambridge,  he  (Boys)  was  sent  for  thither  by  them,  therein  employed 
and  chosen  one  ;  some  University  men  thereat  repining,  (it  may  be  not  mox-e 
able,  yet  more  ambitious  to  have  had  a  share  in  that  service,)  and  disdaining 
that  it  should  be  thought  that  they  needed  any  help  from  the  country;  forgetting 
that  Tully  was  the  same  at  Tusculum,  he  was  at  Rome." — "  All  the  time  he  was 
about  his  own  part,  his  diet  was  given  him  at  St.  John's,  where  he  abode  all 
the  week  till  Saturday  night,  and  then  went  home  to  discharge  his  cure,  (at 
Boxworth,  about  seven  miles  distant,)  returning  thence  on  Monday  morning." 

Not  yet  satisfied,—"  When  he  had  finished  his  own  part,  at  the  earnest  re- 
quest of  him  to  whom  it  was  assigned,  he  undertook  a  second,  and  then  was  in 
'  commons '  at  another  college."  This  last  must  have  been  the  sacred  text 
itself,  from  I  Chronicles  to  Ecclesiastes,  a  task  more  congenial  with  his  mind  as 
a  Christian.  The  representation  then  given  in  the  manuscript,  though  incor- 
rect as  to  the  number  of  revisors  and  their  paymaster,  we  first  give  entire — 

"  Four  years  he  spent  in  this  service,  at  the  end  whereof,  (the  wliole  work 
being  finished,  and  three  copies  of  the  whole  Bible  being  sent  to  London,  one 
from  Cambridge,  a  second  from  Oxford,  and  a  third  from  Westminster,)  a  new 
choice  was  to  be  made  of  six  in  all,  two  out  of  each  company,  to  review  the 
whole  work,  and  extract  one  out  of  all  three,  to  be  committed  to  the  press.  For 
the  dispatch  of  this  business  Mr.  Downes  and  he,  out  of  the  Cambridge  com- 
pany, were  sent  for  up  to  London,  where  meeting  their  four  fellowdabourers, 
they  went  daily  to  Stationers'  Hall,  and  in  three  quarters  of  a  year  fulfilled 
their  task.  All  which  time  they  received  duly  thirty  shillings  each  of  them,  by 
the  week,  from  the  Company  of  Stationers  ;  though  beforf.  they  had  nothing," 
but  (adds  the  other  manuscript)  "  the  self-rewarding  ingenious  industry.  Whilst 
they  were  employed  in  this  last  business,  he,  and  he  only,  took  notes  of  their 
proceedings,  which  he  diligently  kept  to  his  dying  day."'^ 

The  expression  "  a  new  choice  was  made  of  six  in  all,  two  out  of  each 
company,"  contradicts  itself.     There  were  six  companies,  and  there  must 

14  MS.  Harl.  7053,  in  thirty-eifiht  quarto  pages.  It  has  been  once  printed  in  Peck's  Des.  Cii- 
riosa,  from  a  copy  among  the  Baker  MSS. 

15  A  very  strange  mistake  of  Lewis  lias  been  copied  by  many  authors  up  to  tlie  present  time. 
Speaking  of  the  revisors,  he  says—"  All  which  time  they  received  thirty  jiounds  each  of  them, 
by  the  week  !"  This  would  have  been  above  £"000,  had  there  been  only  six,  but  as  there  were 
twelve,  .fl4,fiOO  for  nine  mouths'  work  !    The  manuscript  is  quite  distinct,  viz.  ."iO-t. 


382  Ills   .MAJK8TV  S    INAlill.nV    l<>   1)I;KUAV  [uouK   III. 

have  been  two  out  of  each,  to  represent  the  part  traiishited.  The  mistake 
is  to  be  correcteJ,  as  already  hinted,  by  the  Knglish  divines  sent  to  Dort 
in  l(il8.  Among  them  was  Dr.  Samuel  Ward,  himself  one  of  the  trans- 
lators, and  in  giving  their  account  to  the  synod,  they  stated  that  twelve 
men  met  to  review,  and  correct  the  whole  work. 

Twelve  men  paid  at  the  rate  of  thirty  shillings  each,  was  ef]ual  to 
£18  weekly,  and  for  the  thirty-nine  weeks,  £7U2  must  have  been  ex- 
pended :  but  with  regard  to  the  Paymasters  for  this  service,  it  is  pre- 
sumed that  the  reader  is  already  fully  prejiared  to  doubt,  if  not  deny  the 
strange  assertion,  that  this  could  have  come  from  the  Company  of  Sta- 
tioners. Lewis  has  remarked  that  it  "  seems  a  confirmation  of  what  was 
before  observed,  that  the  proposal  of  raising  a  thousand  marks  on  the 
Bishops,  (fee,  was  rejected  by  them."  And  of  this  there  can  be  no  ques- 
tion ;  but  after  the  game  played  with  the  Stationers'  Company  by  Chris- 
topher Barker,  and  the  state  in  which  we  left  the  parties,  how  could  one 
farthing  be  expected  from  that  Company  ?  They  had  no  interest  what- 
ever in  the  affair,  from  first  to  last.  At  the  Hall,  as  a  matter  of  cour- 
tesy, these  twelve  men  might  be  accommodated,  but  so  far  from  the  Com- 
pany having  any  concern  in  the  publication,  we  have  already  seen  the 
whole  fraternity  of  printers  and  booksellers  up  in  arms  against  the  ar- 
rangement by  a  monopoly. 

But  why  then  might  not  his  Majesty  be  supposed  to  defray  this  trifling 
amount  ?  Because  that  when  only  such  a  sum  was  anticipated  at  the 
beginning,  he  himself  informed  us,  it  was  "  not  convenient."  And  if  it 
was  not  so  then,  it  was  much  more  inconvenient  now.  As  a  source  of 
supply,  James  was  more  thoroughly  out  of  the  question  than  ever  before  ; 
and,  indeed,  there  is  actually  no  evidence  that  he  took  any  farther  con- 
cern in  the  whole  affair,  after  the  solitary  letter  in  1604,  and  a  slight  al- 
lusion to  the  subject  in  1606  ;  except  that  when  the  Bible  Avas  finished  at 
press,  he  must  have  given  his  sanction,  and  was  then  praised  to  the  skies. 
But  as  for  any  money  being  ever  paid  by  him  since  the  time  that  he  him- 
self last  spake,  one  glance  at  his  progress  will  amply  suflice. 

Parliament  having  been  opened  on  the  9th  of  November  1606,  the  chief  busi- 
ness of  the  session  was  the  voting  of  a  subsidy.  As  i-eported  to  the  House,  and 
rceortlod  on  the  journal  of  the  Commons,  the  debts  of  the  late  Queen  were 
£400,0(»0,  and  £-20,0()0  for  her  funeral.  Tlic  entrance  of  James  with  his  family 
into  England,  and  his  coronation,  had  cost  £30,000  ;  upon  ambassadors  and  their 
entertainnn-nt,  he  had  lavished  £40,000  ;  and  tlic  expenses  of  Ireland  had  been 
£350,0(10.  Thus  the  sum  to  bo  reduced  was  £840,000  :  the  debts  of  Elizabeth, 
at  the  close  of  her  long  reign,  and  tiiosc  of  James's  first  thrc  3ears,  being  uow 
precisely  oi equal  amount,  or  £420,0(10  each  !  By  this  time  his  Majesty  could 
neither  pay  his  household,  nor  decently  support  his  own  table.  In  point  of  fact, 
the  Earl  of  Dorset,  at  the  age  of  seventy-nine,  his  Lord  Treasurer,  had  been 
stopped  on  the  street,  by  servants  of  the  liousehold,  claiming  their  wages,  and 
the  purveyors  had  refused  farther  supplies.    Within  eighteen  months  after  this, 


U»03-1G50.]  ANY  EXPENSE,  EXPLAINED.  383 

on  the  1,0th  of  April  IGOit,  the  accomplished  Sackvile,  Lord  Treasurer  Dorset, 
died  suddenly,  when  actually  sitting  at  the  Council  table  ;  and  being  succeeded 
by  Cecil,  now  Earl  of  Salisbury,  he  not  only  found  an  exhausted  exchequer,  but 
that  the  King's  debts  had  now  risen  to  three  times  the  amount  already  stated. 
Amidst  all  this,  the  high  tone  of  James's  pretensions  remained  undiminished, 
though  the  steps  taken  by  him  for  supply,  without  application  to  Parliament, 
served  to  disclose  still  farther  the  baseness  of  his  mind.  He  was  supporting 
the  heir-apparent,  jiartly  by  a  pension  from  the  States-General  ;  for  a  certain 
amount,  he  had  sold  to  the  Dutch  a  license  to  fish  off  the  coasts  of  England  and 
Scotland  ;  and  by  his  prerogative  alone,  he  had  levied  duties  on  the  import  and 
export  of  goods  !  Salisbury  had  laboured  hard,  in  every  way,  to  reduce  his 
Royal  Master's  embarrassment  ;  but  by  the  meeting  of  Parliament  in  1610  how 
stood  his  affiiirs  ?  The  Lord  Treasurer  stated  to  the  House  that  the  Khig's  debts 
were  still  about  half  a  million  sterling,  while  his  ordinary  expenses  wei'e  ex- 
ceeding his  income  by  £81,000  a-year  :  but  after  all  that  his  great  purveyor 
could  say.  Parliament  voted  no  more  than  a  subsidy,  which  amounted  to  not  one- 
s'hith  part  of  the  needy  monarch's  demands.  "  After  the  dissolution,"  says  Hal- 
lam,  "  James  attempted  as  usual  to  obtain  loans  ;  but  the  merchants,  grown 
bolder  with  the  spirit  of  the  times,  refused  him  the  accommodation.  He  then 
had  recourse  to  another  method  of  raising  money,  unprecedented,  I  believe,  be- 
fore his  reign,  though  long  practised  in  France,  the  sale  of  honours.  He  sold 
several  peerages  for  considerable  sums,  and  created  a  new  order  of  hereditary 
knights,  called  Baronets,  who  paid  £1000  each  for  their  patents.  Two  hundred 
were  intended,  but  only  ninety-three  were  sold  for  six  years  to  come."  In  this 
race  of  royal  prodigality,  therefore,  we  need  to  run  no  farther,  for  by  this  time 
the  Bible  of  1611  had  been  published.  It  has  been  affirmed  of  James  that  he 
never  did  a  great  or  generous  action  tliroughout  the  course  of  his  reign  ;  but 
certainly,  with  regard  to  the  Scriptures,  so  far  from  his  having  personally  con- 
tributed towards  the  undertaking,  it  will  be  well  if  he  ultimately  escape  from 
having  actually  received  money  for  allowing  them  to  be  printed  ! 

Pecuniary  aid,  however,  it  is  certain,  had  been  required  ;  and  so  at  last 
after  receiving  no  such  assistance  from  any  other  quarter,  we  must  turn 
to  the  patentee  and  inquire  how  he  had  been  proceeding  all  this  time. 
And  well  might  Barker  pay  whatever  was  required.  If  £700  had  already 
been  expended,  the  translation  had  still  to  be  superintended  through  the 
press ;  a  process  which  seems  to  have  involved  much  more  expense,  as 
well  as  attention,  for  nearly  two  years  to  come,  under  the  eye  of  Dr.  Miles 
Smith,  already  mentioned,  and  Thomas  Bilson,  Bishop  of  Winchester,  to 
say  nothing  of  other  underlings.  But  whatever  may  have  been  the  cost,  we 
have  no  evidence  of  one-farthing  contributed  from  any  quarter,  save  one. 

The  death  of  Christopher  Barker,  the  first  patentee,  at  the  age  of  70, 
in  November  1599,  we  have  already  noticed  ;  but  fully  ten  years  before, 
(8th  August  1589,)  as  soon  as  he  had  received  his  second  patent,  or  the 
first  from  Queen  Elizabeth  direct,  for  his  own  life  and  that  of  his  son,  he 
had  retired  from  the  fatigue  of  business,  and  ever  after  printed  the  Scrip- 
tures by  deputies,  or  by  George  Bishop  and  Ralph  Newbery,  well-known 
printei'S  of  other  things.  The  son,  Robert,  pursuing  his  father's  advan- 
tage, by  right  of  the  running  patent,  first  affixed  his  name  to  the  Bible 


HHi  THE  PATENTEE  DEFKAVS  [bOOK  III. 

of  1601  ;  and  by  the  time  that  James  ascended  the  throne,  he  comes  be- 
fore us  as  Robert  Barker,  Es(j.  of  Southley  or  Southlee  in  Bedfordshire. 
The  King,  however,  had  been  little  more  than  two  months  in  England, 
when  Barker  had  secured  from  him  a  special  license,  dated  the  19th  of 
July,  for  printing  all  the  statutes  during  his  life  :  and  in  two  months 
more  he  was  again  in  contact  with  his  Majesty.  On  the  28th  of  Septem- 
ber, in  consideration  of  the  sum  of  £300  jjaid  to  the  King,  and  an  an- 
nual rent  of  £20,  he  had  granted  him  the  manor  of  Upton  for  22  years  ; 
but  raising  the  rent  to  £40  in  two  years  after.  Barker,  by  this  time, 
being  a  married  man,  had  a  family  growing  up.  II is  lady,  the  daughter 
of  Day,  Bishop  of  Winchester,  the  immediate  predecessor  of  Bilson,  now 
engaged  with  the  Bible,  had  died  in  1607,  leaving  him  at  least  four 
children,  Christopher,  Robert,  Charles,  and  Matthew.  These,  the  grand- 
sons of  a  prelate,  were  all  to  be  provided  for,  and  by  an  improvement  on 
the  method  by  which  Christopher  Barker  had  at  first  secured  a  patent  to 
his  only  son.  In  the  meanwhile,  a  considerable  amount  in  money  was 
demanded  to  defray  the  expenses  connected  with  the  superintendence  at 
press  of  the  new,  that  is,  our  j^resent  version  of  the  Scriptures.  The  en- 
tire cost  was  defrayed,  but  certainly  not  by  any  Bishop,  and  much  less 
by  King  James  himself. 

One  writer,  in  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century,  here  comes  to 
our  aid.  Although  Robert  Barker  had  actually  been  fined  for  incor- 
rect printing,  in  1634,  this  writer  strangely  enough  argues  in  favour  of 
the  monopoly  ;  "  lest  in  a  book  of  so  high  importance,  not  only  danger- 
ous errors,  but  even  pernicious  heresies  be  imprinted,  and  the  book  of 
life  be  undecently  printed  in  letter  and  paper."  "  And  forasmuch  as 
propriety  rightly  considered  is  a  legal  relation  of  any  one  to  a  temporal 
good  ;  I  conceive  the  sole  printing  of  the  Bible  and  Testament  with 
power  of  restraint  in  others,  to  be  of  right  the  propriety  of  one  Matthew 
Barker,  citizen  and  stationer  of  London,  in  regard  that  his  father  j^id 
for  the  amended  or  corrected  Translation  of  the  Bihle  £3500  :  by  reason 
whereof  the  translated  copy  did  of  right  belong  to  him  and  his  assignes." 
Herbert,  accordingly,  ascribes  this  sum  to  the  expenses  of  "  making  the 
new  translation. "''' 

In  perfect  harmony  with  this  payment,  immediately  after  Barker  had 
printed  the  Bible  of  1611,  we  find  him  on  the  10th  of  May  following, 
1612,  obtaining  from  the  King  a  patent  for  Christopher,  his  eldest  son,  to 
hold  the  same  after  the  death  of  his  father  ;  but  with  an  additional 
proviso,  that  if  the  son  should  die  first,  his  heirs  were  to  enjoy  the  bene- 
fits, for  four  years  after  Robert  the  father's  death  .'7     Within  five  years 


i«  See  "A  briefe  Treatise  conceminK  the  re.qiilating  of  Printing,  Humbly  submitted  to  the 
P.irliameiit  of  Enplnnd.     By  William  Pall,  Esq.  London.     Printed  in  the  year  16.51." 

17  This,  by  mistake,  h.is  sometimes  been  placed  in  1()02,  when  Elizabeth  was  on  the  throne, 
and  in  lfiO.3,  only  three  days  .ifter  the  arrival  of  .Tames  in  London. 


I((()3-l(."30.]  THK  ENTIRE  EXPENSE.  385 

after  this  the  son  died,  and  so  in  the  fourteenth  year  of  his  roign,  or  on 
the  11th  of  February  1616-17,  the  King  granted  the  same  patent  to 
Robert  the  second  sou,  for  thirty  years,  to  commence  after  the  death  of 
his  father.  Now  at  such  a  time,  it  might  be  fairly  questioned,  since 
James  was  haunted  by  poverty  to  the  day  of  his  death,  whether  these 
patents  were  granted  for  nothing  ;  and  if  not,  then  the  parallel  between 
Henry  VIII.  and  James  I.  is  more  complete.  But  be  this  as  it  might, 
the  Barkers,  resolving  not  to  trouble  themselves  any  longer  with  press- 
work,  had  on  the  20th  of  July  1627,  or  the  third  of  K.  Charles,  assigned 
their  rights  to  Bonham  Norton  and  John  Bill,  which  the  King  confirmed. 
Robert  Barker,  the  father,  was  however  still  alive  ;  and  still  not  satisfied, 
on  the  26th  of  September  1635,  he  actually  succeeded  in  obtaining  the 
same  patent  in  reversion  to  Charles  and  Matthew,  his  younger  sons,  after 
the  expiration  of  the  four  years  to  Christopher's  heirs,  and  the  thirty  to 
Robert  their  brother  !^^  Thus  the  interests  and  the  emoluments  of  this 
one  family  are  seen  to  extend  from  the  nineteenth  year  of  Elizabeth, 
through  the  successive  reigns  of  James  I.,  Charles  I.  and  II.,  James  II. ^ 
of  William  and  Mary,  to  the  eighth  year  of  Queen  Anne,  or  to  the  long  pe- 
riod of  132  years  !  From  1577  down  to  1709,  not  a  single  copy  of  the  Sacred 
Volume  had  issued  from  the  press,  in  which  this  family,  father,  son,  and 
grandsons,  had  not  a  personal  pecuniary  interest. 

In  all  this,  it  may  appear  to  some  persons,  that,  in  the  beginning, 
Christopher  Barker  did  nothing  more  than  secure  an  inheritance  to  him- 
self and  his  posterity,  for  the  greater  part  of  a  century  and  a  half; 
though  at  this  distance  of  time,  no  one  who  considers  the  subject  would 
stand  up  to  justify  the  course,  whether  in  its  strange,  not  to  say  dis- 
honourable commencement,  or  its  as  strange  continuance.  But  in  a 
historical  point  of  view,  a  family  of  three  generations,  so  aggrandized, 
presents  a  subject  of  grave  consideration.  They  were  the  mechanical 
agents  employed  in  issuing  out  to  their  country,  thousands  upon  thou- 
sands of  the  Sacred  Volume,  the  hook  of  the  soul,  intended  by  its  Divine 
Author  to  convey  the  knowledge  of  saving  truth  to  every  reader,  or  life 
that  shall  never  end.  In  the  days  of  health,  and  in  the  hurry  of  mer- 
cantile pursuit,  the  only  considerations  worth  notice  might  seem  to  be 
gain  and  successful  returns  ;  but  in  a  course  such  as  this,  there  was  a 
personal  responsibility  involved,  of  no  ordinary  character.  Less  might 
have  been  said,  had  the  family  appeared  to  have  been  benefited  by  the 
volume  itself,  which  they  issued  so  long  ;  but  there  is  actually  nothing 
upon  record  to  encourage  any  such  hope.  On  the  contrary,  the  father 
of  these  four  sons  had  no  sooner  obtained  the  last  patent  for  his  youngest 
children  in  September  1635,  than,  from  some  cause  or  other,  he  became 
seriously  involved  in  diflaculties,  not  indeed  specified,  but  he  landed  in 


'8  For  this  reversionary  patent,  Mr.  B;ill  inforniH  n.'<  that  Mattliew  Barker  Iiad  pairl  I!r,w. 
VOL.   II.  2    IJ 


380  NO  HUMAN  ALTHOKITV  QbooK  III. 

prison.  After  he  Iwul  been  there  more  than  six  years,  a  committee  on 
the  suhject  of  printing  having  heen  appointed  ;  on  the  7th  of  March  1042, 
the  Printers  of  London  i)rcscnted  a  petition  before  it  "  for  the  better 
rcguhvting  of  the  art  of  printing,  and  the  calling  in  uf  four  several 
patents,  which  they  conceived  to  be  monopolies."  These  four  were  that 
granted  to  the  Barkers,  a  second  for  Law  books,  a  third  for  l)Ook8  in 
Latin,  Greek,  and  Hebrew,  and  a  fourth  for  printing  all  broadsides.  The 
three  last  died  away,  but  the  first,  as  it  is  well  known,  survived  un- 
touched. When  first  incarcerated,  Robert  Barker  had  yet  ten  years  to 
live,  but  there  he  lived,  and  there  also  he  died!  "  These  are  to  certify, 
•whom  it  may  concern,  that  Robert  Barker,  Esq.  was  committed  a  prisoner 
to  the  custody  of  the  Marshal  of  the  King's  bench,  the  27th  of  Novem- 
ber 163o,  and  died  in  the  prison  of  the  King's  bench  the  10th  of  January 
1645."^^  He  was  buried  in  tivo  days  after,  or  the  12th,  where,  we  are  not 
informed  ;  but  such  was  the  end  of  the  man  who  printed  the  Jirst  edition 
of  our  present  version,  as  well  as  many  others  after  it.  He  must  be 
ranked  only  among  the  mere  "  hewers  of  wood  and  drawers  of  water," 
before  and  after  him. 

To  return  then  for  a  few  moments,  and  finally,  to  the  Bible 
of  1611 ;  after  neither  his  Majesty,  nor  the  Bishops,  nor  the 
Stationers""  Company,  had  att'orded  a«y  pecuniary  aid,  we 
have  found  the  money  furnished,  and  very  properly,  by  the 
only  party  who  was  to  receive  the  profits.  The  honour  of 
payment  for  the  whole  concern,  so  often  ascribed  to  James 
the  First,  is  by  no  means  to  be  taken  from  him,  if  one  shred 
of  positive  evidence  can  be  produced ;  but  this,  it  is  pre- 
sumed, lies  beyond  the  power  of  research.  In  this  case,  there- 
fore, to  speak  correctly,  we  have  come  at  last,  not  to  an  affair 
of  government,  not  to  a  royal  undertaking  at  his  Majestrfs  ex- 
peiise,  according  to  the  popular  and  very  erroneous  historical 
fiction,  but  simply  to  a  transaction  in  the  course  of  business. 
If  we  inquire  for  any  single  royal  grant,  or  look  for  any  act 
of  personal  generosity,  we  search  in  vain.^" 


'9  Certified  by  Thomas  WigR,  clerk  of  the  papers  to  the  M.irshal  of  the  King's  bench,  IC  Jan. 
1679.     See  Ame>,  p.  36;).     Swilh's  Obituary  by  Peck. 

20  We  arc  not  unacquainted  with  tlie  InnKungc  which  has  frequently  been  emjiloyed  in  our 
Courts  of  Law;  where  it  seems  to  have  been  taken  for  granted,  merely  as  a  matter  of  course, 
that  even  Henry  VIII.  and,  above  all,  James  I.  had  acted  as  kings  in  this  matter  :  but  in  the 
absence  of  proof,  to  say  the  least,  the  terms  employed  both  at  the  Bar.  and  from  the  Bench, 
sound  the  more  extraordinary.  In  the  case  of  the  Stationers'  Company  aR.iinst  Partridge,  the 
Crown's  «o?<' right  to  publish  was /</i/»(/frf  on /)>Y<;)fWy.  Mr.  Salkeld.  in  arguing  for  the  defen- 
dant, after  denying  any  prerogative  in  the  Crown  over  the  press,  or  any  power  to  grant  any  ex- 
clusive privilege,  said — "  I  take  the  rule  in  all  these  cases  to  be,  that  where  the  Crown  mas  a 
property  or  right  of  copy,  the  king  may  grant  it.  The  crown  may  grant  the  sole  printing  of 
Bibles  in  the  Knglish  translation,  because  it  was  made  at  the  Kiiia's  cluiiye."    "The  King," 


1G03-10JO.]  URGED  OUR  PRESENT  VERSION.  387 

There  is,  however,  in  conclusion,  one  other  inquiry  to  be 
made;  and  this,  to  some  minds,  may  be  not  the  least  important. 
It  is  this.  By  whose  influence  or  authority  was  it,  that  our 
present  version  of  the  Sacred  Volume  came  to  be  read,  not  in 
England  alone,  but  in  Scotland  and  Ireland  \  This  too,  is  a 
question  the  more  interesting  to  millions,  as  it  is  now  the  Bible 
of  so  many  distant  climes — read  not  only  in  the  Americas  and 
Canada,  but  in  all  the  wide-  spread  and  daily  extending  British 
colonies. 

The  reigning  King  had  indeed  signified  his  approbation  of 
the  undertaking,  and  when  the  Bible  was  published  it  bore  on 
its  title-page,  that  the  version  had  been  "  newly  translated  out 
of  the  original  tongues,  and  with  the  former  translations  dili- 
gently compared  and  revised,  by  his  Majesty^s  special  com- 
mandment."" In  a  separate  line  below,  and  by  itself,  we  have 
these  words,  "  Appointed  to  be  read  in  churches."  Now  as 
the  Book  never  was  submitted  to  Parliament,  never  to  any 
Convocation,  nor  as  far  as  it  is  known,  ever  to  the  Privy- 
Council  ;  James,  by  this  title-page,  was  simply  following,  or 
made  to  follow,  in  the  train  of  certain  previous  editions.  As  for 
Elizabeth,  his  immediate  predecessor,  we  have  already  seen, 
that  under  her  long  reign,  there  was  another  version,  beside 
the  Bishops',  and  that  the  former  enjoyed  the  decided  prepon- 
derance in  public  favour :  so,  in  the  present  instance,  that 
there  might  be  no  mistake  or  misapprehension,  in  regard  to 
the  influence  or  authority  by  which  our  present  Bible  came  to 
be  universally  received,  a  result  somewhat  similar  took  place. 

Thus,  for  seven  or  eight  years  after  the  present  version  was  published, 


said  Lord  Chief  Justice  Mansfield,  on  another  occasion,  "  has  no  property  in  the  art  of  printing. 
The  King  has  no  autliority  to  restrain  the  press.  The  King  cannot,  by  law,  grant  an  exclusive 
privilege  to  print  any  book,  which  does  not  helonp  to  himself.  The  copy  of  the  Hebrew  Bible, 
the  Greek  Testament  or  the  Septuagint,  does  not  belong  to  the  King;  they  are  common.  But 
the  English  translation  he  bought,  therefore  it  has  been  concluded  to  be  his  property !  His 
ujhok  right  rests  upon  the  foundation  of  propcrli/  in  the  copy  by  the  common  law  ! !"  In  a  for- 
mer part  of  this  history  we  had  occasion  to  quote  the  language  of  Solicitor-General  York,  in  the 
case  of  Baskett  v.  the  University  of  Cambridge,  who  absolutely  went  so  far  as  to  assert  that 
"  the  translation  of  the  great  English  Bible  under  Grafton  was  performed  at  the  King's  expense," 
meaning  Henry  VIII.,  "  leliich  /jaee  him,  the  reigning  monarch,  another  kind  of  right ! !"  Both 
the  Bench  and  the  Bar,  the  reader  must  be  aware,  here  proceed  on  the  delicate  principle,  that 
the  King  never  dies ;  he  only  demises,  and  so  the  right,  according  to  the  popular  fancy,  remained. 
It  is  certainly  passing  strange,  that  no  pleader  once  thought  of  denying  that  either  Monarch  ever 
paid  one  farthing.  Going  into  his  proof,  he  might  have  followed  it  up  by  a  second,  that  after  all, 
our  version  of  the  Scriptures  is  not  an  original  work.  In  point  of  fact,  however,  no  historical 
a-ssumptions  seem  to  be  greater  than  these.  On  the  contrary,  if  we  only  look  at  certain  fines 
imposed  by  Henry  in  connexion  with  the  Scriptures,  and  to  these  patents  granted  by  .Tames,  as 
far  as  evidence  goes,  it  rather  appears  that  toW/  their  Majesties  have  been  brought  in  as  debtors 
TO  THK  Book,  but  nevkb  the  Book  to  thkm. 


I 


388  TiiK  (;kai)ual  introduction  (^book  hi. 

wc  fiiul  IJiirker,  or  Norton  and  Bill,  .still  jiiinting  the  Geneva  Bible,  at 
least  in  ten  editions,  besides  four  of  the  New  Testament  separately.  The 
fact  is,  that  the  royal  patentee  went  on  to  print  both  versions  to  the  year 
1G17  or  1618.^'  After  that  the  Geneva  Bibles,  so  frequently  printed  ia 
Holland,  were  imported  and  sold,  without  the  shadow  of  inhibition  during 
the  entire  reign  of  James  the  First,  and  longer  still.  As  for  Scotland, 
from  whence  the  King  had  come,  that  Bible  continued  to  be  as  much 
used  there,  as  the  present  version,  for  more  than  twenty  years  after  James 
was  in  his  grave.  The  influence  or  authority  of  James,  therefore,  can- 
not once  be  mentioned,  when  accounting  for  ihcfnal  result. 

The  Bible  was  indeed  first  published  in  Ifill,  and  being  still  farther 
connected  in  1613  ;  but  did  James,  as  a  king,  take  one  step  to  enforce 
its  perusal  ?  Not  one  ;  a  fact  so  much  the  more  notable,  when  the  over- 
weening conceit  of  that  monarch,  and  the  high  terms  in  which  he  so  fre- 
quently expressed  himself  as  to  his  prerogative,  are  remembered.  "  We 
can  assign,"  says  one  of  the  best  living  authorities  in  the  kingdom,  "  we 
can  assign  no  other  authority  for  using  the  present  version  of  the  Bible, 
except  that  of  the  conference  at  Hampton  Court."^^  But  that  conference 
has  been  already  described,  and,  in  the  circumstances,  it  actually 
amounted  to  no  authority  at  all  in  point  of  law  ;  James  was  not  then 
King  of  England  ;  though  had  it  been  otherwise,  that  conference  cer- 
tainly had  not  the  slightest  influence  in  recommending  the  version  to 
which  it  gave  rise.  However,  immediately  after  his  Majesty  had  been 
recognized  by  Parliament,  he  had  spoken  once,  as  we  have  heard  ;  and 
his  solitary  letter  we  have  given  at  length.  It  was  in  part  abortive,  and 
after  that,  it  seems,  he  must  speak  no  inore  ;  a  circumstance  more  wor- 
thy of  notice,  as  James  was  notoriously  so  fond  of  speaking  officially,  and 
especially  by  proclamations.  In  the  first  nine  months  of  his  reign,  he 
had  issued  at  least  a  round  dozen,  but  here  there  was  nothing  of  the 
kind.  "  After  this  translation  was  published,"  says  one  writer,  "  the 
others  all  dropt  off"  by  degrees,^''  that  is,  in  about  forty  years,  "  and  this 
took  place  of  all,  though  I  don't  find  that  there  was  any  canon,  procla- 
mation, or  act  of  parliament,  to  enforce  the  use  of  it."^^  "  The  present 
version,"  says  Dr.  Symonds,  "  appears  to  have  inade  its  way,  without  the 
interposition  of  any  authority  whatsoever  ;  for  it  is  not  easy  to  discover 
any  traces  of  a  proclamation,  canon,  or  statute  published  to  enforce  the 
use  of  it." 

As  for  the  "  appointment,"  noted  on  the  title-page  merely,  it  is  to  be 
borne  in  mind  that  this  extended  no  farther  than  to  pullic  assemblies  of 
the  people,  here  indefinitely  enough  styled"  Churches  ;"  and  taking  the 
translators  themselves  for  our  guide,  they,  in  their  dedication,  looked  no 


21  We  suspect  tliere  may  still  be  found  a  later  date. 

--  The  Rev.  Dr.  Lee  in  1824.     Now  Principal  of  the  University  of  Hdinhurgh. 

23  Bihliothcca  Literaria,  No.  iv.,  ji.  22.     An.  1723. 


J 603-1 650. J  OF  OUR  PRESENT  VERSION.  389 

farther  than  Enghoid.  Now,  even  tliere,  while  there  had  been  a  pro- 
clamation and  canons  with  regard  to  Matthew's  and  Cranmer's,  and  the 
Bishops'  Bible,  in  1538,  1571,  and  1603,  it  becomes  very  observable  that 
neither  the  one  nor  the  other  was  ever  issued  as  to  our  jyresent  version. 
It  is  true  that  in  various  "  Articles  of  Inquiry"  on  episcopal  visitation, 
in  succeeding  reigns,  such  a  question  as — "  Have  you  a  large  Bible  of 
the  last  translation  ? "  had  been  put  to  church- wardens.  Such  occasional 
inquiries  however,  proceeded,  in  all  cases,  simply  in  vii'tue  of  the  King's 
personal  authority  over  that  Church  of  which  he  was  recognized  as 
Head  ;  and  they  amount  to  nothing,  as  soon  as  we  inquire  for  the  cause 
of  universal  usage,  whether  in  Scotland,  or  even  in  England  throughout. 

As  royal  authority,  therefore,  had  no  influence  in  accounting  for  the 
change,  one  circumstance,  far  more  tangible,  must  be  observed,  and  it  is 
well  worthy  of  special  notice.  Our  present  version,  on  the  whole,  was 
no  doubt  superior  to  its  predecessors,  but  then  besides,  it  had  one 
mighty  additional  advantage  in  its  favour.  It  .was  without  note  and  com- 
7)ient.  On  the  other  hand  the  Geneva  of  1560,  though  an  excellent  ver- 
sion, and,  for  the  sake  of  comparison,  well  worthy  of  another  fresh  edi- 
tion even  now,  had  been  almost  always  accompanied  with  these  appen- 
dages. Whatever  may  be  said  of  the  notes,  no  intelligent  person  can 
speak  lightly  of  the  version  itself  ;  but  these  notes  proved  the  dead  weight 
which  at  last  sunk  the  translation  into  an  oblivion  which,  but  for  them, 
the  version  might  have  longer  sui'vived.  Thus  once  more,  or  from  Tyn- 
dale's  down  to  our  present  version,  was  Divine  providence  marking  out 
to  this  country  the  true  and  only  path  to  universal  usage  of  the  Sacred 
Volume,  whether  in  this  or  in  every  other  land.  It  was  the  Bible,  hut  it 
must  be  ■without  note  and  comment. 

To  these  Geneva  notes  Archbishop  Laud  inherited  far  more  hatred 
than  James  had  ever  felt.  The  King  after  his  one  sally  at  the  confe- 
rence, seems  to  have  let  the  matter  alone  ;  not  so  the  Prelate,  and  under 
his  sway  the  history  of  the  English  Bible  had  assumed  a  very  singular 
aspect.  He  comes  before  us  in  jiroof  of  the  impotence  of  royal  authority, 
and  even  of  the  royal  patent,  whether  for  correct  printing,  or  supplying  the 
pnMic  demand.  This  was  about  the  year  1632,  when  Laud,  and  very 
properly,  was  fining  his  Majesty's  printer.  Barker,  for  incorrect  printing 
of  the  Bible  at  home.^'*     But,  at  the  same  time,  and  with  the  strangest 

24  Robert  Barker  and  Martin  Lucas,  King's  printers,  having  published  a  Bible  this  year,  in 
which,  among  other  errata,  the  word  nuL  was  left  out  of  tlie  seventh  commandment,  the  impres- 
sion was  called  in,  and  the  printers  fined  £,')(l(l,  not  £3(10(1  as  sometimes  stated.  With  this 
money  a  fount  of  fair  Greek  types  was  ])ruvided.  Kobert  Barker,  sen.,  did  not  die  till  11)45,  and 
could  not  have  sunk  into  prison  under  such  a  sum  as  this.  Indeed,  when  Charles  I.  referred  to 
the  amount,  thus  he  expressed  himself, — "  And  our  further  will  and  pleasure  is,  that  the  said 
Robert  Barker  and  Martin  Luca-*,  our  patentees  for  printing,  or  those  which  either  now  arc,  or 
shall  hereafter  succeed  them,  bciiui  ijreat  qaiiicrs  hi/  their  patent,  shall,  at  their  own  proper  coBt 
and  charges  of  ink,  paper,  and  workmanship,  jirint,  or  cause  to  be  printed,  in  Greek,  or  Greek 
and  Latin,  one  such  volume  in  a  year,  be  it  bigger  or  less,  as  the  Right  Rev.  Father  aforesaid, 
(Augustine  Lindsell,  bishopof  I'elerborough,)  orourservant,  I'atrick  Young,'  (King's  Librarian,) 
or  any  other  of  mir  learned  subjects,  shall  make  readyfor  the  press." 


300  AM.  INTERFERENCE  REPUDIATED,  [boOK  III. 

inconaistency,  he  was  labouring  with  all  his  might,  to  prevent  the  impor- 
tation of  liiblcs  printed  in  Holland,  chiefly  on  the  acknowledged  ground 
of  their  superior  excellence  in  every  point  of  view  !  When  put  on  his 
trial,  some  years  after,  and  called  to  account  for  many  other  things,  it 
was  one  of  the  charges  against  him,  that  "  one  of  the  first  hooks  moat 
strictly  prohibited  to  be  printed,  imported,  or  sold  by  this  Archbishop, 
was  the  English  Geneva  Bible,  with  marginal  notes  and  prefaces,  though 
printed  hero  in  England,  not  only  without  the  least  restraint,  but  ctmi 
privilegio  regi(e  Majestatis  during  all  Queen  Elizabeth  and  King  James, 
their  reigns,  by  the  Queen's  and  King's  printers  ;  and  since  our  printers 
have  neglected  to  print  them,  for  fear  of  hindering  the  sale  of  the  last 
translation,  without  notes,  they  have  been  sold  without  any  contradiction 
till  this  Archbishop  began  to  domineer."  The  following  was  part  of  Laud's 
own  curious  reply,  meant  for  defence. 

"  The  restraint  was  not  for  the  notes  onli/ ;  for  by  the  numerous  coming  over 
of  Bibles,  both  witli  and  without  notes,  from  Amsterdam,  tliere  was  a  great  and 
just  fear  conceived,  that,  by  little  and  little,  printing  would  ([uite  be  carried  out 
of  the  kingdom  ;  for  the  books  that  came  thence,  were  better printjhctter  bound, 
better  paper,  and  for  all  the  charges  of  bringing,  sold  better  cheap  !  And  would 
any  man  buy  a  worse  Bible  dearer,  that  might  have  a  better  more  cheap  ?  And 
to  preserve  printing  here  at  home,  as  well  as  the  notes,  was  the  cause  of  stricter 
looking  to  these  Bibles  ! " 

To  this  the  Commons  replied,  "  That  tlic  English  Bible  with  the  Geneva 
notes  was  not  only  tolerated,  but  printed  and  reprinted  during  Queen  Eliza- 
beth and  K.  James's  reigns  ;  and  in  the  loth  of  James,  (nay  the  sixteenth  ?) 
there  was  an  impression  of  them  printed  here  by  the  King's  own  printer  ;  since 
which  time  the  new  translation ,  icUhout  notes,  bein(j  most  vendible,  the  King's  prin- 
ters forbearing  to  print  them  for  their  private  lucre,  not  by  virtue  ofanyjiublic  re- 
straint, the  Geneva  were  usually  imported  fi'om  beyond  the  seas,  and  publicly 
sold  without  any  inhibition  or  punishment,  till  this  Archbishop's  time,  who  made 
it  no  less  than  a  hhjh  commission  crime  to  vend,  bind,  or  import  them." 

Tims  matters  had  goue  on  for  a  few  years  longer,  till  the 
last  official  interferences  with  our  present  version  of  the  Bible 
took  place.  They  become  more  worthy  of  regard,  not  only  as 
beins:  the  last ;  but  on  account  of  several  circumstances  con- 
nected  with  both  the  attempts. 

Under  the  gradual  disclosure  of  attested  facts,  in  regular 
succession  from  Henry  the  Eighth  down  to  this  period  ;  while 
establishing  the  high  independence  of  the  English  Bible  as  a  dis- 
tinct undertaking,  and  not  to  be  confounded  with  other  things  ; 
tlie  present  history  may  seem  to  liave  borne  hard  upon  some 
men  in  high  places  ;  since  it  has  bereaved  the  reigning  prince, 
as  well  as  some  of  his  titled  advisers,  of  an  honour  and  influence 
which  have  too  often  been  falselv  ascribed  to  them.     But   in 


1603-1650.]      PARLIAMENTARY  AS  WELL  AS  ROYAL.  391 

never  soliciting  their  patronage,  and  in  no  vital  point  admit- 
ting of  their  control,  it  becomes  a  very  observable  circumstance, 
that,  at  this  crisis,  when  the  question  of  our  present  ver- 
sion of  the  Bible  came  to  be  settled  for  two  centuries  to  come, 
the  history  will  effectually  redeem  itself  from  all  imputations 
as  to  anything  invidious  towards  the  Crown,  as  the  Crown. 
The  course  it  held  under  monarchical  government,  will  not 
change  when  this  is  gone.  Let  executive  human  power  be 
held  by  whomsoever  it  might,  if  put  forth  here,  in  the  shape 
of  control,  it  cannot  be  allowed,  and  like  former  attempts,  it 
must  come  to  nothing.  The  proposal  may  be  hinted,  but  it 
will  die  away. 

It  happened  about  eight  years  after  the  death  of  Laud,  and 
four  after  that  of  Charles  the  First,  that  a  Bill  was  intro- 
duced into  the  Long  Parliament,  on  the  1 1th  of  January  1653, 
for  "  a  new  English  translation  of  the  Bible  out  of  the  origi- 
nal tongues."  Such  a  bill,  it  must  be  remembered,  had  never 
before  been  laid  before  any  previous  Parliament  in  England. 
Once  upon  a  time  indeed,  under  Edward  VL,  we  have  seen 
that  a  bill  was  brought  before  the  Senate  referring  simply  to 
the  reading  of  the  Bible,  which  was  never  mentioned  a  second 
time,  or  heard  of  more  ;  but  respecting  any  version,  or  revi- 
sion of  the  Scriptures,  as  the  consent  of  Convocation  had  never 
been  deemed  necessary,  so  that  of  Parliament  had  never  been 
consulted.  At  a  period,  therefore,  when  there  was  no  King 
upon  the  throne,  no  Primate  in  existence,  nor  any  House  of 
Lords,  such  a  proposed  Bill  excites  special  notice  ;  while  as  an 
attempt  on  the  part  of  official  power  to  interfere,  it  becomes 
the  more  striking,  as  being  of  a  new  character.  The  Bill  was 
once  mentioned,  and  only  once ;  but  the  Parliament  of  the 
Lord-Brethren  must  no  more  invade  the  peculiar  character  of 
this  cause,  than  the  parliament  of  royalty  ;  nor  must  the 
sovereignty  of  the  people  be  flattered,  any  more  than  the 
sovereignty  of  the  Prince.  This  Parliament  had  already  sat 
for  more  than  twelve  years,  retaining  the  supreme  authority 
in  their  hands,  so  that  this  Bill  sunk  into  oblivion  by  the 
well-known  dissolution  of  the  House  soon  after.  On  the  20th 
of  April,  Cromwell,  surrounded  by  some  of  his  officers  and 
several  hundred  men,  repaired  to  the  Parliament,  and  after 
hearing  them  for  a  quarter  of  an  hour  discuss  the  question  as 
to  the  form  of  their  own  dissolution,  he  rose  and  peremptorily 


;H)2  THE  ENKKGY  UK  TIIK  I'HOl'LK  [book  HI. 

settled  it.  In  the  way  wliieh  has  been  so  often  described,  lie 
upbraided  certain  members,  dissolved  the  Hou.se,  ordering  the 
members  to  disperse,  the  mace  to  be  taken  away,  and  carrying 
the  keys  of  the  House  with  him,  in  the  afternoon  of  the  same 
day,  he  also  dissolved  the  Council  of  State. 

But  though  Piirliamcnt  uiukr  any  regime  must  not  interfere,  there 
was  nothing  to  prevent  individuals  as  such,  from  prosecuting  any  enter- 
prize  with  reference  to  the  Sacred  Scriptures.  On  the  contrary,  the 
incident  just  mentioned  becomes  far  more  observable  from  the  time  of  its 
occurrence.  Only  a  few  weeks  before,  certain  individuals  moved  by  ardent 
desire  for  the  promotion  of  sacred  literature,  with  great  zeal  had  already 
embarked  in  an  undertaking  of  the  noblest  character,  involving  great 
expense.  We  refer  to  the  London  Polyglot  Bible,  by  far  the  most  im- 
portant biblical  work  ever  issued  from  the  British  press,  which  has  ren- 
dered immense  service  to  the  interpretation  of  Scripture,  as  well  as 
confen-ed  imperishable  honour  on  its  projectors  and  its  editor,  Brian 
Walton.23 

Three  works  of  the  same  nature  had  been  previously  published  on  the 
Continent.  The  Complutensian  Polyglot  of  1517,  at  the  charge  of  Car- 
dinal Ximenes — The  Antwerp  in  1572,  by  Arias  IMontanus,  at  the  charges 
of  the  King  of  Spain — The  Parisian  in  1645,  by  Michael  le  Jay,  by 
authority  of  Cardinals  Richelieu  and  Mazarin.  All  these  v/ere  by  dis- 
cii)les  of  the  old  learning,  under  the  authority  of  Royal  or  Cardinal 
patronage  ;  but  the  London  Polyglot,  by  disciples  of  the  iierr,  originated 
with  the  people  themselves,  and  by  them  it  was  triumphantly  earned 
through.  In  1652,  it  was  first  started  ;  and  on  the  11th  of  July  the 
Council  of  State  had  indeed  signified  their  approbation,  and  allowance 
of  the  work  ;  but  that  Council,  as  we  have  seen,  had  been  sent  adrift 
by  Cromwell,  a  circumstance,  in  reference  to  the  Polyglot,  of  no  moment 
whatever,  as  the  event  will  prove.^** 

A  prospectus  and  proposals  being  printed,  they  had  said — "  Whereas 
the  former  editions,  though  less  perfect  than  that  proposed,  and  not  so 
fit  for  use,  have  been  printed  at  the  public  charge  of  Princes  and  great 
persons,  and  the  charge  of  this  work  will  exceed  the  ability  of  an  ordin- 
ary person,  whereupon  divers  persons  of  worth  have  expressed  their 
readiness  io  join  in  the  charge  of  the  impression  ;  and  it  is  hoped,  that 
others,  who  wish  well  to  learning  and  religion,  will  assist — and  whatso- 


25  Nine  langu.iRcs  arc  used  in  this  Bible,  Hrbrctf,  Chaldee,  Samaritan,  Greek,  Syriac,  Arabic, 
Kthiopic,  Pfrsie,  and  Latin  ;  tliough  by  no  means  throufihout.  The  Pentateuch  is  in  eiffht,  the 
Pialnis  in  seirn,  other  parts  in  .«*>,  the  New  Testament  in  ^ir,  and  Kstlicr  in  two.  The  Ethiopic 
is  used  in  the  Ps.alms  and  New  Testament,  but  not  in  the  Pentateuch. 

*"  When  the  approbation  was  signified,  some  hope  was  entertained  that  they  would  vole 
.-t'lfKKi  to  encourage  the  work  :  but  thcY  certainly  never  did  vote  one  farthing,  nor  w  as  it  waiited, 
ns  wo  shall  see  presently. 


lO'()3-lGoO.]  WHEN  LEbT  TO  THEMSELVES.  393 

ever  monies  shall  be  raised,  shall  be  paid  into  the  hands  of  William 
Humble,  Esq.  treasurer,  for  this  imrpose."  Here  then  was  one  of  the 
finest  tests  for  proving,  to  what  extent  zeal  for  such  learning  existed  in 
the  country,  or  deep  interest  in  the  Original  Scriptures.  There  was  no 
parade,  nor  one  sounding  title  to  usher  in  the  day,  but  with  Humble  for 
a  treasurer,  let  us  see  how  the  design  proceeded.  "  The  work,"  said 
they,  "  will  not  be  begun,  till  there  be  enough  to  finish  the  first  volume 
containing  the  Pentateuch,  viz.  about  £1.500  ;  nor  the  other  volumes 
till  a  proportional  sum  for  each  be  brought  in,  viz.  about  £1200."  As 
there  were  to  be  six  volumes  in  all,  it  was  then  supposed  that  at  the 
least  £7500  would  be  required,  and  the  whole  to  be  thus  published 
by  subscription,  if  there  was  encouragement.  Those  that  advanced 
ten  pounds,  were  to  have  one  copy,  or  six  copies  for  £50,  and  so  for 
any  greater  sum,  to  be  paid  by  instalments — And  what  was  the  re- 
sult ?  Why  that  just  before  the  English  Bible  had  been  once  hinted  at 
in  Parliament,  where  however  it  must  not  be  touched  ;  or  by  the  end  of 
that  year  (1552)  in  which  the  subject  was  broached,  nearly  four  thou- 
sand pounds  had  been  subscribed,  and  in  only  four  months  after,  or  by 
the  4th  of  May  1653,  the  subscriptions  to  the  work  had  not  only  risen  to 
nine  thousand  pounds,  but  according  to  Walton's  own  words,  much 
more  was  likely  to  be  added  !  This  noble  undertaking  then  commenced 
at  press  in  the  autumn  of  this  year,  and  the  first  volume  was  delivering 
to  the  subscribers  in  September  following.  The  second  volume  was 
finished  in  July  1655,  the  third  in  July  1656,  and  the  three  last  volumes 
by  the  end  of  1657.  Two  presses  were  engaged  from  the  beginning,  and 
afterwards  more,  but  the  whole  work  was  completed  in  only  four  years  ; 
while  the  Parisian  Polyglot  had  been  seventeen  years  in  the  press.^ 

Thus  the  most  complete  collection  of  the  Sacred  Writings  ever  pub- 
lished, and  far  surpassing  all  former  works  of  the  kind,  was  prepared 
and  published  by  the  people  for  the  people.  The  proposal  was  laid  be- 
fore them,  and  they  answered  in  a  style  worthy  of  Araunah  the  Jebusite. 
Above  fifty  eminent  individuals,  though  of  different  sentiments,  have 
been  mentioned  by  name,  as,  with  one  consent,  deeply  interested  in  the 
stupendous  undertaking  ;  and  it  is  not  a  little  remarkable,  that,  among 
the  innumerable  works  since  published  by  subscription  in  this  kingdom, 
correctly  speaking,  this  must  ever  stand  at  the  to2)  of  the  list.  The 
London  Polyglot  Bible,  for  the  use  of  the  learned,  superior  to  all  its  pre- 
decessors, and  thus  executed,  is  in  perfect  keeping  with  the  entire  history 
of  the  English  Bible  for  the  use  of  the  people  at  large. 

It  was  just  at  the  time  that  tlie  Loudon  press  was  occupied 
with  the  last  volumes  of  Walton's  Polyglot,  that  the  final 
attempt  to  interfere  with  our  present  version  occurred.    Wal- 

27  Todd's  Life  ol  Walton. 


394  PRESENT  VERSION  GENERALLY  RECEIVED.       [^BOOK  III. 

ton  and  a  lew  otliers  appear  as  though  they  were  about  to 
reconsider  it ;  that  is,  they  were  deputed  to  do  so,  but  as  they 
conic  before  us  under  the  orders  of  a  parliamentary  sub-com- 
mittee, they  were  not  allowed  to  proceed.  Tlie  existing  par- 
liament had  been  summoned  by  Cromwell,  as  the  Lord-Pro- 
tector, to  represent  England^  Scotland.,  and  Ireland.  They 
had  chosen  what  they  were  pleased  to  style  "  The  grand  com- 
mittee for  lleligion,"  but  whatever  else  they  liad  done,  or  did 
after,  they  nmst  not  interfere  in  regard  to  the  Scriptures. 
This  Committtee  assembled  at  the  house  of  Lord  Commis- 
sioner Whitlock,  who  has  himself  recorded  their  fruitless 
attempt  in  the  following  words  :  — 

"  Jan.  I  (J,  Ifi.JC,"  (that  is  H)57)  "ordered  that  it  be  referred  to  a  sub  com- 
mittee to  send  for  and  advise  with  Dr.  Walton,  Mi\  Hughes,  Mr.  Castell,  Mr. 
Chirke,  Mr.  Poulk,  Dr.  Cudworth,  and  such  others,  as  they  shall  think  fit  ;  and 
to  consider  of  the  Translations  and  impressions  of  the  Bible,  and  to  offer  their 
opinions  therein  to  this  committee  ;  and  that  it  be  specially  commended  to  the 
Lord  Commissioner  Whitlock  to  take  cai-e  of  this  business." 

This  Committee  accordingly  often  met,  from  this  date  to 
November  following,  when  they  gave  in  a  Report.  They 
might  say  what  they  pleased,  as  to  any  existing  impressions 
of  the  Bible,  but,  as  an  official  body,  they  must  not  touch 
with  the  Translation  itself.  Accordingly  they  had  occasion 
to  reprobate  the  incorrectness  of  certain  editions,  but  particu- 
larly one,  printed  by  John  Field  for  the  Barkers,  in  1653,  or 
twenty  years  after  their  father  had  been  fined  under  Charles, 
for  the  same  crime.  As  for  the  Translation  itself,  they  made 
several  remarks  upon  some  mistakes  ;  while  they  agreed,  that, 
as  a  whole,  it  was  "  the  best  of  any  translation  in  the  Worlds 
In  this  testimony  Walton,  Castell,  Pocock,  Seldon,  and  others 
concurred ;  but  with  an  eye  on  all  the  past,  the  reader  may 
anticipate,  that  official  authority,  of  course,  could  not  be  ad- 
mitted to  proceed  any  farther. 

Parliament  was  soon  dissolved,  and  from  about  this  period 
the  general  acquiescence  of  the  nation  in  that  version  of  the  Bible, 
ti'hich  has  been  read  and  revered  ever  since,  may  be  considered  as 
having  taken  place.  The  reader  cannot  fail  to  mark  the  season 
of  this  very  important  national  occurrence ;  but  of  this,  we 
nmst  refrain  from  taking  any  farther  notice,  till  the  History 
of  the  Bible  in  Scotland  be  brought  down  to  the  same  period. 


SCOTLAND. 


INTRODUCTION. 

BKIEF  NOTICE  OF  SCOTLAND  DURING  THE  FOURTEENTH  AND  FIFTEENTH 
CENTURIES — THE  OPENING  OF  THE  SIXTEENTH  BEFORE  THE  SACRED 
SCRIPTURES  IN  PRINT  WERE  FIRST  IMPORTED. 

Before  the  Sacred  Volume  in  our  vernacular  tongue,  and  in  a 
printed  form,  was  brought  into  England  itself,  we  had  occasion  to 
notice  the  two  preceding  centuries ;  and  it  would  be  doing  injustice 
to  the  northern  part  of  our  island,  were  we  not  now  to  glance,  how- 
ever briefly,  at  the  same  period. 

The  early  connexion  of  Scotland  with  France,  is  distinguished  by 
the  institution  of  the  Scots  College,  or  "  Seminaire  des  Ecossais," 
in  Paris,  founded  in  1325,  by  the  Bishop  of  Moray  ;^  and  in  the 
revival  of  literatui'e  during  the  fourteenth  century,  such  as  it  was, 
individual  natives  of  Scotland  must  have  taken  an  interest,  if  one 
of  her  sons  may  be  admitted  in  evidence.  In  furnishing  a  j^oetical 
historian,  contemporary  with  Wicklifle  and  Chaucer,  of  whom  an 
Englishman,  even  Wharton,  has  told  us,  that  he  "  adorned  the 
English  language  by  a  strain  of  versification,  expression,  and  poeti- 
cal imagery,  far  superior  to  the  age ;"  Caledonia  had  so  far  ah'eady 
proved  herself  to  be  no  unmeet  "  nurse  for  a  poetic  child."  "We 
refer,  of  course,  to  John  Barbour,  Archdeacon  of  Aberdeen,  the 
author  of  "  The  Bruce  " — a  soothfast  history  of  the  life  and  adven- 
tures of  Robert  the  First ;  for,  independently  of  its  poetical  merits, 
it  is  acknowledged  to  be  a  book  of  good  authority.  "  Barbour," 
says  Dr.  Irving,  "  was  evidently  skilled  in  such  branches  of  know- 
ledge as  were  then  cultivated ;  and  his  learning  was  so  well  regu- 


'  This  was  David  Moray,  whose  exertions  were  sanctioned  hy  Charles  IV.  of  France;  but 
dyinn  soon  after,  his  succcss<ir,  John  Pilninrc  of  Dnndcc,  took  s'cat  care  to  finish  what  Moray 
had  ljeKnr\. — Krith. 


39G  INTRODUCTION.  [xiv.  cent. 

lated,  as  to  conduce  to  the  improvement  of  his  iiiiud  :  the  liherality 
of  his  views,  and  the  hiiniaiiity  of  hi.s  Kontiinents,  appear  occasion- 
ally to  have  been  uncontiiicd  by  the  narrow  honndarie.s  of  his  own 
age."  His  apostrophe  to  Freedom,  like  the  earliest  lark  of  the 
morning,  though  hailing  a  day  which  he  could  not  anticipate,  has 
boon  (juotod  with  atlniiration  in  hi.s  own  country,  at  the  distance  of 
more  than  four  hundred  and  fifty  years. 

Ah  !  freedom  is  a  noble  thing  ! — 
Thoui,'li  he  that  aye  has  lived  free 
May  not  know  well  the  property. 

nds  work,  finished  about  the  year  1375,  was  written  while  Wick- 
liffe  was  yet  busy  with  his  translation  of  the  Scriptures;  and  we 
notice  them  together,  simply  for  the  purpose  of  remarking,  that  as 
there  was  but  little  diflcrencc  in  the  phraseology  of  the  Scotish  and 
English  writers  of  this  period,  so  the  prose  of  Wickliffe  must  have 
been  as  intelligible  in  North  Britain,  as  the  poetry  of  Barbour  in  the 
south.  "  The  obscure  and  capricious  spelling,"  it  h:is  been  said, 
may,  perhaps,  deter  some  readers  from  a  perusal  of  "  The  Bruce," 
(a  supposition  equally  applicable  to  Wickliffe ;)  "  but  it  is  very 
remarkable,  that  Barbour,  who  was  contemporary  with  Gower  and 
Chaucer,  is  more  intelligible  to  a  modern  reader,  than  either  of  these 
English  writers."  Nor  was  the  language  unfelt  by  those  who  first 
read  it.  On  the  contrary,  so  highly  was  the  work  appreciated, 
that,  by  Robert  II.,  the  author  had  a  pension  assigned  to  him, 
which  was  punctually  paid  until  the  day  of  his  death  in  139.5. 

Seventeen  years,  however,  before  that  event,  this  man,  along  with 
the  rest  of  his  countrymen,  had  taken  part  in  that  great  controversy, 
which  agitated  all  Europe,  when  Scotland  and  England  became 
divided  in  opinion,  and  on  a  point  of  such  vital  importance  as  the 
Pontificate  itself.  To  this  subject,  reference  has  already  been  made, 
in  our  introduction  to  the  first  volume ;  but  to  understand  it  now, 
so  far  as  Scotland  was  concerned,  we  know  not  of  a  shorter  method, 
than  that  of  exhibiting  the  two  countries  in  the  position  which  they 
respectively  occupied  for  nearly  half  a  century. 

KNOLISH  PONTIFF.  L'HOSBN.   DEPOSKD.    RESIGNED.    DIED.  srOTFSH  PONTfFP.      CHOSEN.    DIED. 

Urban  VI.  i:>7«.  ••■•  ■••  1.38.^  Clement  Vll.  I37«.        l3i)A. 

Boniface  IX.  1.TH9.  •      •  •••  1404.  Benedict  XIII.  13!M.        1424. 

Innocent  VII.  14(14.  •■•■  ■  ■••  Hdfi. 

Gregory  XII.  I4(K;.  I4(>!».  141.').  141?. 

Alexander  v.  I4(«.  ■•••  ••••  1410. 

John  XXII.  1410.  ••••  Nl.-i.  1419. 

Tlie  Chair  HOtr  vacant,  two  years  and  five  months. 

Martin  V.  1417.  ••■  •■  1-431.  Clement  VIII.  1424.        142!). 

Thus  strikingly  had  Providence  .she<l  confusion  into  the  coun.sels  of 
Rome ;  and  throughout  the  whole  period,  there  must  have  been  a 


XV.  CENT.]  SCOTLAND.  397 

degree  of  mental  agitation,  such  as  the  entire  ishiud  had  not  expe- 
rienced for  many  a  day,  if,  indeed,  ever  before.  During  all  these 
years,  England  had  been  bowing  to  seven  different  Pontiffs  in  suc- 
cession ;  but  six  of  these  Scotland  would  never  acknowledge.  On 
the  contrary,  she  abode  by  Clement  and  Benedict,  two  different 
men  ;  and  yet  it  was  at  one  of  the  most  perplexing  moments  of  this 
schism,  or  in  1411,  that  the  first  University  in  Scotland  was  founded 
at  St.  Andrews.^  Then,  there  were  three  rivals  before  the  world  ; 
Gregory,  Benedict,  and  John ;  and  the  grand  question  of  the  day 
was,  irhich  was  the  true  Pontiff.  Two  years  before  this,  the  Coun- 
cil of  Pisa,  by  way  of  allayiug  all  strife,  had  increased  the  confu- 
sion, by  deposing  Benedict,  the  Scotish,  and  Gregory,  the  English 
Pontiff;  leaving  both  England  and  Scotland  to  make  their  choice 
of  Alexander  Y.,  a  poor  feeble  character.  England  acquiesced,  but 
Scotland  had  taken  her  ground,  and  was  never  to  be  moved;  though 
her  Monarch,  Janaes  I,,  was  then  a  captive  in  England,  unright- 
eously detained.  The  consequence  was,  that  when  the  University 
of  St.  Andrews  came  to  be  founded,  Henry  Wardlaw,  the  Bishop, 
who  must  have  not  fewer  than  six  bulls  to  confirm  the  appointment, 
obtained  them  from  Benedict,  dated  at  Paniscola  in  Arragon,  25th 
August  1412.'  Thus  the  first  school  of  learning  in  Scotland 
received  its  authority  from  Peter  de  Luna,  then  in  his  80th  year, 
but  a  deposed  Pontiff;  while  two  other  men  besides  himself,  Gre- 
gory and  John,  were  fighting  for  the  same  chair. 

Nor  was  this  the  only  college  established  in  Scotland  under  the 
fifteenth  century.  The  breach  as  to  Rome  once  more  healed,  the 
delusive  idea,  that  the  promotion  of  such  literature  would  be  able  to 
secure  the  prolongation  of  spiritual  and  temporal  power,  had  taken 
full  possession  of  different  Pontiffs,  and  especially  of  Nicholas  V. 
By  his  authority,  therefore,  and  while  they  were  running  riot  at 
Rome,  in  keeping  their  noted  Jubilee  of  1450,  the  University  of 
Glasgow  was  founded ;  a  place  then  containing  only  about  fifteen 
hundred  inhabitants,  or  not  the  one  hundred  and  seventieth  part  of 
its  present  population.^  A  second  college  at  St.  Andrews,  St.  Sal- 
vator's,  followed  in  1455,  and  King's  College,  Aberdeen,  in  1494-5. 
Thus,  in  Scotland,  as  well  as  in  England,  before  the  learning  or 
philosophy  of  Greece  had  reached  either  country,  what  was  called 
scholastic  erudition  was  first  permitted  to  put  forth  its  powers,  and 
prove  to  postei'ity  its  utter  impotence  for  doing  good.     The  human 


2  From  Clement  VII.  also,  in  1385,  Walter  Trail,  the  predecessor  of  the  reigning  bishop,  had 
received  the  See  of  St.  Andrews,  and  by  his  authority  alone,  without  election. 

3  There  was  no  Primate  or  Archbishop  here  till  the  year  I46(),  nor  at  Glasgow  till  1488. 

*  Parliamentary  Report  of  1832,  pp.  213,  226.     In  Mary's  reign,  more  than  a  hundred  years 
after,  Glasgow,  at  the  taxation  of  the  royal  burghs  of  Scotland,  rated  only  as  the  eleventh. 


3f)8  INTRODUCTION.  [xv.  CENT. 

iiiiiid,  linwever,  in  Scotland,  as  well  an  in  (.tlicr  countries,  was  evi- 
dently waking  n[) ;  though  in  all  this  it  is  not  difKcult  to  perceive 
only  the  first  efrorts  of  "  the  old  learning,"  to  prevent  the  slightest 
innovation,  or  the  introduction  of  a  better  day.  They  were  so  many 
feeble  atteni])ts,  akin  to  the  grand  exploit  of  "NVolsey  at  Oxford,  in 
the  early  part  of  the  next  century."  Henry  Wardlaw  had  been  to 
Avignon,  and  lived  in  friendship  with  Benedict.  As  it  was  from 
him  he  had  received  his  appointment  to  the  Sec  of  St.  Andrews, 
from  him  he  returned  as  his  Legate  for  Scotland,  with  full  powers. 
This  w:is  in  1404,  or  the  same  year  in  which  James  the  First,  then 
on  his  way  to  France,  was  seized  by  Henry  lY.  of  England ;  so 
that  for  twenty  years  Wardlaw  was  left  free  to  pursue  his  own 
plans.  The  University  was  concocted  in  union  with  Benedict,  and 
when  first  set  on  foot,  it  was  through  the  efforts  of  learned  men, 
who  gratuitously  afforded  their  services  as  professors,  rather  than 
from  any  stipendiary  patronage  either  of  a  public  or  private  charac- 
ter. For  above  sixty  years  the  professors  had  no  fixed  salaries,  and 
the  students  paid  no  fees,  so  that  we  have  before  us  rather  a  nur- 
sery in  favour  of  existing  opinions,  than  a  school  of  learning,  in- 
tended for  the  ultimate  benefit  of  the  people  at  large.  Thus,  on  the 
release  of  James  in  1424,  so  far  from  any  improvement  in  morals, 
to  check  the  licentiousness  of  the  ecclesiastics,  the  king  had  to 
labour  in  establishing  schools,  such  as  should  be  availal)le  to  all 
ranks,  as  well  as  not  hold  the  sword  in  A-ain.  In  short,  it  turned 
out,  that  the  Legate  of  Benedict,  though  proverbially  a  hospitable 
man,  was  a  far  greater  enemy  to  what  he  deemed  heresy,  than  to 
open  immorality ;  and  the  first  bloodshed  in  Scotland  for  opinions 
held,  was  shed  not  only  under  his  sway,  but  in  the  city  where  he 
had  founded  his  University.  Two  men  are  well  known  to  have  suf- 
fered by  his  authority ;  and  as  neither  of  these  were  natives  of  Scot- 
land, it  only  shews  what  a  dread  was  felt,  lest  one  ray  of  light  from 
abroad  should  disturb  the  surrounding  gloom,  or  existing  authority. 
John  Resby,  an  Englishman,  was  condemned  in  1408  ;  and  in  1432, 
Paul  Craw  or  Crawar,  a  native  of  Germany  or  Bohemia,  but  cer- 
tainly a  disciple  of  Huss ;  both  being  burnt  to  ashes,  as  the  punish- 
ment then  affixed  to  the  ojicrations  of  the  human  mind.  The  death 
of  this  Bohemian,  who  is  described,  by  one  annalist,  as  having  "  first 
displayed  the  bright  beams  of  the  Gospel  in  St.  Andrews,"  must 
have  been  regarded  at  the  moment  as  a  great  achievement,  since  it 


6  The  discomfiture  of  Wolsey's  atteni])t,  as  wc  have  already  witnessed,  was  tlie  first  »ignal 
triumph  of  "  the  new  leaminf;"  in  England  ;  and  we  shall  see  presently  how  it  fared  with  the 
Metropolitan  City  of  Scotland,  on  the  one  hand,  and  with  its  Archbishop  on  the  otlier,  as  well 
as  with  Kdinhurj;h,  the  seat  of  royalty. 


XV.  CENT.]  SCOTLAND.  399 

stands  even  now  in  strange  association  with  the  venerable  remains 
of  Melrose  Abbey.  Very  soon  after,  that  JMonastery  was  given  in 
reward,  to  an  abbot  who  had  acted  as  the  chief  persecutor  !  "  This 
year,"  1 433,  says  Sir  James  Balfour,  "  the  king,  at  the  earnest 
solicitation  of  the  clergy,  but  especially  Henry  Wardlaw,  Bishop  of 
St.  Andrews,  bestowed  the  Abbey  of  JMelrose  upon  a  lubberly  monk 
of  the  Cistercian  order,  named  John  Fogo,  who  had  written  a  blas- 
phemous pamphlet  against  Paul  Craw's  heresy." 

The  reign  of  superstition  continued  to  maintain  its  supremacy ; 
but  though  the  progress  of  knowledge  was  slow,  the  efforts  of 
genius  in  certain  directions,  during  the  latter  part  of  the  fifteenth 
century,  and  the  opening  of  the  next,  were  not  to  be  repressed. 
The  names  of  William  Dunbar  and  Gavin  Douglas,  of  Kennedy 
and  Ilenryson,  of  John  Mair,  Sir  David  Lindsay,  and  others,  were 
quite  sufficient  to  allow  of  Scotland  taking  no  inferior  place  in  the 
rising  dawn  of  literature.  Dunbar  has  been  frequently  styled,  the 
Scotish  Chaucer ;  and  Douglas  was  the  first  translator  of  a  Roman 
classic  into  the  English  language ;  his  own  original  poetry  prefixed 
to  the  different  books  of  the  ^Eneid,  having  received  the  warmest 
praise  of  the  present  day. 

Still,  however,  the  highest,  or  the  eternal  interests  of  the  people  were 
neglected,  nay,  untouched,  except  it  were  by  fragments  of  Wickliffe's 
translation  in  manuscript.  In  England,  we  have  seen  that  certain 
small  circles,  or  groups,  were  in  possession  of  these,  and  were  read- 
ing them  with  the  keenest  interest ;  but  there  is  no  reason  to  sup- 
pose, even  as  to  Scotland,  that  Wickliffe  had  translated  in  vain, 
more  especially  as  his  language  was  equally  intelligible  with  that  of 
Barbour  or  Dunbar.  Indeed,  very  soon  after  his  death,  Wickliffe's 
writings  appear  to  have  attracted  the  notice  of  Scotchmen.*'  Resby, 
already  mentioned,  was  not  the  only,  or  even  the  first  Englishman 
who  had  travelled  down  to  the  north.  As  early  as  1402,  Walter 
Skirlaw,  then  Bishop  of  Durham,  was  writing  to  the  monks  of 
Kelso,  by  the  Archdeacon  of  Northumberland,  for  the  apprehen- 
sion of  three  ecclesiastics,  presumed  to  be  fled  into  the  north,  who 
had  been  accused  of  "  unsoundness  in  the  faith ;"'  and  before  the 
close  of  the  century,  or  in  1494,  it  is  well  known,  that  from  twenty 
to  thirty  individuals,  of  good  family,  chiefly  resident  in  Ayrshire, 
were  called  before  the  Archbishop  of  Glasgow,  for  certain  "  new 
opinions,"  and  were  reprimanded.     George  Campbell  of  Cesnock, 


6  Robcrtus  Hamiltonus,  natione  Scotus,  frater  ordinis  Pra?dicatorum.  Scripsit,  Siimniant 
lot/us  Theoloyke.  LccUunis  scholusdcas.  Contra  fVicklcvistas.  Claruit,  an.  1.'j!)0.  MS.  Hatton, 
Tan  ner. 

'  Caitularium  lU'  K;i!chnn.  .\1S.  in  llic  .Advocnti^s'  Library,  E(liiiliurf;li. 


400  I.NJKOIJUCTION.  [xvi.  CENT. 

Adam  Reiil  of  Bar^kimuiiii!^',  John  Cainphcll  of  Newniilns,  ancestor 
of  the  family  of  LoikIidi,  Andrew  Shaw  of  Polkemmet,  with  the 
Ladies  of  Stair  and  Pokellie,  and  other  persons  of  distinetion,  were 
ainoni;  the  nnmher. 

Our  information  in  regard  to  the  vernacular  Scriptures  themselves, 
has  hitherto,  it  is  granted,  been  vague  and  indistinct.  The  families 
of  Nisbet  of  Ilardhill  and  of  Gordon  of  Earlston  have  been  said  to 
have  possessed  copies  of  the  New  Testament,  thus  early,  in  manu- 
script. The  first  instance,  however,  and  on  good  grounds,  has  been 
questioned,  if  the  manuscript  in  the  Auchinleck  Library  be  the 
book  referred  to ;  and  the  second  requires  still  farther  proof.  But 
that  t/ie  New  Testament  in  the  vernacular  t(jV(/i(e^  in  manuscript, 
was  in  existence,  and  in  the  best  use,  under  the  reign  of  James  IV., 
we  are  now  able  to  give  one  veritable  proof,  though  never  before  pre- 
sented to  the  English  reader.  It  must  be  still  more  interesting,  as 
coming  from  the  pen  of  a  native  of  Ediidjurgh,  born  in  the  year 
15(»0,  who  long  before  this  ought  to  have  been  better  known,  and  of 
whom  we  shall  hear  more,  after  that  the  New  Testament  in  print 
had  been  imported  and  read.  Arguing  in  favour  of  the  reading  of 
the  Scriptures,  especially  in  families  at  home,  and  addressing  James 
V.  in  the  year  153-i,  he  says — 

"  I  will  now  add  the  decisions  of  princes,  and  that  I  may  omit 
others,  I  will  relate  to  you  a  domestic  example.  I  remember  the 
most  excellent  King,  your  Father,  a  very  brave  prince,  by  a  re- 
inarkable  testimony,  approved  of  this  domestic  practice.  There  was 
in  your  kingdom  a  man,  not  only  of  rank,  but  also  distinguished  for 
his  exalted  piety,  John  Campbell,  (Dominus  Sesnocensis,)  Laird  of 
Cesnock.  His  house  might  have  been  an  example  of  Christian  in- 
struction. For  he  had  a  priest  at  home,  who  read  to  him  and  his 
family,  the  New  Testament  in  their  vernacular  language  ;  and  the 
morals,  both  of  himself  and  of  his  family,  corresponded  with  the  glad 
tidings.  He  also  assisted  the  poor  in  all  kind  offices,  and  although 
he  had  learne<l  from  the  Gospel  that  superstition  and  hypocrisy  are 
displeasing  to  God  ;  that  he  might  not  seem  partial  to  any  rank,  he 
was  wont  to  receive  also  the  monks  into  his  hospitable  abode. 
There,  when  he  at  times  would  familiarly  converse  with  his  guests 
upon  Christian  doctrine,  certain  hypocrites,  as  it  happened,  under- 
stood that  he  attacked  some  of  their  superstitions.  At  last,  his  mind 
having  been  often  sounded,  the  monks  violating  the  law  of  hospita- 
lity, and,  as  it  is  said,  "  passing  by  the  eating-table  and  the  salt," 
they  carried  his  name  to  the  Bishop,  and  accuse  him  of  heresy."    In 


0  He  quotes  the  proverb  to  the  King  in  Greek. 


XVI.  CENT.]  SCOTLAND.  401 

that  suit,  when,  after  long  disputation,  it  appeared,  that  both  he  and 
his  wile  were  in  danger  of  their  lives,  Campbell  appealed  to  the 
King.  Although  the  monks  were  grievously  offended  that  the  King 
should  call  the  cause  before  himself,  still  he  thought  it  belonged  to 
his  good  faith  and  humanity,  that,  to  good  and  noble  men,  he  should 
not  fail  to  do  his  duty.  lie  therefore  graciously  heard  the  cause  on 
both  sides ;  and  when  the  husband,  from  natural  reserve,  and  not  a 
little  agitated  by  fear  of  the  monks,  answered  with  modesty,  the 
King  commanded  the  wife  to  plead  the  cause.  She  then,  quoting 
the  Scriptures,  refuted  the  charges  brought  against  them,  so  distinct- 
ly and  wisely,  that  the  King  not  only  acquitted  the  defendants, 
Campbell,  with  his  wife  and  the  priest ;  but  also  rising  up,  he  ca- 
ressed the  woman,  and  extolled  her  diligence  in  Christian  doctrine. 
Having  severely  reproved  the  monks,  he  threatened,  that  if  ever  after 
they  created  trouble  of  this  sort,  to  such  honourable  and  innocent 
persons,  he  would  punish  them  severely.  To  Campl)cll  himself,  in- 
deed, he  presented  certain  villages,  that  there  might  remain  an  hon- 
ourable token  of  his  decision,  a,nd  of  his  good-will  towards  him  ;  lest 
there  should  be  supposed  to  lurk  in  his  (the  King's)  mind  any  suspi- 
cion against  Campbell,  because  of  the  accusation  of  the  monks."^ 

This  incident  is  not  to  be  confounded  with  the  occuri'ence  in 
1494,  where  Heid  of  Barskimming  was  the  chief  speaker.  Besides, 
we  know  that  John  Campbell  of  Cesnock  was  the  immediate  suc- 
cessor of  George,  already  mentioned.  He  appears  to  have  been  a 
son  worthy  of  his  father,  and  as  the  King  here  referred  to,  James 
IV.,  fell  at  Flodden  in  1513,  the  occurrence  must  have  taken  place 
at  least  thirteen  years  before  the  New  Testament  of  Tyndale  could 
have  arrived  in  Scotland,  but  most  probably  still  earlier.  At  all 
events,  it  forms  one  of  the  most  apjjropriate  introductions  to  the  fol- 
lowinghistory;  nor  have  we  been  able  to  adduce  an  incident  of  deeper 
interest  before  any  part  of  the  Sacred  Volume,  in  print,  was  im- 
ported into  England  itself.*" 


'•>  "  Alexandri  Alcsii  Scotti  Respoiisio  ad  Cochlei  calvmiiias."     1534. 

'0  This  story  is  loosely  referred  to  in  a  rare  i)oera  by  John  Davidson,  Minister  of  Libberton, 
afterwards  of  Prestonpans,  and  the  founder  of  its  grammar-school  in  ICdfi,  for  teaching  the 
youth  Hebrew,  Greek,  and  Latin.  Tliis  poem,  written  in  1575,  is  entitled—"  A  memorial  of  the 
life  and  death  of  two  worthye  Christians,  Robert  Campbel  of  the  Kinzeancleuf>h,  and  his  wife 
Elizabeth  Canijtbel.  In  Knglish  meter.  Edinburgh,  Printed  by  Robert  Walde-grave,  Printer 
to  the  King's  Majestic  15.')5.  Cum  privilegio  Kegali."  Davidson  speaks  of  the  death  of  Resby  as 
occurring  in  141)5  instead  of  1408,  and  in  alluding  to  the  house  of  Cesnock  he  appears  to  confound 
father  and  son  ;  but  as  he  refers  fur  confirmation  to  "  a  cunning  clerk  called  ^Ikshis  ;  in  a  wark 
written  to  James  the  fifth  our  King,"  the  reader  has  before  him  the  statement  of  Ales.  The 
two  Christians  here  celebrated  were  evidently  of  eminent  kindred  character,  the  lady,  indeed, 
being  a  branch  of  the  house  of  Cesnock;  and  to  her  daughter,  the  sole  heiress  of  Kiiizeancleugh, 
the  poem  is  dedicated. 

VOL.  II.  2  0 


402  INTRODUCTION.  [xvi.  CENT. 

Such  an  anecdote  is  only  in  perfect  liannony  with  the  character 
of  thi.s  monarch.  Naturally  gay  and  warm  hcartc<l,  he  was  by  no 
means  disposed  blin<lly  to  follow  the  |<rit'sts  or  monks  of  the  day. 
On  the  contrary,  having  so  remarkably  conciliated  the  afiections  of 
his  nobility,  had  he  not  been  cut  off  in  the  flower  of  his  age,  he 
might  have  gone  far  to  have  rescued  the  crown  out  of  the  dictatorial 
tyranny  of  the  priesthood. 

The  king  was  also  decidedly  in  favour  of  the  progress  of  letters. 
Witness  only  "  The  Thistle  and  the  Rose,"  by  Dunbar — a  poem 
full  of  picturesque  beauty — presented  to  James,  in  1503,  on  the 
occasion  of  his  marriage  to  j\Iargaret,  the  eldest  daughter  of  Henry 
VII.  By  the  king's  sanction  also,  and  under  his  own  eye  at  Edin- 
burgh, the  art  of  printing  itself  was  introduced  into  Scotland.  The 
first  patent  was  granted,  in  1507,  to  Walter  Chepman  and  Andro 
Myllar,  his  workman ;  and  they  set  up  their  press  accordingly  in 
"the  Soutligatc.""  But  though  the  press  was  set  up,  the  idea  of 
applying  that  art  to  its  noblest  end,  or  the  printing  of  the  Sacred 
Scrij)tures,  and  in  Edinburgh,  wa.s  not  to  be  cherished  for  seventy 
years  to  come.  We  are  left,  therefore,  to  inquire  at  what  time  any 
part  of  the  Sacred  Volume,  j>rinted  in  our  native  tongue,  had  first 
reached  the  shores  of  North  Britain. 


11  This  is  understood  to  have  been  not  far  from  the  head  of  wliat  has  since  been  called  the 
Cowgate.    Neither  this,  nor  the  Grassmarket,  had  yet  been  surrounded  by  the  city  wall. 


I 


THE  HISTORY  OF 

THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE. 

BOOK  IV.-SCOTLAND. 

4from  Sames;  tin  ffitti)  to  t\)t  Commonlwealtf)* 


SECTION  I. 
REIGN  OF  JAMES   V. 

STATE  OF  SCOTLAND THE  FIRST  INTRODUCTION  OF  THE  SACRED  VOLUME  IN 

PRINT,  THAT  IS,   OF   THE  NEW  TESTAMENT  IN  THE  ENGLISH  LANGUAGE 

EARLIEST  ARRIVALS  AT  EDINBURGH  AND  ST.  ANDREWS — SINGULAR  CON- 
DITION OF  THE  COUNTRY,  AND  ESPECIALLY  OF  ITS  PRIMATE,  AT  THE  MO- 
MENT. 

^?<!^i^|iiE  first  introduction  of  the  New  Testament  into 
v^^^  -  England,  by  Tyndale,  has  been  fully  described,  and 
kt!%}'y^''i:  it  must  have  been  felt  how  much  the  existing  state 
of  the  country  deepened  our  interest,  in  that  ever 
memorable  event :  the  state  of  Scotland  immediately  before,  and 
at  the  same  moment,  will  complete  the  picture  as  to  the  entire 
Island.  For  nearly  eighty  years  longer,  it  is  true,  the  inha- 
bitants of  both  countries  regarded  each  other  with  no  amicable 
feeling.  Monarch  and  people  considered  the  interests  of  the 
two  kingdoms  to  be  perfectly  distinct,  and  far  from  being  dis- 
posed to  union,  they  viewed  each  other  with  proverbial  jea- 


404  SCOTLAND  JUST  BEFORE  [book   IV. 

lousy,  a,ml  fought  accordingly.  In  tlio  year  l">2f),  thcroforo, 
more  especially  after  England  liad  gained  such  influence  in 
the  north,  the  idea  that  the  monarch  of  the  inferior  state 
woidd  ultimately  become  the  sovereign  of  the  whole  Island, 
must  have  been  treated  Nvith  disdain  ;  but  tliat  the  change, 
when  it  did  take  place,  whatever  was  the  character  of  that 
King  personally,  would  be  overruled  for  introducing  to  all 
alike,  that  Sacred  Volume,  which  has  been  read  ever  since,  is 
a  result  which  would  then  have  been  regarded  with  equal  scorn 
by  both  parties.  Yet  thus  early,  and  whatever  might  be  the 
feelings  entertained,  or  sentiments  then  held,  on  either  side 
of  the  Tweed,  it  seems  as  if  the  Governor  among  the  nations, 
regarding  them  as  only  one  people,  had  begun  to  act  accord- 
ingly. If  it  shall  turn  out  that  the  highest  gift  which  Ho 
has  ever  bestowed  upon  both  countries,  was  conveyed  to  them 
both  at  the  same  period  ;  if  the  only  effectual  cement  or  remedy, 
for  all  local  and  petty  antipathies,  w\as  then  first  supplied  to 
both,  however  imperceptibly,  and  hitherto  unnoticed,  certainly 
the  fact  well  deserves  to  be  traced  out,  and  will,  it  is  presumed, 
fully  rew^ard  attention. 

The  condition  of  Scotland,  however,  should  first  be  observed.  In  the 
opening  of  the  sixteenth  century,  the  country  was  rising,  both  in  wealth 
and  importance,  under  the  energetic  government  of  James  the  Fourth, 
till  the  9th  of  September  1513  ;  when,  through  his  own  impetuosity,  by 
the  fatal  battle  of  Flodden-field,  on  that  day,  the  nation  was  thrown 
into  a  state  which  baffled  all  description.  About  ten  thousand  men 
were  left  dead  on  the  field,  and  among  them,  not  only  the  king  himself, 
hut  tte  strength  of  his  nobility,  gentry,  and  yeomanry,  were  gone, 
within  the  short  compass  of  three  hours  !  Thirteen  earls,  fifteen  lords 
and  chiefs  of  clans,  the  eldest  sons  of  five  peers,  the  primate  of  St. 
Andrews  and  other  ecclesiastics,  the  French  ambassador,  and  the  secre- 
tary of  the  king,  had  fallen  !  As  for  the  gentry,  there  were  but  few 
houses  which  did  not  mourn  one  relative ;  some  entire  families  were 
swept  away  ! 

If  ever  a  country  demanded  sympathy  from  its  nearest  neighbour,  it 
was  then  ;  but  this  was  a  feeling,  with  which  Wolsey  might  have  truly 
said,  "  I  and  the  king  have  never  been  either  annoyed  or  depressed." 
On  the  contrary,  following  up  their  advantage,  many  long  years  of  vexa- 
tious intrigue  on  their  part,  awaited  the  north  ;  nay,  within  only  three 
years  after  the  Flowers  of  the  Forest  were  "  a'  wede  away,"  Sir  Christo- 
pher, afterwards  Lord  Dacre,  the  Warden  of  the  English  borders,  had 
in  his  pay  not  fewer  than  four  hundred  Scots,  outlaws,  whose  main  occu- 


I 


152().]  receivinct  the  scriptures.  405 

pation  consisted  in  exciting  such  tumults  and  jealousies  as  might  dis- 
tract the  government  under  the  Duke  of  Albany.' 

That  period,  however,  which  elapsed  from  the  year  1523  to  1528,  was 
peculiarly  distracting.  On  looking  over  the  criminal  trials  of  the  day, 
as  well  as  for  many  future  years,  we  see  but  one  continued  series  of 
slaughter  and  theft,  treason  and  deadly  feud.  The  language  of  Sacred 
writ  itself  might  be  applied — "  In  those  times  there  was  no  peace  to  him 
that  went  out,  nor  to  him  that  came  in,  but  great  vexations  were  upon 
all  the  inhabitants  of  the  land  ;"  yet  on  account  of  what  actually  took 
place  in  the  very  midst  of  such  a  scene,  some  farther  explanation  is 
demanded.  In  1524,  while  the  power  of  the  State  was  vested  in  Hamil- 
ton the  Earl  of  Arran,  and  the  Queen-Mother,  sister  of  Henry  VIII.  ; 
on  the  one  hand,  there  was  a  party  under  the  Duke  of  Albany,  now  in 
France,  which  was  managed  in  his  absence  by  James  Beaton,  the  Arch- 
bishop of  St.  Andrews  ;  and  on  the  other,  there  was  a  powerful  faction 
in  the  -pay  of  England,  the  Douglases,  under  the  Earl  of  Angus.  Every 
one  of  these  three  were  struggling  hard  for  the  mastery.  Next  year,  or 
in  May  1525,  the  King,  James  V.,  having  reached  his  foui-teenth  year, 
according  to  Scotish  law,  must  be  recognized  as  major,  be  crowned  at 
Edinburgh,  and  nominally  assume  the  government.  The  authority  of 
the  Queen-Mother,  as  well  as  that  of  the  Council,  ought,  therefore,  then 
to  have  ceased.  This  was  Angus's  opportunity.  By  Act  of  Parliament 
he  behoved  to  be  one  of  the  King's  guardians,  and  so  he  gained  the  as- 
cendancy ;  a  thraldom  from  which  the  youthful  monarch  was  soon  most 
eager  to  escape.  The  hand  of  Wolsey  in  all  this  was  very  visible,  and 
Hem-y  VIII.,  not  a  little  gratified,  had  so  pettled  his  royal  nephew  with 
presents,  that,  in  his  youthful  imagination,  his  uncle  in  England  was 
one  of  the  finest  men  uj^on  earth.  In  1526,  however,  the  tyranny  of 
Angus  and  his  party  had  gained  such  strength,  as  almost  to  usurp  the 
royal  power  ;  every  post  or  place  was  filled  by  a  "  Douglas,"  and  in  the 
summer  months  a  crisis  had  come.  In  July,  the  great  seal  was  taken 
from  Beaton,  and  Angus,  no  doubt,  retained  it  in  his  possession,  till  he 
was  chosen  Chancellor  himself.  Meanwhile,  or  in  August,  one  of  Bea- 
ton's chaplains  had  set  off  with  a  letter  from  the  young  king  to  his  uncle, 
Arran,  complaining,  that  "  contrary  to  his  will  and  mind,  he  is  kept  in 
thraldom  and  captivity  by  Archibald  Earl  of  Angus,"  so  that  the  Arch- 
bishop, Beaton,  was  indulging  hope  of  being  Chancellor  once  more.^  By 
the  end  of  this  month,  the  Queen's  party,  now  under  Beaton,  was  gather- 
ing strength,  and  among  others,  John  Stuart,  Earl  of  Lennox,  had  joined 
it.  They  were  all  together  at  Stirling  Castle.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
Ilamiltons,  under  the  Earl  of  Arran,  and  notwithstanding  a  feud  which 


1  Ci.lton  MS.  Calig.  B.  i.,  i>-  l-^O,  or  Ellis"  Letters,  i.  \>.  13:?.     August  l.'jlfi. 
-  Gov.  State  Papers.,  iv.,  \t.  451,  note.    4.52-454. 


40B  SCOTLAND  JUST  DEPLORE  [uoOK  IV. 

had  existed  ever  since  the  death  of  Sir  Patrick  Hamilton  in  152(»,  had 
united  with  the  Douglas  party  under  Angus,  and  they  were  then  in 
Edinburgh,  with  King  James  in  their  possession.-^  There  was  now  no 
alternative,  except  an  appeal  to  the  sword.  On  the  4th  of  September, 
the  Earl  of  Lennox,  eager  to  emancipate  the  youthful  monarch,  if  not 
deliver  his  country  from  English  interference,  marched  from  Stirling 
towards  Edinburgh,  having  resolved  to  succeed,  or  die  in  the  attempt. 
On  the  morning  of  the  same  day,  the  tnimpet  had  sounded  at  Edin- 
burgh, summoning  all  to  the  field.*  In  the  course  of  a  few  hours,  Len- 
nox and  Angus  met  near  Linlithgow,  when  the  battle  commenced. 
Lennox  fell,  mortally  wounded,  or  rather,  was  murdered  in  cold  blood 
by  Sir  James  Hamilton  of  Finnart,  a  natural  son  of  the  Earl  of  Arran, 
who  was  a  nephew  of  Lennox,  and  now  mourned  over  his  death  for 
many  days.  The  young  King,  more  deeply  affected,  never  forgot,  if  he 
ever  forgave,  the  deed.  Angus,  the  conqueror,  immediately  bent  his 
way  to  Stirling,  fully  resolved  to  seize  not  only  the  Queen-Mother,  but 
Beaton,  who  was  understood  to  be  the  counsellor  of  the  whole  business. 
Both,  however,  had  fled  ;  the  Queen  herself  had  to  remain  in  disguise 
somewhere,  for  more  than  two  months  ;  but  the  Archbishop  especially 
was  compelled  to  provide  for  his  personal  safety,  if  not  his  life.  He 
then  assumed  the  garb  of  a  Shepherd,  and  remained  on  the  hills  for 
nearly  a  quarter  of  a  year  !•'  In  this  battle,  we  are  told  that  Beaton  had 
lost  "  a  brother  and  a  nephew,  the  Abbots  of  Dunfermline  and  Melrose, 
■with  a  great  coimsellor  of  his,  Stirling  of  Keir,  and  many  other  of  his 
kinsmen  and  servants  ;"^  but  disappointed  in  not  finding  himself,  Angus 
proceeded  to  Fifcshire  immediately,  where  he  dismantled  not  only  his 
Abbey  of  Dunfermline,  but  his  Archiepiscopal  Castle  of  St.  Andrews. 
The  bird  had  flown,  and  now  the  nest  was  rifled. 

On  this  intelligence  being  conveyed  to  England,  though  a  primate 
had  fallen  into  disgrace,  it  was  hailed  with  joy.  On  the  21st  of  Septem- 
ber, Sir  Thomas  More,  then  with  Henry  at  Stoney  Stratford,  informs 
Wolsey,  that  their  royal  master  "  very  greatly  rejoiced  "  at  "  the  pros- 
perous success  of  the  Earls  of  Angus  (then  appropriately  spelt,  Angtiysh) 
and  Arran  against  their  enemies,  and  the  disturbers  of  the  peace  and 
quiet  of  Scotland  ;"  and  "  since  the  said  earls  have  now  sufficient  open 
proof  that  the  Archbishop  of  St.  Andrews  putteth  all  his  possible  power 


8  Gov.  state  Papers,  toI.  It.,  p.  456. 

*  The  young  monarch,  who  was  fond  of  Lennox,  and  knew  that  he  had  t.iken  arms  from  affec- 
tion to  his  )ierson,  advanced  slowly,  and  with  reluctance,  On  reaching  Cor8tori)hiiic,  the  distant 
sound  of  artillery  announced  that  the  battle  had  begun.  Sir  George  Douglas,  his  conductor, 
urged  speed,  and  at  last  broke  into  passionate  and  brutal  menaces.  "  Think  not,"  said  he 
"  that  on  any  event  you  shall  escape  us— for  even  were  ourenemics  to  gain  tlie  day,  rather  than 
surrender  your  person,  we  should  Ifar  it  in  iiii-rrs .'"  No  wonder  that  the  language  of  tliis  mon- 
ster made  such  an  impression  on  the  royal  youth,  that  it  was  never  forgiven. 

'>  lie  is  said  to  have  actually  tended  a  flock,  on  tlic  hill  then  known  by  the  name  of  liogrian 
Knowe,  in  Fife.     Litnlsai/'s  Chrimiclts. 

>'  Gov.  State  Papers,  iv.,  pp.  457-8- 


1526.]  RECEIVING  THE  SCRIPTURES.  407 

to  procure  their  destruction,  and  to  rear  broileric,  war,  and  revolution  in 
the  realm,  to  the  no  little  peril  of  the  young  King,  their  master ; 
the  King's  Highness  thinketh  it  were  good  that  they  were  advised 
in  this  their  victory,  so  substantially  to  provide  for  the  safeguard 
of  their  king  and  themselves,  by  the  effectual  repressing  of  their 
adversaries,  that  the  said  Archbishop  and  his  adherents,  in  any  time  to 
come,  should  not  be  able,  either  by  crafty  practices  to  deceive  them,  or 
open  rebellion  to  distress  them  ;  but,  Avithout  any  trust  or  credence  to  be 
given  to  the  blandishing  of  the  said  Archbishop,  which  this  adverse 
chance  shall  peradventure  drive  him  to  use  for  the  while,  with  purpose 
and  intent  of  revenging  when  he  may  find  occasion  ;  they  provide  and 
see  so  substantial  order  taken,  that  none  evil  weed  have  power  to  spring 
up  too  high."  7 

Archbishop  Beaton  having  exchanged  his  palace  or  castle 
for  the  hills,  and  his  crosier  for  a  shepherd's  crook,  it  had  been 
well  for  himself,  as  well  as  the  interests  of  humanity,  had  he 
abode  by  his  occupation  to  the  day  of  his  death.  At  present, 
however,  he  could  do  nothing,  and  must  keep  as  quiet  as  pos- 
sible ;  but  it  will  not  be  out  of  place  or  uninstructive  to  observe, 
what  was  doing  in  England  at  the  same  moment. 

Wolsey,  as  a  politician,  was  evidently  playing  one  of  his 
double  games  with  Scotland,  as  well  as  with  the  Continent ; 
a  proof  of  his  consummate  talents  for  worldly  business  all 
round  him,  in  every  direction  ;  but  he  was  now  also  enraged 
at  the  existence  of  Tyndale''s  Testaments,  recently  detected  in 
Antwerp,  and  straining  every  nerve  to  get  them  burnt ;  while 
Tuustal,  Bishop  of  London,  was  not  only  authenticating  the 
book  for  this  end,  but  he  and  Warham  of  Canterbury,  in  Oc- 
tober and  November,  were  thundering  out  their  injunctions 
against  the  Sacred  Volume  as  "  pestiferous  poison."  Now, 
after  all  that  we  have  witnessed  in  England ;  while  they  were 
thus  up  in  arms,  and  while  Beaton,  the  grand  enemy  in  Scot- 
land was  laid  aside — wrapped  up  in  his  shepherd's  disguise,  or 
tending  his  sheep  on  the  hills — it  would  certainly  be  a  cu- 
rious and  memorable  coincidence,  if  the  same  sacred  treasure 
was  then  arriving  in  Scotland  at  different  ports,  not  excepting 
St.  Andrews  itself;  if  indeed  the  earliest  copies  had  not  se- 
cretly arrived  in  the  course  of  the  summer  !  But  we  shall 
see  presently. 

With  regard  to  the  first  introduction  into  Scotland  of  the 


Gov.  State  Papers,  iv.,  ji.  458,  note. 


40ft  NEW  TESTAMENT— FIRST  AKKIVALS  [uoOK  IV. 

Sacred  \'()limu'  in  a  printed  foi'in,  llic  historian  has  never  yet 
been  able  to  proceed  farther  than  a  slirewd  conjecture.  It  lias 
been  supposed  that  the  translation  of  Tyndale  may  or  must 
liave  found  its  way  there ;  but  when,  how  early,  or  by  what 
means,  we  have  never  been  told.  If  it  can  now  be  proved 
that  the  book  was  conveyed  to  Scotland  as  well  as  England, 
not  only  by  the  same  method,  but  nearly  about  the  same  time, 
and  certainly  within  the  compass  of  the  same  year,  the  reader 
cannot  fail  to  return  with  fresh  interest  to  the  period.  This 
would  be  sufficient  to  render  the  year  152G  equally  memorable 
in  Caledonia,  as  in  Old  England, 

In  their  commercial  intercourse  with  the  Continent,  Scot- 
land and  England  were  altogether  independent  of  each  other, 
and  the  trade  of  the  former  with  the  Low  Countries  was  of 
equally  ancient  standing ;  but  it  is  of  importance  to  observe, 
that,  by  this  period,  and  by  the  authority  of  Parliament,  the 
Scotish  merchants  generally  tcent  along  icith  their  goods^  and 
that  none  were  allowed  to  do  so,  but  persons  "  able  and  of 
good'  fame.''''  So  much  the  better,  or  more  in  favour  of  what 
was  now  to  take  place." 

The  reader  can  scarcely  fail  to  remember  what  a  battle  was 
fought  in  Antwerp  respecting  the  New  Testaments  of  Tyndale, 
when  first  detected  there,  and  how  the  Ambassador  of  Eng- 
land, John  Hackett,  got  himself  so  embroiled  in  the  business ; 


fl  The  commerce  of  Scotland  with  the  Low  Countries  had  existed  from  the  reign  of  Robert 
Rnice.  At  the  bcRinning  of  the  fifteenth  century,  in  1408,  an  amicable  understanding  existed 
l)Ctwccn  her  merchants  and  the  city  of  Bruges,  wliere  thi-y  had  a  "  Conservator"  of  their  privi- 
leges, and  where  they  paid  for  goods  or  merchandize  "  in  the  same  way  and  manner  as  the  mer- 
chants of  Germany,  or  other  foreigners  residing  in  that  dty."  In  142(i,  the  ordinary  merchants 
of  Scotland  being  very  desirous  to  come  to  Zealand,  and  particularly  to  Middlcburg,  Philip 
llukc  of  Burgundy  welcomed  and  highly  favoured  them.  Campvcre  as  well  as  Middleburg, 
(both  in  the  island  of  Walcheren)  were  ports  to  which  the  Scotch  traders  occasionally  resorted ; 
but  by  the  year  147.T  they  had  full  freedom  to  trade  without  being  so  confined.  About  14K7  their 
trade  fluctuated  from  one  town  to  another  in  the  Low  Countries,  though  still  Bruges  had  a  con- 
siderable share,  partly  from  the  connexions  and  acquaintance  many  of  the  Scottish  merchants 
had  in  that  city,  owing  to  their  long  run  of  business  with  its  inhabitants.  By  the  beginning  of 
tiie  sixteenth  centurj-,  when  the  office  of  Conservator  became  fixed,  legal  and  established,  by  the 
authority  of  P.-irliament  ;  the  merchants  generally  went  along  with  their  goods,  their  trade  was 
wholly  (or  chiefly)  in  the  summer  time  ;  and  by  the  law  none  were  allowed  to  accompany  their 
merchandize,  but  persons  able  and  of  good  fame.  A  voy.age  from  Scotland  to  Walcheren  differ- 
ed very  little  as  to  distance  from  one  to  Bruges;  but,  according  to  the  weather  or  other  accidents, 
it  was  found  that  one  might  be  made  to  the  former,  much  sooner  and  with  less  hazard.  This, 
added  to  the  flourishing  commerce  of  A)itircrj>,  so  near  at  hand,  contributed  not  a  little  to  dimi- 
nish, and  at  last  remove  the  staple  trade  with  l-'Ianders,  and  settle  it  at  HlkidUhtir<i  and  Caiiip- 
vetr.  As  a  proof  that  the  trade  by  this  period  and  long  before  had  been  much  more  consider- 
able than  it  has  been  imagined,  "  many  houses  in  the  large  city  of  Bruges,  cellars  and  other 
places  for  merchandize,  became  not  only  emjity,  but  useless,  and  a  burden  to  the  proprietors." 
The  greatest  ]iart  of  the  Scotish  trade  being  thus  transported  to  Zealand,  Campvere  especially 
gave  it  all  the  encouragement  and  favour  in  its  power.  See  "  An  Account  of  the  Scotch  trade 
in  the  Netherlands,  and  of  the  staple  port  in  Campvere,  by  James  Yair,  Minister  of  the  Scotch 
church  in  Campvere."    London,  177fi. 


152fi.]  AT  EDINBURGH  AND  ST.  ANDREWS.  409 

Wolsey  and  Tunstal  being  not  more  fierce  at  lionie,  than  he 
was  abroad.  Hackett's  object  was  to  "  see  justice  done"  upon 
all  such  Enirlish  books  as  were  entitled  "  The  New  Testament."''' 
By  "justice  done,"  he  meant  burning  them  ;  and  this  he  said 
was  for  "  the  preservation  of  the  Christian  faiths  Now  it 
was  in  the  very  midst  of  this,  the  first  onset  in  that  long  war, 
that  we  have  positive  information  as  to  Scotland  ;  and  while 
it  must  be  new  to  the  reader,  it  happens  to  be  fully  as  distinct 
as  any  we  have  read  in  the  history  of  England,  if  not  more 
so.  Hackett  was  in  busy  correspondence  both  with  Cardinal 
Wolsey  and  Brian  Tuke,  the  Secretary  of  State.  It  was  to 
the  former  he  addressed  a  letter,  dated  from  Mechlin,  on 
Wednesday  the  20th  of  February  1526,  that  is,  1.527  ;  from 
which  the  followins;  is  an  extract : — 

"  Please  your  Grace  to  understand  that  since  my  last  writing  to  your  Grace, 
I  have  received  none  of  your's.  I  trust  by  this  time  that  your  Grace  has  am- 
ple information  of  such  execution  and  justice  as  has  been  done  in  the  towns  of 
Antwerp  and  Barrow  (now  Bergen-op-Zoom)  upon  all  such  English  books  as 
we  could  find  in  these  countries,  similar  to  three  such  other  books  as  your  Grace 
sent  unto  me,  with  my  Lord  the  Bishop  of  London's  signature.' 

"  By  my  last  writing  to  Mr.  Brian  Tuke  (4  January  1.527)  I  advertised  him 
how  that  there  icere  divers  merchants  of  IScotland  that  bniujht  many  of  such  like 
books,  and  took  them  into  Scotland  ;  a  part  to  Ed'mburyh,  and  viost  part  to  the 
town  of  St.  Andrews. 

"  For  the  which  cause,  when  I  was  at  Barrow,  being  advertised  that  the  Scotish 
ships  were  in  Zealand,  for  there  the  said  books  were  laden,  I  went  suddenly 
thitherward,  thinking,  if  I  had  found  such  stuff  there,  that  I  would  cause  to  make 
as  good  a  fre  of  them,  as  there  has  been  done  of  the  remnant  in  Brabant ;  but 
fortune  would  not  that  I  should  be  in  time ;  for  the  foresaid  ships  were  departed 
a  day  afore  my  comimj.  So  I  must  talce  patience  for  all  my  labour,  with  leaving 
My  Lady  Margaret's  letters,  and  good  instructions  with  my  Lord  of  Bever,  and 
the Mr off... concerning  the  foresaid  business."'" 

Mons.  de  Bever,  who  was  Lord  of  Campvere,  and  Admiral 
of  Flanders,  had  been  in  London  only  in  March  1525,  as  Am- 
bassador from  Lady  Margaret,  Regent  of  Flanders,  and  must 
have  been  fully  aware  of  Wolsey's  imperious  temper,  as  he  had 
then  insulted  himself;  but  it  is  not  a  little  remarkable,  that, 
at  tliis  very  moment,  confidence  in  the  court  of  England  was 


9  Upon  referrinR  to  our  previous  history,  \^l2^}-•J,  it  will  be  seen  tliat  Hackett  could  not  pro- 
ceed to  destroy  the  New  Testaments  til!  lie  had  jirocured  an  authenticated  copy  of  the  edition 
or  editions  aimed  at.  Here  then  were  Ihm'  distinct  books,  which,  as  formerly  remarked,  appear 
to  point  at.Tyndale's  first  and  second,  and  the  first  Antwerp  edition  by  Christopher  of  Kndhoven. 

li>  MS.  Cotton,  Galba,  JJ.  vi.,  fol.  4.  The  <mly  defect  in  this  manuscript,  tlic  State  Papers 
enable  us  to  supj>ly.  Hackett  refers  to  "  Mr.  .Mm  Mnjfit,  conservator  of  the  nation  of  Scotland, 
in  Flanders,"  at  the  moment.  See  Cotton  MS.  Calin.  li.  ii.,  fol.  77  ;  or  Gov.  State  Papers,  vol. 
ir.,  p.  .Wl. 


HO  THE  YEAR  ALIKE  PKOPITIOUS  [UOOK  IV. 

failing,  if  not  gone ;  the  double  dealing  of  the  Cardinal  on  the 
Continent  had  been  detected,  and  for  some  time  to  come,  no 
attention  will  be  paid  to  any  request  from  that  quarter.  The 
Lord  of  Cainpvcrc  was  not  so  likely  therefore  to  quarrel  with 
the  Scotish  traders  at  their  own  staple  port ;  nor  is  there  the 
slightest  evidence  of  Wolsey  having  conveyed  tlie  intelligence 
he  had  received  to  Scotland,  a  circumstance  the  more  remark- 
able since  he  was  so  annoyed  with  the  subject.  He  had,  it  is 
true,  far  higher  game  in  prospect.  The  sack  of  Rome  itself 
first,  and  then  his  own  splendid  embassy  to  France  engrossed 
him;  but,  besides,  when  these  last  ships  arrived,  Beaton  lay  un- 
der his  frown,  and  in  concealment !  Hackett,  however,  certainly 
refers  to  importations  as  already  past ;  and  as  more  business 
was  done  in  summer  than  in  autumn,  the  probability  is,  that 
even  these  were  not  the  first  Testaments.  At  all  events,  here 
the  channel  of  conveyance  was  opened.  Besides  Leith  and  St. 
Andrews,  there  were  the  ports  of  Dundee,  Montrose,  and  Aber- 
deen, who  all  traded  with  Zealand ;  and  as  in  Scotland  there 
were  no  official  steps  taken  against  the  New  Testament  by 
name^  for  at  least  five  years  after  this,  the  book  nmst  have  ar- 
rived, again  and  again,  at  all  these  ports.  This  is  easily  under- 
stood, after  the  scene  we  have  witnessed  in  England,  in  the 
face  of  far  greater,  and  more  vigilant  opposition.  But  farther 
evidence  awaits  us. 

Thus,  although  England  and  Scotland  were  washed  by  the 
same  sea,  the  one  country  was  to  be,  in  no  degree,  dependent 
upon  the  other  for  theWord  of  Life  ;  either  at  first,  or  for  years 
to  come.  Into  both,  it  was  to  be  imported,  and  both  were  to 
stand  alike  on  the  same  humble  ground,  as  recipients.  Nor 
when  first  conveyed,  in  cither  case,  was  it  to  be  by  some  one 
man  of  great  mental  energy  rising  up,  and  rousing  the  atten- 
tion of  his  countrymen  to  the  truth  of  God.  Quite  the  re- 
verse. But  having  once  made  of  the  Scotish  Primate  a  fugi- 
tive, in  terror  of  his  life  ;  it  was  the  God  of  providence  him- 
self finding  his  way  into  the  very  metropolis  of  superstition,  as 
well  as  other  sea-  poi-ts ;  pouring  contempt  upon  the  crafty,  and 
saying,  in  effect  to  the  people  of  Scotland.,  as  well  as  England., 
at  the  same  moment —  "  From  henceforth  let  no  man  glory  in 
men  ;  let  veneration  for  foreign  names,  or  for  that  of  any  man, 
who  shall  afterwards  rise  in  either  country,  never  be  carried 
to  an  undue,  or  idolatrous  extent." 

For  a  number  of  years  the  same  providential  course  of  sup- 


1526.]  TO  SCOTLAND  AND  ENGLAND.  411 

ply  was  steadily  pursued;  so  that  afterwards  should  any 
boasting  or  vain-glory,  in  connexion  with  Christianity,  ever  be 
heard,  whether  in  the  south  or  the  north,  a  most  singular  foun- 
dation had  been  laid,  for  replying  as  Paul  once  did  to  his  Co- 
rinthians, "  What !  came  the  Word  of  God  out  from  i/ou,  or 
came  it  unto  you  only  ?  For  toko  made  thee  to  differ  ?  And  what 
hast  thou  which  thou  didst  not  receive  .^" — among  all  the  other 
nations  of  Europe,  by  way  of  eminence,  receive  ?  Petty  or  nar- 
roM'-minded  rivalry  has  too  often  been  evinced  between  England 
and  Scotland,  as  to  priority  in  smaller  matters  ;  but  there  was 
to  be  no  room  left  for  boasting  in  regard  to  the  greatest  of  all. 
That  such  coincidence  should  never  have  been  observed  before, 
may  indeed  seem  strange  ;  but  once  pointed  out,  it  certainly 
was  not  intended  to  be  simply  noticed,  and  so  forgotten.  Let 
it  rather  be  improved,  even  at  this  late  hour,  to  the  praise  of 
Him,  who  thus,  in  spite  of  every  species  of  hostility,  so  signal- 
ly conveyed  his  own  word  to  the  very  camps  of  the  enemy — 
to  the  north  as  well  as  the  south,  about  the  same  period — to 
Edinburgh  as  well  as  London — to  the  mouth  of  the  Eden  at 
St.  Andrews,  and  no  doubt  other  places,  as  well  as  to  the  mouth 
of  the  Thames,  or  to  Oxford  and  Cambridge  !  In  this  point 
of  view,  the  year  1526  becomes  by  far  the  most  remarkable  in 
the  annals  of  our  common  country.  The  New  Testament  thus 
conveyed  to  both  countries,  was  dreaded  and  deprecated  by 
both  alike,  and  as  an  evil  of  the  greatest  magnitude.  More 
than  ten  years  passed  away  in  England,  before  their  greatest 
national  blessing  was  accepted  or  allowed  by  the  sovereign  ;  it 
was  seventeen  years  before  a  similar  allowance  occurred  in 
Scotland.  Where  then,  ever  since,  has  there  been  any  ground 
for  boasting  ?  It  is  excluded  ;  and  that  by  the  simple  and 
authentic  history  of  the  Sacred  Volume  itself. 

The  Scriptures,  however,  once  introduced,  one  is  curious  to 
inquire  after  the  Archbishop.  To  an  ambitious  mind  no 
punishment  could  be  more  severe  than  that  of  retirement  and 
disguise,  and  Beaton  was  soon  thoroughly  sick  of  both  ;  but  he 
was  very  rich,  and  must  now  therefore  try  what  money  could 
effect.  The  Queen  first  ventured  from  her  concealment,  and 
approaching  to  Edinburgh  on  Tuesday  the  fourth  of  Novem- 
ber, or  two  months  after  the  fatal  battle,  was  met  on  the  road 
at  Corstorphine^'  by  her  youthful  sou,  the  King,  and  other  Lords, 

I '  A  spot  which  the  young  Prince  could  never  possibly  forget,  as  that  where  he  had  been  so 
barbarously  threatened  by  Douglas. 


112  TIIK  AUTIIOKITIKS  IN  SCOTLAND  [u.OK  IV. 

who  conducted  her  to  Holyrood.  This  so  far  paved  the  way 
for  JJeatoirs  release,  but  as  Annus  liad  all  men  in  his  power, 
"  to  line  and  ransom  at  liis  pleasure,"  mere  personal  influence 
was  not  to  avail,  and  least  of  all  that  of  the  Queen  Mother. 
David  IJeaton,  therefore,  the  primate's  nephew,  the  future 
Cardinal,  was  now  in  Edinburgh,  negociating  for  the  fugitive; 
and  through  the  noted  Sir  Arehibald  Douglas,  Provost  of  the 
city,  an  uncle  of  the  Earl  of  Angus,  he  at  last  succeeded.  To 
the  Earl  of  Arran  the  Archbishop  had  to  present  the  Abbey 
of  Kilwinning  ;  to  Angus  himself,  in  money,  two  thousand 
marks  Scots  ;  to  George  and  Archibald  Douglas,  one  thousand 
each,  and  to  Hamilton,  the  murderer  of  Lennox,  one  thou- 
sand. Five  thousand  marks  and  an  abbey,  was  certainly  no 
triflini::  ransom  in  those  davs.  After  all,  thoun:h  Beaton  was 
released  by  the  end  of  the  year,  and  was  keeping  Christmas 
with  the  Queen  in  Edinburgh,  he  was  but  barely  forgiven,  and 
not  to  be  trusted.  Soon  after,  both  the  Queen  and  he  had  to 
withdraw  from  the  seat  of  the  Court,  and  to  Stirling  once 
more.'^  Restored,  however,  to  his  Episcopal  functions,  we 
shall  see,  only  too  soon,  the  base  and  ungrateful  use  which  he 
made  of  his  power.     But  so  ended  the  year  io20'. 


SECTION    11. 

ANNO  1.527-1.'528 — CONSTERNATION    OF    THE    AUTHORITIES    IN    SCOTLAND — 
THE    NEW   TESTAMENT    SOON    FOLLOWED  BY    ONE    LIVING  VOICE,    THAT  OF 

PATRICK     HAMILTON HIS  MARTTRDOSI ALEXANDER   SETON,    THE  NEXT 

WITNESS,  PERSECUTED — HE  ESCAPES  TO  ENGLAND — THE  NEW  TESTAMENT 
GOES  ON  TO  BE  IMPORTED. 

NCE  more  the  analogy  between  England  and  Scotland 
}/  is  presented  to  our  view.  Under  the  English  history 
we  had  occasion  to  observe,  that  as  early  as  1.520,  some 
alarm  had  been  felt  respecting  what  was  called  Lutheranism, 
the  phrase  of  the  day  for  any  approach  to  Scriptural  truth, 
even  though  the  party  molested  might  never  have  heard  of 
Luther's  name,  or,  at  least,  read  a  page  of  his  writings.  So  Scot- 

'2  Gov.  fctatc  Papers,  iv.,  pp.  •H">1.  4(^1,  4fKJ. 


1527-8.]  SEIZED  WITH  ALARM.  413 

land  was  soon  seized  witli  similar  alarm,  and  by  the  17tli  of 
July  1525,  an  act  of  parliament  had  passed,  enacting,  that  "  no 
manner  of  persons,  stranrfers^  that  happen  to  arrive  with  their 
ships,  within  any  part  of  this  realm,  hrbir/  u'lth  them  any 
books  or  works  of  the  said  Luther,  his  disciples  or  servants," 
on  pain  of  imprisonment,  besides  the  forfeiture  of  their  ships 
and  goods.  Now,  whether  what  was  taking  j)lace  last  year  as 
to  books  imported  was  known,  we  have  no  positive  evidence ; 
but  at  all  events,  by  the  autumn  of  this  year  there  was  fresh 
alarm,  and  that  not  owing  to  strangers.  In  the  month  of 
August  1527,  the  Earl  of  Angus  having  got  himself  appointed 
to  be  Chancellor,  Avith  Dunbar,  the  Bishop  of  Aberdeen  and 
uncle  of  Dunbar  the  Archbishop  of  Glasgow,  to  assist  him  ; 
Angus  and  the  Lords  of  Council  added  the  followin2:  clause 
to  the  act  of  1525  : — "  And  all  other,  the  king's  lieges^  assist- 
aries  to  such  opinions,  be  punished  in  seemable  wise,  and  the 
effect  of  the  said  act  to  strike  upon  them.''''  Thus,  between 
July  1525  and  September  1527,  as  it  Avas  determined  to 
extend  those  penalties  to  natives  of  Scotland,  we  have  suffi- 
cient proof  that  importations  by  them  had  been  going  on  ;  but 
while  there  were,  very  probably,  some  other  publications,  it  is 
not  a  little  extraordinary,  that  the  only  books  which  can  now 
be  traced,  or  distinctly  specified,  should  be  those  of  the  New 
Testament  itself  of  Tyndale's  version.^  Never,  then,  let  it  be 
overlooked,  that  if  the  provisions  of  this  act  were  followed 
out,  there  existed  a  time  in  the  history  of  our  country,  wdien, 
if  a  vessel  arrived  at  Leith  or  St.  Andrews,  at  Dundee,  Mon- 
trose, or  Aberdeen,  with  copies  of  the  New  Testament  on 


'  It  was  certainly  a  high  conipliment  to  the  power  of  Luther's  exertions,  that  his  mere  name 
scrveil  for  years  as  a  word  of  terror,  both  in  England  and  Scotland.  No  w^riter,  however, 
acquainted  with  the  times,  can  now,  for  a  moment,  be  misled  by  the  foolish  expedient.  Luther 
had  no  connexion  whatever  with  the  English  New  Testament,  nor  did  Lutheranism,  as  such, 
ever  prevail  in  either  country.  The  necessity  of  repentance  towards  God,  and  of  faith  towards 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  or  tlie  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith,  once  broached,  might  be  cun- 
ningly called  by  that  name  ;  but  that  such  an  idea  as  that  Martin  Lutlirr  was  the  author  of  the 
A'cw  Tislaiitcnt  should  have  ever  prevailed  in  Scotland  as  well  as  England,  must  to  some  modern 
readers  appear  passing  strange.  Vet  prevail  it  did,  and  for  years  ;  no  doubt  chiefly  through  the 
wicked  contrivance  of  the  priests,  and  especially  the  monks.  How  early  they  had  succeeded 
in  thus  beguiling  the  people  of  Scotland,  it  is  impossible  to  say  ;  but  even  so  late  as  the  year  1545, 
when  Cardinal  Beaton  and  the  Earl  of  Arran  were  proceeding  through  the  country  forsui)pres- 
sing  what  they  called  heresy,  they  turned  towards  Diin(hc,aa  they  themselves  declared,  in  order 
to  bring  to  x>unishment  all  thusc  wlio  read  the  New  Testament :  for  in  those  days,  that  was  num- 
bered among  the  most  heinous  crimes.  Nay,  such  was  the  general  ignorance,  that  the  greatest 
part,  or  many  of  the  priests,  offended  at  the  term  New,  contended  that  it  tens  a  book  Uttcly  lorit- 
Icn  hy  Martin  Luther,  smA  they  demanded  the  Old  Testa.me.vt  !  Buchanan,  lib.  15,  xxix., 
Spoltiswood,  ]).  75 


IN.  PATRICK  HAMILTON  [book  IV. 

board,  thc^  ship  and  cargo  wcro  liable  to  confiscation,  and  the 
caj)tain  to  iinprisoniiiciit !  A  battle  was  now  to  be  fought 
and  won,  in  the  north  as  well  as  in  the  south  of  Britain. 

But  again,  as  in  England,  serious  and  long  continued  per- 
secution did  not  coninicnce  till  after  the  Scriptures  had 
arrived  ;  so  it  was  in  Scotland.  Copies  had  soon  found  their 
way,  and  not  in  vain,  to  the  canons  of  Cardinal  College, 
Oxford  ;  but  so  they  had  to  the  canons  of  St.  Andrews,  as 
well  as  other  parties.  The  explosion  at  Oxford  occurred  in 
February  1526,  and  by  February  1528,  at  the  very  moment 
when  Tunstal  and  his  vicar-general  were  sitting  in  severe 
judgment  on  the  book  in  London,  the  Neic  Testament  will 
now  be  very  pointedly  referred  to,  and  condemned,  within  the 
walls  of  the  Metropolitan  Church  in  Scotland. 

The  occasion  of  this,  the  first  storm,  is  well  known.  It 
followed  the  arrival  from  abroad,  about  the  autumn  of  1 527, 
and  the  subsequent  exertions  of  one  of  the  loveliest  and  most 
interesting  of  all  characters  in  early  Scotish  history — Patrick 
Hamilton.  Of  the  noble  army  of  Martyrs  on  British  ground, 
during  the  sixteenth  century,  he  was  to  be  the  youthful  and 
heroic  leader. 

Sir  Patrick  Hamilton  of  Kincavil,  Linlithgowshire,  a  son  of  Lord 
Hamilton's,  brother  of  the  Earl  of  Arran,  and  brother-in-law  of  James 
the  Third,  had  married  a  daughter  of  John  Duke  of  Albany,  brother  to 
the  same  monarch,  by  whom  he  had  a  family  of  two  sons  and  a  daugh- 
ter, James,  Patrick,  and  Katharine.  By  both  parents,  therefore,  the 
children  were  related  to  the  royal  family  of  Scotland.  Bereaved  of 
their  father^  seven  years  ago,  or  the  2d  of  May  1520,  on  the  High 
Street  of  Edinburgh,  in  a  feud  between  the  Earls  of  Angus  and  Arran, 
when  about  two  hundred  and  fifty  were  slain,  and  Archbishop  Beaton 
himself,  then  of  the  Hamilton  party,  very  narrowly  escaped  with  his  life  ; 
these  children  were  now  destined  to  feel,  by  the  loss  of  their  father, 
not  only  the  forgetful  ingratitude  of  Beaton's  heart,  but  the  power  of 
his  wrath. 

Patrick,  the  youngest  son,  born  in  the  year  1504,  and  intended  for 
an  ecclesiastic,  had  the  Abbacy  of  Fearn  conferred  upon  him  in  his 
youth.-'      Educated  under  John  Major  and  others  at  St.  Andrews,  as 


2  Ho  is  not  to  be  confounded,  as  Keith  and  others  have  done,  with  an  illegitimate  son  of  Lord 
Hamilton's  of  the  same  name,  a  strange  and  too  common  practice  of  those  times.  Thus  another 
Patrick,  the  Prior  of  St.  Andrews,  of  whom  we  shall  hear  presently,  had  three  sons,  all  of  the 
same  name  with  their  father — Patrick  Hepburn. 

3  An  extensive  Abbey,  in  a  fertile  spot  of  lloss-shire,  founded  by  the  first  Earl  of  llo.'is,  in  the 


A 


1527-80  THE  PROTO-M ARTY R.  415 

soon  as  he  had  any  knowledge  of  the  pure  word  of  God,  he  could  not 
conceal  his  sentiments,  and  consequently  was  involved  in  trouble.''  He 
then  went  abroad,  where  he  is  said  to  have  remained  two  years.  Three 
individuals  went  with  him,  one  of  whom,  as  a  servant,  abode  by  him  to 
the  moment  of  death,  having  accompanied  him  to  the  stake.  As  there 
is  sufficient  evidence  that  Hamilton  returned  direct  from  Marburg  in 
Hesse,  and  the  University  at  that  place  was  not  founded  till  1526,  this 
fixes  his  departure  to  the  year  1525  at  the  latest,  not  1526,  as  frequently 
stated.  The  parliamentary  act  of  1525,  already  mentioned,  may  have 
been  in  some  degree  connected  with  the  first  disclosure  of  his  views ; 
and,  indeed,  when  his  sentiments,  as  left  by  himself,  in  his  latin  treatise, 
are  considered,  two  years  may  well  be  allowed  for  his  attaining  to  such 
maturity  of  mind.  Hamilton's  name,  like  that  of  almost  all  who  went 
to  the  Continent  about  that  period,  has  been  associated  with  those  of 
Luther  and  Melancthon.  He  must  have  been  eager  to  see  these  men, 
and  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt  of  his  having  known  them  both  ;  but 
the  evidence  of  his  intimacy  with  Francis  Lambert,  John  Fryth,  and, 
of  course,  with  Tyndale,  rests  on  firmer  ground.^  From  Marburg,  where 
Tyndale  and  Fryth  appear  to  have  been,  he  last  came,  and  embarked  in 
Holland  for  Scotland,  thus  following  the  very  tract  by  which  the  New 
Testament  Scriptures  had  preceded  him  into  his  own  country.  His 
mind  was  full  of  ardour,  and  though  Lambert  had  affectionately  and 
strongly  dissuaded  him  from  rushing  into  such  certain  danger,  if  Fryth 
once  told  him  what  had  just  happened  in  England,  one  can  easily  con- 
ceive of  this  only  adding  oil  to  a  flame  already  kindled. 

But  be  this  as  it  may,  Fryth  was  the  man  who  took  up,  with  a  warm 
and  kindred  spirit,  the  exposition  of  his  views,  which  Hamilton  had  left 
behind  him  at  Marburg  ;  and  from  it  one  may  judge  what  his  preaching 
must  have  been,  upon  his  return.  His  treatise  consists  of  two  books  ; 
the  first  entitled  "  Be  lege  et  evangelio'''' — of  law  and  Gospel ;  the  second, 
'■'•  Defide  et  ojjerihus^'' — of  faith  and  works  ;  or  parts  of  what  were  then 
styled  "  common  places  "  in  divinity.  They  formed  a  sort  of  farewell 
testimony  to  the  course  he  intended  to  pursue  in  his  native  land.  Thus 
the  first  Scotish  or  British  Martyr  of  the  day,  was  the  first  person  who 


thirteenth  century,  under  Alexanderll.,  apreferment  of  considerable  value.  The  Abbey  after- 
wards answered  as  the  parish  church  down  to  so  recent  a  period  as  1/42,  when  the  roof  fell  on  a 
Sunday,  during  the  service,  and  killed  forty-four  persons. 

4  Hence  in  hisfinal  sentence,  we  have  these  wordsof  Beaton  — "  And  he  being  under  the  same 
infamy,  (of  heresy,)  wc  decerning  him  to  be  summoned  and  accused  upon  the  premises,  he,  of 
evil  mind,  as  may  be  presumed,  passed  to  other  parts  forth  of  the  realm,  suspected  and  noted  of 
heresy.     And  being  lately  returned,"  &c. 

5  It  must  be  presumed  that  not  only  Lambert,  but  also  Buschiun,  to  whom  we  have  alluded  as 
such  an  admirer  of  Tyndale,  could  not  fail  to  take  a  deep  interest  in  young  Hamilton.  Hi'rman 
von  Buschi\  the  pupil  of  Rcuchlin,  now  the  professor  of  poetry,  history,  and  belles  lettres,  at 
Marburg,  is  said  to  have  been  the  first  nobleman  in  Germany,  who,  in  spite  of  the  contemjit  from 
his  own  order,  laboured  as  a  teacher  in  the  middle  and  upper  schools.  Sec  also  our  former  re- 
ferences to  MAHiii'RCi  in  vol.  i.,  p)).  IG7,  3!»7,  noU: 


11(1  PATRICK  HAMILTON  [uOOK  IV. 

exhibited  ami  maintained  such  positions  in  this  infant  scat  of  learning  ; 
which  was  the  first  University  founded  in  Europe,  without  any  reference 
wiiatever  to  the  authority  of  the  Pontiff.  Fryth,  delighted  with  the 
sentiments  here  expressed,  says  in  the  preface  to  his  translation, — 

"  This  treatise  I  have  turned  into  the  English  tongue,  to  the  profit  of 
my  nation :  to  whom  I  beseech  God  to  give  light,  that  they  may  espy 
the  deceitful  paths  of  perdition,  and  return  to  the  right  way  which 
leadeth  to  life  everlasting."  lie  here  also  speaks  of  his  friend,  as  "  that 
excellent  and  well  learned  young  man,  Patrick  Hamilton,  born  in  Scot- 
land of  a  noble  progeny,  who,  to  testify  the  truth,  sought  all  means,  and 
took  upon  him  priesthood,  that  he  might  be  admitted  to  preach  the  pure 
word  of  God."  This  language  seems  to  imply,  that  he  had  fully  quali- 
fied himself,  and  lieen  admitted  to  the  ministry  abroad,  or  independently 
of  that  community  in  which  he  was  born.  Hence  said  Beaton  in  his 
sentence,  "  Being  lately  returned,  he,  not  being  admitted,  but  of  his  own 
head,  without  licence  or  privilege,  hath  presumed  to  preach  wicked 
heresy."  Not  that  this  noble  youth  was  not  an  official  character,  or 
had  not  already  passed  through  certain  preliminary  orders  in  the 
Romish  community,  for  he  was  about  "  to  be  deprived  of  all  dignities, 
honours,  orders,  and  benefices  of  that  church." 

Hamilton,  on  liis  arrival,  had  proceeded  first  to  his  brother's 
house  in  Linlithgowshire,  Sir  James  having  succeeded  his 
father  as  Sheriff  of  that  county ;  and  here,  as  the  sequel 
proved,  he  had  preached,  and  conversed  not  in  vain,  as  well  as 
elsewhere.  On  the  one  hand,  it  has  been  said  of  him,  that  ho 
did  not  fail  to  lay  open  the  corruptions  of  the  Church,  and  the 
errors  by  which  the  souls  of  men  were  ruined ;  but,  on  the 
other,  that  he  had  not  attacked  the  hierarchy  as  an  Establish- 
ment, nor  its  claims  to  infallibility.  He  certainly  had  not 
commenced  with  denunciation,  but  by  preaching  the  truth  it- 
self, by  enforcing  the  reading  of  the  Scriptures,  with  the  necessity 
of  repentance  towards  God.,  and  faith  in  Christ  in  order  to  good 
u'orks.  His  discrimination  as  to  the  Law  and  the  Gospel,  as 
to  Faith  and  its  fruits,  were  evidently  of  the  first  order,  very 
far  above  the  age  in  which  he  suffered  ;  and  as  to  his  mode  of 
procedure,  it  seems  to  have  exactly  corresponded  with  the 
counsel  which  Tyndale  gave  to  Fryth  himself,  five  years  after, 
as  already  explained.''  The  Bellum  Sacramentarium,  or  the 
bitter  strife  about  ordinances,  had  commenced  on  the  Conti- 
nent in  1524,  or  before  Hamilton's  reaching  Germany,  and  it 

«  See  vol.  i.,  pp.  .'M;,  .34H,  X>\. 


J 


1.527-8.]  THE  PROTO-MARTYR.  417 

was  still  raging  there ;  but  the  zeal  of  our  first  martyr  was 
not  to  be  spent  on  the  ceremonial  or  outward  form  of  Christ- 
ianit3^  His  was  a  controversy  with  the  heart,  addressed  to 
the  soul  and  spirit  of  man  within  him  ;  and  for  proof  we  only 
need  to  observe  the  points  which  he  regarded  to  be  "  un- 
doubtedly true,''''  and  from  which  all  the  terrors  of  the  stake 
could  not,  for  one  moment,  move  him.  They  were  simply 
these — 

"  I.  That  tlie  corruption  of  sin  remains  in  children  after  their  bajitisni.  2.  That 
no  man  liy  tlie  power  of  his  free  will  can  do  any  good.  3.  That  no  man  is 
without  sin  so  long  as  he  liveth.  4.  That  every  Christian  may  know  himself 
to  be  in  a  state  of  grace.  5.  That  a  man  is  not  justified  by  works,  but  by  faith 
only.  6.  That  good  works  make  not  a  good  man,  but  that  a  good  man  doeth 
good  works  ;  and  that  an  ill  man  doeth  ill  works  ;  yet  the  same  ill  works,  truly 
repented  of,  make  not  an  ill  man.  7.  That  faitli^  hope,  and  love,  ai-e  so  linked 
together,  that  he  who  hath  one  of  them,  hath  all  ;  and  he  that  lacketh  one, 
lacketh  all."  All  others  he  denominated  "  disputable  points,"  though  such  as 
he  could  not  condemn  ;  but  the  above  he  regarded  as  rital  truths. 

The  youth  of  Hamilton,  and  his  rank,  his  fine  talents  and 
his  views  of  divine  truth,  had  all  combined  in  producing  an 
immediate  impression  ;  while  the  power  of  his  family,  of  which 
the  Earl  of  Arran  was  the  chief,  and  who  had  so  resented  the 
death  of  Patrick's  father,  must  have  rendered  any  open  hosti- 
lity more  difiicult.  The  recent  union  also  of  Arran  with  the 
Earl  of  Angus,  the  present  possessor  of  all  power,  to  say 
nothing  of  Beaton  himself,  so  lately  in  disgrace  and  Lord 
Chancellor  no  more,  one  should  have  imagined  would  have 
still  farther  increased  the  difficulty.  These  circumstances, 
however,  clearly  show  the  height  to  which  alarm  had  been  ex- 
cited, or  in  other  words,  the  powerful  result  of  this  young 
man's  exertions.  After  the  Scriptures  had  come,  it  was  like 
a  voice  crying,  "  Arise  from  the  dead,  and  Christ  shall  give 
thee  light."  The  panic  among  the  leaders  of  "  the  old  learn- 
ing" must  have  been  both  great  and  general,  before  decided 
steps  were  taken,  and  these,  at  last,  were  accordingly  dis- 
tingui.shed,  not  only  by  deep  dissimulation,  but  Satanic  haste. 

Invited  to  St.  Andrews  by  a  special  message  from  the  Pri- 
mate, who,  with  solemn  promises  of  safety,  said,  he  only 
wished  to  converse  with  him,  Hamilton  went  without  hesita- 
tion. Beaton  received  him  with  a  hypocritical  shew  of  kind- 
ness, assigned  him  a  lodging  in  the  city,  and  so  left  him  to  be 
fully  ensnared  by  a   Dominican   friar,  Alexander  Campbell, 

VOL.  II.  2d 


UN  THE  SHOCKING  TKKATMK.NT  [liOOK  IV. 

with  whom  ho  had  coino  in  contact  before  hiis  departure  tor 
the  Continent.  Only  a  very  short  time  was  required  to  draw 
from  the  ardent  and  zealous  youth,  ample  ground  for  accusa- 
tion to  the  Arehbi.shoj) ;  more  especially  as  Campbell,  who 
was  the  Prior  of  his  order,  had  pretended  to  admit  the  force 
of  all  that  Hamilton  advanced.  In  fact,  lie  had  been  only  a 
few  days  in  St.  Andrews,  when,  under  night,  he  was  appre- 
hended in  bed  and  carried  to  the  Castle  ;  and  the  very  next 
day  he  was  before  Beaton,  with  thirteen  different  articles  laid 
to  his  charge,  by  the  man  who  seems  to  have  long  thirsted  for 
his  blood.  Though  drawn  into  some  general  conversation  at 
this  moment,  the  youthful  martyr,  with  the  finest  discrimina- 
tion, separating  the  truths  fi'om  the  errors,  had  evidently  re- 
solved to  die  for  the  confession  of  the  former^  rather  than  the 
denial  of  the  latter,  and  therefore  he  abode  by  the  seven  points 
already  mentioned.  So  Fox  informs  us  that  "  learned  men 
who  communed  and  reasoned  with  him,  do  testify,  that  these 
were  the  veTy  articles  for  which  he  suffered."  Meanwhile, 
with  a  hypocritical  show  of  moderation,  Beaton  remitted  the 
articles  entire  to  the  judgment  of  fourteen  theologians,  such 
as  they  were,  not  forgetting,  however,  to  include  among 
the  number  his  base  persecutor,  Campbell.  Within  only  a 
day  or  two  more,  these  men  returned  their  censure,  condem- 
ning the  whole  articles  as  heretical,  before  a  solemn  meeting 
in  the  Cathedral.  This  happened  on  Saturday  the  28tli  of 
February  1528 ;  and  now,  on  the  same  day,  the  prisoner,  after 
all  that  had  been  promised  by  Beaton,  was  to  be  tried,  con- 
demned, and  reduced  to  ashes,  before  the  sun  went  down  ! 
They  trod  in  the  footsteps  of  the  Pharisees  of  old,  for  the 
next  day  was  the  Sabbath  !  ^ 

That  no  small  sensation  had  been  created  by  the  youthful 
and  heroic  martyr,  we  only  need  to  glance  at  the  mighty  array 
brought  together  to  condemn  him,  after  a  mock  trial.    Beaton 


7  It  is  strange  that  there  should  have  been  such  disparity  as  to  this  too  memorable  dair.  Wo 
need  scarcely  mention  Lindsay,  who  says  it  was  in  September  \ri2a,  or  Beza,  who  as  erroneously 
places  the  martyrdom  in  ITi.Td.  under  Cardinal  Beaton.  All  historians  agree,  that  the  condem- 
nation and  martyrdom  were  on  the  name  day.  and  the  sentence  itself  is  dated  "  the  last  day  of 
the  month  of  February,  anno  I5i7,"  which,  by  our  )>resent  reckoning,  was  of  cours^e  I'liV.  Yet 
Spotliswood  says  he  was  executed  March  1.  Petrie  says  March  2.  Dr.  M'Crie,  observing  that 
this  was  leap  year,  therefore  says  February  20;  but  after  all,  this  was  Siindpti,  and  one  cannot 
suppose,  that  upon  tliul  day  such  a  scene  cnuld  have  occurred.  Francis  Lambert  of  Maiburg, 
who  so  mourned  over  the  event,  has  marked  the  day  most  accurately.  Het-aysitwas  Pi  idle 
Kaltndus  .Vattii,  and  this  was  the  2Kth  of  Februaij,  not  the  2f»th.  Notwithstanding  the  clerical 
error  in  the  sentence,   therefore,  Siitiirdaij  must  have  been  the  day. 


i 


1527-S.]  OF  TIIK  KIKST  MAKTVK.  419 

durst  not  send  to  the  King,  and  s.ay,  as  Aniaziah  the  priest 
did  of  Amos  to  the  King  of  Israel,  "  The  land  is  not  able  to 
hear  all  his  tcoi'dsf  but  it  really  seems  as  if  he  had  sent 
round,  and  said  something  of  similar  import  to  his  brethren ; 
for  here  we  have  more  than  twenty  judges,  and  all  assembled 
to  doom  this  vouns:  man  to  death.  Here  there  were  the  two 
Archbishops  and  three  Bishops,  two  Priors  and  four  Abbots, 
five  Rectors  and  three  Deans,  a  Sub-dean  and  a  Canon,  in- 
cluding friars  blaclc  and  friars  grey.^ 

The  trial,  such  as  it  was,  formed  but  a  very  summary  pro- 
ceeding ;  but  we  must  not  omit  part  of  the  brief  dialogue  be- 
tween the  Martyr,  and  Campbell  his  accuser,  in  presence  of 
his  judges  ;  as  it  forms  the  first  evidence  on  record  that  the 
New  Testament  in  English,  by  way  of  eminence  had  become  a 
subject  of  alarm  ;  the  mere  reading  of  it,  involving  all  that 
the  hierarchy  already  feared  and  deprecated  !  It  seems  as  if 
this  Testament  having  arrived,  Hamilton''s  enforcing  the  read- 
ing of  it  by  all,  had  formed  the  head  and  front  of  his  offend- 
ing ;  for,  the  articles  being  read  over  by  his  determined  prose- 
cutor, with  this  he  commenced  ; — 

Campbell. — "  Heretic,  thou  sajest  it  is  lawful  to  any  man  to  read  the  Word 
of  God,  and  in  special  the  New  Testament  ?"  Hamilton. — "  I  said  not  so  (to 
you)  to  my  knowledge  ;  hut  I  said,  and  say  it  now,  it  is  lawful  to  all  men  that 
have  a  soul,  to  read  the  Word  of  God,  that  they  may  understand  the  same,  and 
specially  the  latter  will  and  Testament  of  Jesus  Christ,  whereby  they  may  acknow- 
ledge their  sins  and  repent  of  the  same,  whereby  they  may  amend  their  lives 
by  faith  and  repentance,  and  attain  salvation  by  Christ  Jesus."     Campbell. — 


«  If  it  be  worth  while  to  notice  the  individuals,  they  were  as  follow  -.—James  Beaton,  the 
Primate  himself.  Gavin  Dunbar,  Archbishop  of  Glasgow,  ere  long  to  be  chosen  Lord  Chan- 
cellor. George  Creighton,  Bishop  of  Dunkcld,  the  same  man  who  eleven  years  after  spoke 
stoutly  to  another  noble  martyr,  Forret,  the  Dean  of  Dollar,  and  said,  "  /  thank  God,  that  I 
never  knew  tvhat  the  Old  and  Nciv  Testament  ivns .'"  from  whence  it  became  a  common  proverb, 
— "  Ye  are  like  the  Bishop  of  Diinkeld,  that  knew  neither  the  New  Law  nor  the  Old."  jrilliam 
Chisholm,  Bishop  of  Dunblane,  a  determined  enemy,  and  the  strongest  contrast  to  the  immor- 
tal Leighton.  He  was  the  second  son  of  Edmund  Chisholm  of  Cromlix,  a  pl.ice  two  miles  dis- 
tant, well  known  still  as  the  seat  of  the  mineral  well.  John  Hepburn,  Bishop  of  Brechin,  a 
branch  of  the  Bothwell  family.  Pairiek  Hepbtirn.  the  young  Prior  of  St.  Andrews,  a  most  flagi- 
tious character,  of  whom  we  shall  hear  again.  John  RoirU,  Prior  of  Pittenweem  ;  sec  Pitcairn's 
Criminal  Trials,  vol.  i.,  p.  I'iG.  David  Beaton,  Abbot  of  Arbroath,  the  notorious  future  Car- 
dinal, the  nephew  of  the  Primate,  and  who  is  said  to  have  been  the  moving  cause  of  the  present 
martyrdom.  George  Durp,  Abbot  of  Dunfermline;  the  last  Abbot,  who  was  also  Archdeacon 
of  St.  Andrews,  yllexander  lilUn,  Abbot  of  Cambuskenneth,  and  in  1.532,  the  first  President  of 
the  College  of  Justice,  or  Court  of  Session.     Jienri/,  Abbot  of  Lundores.     /f'Hliam  Stetvart, 

Dean  of  Glasgow.     ,  the  Sub-dean.     Hugh  Spens,  Dean  of  Divinity,  .and  Provost  of  St. 

Salvators  College,  St.  Andrews.  Thomas  liamsay.  Dean  of  the  Abbey  of  St.  Andrews.  Allan 
Meldrum,  Canon  of  St.  Andrews.  Alexander  Campbell,  Prior  of  the  Blackfriars;  with  the 
Rectors  of  Stobo,  Erskine,  Carstairs,  Govan,  and  Glasgow  ;  all  of  whom  set  their  names  to  the 
sentence,  and,  by  way  of  giving  greater  eclat  to  the  deed,  they  got  the  Earl  of  Cassilis  to  follow 
their  example,  though  then  only  a  boy  of  thirteen  years  old  ! 


420  TllK  -MAltTVKDOM  (^eOOK  IV. 

'•  Now,  lifi-t'tic,  1  see  tliat  tlnni  aniniiost  the  words  of  tliy  accusation."  llrniiU- 
ton. — "1  aflirm  nothing,  but  tlie  words  wliicli  I  liave  spoken  in  presence  of 
tliis  auditory." 

The  aiulitory  to  whom  he  addressed  these,  and  other  like 
words,  all  coiuleiiincd  him  to  be  guilty  of  death  ;  and  deliver- 
ing him  over  to  the  secular  power,  on  the  afternoon  of  the 
same  day,  he  was  led  forth  to  a  stake  placed,  in  terrorem,  be- 
fore the  gate  of  St.  Salvator's  College.  On  the  scaffold, 
turning  affectionately  to  the  faithful  servant,  who  had  long 
attended  him,  and  slept  in  the  same  apartment,  having  di- 
vested himself  of  his  gown,  his  coat  and  his  bonnet — "  These," 
said  he,  "  will  not  profit  in  the  fire ;  they  will  profit  thee. 
After  this  thou  canst  receive  no  commodity  from  me  except 
the  example  of  my  death,  which,  I  pray  thee,  bear  in  mind. 
For,  although  it  be  bitter  to  the  flesh,  yet  is  it  the  entrance 
into  eternal  life,  which  none  shall  possess  that  deny  Christ 
before  this  wicked  generation."  When  bound  to  the  stake, 
far  from  exhibiting  any  fear,  he  fixed  his  eyes  towards  heaven, 
commending  his  soul  unto  God.  The  executioner  setting  fire 
to  the  pile,  it  would  not  burn,  but  merely  scorched  the  left  side 
of  their  victim  !  In  this  excruciating  state,  obliged  to  send 
some  distance  to  the  Archbishop"'s  Castle  for  gunpowder,  as 
well  as  elsewhere  for  more  combustible  materials  ;  an  immense 
crowd  having  assembled,  some  of  whom  loudly  denounced  the 
persecutors,  while  others  implored  the  martyr  to  recant  and 
save  his  life,  he  thus  addressed  them  : — 

"  As  for  my  confession,  I  will  not  deny  it  for  fear  of  your  fire,  for  my  con- 
fession and  belief  is  in  Jesus  Christ  ;  and  therefore  I  will  not  deny  it.  I  will 
rather  that  my  body  be  burnt  in  this  fire  for  confession  of  my  faith  in  Christ, 
than  that  my  soul  should  suffer  in  the  un(juenchable  tire  of  hell,  for  denying  of 
my  faith.  But  as  for  the  sentence  and  judgment  pronounced  against  me  t/iig 
day,  by  the  bishops  aud  doctors,  I  here,  in  the  presence  of  you  all,  appeal 
against  the  said  sentences  and  judgment  given  against  me,  and  betake  myself 
to  the  mercy  of  God."  Then  turning  to  Campbell,  who  had  acted  in  the  three- 
fold chai'actcr  of  traitor,  judge,  and  executioner,  as  he  even  now  satanically 
assailed  his  victim,  and  reviled  him  as  an  heretic  ;  Hamilton  closed  by  adding, 
"  Wicked  man  !  thou  knowcst  the  contrary  ;  to  me  thou  hast  confessed.  I 
appeal  thee  before  the  tribunal  seat  of  Jesus  Christ." 

Amidst  the  noise  and  fury  of  the  flames  now  kindled,  and 
the  tumult  of  the  multitude,  his  last  words  were  distinctly 
heard — "  How  long,  O  Lord,  shall  darkness  cover  this  realm  ! 
How  long  wilt  thou  sufi'er  this  tyranny  of  men  !  Lord  Jesus, 
receive  my  spirit." 


1527-8.]  AND  ITS  CONSEQUENCES.  421 

Thus  gloriously  fell,  as  far  as  we  know,  the  first  native  of 
Scotland  as  an  unspotted  martyr  for  the  truth,  for  the  Word 
of  God  itself,  as  well  as  our  right  to  read  it. 

The  powerful  consequences  resulting  from  this  martyrdom, 
can  never  now  be  fully  traced  ;  but  if  we  follow  them  out  as 
far  as  they  may  be,  it  will  be  evident,  that,  hitherto,  the  event 
has  been  greatly  underrated.  The  New  Testament  Scriptures 
had  arrived  in  Scotland,  and  they  had  been  reading  in  secret  for 
at  least  a  year  and  a  quarter.  These  were  God's  own  provi- 
dential gift,  at  a  period  when  the  country  was  full  of  strife  and 
feud,  ferocity  and  murder.  This  it  was  which  is  to  be  re- 
garded as  the  commencement  of  decided  blessing  from  God  ;  and 
now  came  the  bold  and  loud  summons  from  the  believer''s  lips, 
to  rouse  the  dead  in  sin,  and  embolden  them  to  read,  believe, 
and  live.  A  space  equal  to  nearly  three  generations  had 
passed  away  since  anything  so  truly  horrible  had  occurred  in 
Caledonia,  however  stern  and  wild.  Besides,  in  1482,  it  was  a 
foreigner  who  had  suffered  ;  but  here  was  a  native,  of  the  most 
amiable  character,  and  high  birth.  The  report  of  the  martyr- 
dom speedily  ran  through  the  kingdom,  promoting  a  spirit  of 
inquiry  into  the  cause,  as  well  as  the  cause  itself.  For  as  truly 
as  Antipas,  the  faithful  martyr  of  old,  so  God's  most  faithful 
servant  had  now  been  "  slain  among  them  where  Satan  dwelt, 
even  where  his  seat  was  ; "  and  yet  no  place  was  so  deeply  af- 
fected as  the  spot  where  the  deed  was  done." 

Of  the  extent  of  the  sensation  now  produced,  it  is  impossi- 
ble to  judge  with  accuracy,  but  of  its  depth  there  can  be  but 
one  opinion,  since  it  actually  so  far  changed  the  character  of 
this  metropolitan  cit}'^,  the  Rome  of  Scotland.  From  being  the 
stronghold  of  the  Prince  of  Darkness,  it  became  the  seat  of 
deep  inquiry  and  indomitable  discussion,  among  not  a  few  of 
the  students  in  the  different  colleges,  the  canons  of  the  Cathe- 
dral, and  even  the  Friars.  The  sufferings  endured  will  fur- 
nish the  evidence  of  this. 


f  It  has  frequently  been  said,  that  advantage  was  taken  of  the  King's  absence  on  a  pU(jrima(ie 
to  St.  Duthas,  to  perpetrate  this  murder  ;  but  this  must  be  a  mistake,  nor  was  there  any  occa- 
sion for  fearins  him.  Far  from  being  as  yet  "every  inch  a  king,"  he  was,  in  fact,  little  else 
than  a  prisoner  in  the  hands  of  his  jailor,  the  Karl  of  Angus  ;  and  as  young  Casillis,  who  signed 
the  sentence,  was  under  the  guardianshi])  of  Angus,  he  must  bo  regarded  as  having  had  no 
objections  to  the  cruelty.  Besides,  the  King's  mother,  Queen  Margaret,  was  married  to  Henry 
Stuart  aljout  ten  or  twelve  days  after;  and  it  was  not  till  the  H)th  of  March,  that  Angus,  in 
writing  to  Dacre,  says— "  The  king  has  gone  forth  on  his  paslimf,  which  will  keep  him  till 
Kaster."    See  Caligula,  B.  vii.,  27.     Gov.  State  Papers,  iv.,  p.  4H8. 


4.22  ALEXANDER  SETON,  [book  IV. 

Another  luinuin  voice  was  now  demanded ;  but  where  shall 
one  be  found  ?  Campbell,  the  prior  of  the  order  of  St.  Domi- 
nic, or  the  Black  Friars,  had  betrayed  this  heroic  young  man, 
and  who  so  proper  to  speak  next,  as  a  brother  of  the  same  fra- 
ternity ?  The  Friar  who  had  been  appointed  to  preach  through- 
out Lent,  in  the  Cathedral  itself,  it  might  seem  far  too  much 
to  expect,  but  in  truth  it  was  no  other  !  He  was  the  first  to 
sound  again  the  trumpet  of  truth,  and  that  almost  imme- 
diately after  the  Martyr  had  gone  to  receive  his  crown.  Open- 
ing his  lips,  they  found  he  was  no  other  than  what  they  de- 
nominated a  heretic  !  Standing  on  the  very  spot  where  the 
murderers  had  sat  in  judgment,  this,  as  the  prophet  once  ex- 
pressed it,  was  as  if  "the  stone  had  cried  out  of  the  wall,  and 
the  beam  out  of  the  timber  had  answered  it.""  Nor  was  the 
preacher  himself,  from  his  official  character,  less  remarkable. 
The  Archbishop,  as  well  as  all  under  his  authority,  were  afraid 
to  touch  him,  he  being  actually  the  Father  Confessor  of  the 
King  himself — that  King  whom  Beaton  had  not  consulted, 
and  who  had  therefore  not  consented  to  the  counsel  or  deed  of 
these  bloody  men.  This  was  Friar  Alexander  Seton,  brother 
of  Ninian  Seton,  or  Seytoun  of  Touch. 

In  discharging  his  duty,  and  following  the  example  of  his 
deeply  lamented  predecessor,  Seton  now  saw  that  in  the  truth 
itself,  there  was  enough  to  convict  all  its  enemies,  and  produce 
dismay  ;  and  that  no  wise  man  will  ever  commence  his  labours 
by  merely  attacking  superstition,  or  pulling  at  prejudices,  as 
he  would  at  a  cart -rope  ;  an  egregious  mistake,  into  which 
many  have  since  fallen.  Taking  for  his  subject  the  law  of  God 
itself,  Seton  insisted  much  on  the  following  points — 

"  That  the  Law  of  God  is  the  only  rule  of  righteousness  ;  that  if  God's  Law 
be  not  violated,  no  sin  is  committed  ;  that  it  is  not  in  man's  power  to  satisfy 
for  sin  ;  that  the  forgiveness  of  sin  is  no  otherwise  obtained  than  by  unfeigned 
repentance  and  true  faith,  apprehending  the  mercy  of  God  in  Christ  Jesus. 
Of  purgatory,  pilgrimage,  prayer  to  saints,  of  merits  and  miracles,  the  usual 
subjects  of  the  friar's  sermons,  not  a  word  he  spake."  '" 

It  is  remarkable  that  he  should  have  been  permitted  to  re- 
peat his  sentiments ;  but  having  been  appointed  to  preach 
during  Lent,  this,  together  with  his  official  character,  may 
have  been  his  safeguard,  until  he  had  given  his  auditory  line 

1"  SjMjItiswciod,  fomth  pilit.,  ]>  (i4. 


1527-8.]  THE  SECOND  CONFESSOR.  423 

upon  Hue,  and  proof  after  proof.  About  the  end  of  that  season, 
however,  having  occasion  to  go  northward  to  Dundee,  he  was 
tliere  informed  that  a  friar  of  his  own  order  liad  been  set  up 
to  refute  his  doctrine.  He  then  returned  to  St.  Andrews,  and 
the  King's  Confessor,  not  to  be  resisted,  confirmed  his  former 
positions,  adding,  from  Scripture,  the  qualifications  required 
for  a  good  and  faithful  bishop. 

This  last  subject  could  not  be  passed  over,  and  soon  brought 
him  before  the  Archbishop  ;  but  he,  knowing  Seton  to  be  of 
a  bold  spirit,  dissembled  his  anger.  Upon  another  martyrdom 
he  dared  not  venture  so  soon,  a  negative  testimony  to  the 
power  of  Hamilton''s  death  ;  nor  could  the  Primate  resolve 
upon  trying  any  expedient,  except  that  of  first  undermining 
Seton's  character  in  the  estimation  of  the  young  King.  This 
was  easily  effected,  and  very  soon  after.  Poor  young  prince  ! 
His  natural  powers  were  of  no  inferior  order,  but  these  men, 
whether  nobility  or  clergy,  had  allowed  him  to  grow  up  in  a 
state  of  comparative  ignorance,  and  of  self-indulgence,  even  to 
licentiousness  :  the  nobility,  that  they  might  rule  him  as  a 
puppet,  which  his  high  spirit  could  not  endure  ;  the  clergy,  that 
he  might  one  day  fall  into  their  hands,  and  move  only  in  sub- 
servience to  their  designs.  Now,  at  this  very  period  a  crisis 
had  arrived,  of  the  King's  emancipation  from  the  one  party, 
and  his  falling  under  bondage  to  the  other.  His  Highness  had 
groaned  from  day  to  day  under  the  iron  yoke  of  the  Earl  of 
Angus,  who,  supported  by  the  influence  of  England,  was  the 
absolute  governor  of  the  nation  still,  though  James  had  been 
crowned  in  1525.  Next  year  the  King  had  applied  to  some  of 
his  nobles  to  relieve  him  from  bondage,  and  hence  the  battle  of 
Linlithgow  in  1526.  On  the  watch  ever  after,  at  last,  on  the 
22d  or  23d  of  May  1 528,  he  himself  dexterously  succeeded,  by 
his  escape  from  Falkland  to  the  castle  of  Stirling;  soon  after 
which  Angus  and  the  Douglas  party  were  overcome  and  ba- 
nished.^^  In  part  indebted  for  his  escape  to  Archbishop  Bea- 
ton, at  tliis  moment  the  young  monarch  must  have  been 
ready  to  listen  to  whatever  he  said,  and  hence  it  was  no  diffi- 
cult task  to  destroy  all  respect  for  Seton  ;  while  this  was 
rendered  still  more  easy,  not  only  from  his  having  been  the 
Confessor  of  his  Highness  in  the  wearisome  days  of  his  thral- 

II  Gdv.  state  Paiieis,  vol.  iv.     Tytli-r.     riUaiin's  Criminal  Trials. 


424  SETON  ESCAl'ES.  [hook  iv. 

doin,   but  because  Seton,  much  to  his  credit,  had  warned  liim 
respecting  his  licentiousness. 

From  what  had  happened  in  February,  and  observing  the 
confidence  or  respect  of  the  monarch  to  be  on  the  decline,  Seton 
well  knew  what  must  ultimately  await  him,  and  seeing  no 
safety  on  the  spot,  he  fled  to  Berwick.  From  thence,  how- 
ever, he  wrote  to  his  royal  master,  a  faithful  letter,  warning 
him  of  the  men  under  whose  influence  he  had  now  fallen.  He 
here  explained  that  the  authority  of  the  Bishops,  and  by  no 
means  that  of  his  Highness,  was  what  he  dreaded. 

Tluy  bcliaved,  lie  said,  as  kings,  and  would  not  allow  any  man  of  wliatever 
state  or  degree,  if  once  they  pronounced  liini  to  be  an  heretic,  to  speak  in  his 
own  defence.  Nevertheless,  if  he  might  but  have  audience  before  the  king, 
lie  now  offered  to  return  and  justify  his  cause.  Like  a  faithful  adviser,  he 
then  informed  James,  that  in  duty  he  ought  to  see  that  every  subject  accused 
of  his  life,  should  be  allowed  to  use  his  lawful  defences  ;  since  the  Prelates  held 
that  such  matters  did  not  fall  under  the  cognizance  of  the  Prince,  and  if  only 
ence  heard,  he  would  ilemonstrate  the  contrary  by  their  oicn  laws.  He  then 
besought  his  Highness  not  to  be  led  any  longer  by  their  informations,  but  to 
use  the  authority  committed  to  him  by  God,  and  not  to  suffer  these  tyrants  to 
proceed  against  him,  till  brought  to  his  answei-.  This  he  would  not  refuse  to 
give,  if  once  assured  of  the  safety  of  his  life.l^ 

At  Berwick  he  waited  for  some  reply,  but  waited  in  vain. 
Before  this  time  Angus  had  been  banished,  and  his  estates  for- 
feited ;  Dunbar,  Archbishop  of  Glasgow,  had  been  appointed 
Chancellor  in  August,  as  his  successor,  and  Beaton,  though 
not  yet  in  power,  had  been  recalled  to  the  Council  by  the  end 
of  November.^''  Seton,  therefore,  retired  into  England,  where 
he  became  chaplain  to  Charles  Brandon,  Duke  of  Suffolk.  As 
if  to  show  how  equally  balanced  the  two  countries,  England 
and  Scotland  were,  with  regard  to  their  progress  in  Divine 
truth  ;  about  thirteen  years  after,  or  in  1541,  Seton  was  called 
before  Stephen  Gardiner,  and  examined,  but  denied  not  any 
point  which  ho  had  formerly  taught.^'*  He  even  continued  to 
preach  the  truths  with  which  he  had  been  charged,  and  died, 
it  has  been  said,  next  year,  or  1542. 

In  the  meanwhile,  or  before  the  close  of  1528,  it  is  pleasing 


19  Sec  the  letter  in  Keith'b  History,  Apjieiidix,  wliicli  has  been  expressly  aflirmed  to  be  dated 
ill  l.V.'H.  Several  historians  may  have  ltd  their  readers  astray  by  saying,  that  all  this  occurred 
ill  the  Lent /(illoici  11(1.  No  doubt,  the  greater  part  of  Lent  /olloiivd,  as  Hamilton  died  on  the 
Uiiid  day  after  its  commencement.  Keith  has  accurately  marked  the  time  by  s.iyinR  "  Divers 
of  the  religious  themselves  did  from  llml  liiiujhncard  declaim— and  particularly  in  Dial  Lent— 
one  Seton,  brother  of  Ninian  Seton." 

13  (Jov.  Slate  Piipor.i,  iv..  pp.  476.  ."MO.  '*  Koxe. 


]52y-34.]  TESTAMENTS  IMPORTING.  42.'') 

to  find  any  information  whatever,  bearing  on  the  Scriptures, 
and  their  continued  importation.  The  friars  now  were  more 
busy  everywhere  than  they  had  ever  been,  since  friars  were  in 
fashion.  The  reader  may  recollect  of  one,  under  our  history 
as  to  England,  Friar  John  West.  Earnestly  charged,  by 
Wolsey,  with  dispatches  to  Counsellor  Herman  Rincke  of 
Cologne  ;  their  united  cftbrts  were  to  be  employed  in  the  ap- 
prehension of  Tyudale  himself,  and  of  William  Roye,  once  his 
amanuensis  ;  or,  at  all  events,  their  books.  With  regard  to 
the  men  they  entirely  failed,  but  a  number  of  what  Rincke 
calls  "  their  books,''''  he  had  found  out  and  secured.  These  must 
liave  included  copies  of  the  New  Testament,  as  well  as  Roye's 
celebrated  Satyre  on  the  Cardinal,  a  personal  affair,  which  the 
latter  so  deeply  resented.  One  short  passage  in  Rincke's  re- 
ply to  Wolse3%  d'T-ted  the  4th  of  October  1528,  and  sent  by 
West,  deserves  to  be  repeated  here — 

"  But  these  books,  unless  I  had  found  them  out  and  interjwsed,  must  have 
been  pressed  together  with  parclinient,  and  concealed  ;  and  enclosed  in  pack- 
ages, artfully  covered  over  with  flax,  they  would  in  time,  without  any  suspi- 
cion, have  been  transmitted  by  sea,  into  Scotland  and  Encfland,  as  to  the  same 
place  ;  and  would  have  been  sold  as  mei'ely  clean  paper  ;  but  as  yet,  few  or  none 
of  those,  carried  away  and  sold,  have  been  found." 

Here  then  we  have  distinct  mention  of  a  continued  traffic 
going  on,  and  of  one  of  the  asserted  methods  of  transit,  for 
there  must  have  been  various  ;  nor  is  it  less  worthy  of  repeti- 
tion, that  the  Jeit's  are  to  be  supposed  as  having  had  some 
concern  in  these  importations,  whether  "  to  Scotland  or 
England,  as  to  the  same  place."^^ 


SECTION  III. 

FKOM    1.529    TO    1.534 all-important    period,    hitherto    UNNOTICEp — 

ALEXANDER    ALES CRUELLY    PERSECUTED    BY    HEPBURN,    THE  PRIOR  OP 

ST.     ANDREWS AT    LAST    ESCAPES     BY     SEA,     FROM     DUNDEE,     FIRST     TO 

FRANCE,    AND    THEN    TO    GERMANY HIS    EPISTLE    ADDRESSED    TO  JAMES 

V.  ;    OR  THE    COMMENCEMENT    OF    THE    FIRST    REGULAR   CONTROVERSY   IN 


15  Cotton  MS.  Vitelliiis,  B.  xxi.,  fol.  43.  Thus  Sculhind  is  oiit-e  more  mcMitiuiicd  to  VVol>ey  ; 
but  tlic  entire  letter  is  well  wortliy  of  perusal,  and  specially  on  account  of  some  connexion 
which  the  ./.'(W  had  willi  these  im)iortations.  Sec  the  kltcr,  for  this  and  otlier  i)articnlars,  in 
our  Knj^Iish  history,  anno  l.WS,  vol.  i.,  pp.  2(l.'J-2(i4. 


l-2<<  IMPORTANT  PERIOD.  [book  IV. 

BKITAIN  RESPECTINQ  THE  8CRIPTUBES  PBINTED  IN  THE  VULGAR  TONQDB 

THE  ABUSIVE    PUBLICATION    OF    COCHL^UH    PU0FES8EDLV  IN  REPLY — 

THE  REPBE8ENTATION8  OF  ALE8  CONFIRMED  BY  THE  STATE  OP  TUB 
COUNTRY,  AND  THE  SECOND  MARTYRDOM — ANSWER  OF  ALES  TO  THE  CA- 
LUMNIES OP  COCHLiECS — ALES    PLEADS,    MOST  EARNESTLY,  FOR    THE    NEW 

TESTAMENT  TO  BE  READ — BUT  ESPECIALLY   IN  FAMILIES EXTOLS  DIVINE 

REVELATION,  AND  AS  TO  BE  FOUND  IN  THE  ENGLISH  VERSION  NOW  IM- 
PORTING  COCIIL^US,    QUITE    ENRAGED,    ADDRESSES    JAMES    V. — AND    IS 

REWARDED — HAD  MENDACIOUSLY  AVERRED  THAT  THE  WRITINGS  OF  ALES 
PROCEEDED  FROM  MELANCTIION — THE  PERSECUTIONS  AND  MARTYRDOMS 
OF  1534  AGAIN  CONFIRM  THE  STATESIENTS  OP  ALES — WHO  IS  NOW 
STANDING  BY  HIMSELF  ALONE  IN  DEFENCE  OF  THE  TRUTH. 

&iK  are  now  arrived  at  a  very  memorable  period  in  the 
history  of  Scotland.  It  involves  a  space  of  live 
years,  from  the  year  1529  to  J  534  inclusive,  and 
yet  it  has  been  treated  by  all  our  historians  as  a  sort  of  chasm, 
or  calm  in  the  annals  of  persecution.  No  author  has  informed 
us  that  there  was,  at  such  a  time,  one  fragment  of  distinct 
information  in  existence,  respecting  the  Sacred  Volume ;  its  im- 
portation into  the  country  ;  its  being  bought,  or  sold,  and  read 
by  the  people ;  or  that  such  reading  was  being  so  bitterly  op- 
posed. This  is  the  more  surprising,  since,  upon  this  subject, 
it  forms  one  of  the  most  interesting  periods  in  the  early  his- 
tory of  the  entire  Island,  Commencing  seven  years  before 
Henry  the  Eighth  had  decidedly  broken  off  from  Rome,  and 
while  both  the  South  and  North  were  still  under  the  domi- 
nant power  of  "the  old  learning;"  yet  was  it  the  season  of 
the  first  regular  controversy  in  Britain,  though  carried  on 
with  Scotland,  respecting  the  Sacred  Volume  in  our  native 
language  ;  as  well  as  the  undoubted  right  of  every  one  "  both 
low  and  high,  rich  and  poor  together,"  to  read  the  Scriptures 
for  themselves. 

This  topic  has  formed  the  frequent  or  fruitful  source  of 
eulogy  long  since,  and  down  to  the  present  hour,  as  one  of  the 
liighcst  arguments  which  can  occupy  the  pen  or  tongue  of 
man,  for  a  greater  has  never  engaged  the  attention  of  man- 
kind ;  and  yet,  strange  to  say,  the  first  individual  who  argued 
the  point,  and  so  ably  led  the  van,  has  been  as  much  over- 
looked, as  Tyndalc  himself,  the  origiual  translator,  and  even 
more  so.  How  it  has  happened  that,  above  all  other  men,  he 
has  been  overshadowed,  wlm  fir^t  contended  with  his  own  mo- 


152!»-3J-.]  ALEXANDER  ALES.  427 

narch  in  Scotland,  for  the  immortal  interests  of  his  fellow- 
countrymen,  the  Scots,  and  afterwards  even  before  the  assem- 
bled prelates  of  England  at  Westminster,  for  the  all-sufficiency 
of  the  Scriptures,  and  the  binding  authority  of  the  Word  of  God, 
it  is  impossible  exactly  to  account.  Whether  there  has  been 
any  studied  or  systematic  attempt,  in  both  countries,  to  con- 
ceal from  public  view,  our  first,  and  therefore  highest  human 
benefactors,  that  other  men  who  only  entered  into  their  labours 
might  reap  certain  laurels,  and  obtain  the  praise  of  party,  we 
leave  others  to  decide  ;  but  one  is  certainly  tempted  to  sup- 
pose, that  there  has  been  something  of  the  kind. 

The  name  of  Ales,  it  is  true,  does  occur  in  our  histories, 
among  some  others,  as  that  of  a  persecuted  individual  who  fled 
from  his  native  land,  and  died  a  professor  at  Leipsic ;  and  in  the 
preceding  pages,  even  under  the  history  as  to  England,  he  has 
already  come  before  us ;  but  nothing  has  ever  been  said,  to 
distinguish  him  sufficiently  from  his  contemporaries,  and  much 
less  to  mark  the  obligations  under  which  he  laid  his  country, 
to  the  lasting  remembrance  of  his  name.  His  havina,-  been 
born  in  a  city,  since  so  conspicuous  for  literature  and  research 
as  Edinburgh,  and  his  having  been  the  first,  who,  from  fond 
recollections  in  a  foreign  land,  wrote  a  description  of  "  his  own 
romantic  town,"  only  renders  this  neglect  the  more  extraordi- 
nary.^ It  becomes  therefore  a  grateful  task  to  rescue  from 
oblivion,  and  render  some  account  of  this  early  native  of  the 
Scotish  capital ;  but  especially  of  his  exertions  in  reference  to 
the  Scriptures  in  our  vernacular  tongue,  and  the  necessity  for 
their  being  read,  under  the  domestic  roof. 

Alexander  Ales,  much  better  known  on  the  Continent 
than  at  home,  and  there  by  the  name  of  Alesitis,  was  born  in 
Edinburgh  on  the  23d  of  April  1500.-  His  father  was  an 
honest  and  substantial  burgess  of  that  city,  and  under  his  own 
roof,  the  education  of  his  son  was  so  far  perfected,  as  to  fit 
him  for  entering  the  University  of  St.  Andrews,  As  for  his 
boyhood,  the  only  particular  known  is  one  related  by  himself. 


'  It  is  curious  enousli,  tliat  this  dcsciiptiou  should  be  the  only  fragment  written  by  Alks 
which  has  ever  been  reininted.  This  it  has  been,  within  these  few  years,  by  the  fiannatvne 
Club,  and  in  elegant  style,  with  explanatory  notes. 

s  Written  in  Ihe  Register  of  the  University  of  Leipsic,  by  Ales  himself. 


428  ALEXANDKR  ALES,  [boOK  IV. 

in  the  preface  to  one  of  liis  future  publications  on  tlie  Conti- 
nent, his  Exposition  of  Timothy  : — 

»  Diverting  himself,  with  other  children,  on  the  top  of  a  hill,  where  there 
was  a  high  rock,  as  they  were  rolling  themselves  towards  the  i)rieii>iee,  he  had 
advanced  to  the  Very  brink,  when  he  felt  himself  snatched  up  and  carried  to  a 
place  of  safety,  without  knowing  how,  or  by  whom.  .Some  ascribed  this,"  says 
he,  "  to  several  portions  of  Scripture,  especially  from  John,  hung  about  my 
neck,  which  was  then  a  common  custom  of  parents  with  children."  In 
certain  parts  of  Ireland,  it  is  a  practice  ft'tll,  to  operate  as  a  charm.  Ales  had 
ascribed  his  deliverance  to  the  faith  or  prayers  of  his  parents  ;  but  many  yeare 
after,  the  recollection  still  chilled  his  blood.'* 

Having  gone  to  St.  Andrews,  finislieJ  his  education,  and 
taken  priest's  orders,  he  became  one  of  the  canons  of  the  priory 
or  cathedral  church  in  that  city,  then  the  largest  in  Scotland, 
as  containing  from  fifteen  to  twenty  thousand  inhabitants.''  We 
hear  nothing  more  of  him,  however,  till  he  had  reached  the 
twenty-eighth  year  of  his  age.  Then,  as  a  proof  that  the  alarm 
of  the  bishops  and  monks  in  1525  and  1527,  respecting  the 
introduction  of  "  the  new  learning"  into  Scotland,  was  not 
without  grounds,  it  turned  out  that  the  canons  and  students 
were,  through  the  medium  of  certain  books,  studying  the  grand 
controversy  of  the  times.  But  whatever  might  be  the  object 
of  other  young  men,  that  of  Ales  was,  that  he  might  be  qua- 
lified to  oppose  all  innovation.  When  Patrick  Hamilton, 
therefore,  four  years  younger  than  himself,  was  "  drawn  unto 
death"  at  St.  Andrews,  and  now  "  ready  to  be  slain,"  far  from 
disposed  to  "  deliver"  him,  and  confident  in  his  own  scholastic 
powers,  Ales  actually  undertook  to  reclaim  the  suspected 
heretic.  For  this  purpose  he  held  several  conferences  with  his 
more  enlightened  junior,  little  dreaming  that  the  attempt  was 
about  to  change  the  current  of  his  whole  life.  But  stainiered 
bv  the  reasoning  of  that  youno-  <reutleman  ;  then  hearin<r  his 
noble  testimony,  in  a  full  house,  or  within  the  very  walls 
where  Ales  himself  was  accustomed  to  engage  in  services  which 
the  Martyr  had  so  exposed ;  and  finally,  beholding  the  heroic 
constancy  with   which  he   maintained   his  integrity    in    the 


s  I'rcfat.  in  .iltcrain  ad  Timothium,  apud  Jacobum  Thomasium,  iu  Orat.  de  Alcsio.  Bajle's 
Diet.,  art.  Alcsius.  The  spot  is  not  mmlioned.  whether  the  Castle,  Calton  Hill,  or  Arthur'* 
Seat,  f'lr  it  may  liavc  been  any  of  the  three. 

*  In  the  ye.ir  that  Ales  was  born,  or  15iMi,  the  pdpulation  of  Edittburgh  was  about  JKIOO,  dwell- 
ing in  7W  house;  or  tenements.     St.  Andrews  was  the  great  city  in  tliose  davR. 


1  ,V29-3 1.]  A  NATIVE  OF  EDINBURGH.  420 

flames,  amidst  the  rage,  and  more  than  savage  cruelty  of  his 
enemies,  the  scene,  as  well  as  the  sentiments,  were  never  to  be 
forgotten.  In  short,  the  heart  of  Ales  was  pierced  by  convic- 
tions, which  ended  in  his  conversion  to  the  faith  he  had  la- 
boured in  vain  to  destroy.  St.  Andrew's  was  not  now  to  sleep 
in  quiet,  after  the  smoke  of  Patrick's  funeral  pile  had  been 
blown  upon  the  spectators,  and  scorched  the  Benedictine  friar, 
his  persecutor,  Seton,  as  we  have  seen,  was  the  first  victim 
soon  after,  but  severer  trials  awaited  Ales,  the  very  next  year. 
The  statements  of  the  first,  however,  have  already  furnished 
an  important  preliminary  corroboration  of  all  that  Ales  will  ad- 
vance as  to  the  state  of  the  country  ;  and  especially  of  the  posi- 
tion then  occupied  respectively  by  the  bishops  and  monks,  the 
priors  and  abbots,  on  the  one  hand,  and  young  King  James,  on 
the  other.  Considering  the  virulence  and  sophistry  with  which 
Ales  was  about  to  be  assailed  by  one  man  abroad ;  the  united 
testimony  of  these  two  witnesses  on  the  spot,  will  at  once  put 
down  the  calumny  of  a  distant  and  sycophantish  brawler,  such 
as  Cochlreus.  Suflice  it  only  to  say  here,  that,  after  enduring 
great  trials.  Ales  had  escaped  from  the  port  of  Dundee  through 
the  kindness  of  friends,  both  on  shore  and  on  board  the  ves- 
sel, then  ready  to  sail,  about  the  close  of  1531.  Having  landed 
on  the  Continent,  Avhither  he  first  went  it  is  impossible  to  say, 
but  certainly  not  to  Wittenberg.  By  the  loose  manner  in 
which  he  has  occasionally  been  referred  to,  he  is  of  course  sent 
immediately  to  Luther ;  but  if  Luther  had  indoctrinated  or  only 
conversed,  with  all  those  Englishmen  and  Scotsmen  who  have 
been  consigned,  by  historians,  to  his  personal  acquaintance,  he 
must  have  had  nothing  else  to  do,  from  morning  to  night.  On 
the  contrary,  and  as  late  as  the  year  1534,  Ales  himself  in- 
forms us  that  he  had  not  yet  acquired  the  German  language, 
and  that  he  had  not,  even  then,  known  Luther  at  all.  He  had 
traversed,  however,  the  coast  of  France,  and  proceeded  into 
some  part  of  Germany  ;  where,  as  he  understood  only  Latin, 
he  had  assiduously  applied  to  the  Greek  language.  By  the 
year  referred  to,  he  seems  to  have  been  fond  of  quoting  it. 

After  the  escape  of  Ales,  an  edict  or  order  of  the  bishops 
had  been  promulgated, /??'o/«"62Ym_^  the  Neic  Testament  in  Eufflish 
from  being  read  or  sold.  To  whatever  extent  this  had  gone, 
the  alarm  of  the  enemy  is  one  decided  proof  of  progress  made. 
But  the  story  entire,  and  so  distinctly  told,  by  this  the  first 


i;j(t  rilK  Kl.\(i   ADDKKSSKI)  [bOOK  IV, 

advocate  in  Si'utlaiul,  fur  our  liigliest  national  blessing,  as  well 
as  the  sulVcrin<jj,s  previously  endured  by  liini,  eannot  be  so  well 
conveyed,  as  in  his  own  lan^uai^e.  'J'his  will  j)rove  tlie  more 
interesting,  as  taken  from  publications  which  have  never  been 
laid  before  the  English  reader,  and  filling  up  a  period  hitherto 
passed  over  in  silence. 

From  four  different  publications  in  Latin,  and  one  in 
English,  scarcely  known,  our  space  will  only  admit  of  certain 
extracts,  though  the  whole  be  well  worthy  of  republication  in 
our  native  tongue.  It  is,  however,  necessary  to  premise,  that 
as  Ales  had  been  deeply  indebted  to  King  James  the  Fifth  for 
his  very  kind  interposition  in  his  favour;  as  well  as  to  that  of 
other  canons  of  St.  Andrews  ;  so  he  writes  under  the  impres- 
sion that  his  Highness  was  the  same  man  in  1533  and  1534, 
that  he  had  been  in  152.0.  He  was  not  aware  of  the  Royal 
youth  sinking  so  rapidly  under  the  baneful  influence  of  the 
hierarchy,  till  at  last  they  brought  him  to  sanction,  by  his  own 
personal  presence,  the  burning  of  his  subjects.  In  1528,  he 
would  have  said — "  Is  thy  servant  a  dog,  that  he  should  do 
this  thing  ?" 

Relying,  therefore,  on  the  character  of  the  King,  no  sooner 
had  Ales  heard  of  the  doings  of  Beaton  and  his  fellows,  than 
he  resolved  to  address  his  Highness.  We  copy  from  the  only 
edition  ever  printed — "  An  epistle  of  Alexander  Ales,  ar^alnst  a 
certain  Decree  of  the  Bishops  in  Scotland,  which  forbids  to  read 
the  hooks  of  the  New  Testament  in  the  vernacidar  tongue.''''  "  To 
the  renowned  King  of  Scots,  James  the  Fifth,  Duke  of  Albany, 
Prince  of  Ireland  and  the  Orkneys,  his  most  compassionate 
Lord,  Alexander  Ales,  S.  D.*"^ 

"  Seeing  that,  among  other  virtues,  there  so  exists  and  shines  forth 
in  you  a  certain  distinguished  and  heroic  goodness,  that  it  is  well  known 
to  all  throughout  your  entire  kingdom,  and  on  that  account  all  good  men 
wonderfully  love  you  ;  I,  however,  especially  when  in  danger  of  my  life, 
have  thoroughly  perceived  this  public  praise  of  your  goodness  to  be 
strictly  true,  and  that  you  utterly  abhor  all  cruelty.  For  when  certain 
friends  of  mine  explained  to  you  that  I  was  seized  with  violence,  and 
cast  into  a  dreadful  dungeon,  by  your  Bishops  ;  although  they  contrived 


s  "  Alcxantlri  Alesii  Epistnla  contra  ilccretum  qiioililnm  Episcoporum  in  Scotia,  quod  pro- 
hibit legerc  Novi  Testament!  lil)ri>9  lingua  vernacnla."  This  letter  is  very  neatly  printed  in 
IHmo,  filling  thirteen  leaves,  besides  the  title  as  above.  There  is  no  place  or  printer's  name 
mentioned,  but  at  the  end  it  19  dated,  "Anno  mdxxxiii."" 


1520-34.]  BV  ALEXANDKK  ALKS.  431 

homble  charges  against  ine,  yet  you  sent  to  me  honourable  men  from 
your  court,  who  signified  to  me  that  you  were  concerned  for  my  safety. 
And  not  long  after,  with  the  greatest  kindness,  you  gave  orders  that 
they  should  let  me  go,  safe  and  free,  out  of  prison,  and  that  they  should 
cease  to  rage  against  me  ;  for  which  favour,  I  entertain  towards  you 
renowned  Sovereign,  as  much  gratitude  as  the  mind  is  able  to  con- 
ceive.^ I  would,  however,  that  it  had  been  in  your  power  to  complete  the 
benefit  you  had  commenced  ;  for  afterwards,  when,  on  the  business  of 
the  State,  you  were  absent  in  some  other  parts  of  your  kingdom,  since 
the  bishops  could  not  do  anything  worse,  they  thrust  me  out  of  the 
country,  against  law,  and  by  violence.'' 

Trusting,  therefore,  to  your  lenity  and  kindness,  which  was  shown  to 
me  in  my  distress,  I  have  not  hesitated  to  write  to  you  ;  not  concerning 
my  own  personal  injury,  of  which,  however,  I  shall  treat  at  another 
time  ;  but  that  according  to  the  duty  which  I  owe  to  your  Highness  and 
the  country,  I  may  warn  you  against  a  certain  nefarious  and  impious 
edict,  which,  without  your  authority,  the  bishops  have  published  in  your 
kingdom,  videlicet — '  That  no  one  should  read  in  his  native  language^  the 
looks  of  the  Neio  Testament.'' 

"  Although  I  saw  in  that  affair  how  great  was  the  fury  of  the  priests 
against  all,  who  occasionally  signified  that  they  wished  the  churches 
should  be  more  purely  instructed  as  to  necessary  matters  ;  yet  this  is 
evidently  a  new  and  unheard  of  example,  among  those  who  style  them- 
selves Christians,  to  forbid,  by  an  edict,  the  reading  of  the  Sacred  books.* 
And  I  know  that  this  device  was  managed,  without  your  counsel  or 
authority,  by  the  chief  priests,  or  rather  by  the  Monks,  for  they  are,  in 
truth,  the  contrivers  of  this  business.  I  thought  it  therefore  my  duty 
to  write  to  you,  that  you  may  interpose  your  authority,  and  consult  both 
the  glory  of  God,  and  also  the  reputation  of  your  kingdom.  For  what 
kind  of  precedent  is  it,  that  men  should  be  debarred  from  the  oracles  of 
Christ  1  What  else  could  the  Tvirks,  or  other  nations  hostile  to  the 
Christian  name  do,  than  to  take  care  that  the  people  touch  not  the 


6  "  The  very  dungeon  which  is  still  shewn  among  the  ruins  of  the  Castle  or  Episcoiial  Palace." 
"  A  low  browed  passage  leads  down  to  a  low  part  of  the  interior,  from  which  there  is  a  small 
doorway  opening  upon  a  dreadful  dark  cavern,  cut  out  of  the  solid  rock,  and  shaped  like  a  com- 
mon bottle.  The  neck  of  the  orifice  is  seven  feet  wide,  by  about  eight  in  depth,  after  which  it 
widens  till  it  be  seventeen  feet  in  diameter.  The  depth  of  the  whole  is  twenty-two.  This  fear- 
ful tomb  was  once  used  as  the  dungeon  of  the  castle,  and  recusant  victims  were  put  therein. 
Some  years  since  it  was  cleared  out  to  serve  as  a  powder  magazine,  when  a  great  quantity  of 
bones  were  removed." — Chambers'  Gazclecr.  The  reader,  however,  should  be  informed,  that 
Beaton's  Castle,  by  an  act  of  the  Privy  Council  in  1547,  was  nearly  levelled  to  the  ground,  and 
that  the  present  ruins  are  those  of  the  pile  afterwards  erected  by  Archbi^hop  Hamilton;  but 
this  could  not  affect  a  jirison  sunk  in  the  solid  rock,  and  we  shall  yet  have  farther  evidence  that 
this  must  have  been  the  very  dungeon  to  which  Ales  was  consigned. 

7  He  means,  as  it  will  appear  presently,  that  by  their  cruelty,  they  forced  him  to  provide  for 
his  own  safety  by  fliabt,  as  strongly  advised  by  his  friends. 

8  He  was  not  yet  sufficiently  actiuainted  witli  the  Continent. 


432  TIIK  FIRST  ADDRESS.  [doOK  IV. 

Sacred  1)0oks — that  they  should  not  know  the  benefits  of  Christ,  and  his 
most  holy  precepts,  lest  any  one  should  form  a  firm  and  distinct  opinion 
with  regard  to  divine  things,  from  the  very  words  of  Christ,  and  the 
testimonies  of  his  uj)ostles  ?  What  other  tendency  has  this  attempt, 
but  to  ruin  and  extinguish  true  religion  ?  True  religion  cannot  exist, 
except  the  niiud  be  well  established  respecting  the  will  of  God,  by 
heavenly  testimonies.  On  this  account,  Christ  was  sent  by  the  Father 
to  teach,  that  he  might  disclose  the  secret  will  of  the  Father,  which  was 
unknown  to  the  world.  This  cannot,  therefore,  be  known,  except  from 
the  Sacred  books  themselves  ;  certainly  no  firm  opinion  can  l)e  held, 
unless  these  be  inspected  ;  and  so  the  Father  hath  commanded  that  we 
should  know  the  doctrine  of  the  Son,  when  he  saith,  '  This  is  my  beloved 
Son,  hear  ye  Ilim.' 

"  But  if  the  priests  and  monks  there,  so  think  that  morals  can  be 
regulated  without  the  sacred  writings,  and  that  religion  is  nothing  else 
save  that  discipline  by  which  the  public  morals  are  governed,  what 
else  thought  Epicurus  ?  Truly,  it  is  all  over  with  the  Church,  if  they 
receive  these  Epicurean  imaginations,  which  the  bishops  and  monks 
propagate.  John  saith,  '  No  man  hath  seen  God  at  any  time,  but  the 
Son  who  is  in  the  bosom  of  the  Father  hath  declared  Him  to  us.'  John 
denies  that  the  will  of  God  had  been  known  to  men,  but  that  it  was 
unfolded  and  brought  to  men  by  the  Son.  The  Father  therefore  com- 
mands this  Teacher  to  be  heard,  not  philosophizing  on  common  morals 
only,  but  discoui'sing  publicly  of  things  mysterious  and  unknown  to  the 
world.  Hoio  God  desires  to  be  worshipped — How  He  can  promise  the 
forgiveness  of  sins — What  hope  He  can  hold  out  in  all  trials  and  afflic- 
tions—  What  consolation  He  can  promise  to  those  who  implore  assistance 
from  Himself — lion:  He  desires  to  be  invoked — How  minds  are  to  be  con- 
firmed against  doubt  or  mistrust,  respecting  the  will  of  God.  These  are 
mysteries  unknown  to  the  world,  on  which  Christ  and  his  Apostles 
reason  particularly.  Nor,  verily,  does  God  wish  these  mysteries  to  be 
concealed,  but  to  stand  out  above  others,  to  be  beheld,  to  be  handled, 
that  the  knowledge  of  God  may  shine  upon  us.  To  bury,  or  to  obscure 
the  knowledge  of  matters  so  im^wrtant  as  these,  is  more  injurious  than 
to  remove  the  sun  from  the  universe. 

"  Wherefore,  I  both  warn  and  beseech  you,  for  the  glory  of  Christ, 
that  you  would  by  your  authority  repeal  that  imjiious  decree  ;  and  not 
countenance  the  madness  of  these  Pharisees.  You  see  the  command  of 
God,  which  enjoins  to  hear  Christ  :  you  see  also  what  punishment  is 
threatened  against  those  who  refuse  to  hear  him.  *  In  Deuteronomy 
it  is  written  concerning  Christ — '  A  Prophet  will  I  raise  up  to  them, 
from  the  midst  of  their  brethren,  such  as  thou  art,  and  I  will  put  my 
words  in  his  mouth  ;  whosoever  will  not  hear  his  words  which  he  shall 
speak,  I  will  be  the  avenger.' Wherefore  it  is  not  to  be  doubted,  that 


l52l)-ok]  THE  KING  WAUNED.  i-Va 

those  who  withdriiw  the  iieuplc  from  the  doctrine  of  Christ,  shall  sufl'er 
the  most  grievous  punishment  from  God.  I  will  not  here  complain  of 
other  evils  which  cleave  to  the  Church,  the  fault  of  the  bishops,  the 
recollection  of  which  is  very  painful ;  only,  since  they  are  themselves 
neither  inclined  nor  able  to  teach,  let  the  bishops  grant  us,  that  they 
do  not  abolish  the  sacred  books.  When  Antiochus  attempted  to  destroy 
religion  in  Judea,  he  commanded  the  books  of  the  Prophets  to  be 
sought  out  every  where,  to  be  burned.  And  he  suffered,  indeed,  the 
just  punishment  of  his  madness.  With  his  ruined  armi/,  he  himself  ^cas 
consumed  with  grief  of  mind.  Nor  was  God  satisfied  with  this  punish- 
ment, l>ut  destroyed  also  his  posterity,  that  he  might  set  forth  an  exam- 
ple of  the  punishment  described  in  the  decalogue,  (Pentateuch,)  where 
God  says,  that  punishment  for  iniquity  should  travel  through  all  pos- 
terity." What  sort  of  end,  then,  the  impiety  of  those  shall  have,  who 
drive  the  people  from  the  doctrine  of  Christ ;  who  endeavour,  as  much 
as  in  them  lies,  to  overwhelm  and  destroy  all  religion,  who  cruelly  kill 
many  who  are  guilty  of  no  crime,  and  are  lovers  of  piety,  it  is  easy  to 
foretell. 

"  But  they  deny  that  they  drive  the  people  away  from  the  doctrine 
of  Christ.  They  say  it  were  safer  -for  the  people  publicly  to  hear  the 
learned  in  the  churches,  than  to  read  at  home,  what  they  do  not  under- 
stand, what  no  one  can  there  explain,  and  where  many  things,  not  being 
understood,  produce  errors.  This  one  reason  I  think  they  have,  by 
which  they  defend  their  decree,  and  how  much  mischief  it  may  contain, 
it  is  easy  to  see.  First,  if  it  be  so,  that  there  are  some  among  whom 
reading  may  produce  some  inconvenience,  why  do  they  pluck  the  sacred 
books  from  the  hands  of  those  whose  minds  cannot  otherways  be  esta- 
blished than  by  assiduous  or  continual  reading  ?  Why  should  they  not 
be  allowed  to  instruct  and  train  their  children  at  home,  in  the  true  and 
proper  knowledge  of  Christ  ;  especially  since  God  commanded  concern- 
ing the  law,  that  it  should  be  written  upon  all  the  lintels,  that  it  might 
be  always  before  their  eyes  1  How  much  more  necessary  is  it  to  have 
the  Gospel  thus  always  in  view  ?  Why,  then,  is  the  goodness  of  God 
withheld  from  these,  and  that  in  opposition  to  the  command  of  God, 
although  some  others  may,  perhaps,  have  abused  this  benefit  ?  Why 
do  they  not,  for  the  same  reason,  drag  away  men  from  wine,  from  food, 
from  gold,  because  many  abuse  them  ?  That  was  rather  to  be  done 
which  God  commanded.  The  Word  of  God  was  to  be  presented  to  all ; 
all  were  to  be  exhorted,  that  they  should  not  only  read  with  diligence, 
but  also  handle  with  reverence,  and  compare  plain  sentences  with  places 
obscure.     Formerly,  when  not  fewer  heresies  and  sects  rent  the  Church 


"  .Mark  tliis  story,  of  Antioclms  and  liis  army,  brought  before  the  yoiinn  Prhice  James  V., 
early  as  1.53.J,  and  observe  the  close  of  his  own  life,  in  nine  years  after,  or  December  l.')42. 

VOL.   II.  2  K 


434  TMK  lM<i:i>ATK.S  AUKAIGNKD.  [bOOK  IV. 

than  even  now,  yet  the  Apostles  commanded  the  sacred  books  to  1)6  read  ; 
for  thus  they  thought  then,  that  minds  were  to  be  fortified  against  here- 
sies.    These  men  have  now  found  out  another  way." 

"  But,  since  the  fact  must  be  told,  they  do  not  forbid  this  reading  on 
account  of  the  ohscuriti/  of  the  writings  :  something  else  agitates  them. 
Of  those  things  in  the  Sacred  writings  that  are  most  plain  and  clear, 
they  are  afraid,  which  they  see  to  be  opposed  to  the  impious  and  sacrile- 
gious opinions  that  they  themselves  defend,  through  ambition,  and  the 
love  of  their  })ellies.  Ilinc  stmt  Iuk  lacltripnoe.  From  hence  proceed 
those  tears.     But  of  this  matter  I  will  not  say  more." 

"  There  are  also  other  reasons,  still  more  weighty,  why  reading  is 
necessary,  more  than  their  public  discourses.  Because  verily,  from  pas- 
sages highly  necessary  to  piety,  they,  in  their  sermons,  either  say 
nothing,  or  deliver  false  opinions  ;  it  is  surely  necessary  for  good  people 
elsewhere  to  seek  for  doctrine  which  may  excite  their  minds  to  piety, 
free  them  from  doubting,  and  may  instruct  them  as  to  true  invocation, 
faith,  and  hope.  For  what  do  they  teach  of  these  subjects  in  their  ser- 
mons t.  These  are  spent,  partly,  in  idle  disputations,  which  they  draw 
out  of  some  corrupt  philosophy  ;  partly,  in  most  foolish  fables  concern- 
ing the  saints,  which  they  invent ;  partly,  in  praises  of  their  own  cere- 
monies, which,  as  regraters,  (mangones,)  they  are  wont  to  adorn  with 
surprising  artifices,  that  they  may  be  able  to  sell  them  at  a  higher  price. 
Some  few  among  them  say  somewhat  of  morals,  just  as  if  no  other  doc- 
trine were  necessary  in  the  Chui'ch.  As  to  repentance  and  the  favour  of 
Christ — that  by  faith  we  obtain  freely  the  forgiveness  of  sins — that  we  may 
please  God  freely,  not  on  account  of  our  own  worthiness,  hut  by  the  faith  of 
Christ — that  this  faith  ought  to  exist  in  incocation — that  God  is  not 
pleased  to  be  worshipped  with  uncertainty  or  doubting — on  the  distinction 
of  a  spiritual  kingdom,  and  political  affairs — of  human  traditions,  as 
they  call  them,  and  many  other  necessary  things,  they  are  either 
silent,  or  inculcate  dogmas  contrary  to  the  Gospel.  And  while  these 
Rabbies  will  have  themselves  held  forth  as  teachers  of  good  works,  they 
do  not  inculcate  this  species,  which  is  the  chief  and  peculiar  concern  of 
the  Chiu'ch  of  Christ.  Since  as  to  such  {loci)  common  topics  their  ser- 
mons are  silent,  what  shall  good  minds  do  ?  From  whence  shall  they 
seek  sound  doctrine,  if  they  are  not  alloved  at  home  to  read  or  to  hear  the 
books  of  the  Gospjel  ?  Finally,  the  entire  design  of  preventing  this 
species  of  reading  has  this  tendency,  that  the  people  should,  by  degrees, 
adopt  heathenish  opinions,  the  true  knowledge  of  Christ  being  extin- 
guished :  and  the  priests  imagine,  that  this  ignorance  of  the  people 
would  be  for  their  advantage." 

Ales  then  implores  the  King,  as  one  to  whom  God  had  com- 
mitted all  departments  of  the  state,   to  interpose — describes 


i 


1  r/iU-.'JJ..]  TllK  KING  IMPLOHKD.  435 

the  advantages  which  must  aoenie  to  the  peoph",  and  especially 
the  children  and  youth,  from  heing  trained  up  by  such  domes- 
tic reading  and  instruction — they  would  prove  better  subjects 
and  better  citizens,  which  otherwise  they  could  not  be.  He 
quotes  the  Scriptures  to  shew  that  this  is  an  imperative  duty, 
as  enjoined  by  God  ;  and  warns  his  Highness  of  the  evils  which 
must  arise  from  the  interdict.  It  would  "  take  away  the 
most  sacred  exercises  of  piety ;  remove  from  the  well-disposed 
the  necessary  guards  of  conscience  ;  scatter  domestic  discipline, 
(Sec.  Having  "  traversed  part  of  the  coast  of  France  and  many 
other  places,''  he  informs  the  King  that  he  had  not  heard  of  a 
similar  decree  having  ever  been  issued  by  the  Emperor  or  the 
King  of  France.  They  had  published  severe  laws  against  dog- 
mas, but  not  forbidden  the  reading  of  the  Sacred  Writings. 
Then,  before  turning  to  himself,  he  says : — 

"  Wherefore  I  conjure  and  entreat  also,  that  you  would  restrain  the 
counsels  of  the  bishops,  and  turn  them  from  cruelty  and  impiety  to  gen- 
tleness, and  a  desire  to  show  forth  the  glory  of  Christ.  With  a  pious  in- 
tention, most  gracious  Sovereign,  I  have  written  these  things  to  you, 
which  I  pray  that,  of  your  clemency,  yovi  would  take  in  good  part.  That 
I  might  warn  on  a  subject  so  exalted,  I  am  constrained  by  the  duty 
which  I  owe,  both  to  you  and  to  my  country,  and  lastly  to  the  Chm-ch  of 
Christ  among  you.  And  I  pray  Christ  that  he  may  guide  your  counsels 
for  extending  the  glory  of  God,  for  protecting  the  churches,  and  for  mi- 
tigating the  cruelty  of  the  Bishops. 

"  As  far  as  concerns  myself,  since,  without  your  authority,  while  my 
cause  was  yet  unheard,  I  was  charged  to  withdraw  from  my  country  ;  I 
ask  nothing  else  than  that  which  was  not  only  written  upon  those  tables 
of  the  Athenians —  "  Hear  both  sides  after  the  same  manner,"  but  even 
nature  itself  teaches  all,  that  you  should  examine  the  affair,  before  you 
add  your  suffrage  to  the  decisions  of  those  who  have  condemned  me, 
without  hearing  my  defence  in  law. 

"  I  had  prepared  a  defence,  but  afterwards  discovered  that,  since  my 
departure,  many  articles  were  got  up,  which  are  falsely  ascribed  to  me, 
and  have  even  been  sent  to  Rome  ;  which,  if  the  learned  at  Rome  shall 
read,  they  will  rather  laugh  at  the  folly  of  my  enemies,  than  approve 
their  diligence.  For  what  else  do  these  sycophants  accomplish  in  all  the 
provinces,  except  that  by  their  folly,  they  stir  up  dissensions  and  public 
evils  ?  With  a  kind  of  Jewish  pertinacity  and  fretfulness,  they  rage 
without  measure,  and  without  judgment,  while,  if  they  would  only  for  a 
little  incline  their  minds  to  equity,  these  agitations  would  much  more 
easily  subside.     They  fight  for  their  own  dreams,  as  for  their  altars  and 


436  ALES  DESIRKS  TO  PLKAD  [book  IV. 

firesides  ;  tlicy  infiaine  the  wrath  of  princes  ;  they  put  to  death  the  best 
men,  wherever  there  is  an  opportunity.  In  conclusion,  they  arrogate  to 
themselves  the  title  oi  the  Church,  and  roijuire  themselves  to  1)C  held  as 
demigods. 

"  If  any  one  study  to  shun  the  jjarticipation  of  this  cruelty,  he 
is  to  them  a  schismatic,  he  is  xatfa^/ia,  and  I  know  not  what.  For 
truly  it  did  not  so  injure  me,  that  I  glanced  at  certain  opinions 
of  theirs  ;  for  I  did  that  modestly,  hut  something  else  provoked 
them  more.  They  were  unwilling  that  we  should  mourn  for  Patuick, 
a  pioiis  man,  and  bom  in  an  honourable  family  ;  whom  when  they  had 
cruelly  put  to  death,  they  required  of  us  that  we  also  should  condemn  him 
who  was  dead.  When  they  could  not  obtain  this  from  us,  then  indeed 
they  were  enraged  ;  so  that  it  might  easily  be  understood,  how,  from  con- 
sciousness of  guilt,  they  had  not  an  easy  mind.  This  was  a  principal 
cause,  why  they  seized  also  upon  me. 

"  While  many  things  of  this  sort  are  happening,  everywhere,  among 
the  nations,  notwithstanding,  as  they  persuade  kings  and  princes  that 
they  should  render  this  kind  of  doctrine  odious  ;  all  the  disturbances 
arise  from  the  other  side.  But  God  has  delivered  me  from  them,  and 
that  chiefly,  most  gracious  King,  through  your  kindness.  Wherefore  I 
give  thanks  to  you,  and  interpret  this  favour  on  your  part,  to  have  pro- 
ceeded from  God. But  I  pray  that,  according  to  justice,  you  would 

add  this,  that  you  would  not  subscribe  to  their  judgments  against  me, 
before  that  you  yourself  have  examined  my  cause  ;  which  I  would,  that 
under  a  public  safeguard,  I  might  be  allowed  to  plead,  in  your  presence. 
For  I  hope  that  I  shall  prove  to  your  Highness,  and  to  all  good  men, 
those  things  which  I  have  taught.  They  say  that  Alcibiades,  in  I  know 
not  what  contention,  a  certain  old  man  having  lifted  his  staff,  forbade 
him  to  speak,  answered — '  Strike,  but  hear  me.'  ^"  The  same  could  I  say 
to  my  enemies,  that  if  on  that  condition  they  pleased,  as  they  might 
strike,  so  they  would  also  hear  me.  For  hitherto  they  condemn  me,  and 
those  like  me  they  proscribe,  and  would  slay  us,  while  our  cause  is  yet 
untried.  Neither  do  they  either  fear  or  shun  anything  more  than 
a  trial,  which  T  earnestly  desire  ;  not  because  contention  delights  me,  of 
which  I  have  even  a  natural  abhorrence  ;  but  because  it  is  not  the  part 
of  a  wise  man,  to  pass  by  those  charges  which  they  heap  upon  us.  Then 
the  natui'e  of  the  cause  is  such,  that  it  would  not  be  upright  in  us  to 
decline  the  defence  of  it. 

"  There  is  no  duty  more  indispensable  than  the  confession  of  the  Gos- 
pel, even  as  Christ  saith  — '  Whosoever  shall  confess  me  before  men,  I  also 
will  confess  him  before  my  Father  in  heaven  :  but  every  o)ie  who  tcill  deny 


10  More  correctly,  the  reply  of  Tlieniintoclri  to  Eurybiades,  when  he  lifted  up  his  staff,  ready 
to  smite  him,  if  lie  would  iifil  bo  siliiit. 


1520-34.]  BEFORE  HIS  KING.  437 

'ine  before  men,  I  will  deny  him  before  mij  Father  in  heaven.^  What  folly 
would  it  be,  to  draw  down  upon  ourselves  the  hatred  of  the  powerful, 
and  go  through  dangers  of  every  description  ;  except  by  the  Divine  com- 
mand, we  were  compelled  to  defend  the  doctrine  of  the  Gospel  ?  I  make 
no  account  of  all  human  things,  nor  have  I  ever  esteemed  anything  more 
than  the  good  will  of  your  Highness.  Wherefore,  I  mean  nothing  less 
than  to  lose  the  approbation  of  a  prince,  who  is  to  be  admired,  not  only 
for  his  royal  renown,  but  his  distinguished  virtues.  So,  therefore,  you 
may  be  assured  that  we  do  not  contend  through  any  lust  or  petulance, 
but  are  constrained,  by  the  command  of  God,  not  to  abandon  this  man- 
ner of  doctrine. 

"  If,  by  any  means,  the  enemies  have  injured  me,  in  another 
cfair,^^  although  it  would  be  very  grievous  to  me,  that  your  counte- 
nance should  be  withdrawn  from  me,  yet  should  I  endeavour  to  bear 
it  with  a  patient  mind,  and  forgive  the  State  ;  to  which  certainly  we 
owe  this  duty,  sometimes  to  forget  private  injuries  that  the  public  con- 
dition may  continue  more  peaceful.  That  old  precept,  full  of  humanity, 
is  well  known,  '  Remember  not  injuries  ;'  nor  has  any  one  heard  me  la- 
menting my  exile  so  much  as  this  cause  for  which  I  labom*.  Nor  do  I 
ask  anything  else  than  what  Christ  has  enjoined — that  his  doctrine  may 
be  acknowledged.  Since  this  greatly  concerns  the  Church,  it  was  neces- 
sary for  the  restraining  of  the  cruelty  of  some  who,  without  law,  with- 
out measure,  and  without  end,  now  wander  through  the  hoiises  of  all ; 
for  unless  it  be  checked,  without  doubt  God  will  avenge  this  rage  and 
contempt  of  laws  and  equity. 

"  The  histories  of  all  ages,  of  all  nations,  teach  what  end  cruelty  shall 
experience,  especially  that  against  the  pious  and  the  priests  or  ministers 
of  a  church.  Wherefore,  I  shall  not  cease  to  beseech  thee,  most  gracious 
Sovereign,  that  you  would  carefully  examine  these  matters,  and  not 
grant  this  unbounded  license  to  the  chief  priests  and  monks,  which  Christ 
will  not  long  endure  ;  and  surely  it  is  opposed  to  your  justice  and  cle- 
mency. This,  therefore,  I  desire  to  obtain,  if  what  I  ask  be  equitable, 
just,  worthy  of  yourself,  and  profitable  to  the  Church  and  the  State. 
May  Christ  preserve  thee,  and  direct  thy  mind  to  the  public  welfare  ! 
An7io  1533." 

Thus  it  appears,  at  tliis  early  period,  that  Scotland  was  not 
behind  England  in  point  of  progress  made.  The  New  Testa- 
ment had  been  given  to  her  in  the  same  year. — She  could 
already  point  to  her  proto-raartyr — and  an  advocate  rising  out 
of  his  ashes,  was  now  as  earnest  with  her  King,  and  against 
her  bishops  ;  as  John  Fryth  now  was  with  similar  parties  in 

"  Relating  to  himself  personally,  and  to  be  more  fully  explained  by  himself  afterwards. 


■y.iH  rilK  I'lKST  INSiDKlUS  j^BOOK  IV. 

London.  Had  Ales  khIv  l)t'L'ii  forthcoming,  he  li:i<l  oxpiicd  in 
the  flanios  this  year,  as  certainly  as  l^Vytli  di<l  in  lOnghmd. 

In  rej)ly  to  this  letter,  as  far  as  is  yet  known,  there  was  not 
one  man  in  Scotland  able  to  move  his  tongue  ;  but  there  was 
one  abroad,  who,  though  abundantly  ready  in  rcpli/,  could 
never  answer  any  argument ;  and  who,  when  engaged  in  furi- 
ous wrangling,  was  never  so  much  in  his  element.  This,  the 
reader  may  anticipate,  was  no  other  than  Jo/m  Coc/dccus,  the 
same  who  rai.sed  the  alarm  respecting  the  New  Testament,  at 
first,  in  1 52.5.  Stung  with  disappointment,  at  his  having  no 
reward  assigned  to  him  by  Wolsey,  or  Henry  VIII.  ;  he  now 
did  his  utmost  to  procure  notoriety  and  a  pension,  by  address- 
ing King  James  V.  of  Scotland.  The  epistle  of  Ales  could 
scarcely  have  been  road  in  his  own  country,  before  this  inde- 
fatigable opponent  must  have  been  at  the  press,  as  his  tirade 
is  dated  on  the  8th  of  June  1 533.  There  is  nothing  what- 
ever, of  sound  argument  in  the  book,  though  professing  to 
answer  Ales,  paragraph  by  paragraph.  It  abounds  in  dift'erent 
parts  with  virulent  abuse,  and  in  others  with  blasphemy. 
There  is  no  lack  of  positive  falsehood  as  to  Luther,  the  writer's 
perpetual  eye-sore;  and  Ales,  though  unknown  toCochla?us  per- 
sonally, comes  in  for  his  full  share,  upon  one  hundred  and 
sixty  pages,  in  reply  to  twenty-six  !  The  object  in  view  was 
to  mystify  and  alarm  the  young  King ;  and  the  title  is  per- 
fectly expressive  of  the  great  point  in  hand — "  Whether  it  be 
expedient  for  the  Laity  to  read  the  books  of  the  New  Testament 
in  the  vernacular  tongue^^^ 

At  the  commencement,  Cochlseus  owns  that  he  was  shoot- 
ing in  the  dark,  not  knowing  whether  this  name  of  Alexander 
Alesius  was  a  real,  or  only  a  fictitious  one ;  but  though  igno- 
rant of  his  man,  and  equally  so  of  the  state  of  Scotland,  he 
artfully  insinuates  that  the  representation  of  the  country,  as 
drawn  by  Ales,  was  altogether  incredible.  That  the  Bishops 
of  Scotland  could  act  towards  any  subject  whatever,  in  the 
manner  described,  without  the  consent  of  his  Highness,  he 
pretends  to  think  impossible.  The  exile,  he  asserts,  must 
either  falsely  praise  the   King  to   stir  him   up   against  his 


'2  "  An  fxpediat  Laicis.  Ic-Rcre  iiovi  TcKtaniciiti  liliios  lingua  Vtrnacula?  Ad  bcrciiUsimum 
Scotiae  Rcntm  J.acolmm  V.  Disputatio  inter  Alcxandrum  Alcsium  Scutum  tt  Juliannem  Coch- 
la'nm  ffcimnnnni."      Ilfilnl  ■•  Kx  Difsda  Afisnia-  ad  Albim.     vi.  Idus  .Iiinii  Mi/xxxrii. 


A 


1529-34.]]  ATTACK  OK  J  1)11 1\  COCHLjEUS.  439 

Bishops,  or  else  feign  the  King's  wonderful  clemency  to  him- 
self, to  render  hi7n  suspected  abroad,  with  regard  to  the  ortho- 
dox faith.  Ales,  too,  he  insists,  must  be  a  Lutheran,  of 
course,  and  the  epistle  itself  must  come  from  Wittenberg,  the 
common  asylum  of  fugitives  and  apostates ;  while  "  the  whole 
is  concocted  with  such  skill,  that  readers  may  believe  that  the 
(/ospel  of  Luther  is  already  propagated  to  the  most  remote 
Scots,  as  far  as  Ultima  Thulw.''''  It  is  here  that  Cochlaus 
repeats,  by  way  of  warning,  the  groundless  falsehood  of  Tyn- 
dale  and  his  amanuensis  having  come  to  Wittenberg,  acquired 
the  German  language,  and  then  translated  the  New  Testament 
of  Luther  into  English  ;  adding,  what  was  true,  that  he  found 
them  at  Cologne,  and  forewarned  Henry  VIIL;^^  though  he 
takes  care  to  conceal  that  he  had  received  no  thanks  for  his 
pains,  and  now  entertained  a  very  bad  opinion  of  the  English 
monarch. 

Not  aware  of  the  English  New  Testament  having  been  be- 
fore introduced  into  Scotland,  as  early  as  1526,  and  glorying 
in  his  exploit  of  1525,  he  proceeds  : — 

"  As  I  see  similar  snares  now  preparing  for  your  kingdom,  I  earnestly  warn 
your  Highness,  that  you  may  carefully  guard  against  this  hostile  attempt  upon 
your  people,  and  that  as  to  Alesius  \vlio  meditates  this  injury,  you  would  not 
rashly  believe  him,  in  opposition  to  your  Bishops."  He  then  praises  the  Scots 
for  their  ancient  piety,  since  to  their  zeal  in  coming  to  teach  them,  the  Germans 
were  indebted,  many  centuries  ago.  There  were  still,  he  adds,  Monasteries  of 
Scotsmen  in  the  cities  of  Germany^ — at  Erfurth  in  Thuringia,  at  Ratisbon  in 
Bavaria,  at  Vienna  in  Austria,  &c.  Therefore  he  felt  nothing  save  the  purest 
gratitude  and  love  in  now  writing.  He  neither  desired  nor  expected  "  any 
favour  or  reward  from  his  Highness,  nor  from  the  bishops  of  his  kingdom  !"  It 
was  "  affection  alone"'  which  impelled  him,  as  he  had  "  the  most  earnest  desire 
for  the  welfare  of  all !"  But  in  justice  to  this  enemy,  we  must  let  him  be  heard. 
When  he  comes  to  the  interdict,  or  decree  against  reading  the  Sacred  Volume, 
not  a  little  hampered,  he  thus  artfully  proceeds  : — 

"  It  appears  at  first  sight  odious  indeed,  and  quite  opposite  to  Christian  piety, 
to  i)rohibit  the  people  from  reading  the  books  of  the  New  Testament  in  their 
own  language  :  in  which  is  the  bread  of  life,  the  food  of  the  soul,  the  discipline 
of  morals,  the  true  knowledge  of  virtue,  and  the  exact  correction  of  vices  ;  and 
in  fine,  the  knowledge  of  the  most  exalted  love,  grace,  and  beneficence  towards 
t!ie  human  race,  of  Christ  himself,  and  our  God  and  Father.  To  prevent,  by 
an  edict,  so  many  people,  and  so  great  a  multitude  of  the  whole  kingdom,  from 
the  enjoyment  of  such  great,  and  so  many  blessings,  may  seem  to  be  an  em- 
ployment both  of  envy  and  cruelty  towards  those  who  are  subjected  to  it,  and 
of  gigantic  impiety  towards  God.  But  assuredly,  on  the  other  hand,  if  any  one 
consider  what  an  accuniulatiuu  of  evils  has  sprung  up  among  us  Germans, 


'3  Stc  before,  vijl.  i..  ]i.  .l-l,  <S:c. 


4+0  TIIK  KNMITV  OT  <'(»Clll,i1<:i'S  [boOK  IV. 

witliin  n  few  years,  from  nuch  rea<ling,  dinseniiimted  by  Luther,  lie  will,  O 
King,  prt'sentiy  coucliulc,  tluit  yuur  BUhopi  are  jiious,  right-hiartid,  prudent  and 
faithful  pa/toff,  who  arc  desirous,  hy  a  decree,  to  drive  away  their  sheej)  from 
pasture  /o  iioj-ioun  and  so  deadly!!  But  Alesius  says — Are  tlie  gosjiels,  the 
words  of  Christ  and  liis  Apostles,  noxious  and  deadly  pasture  {  However,  let 
him  liearken  a  little.  According  to  himself,  indted,  they  are  most  salutary  and 
refreshing  pasture,  if  they  he  well  received  ;  hut  if  they  are  badly  received, 
they  become  not  the  pa.sture  of  life,  but  deadly  poison  to  those  who  receive 
them." 

"  1  say  nothing  here  of  the  loss  of  property  which  we  have  suffered  from  this 
gospel,  while  for  these  most  mischievous  books,  our  people  have  sfpiandered, 
spent  and  lost  an  incalculable  sum  of  money,  for  so  many  hundred  thousands  of 
copies  printed  and  sold  !  From  these  they  have  got  no  good,  but  a  great  deal 
of  harm  ;  learned  artizans  neglecting  their  shoj)  and  their  work,  from  whence 
they  ought  to  procure  a  subsistence  for  tiieir  wives  and  children.  Nor  will  I 
mention  those  evils,  which  many  have  endured  in  their  body  through  this, 
while,  in  opposition  to  the  edicts  of  the  magistrates,  they  read  the  prohibited 
books  ;  and  for  this  offence  wire  shut  up  in  prisons,  confined  in  towei-s,  fined, 
banished  fromtheir  country,  and  suffered  other  bodily  inconvenience  !" 

lu  this  manner  the  New  Testament  itself,  being  mixed  up 
with  all  that  ever  issued  from  the  pen  of  Luther ;  Cochlseus 
must  now  fortify  the  royal  youth,  originally  disinclined  to 
deeds  of  blood,  not  only  against  all  the  cruelties  which 
might  ensue  in  Scotland,  and  the  counter  advice  of  any  of 
his  councillors,  but  against  all  the  odium  which  was  sure  to 
follow. 

"  But  then  they,  the  Bishops,  will  rightly  take  care,  that  they  not  only  pro- 
hibit books  of  that  kind,  by  the  bare  words  of  a  decree,  but  also  follow  up  the 
matter  with  efficacious  diligence.  For  thus  it  will  be,  when  they  art  against  a 
few  transgressoi-s  with  jud  sererity,  that  they  will  preserve  the  souls  of  many  ! 
Even  as  the  Bishop  of  Treves  did  among  us,  who,  when  he  had  taken  care  that 
first  one,  and  then  another  bookseller,  who  brought  in  Lutheran  books,  fhould 
he  cast  into  the  Rhine,  irith  their  noxious  booh ;  this  punishment  of  the  few  ter- 
rified others  from  bringing  in  more.  By  this  he  so  preserved  his  people  in  the 
faith  and^unity  of  [the  Church,  and  also  in  peace  and  civil  subjection,  that  his 
peasants  remain  quiet,  while  all  those  of  the  other  Princes  and  Bishops  rose  in 
tumults.'^  And  if  your  councillors,  (for  there  arc  few  courts  of  Christian  Prin- 
cesjentirely  clear  of  this  carnal  leaven)  shall  suggest  to  your  Highness  the 
in vidious__ words  of  the  aposttites,  in  which  they  complain  (as  Alesius  <f  Witten- 
hertj  in  his  Epistle)  that  it  is  impious  by  a  decree  to  forbid  the  reading  of  the 
Sacred  books,  and  that  reproach  will  attach  to  your  kingdom,  if  men  are  driven 
from  the  oracles  of  Christ,  lest  the  people  should  know  the  benefits  of  Clu'ist — 
your  Highness  will  be  able  to  make  answer  with  the  greatest  justice  and  truth, 
that  the  New  Testament  of  Luther  is  not  the  Sacred  books,  but  execrable  and 
cursed,  which  will  surely  bring  infamy  on  your  kingdom  and  every  evil_Thc 
New  Testament  of  Luther  is  not  the  gosj)el  of  Christ,  but  of  .Satan  !     I  doubt 


14  .-Sep  wliiit  Ales  will  reply  to  tliis  presently. 


i.j2!J-;m..]  to  all  translations.  441 

not  tliat  tlicre  are  in  youi-  kingdom  also,  not  a  tow  Lntliorans  in  disgnise,  who 
will  suggest  to  your  Higluicss  tliat  tlio  Word  of  (Jod  ought  not  to  be  forbidden 
to  tiie  Laity ;  by  wliich  they  wouhl  be  understood  to  mean  t/ie  New  Testament 
of  Lttther  !  than  which  nothing  is  more  effectual  for  spreading  abroad  this 
most  abominable  heresy,  under  the  specious  title  of  the  Gospel,  and  the  sweet 
sounding  pretext  of  the  Word  of  God.  If  you  have  permitted  this,  you  have 
introduced  ship-loads  of  the  most  pernicious  merchandize.  If  you  have  prohi- 
bited them,  you  will  be  accused  privately  of  tyranny  by  the  Lntherans,  who  are 
desirous  of  change.  They  will  call  you  a  Herod — a  persecutor  of  Christ — a 
slave  of  the  Roman  Pontiff — a  dependent  of  the  Bishops — a  patron  of  the 
luxury  of  the  clergy,  and  what  not  ? 

"  If  therefore,  0  King,  you  desire  to  pi'eserve  among  your  people  concord  in 
the  faith,  and  the  unity  of  the  Church,  peace,  unruffled  tranquillity,  agreement 
in  piety  and  divine  worship,  fixedness  of  faith,  and  all  the  benefits  of  ecclesias- 
tical discipline;  desist  from  this  liusiiwss  of  translation,  especially  at  this  time: 
because  much  more  mischief  and  destruction  will  proceed  from  that  source, 
th.an  good  or  edification  !" 

This  poor  infuriated  zealot  then  at  last  informs  the  King- 
that  ani/  translation  of  the  New  Testament,  "  the  best  and 
most  undoubted,"  if  it  be  "  i?i  the  vul(jar  tongue^''''  must  pro- 
duce all  imaginable  evil.  He  is  even  suspicious  of  Ales  him- 
self being  so  engaged,  and  that  he  will  transmit  copies  secret- 
ly, through  merchants,  by  the  Elbe  to  Hamburgh,  which 
looks  over  to  Scotland  ! 

"  If  therefore  you  desire  to  jjreserve  your  subjects  from  so  many  evils,  which 
will  thence  arise,  use  all  care  and  attention  to  keep  out  these  paper  merchandize, 
so  destructive  and  poisonous,  lest,  while  you  know  not,  they  steal  into  your 
ports.  It  will  be  necessary  that  all  merchandize  brought  from  Germany  be 
diligently  searched  and  examined,  lest  this  schemer  among  the  Saxons  should 
so  be  concealed  that  he  may  slay  the  unspotted ;  according  to  that  of  the 
Psalmist  !  !  '  Under  his  tongue  are  labour  and  sorrow.  He  sitteth  in  hiding 
places  with  the  rich' — that  is,  with  the  merchants! — 'in  secret  places  that  he 
may  slay  the  innocent.  His  eyes  look  upon  the  poor' — that  is,  the  simple  people, 
who  know  nothinfj  more  than  their  mother  tongue!  '  He  layeth  wait  in  his  lurk- 
ing place  like  a  lion  in  his  den  ;  he  layeth  wsat,  that  he  may  seize  upon  the 
poor,  to  lay  hold  on  the  jjoor,  when  he  hath  enticed  him.'  This,  0  King,  is  the 
forewarning  of  the  Holy  Spirit  by  the  mouth  of  King  David,  to  which,  unless  you 
carefully  attend,  your  Kingdom  will  be  laid  open  to  the  same  kind  of  snares  ! 

The  reader  must  now  be  more  than  satisfied,  that  this  man 
was  "  a  blasphemer,  a  persecutor  and  injurious  ;"  and  yet  such 
is  only  a  specimen  of  the  verbiage  with  which  he  was  eager  to 
occupy  the  ear  of  the  young  and  thoughtless  Scotish  monarch. 
With  Cochlseus  abroad,  and  such  men  in  power  at  home,  both 
bishops  and  monks,  a  Prince  once  averse  to  all  cruelt3%  and  still 

's  But  this  they  had  hten  doing  with  Tyndalt's  translation  for  about  seven  years. 


4I-2  IllK  KINCi  DKGENEKATING.  [BOOK  IV. 

given  to  ducds  ul"  kiiidiies.s  in  regard  to  the  bodies  of  liis  sub- 
jects,"* was  driving  on  to  ruin  ;  by  yielding  to  the  sophistry  of 
tlic  hierarchy,  witli  respect  to  opinions,  wliicli  could  neither  be 
gainsayed  nor  resisted.  At  the  same  time,  let  the;  chief  blame 
rest  where  it  actually  did.  Had  the  King,  unmolested,  been 
allowed  to  pursue  his  pastime,  humanly  speaking,  there  had 
been  no  such  cruelty  as  still  ensued.  JJut  the  ecclesiastics  led 
on  at  present  by  Patrick  Hephurn^  the  young  Prior  of  St. 
Andrews,  as  they  were  afterwards  by  David  Beaton,  Abbot  of 
Arbroath,  were  perpetually  insisting  that  heretical  opinions, 
as  they  styled  them,  did  not  belong  to  the  King's  jurisdiction  ; 
while,  injustice  to  the  Prince  himself,  there  is  reason  to  be- 
lieve, that  he  by  no  means  yielded  without  a  struggle,  and  did 
actually  interfere  again  and  again,  as  Ales  has  represented. 
Even  after  he  had  fled,  there  is  more  than  one  passage  left  in 
"  the  accounts  of  the  Lord  High  Treasurer"  worthy  of  re- 
mark.'^ Ales,  therefore,  might  well  write  as  he  had  done, 
and  with  considerable  hopes  of  success.  The  King  and  the  ec- 
clesiastics had  formed  two  parties  quite  distinguishable  in  the 
estimation  of  many  more  than  the  writer  of  this  epistle  :  but 
soon  after  that  Ales  had  done  his  best  in  addressing  his  former 
benefactor,  not  only  did  Cochlffius  follow,  but  it  so  happened, 
that  an  ambassador  or  legate  from  the  Pontiff",  had  been  per- 
ambulating the  country  in  company  with  the  King  and  the 
Queen  Mother.  They  terminated  their  journey  by  visiting  St. 
Andrews,  where  they  were  all  entertained  in  style  by  Beaton 
and  Prior  Hepburn.  In  short,  the  year  ]  533  seems  to  have 
been  about  the  turning  point  in  James's  course  and  character. 
He  was  even  now  only  twenty-one  years  of  age,  but  in  early 
life,  "  a  stranger  to  pride,  easy  of  access,  and  fond  of  mingling 
familiarly  with  all  classes  of  his  subjects ;  with  a  generosity 
and  warmth  of  temper,  which  prompted  him,  on  all  occasions, 
to  espouse  with  enthusiasm  the  cause  of  the  oppressed;""'"  what 
wonder  that  Ales  should  have  so  addressed  him  ?  The  chanjje 
was  most  melancholy  not  only  for  himself,  but  his  kingdom. 
The  year  before  this,  or  1532,  he  had  been  sinking  deep  into 


16  See  ill  proof,  Pitcairn's  Criminal  Trials,  i.  p.  27fi.     Tytlcr's  History  of  Scotland. 

17  "  May  17-  LWi. —  Hem,  to  David  Heche,  pursuivant,  to  pass  with  letters  to  the  liisliop  of 
Saint  Andrews  to  advertise  him  of  the  clunijiiiKj  n/lhc  Diil  of  the  accusation  of  tlic  Lutturont.. " 
X  >.  "  Sept.  27-  /''''"•  l"or  carriaKC  of  the  KiuKS  hed  to  the  liunlinK  in  Glenorchy.  and  for  the 
carriaRe  of  tlie  same  out  of  Kdinburgh  to  Saint  Andrews,  to  thr  imrdon,  xx  s."  l.ord  Treasurer's 
Accoiinth.  18  Tvller. 


l.")2!»-3-l'.]  FORREST— THE  SECOND  MAUTYK.  443 

the  licentious  course  which  he  at'terwjirJs  pursued,  for  to  this 
the  hierarchy  had  no  objection  ;  and  now  he  is  giving  himself 
up  to  the  counsel  of  these  unprincipled,  and  far  more  licen- 
tious, ecclesiastical  men. 

Before  the  end  of  tlie  year  1 533,  and  just  as  if  to  confirm  every 
word  that  Ales  had  so  faithfully  written,  the  second  martyr- 
dom took  place  at  St.  Andrews,  and  this  also  w'as  but  a  young 
man.  Hamilton's  death  was  suflScient  to  have  roused  both 
priests  and  canons,  which  it  certainly  had  done,  but  the  monks 
had  also  responded  to  the  call.  Seton  was  the  first,  Ales  was 
the  second,  but  here  was  a  third,  who  seems  to  have  been 
moved  by  Patrick''s  earliest  exertions  on  his  return  from 
abroad,  as  well  as  his  subsequent  death.  Henry  Forrest  of  Lin- 
lithgow, a  Benedictine  monk,  had  contracted  such  an  admira- 
tion of  Patrick  Hamilton  as  he  could  not  suppress.  He  thought 
that  he  had  been  wrongfully  put  to  death,  that  the  articles  for 
which  he  suffered  were  not  heretical,  and  might  be  defended. 
This  much,  however,  they  could  not  fully  establish  against 
him,  till  they  resorted  to  the  same  base  method  which  they 
had  pursued  with  the  first  martyr  ;  and  one  Friar  Walter 
Laing  was  ready  to  act  over  again  the  same  part  which  Camp- 
bell had  done.  Another  specific  charge  however  was,  that  he 
had  in  his  possession  a  copy  of  the  New  Testament  in  English  ; 
now,  of  course,  deemed  to  be  a  crime  far  more  heinous  after  the 
edict  or  decree.  There  must  have  been  considerable  hesita- 
tion about  proceeding  to  extremity,  as  Forrest  had  been  for 
some  time  kept  a  close  prisoner  "  in  the  tower"  or  castle  of 
St.  Andrews ;  and  at  last  the  spot  on  which  he  died  at  the 
stake,  was  at  once  expressive  of  the  truth  having  extended  far 
beyond  the  bounds  of  St.  Andrews,  and  of  the  fear  entertained 
as  to  its  further  progress.  "  He  suffered  death,"  says  the 
manuscript,  "  at  the  north  church  style  of  the  Abbey  church 
of  St.  Andrew,  to  the  intent  that  all  the  people  of  Forfar  or 
Angus  might  see  thefire^  and  so  might  be  the  more  feared  from 
falling  into  the  like  doctrine  which  they  call  heresy."-'^     On 


19  The  best  evidence  of  the  Kiiifi's  course  is  to  be  found  in  many  of  the  ilcins  of  the  Lord 
Treasurer's  Accounts. 

-"  Foxe.  ex  scripto  testimonio  Scotorum,  and  otlicr  histories.  We  know  not  the  origin,  but  it 
is  a  curious  fact,  that  looking  in  the  direction  from  whence  this  fire  was  i)laced  to  be  visil)le,  tlie 
name  of  Luther  has  been  stamped  on  the  soil.  Hence,  on  the  borders  of  Angus,  in  the  parish  of 
Marykirk,  we  have  not  onlv  the  village  of  Luthermoor.  Init  the  tributary  stream  of  Lutlier.  run- 
ning into  the  North  F.sk ;  as  well  as  Luther  Bridge  and  Lutlur mill,  named  after  tlie  stream. 


+44  Till';  (JALUMNIKS  UK  COCIIL/EUS  [hooK  IV. 

isiK'li  ;i  iiumK-  iIkv  liad  ;it  last  ventured,  tliou<rli  far  from  beiiii; 
according  to  the  counsel  previously  given  by  one  John  Lind- 
say, a  man  of  wit,  familiar  with  the  Archbitshoj).  "  If  you 
burn  any  more  of  them,"  .said  he,  "  take  my  advice  and  burn 
them  in  cellars  ;  for  1  assure  you  that  the  smoko  of  Patrick 
Hamilton  has  infected  all  upon  whom  it  blew.""  The  first 
molestation  of  Henry  I'^orrest  aj)j)ears  to  have  commenced 
about  the  year  1530,  but  liis  death  cannot  be  stated  earlier 
than  1533  ;  a  circumstance  which  may  account  for  his  martyr- 
dom being  ascribed  to  both  years. 

Only  a  very  short  time,  however,  now  elapsed,  before  there 
arrived  from  abroad,  an  all-suflicient  exposure  of  Cochlncus, 
and  of  other  men  at  home  besides  the  calumniator.  The 
slander  and  falsehood  which  had  been  emitted,  had,  it  is  pro- 
bable, not  been  seen  by  Ales  for  some  months,  but  early  in 
158-t  he  was  ready  with  his  Response.  It  is  entitled — ''  The 
answer  of  Alexander  Ales^  Scotsman^  to  the  calumnies  of  Coch- 
Iwiis.''''^^  It  is  addressed  to  the  King  as  before,  and  as  it  has 
been  equally  unknown  to  the  English  reader,  with  his  first 
letter,  no  apology  is  necessary  for  giving  some  account  of  this 
very  rare  book.  Among  other  information,  it  contains  the 
full  account  of  his  own  personal  treatment,  besides  some  valu- 
able particulars  with  i-egard  to  the  Scriptures  of  the  New 
Testament,  still  read  by  stealth,  and  hid  with  anxious  care. 
Cochkeus  had  questioned  the  veracity  of  Ales — had  insisted 
that  he  was  a  Lutheran — had  approved  highly  of  the  interdict 
as  to  reading  of  the  New  Testament — had  tried  to  terrify  the 
King  by  a  bold  endeavour  to  identify  the  translation  of  the 
New  Testament  into  German  by  Luther,  with  the  indepen- 
dent English  version — had  strongly  deprecated  the  New  Tes- 
tament being  presented  to  any  man  in  the  vernacular  tongue, 
however  coi'rect^  and  represented  this  as  the  only  source  of  all 
evil,  national  and  domestic  ;  warning  his  Highness  to  succumb, 
or  by  all  means  yield  to  the  advice  of  his  ecclesiastics,  those 
determined  enemies  of  divine  truth.  Every  one  of  these 
points  were  now  to  be  met  by  this  first  and  able  advocate  of 
the  people.  It  is  only  necessary  to  explain  that  as  Ales, 
even  still,  could  not  be  aware  of  any  alteration  in  the  King''s 


ai  "  Alexandri  Alesii  Scotti,  Rcsponsio  ad  Cochlei  calumiiias."    This  occupies  thirty-one 
leaves  IBmo,  in  asmalU-r  type  than  the  former  publicatimi,  and  without  any  colophon. 


l.'529-34.]  REFUTED  BY  ALKS.  445 

character  and  conduct,  lie  writes  under  the  impression  of  these 
being  yet  unchanged.  Addressing  the  King  once  more,  as  his 
most  gracious  Sovereign,  he  thus  begins : — 

"  It  is  indeed  true  what  the  royal  youth  says  of  Euripides — '  In  exile 
itself  there  is  more  evil  than  can  be  expressed  in  words.'  For  in  addi- 
tion to  other  calamities,  this  evil  has  befallen  me,  that  I  have  now  met 
with  a  slanderer,  who  is  much  more  cruel  towards  me,  though  unknown 
to  him,  than  were  any  enemies  in  my  own  country.  Cochlwris,  whom  I 
know  not,  (personally,)  has  published  a  little  book,  in  which,  by  the 
most  false  accusation  and  surprising  calumnies,  he  endeavours  both  to 
inflame  your  mind  against  me,  and  to  alienate  from  me  the  good  of 
those  nations,  whose  hospitality  I  have  hitherto  experienced.  He  is 
not  in  the  least  affected  by  the  distress  of  a  stranger,  entirely  unknown 
to  him,  and  who  submits  his  cause  to  your  examination.  Nor  is  it  diffi- 
cult to  judge  with  what  conscience  Cochlseus  acts  towards  me,  when,  in 
the  very  outset  of  his  writing,  a  certain  just  and  necessary  duty  on  my 
part  is  cruelly  reproached.  Because,  in  my  former  letter,  I  truly,  and 
from  my  heart,  praised  your  goodness,  this  sycophant  so  perverts  it,  as 
if  by  this  commendation  I  wished  to  throw  some  little  stain  upon  you. 
But  for  how  much  I  am  indebted  to  you,  most  excellent  king,  I  have 
yourself  as  an  ample  witness.  Wherefore,  I  doubt  not,  but  that  the 
virulence  of  Cochlaeus  will  seriously  displease  you,  when  you  see  that 
even  gratitude  is  charged  against  me  as  a  crime.  When,  at  his  entrance, 
he  slanderously  perverts  that  which  was  my  duty,  you  may  suspect  the 
rest  to  be  spoken  from  the  same  artifice,  and  with  equal  candour. 
Wherefore,  most  merciful  Sovereign,  I  again  fly  to  your  goodness,  and 
beseech  you,  with  an  unbiassed  mind,  to  hear  my  defence. 

"  But  that  I  may  omit  other  matters,  the  very  cause  itself  warns  a 
wise  prince  how  great  is  the  malignity  of  Cochlteus.  I  have  not  written 
of  some  dogma  ;  I  have  handled  no  strange  or  obscure  controversy.  I 
have  only  rehearsed  an  old  sentiment,  commended  in  all  ages — '  That 
the  ■people  are  not  to  he  driven  from  the  reading  of  the  Sacred  Volume.^ 
What  can  any  good  man  find  fault  with  in  this  ?  What  is  there  in  this 
opinion  which  can  give  offence  to  any  one  1  And  yet,  for  this  saying,  I 
am  called  to  risk  my  life  ;  while  many  holy  and  learned  men  ever  in  the 
Church  have  so  often  written  the  same  ;  while  all  people  cherish  it,  and 
even  in  Germany  itself  a  great  many  who  are  most  opposed  to  the 
Lutheran  name.  Is  it  not  wonderful,  that  in  a  cause  so  evident  and 
much  approved,  any  man  should  be  able  to  find  any  thing  at  which  to 
cavil  1     But  so  it  is  indeed.     Mala  mens,  mains  animus. 

"  Cochlaeus  is  now  for  a  long  time  practised  in  sycophancy,  and,  indeed, 
makes  a  trade  of  it.  Therefore  he  every  where  seeks  out  quarrels  for 
himself;  with  incredible  petulance  he  harasses  not  only  men  of  our 


J  M;  TIIK   I'KIoU  ok  ST.  ANDKI^WS,  [buOK  IV. 

onler,  l>iit  even  tlie  must  famous  princes  :  anil  seeing  there  is  in  him  the 
greatest  folly  an  J  ignorance,  he  undertakes  no  controversy  to  be  ex- 
plained— he  only  wishes  to  be  a  busy  meddler  in  calumniating  the  writ- 
ings of  others.  Just  so  he  makes  an  attack  upon  me  also,  as  I  believe 
that  he  may  render  himself  famous  among  the  Scots,  and,  indeed,  he 
exhausts  upon  me  the  whole  art  of  slander.  If,  therefore,  you  will  con- 
sider the  strife  opposed  to  me,  to  move  in  a  cause  so  evident,  you  can 
easily  judge  of  his  intention  ;  and  when  you  shall  do  this,  I  doubt  not 
but  that  you  will  hear  me  with  a  most  unbiassed  mind.  For  it  becomes 
princes  both  greatly  to  hate  sycophancy,  and  to  protect  the  innocent 
against  calumny. 

"  That  I  may  therefore  come  to  the  cause,  Cochlaeus  says  very  little 
on  the  matter  itself  ;  but  as  he  has  other  topics,  in  which  he  is  wont  to 
vociferate,  and  to  play  the  tragedian,  and  to  show  off,  he  employs  a 
great  part  of  his  book  in  railing  at  the  Lutherans.  Besides,  he  lays 
exile  to  my  charge,  as  a  reproach.  Of  these  two  points,  therefore,  I 
must  first  speak  ;  and  once  removing  the  suspicion  of  heresy  and  other 
crimes,  then  of  the  controversy. 

"  As  to  the  exile,  your  decision,  most  gracious  Sovereign,  frees  me 
from  all  suspicions,  who  not  only  ordered  me  to  be  released  from  prison, 
but  also  to  be  restored  safe  to  my  former  condition.  Next,  I  appeal  to 
the  testimony  of  our  venerable  College  of  St.  Andrews  in  Scotland  ;  for 
to  all  that  assembly  m}'  history  is  not  only  well  known,  but  my  cause 
so  approved,  that  by  their  fidelity  and  constancy,  my  life  was  defended 
and  preserved  ;  whose  piety  and  humanity  I  record  with  all  my  heart. 
Then,  truly,  banishment  to  me  is  most  grievous,  as  being  torn  away 
from  such  brethren,  who  always  shewed  me  the  highest  kindness,  whose 
fidelity  towards  me,  in  the  greatest  extremity,  was  known  and  remarked." 

From  these,  as  well  as  other  expressions  afterwards,  it  be- 
comes evident  that  the  progress  of  "  the  new  learning"  in 
St.  Andrews  itself,  had  been  much  greater  than  has  ever  been 
explained,  or  ever  now  can  be  ;  and  certainly,  if  in  that  city,  so 
also  in  other  parts,  which  will  be  glanced  at  presently  :  but  in 
justice  to  the  narrative  of  Ales,  it  is  necessary  here  to  premise 
a  few  words,  confirmatory  of  his  interesting  and  graphic  state- 
ment—  a  statement  of  cruelties,  no  doubt  practised  upon  others, 
probably  many  others,  but  which  have  never  before  been 
brought  before  the  public  eye.  Almost  all  the  inhumanity  of 
these  times  has  been  heaped  upon  David  Beaton,  the  nephew 
of  the  Archbishop  and  future  Cardinal,  but  in  this  early  stage 
at  least,  the  lasting  odium  was  largely  shared  by  another  man, 
of  whom  W(>  arc  about  to  hear.      As  one  of  the  monsters  of  the 


l.V2i)-34.]  AND  PKUSKCUTOK  UK  ALKS.  447 

day,  he  should  have  stood  out  upon  the  canvass  before  now. 
Ales,  we  have  seen,  had  been  a  Canon  in  the  Priory  of  St. 
Andrews,  of  which  the  Superior  was  Patrick  Hepburn.  Named 
after  his  father,  the  first  Earl  of  Bothwell,  and  then  frequent- 
ly styled  "  the  young  Prior  of  St.  Andrews,''''  he  had  succeeded 
his  uncle,  John,  in  1522.  He  soon  became  one  of  the  most 
wicked  men  of  his  time,  as  far  as  licentiousness  and  unbridled 
passion  could  go.  A  veteran  in  crime,  long  before  the  prime 
of  life,  the  public  registers  bear  testimony  to  his  enormous 
profligacy.  Witness  the  legitimation  of  at  least  eleven  chil- 
dren, seven  sons  and  four  daughters.  The  man  had  gloried 
in  destroying  the  peace  of  many  a  family,  and  Ales  informs- 
us,  that  he  could  have  mentioned  names,  but  for  the  sake  of 
the  families  he  would  not.  It  is  but  an  imperfect  idea  which 
can  now  be  formed  of  the  immorality  in  which  these  official 
men  rioted  life  away  ;  but  it  is  proper  to  understand  that  the 
representation  of  Ales  is  in  perfect  keeping  with  historical  fact. 
No  wonder  that  Hepburn  should  browbeat  the  Canons  under 
his  authority,  when  he  could  war  even  with  the  Archbishop, 
if  he  crossed  his  path  ;  but  we  are  now  prepared  for  what  Ales 
has  to  say,  in  reference  to  his  own  particular  case  : — 

"  But  I  also  relate  what  cause  inflamed  the  hatred  of  my  Superior 
against  me.  In  the  year  1529,  I  delivered  an  oration  in  the  Synod  of 
Bishops  and  Priests,  and  that  by  the  command  of  his  reverence  the  Bishop 
of  St.  Andrews,  Primate  of  the  whole  kingdom  of  the  Scots.  As  it  was  to 
be  pronounced  in  Latin,  not  for  the  common  people,  in  such  an  assembly 
it  appeared  to  me  that  I  should  be  acting  out  of  my  duty,  unless  I 
exhorted  in  the  Church,  that  is  in  an  apostolic  place,  those  who  pre- 
side over  the  churches  (and  who  do  not  suffer  themselves  to  be  admon- 
ished by  private  persons)  to  piety,  to  the  study  of  Christian  doctrine,  to 
good  morals,  and  that  they  should  teach  and  govern  the  churches  piously. 
I  also  distinctly  pointed  out  debauched  priests.  As  I  said  nothing 
seditious,  or  more  severe  than  I  ought,  nor  did  I  mention  any  one  by 
name,  that  discourse  did  not  at  all  offend  good  men.  But  my  Superior, 
a  man  otherwise  both  vehement  and  soon  angry,  svispected  that  he  was 
specially  aimed  at ;  and  as  he  knew  his  crimes  to  be  marked  by  all,  so 
he  interpreted  my  design,  as  if  I  wished  industriously  to  traduce  him  in 
that  place,  and  to  hold  him  forth,  as  in  a  comedy,  to  be  derided  by 
others.  These  were  the  seeds  of  the  hatred  conceived  against  me  ;  this 
the  introduction  of  my  story.  Nor  was  it  a  new  thing  for  him  to  con- 
tend for  the  basest  of  characters  ;  seeing  that  he  formerly  made  war 
even  against   the   Archbishop,  by  whom  he   was  admonished,  that  he 


i4S  CRUKL  USAGE  OF  ALES.  [uooK  IV. 

should  put  away  his  unlawful  companion  ;  and  collectiuf^  their  forces, 
they  would  have  fought,  had  not  the  Earl  of  Rothes  and  the  Ahbot  of 
Arbroath  (David  Beaton)  ])laced  themselves  between  either  party,  before 
they  came  to  action,  and  so  far  settled  the  matter.      .  Xor  have 

I  any  jilea.surc  in  these  satiric  narratives,  which  I  would  have  entirely 
omitted,  unless  Cochlacus  had  compelled  me  to  declare  the  caiiM  of  my 
exile. 

"  Besides,  it  so  happened,  that  the  whole  College,  for  many  and 
weighty  reasons,  resolved  to  complain  to  the  King  of  the  cruelty  of  the 
Superior  ;  which,  as  soon  as  he  (the  superior)  discovered,  he  came  with 
armed  guards  into  the  very  consecrated  hall  of  the  chapter.  There  I 
warned  the  enraged  man,  lest,  in  anger,  he  should  aim  at  something 
which  did  not  liecome  him.  Having  found  this  oi)portunity,  as  he  was 
most  enraged  at  me  before,  on  account  of  the  sermon,  he  ordered  me  to 
be  seized  by  the  armed  men,  drew  his  sword  at  me,  and  would  himself 
have  run  me  through,  had  not  two  canons  pulling  him  back  by  force, 
turned  aside  the  weapon  from  my  body  !  Afterwards,  when  I  had  thrown 
myself  at  his  knees,  and,  earnestly  entreating  him,  begged  my  life  might 
be  spared,  he  set  his  foot  upon  my  l)reast,  so  that,  having  fainted,  I  for 
some  time  lay  senseless  !  After  that,  when  I  lay  miserable  in  prison, 
again,  at  the  very  doors,  he  di-ew  his  sword  at  me,  but  the  guards  drew 
him  back,  as  they  saw  that,  from  anger  and  rage,  he  had  not  sufficient 
command  of  himself.  Afterwards,  he  seized  all  the  other  canons.  The 
noblemen,  who  were  our  friends,  then  related  the  matter  to  the  King, 
■who  forthwith  commanded  iis  all  to  he  set  at  liberty.  And  we  remember 
your  compassionate  voice,  most  excellent  King,  with  which  you  asserted, 
that  except  the  place  were  infected  with  the  plague,  you  \\o\i\A yourself 
come  to  take  the  priests  out  of  prison.  Such  Avickedness  did  there  ap- 
pear to  you  in  such  cruelty.  The  rest  were  set  at  liberty,  but  I  was  shut 
up  in  a  certain  sink  (the  dungeon  before-mentioned)  until  the  King  ex- 
postulated with  the  Superior  respecting  me  by  name.  This  man  swore 
sacredly  that  I  had  been  set  at  large  !  And  when  uiy  friends  already 
began  to  despair  of  my  life,  and,  as  I  struggled  with  bad  health,  a  re- 
port arose  that  I  had  died  in  prison — then,  at  last,  after  the  twentieth 
day,  he  dragged  me  up,  emaciated,  out  of  the  sink  into  the  daylight  ;^^ 
ordered  me  to  be  washed,  Jind  cleanly  clothed,  and  charged  me  not  to 
tell  any  one  how  he  had  handled  me.  Then  he  sent  for  the  magistrates 
of  the  town,  and  bringing  me  forth,  showed  me  to  them,  that  he  might 
refute  the  report  concerning  my  death,  which  had  now,  out  of  prison, 
become  very  prevalent. 

"  But  as  I  knew  that  he  would  never  be  appeased  towards  mc,  to  these 
magistrates,  commanding  me  ])y  royal  authority,  I  related  in  full  assem- 

--  See  note  fi.  p.  4.11. 


152,9-34.]  BY  THE  PRIOU  OF  ST.  ANDREWS.  t49 

bly,  how  I  had  been  treated.  As  soon  as  possible,  the  Superior  pacified 
the  magistrates,  assuring  them  that  I  should  henceforth  be  at  liberty  : 
but  no  sooner  were  they  gone,  than  he  challenged  me,  why  I  did  not 
conceal  my  ill-treatment,  as  he  had  commanded  me.  For  that  reason 
he  ordered  me  again  to  be  taken  into  custody.  So  was  I  held  a  captive 
almost  a  whole  year  !  I  complained  also  to  the  Bishop,  of  my  bad  usage, 
but  the  Superior  returned  for  answer,  that  there  was  no  protection  for 
me  from  the  Bishop  ;  because,  having  heard  my  sermon,  he  understood 
that  I  fiivoured  the  Lutherans,  and  he  thought  that  I  ought  to  be  con- 
fined and  punished.  In  the  meantime,  when  the  Superior  was  absent, 
the  Canons  got  me  out  of  prison  ;  and  when  at  last  the  Superior  returned, 
by  chance,  sooner  than  we  expected,  he  saw  me  standing  at  the  altar, 
and  executing  my  office.  Wherefore,  as  he  judged  that  his  authority  was 
despised,  both  by  me  and  the  College,  in  a  rage  he  ordered  me  to  be  torn 
from  the  altar,  and  again  dragged  to  prison.  The  Canons  deprecated  the 
violation  of  public  worship,  and  obtained  a  truce  for  me,  until  the  public 
service  was  finished.  After  I  had  completed  the  worship,  I  was  straight- 
way carried  ofi"  in  custody,  to  be  thrown  the  iiext  day  into  that  dungeon, 
once  more.  But  as  some  of  the  Canons,  who  had  heard  that  Jolui  Hay, 
the  mass  priest,  Avas  now  appointed  keeper  of  the  prison,  despaired  of  my 
life  ;"  ^  when  the  first  shades  of  night  had  already  come,  they  drew  near 
and  informed  me,  that  horrible  tortures  and  certain  destruction  awaited 
me,  except  I  consulted  my  safety  by  flight.  When  I  wished  to  betake 
myself  to  friends,  they  advised  that  I  should  rather  escape  alone,  as  the 
Superior  would  instantly  send  horsemen,  who  would  either  seize  me  by 
the  way,  or  by  force  drag  me  from  my  friends. 

"  Although  affected  with  the  deepest  grief,  when  I  thought  that  I 
must  depart  from  my  native  land,  than  which  nothing  is  more  dear  to 
well  constituted  minds,  yet  I  was  induced  to  yield,  both  to  necessity,  and 
to  the  advice  of  so  many  good  men.  They  therefore  took  me  privately 
out  of  the  house,  and  furnished  me  with  provision  for  the  journey.  So 
when,  with  tears,  we  had  taken  farewell  of  each  other,  and  by  the 
kindest  mention  of  illustrious  men  and  saints,  who,  from  tyrannij,  had,  in 
like  manner,  left  the  country,  they  had  somewhat  alleviated  my  grief ;  at 
midnight,  in  the  thickest  darkness,  I  now  entered  upon  my  journey, 
all  alone  ! 

In  what  deep  distress  I  was,  may  be  easily  imagined.  It  was  most 
grievous  to  leave  both  my  country  and  kindred,  while,  at  the  same  time, 
I  knew  that  there  was  no  safety  for  me,  till  I  reached  the  ships.  Be- 
sides the  thoughts  of  exile,  I  anticipated  never  so  many  evils,  as  I  knew 
no  certain  shelter  or  retreat,  in  other  lands.      I  had  no  friend  or  ac- 


23  Some  man  noted  for  cruelty,  whom  we  have  not  hecu  able  to  trace.     Perhaps  some  relative 
of  James  Hay,  Bishop  of  Ross  from  15i')  to  IS.!.'*. 

VOL.   II.  2   V 


450  ALKS  ESCAPES  TO  THE  CONTINENT  [book  iv. 

quaintancc  among  foreigners.  Neither  diil  1  know  other  hiuguagcs,  ex- 
cept my  native  tongue  and  Latin.  Besides  this,  I  tJiought  that  at  this 
time  particularly,  travellers  were  suspected  ;  because  mnni/,  on  account 
of  their  fanatical  and  seditious  opinions,  wandered  about  as  aliens.  In 
the  midst  of  these  cares  and  griefs,  I  supported  myself  in  courage,  Ijy 
Vie  faith  of  Christ,  and  having  that  night  finished  a  difficult  journey,  I 
came  to  the  ships  ;  on  board  of  one  of  which,  a  certain  kinsman  of 
mine,  very  affectionately  received  me,  associated  me  with  himself,  and 
afterwards,  when  I  was  sick,  took  care  of  me  with  the  greatest  kind- 
ness." 

Thus  the  most  valuable  life  has  often  appeared  to  hang  upon 
a  very  slender  thread,  but  though  weeping  had  endured  fur  a 
night,  jov  had  come  in  the  morning.  Ales  was  about  to  leave 
his  much-loved  native  shores,  never  to  return,  and  could  any 
one  have  now  whispered  in  his  ear,  that  he  was  on  the  road  to  a 
far  more  enlarged  spiiere  of  usefulness  ;  that  he  should  not  only 
live  for  more  than  thirty  years,  but  be  the  first  to  plead  for  the 
reading  of  the  Scriptures  in  his  native  land — should  live  to  plead 
for  the  all-sufficiency  and  supreme  authority  of  the  Sacred  Vo- 
lume, even  in  England,  and  before  her  Bishops  assembled;  when 
not  one  of  them  should  dare  to  touch  him.  as  "  tlie  Kinor''s  scho- 
lar,"  although  James  of  Scotland  had  cast  him  off;  and  that,  at 
last,  he  should  die,  greatly  respected,  in  Germany,  or  in  the  very 
country  of  his  bitter  opponent ;  how  incredible  must  all  this 
have  seemed  ?  Meanwhile,  he  had  left  the  spot  where  his  eyes 
were  first  opened  to  the  truth,  with  a  heavy  heart ;  and  perhaps 
the  road  leading  from  St.  Andrews  to  Dundee  has  never  since 
been  traced  during  the  night,  and  the  Tay  crossed,  by  a  mind 
at  once  so  anxious  in  itself,  and  of  such  value  in  future  life.  It 
was  at  midnight  he  set  off,  and  in  thick  darkness,  but  that  is 
certainly  no  reason  why  he  should  have  been  left  by  his  coun- 
try, in  the  shades,  ever  since. 

"  The  next  day,  when  wc  had  already  left  the  harbour,  there  came  to 
the  shore,  horsemen  sent  by  my  Superior,  who  sought  for  me.  When  they 
found  me  not  there,  the  Superior  called  to  him  a  certain  citizen  of  Dun- 
dee, who,  he  suspected,  had  provided  a  vessel  for  me.  With  him  came 
also  to  the  Superior,  the  Provost  of  the  town,  a  knight.  When  the  citi- 
zen denied  that  he  had  assisted  me,  the  Provost  said  to  the  Superior — 
'  But  if  I  had  known  that  Alexander  was  preparing  to  depart,  with  the 
greatest  good-will  I  should  have  provided  for  him  both  a  vessel  and  pro- 
visions, that  he  might  be  delivered  from  i/otir  cruelty  :  for  if  he  had  been 


1.32!)-3i.]  FROM  THE  PORT  OK  DUNDEK.  451 

my  brother,  I  should  long  ago  have  rescued  him  from  these  dangers  and 
distresses,  in  which  he  Avas  involved  by  you.'  "  ^■' 

It  will  be  observed,  that  hitherto  Ales  has  been  alternately 
addressing  his  opponent  and  the  King.  He  therefore  thns 
concludes  the  introductory  part  of  his  narrative  : — 

"  Thus  you  have,  Cochkcus,  the  whole  history  of  my  departure  from 
my  native  land,  in  which,  that  I  have  falsified  nothing,  many  of  the 
best  men  in  the  College  of  St.  Andrews  can  bear  witness.  Now,  if  I 
wished  to  enlaj'ge  in  your  manner.  How  much  wickedness  was  there  in 
that  Superior  of  mine  ?  IIow  unbecoming  was  this  cruelty  in  an  eccle- 
siastical prelate  ?  How  great  was  that  fury,  when  he  drew  his  sword 
upon  me  ?  In  what  extreme  dangers  was  I  a  whole  year  ?  How  much 
guilt  was  there,  in  raging  against  an  innocent  man  and  a  priest,  who 
had  done  nothing  save  what  the  measure  of  his  duty  required  1  What 
should  be,  I  do  not  say  the  oration,  but  rather  the  tragedy  ?  What  a 
valiant  representation  of  an  ecclesiastic  priest  ?  But  I  delight  not  in 
the  reproaching  of  others  ;  neither  should  I  have  brought  forth  this  his- 
tory before  the  public,  except  you  had  forced  it  from  me  ;  though,  in  my 
opinion,  you  would  better  consult  the  interest  of  those  whom  you  defend, 
if  you  would  moderate  your  petulance,  and  not  rashly  provoke  any  one. 
I  now  leave  the  decision  to  all  good  men,  whether  I  have  done  anything 
worthy  of  punishment  ;  and  then,  if  I  am  free  from  blame,  exile  ought 

not  to  be  objected  to  me  as  reproachful. 1  hope  that  I  have  so 

spoken  of  the  cause  of  my  banishment,  that  I  have  not  only  cleared 
away  the  suspicion  of  guilt,  but  have  even  conciliated  towards  me  the 
affections  of  good  men,  that  they  may  be  touched  with  greater  com- 
passion for  my  misfortune. 

"  I  come,  then,  to  another  point  in  which  Cochlseus  performs  wonder- 
ful tragedies,  and,  indeed,  he  scatters  this  argument  through  his  whole 
discourse.  All  this  tumult  of  words  aims  at  producing  this  one  efi'ect — 
that  the  readers  may  suspect  that  I  am  a  Lutheran,  and  that  I  wish  to 
introduce  the  doctrine  of  the  Lutherans  into  my  native  country.  Tokens 
of  this  he  craftily  collects  from  all  quarters.  He  then  adds  amplifica- 
tions, which,  from  his  long  experience,  cannot  be  wanting  to  such  an 
old  disputant ;  and  declaims,  in  general  terms,  against  the  Lutherans, 


-^  The  Provo.st  here  referred  to  was  Sir  James  Scrymgeour  of  Dudhope,  Heritable  Royal 
Banner-bearer  to  the  King.  The  Superior  or  Prior  0/  SI.  j4ndrews,  who,  on  all  high  days,  wore 
the  pontifical  robes  or  ornaments,  had  the  precedence  in  parliament  of  all  other  Priors  or 
Abbots  in  the  kingdom.  But  Hepburn,  who  lived  to  an  advanced  age,  was  promoted  to  the 
bench  the  very  next  year,  or  in  153.5,  as  Bishop  of  Moray,  still  pursuing  the  same  licentious 
career.  -'He  had  found  the  see  in  good  condition,"  says  Keith,  '•  but  he  feucd  out  (feed)  all  the 
lands,  belonging  to  it,"  though  he  held  also  the  Abbey  of  Scone  to  the  day  of  his  death.  He  died, 
as  he  had  lived,  at  Spynie  Castle,  on  the  20th  of  June  \'u^,  having  survived  Ales  eight  years. 
He  lies  buried  in  the  quire  of  the  Cathedral  Church  at  Elgin. 


452  ALRS    IN  CONVERSATION  WITH  [dOOK  IV. 

aa  to  how  miicli  wickedness  and  madness  there  is  in  that  faction.  When 
I  rcuil  tliesc  things,  a  certain  hypochondriac  mentioned  l)y  Galen  comes 
to  my  memory  ;  who,  in  the  ahcrration  of  his  mind,  came  to  he  seriously 
alarmed,  lest  Atlas,  (whom  the  Poets  feign  to  bear  up  the  heavens,)  being 
tired,  should  shake  off  his  loa<l,  and  so  being  tumbled  down,  wc  should 
all  perish  together.  Cochla^us,  indeed,  with  a  weak  and  foolish  mind, 
so  rages  against  the  Lutherans,  that  I  cannot  persuade  myself  he  is 
sane.  He  seems  evidently  to  labour  under  the  same  kind  of  insanity  as 
he  in  Galen,  and  to  fear  lest  the  Sophists  and  the  Monks,  who  pretend 
that  they  support  the  heavens,  should  fall  with  their  foolish  and  super- 
stitious opinions  ;  for  if  they  should  be  destroyed,  he  fears  lest  he  should 
be  compelled  to  cease  from  the  sycophancy  in  which  alone  he  delights. 
Among  good  men,  these  writings  of  Cochlacus  do  more  harm  to  himself 
than  to  the  Lutherans,  whom,  if  he  would  recover  to  the  right  way,  he 
must  treat  with  sound  reasoning,  not  with  calumnies  and  reproaches. 
lie  seems,  under  some  distemper  of  mind,  to  rage  against  them,  for  what 
instruction  does  he,  at  any  time,  afford  ?  And  although  he  is  indeed 
('7roXvy^a(pog)  a  voluminous  writer,  yet  no  where,  as  I  understand,  does 
he  unfold  his  sentiments  upon  Christian  doctrine.  Justly,  therefore, 
are  these  senseless  and  scurrilous  writings  derided  by  the  learned. 

"  But  that  you  may  know,  most  excellent  king,  that  I  have  a  covenant 
"only  with  the  Church  of  Christ,  not  with  any  other  factions,  I  do  not 
refuse,  either  before  you,  or  in  the  presence  of  other  good  men,  simply 
and  clearly  to  give  a  reason  of  my  faith,  as  I  have  fomierly  written  to 
you.  I  believe  the  writings  of  the  Prophets  and  Apostles,  and  embrace 
the  consent  of  the  holy  Fathers,  of  whom  the  Church  approves.  I  also 
reverence  the  authority  of  the  Church,  and  its  judgment  in  doubtful 
cases,  as  that  Avhich  chiefly  I  both  do  and  will  freely  follow.  Does 
Cochlajus  require  anything  more  than  this  1" 

It  is  here  worthy  of  remark,  tliat  the  only  place  where  we 
can  fix  the  residence  of  Ales  about  this  period,  is  Cologne  on 
the  nhine,  the  very  spot  which  Cochlnsus,  in  1525,  had  occa- 
sioned Tyndale  to  leave,  and  a  place  sufficiently  distant  from 
Wittenberg  on  the  Elbe.  Here  our  Scotish  exile  appears  to 
have  been  in  familiar  communication  with  Herman^  Count  de 
Wied,  the  well  known  Archbishop  of  Cologne  ;  and  influenced 
by  the  shocking  cruelties  then  abounding,  we  must  admit  of  a 
digression,  before  the  positive  denial  that  he  himself  was  then 
a  Lutheran,  in  the  proper  sense  of  the  term. 

"  As  I  do  not  undertake  the  defence  of  Luther,  so  neither  do  I  ap- 
prove of  all  the  dreams  of  the  monks,  which  have  been  received,  not 
only  in  opposition  to  the  sense  of  Scripture,  but  even  against  the  autho- 


], 529-34.]  THE  ARCHBISHOP  OF  COLOGNE.  453 

rity  of  the  ancient  Church.  Besides,  I  cannot  approve  of  the  cruelty 
which  is  every  where  practised  against  those  who,  following  the  judg- 
ment of  Scripture  and  of  the  Fathers,  reject  or  disapprove  of  any  mani- 
fest abuse  or  error.  Such  am  I,  Cochlivus,  if  you  please  to  make  use  of 
me.  If  the  veiy  unjust  punishments  of  the  pious  are  a  pleasure  to  you, 
the  more  miserable  are  you.  I  neither  can,  nor  will  knowingly,  ever 
load  or  defile  my  conscience  with  these  aggravated  murders. 

"  I  saw  in  my  own  country  the  punishment  of  Patrick  (Hamilton,) 
a  man  born  in  an  honourable  station.  I  have  seen  at  Cologne  two  very 
good  men  burnt,  pious  and  correct  in  their  sentiments  ;  neither  can  I 
express  in  words  what  grief  I  endured  at  that  tragic  spectacle.  Nor 
did  I  grieve  only  for  their  sakes  who  suffered,  in  whom  a  glory  shone 
through  these  very  sufferings.  Their  exalted  virtue  and  constancy 
afforded  some  alleviation  of  my  sorrow  ;  but  much  more  was  I  grieved 
for  the  Church,  which  such  cruelty  disorders  in  many  ways.  And  I  for 
myself  earnestly  desire  the  moderating  of  some  things  towards  the 
Lutherans,  to  which  they  could  be  recalled  if  the  matter  were  properly 
examined. 

"  While  lately  conversing  familiarly  at  Cologne  with  a  certain  man, 
both  of  the  highest  learning  and  authority,  as  I  understood  him  to  be 
much  grieved  on  account  of  the  confusion  of  the  Church,  I  began  to 
exhort  him  that  he  should  interpose  his  opinion  on  some  matters,  as  I 
hoped  that  the  greater  part  of  the  things  in  dispute  would  become  more 
moderate  among  all ;  if  such  advisers,  pre-eminent  both  in  learning  and 
authority,  would  use  their  influence  on  both  princes  and  people.  When 
I  had  brought  forward  many  arguments  in  favour  of  this  opinion,  sigh- 
ing, he  gave  me  no  answer,  only  he  desired  me  to  hear  an  apologue. 

"  Once  on  a  time,  said  he,  the  Lion,  oppressed  with  old  age,  could  not  over- 
take the  wild  beasts  in  hunting.  By  a  new  contrivance  he  invited  them  to  him- 
self, and  commanded  that  they  should  come  into  his  den,  for  the  purpose  of 
saluting  their  king.  There  came  together  the  Bear,  the  Wolf,  and  the  Fox. 
But  first  of  all  entered  the  Bear,  whom  the  Lion  received  courteously,  then 
led  him  into  his  cave,  and  asked  him  politely — Whether  the  pleasantness  of 
the  den  were  sufficiently  agreeable  to  him  ?  The  Bear,  as  he  was  vei-y  unjjo- 
lislied,  and  unskilled  in  courtly  arts,  simply  said — '  Truly,  he  could  not  reside 
in  such  an  ugly  chamber,  and  among  heaps  of  carcases,  the  smell  of  which 
would  injure  his  health.'  Upon  this  the  Lion,  enraged,  quarrelling  with  the 
Bear,  because  he  despised  his  royal  residence,  tore  him  in  pieces,  and  threw 
him  among  the  other  carcases.  The  Wolf,  as  a  spectator,  stood  at  the  door, 
now  understanding  what  danger  he  was  in,  yet  warned  by  the  example,  thought 
he  must,  by  art,  manage  aud  appease  the  proud  mind  of  the  Lion.  He  ap- 
proaches, is  received,  and  is  interrogated,  whether  the  smell  offended  him, 
or  these  carcases,  in  a  heap  ?  Thereupon  the  Wolf  answered  in  a  choice 
speech — that  he  had  never  seen  any  thing  more  pleasant,  because  both  the 
grove  afforded  him  a  shade,  and  the  winds  breathed  a  grateful  odour  fi-om  the 
wood,  so  that  the  carcases  could  not  at  all  have  any  unpleasant  savour.  The 
artifice  did  not  at  all  profit  the  Wolf,  for  the  Lion  treated  him  not  more  kindly 


i.")l  ALKS  I'LHADS  KOlt  THE  SUPREMACY  [liOuK  IV. 

tlijiii  lie  liiul  <lono  tlio  Hear,  ami  tore  him  in  |>i(;eus  also,  bt«iuse  lie  liad  oin- 
lilovutl  till-  most  iiiiiiuiliiit  Hatti'ry.  Tlie  Fus  saw  the  destruction  of  botli  of 
them.  As  tlie  one  fell  before  his  simplicity,  and  the  other  by  his  adulation,  he 
was  in  {p-eat  fear  what  answer  he  should  make.  He  proceeded,  however,  and 
saluted  the  king.  He  was  led  round,  and  interrogated  after  the  same  manner 
as  liis  companions — Whether  the  smell  of  the  cave  was  unpleasant  \  The  Fox 
answers  modestly,  that '  he  could  not  judaic,  Ucause  he  Idhuured  under  a  cold  /' 
When  he  had  finished,  and  1  waited  for  tlie  moral,  he  desired  me  to  leave  off 
this  disputing.  But,  however,  he  seemed  to  intimate,  that  the  prudent  should 
keep  silence,  because  truth  is  greatly  disliked,  and  impudent  flattery  injures 
both  the  State,  and  the  flatterera  themselves." 

The  individual  belonging  to  the  church  here  referred  to,  is 
represented  as  a  man  of  tlie  highest  authority  there,  and  there- 
fore could  have  been  no  other  than  Herman  himself,  the  Arch- 
bishop ;  more  especially  as  he  was  the  onb/  official  person  here 
known  to  be  anxious  on  such  subjects  ;  for  the  canons  of 
Cologne  were  leagued  against  him.  Ales,  therefore,  then  ex- 
presses his  amazement  as  to  what  will  be  the  future  state  of 
the  Church,  "  U  Bishops  will  not  do  their  endeavour  that  good 
and  learned  men  may  sometimes  converse  freely  on  such  im- 
portant matters.  For  if  any  one,  being  secure,  persuades  him- 
self that  there  is  no  fault,  no  abuses  in  the  Church,  he  is  as 
sick,  as  Hippocrates  says — "  They  are  sick  in  mind,  who  are 
not  sensible  of  their  disease."  -^ 

"  Nor  do  these  bug-bears  of  Cochlasus  aflfect  me,  when  he  cries  out, 
that  if  the  Monks  do  not  teach  correctly,  oiu-  forefathers  never  have 


2*  This  man  of  highest  authority  at  Cologne  was  Herman,  Count  db  Wibd,  the  Archbishop, 
Duke  of  Westphalia,  and  a  Prince  Elector  of  Germany  since  1515.  The  Senate  of  Cologne  had 
authority  to  imprison  supposed  offenders,  but  with  the  Archbishop  resided  the  power  of  life  and 
death.  Herman,  while  Bishop  of  P.iderborn,  had  denounced  Lutheranisni  to  death,  but  lived 
to  be  a  very  different  man.  This  early  interview,  and  earnest  conversation  of  our  Scotish  exile, 
at  the  age  of  33,  with  such  a  man,  now  past  fio,  becomes  the  more  interesting,  when  it  is  observed 
to  have  hapi)cned  years  before  he  ventured  to  hold  his  provincial  council,  or  to  send  for  Buccr 
and  Milanclhon,  as  advisers ;  and  it  becomes  doubly  so,  if  it  be  remembered,  that  Hkh.man  h.id 
the  honour  of  being  the_^cs^  sovereign  prince  in  Germany,  who  lost  his  dignities  and  dominions 
for  the  sake  of  conscience,  when  Charles  V.  gave  iUc  first  specimen  of  the  use  he  intended  to 
make  of  the  unlimited  power  at  which  he  aspired.  The  constitutional  failing  o*  the  Archbishop, 
like  that  of  Cranmcr  in  England,  was  limidily,  as  the  Ujinhigite  now  spoken  had  plainly  dis- 
covered. But  it  is  curious  enough,  that  Ai.KS  should  have  now  advised,  or  stimulated  to 
action,  the  one  man  in  Germany ;  since  he  was  so  to  stimulate  the  other  in  England,  two  years 
after  this.  Sec  vol.  i.  p.  .'J04.  HKh.MAN,  however,  in  maturer  life,  rose  above  all  fear,  and 
all  earthly  considerations  ;  made  the  most  costly  sacrifices,  and  braving  at  once  the  doctors  of 
Louvain,  the  archbishoiis  of  Germany,  the  thunder  of  the  Pontiff,  and  the  power  of  the  Emperor, 
he  declared,  that  as  he  had  been  burn,  so  he  would  die,  simply  Count  of  lyifd— his  family 
would  receive  and  support  him,  but  he  would  continue  to  avow  and  defend  pure  doctrine ;  his 
anxious  desire  having  been,  that  these  provinces  might  receive  "  the  right  knowledge  of  Jesus 
Christ."  Excommunicated  by  the  Pontiff  on  the  16th  of  Ajiril  l.Mfi,  and  deposed  by  the  Em- 
lieror  in  l.'(47,  his  character  shone  still  brighter  in  adversity  ;  and  holding  fast  his  integrity  to  the 
end,  he  died  in  peace  with  God,  at  the  age  of  fourscore,  on  the  1.3th  of  August  I5.')2.  His  "  Con- 
sultation, *c.,  founded  on  God's  Word,"  translated  into  English,  and  printed  by  Dayc  iu  154/. 
and  .again  by  Dave  and  Seres  in  l.'iJH,  contains  scvuial  fine  pasSiigis  on  the  Righteousness  of 
riirisl.  fee. 


1  529-3  i-.]  OF  THE  WORD  OF  GOD.  455 

been  Christians.  For  although  there  was  always  some  Church,  yet  the 
Word  of  God  has  stood  out,  or  been  apparent,  some  times  more  clearly, 
at  other  times  more  obscurely  ;  and  the  Scripture  foretells,  that  a  very 
great  multitude  in  the  Church  should  perish  by  the  fault  of  bad  teachers. 
In  the  meantime,  even  to  the  good  and  holy,  some  errors  adhere,  which 
are  forgiven  to  them  if  they  hold  the  Head  ;  that  is,  if  they  acknowledge 
that  they  are  sinners,  and  entreat  forgiveness  freely  for  Christ's  sake. 
The  Church  flourishes  sometimes  more,  sometimes  less.  The  doctrine 
is  at  one  time  more  pure,  at  another  time  more  impure.  Examples  of 
this  are  set  before  us  in  the  history  of  the  Israelites  ;  among  whom, 
although  there  was  a  certain  number  of  pious  persons,  yet  the  multitude, 
for  the  most  part,  betook  themselves  to  impious  observances.  So  that 
Isaias  says,  '  Except  God  had  left  us  some  seed  remaining,  we  should 
have  become  as  Sodom.'  Even  the  wicked  among  them  flattered  them- 
selves under  the  pretext  of  this  honourable  title — that  because  they 
were  the  people  of  God,  they  could  not  fall  into  pernicious  errors. 
Wherefore  men  mistake,  if,  on  this  account,  they  think  there  is  no  fault 
in  Church  doctrine  and  worship,  because  it  was  once  a  Church.  How 
many  prophecies  are  there,  both  by  Paul  and  Daniel,  which  foretel,  that 
the  Word  of  God  should  be  {ohscuretur)  obscured,  concealed,  little  known  1 
that  good  and  pious  teachers  should  be  slain  by  impious  high  priests  1 
By  these  prophecies  the  Holy  Spirit  fortifies  us  before  hand  against 
those  who  set  the  title  of  the  Church  in  opposition  to  the  Word  of 
God  ;  who  vociferate  after  the  manner  of  Cochlseus — '  there  had  been  no 
Church  for  so  many  ages,  if  there  had  been  any  errors  in  the  doctrine 
of  the  Monks  !'  For  there  was  some  kind  of  Church,  although  the 
Word  of  God  was  very  obscure,  and  there  were  some  few  teaching  and 
thinking  more  correctly,  than  did  the  bulk  of  the  Monks.  For  there 
exist  some  writings  of  almost  all  ages,  which  smell  sweetly  of  the  pure 
doctrine  of  the  Apostles.  I  have  seen  in  my  own  country  some  monu- 
ments of  this  kind  ;  I  have  found  them  also  in  Germany.  From  thence, 
when  Cochlajus  adduces  the  authority  of  the  Church,  why  should  not  we 
enquire  what  the  ancient  Chiurch  thought  V 

Ales  then  gives  some  farther  explanation  of  his  own  senti- 
ments, showing  that  he  was  not  only  intimately  acquainted 
with  the  Scriptures,  but  with  what  the  Fathers  had  said  in 
confirmation  of  his  views.  He  quotes  Augustine,  Hilary,  Am- 
brose, Irenseus,  Epiphanius.  These  men,  he  maintains, 
"  never  teach  that  Christian  perfection  is  placed  in  human 
traditions  ;  never  do  they  sell  works  of  supererogation,"  adding, 
"  I  could  recount  many  other  things,  but  '  the  fox  labouring 
under  a  cold''  occurs  to  my  mind."  He  is,  Jiowever,  far  from 
being  done,  and  still  bearing  very  hard  upon  the  monkish  order. 


4J(i  PLEADS  FOR  THE  SCRIPTURES  []bOOK  IV. 

"  The  Church,  to  every  pious  mind,  is  more  truly  his  country,  than 
tliat  place  which  received  him  at  his  birth,  and  which,  by  its  civil  regu- 
lations, protects  his  life.  Therefore  both  are  alike  criminal ;  those  who 
stir  up  seditions  against  the  Church,  scattering  impious  dogmas,  and 
under  this  pretext  disturbing  that  agreeable  harmony  of  ecclesiastical 
concord,  overturn  the  power  of  the  Church  ;  and  those,  on  the  other 
hand,  who,  under  the  pretext  of  their  ecclesiastical  power,  exercise 
tyranny,  propose  impious  adorations,  and  urge  weak  minds  to  the  observ- 
ance of  them  ;  as  the  Jews  were,  by  arms,  compelled  to  worship  the 
statue  of  the  Emperor  in  the  Temple.  If  any  gainsay,  they  put  them  to 
death.  In  the  meanwhile,  those  who,  through  weakness,  do  not  with- 
stand, yet  endure  in  their  minds,  tortures  more  excruciating  than  any 
punishments  ;  and  of  these  at  last,  many  perish  through  despair. 

"  Although,  therefore,  as  I  said  before,  I  do  not  undertake  the  defence 
of  Luther,  since  in  truth  I  have  not  knoicn  Luther  at  all ;  for  I  do  not 
know  the  German,  in  which  language  he  has  written  much  ;  yet  I  think 
we  ought  to  be  grateful  to  good  men,  whoever  they  be,  who  recall  ua  to 
Scriptiire,  and  the  true  doctrine  of  the  Church." 

The  subjects  of  repentance  and  faith  ;  of  reliance  on  mercy  alone, 
and  the  forgiveness  of  sin  ;  of  supererogation  ;  the  invocation  of  saints, 
"  beclouding  the  glory  of  Christ ;"  the  Mass,  "  got  up  among  the  nations 
for  filthy  lucre's  sake  ;"  public  idolatry  and  vows  ;  are  then  touched  in 
succession  ;  after  which  Ales  aV)ly  defends  the  civil  governments  of  the 
German  States,  with  regard  to  "  the  new  learning  "  having  been  the 
cause  of  seditions,  as  Cochlasus  had,  with  his  usual  effrontery,  asserted  ; 
and  then  shrewdly  concludes — "  If  the  causes  of  that  tumult  were  to  be 
collected,  we  should  somewhere  discover,  that  the  minds  of  men  were 
provoked  by  the  unrighteous  crvAty  of  certain  2>ersons.  Then  after  dis- 
cord once  commenced  on  account  of  religion,  it  is  very  probable  that 
many  evils  followed,  which  accompany  civil  commotions.  Covetous 
men,  on  either  side,  take  advantage  of  the  public  disturbance  for  their 
own  purposes." 

The  sentiments  of  this  writer,  at  this  early  period,  and  so 
■well  expressed,  must  occasion  surprise  to  all  those  readers  who 
have  never  before  heard  of  such  a  man  ;  but  the  chief  import- 
ance of  this  Response,  as  well  as  of  the  previous  Epistle,  con- 
sists in  that  grand  point,  which,  at  this  early  day,  and  by  him- 
self alone,  he  urged  with  such  zeal  and  ability,  for  the  benefit 
of  his  native  land.  Both  England  and  Scotland  owe  every- 
thing to  the  Bible,  and  if  proof  be  still  sought,  we  need  not 
look  far  to  find  it,  so  long  as  we  see  Ireland  lying,  as  it  were, 
in  the  lap  or  bosom  of  Great  Britain.  The  first  translator, 
therefore,  and  the  first  advocate,  though  alike  standing  at  a 


1529-34.3  TO  BE  READ  IN  EVERY  FAMILY.  457 

distance  in  a  foreign  land,  and  under  the  frown  of  tlicir  respec- 
tive countries,  occupy  such  high  ground,  that  they  never  can 
be  overshadowed  by  any  other  men  who  followed  in  their  wake. 
But  if  the  countrymen  of  Ales  be  bound  to  cherish  his  memory 
with  becoming  gratitude,  as  their  first  able  intercessor  for  un- 
limited access  to  the  Sacred  Volume  in  their  own  tongue ;  ho 
enjoys  a  second  claim,  which  sets  him  before  us  as  a  man  pos- 
sessing wisdom  or  sagacity,  very  remarkable  for  his  own  time, 
and  but  too  uncommon  still.  He  had  evidently  felt  assured,  that 
in  the  melancholy  condition  of  Scotland,  jogrsoMrt/ religion  could 
not  possibly  be  promoted,  if  the  Scriptures  were  withheld,  and 
for  this  he  first  pled,  as  lying  at  the  foundation  of  all  that  he 
desired.  What  then,  with  him,  was  the  next  argument  ? 
What  the  next  measure,  which  lay  with  such  weight  on  his 
mind  l  Was  it  an  immediate  refutation  of  all  existing  errors  l 
Was  it  a  direct  attack  upon  the  existing  hierarchy,  as  to  the 
ceremonial  of  their  false  and  hideous  system  ?  No  ;  neither 
the  one  nor  the  other.  Had  he  any  plan^  as  men  now  speak  ? 
Any  scheme  or  platform  to  propose,  or  lay  before  the  King, 
which  was  to  bring  order  out  of  confusion  ?  No  ;  nothing  of 
the  sort.  With  a  shrewdness  and  Christian  simplicity  far  su- 
perior to  many  since  his  time,  he  earnestly  urged  a  more  ex- 
cellent way.  For  although  public  exercises  of  religion,  when 
properly  conducted,  possess  a  happy  tendency  to  prepare  the 
mind  for  those  of  a  more  private  nature,  there  were  then  no 
public  exercises,  save  such  as  were  pernicious  in  the  extreme. 
Through  them,  as  a  regular  system  covering  the  land.  Ales 
saw  that  its  baneful  roots  had  struck  into  the  bosom  of  every 
family  there.  The  ecclesiastical  rulers,  so  called,  were  the  very 
curse  of  society,  and  especially  of  that  "  only  bliss  of  para- 
dise, that  has  survived  the  fall,"  domestic  happiness  and  peace. 
Every  other  social  bond  in  which  men  were  united,  being  but 
loose  and  incidental,  when  compared  to  this,  the  heart  of  this 
man  now  panted  after  the  immortal  interests  of  every  circle 
round  the  household  fire.  Nor  did  he,  like  some  in  modern  times, 
fix  his  eye  upon  children  only,  but  M^on parents.  That  vene- 
rable character  in  the  eye  of  domestics,  with  which  the  read- 
ing of  the  Scriptures  is  sure  to  invest  them,  he  regarded  as  suffi- 
cient to  discomfit  even  the  Prince  of  Darkness !  If  every  chim- 
ney that  smoked  in  his  native  land  was  liable  to  Peter''s  pence  ; 
by  this  time  he  must  have  felt  assured,  that  the  simple  exer- 


158  DOMESTIC  READING  ESSENTIAL  [boOK  IV. 

cise  i)i  domestic  reading  would  di'livur  Iruni  the  imposition,  and 
.soon  cause  the  smoke  to  ascend  freely  to  the  skies.  Only  grant 
him  access  to  ihc  families  of  his  country,  and  ho  saw  that  out 
of  these  would  rise  the  morning  of  a  hotter  day.  And  although 
he  now  pleads  for  that  which  neither  the  King,  nor,  above  all, 
liis  hierarchy  will  allow  ;  this  was  the  path  which  an  overruling 
providence  had  alreadij  opened,  and  aftericards pursued,  and  to  a 
fjir  greater  extent  than  can  now  be  told.  Evidence,  indeed,  pre- 
sently, will  not  be  wanting  ;  but  at  all  events  hero  was  the  secret 
him/e  on  which  the  future  well-being  of  the  entire  Island  was 
then  turning.  At  many  a  fireside,  therefore.  Ales  ought  to 
have  been  not  only  better  known,  but  highly  respected,  long 
before  this  late  day.  AV^hat  would  the  Scotland,  which  he  left 
with  such  reluctance,  have  been,  but  for  the  practice  for  which 
\\G  first  pled  ?  After  this,  it  is  presumed  no  apology  is  neces- 
sary for  hearing  him  again,  and  following  out  his  history. 

"  It  remains  that  we  say  somewhat  of  the  decree  by  which  the  reading 
of  the  New  Testament  in  the  -native  language  is  i^rohihited.  But  I  think 
there  is  no  need  of  a  long  oration  in  a  cause  which  is  so  plain.  What  is 
this  ncAV  paradox  in  the  Church,  that  Christians  are  to  be  prevented  from 
reading  the  Sacred  Books  ?  God  commanded  the  law  to  be  written  on 
the  lentils  of  the  houses,  and  on  the  borders  of  their  garments,  to  be  al- 
ways in  view.  Cochlasus  orders  the  Sacred  Books  to  be  snatched  out  of 
their  hands  ;  though  by  frequent  reading  the  mind  be  stirred  up  to  the 
fear  of  God,  to  advance  faith,  to  invocation,  and  to  other  exercises  of 
that  kind,  which,  without  some  meditation  on  the  divine  word,  cannot 
exist  in  the  mind. 

"  In  a  matter  so  evident,  the  unhappy  condition  of  the  Church  is  to  be 
lamented,  rather  than  any  long  disputation  to  be  kept  up.  For  even  if 
the  preachers  in  the  churches  taught  purely  and  piously,  still  the  domes- 
tic exercise  of  pious  minds  ought  not  to  be  inteiTupted.  In  Acts,  xvii. 
chapter,  the  diligence  of  those  is  commended,  who,  when  they  heard  the 
Gospel,  yet  daily  searched  the  Scriptures,  that  by  their  testimony,  they 
might  both  confirm  their  faith  and  excite  other  spiritual  affections. 
This  exercise  Cochlaius  derides  and  prohibits,  because  he  does  not  under- 
stand what  power  it  possesses  ;  or  what  need  there  is  to  brace  up  weak 
minds,  and,  from  time  to  time,  to  stir  them  up,  by  the  Word  of  God. 

"  But  then  domestic  reading  is  necessary  for  the  instruction  of  youth, 
because  that  period  of  life  cannot  be  sufficiently  instructed  in  public 
sermons,  however  good  and  plain  they  may  be  ;  and  yet  we  see  few  who 
accommodate  their  discourse  in  sermons  to  the  cajiacity  of  a  tender  age. 
Domestic  study  is,  therefore,  by  no  means  to  be  abolished,  if  wc  would, 


1529-34.]  TO  THE  POWER  OF  CHRISTIANITY.  4.59 

as  we  ought,  train  up  children  to  piety  from  their  tender  years.  The 
Sacred  history  is  to  be  committed  to  memory — the  sayings  and  the  ex- 
ample of  Christ  are  to  be  inculcated,  that  they  may  be  in  constant  view, 
and  that  they  may  be  exhorted  to  faith  and  good  morals.  Certain 
Psalms  also  are  to  be  proposed,  which,  through  all  their  life  after,  they 
may  use  in  prayer.  The  Scripture  requires  this  diligence  in  the  fathers 
of  families,  as  when  in  Deuteronomy,  it  so  often  charges  them  to  incul- 
cate the  law  upon  their  sons.  What  do  you  answer,  CochUcus,  to  this 
argument  ? — 

"  The  German  translation  has  had  this  good  effect,  not  only  in  those 
countries  which  openly  profess  their  attachment  to  the  purer  doctrine, 
but  even  in  the  rest  of  Germany,  hoys  and  girls,  in  almost  all  the  more 
respectable  families  read  the  New  Testament,  learn  Psalms,  and  read  other 
useful  books  upon  good  morals,  and  by  that  discipline  are  happily  trained 
both  to  piety  and  good  morals.     I  have  seen  these  great  examples,  with 

pleasui'e,   in  many  places,  which  have  no  business  with  Luther. 

And  there  is  greater  necessity  in  Scotland  for  books  written  in  the  ver- 
nacular tongue  than  in  Germany ;  for  so  great  is  the  darkness  among 
the  Scots,  that  the  people  reckon  it  an  atonement  to  repeat  the  Lord's 
Prayer  in  their  native  tongue,  from  whence  it  may  be  judged  how  great 
is  the  necessity  there  for  books  written  in  the  native  language. 

"  Hitherto  I  have  stated  of  how  much  importance  it  is  to  permit  domes- 
tic reading,  although  preachers  teach  well.  And  that  employment  does 
not  at  all  offend  good  teachers,  so  that  they  greatly  encourage  the 
churches  to  this  practice,  and  so  suit  their  discourses  to  the  capacity  of 
the  hearerSj  that  they  aid  and  illustrate  this  same  reading.  But  what  if 
preachers  teach  in  such  a  manner,  that  their  hearers  are  not  sufficiently 
instructed  in  certam  things  necessary  to  salvation,  except  they  them- 
selves read  the  Sacred  Books  %  This  is  the  very  cause  why  the  Monks 
struggle  so  earnestly,  that  domestic  reading  may  not  be  permitted  to  the 
people  !  Thieves,  as  it  is  said,  hate  noise.  For  you  cannot  suppose,  most 
excellent  King,  that  there  is  any  other  cause  why  the  monks  are  unwill- 
ing that  the  Sacred  Books  should  be  brought  out,  than  that  they  fear 
their  errors  and  abuses  should  be  detected,  if  once  compared  with  the  Gos- 
pel. Craftily  concealing  this  cause,  Cochlseus  scares  men  from  the  Sa- 
cred Books  by  this  reproach — he  pretends  that  all  who  relish  reading  of 
this  kind,  favour  the  Lutherans,  and  I  know  not  what  other  factions.  You 
see  most  excellent  Sovereign,  how  bitter  a  calumny  this  is :  for  it  is  beyond 
a  doubt,  that  both  in  your  kingdom,  and  many  other  nations,  there  are 
many  who,  loving  the  peace  of  the  Church,  yet  consider  this  domestic 
reading  necessary,  that  they  may  knoAV  the  power  of  religion,  by  exami- 
ning the  fountains  of  it  for  themselves  ;  since,  upon  many  important  mat- 
ters, unskilful  teachers  have  not  given  them  proper  satisfaction. 


4G(>  DEFENDS  THE  VERSION  [liOOK  iv. 

"  Moreover,  how  miserable  is  the  state  of  the  Church,  when  it  neither 
has  proper  teachers,  nor  is  permitted  the  use  of  the  Sacred  Books  !  I 
wish  the  authors  of  this  decree  would  consider  how  much  they  offend 
God.  They  themselves  do  not  teach,  nor  do  they  take  care  that  the 
people  are  rightly  taught,  and  this  negligence  occasions  abuses  not  to  be 
endured.  To  this  carelessness,  with  which  God  is  already  greatly  dis- 
pleased, they  now  add  the  decree  by  which  they  forbid  the  reading  of  the 
Gospel.  The  patience  of  God  is  indeed  too  much  tried  :  but  I  wish  not 
longer  to  deplore  those  things,  though  I  can  scarcely  restrain  my  grief. 
For  although  my  former  letter  made  very  few  complaints,  yet  Cochlacus 
reproaches  me  because  I  wrote  these  things,  as  incensed  with  hatred  of 
the  Bishops  ;  but  I  neither  hate  them,  nor  any  order  in  the  Church.  At 
the  same  time,  I  cannot  help  lacing  grieved,  when  I  consider  Avith  what 
horrible  darkness  Christian  doctrine  lies  buried  ;  what  torture  distresses 
pious  minds,  who  by  force  are  compelled  to  attend  impious  observances. 
This  just  grief  of  mine,  which  /  hioiv  to  be  common  to  me,  with  viany  de- 
vout men,  Cochlueus  slanderously  interprets  to  be  hatred. — 

"  But  I  return  to  the  cause,  in  which,  when  Cochlaeus  is  destitute  of  ar- 
gument, he  begins  to  declaim  about  Luther's  version.  He  pretends  that 
I  am  about  to  translate  that  version  into  the  Scotish  language  ;  although 
I  do  not  know  the  German,  and  speak  of  that  version  which  noio,for  some 
time  2^ast,  exists  in  the  country^  and  against  xohich  that  decree  was  made. 
Then  the  other  reproaches  which  he  tacks  together,  are  not  so  much 
against  Luther,  as  against  the  Sacred  Books,  seeing  he  alleges  this  ver- 
sion to  be  the  cause  of  the  seditions.  But  though  he  chiefly  wishes  to 
accuse  either  the  sermons,  or  the  more  vehement  writings  of  the  Luthe- 
rans, surely  the  books  of  the  New  Testament  are  not  to  be  called  in  ques- 
tion. Neither  is  it  likely  that  they  are  perverted  by  any  Lutheran 
scheme,  when  this  very  version  is  read,  with  such  great  approbation  of 
the  learned,  over  all  Germany.  What  folly  would  it  be  to  corrupt  the 
reading,  when,  presently,  all  the  learned  would  have  detected  the  fraud  1 
But  they  all  commend  it,  even  those  who  are  inimical  to  Luther.  Why 
did  Bmser,  while  at  the  first  as  a  critic,  he  had  published  a  censure  upon 
the  version  of  Luther,  afterwards  become  a  ji^affiarist  ?  For,  with  the 
change  of  a  very  few  words,  he  published  Luther's  translation  for  his 
own;  nor  did  he  mark  any  place  in  which  a  candid  reader  could  judge 
that  Luther  wished  to  deceive  the  unlearned.^"  Wherefore,  I  think  no 
good  man  could  with  composure  read  this  horrible  blasphemy  of  Coch- 
licus,  when  he  says  that  the  translation  of  the  New  Testament  published 
by  Luther  is  the  gospel  of  Satan,  not  of  Christ ;  for  this  reproach  is  di- 


sc This  reference  must  have  lieen  felt  as  a  liomc-thrust,  since  CocliliCiis  liad  been  sent  for  by 
Duke  Ucorgc  of  Saxony,  to  assist  Krascr,  in  defence  of  their  cominuu  system. 


1529-34.]  ALREADY  IN  CIRCULATION.  461 

rectcd  not  against  Luther,  but  against  the  Word  of  God.  But  I  have  no 
occasion  to  dispute  respecting  Luther's  version.  I  speak  of  the  Scotish,  or 
whatever  way  it  may  have  been  transhxtcd  by  any  learned  bishop  or  monk. 

"  You  see,  therefore,  most  excellent  King,  that  this  entire  topic  has  been 
added  by  Cochlajus,  not  that  he  thinks  it  is  to  the  point,  but  that  he 
may  humour  his  own  hatred,  and  overpower  me  with  the  odium  of  the 
Lutheran  name.  So  great  is  his  desire  to  injure  me,  that  he  pleads  not 
only  what  is  foreign  to  the  cause,  but  even  absurd  ;  for  I  have  nothing 
to  do  with  Luther's  version.  And  then  there  is  no  one  so  impious  as  to 
conclude  that  the  German  commotions  have  not  arisen  from  very  different 

causes,  rather  than  from  the  reading  of  the  New  Testament. Rather, 

most  excellent  Sovereign,  be  persuaded  of  this,  that  from  whatever  cause 
these  commotions  may  have  arisen,  the  reading  of  the  Gospel  has  great- 
ly contributed  to  the  mitigation  of  them.  For  good  men,  admonished 
by  the  Gospel,  as  to  their  duty  towards  civil  government,  have  defended 
the  authority  of  the  magistrates  against  violence  and  seditious  persons  ; 
and  I  think  nothing  at  this  time  so  contributes  to  the  tranquillity  of 
Germany,  because,  by  the  authority  of  the  Gospel,  men  are  restrained. 

"  But  Cochlaeus  sometimes  departs  from  Luther,  and  slanders  other  in- 
terpreters, that  he  may  weaken  the  authority  of  the  Gospel  itself.  He 
denies  that  there  is  any  certain  interpretation,  because,  on  some  passages, 
interpreters  differ  from  each  other.  By  this  argument  he  endeavours  not 
only  to  snatch  the  Gospel  from  the  Scots,  but  also  to  abolish  entirely  all 
Divine  writings,  among  all  nations  ;  for  all  the  nations  at  this  time  use 
translations.  Neither  to  the  Hebrews,  nor  to  the  Greeks  is  the  ancient 
language  vernacular.  Moreover,  if,  on  this  account,  translations  are  to 
be  rejected,  not  the  writings  of  the  New  Testament  only,  but  also  the 
decrees  of  synods,  and  all  the  constitutions  of  the  Church,  will  be  un- 
certain :  nor,  indeed,  can  the  authority  of  religion  be  weakened  more, 
than  if  all  things  should  be  esteemed  doubtful.  Still  it  is  easy  for  gram- 
marians to  loose  this  knot.  The  ancient  languages  have  not  been  so  ut- 
terly lost,  but  that  upon  ancient  writings  and  monuments,  there  is  an 
agreement  among  the  learned,  though  in  a  few  places  there  do  exist 
grammatical  controversies.  In  the  Scotish  version,  certainly  no  Bishop, 
no  Monk,  ever  attacked  the  fidelity  of  the  translation,  or  charged  any 
passage  as  being  likely  to  be  dangerous  to  religion.  /  have  heard  even 
the  chief  among  our  j)reachers  declare,  that  this  same  version  gave  them 
much  more  light  than  the  commentaries  of  many.  If  we  follow  the  judg- 
ment of  Cochlscus,  among  other  devices,  all  translations  ought  to  be 
rejected  ;  and  some  misanthropes  would  easily  endure  that  all  learning, 
all  honourable  arts,  all  languages,  nay,  the  very  Gospel  itself,  should 
utterly  perish,  rather  than  that  any  opinion  of  theirs,  however  absurd, 
should  be  confuted.  For  this  cause,  many  are  very  much  opposed  to 
languages  and  learning,  because  they  regard  them  as  guides  for  purify- 


+(;2  I'l-KAIKS  \'OK  SCHIPTURK  [[bOOK  IV. 

ing  the  doctrines  of  religion  ;  hut  respecting  languages,  and  the  fidelity  of 
translations,  other  men,  of  the  greatest  erudition,  have  written  copiously. 

"  At  length  Cochlasus  himself  sometimes  gives  way  and  softens  the 
Decree  as  to  Books,  flying  to  dialectics,  from  whence  he  borrows  an  inter- 
pretation. They  debar  men,  he  says,  from  reading  the  Gospel  not  simply, 
non  simjdiciter,  seJ secundum  quid.  I  applaud  his  discernment,  and  accept 
what  he  gives,  that  I  may  amuse  myself  with  a  dialectic  man.  I  will 
readily  allow  that  men  shall  be  prohibited,  seciuidura  quid,  that  is,  pic- 
tured men  ;  for  so,  in  the  schools,  arc  such  men  interpreted.  IJut  with- 
out jesting,  Cochhcus  gives  an  interpretation  to  the  Decree  of  such  a 
kind,  that  if  he  will  maintain  it  publicly,  will  deliver  many  good  men 
from  danger.  He  denies  that  nolle  men  and  honourable  citizens  are 
prohibited  ;  but  only  some  certain  inquisitive  people,  who  read,  not  that 
they  may  be  made  better,  but  that  they  may  bring  into  question  received 
opinions.  Although  it  be  not  easy  to  discover  with  what  intention 
every  one  reads  the  gospel,  yet  if  the  law  is  published  only  against 
trifling  and  curious  dispositions,  I  myself  would  regard  it  as  good.  But 
the  deed  itself  declares  who  they  are,  who  are  chiefly  aimed  at  in  this 
decree ;  for  severity  is  exercised  not  so  much  against  vain  persons  as 
against  the  best  men  of  cdl  ranks.  Then  the  most  atrocious  injunctions 
are  set  abroad,  \ih.\ch.  jyrohibit  the  books  of  the  Nev)  Testament  from  being 
IMPORTED  INTO  THE  ISLAND.^''  Bcsidcs  being  sought  out  in  book  sho2)s, 
they  are  burnt.  If  it  be  lawful  for  reputal^le  men  to  purchase  them  in 
book  shops,  why  is  it  not  lawful  to  sell  them  there  ?  Why  does  the 
law  threaten  all  without  exception,  and  even  the  books  themselves  1^ 
You  do  an  injuiy  to  the  Church,  Cochlaeus,  if  you  judge  all  men  to  be 
light  and  over  cui'ious,  who  desire  to  study  the  fountains  of  Christian 
doctrine.  Nay,  men  of  trifling  dispositions,  if  also  without  books,  are  wont 
to  be  busy-meddlers. 

"  Cochlaeus  orders  the  sermons  to  be  heard,  nor  do  I  disapprove  of  this, 
and  I  wish  the  Church  had  many  j^'i'oper  teachers.  But  in  these  last 
times,  I  think,  hath  hajjpened,  much  more  than  ever,  that  which 
Matthew  writes — that  Christ  saw  '  the  multitudes  faint,  and  scattered 
abroad,  as  sheep  which  have  no  shepherd.'  And  said,  '  The  harvest 
indeed  is  abundant,  but  the  labourers  are  few.'  For  truly  now  the 
lambs  of  Christ,  fainting,  wander  without  shepherds  ;  as  the  chief  priests 
are  not  affected  with  care,  for  correcting  the  doctrine  ;  and  the  instruc- 


2*  These,  of  course,  could  be  no  other  than  Ti/ndale's  editions  ;  and  the  reference  is  to  impor- 
tations which  had  been  Roing  on  since  the  year  1526,  and  which  went  on  after  this  for  many 
years  notwithstanding.     The  merciful  visitations  of  Scotland  and  England  were  simultaneous. 

2»  Anno  1532,  Aiigust  8,  Rnbi'rt  Likptrvick,  banished,  by  warrant  of  the  king,  furth  of  the 
kingdom  of  Scotland.  He  was  sworn  in  judgment  to  remove  within  forty  days,  under  pain  of 
death.— .l/.S.  Aduocalcs'  Library.  "  Probably  the  Scotish  printer.  It  is  likely  that  his  crime 
was  printing,  and  selling  heretical  books."— Pitcairn's Criminal  Trials,  i.,  p.  Kil.  And  certainly 
it  is  probable,  that  among  others,  he  may  have  been  selling,  what  Sir  Thomas  More  was  Ihcii 
denouncing  as  thofuimlain  of  all  heresy— Tyndale's  New  Testament. 


d 


152y-34.]  AS  A  PERFECT  RULE.  46'3 

tion  of  the  Monks,  what  fodder  is  it  \  Labyrinths  they  are  of  inexplic- 
able opinions,  and  human  traditions,  such  as  the  libraries  themselves 
testify.  For  sec,  how  great  is  the  mass  of  commentaries  upon  opinions, 
and  then  the  summaries,  which  enumerate  and  provoke  human  tradi- 
tions. To  these  add  the  fabulous  histories  of  saints,  and  many  other 
things  of  this  sort.  In  such  confusion  of  doctrines,  it  is  not  to  be  won- 
dered at  that  pious  minds  demand  something  more  substantial  and  plain. 
Therefore  all  are  not  overcurious  in  judging,  who  long  after  the  reading 
of  the  New  Testament  ;  but  they  are  sluggish  rather,  if  in  such  great 
confusion  of  opinions  they  demand  nothing  certain." — 

Having  now  deprecated  tlie  excess  of  authority,  whether  in 
prelates  or  tlie  Pontiff  liimself;  praised  the  all-sufficiency  of 
the  Divine  Word,  and  its  infinite  superiority  above  all  collects 
and  manuals  and  breviaries  ;  he  asserts  that  Cochlaus  had 
brought  forward  all  his  calumnies  with  a  design  "  to  frio-hten 
not  the  common  people  only,  but  you  also,  most  excellent 
King,  from  the  sacred  books.  There  is  no  need  to  refute  them 
all.  To  them  all  we  oppose  one  sentence  of  Paul —  '  All  Scrip- 
ture, divinely  inspired,  is  profitable  for  teaching,  S,-c.,  that  a  man 
may  he  perfect  and  furnished  to  every  good  worky — 

"  Since  Paul  confessed  himself  to  be  a  debtor  both  to  Greeks  and  Barba- 
rians, to  the  wise  and  to  the  unwise,  without  doubt  he  adapted  himself 
to  the  capacity  of  either  description.  But  this  I  will  grant  to  Cochlaeus, 
that  no  where  in  Scripture  are  praised,  the  hypocrisy  of  the  Monks, 
their  coicls,  their  wooden  shoes,  the  masses  for  the  dead,  and  other  stick 
things  of  recent  invention.  On  this  account,  they  fear  the  Scriptures 
should  be  read,  lest  people  begin  to  despise  those  splendid  works,  which 
delight  so  many  idle  and  unlearned  Mass  Priests  and  Monks. 

"  Scripture  proposes  to  us  great  and  honourable  works  for  all  ranks  of 
life,  useful  for  assisting  and  protecting  the'  society  of  human  kind.  It 
teaches  nothing  respecting  those  trifles,  which  the  monks  sell  under  the 
most  specious  pretences.  For  this  cause  they  do  not  wish  the  Gospel  to 
shine  forth,  as  they  are  afraid  both  for  i\iQ\r  character  &ndL  their  kitchen. 
Therefore,  we  must  explode  those  calumnies,  unbecoming  for  Christian 
ears,  by  which  the  authority  of  Scripture  is  weakened,  and  good  people 
are  scared  from  reading  it.  If  any  one  bring  a  dutiful  mind,  let 
h  i'ln  understand,  that  not  only  in  the  greatness,  and  the  sweetness  of  the  sub- 
jects which  the  Scriptures  teach,  but  also  in  2'>^rspicidty ,  they  far  excel  the 
rhapsodies  of  modern  divines. 

"  Such  is  the  force  and  power  of  their  sentences,  that  they  inflame  the 
readers  more  than  frigid  disputations,  and  leave  in  their  minds  stings  more 
poignant,  than  even  of  itself  could  the  thunder  and  lightning  eloquence  of 
Pericles.     As  for  myself,  this  experience  frequently  accrues,  so  that  when 


404.  ALES  FINALLY  WARNS  THE  KING.  [BOOK  IV. 

/  raid  over  again  passages,  fioipever  well  known,  I  return  to  the  reading  as 
if  they  were  quite  neie.  For  either  the  signification  is  made  more  plain, 
and  some  co)isideration  which  I  had  not  be/ore  regarded,  or  I  carry  away 
some  pious  emotion.  For  the  Holy  Spirit  commands  our  minds  to  be  stir- 
red vp  hy  the  handling  of  the  Wordof  O'od,  as  Paul  saith,  '  Jk  filled  with 
the  Spirit,  sjteaking  to  one  another  in  j'sal/ns  and  hymns  and  spiritual 
songs.^ " 

"  I  have  now  spoken  to  the  cause,  concerning  the  decree,  and  have 
refuted  the  principal  cavils  of  Cochltcus  ;  for  it  were  tedious  to  refute 
them  all,  nor  is  there  any  necessity  for  it.  Nothing,  therefore,  remains, 
except,  perhaps,  that  testimonies  are  expected  from  me  :  but  I  have 
already  related  some  opinions  which  commend  to  us  the  study  of  the 
Word  of  God,  and  particularly  the  domestic  use. — Paul  commands  us, 
as  standing  in  battle  array,  always  to  l)e  fortified  and  armed  by  the 
Gospel,  to  ward  off  the  fiery  darts  of  the  devil.  Peter  commands  us  to 
])ehave  ourselves,  so  that  we  may  be  able  to  render  a  reason  for  our 
faith.  That  we  may  acquire  a  substantial  knowledge  of  the  Gospel, 
some  domestic  exercise  is  necessary  both  for  oui'selves,  but  especially 
for  the  young  people  ;  but  what  of  this  can  there  be  at  home,  if  books 
be  wanting  ?  David,  describing  the  happy  man,  says — '  His  delight  is 
in  the  law  of  the  Lord,  and  in  his  hivo  doth  he  meditate  day  and  night^ 
But  what  meditation  can  there  be,  if  books  are  taken  away  by  force  from 
the  people  ?" 

By  way  of  peroration,  Ales  had  reserved  what  lie  regarded  to 
be  a  powerful  "  argumentuni  ad  hominem,"  in  a  reference  to  the 
father  of  the  King,  upon  one  memorable  occasion,  and  wliich 
we  have  already  quoted.^  ]3ut  that  example,  though  as  yet 
unknown  to  Ales,  had  lost  all  its  influence,  through  the  vicious 
counsel  and  conduct  of  those  to  whom,  unhappily,  the  young 
Prince  now  bent  his  ear,  except  only  when  his  personal  feelings 
and  interest  were  concerned.     He  then  concludes — 

"  You  have  thus,  most  excellent  king,  a  very  grave  decision  of  your 
father,  which  it  will  be  highly  honourable  for  you  to  follow,  especially 
since  it  agrees  with  the  divine  ej^istles,  and  the  testimonies  and  opinions 
of  the  holy  Fathers.  I  again  beseech  you,  for  Christ's  sake,  that  you 
would  not  sanction  that  Decree  about  forbidding  books ;  that  you  would 
not,  by  your  authority,  strengthen  and  assist  the  sycophants  and  hypo- 
crites, who,  on  account  of  their  own  lusts,  cannot  bear  the  light  of  the 
Gospel  ;  and  carry  on  every  where  a  horril)le  warfare  against  those  who 
are  pious,  and  who  desire  to  shew  forth  the  glory  of  Christ.     They  are 


!i!'  Sec  tilt  Introduction  to  Scotlaml.  ]>P-  ■""'•  4<il. 


1.V2})-;M.]  COCHLiEUS  still  MOUK  INt'KNSKl).  IM.') 

not  all  turbulent  and  seditioiis  who  love  the  purer  doctrine.  1  have 
treated  more  briefly  of  these  matters  than  their  importance  demands, 
and  therefore  oblige  myself  to  render  a  reason  of  my  faith  more  fully, 
whenever  you  command  me.  I  cannot  now  longer  debate  with  Coch- 
loeus,  though  I  should  have  been  ashamed  in  a  better  cause,  not  to  have 
spoken  better  than  him.  But  I  commend  myself  to  your  clemency,  and 
wish  that  God  may  guide  your  mind  to  the  glory  of  Christ,  to  your  oavu 
salvation,  and  to  that  of  the  Church." 

Naturally  impetuous,  and  delighting  in  war,  Cocliheus  was 
now  in  a  perfect  rage,  and  though  evidently  confounded  by  the 
talent  displayed  against  him,  as  he  could,  at  any  moment, 
make  lies  his  refuge,  he  lost  no  time  in  replying  to  Ales,  by 
ajrain  addressing  the  King.'"^ 

He  connnences  with  one  of  his  bold  shifts  or  assumptions, 
which  he  reiterates  as  a  fact,  throughout  his  quarto  pamphlet. 
It  was  no  less  than  this,  that  Ales  was  not  the  author,  either 
of  the  Epistle  or  the  Response  !  He  now  ascribes  the  whole 
to  no  other  than  Philip  Melancthon  ;  a  very  plain  proof  of 
the  ability  displayed,  and  an  unwitting  eulogy  upon  our  Scotish 
exile,  then  and  even  still,  so  little  known. 

"  I  shall  not  here  speak,  O  king,  of  those  calumnies  which  Philip,  under  the 
name  of  Alesius,  published  through  Germany,  in  his  well  known  letter  to  your 

majesty  last  year,  which  I  formerly  answered  !^ ^What  especially  grieves 

me  in  this  Scotsman,  Alexandei-,  is,  that  he  gives  up  and  changes  his  name  to 
this  vilest  of  heretics,  by  \\  horn  he  vents  his  abuse  so  wickedly  and  maliciously, 
to  the  injury  of  the  entire  kingdom  and  nation  :  for  which  one  act  of  wicked- 
ness, Alesius  deserves,  as  the  traitor  of  his  country,  never  to  be  i-ecalled  from 
his  exile  again."3i 


30  This  is  entitled—"  Pro  Scotiae  Resiio  Apologia  Johaniiis  Cochlei,  Adversus  persoiiatum 
Alexandrum  Alesium  Scotum.  Ad  Sereniss.  Scotorum  regem.  1534."  In  this  strange  pieec, 
the  author  treats,  after  his  own  fashion— Of  the  decree  of  the  Scotish  Bishops;  the  exile  of  Ales  ; 
the  otfences  of  P.  Melancthon  against  the  Scots ;  of  Lutheranism  in  general ;  and  that  of  Ales 
in  particular,  as  he  insists.  At  the  end  wc  have  this  colophon — Ex  Dresda  Misnie,  Idibus 
Auguste  MDxxxHii.  Excusum  Lipsia?  ai)ud  Michaelem  Blum.  Leijisic  w.is  the  very  city  in 
which  Ales  was  afterwards  established  as  a  Professor,  for  many  years. 

3'  Tliis  falsehood  was  about  two  months  in  growing  to  maturity.  Tluis,  on  the  2d  of  June, 
Cochla^us  had  been  as  busy  in  writing  to  Puland,  and  in  the  very  same  strain  as  to  i-'cotlanU  in 
August.  Tln'ii  he  writes  to  the  Polish  Archbishop — "  Melancthon  having  got  Alesius  the 
Scotsman,  he  published,  as  I  have  heard  from  many,  and  the  very  style  makes  it  evident,  a 
most  hateful  letter  to  the  King  of  the  Scots."  This  similarity  of  stiile,  however,  had  never  once 
occurred  to  him  in  his  former  lucubrations.  Again,  on  Ihefllh  of  August,  to  Poland  once  more  he 
repeats  the  falsehood,  "as  I  have  known  by  many  evidences  and  arguments."  But  now,  with- 
out hesitation,  he  roundly  asserts  the  calumny  as  a  fact  of  his  own  knowledge.  See  the 
"  Velilaiio."  or  Skirmishing  of  Coihla'us  against  Mclanctlion,  ad  June,  and  his  "  Philipica;" 
8th  August,  compared  with  his  "  Pi"  SroliiT,"  1.1th  of  August  1.0.14.  This  Shiimisliing,  or 
bickering  in  words,  was  not  an  una[>))ropriate  title  for  the  commencement  of  a  series  of  lies 
printed  by  CochhTus  at  tliis  l)eriod.  "  I  have  resolved,"  says  he,  in  his  Pliillipic,  "  to  denounce 
them  by  small  publications,  which  can  be  exported  by  booksellers  into  your  kingdom."  that  is, 
Poland  ;  for  as  to  Scotland,  he  will  not  confide,  at  least  one  jiarcel,  to  a  bookseller.     Poor  miser- 

VOL.   II.  2  <; 


466  KALSELV  ASC'ltlUKS  TO  MKLANCTllON  [ikmik   IV. 

Ill  wiitiiii^'  his  Rewponso,  liowever,  tliis  year,  it  so  happened 
tliat  Ales  had  informed  liis  readers  that  lie  was  not  as  yet  ac- 
quainted with  Luther  personally  ;  and  it  corroborates  his  state- 
ment, that  as  for  Melancthon,  there  is  not  one  shadow  of 
evidence  that  he  had  become  acquainted  with  him,  till  a/te?' 
his  answer  to  Cochkeus  had  been  sent  to  Scotland.  It  is  not 
at  all  improbable,  that  the  calumny  now  raised  might  bring 
them  into  contact ;  which  appears  to  have  happened  about  the 
close  of  1534,  perhaps  the  spring  of  1535.  But  be  this  as  it 
may  ;  formerly,  Cochlajus  had  no  idea  whether  Alexander 
Ales  was  a  real  or  supposititious  character  :  now,  that  this 
will  no  longer  serve  him,  both  compositions  must,  it  seems, 
be  the  production  of  Melancthon,  to  whom,  as  well  as  to 
Luther,  Cochlnnis  bore  such  invincible  hatred  !  The  traducer, 
of  course,  could  not  foresee,  that  in  two  years  hence.  Ales  would 
display  equal  talent  upon  En()lish  ground,  and  before  all  the 
bishops  assembled ;  when  he  was  far  removed  from  the  ear  of 
Philip  Melancthon.  Nor  could  he  foresee,  that  seven  years 
hence  he  would  meet  with  Ales,  and  at  the  same  time,  appar- 
ently, be  afraid  even  to  address  him. 

But  our  German  canon  was  equally  dexterous,  whether  in 
making  facts,  or  in  feigning  ignorance  of  what  he  must  have 
known.  Thus,  after  even  the  Doctors  of  Louvain,  in  a  body, 
had  made  such  boast,  and  sent  such  congratulations  to  Scot- 
land in  1528,  over  her  proto-martyr  Hamilton,  he  pretends 
to  be  profoundly  ignorant  of  the  event,  nay,  and  still  of  the 
state  of  Scotland,  as  well  as  of  the  facts  now  stated  by  Ales 
with  regard  to  himself.  He  must  therefore  set  himself  to  spy 
out  some  discrepancy  between  the  Epistle  of  Ales  to  the  King, 
and  his  liesponse  to  the  calumnies  already  published.  In 
this,  however,  he  signally  fails,  and  it  would  be  an  easy  task 
to  expose  at  once  his  ignorance  and  his  folly.  There  are, 
indeed,  not  more  than  two  or  three  sentences  worth  quoting, 
and  merely  on  account  of  what  is  involved  in  them. 

"  What  may  be  true  of  all  this,  illustrious  King,  I  cannot  divine,  for  I  was 
not  in  Scotland  that  I  should  know.  But  this  I  know,  that  a  few  months  ago, 
say  three  or  four,  one  of  your  subjects,  by  no  means  of  the  common  rank,  nor 


able  man !  They  were  exported  into  Poland,  when  he  soon  had  reason  to  complain  "  of  great 
loss  and  evil  fortune,"  as  no  man  would  (wetesave)  rnuchsiife  to  read  Iheiii.  The  truth  is,  that 
Cochlaeus  was  writing  to  Scotland  and  Poland,  having  the  same  objects  at  heart,  viz..  luilorielii 
mid  tiKiiici/.  and  we  shall  see  presently  how  far  he  sncrceded. 


I.)2y-a4..]  ALL  THAT  ALES  HAD  WRITTEN.  IT)? 

of  small  authority  ami  trust  with  your  majesty,  appointed  to  England  ;  whoii  he 
began  to  read  througli  that  Epistle,  said,  that  more  than  half  of  it  was  pure 
falsehood,  nay,  what  I  have  never  heard  asserted  before  of  any  book,  that  it 
was  but  one  continued  lie.  If  your  majesty  does  not  believe  me,  you  may  ask 
himself,  for  you  can  easily  remember  whom  you  sent  into  England.  Being 
ignorant  of  Scotisli  affairs,  and  at  a  great  distance  from  your  kingdom,  I  am 
unable  to  dispute  on  the  facts  ;  but  on  the  words,  how  they  agree  with  those 
which  he  afterwards  writes  in  his  book  against  mc,  latcli/  pitblished,  1  shall  be 
able  to  determine  without  injustice."'i2 

Again — "  These  are  the  crimes,  illustrious  king,  which  I  chiefly  detest  in 
Alesius  ;  otherwise  I  bear  no  malice  or  hatred  to  his  person,  with  which,  indeed, 
I  have  nothhuj  to  do.  But  for  those  acts  of  deceit  or  impiety  by  which  he  has 
delivered  up  his  country  to  be  lauglied  at  by  heretics,  and  to  be  traduced  among 
foi'eigners,  if  I  were  able  to  send  him  back  to  his  Country,  with  his  hands  tied 
behind  his  back;  to  be  whipped  icilh  rods  by  yotir  children,  I  should  think,  that  in 
this  I  bore  a  more  striking  resemblance  to  the  noble  Camilla,  rather  than  to 
the  barbarous  Cyclops. "33 

No  sooner  than  he  had  finished  at  press,  OochlEeus  afforded 
a  striking  proof,  not  only  of  his  fury,  but  liis  thirst  after 
some  remuneration  for  all  this  gross  scurrility.  His  book 
was  finished  on  the  13th  of  August,  and  by  the  following 
month,  his  confidential  servant  was  safely  arrived  with  copies 
in  Edinburgh  itself.  The  man  "  of  no  small  authority  and 
trust,"  of  whom  he  had  spoken,  had  gone  as  Ambassador  into 
France  ;^^  but  there  were  those  under  him,  who  were  not 
slow  to  welcome  the  servant  with  his  master''s  production. 
Of  this  we  have  full  evidence  in  the  Register  Office  of  this, 
the  native  city  of  Ales,  or  in  the  accounts  of  the  Lord  High 
Treasurer  himself.  Thus,  the  indefatigable  opponent  of  the 
Scriptures  in  our  native  tongue,  has,  at  least,  discovered  to 
us,  the  grave  importance  which  was  then  attached  to  the 
single-handed  efforts  of  Alexander  Ales.*^ 


32  This  piece  of  information  turns  out  to  be  not  only  curious,  but  of  some  value ;  the  man  of 
"great  authority  and  trust  with  his  majesty  "  being  so  distinctly  pointed  out.  It  was  the  Lord 
High  Treasurer  of  Scotland.  On  the  27th  of  February  ir).'i4,  we  have  the  letter  of  James  V. 
accrediting  Bislwp  JVin.  Stewart  of  Aberdeen,  and  Abbot  Robert  Reid  of  Kinloss,  to  Henry 
VIII.,  with  full  powers  to  conclude  a  peace  between  England  and  Scotland.  The  treaty  was 
signed  on  May  12,  and  ratified  at  Holyrood  with  great  joy,  June  30. — Gov.  Slate  Papers,  iv., 
pp.  665,  673.  Steivart  was  the  man,  for  he  was  not  only  Bishop,  but  Lord  High  Treasurer.  As 
Dean  of  Glasgow,  he  had  sat  in  judgment  on  Patrick  Hamilton  in  l.i28-,  and  no  wonder  if  he 
had  spoken  as  represented.  At  all  events,  Cochlasus  had  well  understood  what  he  was  about, 
when  makiug  these  references  to  the  Lord  Treasurer. 

33  In  so  slandering  the  character  of  one  entirely  unknown  to  him,  Ales  had  charged  his  adver- 
sary with  more  than  Cyelopean  barbarity. 

^*  Accompanied  by  Lords  Murray  and  Erskine,  he  had  proceeded  into  France  on  the  5th  of 
August.  — Cot).  Slate  Papers,  vol.  v.,  p.  6. 

35  From  the  Accounts  of  the  Lord  High  Treasurer  of  Scotland,  September  l.'j.34— "  Item,  lo 

aiie  Servand  of    ....    Coeleus,qululk  lirnclit/ra  his  .miister  an  Ixnjk,  hititutat 

To  Ms  reward 1.  li."    The  blank  may  now  be  filled  up  with  "  Pro  Scoti.T,"  &c.     Put  .'-ucli 

was  the  reward,  .£."<0  Scots,  not  a  trifling  sum  in  those  days  ;  yet  paid,  no  doulit,  with  great  good 


K)8  TllK  FLAMES  OF  PERSECUTION  [book  IV. 

All  this  verbiage  of  Cochlaeus,  however,  goes  for  nothing, 
when  compared  with  the  melancholy  facts,  wliich  were  attest- 
in;;  at  tlie  moment,  the  truth  and  importance  of  all  tliat  Ales 
had  written ;  and  this  tlie  servant,  if  lie  was  not  as  blind  as 
his  master,  must  have  seen,  immediately  on  reaching  the  end 
of  his  journey  to  Scotland.  It  was  while  this  man  was  actual- 
ly on  the  road  to  Edinburgh,  that  the  flames  of  persecution 
had  been  kindled  for  the  third  time.  The  martyrdom  of  last 
year  confirmed  the  Epistle  of  Ales  ;  those  of  this  year  his 
Ilesponse.  The  flames  had  hitherto  blazed  at  St.  Andrews ; 
now,  for  the  first  time,  they  had  done  so  at  Edinburgh.  Those 
of  the  year  1 .533,  in  eftect,  told  us  that  the  truth  was  extending 
beyond  the  boundaries  of  the  metropolitan  city ;  and  we  shall 
now  have  proof,  by  the  flames  of  1534,  that  it  had  reached  far 
beyond  tliose  of  the  capital.  The  former  were  kindled,  to  be 
seen  at  a  distance,  as  a  terror  to  the  people  of  Angus  ;  those 
of  this  year,  so  as  to  be  seen  by  the  inhabitants  of  Fife.  One 
martyr  at  a  time  had  served  hitherto,  but  now  two  men  were 
consumed  at  the  same  stake,  on  the  afternoon  of  Thursday  the 
27th  of  August  1.534.  There  w^ere  two,  also,  out  of  a  name- 
less number,  who  had  been  summoned,  from  various  quarters  ; 
and,  as  if  the  death  of  the  proto-martyr,  so  lamented  by  Ales 
and  many  others,  was  now  to  be  followed  up,  and  the  family 
exterminated,  his  brother  and  sister  had  been  ordered  to  ap- 
pear. In  short,  here  was  a  band  of  selected  witnesses  ;  and  un- 
questionably we  are  to  regard  them  as  the  representatives  of 
many  other  individuals,  not  only  in  Angus  and  Fife,  Clack- 
mannan, and  Linlithgow-shires,  but  in  Edinburgh  and  Leith. 

On  Tuesday  the  7th  of  July,  Parliament  had  met  at  Edin- 
burgh, and  by  Wednesday  the  26th  of  August,  an  ecclesiasti- 
cal court,  of  unwonted  solemnity,  assembled  in  the  Abbey  of 
Holyrood.''^  The  infatuated  young  King,  in  the  face  of  re- 
peated warning  and  entreaty,  from  an  Exile,  whom  he  had  once 


will,  as  well  as  afterwards  sanctioned,  by  my  Lord  High  Treasurer  Stewart,  and  merely  to  the 
servant!  Why  another  entry  shews  us  that  the  wages  of  a  seaman,  even  when  waiting  on  his 
majesty  for  a  whole  month,  were  only  £2  Scots;  so  that  thit  Servant  had  received  as  much  as 
the  wages  of  such  a  man  for  above  two  years,  or  of  twenty-five  such  seamen  for  a  whole  month  ! 
This  item  has  been  noticed  by  Dr.  M'Crie  ;  but  the  sum  is  stated  at  £lO  only.  The  above  is 
copied  from  the  manuscript  itself,  and  it  is  given  correctly  in  I'itcaim's  Criminal  Trials,  i., 
p.  284.  Such  being  the  reward  to  the  Servant  only,  what  shall  be  done  for  the  iMastcr?  The 
next  time  that  Ales  speaks,  he  will  inform  us.     See  page  477- 

36  A  magnificent  building,  of  which  the  ruins  of  the  Chapel  Royal  only  remain,  and  not  to  be 
confounded  with  the  palace. 


1529-34.]  NOW  KINDLED  AT  EDINBURGH.  46'.') 

rescued  out  of  the  paws  of  the  persecutor,  was  now  about  to 
take  his  first  ominous  step.  To  lend  greater  importance  to 
tliis  occasion,  he  had  agreed  to  preside,  and  clothed  in  scar- 
let ;  the  judicial  Scotish  dress,  in  matters  of  life  and  death, 
down  to  the  present  day.  A  number  of  persons  had  been  sum- 
moned, and  among  them  there  appears  to  have  been  more  than 
the  following — 

Belonging  to  Edinbinyh — Mr.  William  Johnstone,  Advocate,  Mr.  Henry 
Henderson,  Master  of  the  Grammar  School  ;  but  the  "  Dim-nal"  adds,  "  with 
sundry  others,  baith  men  and  women  in  Edinburgh."  From  Lcitli — Henry 
Cairns,  Skipper,  Adam  Daycs  or  Deir,  Shipwright,  John  Stewart,  indweller, 
and  a  married  woman.     From  St.  Andreirs,  Gavin  Logie,37  John  Fife,  John 

M' Alpine, M'Dougal.    Yvom  Angus-^hire,  Mr.  David  Sti'atoun.  ¥vom  Lrn- 

Uthgoxc-shire — Sir  James  Hamilton,  the  hereditary  Sheriff,  and  Katharine  Ha- 
milton, his  sister,  besides  Norman  Gourlay  and  William  Kirk,  two  priests,  whose 
residence  is  not  mentioned  by  any  historian.  With  the  exception  of  Hamilton 
and  his  sister,  all  these  were  disposed  of  before  the  Court  rose.  Several  had  al- 
ready fled,  and  others  abjured ;  but  Mr.  David  tStratoun  or  Straiton  and  Nor- 
man  Gourlay  were  I'eserved  for  execution. 

The  martyrdom  itself  took  place  next  day.  Of  Gourlay  we 
know  nothing  more  than  that  he  was  a  man  of  "  reasonable 
erudition,""  having  been  abroad.  He  said  there  was  no  such 
state  as  purgatory,  denied  the  authority  of  the  Pontiff  in  Scot- 
land, but  he  had  also  married  a  wife,  and  this  was  an  unpar- 
donable crime.  Mr,  Straiton's  was  a  far  more  interestino-  case. 
He  was  a  gentleman  of  landed  property  at  the  confluence  of 
the  North  Esk  with  the  sea,  in  the  parish  of  Ecclesgreig,  (Ec- 
clesia  Gregorii,)  now  called  St.  Cyrus,  in  the  shire  of  Angus. 
His  property  included  the  seat  of  a  productive  fishery  ;  and 
whether  one  refers  to  the  present  proprietor  of  the  soil,  to  the 
present  fishermen  of  Milton,  or  to  the  limestone  quarrymen 
there,  in  the  history  of  their  predecessors  above  three  hundred 
years  ago,  they  have  not  a  more  interesting  subject  for  re- 
membrance than  the  present.  Laurieston  Castle,  built  in  the 
tenth  century,  where  Straiton  was  born,  and  part  of  which  still 
remains,  had,  before  and  after  his  day,  continued  in  the  same 
family  for  four  hundred  years.  The  martyr  appears  to  have 
been  brother  to  the  last  laird  or  baron  of  Laurieston,  and  uncle 
to  the  present,  then  a  young  man.  The  Straitons,  for  several 
generations,  were  equally  distinguished  for  stature  and  strength, 

3'  His  nairiu  is  not  indeed  mentioned  among  those  who  were  summoned,  but  that  he  liad  fled 
out  of  the  country,  in  1.'.33,  is.  staled  by  Caldcrwinid  ;  MS.  i.,  H2. 


1-70  TlIK  MAKTVRUOAIS  (»l<"  ^BOOK  IV. 

and  the  martyr's  temper  liad  unce  botn  both  rough  and  impe- 
rious. In  former  days,  he  had  resohitely  resisted  one  tythe 
claimed  by  the  vicar,  Robert  Lawson  of  Ecclesgreig  ;  who  ex- 
acted the  tenth  fish  from  those  which  his  servants  liad  taken 
out  at  sea.  Straiton  had  said,  "  if  he  would  have  them,  he 
must  go  and  take  them  where  the  stock  was  taken  ;''  and  this 
had  given  great  offence.^  "  Before,"  says  Calderwood,  "  he 
had  been  very  stubborn,  and  despised  all  reading,  specially  of 
good  purposes ;  now  he  delighted  in  nothing  hut  reading,  al- 
though he  could  not  read  himself,  and  exhorted  every  man  to 
peace  and  concord,  and  contempt  of  the  world.  He  frequented 
much  the  company  oi  John  Erskine,  Laird  of  Dun,"  (the  Pro- 
vost of  Montrose,  who  had  recently  returned  from  the  Conti- 
nent) "  a  man  marvelously  enlightened  in  respect  of  these 
times."  One  day  "  when  the  Laird  of  Laurieston,  being  then 
a  young  man,  was  reading  to  our  martyr  the  New  Testament, 
(so  much  hated  by  many,)  he  chanced  to  read  this  sentence  of 
our  Master  —  '  he  that  denieth  me  before  men,  I  tcill  deny  him, 
in  the  presence  of  my  Father  and  before  his  angels.''  At  these 
words,  as  one  revived,  he  suddenly  cast  himself  upon  his 
knees,  extending  his  hands,  and  looking  constantly  with  his 
visage  to  the  heavens  a  reasonable  time,  he  burst  forth  at 
length  in  these  words —  '  0  Lord,  I  have  been  wicked,  and 
justly  mayest  thou  abstract  thy  grace  from  me  ;  but,  Lord,  for 
thy  mercies"'  sake,  let  me  never  deny  Thee,  nor  thy  truth,  for 
fear  of  death,  or  bodily  pain  I'" 

It  becomes  evident,  that  Straiton  was  fully  prepared  for  such 
a  time  as  the  present.  When  brought  before  the  King,  on  the 
26th,  great  pains  Avere  taken  to  move  him,  and  procure  his  re- 
cantation ;  but  all  eftbrts  failing,  he  was  adjudged  to  the  fire. 
He  then  applied  to  his  Highness,  but  the  Bishops  answered, 
proudly,  that  "  the  King's  hands  w^ere  bound,  and  that  Aehad 
no  grace  to  give  to  such  as  were  by  law  condemned."  It  was 
after  dinner  next  day  that  Mr.  Straiton  and  his  companion 
Gourlay  were  led  forth  to  death.  The  spot  was  evidently 
chosen  for  effect  whether  near  or  afar  oft",  on  the  northern  brow 


3B  III  almost  all  our  common  liistorics,  Hepburn,  the  Prior  of  St.  Andrews,  and  a.«  Bi!;)i()|)  of 
Moray  is  stated  to  have  been  the  man  who  quarreled  with  Straiton  about  tythcs.  But  he  was 
not  Uislio))  of  Moray  till  hVU,  and  though  he  had  been  now,  lie  liad  nothing  to  do  with  tythe  on 
the  shores  of --*»(»<.?.  Old  John  Foxe  is  eorrec-t  as  to  Lawson  beiiifj  tlie  man,  and  he  cojiiedfrom 
the  Seolish  MS. 


1529-o-i.^  STRAITON  AND  GOURLAY.  471 

of  the  Oalton  hill,  above  the  rood  or  cross  at  Greenside.*''^  The 
stake  was  planted  so  far  up  the  hill  as  that  not  only  the  sur- 
rounding croAvd  from  the  city,  whether  below  or  above,  might 
see  ;  but  "  to  the  intent,"  says  Calderwood,  "  that  the  inhabit- 
ants o(  Fife,  seeing  the  fire,  might  be  stricken  with  terror  and 
fear,  not  to  fall  into  the  like." 

Not  satisfied  Avith  these  flames,  the  ecclesiastics,  with  the 
King  at  their  head,  assembled  at  Holyrood  once  more,  on  the 
28th  or  next  day,  and  by  way  of  conclusion  to  this  headstrong 
burst  of  cruelty,  brought  forward  the  persons  of  highest  rank  ; 
Sir  James  Hamilton  and  his  sister,  both  of  whom  were  related 
to  the  King.  By  advice  of  his  Highness,  however,  the  for- 
mer had  fled,  so  that  the  scene  closed  with  the  appearance  of 
the  lady,  his  sister.  The  Bishops  gathering  courage  by  their 
progress,  neither  her  rank  or  sex  could  shield  her.  Mr.  John 
Spens  of  Oondy,  the  lawyer,  and  future  King's  Advocate,  or 
one  of  the  men  who  had  sat  in  judgment  on  her  brother 
Patrick  in  1528,  held  a  long  discourse  respecting  works,  telling 
her  there  were  divers  sorts  ;  "  works  of  congruity  and  works  of 
condignity r  Katharine,  disturbed  with  the  length  and  nicety 
of  the  argument,  at  last  out  of  all  patience,  cried  out  before 
them  all,  the  King  also  sitting  by — "  Work  here,  work  there, 
what  kind  of  working  is  all  this  l  I  know  perfectly  that  no 
works  can  save  me,  but  the  works  of  Christ  my  Saviour.'"  His 
Highness,  amused  with  the  very  brief  manner  in  which  she 
had  disposed  of  the  lawyer's  tedious  harangue,  interposed,  and 
saved  her  from  death.'*" 


3!'  At  this  place  a  monastery  of  Carmelite  Friars  had  been  founded  in  152(i,  and  being  dedica- 
ted to  what  they  styled  strangely  enough,  the  Holy  Cross,  a  large  rood  or  cross  had  been  erected 
there.     In  1591,  the  monastery  was  converted  into  an  hospital  for  lepers. 

■"'  Sir  James  and  his  sister  sought  safety  in  England.  On  tlie  3d  of  March  1535,  Sir  Adam  Ot- 
terburn  had  written  to  Cruniwell  respecting  Sir  James,  and  in  August  we  find  Cranmer  Intro- 
ducing him  to  Crumwell  as  a  gentleman  who  had  left  his  country  for  no  other  cause  but  "  that 
he  favoured  the  truth  of  God's  word."  His  proi)erty  had  been  confiscated,  and  on  the  SGth  Feb. 
1536,  Cranmer  again  addresses  Crumwell,  "  to  move  the  King  for  somewhat  to  be  given  him  to 
live  on  here  in  England."  On  the  24th  of  April,  Sir  James  sent  to  Crumwell  a  copy  of  the  .sen- 
tence given  against  him  by  the  Bishops  at  Holyrood,  praying  that  Henry  would  write  to  the  K^ing 
his  nephew,  on  his  behalf.  Crumwell,  therefore,  in  the  name  of  his  royal  master,  applied  to 
James,  and  on  the  19th  of  May,  we  have  the  reply,  but  it  was  from  Stewart,  the  Lord  Treasurer, 
and  amounted  to  no  more  than  this—  "  that  while  the  lady  of  Sir  James  and  his  children  wanted 
nothing  necessary  for  their  maintenance,  his  Higlmess  (though  his  relation)  cotild  not  help  him, 
neither  direct  tior  iiulircet,  icithoiil  damjer  to  his  conscience,  ejceept  the  (jentleman  be  first  rccon- 
eileil  to  awl  by  the  Pontiff/''  See  Gov.  State  Papers,  vol.  v.,  pp.  21,  41,  49,  and  Cranmer's  Re- 
mains, by  Jenkyiis,  vol.  i.  Such  was  the  precious  tyrannical  power  of  the  priesthood  in  those 
days.  Sir  James,  however,  after  all,  did  return,  though  not  till  1540,  when  he  informed  the  King 
respecting  that  base  character  of  whom  we  have  heard  before,  of  tlie  same  name  wiDi  himself; 
Sir  James  Hamilton,  a  natural  son  of  Arran's,  the  murderer  of  the  Earl  of  Lennox.  This  man. 
wlin  liad  been  a  (•on'-|iirator  against  the  King's  life  in   15_'!t,  and  nohiriims  for  cviiclly  ever  since, 


472  TllK  ESCAl'E  BEVUNU  SHAS.  [book  IV. 

The  visible  and  decided  progress  of  Divine  truth  is,  how- 
ever, to  be  observed,  not  only  in  those  who  suffered,  but  in  the 
character  and  station  of  those  who  had  fled.  The  teacher  of 
the  graniinar-school,  and  the  advocate,  Johnstone  of  Edin- 
burgh, must  have  been  men  of  some  talent  and  influence.  The 
fctrmer  died  in  England.  His  house  forfeited,  was  given  to 
James  IJannatyne,  \V.S.  The  property  of  the  latter,  also 
falling  to  the  King,  was  sold  for  a  trifling  consideration, 
chiefly  to  Reid,  abbot  of  Kiuloss,  afterwards  President  of  the 
Court  of  Session,  and  Bishop  of  Orkney,  and  partly  to  another 
individual.  Johnstone,  however,  returned  some  years  after, 
when  he  was  permitted  to  live  in  a  single  chamber  of  that 
house  which  had  been  once  his  own  ;  though,  at  his  death,  his 
body  was  not  allowed  to  be  interred  in  any  churchyard  ! 

But  the  refugees  from  St.  Andrews,  the  former  associates 
of  Ales,  were  among  the  most  eminent  for  literature  then  in 
the  country  ;  and  they  prove  that  the  disciples  of  "  the  new 
learning,"  far  from  being  iceak  men,  as  some  one  has  grossly 
asserted,  were  duly  appreciated  elsewhere.  Of  Logie  we  know 
nothing  afterwards,  but  having  been  the  Rector  or  Principal 
of  St.  Leonard's  College,  he  had  so  embued  the  minds  of  the 
students,  that  when  any  of  them  was  suspected,  it  was  said 
that  "  he  had  drunk  of  St.  Leonard's  well."'*'  M' Alpine,  who 
changed  his  name  to  M'lice,  or  Maccabseus,  as  he  was  called 
on  the  Continent,  became  a  favourite  of  Christiern,  King  of 
Denmark,  Professor  in  the  University  of  Copenliagen,  and 
one  of  the  translators  of  the  Danish  Bii)le.  He  was  the 
brother-in-law  of  Miles  Coverdale,  and  to  this  expatriated 
native  of  Caledonia  and  translator  of  the  Danish  Scriptures, 
that  of  the  English  was  indebted  for  his  life,  as  already  ex- 
plained.'*^ Fife  accompanied  Ales  to  the  Continent,  though 
not  when  he  first  fled  from  Scotland,  but  afterwards  from 
England,  in  1539  ;  as  soon  as  "the  bloody  Statute,"  or  that 
of  "  the  six  articles,"  had  passed.  At  Leipsic  he  continued 
to  teach  as  a  professor  for  years  ;   but  he  returned  finally  to 


ended  liis  days  ;it  last  on  the  scaiTuId.  Tyllcr,  vol.  v.,  p.  :.'HI.  Kalliaiiiir  Hamilkm,  from  the 
Lord  Treasurer's  accounts,  appears  not  to  have  left  Scotland  before  November  l.'i.Vi.  Proceed- 
iiiK  to  England  next  year,  she  had  Ijten  introduced  to  Queen  Jane  Seymour,  and  was  residing  at 
Berwick  in  l.Wl.  She  was  then  a  widow,  having:  liecn  married  lo  the  late  Captain  of  Dunbar,  as 
mentioned  by  the  Duke  of  Norfolk  to  Crnmwell.  See  p.  -Jri  of  tlii>.  volume,  where  that  artful 
letter  is  placed  in  its  true  light. 
11  CaliUrwoed  MS.  i..  p.  Hi.  ■•-  See  i>agc  lW. 


l52!»-ol-.]  EMBASSY   KROiM   EiNGLAND.  473 

his  own  country,  acted  as  a  minister,  and  died  at  St.  Leonard''s, 
soon  after  the  year  1560,  or  about  live  years  before  Ales. 

Henry  VIII.  could  certainly  have  no  objections  to  King  James  thus 
sanctioning  this  shocking  martj-rdom  of  his  subjects,  for  in  the  same 
condemnation  he  was  deeply  involved  himself ;  nor  would  he  now  press 
upon  him  the  i-eceptionof  the>S'c?v)!;<«re«,for  these,  both  alike  still  as  stoutly 
resisted.  But,  uni]^ucstionably,  if  any  embassy  has  been  sent  to  Scot- 
land at  this  period,  the  King  of  England  must  have  had  reasons,  and 
personal  to  himself.  With  him  the  year  1534  was  an  anxious  one,  as 
formerly  explained.  Suffice  it  to  say  here,  that  this  was  the  critical 
year  in  which  Henry  had  been  denouncing  all  political  preaching — pub- 
licly proclaiming  against  the  supremacy  of  the  Pontiff,  and  declaring  it 
to  be  treason  to  question  his  own.  The  proclamation  against  the  autho- 
rity of  Rome  had  been  published  in  June,  and  soon  after  the  King 
discovered  his  earnest  anxiety,  that  his  Nephew  should  go  along  with 
him  in  his  opposition  to  that  court.  It  was  with  this  view,  that  shortly 
before  these  cruelties  in  the  North,  Lord  William  Howard,  as  English 
Ambassador,  had  arrived  in  Scotland.  This  formed  the  first  of  a 
series  of  intrigues,  in  order  to  secure  a  ][>^rsonal  interview  with  James. 
Henry  had  flattered  himself  that  if  he  could  only  obtain  this,  he  should 
be  able  to  mould  his  nephew  to  his  will ;  and  once  separated  from  his 
counsellors,  or  those  ecclesiastics  into  whose  hands  he  had  now  fallen, 
since  the  youthful  monarch  was  so  bent  upon  pleasure  and  pastime  of 
every  description,  perhaps  he  might  have  succeeded.  But  although 
Henry  perseveringly  pressed  this  one  request,  at  intervals,  for  eight 
years,  the  two  monarchs  never  met ;  James  and  his  council  continuing 
to  blow  hot  and  cold  all  that  time.  Through  the  influence  of  the  Queen- 
Mother,  David  Beaton  being  now  in  France,  the  present  might  seem  to 
have  been  a  favourable  opportunity,  and  not  to  be  neglected. 

For  this  first  attempt,  Lord  Howard  was  not  exactly  the  man  to  have 
sent,  no  more  than  Dr.  William  Barlow  or  Thomas  Holcroft,  who  fol- 
lowed him.  They  all  proved  rather  too  ardent  in  their  Royal  Master's 
service,  notwithstanding  the  very  cautious  instructions  drawn  up  for 
their  guidance,  in  a  minute,  corrected  by  Crumwell.  These  instructions 
were  curious  enough.  After  making  his  best  bow  to  the  young  King,  to 
the  Queen-Mother,  and  to  the  Lord  High  Treasurer,  Bishop  Stewart, 
Lord  William  was,  "  as  soon  as  he  had  convenient  opportunity,  to  obtain 
measure  of  the  Kiny''s  j^erson,  and  cause  such  garments  to  be  made  for 
him,  of  such  stuff  as  he  shall  have  with  him  for  this  purpose,  in  the 
best  fashion  that  could  be  devised,  by  such  a  tailor  and  broiderer,  as  he 
shall  have  icith  him,  for  that  intent ;  which  garments  s^jeedily  furnished, 


■1:1  C'ald.  .\is.  i.,  p.  -,n. 


-1.7 !•  SCOTLAND  AND  KNGLANi)  ALIKE  [buOK  IV. 

he  ahall,  with  audi /lo rues  as  he  shall  have  assigned  to  him,  make  prescut 
to  the  said  King  of  Scots."  Having  thus  paved  his  way,  he  was  upon  this 
occasion  to  inform  his  Highness  that  his  uncle  the  King  "  was  greatly  de- 
sirous, and  nothing  more  coveteth,  than  to  see  his  person,  and  specially  to 
have  conference  with  him,  in  matters  that  should  undoubtedly  redound  to 
both  their  honours  and  glory,  and  the  weal  of  their  realms  and  subjects." 
Lord  William,  "  in  right  loving  wise,"  was  then  to  salute  the  Bishop 
Lord  Treasurer,  "  and  declare  that  as  an  interview  was  like  very  shortly  to 
ensue  between  his  uncle  and  the  French  King,"  Henry  would  be  "right 
joyous  and  glad"  to  have  his  nephew  present  ;  would  willingly  pay  all 
the  expenses  of  his  Highness  and  his  retinue  ;  and  then  in  France  they 
should  all  three  consult  for  the  wealth  of  their  three  realms.  Mean- 
while, Howard  was  to  imjjlore  that  no  encouragement  should  be  given  to 
any  Irish  rebels  against  Henry,  and  that  the  royal  favour  should  be  re- 
stored to  the  Earl  of  Angus  and  his  brother  Sir  George  ;  proposing  that 
James  should  receive  "  the  honourable  order  of  the  Garter,"  which  the 
Emperor,  the  French  King,  and  Ferdinand  King  of  the  Romans,  had 
already  accepted. 

To  all  this,  however,  Henry  added  his  "  Ambassiate  and  Declaration 
concerning  his  own  supremacy,"  exciting  his  nephew  to  follow  him,  and 
vindicate  his  own  authority  from  the  encroachments  of  Rome.'*'* 

The  apparel  and  the  horses,  James,  of  course,  accepted  ;  but  unfortu- 
nately for  the  "  declaration,"  so  far  from  considering  it,  all  that  his 
Highness  did  was  to  hand  it  to  his  clergy,  for  their  perusal !  The  idea 
of  the  three  Sovereigns  meeting  together,  if  we  were  to  believe  Margaret, 
the  Queen-Mother,  was  not  so  lightly  treated,  down  as  late  as  Decem- 
ber ;*5  and  yet  it  is  difficult,  if  not  impossible  to  reconcile  this,  with 
Stewart,  the  Lord  Treasurer,  travelling  through  England  to  France  in 
the  previous  August,  where  Beaton,  the  Abbot  of  Arbroath,  was  residing, 
in  great  intimacy  with  Francis,  the  reigning  Sovereign.  The  probability 
is,  that  Scotland,  as  well  as  England,  had  already  commenced  that 
double  game  with  each  other,  which  they  continued  to  play  for  years. 
It  is,  however,  certain,  that  in  the  month  of  December,  the  two  govern- 
ments and  their  respective  chiefs,  were  distinctly  at  variance  on  one 


+4  Gov.  State  Papers,  v.,  p.  1-6.  Our  historians  in  general  have  supposed  that  some  liook  was 
sent  to  James  at  tliis  period,  for  his  grave  perusal.  Pinkerton,  and  recently,  Tytler,  have  gone 
so  far  as  to  name  it,—"  The  doctrine  for  any  Christian  man,"  or  "  the  King's  Book  ;"  hut  that 
was  not  published  till  nine  years  after,  in  I.')4.'J;  nor  the  "  Institution  of  a  Cin-istian  man,"  or 
"  the  Bishop's  Book,"  till  LW/.  Lingard  has  conjectured  that  it  might  be  "  the  true  obedience" 
of  Gardiner,  which  was  printed  this  year,  or  tlic  "  Vera  differentia  Hegia;  Potcstatis,  tt  Eccle- 
siaaticic,"  ascribed  to  Kox  of  Hereford,  now  also  iiublished.  But  in  those  days  it  is  well  known 
that  a  Letter  or  Address,  though  not  above  a  sheet,  was  frcciucntly  styled  "  a  book,"  and  there 
apjiears  to  have  been  no  book  sent,  iirojierly  so  cilled.  .^uch  is  the  representation  of  t^tryjie. 
and  he  has  given  the  document,  or  the  "  Amba'-siate  and  Declaration  "  from  the  original  manu- 
script, in  the  Coltonian  collection.  Compare  Clrop.  1'.  vi.,  fol.  2;'>!).  with  i^trype's  A]>))ciidix, 
No.  l.xiii. 

•IS  Gov.  State  Pnptr.s.  vol.  v.,  ).p.  \0-]2. 


lo29-34.]  OPPOSED  TO  THE  SCRIPTURES.  475 

subject — the  authority  or  power  of  the  Pontift'  and  his  underlings  ; 
though  James  is  still  represented  as  determined  to  "  keep  his  kindness 
and  treaty  of  peace,  without  any  inclination  to  the  contrary."'"' 

Such,  then,  was  the  state  of  Scotland  and  England  at  the 
close  of  1534.  In  one  sense,  directly  opposed  to  each  other, 
and  in  another,  exhibiting  precisely  the  same  aspect.  Scot- 
land profoundly  attached  to  the  rule  of  the  Pontiff',  and  Eng- 
land proclaiming  throughout  the  country  hostility  to  Rome : 
but  amidst  all  the  turmoil  of  political  affairs,  both  govern- 
ments had  found  time  to  be  alike  enraged,  and  for  the  same 
cause  ;  both  alike  imagining  a  vain  thing — that  they  should 
be  able  successfully  to  stem  the  introduction  of  the  Divine  word. 
Again,  both  countries  had  furnished  their  respective  martyrs  in 
this  single-handed  struggle,  though  neither  of  them  at  home 
could  show  even  one  open,  bold,  and  determined  advocate  for 
the  Scriptures.  John  Fryth,  it  is  true,  had  come  home  from 
abroad,  and  shewn  the  people  of  England  how  to  die,  rather 
than  deny  the  truth  ;  as  Patrick  Hamilton  and  others  had 
nobly  done  in  Scotland.  But  the  present  was  distinguished 
as  the  moment  when  Tyndale  on  behalf  of  England^  and  Ales 
on  the  part  of  Scotland.,  occupied  a  position  all  their  own, 
and  one  which  was  singular  throughout  Europe.  "  Say  not," 
said  Tyndale  upon  one  occasion  to  England,  "  Say  not  that 
ye  be  not  warned ;"  and  so  might  Ales  have  now  said  to  his 
King  and  countrymen.  With  a  nation  on  one  side,  and  a 
solitary  exile  on  the  other,  in  reference  to  both  countries ; 
while  the  Sacred  Volume  had  been  actually  reading  in  both, 
and  for  eight  years,  in  spite  of  their  respective  rulers ;  per- 
haps no  cause  was  ever  more  evidently  exhibited  to  be  that 
of  God,  and  not  of  man.  No  exact  resemblance  to  this,  was 
then  to  be  found  in  any  land. 


•IS  Idem,  p.  14.  York  was  the  city  fixed  on  for  a  personal  interview,  though  Newcastle  was 
broached  at  one  time.  The  meeting  was  proposed  after  this,  putting  France  out  of  view,  in 
the  years  l."..'»,  \:>3Ct,  and  1542. 


476  ALi:>>  UKI'AIKS  TO  ENULAM).  [bOOK  IV 


SECTION   IV. 

FiioM  1535  TO   1537 — the  future  exektioxs  and  wkitinos  of  ales, 

TILL  HIS    DEATH     IN     1565 STATE    OF    SCOTLAND PROVINCIAL    COUNCIL 

OF  THE  PRELATES — AGITATION — READINQ  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT  FOR- 
BIDDEN  BV  PROCLAMATION — PllOGHESS  OF  THE  CAUSE. 

fN  the  course  of  our  English  history,  tliese  tliree  years, 
from  lo^Jo  to  1537,  abounded  with  interesting  details, 
as  including  the  year  before  and  after  Tyndale"'s  martyr- 
dom ;  the  first  being  that  of  his  irnprisonmoiit,  the  second 
that  of  his  death,  and  the  third  so  distinguished  for  the 
arrival  of  his  Bible  in  London.  On  turning  to  Scotland,  the 
interest  is  deepened.  We  there  discover  throughout,  increas- 
ing alarm  at  the  progress  of  "  the  new  learning,''  and  deter- 
mined opposition  to  the  Sacred  Volume,  as  translated  by 
Tyudale,  and  already  so  powerfully  enforced  by  Ales. 

Before  proceeding  farther,  however,  since  Ales,  as  well  as  Tyndale, 
never  retained  to  his  native  land,  the  reader  may  naturally  wish  to 
know,  at  once,  what  became  of  him.  Owing  to  the  noise  made  by 
Cochlaeus,  he  required  soon  to  remove  from  his  place  of  residence. 
Wherever  that  had  been,  his  next  abode,  for  a  short  time,  was  Antwerp 
itself ;  but  as  Tyndale  had  already  been  seized  and  removed  to  Vilvorde, 
they  never  could  have  enjoyed  the  pleasure  of  meeting  each  other  in 
this  world.  For  some  time  before  his  removal  to  this  city,  Ales  had 
become  intimately  acquainted  with  Melancthon ;  and  this  intimacy 
seems  to  have  paved  the  way  for  our  Scotish  exile  being  invited  into 
England.  At  the  same  time,  the  existing  state  of  things  in  Scotland, 
as  already  explained,  with  the  anxiety  of  Heniy  VIII.  to  interfere 
respecting  them  ;  probably  not  unconnected  with  the  talents,  the  attain- 
ments, and  sentiments  of  Ales,  may  account  for  the  courtesy  with  which 
he  was  received.  At  all  events,  instead  of  "  the  dreadful  dungeon  "  at 
St.  Andrews,  he  was  now  accommodated  at  Lambeth  Palace  ;  and  before 
long,  though  out  of  favour  with  his  own  sovereign,  he  was  known  and 
distinguished  in  London  by  the  title  of  "  the  King's  Scholar."  In  Eng- 
land he  remained  upwards  of  four  years,  where  his  first  occupation  was 
akin  to  that  of  Professor  of  Divinity  at  Cambridge.  "  I  was  sent,"  he 
says,  "  to  read  a  lecture  of  the  Scripture  there."  But  the  heads  of  that 
University,  not  being  yet  able  to  bear  such  doctrine,  he  had  to  withdraw 
again  to  London.  We  have  already  seen  him,  in  1536,  discussing  the 
"  authority  and  all  sufficiencj^  of  the  Word  of  God,"  with  the  Bishoi>s  in 


Uy5-[J7.]       COCHLiEUS  REWARDED  FROM  SCOTLAND.  4?? 

convocation,  at  the  request  of  their  Vicar-General,  Criunwoll.'  Having, 
however,  paid  some  attention  to  the  study  of  physic  while  on  the  Conti- 
nent, on  leaving  Cambridge  he  had  turned  his  attention  to  that  science, 
and  before  escaping  to  Germany  in  1539,  he  had  commenced  practice  in 
London.  But  the  year  before  this,  the  times,  as  already  interpreted,  had 
become  very  critical,  when  Stolcesly  and  his  brethren  were  beginning  to 
regain  their  lost  authority  ;  and  Ales  had  felt  himself  called  upon  to 
put  pen  to  paper  once  more.  The  tract  is  entitled — "  Of  the  Aiithority 
of  the  Word  of  God,  against  the  Bishop  of  London,  wherein  are  contained 
certain  disputations  had  in  the  Parliament  House  (convocation)  between 
the  bishojjs,  about  the  sacraments  and  other  things,  very  necessary  to 
be  known,  made  by  Alexander  Ales,  Scotsman,  and  sent  to  the  Duke  of 
Saxony. "2  As  the  author  here  refers  to  this  period  of  his  life — to  his 
communications  with  his  own  sovereign,  James  V. — and  to  the  malicious 
interference  of  Cochlajus,  now  so  richly  rewarded  for  all  his  villany, 
Ales  must  be  permitted  to  speak  for  himself. 

"  About  five  years  ago  I  wrote  to  the  noble  King  of  Scots,  the  father 
of  my  country,  complaining  of  a  certain  decree,  wherein  the  Bishops 
had  forbidden  the  Holy  Scripture  to  be  read  in  the  mother  tongue.  I 
answered  also  to  certain  slanderous  lies  of  Cochleeus,  whom  the  Bishops 
had  hired  to  vomit  out  all  his  poison  against  me.  For  I  was  at  Ant- 
werp, when  a  countryman  of  mine,  whose  name  was  John  Foster,  did 
send  a  sum  of  money  unto  Cochla^us,  by  a  merchant,  from  the  Arch- 
bishop of  St.  Andrews,  who  giveth  him,  so  long  as  he  liveth,  a  certain 
stipend.  And  it  happened  by  the  goodness  of  God,  whereby  he  dis- 
closeth  the  wickedness  of  these  hypocrites,  that  an  epistle  of  Cochla3us, 
which  he  sent  to  a  certain  Bishop  of  Poland,  came  into  my  hands  ; 
wherein  he  complains,  that  he  hath  great  loss  and  evil  fortune  in  setting 
forth  of  books,  forasmuch  as  no  man  will  (wetesave)  vouchsafe  to  read 
his  books  ;  and  he  beggeth  an  yearly  stipend  of  the  Bishops  of  Poland, 
saying,  that  he  hath  been  nobly  rewarded  by  the  King  of  Scots,  by  the 
Archbishop  of  St.  Andrews,  and  the  {A.T:c\x)bishop  of  Glasgow.^ 

"  Were  it  not  for  the  love  of  my  country,  and  of  the  king's  grace,  I 
would  cause  his  epistle  to  be  printed,  with  the  copy  of  the  king's  letter, 
which  he  sent  to  a  certain  Bishop  of  Poland  ;  but  because  he  shall  know 
that  I  have  a  copy  of  the  king's  letters,  the  king  doth  write  manifestly, 
that  Cochlaeus'  book  did  more  please  him  for  the  commendation  of  King 
Ferdinand  and  of  Erasmus,  than  for  any  study  or  diligence  of  the  author. 

"  I  will  not  utter  other  things  contained  in  the  said  letters,  neither 
would   I  have  disclosed  thus  much,  but  that   I  wish  the   King  were 


'  See  vol.  i.,  pp.  451,  4!)8. 

2  The  original  title  is—"  De  authoritate  Verbi  Dei  Liber  Alexandri  Alesii  contra  Episcopnm 
Luiidinensem.    Argentorati  apud  C'ratoncni  jVIyliuni,  mdxlii."    /  was  written  however  in  l.Ml. 

3  .lames  V.,  James  Beaton,  and  Gavin  Dunbar. 


if  1*  caali  tni||^  il  i»  lasHy  wikk  Bj 

i  ■•  ;  fiv  «&aek  ni—  I  tmjy.  I  cMt  ia  m^  miaA  i» 
wftoelmv;  eqp«mBjr  aaan^  Iftafe  I  was 
[^  Ae  i^gii  BoUe  Lad  QnaBveEL  uid  t&e  Ardir- 
MAny  't  CMatham^m^fw-  \  j  jgf^  Fijiirr  f^Thimm  iM  f hinfj  TnfnT  thitit  hir 
«■»  aoKgnBicd  vidLmev  tar  Avdbg:  aatiak  fboe  vkroe  I  «Ki  re- 
.  Aattiftmas  wxdii  aujr  natta^  <■- -widb  »jr  •Ao' iiiii^  cbe  ;  Iaa»- 
dac  Ckrot  sKwe  pfaee  aomciBiMs  to  Afr  ^naooBBcaB  of  Ae  Jcav; 
aai  a^ain  tbak  enr  <iag9f  'wMek  axe  deti  a£  hlol's  gases  ta  ba^  w&en:  ■•» 
■■■t  IB  by  AoBv  Am  Aiy  deeny  »n«i  majce  oo^  hnnmi<Mt  at  aA.  And 
AnABc^  to  svwi  his  ™3iiig  »gr4mpt,  1  ihiiini^Tit  ii»  ncuis  aii>  hkQ^  as 

aas  SBiao^  BBOofei  wsfc  oif  <rf  dto  jIiAUA^,  and  4rf^  Ae  iHHHAie 
lori  tf!inmii.ll  lot  c«ck  of  Ae  ligbt  ■olife:  Kiis  lam^  aboiT 

Weia»agMaAjitAfe«finfc  agnt  to- dMniwrii^.  Kb  ««b  acoo* 
rfAiB  BAenuisaiteseatnBg^fiianK  its  ae««rlui«iBg  beat  BotiBed  ia  anj 
rfoBrgBMeBaiMHtomiea  TSA^r^  tt»faip,Af  ttfl*ft<art«r,  it  wit  W>.m»«^ 
leaed^iiiaaBiaiCahBBadliBartf  CBOBfincl^aiwiia  eauadm  aiA  Ae  ac- 
tjAa^gvenaffbii  deaAoa  Ae  aSiltf  Jane  An  jcbe^  kiv»- 
.  to' ^Aaeane^  Aat  aatwsAatomrfia^  Ae  onel  taoAiBcaft  be  leeoved 
fbrmaBeAaaLajear  b^Be,  Ae  UnrwaMty  badcaptaneii  ifb  atftarfcrii 
to  Mnw^  aiirt  biT  wrniaiinrii  fliiaiMi  I  Ifmr  to  AimmiiHi  lit  nf  bwfiHi^iiinw    T&e 

I  (^iBBiPdi  atgMifcii  FiAee,  a»  €ax- 
[  C^nnnaaeflL  WjAAjb  boef « ijiw— IbiiI;  we  mwr  leame 
Aemier  tojndee.  wfc^;b0Ae  fiilfowmg  i<ii<iiiiiniiri  «ba  not  fix  Ac 
aarrval  qf  A  lea  in  Fngiand  to  Ae  rearj  oifikali  fetiod  f£  tfriag  1§33l 
Be  bad  been,  sent  to  Cambridge^  ^  eamamamt^  Saaj^  to  wbiA,  of 
eaaBe,  fiAeroB  fEnnav  nmrtaanr  jieM  eaaaeBt ;  bait  it  waa  at  Aat 
jJBBcteBfr  lAea.  Ae  Fnrnomtf  «aa  aibaat  to  lose  iia  dkafiHrHHwa^  aad  Ae 
vtaoe  aaa  scnK  n^  a  """i"— 't^  BB^asctavs!  Bsbt  b  tummmat^'^ 

"^  I  vaa,''  wifnMga  Ak%  "^  sent  ^mto  ramhriiai^  to  read  a  fiatfair  «/ 
d^  Seriftmrt  Aen.  bat  Ae  ooob  a^avjcB  fiift:^  ioctna^ 

wiifwiMniii  it  gooi.  amd  Ae  derS  evs  baA  -.  :;  Aaaiiil 

bvi«  9mj  ant ;  £»  ev^ai  m.  Ae  aTifdemeafly  be  amuld  ast  Botier  Han  to 
be  <piiet  aftag,  tiil  he  bad  broo^t  bm  to  Ae  egaaa.  I  bad  Bcamelj' de- 
<^BBed  lait  Ae  Tm,  Ftafifliy  abeni  I  poceivcd  mj  oiaujr  ^aiBig^  aiboat;.  to 
am^  ne  ia  owiiiwi Aaw ;  aftaA  atAwigb  I  bate  naiOB^,  Md  ka.Te 
ataaBwi  aJI  ia  mj  poa«9r  to  anmi  Aem,  jet  I  ner^  aribmitted  niTaelf. 


li»>^T-3 


OF  ETffifiiTt 


«» 


ICiVS. 


poB  sKJE^lf  Bi^  lac  Aft  flhmiHIiy  «f 


*    *T  -t^Tic  mrr~->^   T,s    "s: — '-JT 


■E    S-JTi      -J7.»)r    TK3E    *   i    St±~i£r 

— -^      •■  iff  ••36  i  -Jcar  £C 


S2=r!sc  3*  was  -'-^^^  Ii3F3a!s_  "waii  aczHraiSE 


1  ll^    ■  . 


■VHO  ALKH  KSCAPES  TO  (iKKMANV.  [uOuK  IV. 

of  things  at  the  luoiutMit  in  whicli  !ie  wrote,  or  aljovc  two  years  after, 
and  it  was  only  a  few  niontlis  after  this  that  he  ha<l  found  there  was  no 
safety  for  hiui  in  all  England.  It  has  been  vaguely  stated  that  he  went 
abroad  in  the  year  1540  ;  but  bis  first  letter,  addressed  to  Cruniwell,  is 
dated  in  July  1530,  and  this,  let  it  be  observed,  thougli  a})Out  eif//d  years 
after  he  had  left  Scotland,  and  nigh  to  three  after  the  death  of  Tyndale, 
is  (/le  first  reference  which  Ales  has  made  to  Witte7ilerg.  There  is  no 
evidence  of  his  having  been  there  l)cfore. 

"To  Lord  Thomas  Ci-umwi-ll,  Lonl  I'l-ivy  Seal,  &c.  Wittenberg,  153f).— 
Altlioiifjli  I  liope  my  mind  is  sufficiently  clear  to  your  Highness,  yet  I  greatly 
entreat  that  you  may  be  persuaded,  I  shall  always  retain,  with  the  highest 
gratitude,  the  remembrance  of  your  favours;  for  you  were  nearly  the  only  port 
to  me,  when  living  in  exile.  For  the  sake  of  your  virtue,  piety,  as  well  as  kind- 
nes.s,  1  love  England  itself,  though  absent  from  it,  and  I  declare  that  I  am  very 
nmch  indebted  to  it.  Thus  shortly  have  I  spoken  of  my  good  will,  which  when 
I  shall  have  got  a  sure  abode,  I  shall  declare  in  such  offices  as  shall  be  within 
my^power.  I  returned  to  Wittenberg  the  .9th  day  of  July,  being  most  affec- 
tionately received,  &c. — Farewell,  your  most  devoted  Alexander  Alesius."^ 

At  Wittenberg  Ales  remained  but  a  very  short  time,  the  Elector  of 
Brandenburg  having  in  a  few  months  appointed  him  Professor  of  Divi- 
nity at  Frankfort  on  the  Oder.^  It  is  however  rather  remarkable  that 
before  his  present  arrival  in  Germany,  Providence  had  signally  provided 
for  his  safety.  Duke  George  of  Saxony,  that  old  and  inveterate  oppo- 
nent of  "  the  new  learning,"  and  the  decided  patron  of  Cochlaeus,  had  died 
at  the  age  of  68,  on  the  24th  of  April  1539.  Henry,  his  successor,  being 
equally  ardent  on  the  other  side,  had  invited  Myconius,  Jonas,  and 
Luther  himself  to  Leipsic,  and  they  were  preaching  to  great  crowds  of 
willing  auditors,  in  the  open  air.  "  Many,"  said  Ales,  in  his  letter  just 
quoted,  to  Crumwell,  and  without  once  alluding  to  his  old  enemy  still 
alive,  "  Many  of  late  have  sent  for  pious  teachers  into  the  territory  which 
was  under  Duke  George  of  Saxony — the  churches  are  now  repaired — 
many  towns  in  Bavaria,  and  even  in  the  Palatinate,  begin  to  profess  the 
pious  doctrine,  and  now  indeed  Germany  is  quiet."  It  was  so,  for  a  little 
moment,  but  meanwhile,  on  the  other  hand,  Cocklceus  had  come  into 
trouble  ;  and  instead  of  his  sending  Ales  back,  hand  bound,  to  the 
Bishops  in  Scotland,  his  own  time  for  flight  and  exile  was  now  come  ! 
From  Meissen  (Misnia)  where  he  was  a  Canon  in  the  Cathedral,  not  far 
from  the  Duke,  his  wonted  patron,  and  from  whence  he  had  so  traduced 
the  Scotish  exile,  he  was  now  expelled.  He  first  fled  across  the  Elbe  to 
Budissin,  (Bautzen)  in  Lusatia,  where  the  printing  press  was  still  his 


7  Cotton  MS.  Nero,  B.  vi..  fo.  50.  This  was  three  davs  before  the  cruel  "  statute  of  six  ai  ti- 
des "  was  to  take  effect  in  England.  Seethe  former  reference  to  this  letter,  page  6!)  of  this 
Tolume. 

8  See  his  oration,  "  Alcsius  de  Reslituendis  Soholis,"  dated  Frankford  in  .May  1.140;  a  few 
leaves,  which  have  repeatedly  fetclicd  a  {;uinca  and  a  half. 


J.)3o-37.]  HIS  ENGAGEMENTS  THERE.  481 

refuge,  and  there,  throughout  1530,  he  continued  to  rail  against  different 
opponents,  and  among  others  against  Luther  in  Germany,  Sir  John 
Moryson  in  Enghind,"  and  Henry  Duke  of  Saxony,  who  had  occasioned 
his  removal.  Hear  how  his  tone  is  altered,  and  how  he  himself  lamented 
over  the  change : — "  Lnthcr's  sect,  by  public  command,  is  introduced 
into  all  the  lands  of  Misnia,  Thuringia,  and  Saxony.  And  in  the  Cathe- 
dral Church  of  JMisnia,  where  formerly  by  divine  service  and  divers 
chantings,  God  was  praised  night  and  day,  at  all  hours,  without  inter- 
mission, the  ancient  appearance  of  religion  is  entirely  changed."  So 
fared,  at  present,  the  bitter  enemy  of  the  Sacred  Volume,  in  our  native 
tongue,  first  in  England  and  then  in  Scotland,  though  alike  in  vain.  At 
Bautzen,  however,  Cochlieus  could  not  abide.  He  must  move  farther 
cast  into  Silesia  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Oder,  where  he  found  refuge,  as 
a  Canon,  in  the  Church  of  Breslaw,  to  the  day  of  his  death,  in  January 
1552-3.  As  for  Ales,  in  about  two  years  he  was  called  westward  from  this 
about  two  hundred  miles,  to  Leipsic ;  and  as  a  Professor  in  that  city,  after 
an  honourable  residence  of  about  twenty-three  years,  he  died  in  peace 
on  the  17th  of  March  1565,  aged  sixty-five. 

When  the  public  conferences  at  which  Ales  spoke,  or  where  they  were 
afraid  to  let  him  do  so,  and  the  numerous  works  he  published,  are  taken 
into  account,  it  is  evident  that  he  must  have  continued  an  active  and 
influential  character,  to  the  very  close  of  life. 

Thus,  so  early  as  December  1540,  Ales  was  present  in  the  Conference 
at  Worms,  being  sent  there  as  deputy  from  the  Elector  of  Brandenburg. 
Granville,  the  Chancellor  of  the  Emperor,  in  name  of  Charles  V.,  pre- 
sided, when  Ales  was  both  ready  and  eager  to  engage  ;  but  the  Chan- 
cellor would  not  suffer  him  to  speak.  He  appears  to  have  been  afraid 
of  the  consequences.  "  He  was  prevented,"  says  Camerarius,  "  by  order 
of  the  president,  who  knew  that  Ales  had  come  prepared  for  the  combat." 
"  Such  a  management  of  the  affsiir,"  he  observed,  "  would  be  wrong." 
At  this  conference,  however,  our  exile  must  have  received  considerable 
gratification  from  meeting  with  his  brother  deputies.  The  divines  pre- 
sent, says  Sleidan,  "  were  Melancthon,  Ca^nto^  Bucer,  Osiander,  the 
uncle-in-law  of  Cranmer,  Brentius,  Ales,  a  Scot,  sent  from  the  Elector  of 
Brandenburg,  and  Calvin.'^  It  was  young  Calvin,  at  the  age  of  31,  pro- 
ceeding next  year  to  Geneva  the  second  time,  where  he  arrived  on  the 
]  3th  of  September.  Ales  was  nine  years  older,  and  not  improbably  one  of 
the  first  Scotsmen  who  had  formed  his  acquaintance,  at  least  we  read  of 
no  one  earlier.     On  the  other  hand,  if  CochlaBus  was  not  at  Worms  in 


s  Now  in  distress,  and  ruminatinf;  over  all  his  troubles,  Cochlaeus  even  still  cannot  forget  or 
forgive  the  ingratitude  of  Henry  VIII.  and  Wolsey,  in  not  rewarding  him,  for  his  first  alarm 
sent  respecting  Tyndale's  first  Testament,  in  quarto,  printing  at  Cologne  in  l.'i25;  but  as  to 
Alexander  Ales,  against  whom  he  had  so  raged,  worldly  prudence  or  fear  had  imposed  silence 
at  this  moment.     Of  liim,  though  now  so  near  him,  he  speaks  not  one  word. 

VOL.   11.  2  II 


482  ALES  MEETS  COCHLiEUS  AM)  (iAKDINKU.       [iiouK   iv. 

December  1540,  we  know  full  well  that  he  waa  at  the  I>ict  in  Ratisbon 
the  following  March,  ami  still  imhlishiiifx  his  tracts.  At  either  of  these 
places,  if  not  both,  he  must  have  met,  face  to  face,  with  Alen,  as  well  as 
l\Ielancthon.  The  former,  he  now  saw,  was  no  fictitious  character,  as  he 
hail  craftily  insinuated  ;  while  both  were  proceeding  on  their  way,  but 
little  caring  cither  for  his  raillery  or  small  shot. 

Since  Ales  was  now  meeting  both  with  friends  and  foes,  we  must  not 
omit  tStephen  Gardiner.  It  may  be  remembered,  that  this  Bishop  was 
not  present  in  the  celebrated  Convocation  of  1536,  and  that  Ales  had 
since  written  his  account  of  what  happened  to  himself  there.  Gardiner 
had  come  to  Ratisbon  at  this  time  as  chief  ambassador  to  the  Emperor, 
who  now  presided  in  person  ;  Contarini,  the  Legate  from  Rome,  being 
there  also.  One  day  Bucer  and  Ales  had  a  long  discussion  with  Gardi- 
ner on  various  topics.  The  Bishop  denying  that  there  were  any  princi- 
ples and  certain  way  by  which  the  true  doctrines  of  religion  might  be 
demonstrated,  and  the  contrary  refuted.  Bucer  quoted  2  Tim.  iii.,  10, 
17  ;  and  the  conversation  went  on.  The  Bishop  was  no  Scripturist,  and 
could  not  stand  argument.  "  How  the  veins  in  his  hands,"  said  Bucer 
afterwards,  "  did  leap  and  tremble,  as  often  as  I  said  any  thing  that 
gave  him  offence  ;  specially  if  he  heard  any  such  thing  spoken  by  that 
learned  and  truly  pious  divine,  Alexander  Ales,  whom  I  brought  with 
me  to  Bishop  Gardiner  at  this  conference."  '*' 

Once  more,  and  fourteen  years  later  in  life,  when  the  Christians  of  Nu- 
remberg in  1555  inifjlored  a  visit  from  Melancthon,  to  compose  the  divi- 
sions which  had  been  occasioned  there  by  the  dogmas  of  Osiander,  Ales, 
and  Camerarius  accompanied  him  as  his  assistants.  The  former,  it  is 
stated,  performed  his  part  well  ;  for  "  Melancthon  knew  him  to  be  very- 
capable  of  this  ;  he  had  had  him  for  his  assistant  the  year  before,  in  the 
conference  at  Naumburg,  which  was  held  to  appease  the  theological 
troubles  of  Prussia."'^  By  this  time,  Luther  had  been  dead  nine  years, 
Melancthon  was  to  follow  in  five,  and  Ales  in  ten,  when  Camerarius  pub- 
lished at  Leipsic  in  1569  his  well  known  life  of  Philip.  In  this,  he  says, 
when  referring  to  the  Scotsman  who  had  been  exiled  on  account  of  the 
Word  of  God,  and  his  ardent  attachment  to  it,  for  more  than  the  half  of 
his  life :  "  He  was  thoroughly  versed  in  Divinity,  had  an  excellent 
talent  at  disputation,  and  was  famous  for  his  extraordinary  merit  and 
learning."^^ 

By  all  this,  it  is  not  to  be  understood  that  Ales  had  frittered  away  his 
time,  either  in  being  present  at  conferences,  or  in  printing  tracts.  On 
the  contrary,  he  has  himself  told  us,  that  to  controversy  as  such,  he  pos- 
sessed a  natural  aversion,  and  the  works  he  left  behind  him,  when  taken 


in  Sec  "  Gratulati  Buccri,"  p.  55.     Strype's  Memorials,  anno  154". 

"  Be7.aiii  Icoiiibu!^.     Bavle.  '^  C'amerar.  in  Vita  Melanct. 


l.>3.J-3?.]  THE  EXPOSITIONS  OK  ALKS.  483 

;vll  in  all,  fully  prove  this.  lie  had  retired  to  his  Bible,  and  there,  for 
many  years,  laboured  to  expound  it.  Ilis  publications,  chicHy  froinLeip- 
sic,  amounted  to  at  least  twenty-three  in  number,  almost  every  one  of 
which  remain  yet  unknown  in  his  native  land  ;  but  we  can  do  nothing 
more  than  simply  notice  his  last  effort  for  Scotland,  and  his  subsequent 
expositions  of  Scripture.'"' 

Before  concluding,  however,  we  are  unable  to  refrain  from  a  few  sen- 
tences, in  the  dedication  to  his  Commentary  on  John.  They  will  at  least 
show  the  spirit  of  the  man,  when  arrived  at  the  age  of  fifty-two,  or  full 
twenty  years  after  leaving  Scotland.  He  is  addressing  Augustus  Duke 
of  Saxony,  Marquis  of  Misnia,  &c.,  the  same  country  where  Duke  George, 
and  his  agent  Cochlaius,  once  bore  such  sway,  and  from  whence  he  had 
been  so  traduced  by  the  latter,  who  was  now  dead.''* 

"  To  the  truly  pious  man,  whose  desire  it  is  perfectly  to  know  and  observe 
the  Christian  doctrine,  nothing  is  more  delightful  than  the  reading  of  the  Gos- 
pel of  John.  For  consoling  anxious  minds  against  reproaches,  hatred,  per- 
secutions, the  I'agings  of  the  world  and  of  Satan  ;  nay,  against  the  alarms  of 
conscience,  the  fear  of  wrath,  the  judgment  of  God,  and  of  eternal  death,  nothing 
is  more  grateful  than  the  very  delightful  discourses  of  Christ,  which  are  inserted 
in  this  Gospel  alone.  Nothing  is  more  profitable,  or  more  necessary  for  re- 
futing all  heresies,  and  all  the  sophistry  of  the  Devil,  than  those  most  solemn 
disputations  of  Christ  iu  opposition  to  the  Jews,  who  slandered  his  doctrine  and 
miracles.  For,  in  this  Gospel,  the  first  and  principal  article  of  the  Christian 
faith,  namely,  that  concerning  the  Divinity  of  Christ,  on  which  the  others  hang, 
and  by  which  they  are  proved — that  upon  which  the  Church  is  founded,  as  Paul 
says,  "  otlier  foundation  can  no  man  lay  than  that  is  laid,  which  is  Christ 
Jesus  ; "  that  which  idolaters  deride,  Jews  and  Mahometans  hold  to  be  a  re- 
proaching of  God,  and  heretics  have,  at  all  times,  most  bitterly  opposed,  is  hei-e, 
by  many  powerful  reasons,  clearly  and  copiously  demonstrated. 

"  To  himself  at  the  beginning,  John  proposes  this  to  be  proved — That  Christ  is 
0  Xoyos,  the  Word  who  was  from  eternity  with  the  Father,  of  a  distinct  person 
from  Him,  and  by  nature  God.  To  establish  this  are  principally  to  be  referred 
all  that  is  here  narrated,  respecting  the  creation  of  all  things  by  the  Word re- 
specting light  and  life  imparted  to  the  mind  of  man  at  creation,  and  restored 
again  after  sin,  by  the  promise  given  forth  in  paradise  concerning  the  seed  that 
was  to  come,  who  bruised  the  head  of  the  serpent,  and  by  the  faith  yielded  to 

the  doctrine  of  the  cross,  through  which  men  become  the  Sons  of  God all 

things  concerning  the  incarnation  of  the  Word — His  glory,  seen  in  the  miracles 


'3  It  was  in  1544  he  published  "  De  Scotorum  Concordia,"  or  "  Cohort,  ad  concordiam  pie- 
tatis,  in  Patriam  missa."  Sent  from  Leipsic,  after  the  Scriptures  had  been  allowed  by  autho- 
rity in  his  native  land.  It  was  repeated  in  155.0,  and  is  dedicated  to  the  Governors  and  Nobility, 
not  forgetting  the  Bishops,  and  "  the  people  entire"  of  the  kingdom  of  Scotland.  After  a  pause 
of  six  years,  then  came,  in  one  year  l.iSO,  "  Expos,  libri  Psalmorum  Davidis,  juxta  Hebrjeo- 
rum  ;"  "  In  omnes  Ep.  Pauli ;"  Expos,  ad  I  Tim.  et  Titus.  In  1551,  "  Posterioris  ad  Tim." 
In  155.3,  "  Disi)utationes  ad  Romanos;"  "  Commentarius  in  Evangelium  Joannis."  Besides 
which,  we  find  various  other  pieces,  and  among  them,  "  De  utilitate  Psalmorum,"  so  early  as 
l.''>42.  See  Tanner's  Bihl.  Britannica,  Sechendnrff.  The  "  Descriptio  Edinburgi,"  already  noticed, 
p.  427,  note,  is  in  Munsteri  Cosmog.,  p.  51. 

14  Cochla?ns  died  at  Breslaw  10th  January  1552-3.  The  Exposition  referred  to,  was  printing 
about  the  same  time,  and  was  finished  at  press  in  March.  "Basileap,  ex  othcina  Joannis  Oporini. 
.MOLiir.  Mcnse  Martio." 


kS|.  ALKS  ON  TIIK  (i()S|'i;i,  <)l'  JOHN.  QbOOK   IV. 

iiiiil  tlic  ilcscciit  iif  ilic  I  Idly  Spirit  ii|iiiii  liini  when  lli-  was  liaptiscd  — -the  V(iic<'  of 
flu-  l''a(lirr,  wliicli  was  heard—  tin-  U^tinionics  of  Jolin  tlic  IJaptist — tlie  tuni- 
iiij;  of  wat<T  into  wine — tlic  licalin;;  of  the  centurion's  serviint — the  nobleman's 
son— the  |)aralytic — the  satisfving  five  thousand  nun  with  five  loaves — the  man 
horn  blind — and  Lazarus,  wiioni  he  recalled  from  death  to  life.  The  Evange- 
list .saw  that  upon  tliig  article  being  weakened,  the  others  concerning  the  pro- 
cession and  mission  of  the  Holy  Spirit  from  the  Father  and  the  Son — the  sanc- 
tlHcation  of  the  Church  by  the  forgiveness  of  sins,  and  the  resurrection  of  the 
dead,  would  fall  of  course  ;  and  on  the  other  hand,  tlmt  being  established,  these 
htind  firm  ;  and  that  it  is  abimdantly  sufficient  for  the  proving  of  them,  that  the 
Son  of  God  had  taught  these  things. — 

"  And  what  does  the  Evangelist  do,  in  that  longest  and  sweetest  of  the  dis- 
courses of  Christ  to  his  Apostles  at  the  Supper,  but  introduce  the  Son  of  God 
opening  up  the  abvss  of  Divine  love,  and  allowing  all  the  veins  of  the  love  of 
his  heart  to  flow  into  the  bo.soms  of  liis  disciples  ?  That  the  Son  of  God 
washes  away  our  stains  with  his  own  blood — was  aftiicted  with  the  deepest  grief 
for  the  destruction  of  his  own  betrayer — endeavoured  to  draw  him  back  from 
his  wickednes.s — that  he  comforts  those  who  grieve  for  his  sufferings,  by  the 
consideration  of  the  glory  which  was  presently  to  follow  upon  them,  and  com- 
mands them  to  embrace  one  another  with  that  love  wherewith  he  follows  each 
of  them  !  Arc  not  these  clusters  of  love,  by  which  he  raises  up  the  desponding 
in  mind,  and  commands  them  to  trust  in  Him  I  that  by  faith  in  God,  and  con- 
fidence in  his  aid,  they  might  follow  Him  thither,  where,  owing  to  the  infirmity 
of  the  Hesh,  it  was  impossible  for  them  then  to  come  ;  nay,  that  he  now  went 
before,  that  he  might  prepare  for  them  mansions  in  the  hou.se  of  his  Father. 
He  promises  to  return,  that  he  might  take  them  to  himself — He  shews  them 
the  way  by  which  they  may  follow,  and  teaches  that  He  is  the  way,  the  truth, 
and  the  life  ;  and  that  no  man  comcth  to  the  Father  but  by  Himself.  Philip 
he  recalls  from  his  error,  when  desiring  to  see  God,  and  in.structs  him,  that 
God  is  known  only  by  the  word  of  the  Gospel.  He  says,  the  Divine  nature 
and  will  are  to  be  seen  in  his  sermons  and  miracles  as  in  a  mirror.  He  pro- 
mises, that  he  would  do  what.soevcr  they  should  ask — that  he  would  not  leave 
them  orphans,  but  ask  the  Father,  that  he  would  give  them  the  Holy  Spirit, 
by  whom,  as  their  Teacher,  they  should  understand  that  He  was  in  the  Father, 
and  interchangeably  the  Father  in  Him  !  Does  He  not  lay  open  the  fountains 
of  Divine  love,  and,  as  it  were,  from  the  opened  flood-gates  of  heaven,  rain 
down  into  human  hearts  the  love  of  God,  when  he  promises  for  the  keeping 
of  the  doctrines  of  the  Gospel,  Jits  own  lore  and  that  of  his  Father?  Nay, 
that  He  should  come,  together  with  the  Father,  and  abide  with  him  who  shouM 
maintain  his  purity  I 

"  Against  doubting  of  these  most  abundant  promises,  on  account  of  our  un- 
worthines.s,  there  is  the  sweetest  and  strongest  consolation.  That  consolation 
which  renders  the  Church  a.ssured  respecting  the  Divine  presence  of  Jlim  wha 
(forerun  her — hearing  every  one  of  them  who  call  upon  Him — assisting  the 
weak  membci"s,  that  they  nia\-  grow  in  faith  and  good  works.  In  conformity 
to  which,  He  compares  himself  to  the  Vine,  and  us  to  the  brandies  ;  and  In's 
Heavenly  Father  to  the  Vine-dresser,  who  jn-uneth  every  branch  which  bears 
any  fruit,  that  it  may  bring  forth  more  fruit. 

"  Now,  what  do  the  pious  desire  to  know  more  earnestly,  than  which  is  the 
true  Church,  and  which  the  f'lthc  ?  H  is  that  which  He  himself,  in  this  simili- 
tude, jjroperly  and  pci-siiicuously  expresses  ;  describing  those  to  be  the  Church, 
who  are  united  to  him  by  faith,  and  in  whom  his  words  abide  ;  that  is,  they 
hold  the  Gospel  uncorrupted.     To  such  as  these  belong  the  very  ample  pro- 


I  j;].j-37.]  DEATH  OF  ALES.  485 

inises  made  to  the  Cliurch  ;  and,  on  tlio  ntlior  liand,  tliosc  wlio  (Id  not  retain 
the  purity  of  the  doctrine,  but  suffer  it  to  be  polUited  by  liniiiuti  traditiuiiii,  are 
tlie  false  Cluirch,  and  as  withered  branches,  remain  to  be  consumed  with  fire.*' 
All  this,  and  much  more,  he  addresses  to  Augustus,  before  commencing  his 
Exposition  ;  and  liaving  made  all  due  acknowledgment  for  favours  received, 
hi!  concludes — "  For  these  so  great  kindnesses,  and  the  hospitality  shewn  to 
the  Church  and  the  teachers  of  the  Church,  and,  among  others,  to  me,  a 
stranger,  even  since  the  year  1,543,  may  Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  adorn  you 
with  eternal  rewards  and  inunortal  glory." 

Ales,  it  appears,  had  married,  probably  while  resident  in  England, 
and  this  rendered  it  the  more  necessary  for  him  to  return  to  the  Conti- 
nent at  the  time  he  did.  lie  had  three  children,  a  son  and  two  daugh- 
ters. One  only  of  the  latter  survived  him.  For  his  son,  who  expired 
at  Leipsic,  parental  affection  found  a  stoue  and  inscription  to  mark  his 
grave  :  but  as  for  the  Father,  his  ashes  lie — no  marble  tells  us  where  ! 

In  conclusion,  it  will  now  be  generally  admitted,  that  Alexander 
Ales  was  not  a  character  to  be  consigned  by  history  to  oblivion  for 
tluee  hundred  years.  The  first  man  in  Scotland,  nay,  and  next  to 
Tyndale  and  Fr3-th  themselves,  the  first  in  Britain,  who,  in  her  highest 
places,  pled  so  boldly  and  so  well  for  the  all-sufficiency  and  supreme  autho- 
rity of  Scripture.  The  first  in  Scotland  who  argued  so  earnestly  for  the 
perusal  of  the  Sacred  Volume  at  every  household  fire  within  her  shores  ; 
and  therefore  the  man  who  struck  the  first  note  in  giving  a  tone  to  that 
character,  for  which  she  has  since  been  known,  and  often  commended. 
The  people  of  North  Britain  assuredly  have  no  occasion  to  feel  ashamed 
of  this  early  native  of  their  capital — the  convert  of  her  first  martyr — 
the  student  and  the  prisoner  of  St.  Andrews — the  friend  of  Melancthon, 
and  the  Professor  at  Leipsic.  Had  his  countrymen  only  known  him 
before,  some  stone  of  remembrance  might  have  been  found  even  in  Ger- 
many ;  but  the  memorial  of  his  birth  and  death  ought  to  have  been  in 
Edii}burgh.  There,  in  reference  to  the  cause  he  advocated,  no  inappro- 
priate emblem  would  have  been,  a  Father  and  his  child  reading  the  same 
Sacred  Volume,  and,  for  a  motto,  in  remembrance  of  his  position  at  the 
moment,  perhaps  his  own  memorable  quotation  of  the  Athenian — 
"  Strike,  but  hear  me." 

Is  it  now  too  late  to  propose  such  a  thing,  and  for  our  children's  sake  I 
Certainly  not.  It  was  against  this  inestimable  privilege  the  storm  was 
still  raging — into  which  we  must  still  inquire  ;  and  what — we  repeat  it 
— what  had  been  the  state  of  Caledonia  up  to  the  present  hour,  but  for 
the  right  and  boon,  on  account  of  which  he  first  pled,  and  long  before 
ant/  other  voice  was  heard  ? 

Yet  although  the  memory  of  Tyndale,  as  well  as  Ales,  has  been  allowed 
lo  sleep  almost  in  oblivion  throughout  their  native  land,  it  would  be 
unjust  to  Scotland  entirely  to  forget  the  grateful  recollections,  and  in 
Latin  verse,  of  one  man,  who  flourished  in  the  sixteenth  century,  and 


iSd  MKKITS  AIM'KKCIATKl)  AITKU   DEATH.  [hook  IV, 

(lied  iiH  early  aa  October  1<!12.  John  Johnston,  the  intimate  friend 
and  colleague  of  Andrew  Melville — a  classical  scholar,  and  Professor  of 
Divinity  at  St.  Andrews  in  l.V.VS,  amidst  his  eulogies  on  other  men, 
appreciated  the  efforts  of  Ales,  and  assigned  to  the  labours  of  Tyndale 
their  own  aj»])ropriate  place.  His  tribute  to  the  memory  of  Ales,  whom 
he  associates  with  Machabajus,  is  well  known,  as  inserted  in  the  Appen- 
dix to  M'Crie's  Life  of  Knox  ;  but  as  the  lines  on  Tyndale,  T/te  Ezra  of 
Britain,  have  never  been  printed,  we  subjoin  a  copy,  taken  from  the 
Manuscript  in  the  Advocates'  Library.  The  labours  and  martyrdom  of 
our  Translator  he  first  briefly  records,  to  which  Johnston  then  adds 
his  own  high  and  heart-felt  acknowledgments — 

"  nil'  Dei  vates  sact-r,  Estlras  ille  Britaiinu.s, 

Fida  inaiius  sjjcri  fidaquc  mens  Codici.s, 
Trans  Sacras  qui  duxit  opus  Sermone  Britaniio  : 

Quique  nova  iniustrans,  quiqiie  vetusta  di-dit, 
Iiiceduns  vetenim  nova  per  vestigia  vatiim, 

Oc'cidit,  externis  victinia  sacra  focis  : 
Scilicet  innunierls  nieritis  lioc  ilcfuit  umiiii, 

Vatibus  ut  priscis  par  sit  hoiiore  novo." 

We  now  return  to  the  noble  warfare  in  which  Ales  so  ably, 
and  without  compromise,  had  led  the  van.  We  have  seen 
the  state  of  Scotland  and  England  at  the  close  of  1 534  ;  nor 
in  1 535,  while  Tyndale  lay  in  prison,  as  ardent  and  busy  as 
circumstances  would  admit,  was  there  any  change  in  favour  of 
the  Scriptures  in  either  government.  As  nations,  far  from 
being  on  sound  terms  with  each  other,  they  were  firmly 
united  in  hostility  to  the  Word  of  God ;  while  in  reference 
to  Scotland,  the  cruelties  of  last  year  seem  to  have  only 
strensrthened  the  determination  to  obtain  the  Sacred  Volume. 
The  hollow  device  of  representing  the  English  New  Testament 
to  be  the  production  of  Luther  or  his  disciples,  which  Cochlaus 
had  done  all  in  his  power  to  promulgate,  continued  to  be  fos- 
tered by  the  priests  for  years  to  come  :  but  by  this  year  it 
must  have  been  well  known,  both  by  friends  and  foes,  in 
Scotland,  that  Tyndale  was  the  author.  In  the  Castle  of 
Vilvorde,  he  was  now  contending  for  the  truth,  with  the  Doc- 
tors of  Louvain,  who,  since  the  days  of  Patrick  Hamilton, 
had  their  eye  on  Scotland.  Ales,  it  is  true,  all  along,  and 
with  great  propriety,  had  mentioned  no  names.  But  how  is 
this  to  be  accounted  for,  that  we  now  sec  Dr.  Buckingham, 
Prior  of  the  Blackfriars  at  Cambridge,  a  most  determined 
en(Mny  to  the  Scripture.'^  in  the  vulirar  tongue — the  man  whom 


>53r)-3T.]  INCREASING  ALARM  IN  SCOTLAND.  487 

Latimer  so  successfully  opposed,  and  who  had  for  some  time 
been  living  with  his  brethren  in  the  Monastery  at  Edinburgh, 
leave  that  city,  with  a  brother  friar  as  his  companion,  and 
direct  for  Louvain  i  This  occurred  at  the  close  of  March 
lo35;  and  the  object  of  this  hitherto  mysterious  movement, 
we  have  already  explained.  We  have  seen  how  he  wrought, 
in  conjunction  with  Gabriel  Dunne  and  Phillips,  in  the  perse- 
cution of  Tyndale,  throughout  this  very  year.  Buckingham, 
unquestionably,  would  not  leave  his  old  friends,  the  friars  in 
Edinburgh,  ignorant  of  what  was  going  on,  whether  at 
Louvain  or  Brussels,  as  to  the  prisoner  in  Vilvorde,  with 
whom  all  the  doctors  now  wrangled,  though  in  vain. 

Meanwhile,  the  alarm  of  the  Scotish  government  shews 
that  books  were  still  coming  into  the  country.  The  Act  of 
Parliament  in  1525,  against  all  importation  by  strangers,  had 
been  strengthened  in  J  527,  so  as  to  apply  to  the  native  im- 
porters ;  but  by  the  language  of  Ales,  it  seems  as  if  there 
had  actually  been  attempts  at  selling  the  New  Testament  in 
book-shops ;  and  certainly  if  the  Act  was  now  to  be  repeated,  and 
with  greater  severity,  it  lends  countenance  to  all  his  remon- 
strances. Parliament,  at  all  events,  opening  in  the  summer 
of  1535,  and  on  the  8th  of  June,  farther  degraded  itself  by  not 
only  repeating  the  Act,  but  now  all  persons  having  any  such 
books,  were  commanded  to  deliver  them  up  to  their  Ordinary 
within  forty  days,  under  the  penalty  of  confiscation  and  im- 
prisonment. As  a  decided  evidence  of  no  small  progress 
made,  even  ^'■discussion  of  opinions''''  was  now  sternly  prohi- 
bited by  the  Parliament !  Happily,  how'ever,  there  was  an 
exception,  or,  as  some  would  say,  a  flaw  in  the  act,  as  there 
has  often  been  since,  in  many  such  feats  of  human  legislation. 
An  exception  was  made  in  favour  of  clerks  in  the  schools^  who 
mif/ht  read,  in  order  to  refute.  The  consequence  was,  that  a 
number  of  these  clerks,  by  reading  and  discussion,  sincerely 
embraced  the  same  sentiments,  or  the  reverse  of  those  which 
were  intended  by  the  indulgence. 

In  the  year  1586,  with  regard  to  the  Scotish  monarch  him- 
self, now  sinking  under  the  power  of  licentious  habits,  and  to 
which  the  clergy  oftered  no  objection,  his  situation  was  one 
which  might  well  excite  pity.  The  language  of  Ales  has 
clearly  shewn,  that,  as  a  youth,  there  were  generous  and 
humane    feelings  within    him  ;    and    the    banishment  of  the 


iSS  CONDITION  OK  THK  KINU.  QbooK  IV. 

Douglas  I'aiiiily.  witli  Aii^u.s  at  their  head,  was  owing  to  a 
burst  of  eniutioii  perrectly  natural.  Jjut  now  the  King  was 
be.set  by  no  less  than  throe  parties.  The  family  of  Angus, 
though  not  in  Scotland,  were  ever  on  the  watch,  having  sold 
themselves  to  England.  James,  still  unmarried,  and  without 
a  direct  heir,  had  the  Ilamiltons  near  him,  not  without  an 
eye  to  the  throne ;  while,  as  the  clergy ""s  kingdom  of  this 
woi-ld  seemed  to  bo  in  danger,  the  guidance  of  the  monarch 
had  become,  with  them,  a  subject  of  supreme  and  intense 
interest.  The  erratic  course  of  the  king's  uncle,  Henry  VIII., 
had  also  raised  Scotland  in  the  scale  of  importance  in  the  eye 
of  Rome;  so  that,  in  conjunction  with  the  hierarchy,  James, 
being  the  man  he  was,  had  no  chance  of  escape  from  vexatious 
thraldom. 

On  the  one  hand,  Henry's  eager  desire  to  have  a  personal 
interview  with  his  nephew,  must  be  thwarted.  The  Queen- 
Mother,  Henry's  sister,  in  conjunction  with  Lord  William 
Howard,  strove  for  this  at  present,  but  in  vain.  At  the  same 
time,  in  the  spring  of  1536,  the  needle  seemed  to  be  still 
quivering  in  the  beam,  as  to  what  course  the  King  would  pur- 
sue. In  1.534,  the  clergy,  with  the  concurrence  of  the  Pon- 
tiff, Clement  VII.,  had  granted  a  tenth  part  of  their  revenues 
to  James  for  three  years,  to  encourage  him,  it  has  been  sup- 
posed, in  following  their  advice  with  regard  to  the  suppression 
of  heresy.  Clement  had  ceased  to  live  in  September  1534,  and 
this  grant  would  expire  in  1537.  But  whatever  was  the  cause, 
the  monarch  appears  to  have  been  dissatisfied,  and  especially 
with  the  exactions  of  the  priests  at  large.  The  clergy  were 
in  motion  throughout  the  kingdom,  and  from  the  11th  to  the 
1 7th  of  !March  1536,  a  provincial  council  of  the  Prelates  was 
held  in  Edinburgh.  Once  assembled,  they  received  a  message 
from  the  King.  Of  its  purport,  we  have  one  account  from  the 
Earl  of  Angus.  He  was  then  at  Berwick,  not  daring  to 
approach  nearer;  but  in  writing  to  his  brother.  Sir  George 
Douglas,  he  says — 

"  The  King  is  not  in  the  town  himself,  and  \cvy  J'cic  tenipoi-al  lords.  At  the 
making  of  this  writing,  (certain  articles,)  the  King  was  at  Crawfurd-John  in 
Clvdc'sihile,  and  sent  liis  writing  to  Edinburgh  to  the  clergy.  The  beai'ers  were 
Sir  .James  Hamilton,  Nieol  of  Crawfurd,  and  Mr.  .James  Fowles.  These  were 
the  points  of  the  King's  charge,  as  I  was  advertised — bidding  the  clergy  give 
over  the  curps-pirsent  and  tlie  n/miost  c/oth  throngh  all  Scotland,  that  tlu^y  should 
be  no  more  taken  ;  ami  that  every  man  should  ha\e  his  own  t<  ind,  (tulie,)  pay- 


1530-37.]  DISSATISFIED  WITH  THE  PRIESTS.  489 

ing  for  his  tythes,  such  like  as  he  pays  to  his  landlord  of  liis  maills  (rents,)  and 
no  more,  for  his  whole  tythes.  Sir  James  and  the  other  two  said  to  the  clergy, 
if  tliey  granted  not  that,  at  the  King's  eonunand,  that  there  should  be  a  charge 
laid  to  them,  that  he  would  (jer  (make)  them  set  all  the  temiiorais  that  tlie  kirk 
have,  to  feu  (fee,)  and  to  have  for  it,  but  the  old  rent,  such  as  tlie  old  rentals 
bcai\  The  Kirkmen  of  Scotland  were  ncrer  so  ill  content.  The  word  is  now 
through  all  Scotland  that  the  Kings  iclll  meet  (Henry  and  James)  ;  for  them 
that  were  farrest  against  it  in  Scotland,  say,  that  the  King  will  meet  his  uncle, 
by  the  grace  of  God,  and  trust  nought  else.  For  these  tidings  that  1  now  write 
to  you,  the  man  that  showed  me  them,  came  from  the  King  to  Edinburgh,  and 
heard  the  charge  given  to  them  by  these  three  that  I  wrote  of  before.  Written 
at  Berwick  the  24th  of  March  [1530"] — IShjned.     Ar"-  Erl  of  Angus."  15 

If  this  intelligence  was  substantially  correct,  it  was  cer- 
tainly indicative,  thus  early,  of  very  general  dissatisfaction  on 
the  part  of  the  common  people  throughout  the  country  ;  al- 
though the  grounds  of  complaint  were  not  removed  for  twenty- 
four  years  after  this,  or  eighteen  after  James  was  in  his 
grave.  The  King  himself,  however,  was  evidently  ill  at  ease, 
and  it  might  seem,  at  the  moment,  as  if  he  were  on  the  point 
of  following  his  uncle's  footsteps.  How  he  became  pacified, 
does  not  fully  appear,  though  it  be  evident  that  the  power  of 
the  hierarchy — the  counsel  of  the  chief  priests  had  prevailed. 
The  Queen-Mother  was  writing  to  her  brother  in  England, 
while  these  prelates  were  yet  sitting,  and  she  informs  him  on 
the  16th  of  JSlarch,  that  the  King,  her  son,  had  got  counsel 
of  the  Kirkmen  to  desire  of  him  these  points  :  That  he  will 
promise  not  to  desire  his  nephew  to  take  his  new  constitutions  of 
the  Scriptures  ;  not  to  labour  for  the  Earl  of  Angus  ;  to  desire 
the  meeting-place  should  be  Newcastle,  not  York.'''  In  April 
Lord  Howard  finds  also  that  the  time  of  the  meeting  had  been 
prorogued  to  IVIichaelmas  ;  he  had  had  an  interview  with  the 
King  himself,  at  Stirling,  on  the  subject,  and  being  disgusted, 
wished  to  return  home.  In  May,  Henry  expresses  to  his 
nephew  his  surprise  at  their  meeting  being  changed,  both  as 
to  place  and  time ;  when  James,  on  the  20th  of  that  month. 


'5  Holopraph.  State  Papers,  Scotland,  in  the  Cliapter-Housc,  Westminster,  but  jilaced,  by 
mistake,  under  the  year  l.").')4  in  tlie  Gov.  Papers,  iv.,  W/.  Compare  the  correction,  vol.  v.,  p.  .'W. 
The  ciiriise-jinspiit  was  a  forced  payment,  as  it  was  not  due  by  any  canon  of  the  Kirk  in  Scot- 
land. The  best  cote,  or  the  best  of  other  property,  beloMKing  to  the  deceased,  must  then  be  given 
up  ;  and  as  for  the  clotii,  the  uppermost  covering  of  the  bed,  or  of  the  body  when  alive,  was  also 
demanded  by  the  Vicar.  This  exaction  applied  to  every  man,  woman,  and  child,  as  often  as  death 
visited  the  family,  while  lUe  iion-ejcactioii  by  any  vicar,  gave  great  oft'encc  to  his  fellow  robbers. 
The  efi'ect,  in  many  instances,  was  ruin,  and  even  beggary  to  the  family.  The  King  had  no  ob- 
jections to  the  severe  satyre  on  this,  and  other  delinquencies,  by  Sir  David  Lindsay,  the  poet  of 
Ids  reign.     See  Chalmers'  Lindsay,  iii.,  p.  HK'j. 

"'  Gov.  State  Papers,  vol.  v.,  p.  ;»!. 


-l-UO  COUNCIL  OF  THE  I'RELATKS.  [hook  IV. 

by  way  of"  prolonging  the  game,  replies  in  a  letter,  .sweet  as 
.summer.  "  Dearo.st  uncle,  tru.^t  ilrmly,  that  it  .shall  not  be 
in  the  |)owcr  of  any  wii'ked  per.son  to  make  us  bulieve  anything 
of  you,  but  to  repute  and  hold  you  our  most  faithful  and  kind 
uncle,  and  wo  to  be  semblable,  an  hcartful  and  true  nephew, 
ever  ready  to  do  unto  you  all  honor  and  Immunity  to  us  pos- 
sible."'^ In  short,  the  entire  communication  is  pregnant  with 
hypocrisy,  as  it  was  not  pos.sible  for  James  to  be  ignorant, 
that  already  John  Thornton,  the  protonotary  apostolic,  had 
passed  through  England  on  his  way  to  Rome,  for  the  PontifTs 
brief,  charging  the  Scoti.sh  King  to  have  no  meeting  whatever 
with  the  King  of  England.  Of  this  fact,  Henry  had  been  in- 
formed a  week  before,  so  that  on  receiving  his  nepliew''s  letter, 
he  could  only  learn  with  what  celerity  he  was  following  his 
own  footsteps,  in  a  course  of  perpetual  dissimulation. 

But  we  have  not  yet  done  with  this  council  of  prelates. 
Both  IIoica7'd  and  Barlow  were  present  at  their  discussions  and 
sermons  ;  and  whether  the  latter  had,  or  had  not,  been  the 
author  of  the  Satyre  on  Wolsky,  or  "  The  Burial  of  the  Mass;" 
his  language  now  certainly  borders  on  it,  in  point  of  violence. 
He  was  still  Prior  of  his  monastery,  and  did  not  resign  till 
next  year  ;  but  he  had  recently  been  made  Bishop  of  Asaph, 
and  was  extremely  anxious  to  try  his  powers  for  the  first  time 
in  Scotland. '**  Having  alluded  to  the  troubled  state  of  the 
borders,  when  writing  to  Crumwell,  he  adds — 

"  Also,  I  am  sure  that  the  Council,  which  arc  only  the  clergy,  would  not  will- 
ingly give  such  advertisement  to  the  King,  for  due  execution  upon  thieves  and 
robbers  ;  for  then  ought  he  first  of  all  to  begin  with  them,  in  the  midst  of  his 
Realm,  whose  abominable  abused  fashion,  so  far  out  of  frame,  a  Christian  heart 
abhorreth  to  behold.  They  show  themselves,  in  all  points,  to  be  the  Pope's 
pestilent  creatures,  vei'y  limbs  of  the  Devil,  whose  popish  power  violently  to 
maintain,  their  lying  friars  cease  not  in  their  sermons,  we  being  present,  blas- 
phemously to  blatter  against  the  verity,  with  slanderous  reproach  of  us,  which 
have  justly  renounced  his  wrong  usurped  papacy.  Wherefore,  in  confutation 
of  their  detestable  lies,  if  I  may  obtain  the  King's  license  (otherwise  shall  I  not 
be  suffered)  to  preach,  I  will  not  spare  for  no  bodily  peril,  boldly  to  publish  the 
truth  of  God's  Word  among  them.  Whereat  though  the  clergy  shall  repine,  yet 
many  of  the  lay  people  ic III  ijladly  gire  hearing."  19 


17  Gov.  St.itc  Papers,  vol.  v.,  p.  51.— "20tli  day  of  May,  the  2.3d  year  of  our  regime." 

18  Barlow  had  come  down  as  Prior  of  Bisliam,  on  the  Thames,  o)>posite  Great  Marlow.  The 
manor-hmisc,  partly  formed  out  of  the  priory,  where  (juccn  Elizabeth  for  some  lime  resided, 
is  still  in  existence. 

i!>  HoloKrajih.     Cali^.,  b.  iii.,  fol.  I!M.     Gov.  State  Papers,  vol.  v.,  p.  .•17. 


1335-37.]      THE  HEADING  OF  SCRIPTURE  FORBIDDEN.  491 

Such  was  the  state  of  things  in  Maufh  1536,  at  least  in  Bar- 
low's estimation,  and  his  testimony  on  behalf  of  "  the  lay 
people"  may  be  received  as  evidence  that  they  already  knew 
much  more  than  such  clergy  had  either  told  them,  or  knew 
themselves. 

Nor  was  this  all.  In  only  two  months  more,  a  more  im- 
portant fact,  because  referring  to  the  manifest  progress  of  Di- 
vine truth,  comes  out,  nor  is  the  name  of  Luther  or  Luther- 
anism  mentioned  in  connexion  with  it.  In  May  1536,  the 
reading  of  the  Sacred  Volume  in  the  vulgar  tongue  was  publicly 
prohibited.  Lord  Howard  and  Barlow,  in  their  joint  letter  of 
the  13th,  give  this  information — 

"  Though  we  liave  not  brought  to  such  final  pass  the  contents  of  our  instruc- 
tions, according  as  we  had  confidence,  to  the  King's  Highness'  pleasure,  j'et  tliere 
wanted  in  us  no  diligent  endeavour,  which  nevertheless  is  not  so  in  vain,  but 
that  we  have  necessarily  tried  out  the  Scotish  dissembling  mutability  ;  which 
known  and  mistrusted,  can  do  little  displeasure,  whereas  their  feigned  luitrusty 
amity  inteudeth  us  no  farther  pleasure  but  their  own  jjrofit :  except  hereafter 
God  give  them  a  more  faithful  heart,  grounded  on  knowledge  of  his  Word, 
ichich,  to  be  read  in  their  vulgar  tongue,  is  lately  prohibited,  by  open  proclama- 
tion "'2^' 

Now,  in  our  English  history  we  have  already  always  found, 
that  every  such  measure  as  this,  within  the  country,  was  only 
indicative  of  still  greater  pressure  from  without,  and  so  it  must 
have  been  in  Scotland.  Thus,  then,  before  Tyndale  expired, 
so  powerful  had  his  exertions  proved,  that  his  translation  liad 
been  publicly  denounced  by  the  authorities  in  the  north,  as 
well  as  in  the  south;  while  all  the  time  it  was  making  its  way, 
in  unknown  directions,  and  in  both  countries. 

But  why,  it  may  now,  with  all  propriety  be  inquired,  should 
William  Barlow,  perhaps  inflated  by  his  elevation,  assume  so 
high  a  tone,  at  this  early  day?  Was  he  not  himself  a  prior 
still,  and  why  then,  thus  hastily,  be  so  severe  on  the  clergy  \ 
Was  it  to  please  Crumwell  and  the  King  ?  Why  then  use 
language  actually  at  the  expense  of  both.,  as  well  as  of  all  the 
English  Bishops,  of  whom  Barlow  was  now  one?  Did  the 
whole  of  this  talk,  so  far  as  it  concerned  the  Scriptures,  carry 
very  much  the  appearance  of  a  farce  on  both  sides  ?  So  it 
should  seem  ;  for  why  molest  James  V.  about  the  Scriptures 
at  present  ?    In  April  and  May  15SG,  what  had  Henry  VIII.  ? 


20  Gov.  State  P.ipcrs,  vol.  v.,  ]i.  4.'l. 


■I!t2  CKOOKIH)  I'OLICV  ()!•'  KNULAN'D.  [hook  IV. 

What  liad  Criiiiiwcll,  tj""i,i;l»  N'icar-Cuiicral  '.  What  had  tho 
Hciich  of  JJi.shops  tlu-re  yet  done,  in  roforeiice  to  the  Sacred 
Volume  in  the  vulgar  tongue  i  Had  they  yet  found  a  trans- 
lation and  agreed  respecting  it,  and  made  open  pHJcIamation 
(hat  all  might  read,  believe,  and  live  i  iV<jthing  of  the  kind. 
On  the  contrary,  Henry  and  his  authorities  had  been  lighting 
against  it  exactly  ten  years  !  And  what  was  the  English 
government  doing  at  the  moment?  Were  its  members  not  in 
the  guilty  act  of  leaving  the  translator  to  perish,  witlnjut  one 
solitary  or  solemn  remonstrance  from  either  the  King  or  Crum- 
well,  to  whom  earnest  application  had  been  made,  and  by  no 
connnon  man  i  Nay  more,  at  the  nsoment  when  Howard,  the 
brother  of  the  Duke  of  Norfolk,  and  Barlow  were  thus  writing 
their  joint  letter,  in  what  a  shameful  and  bloody  trageily, 
in  reference  to  Anne  Boleyn,  the  King  and  Crumwell,  and  all 
around  them  were  engrossed,  we  need  not  repeat. 

iiarlow  remained  behind  Howard  for  ten  days  longer,  when 
he  signified  that  it  would  be  "  no  more  displeasant  for  him 
to  depart,  than  it  was  for  Lot  to  pass  out  of  Sodom  !"  Ihit 
he  was  twt  aware  of  Latimer  being  in  the  very  act  of  preparing 
his  Latin  sermon  for  the  prelates  then  occupying  the  English 
bench  ;  and  in  which  they  were  to  have  small  credit  over  the 
bishojjs  whom  J3arlow  had  left  behind  him.  He  could  not  be 
aware  that  Fox  of  Hereford  was  about  to  tell  his  brethren  that 
they  were  "  in  danger  of  being  laughed  to  scorn  by  the  com- 
mon people,  (who  knew  more  of  the  Sci'iptures  than  they  did,) 
as  having  not  one  spark  of  learning  or  godliness  within  them."'' 
Above  all,  he  had  not  anticipated  that  a  native  of  that  same 
Edinburgh  was  on  the  point  of  adjusting  the  balance  more 
correctly  between  the  English  and  the  Scotish  bench,  when  he 
put  Stokesly  the  Bishop  of  London  in  a  rage;  though  simply, 
yet  boldly,  pleading  for  no  more  than  the  authority  and  all-suffi- 
ciency of  Scripture  ;  when  Cranmer  himself  was  afraid  to  let 
him  jjo  on,  and  fitrht  the  battle  out ;  or  in  other  words,  when  the 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury  would  discover  as  nnicli  timidity  as 
the  Archbishop  of  Cologne  had  done,  and  before  the  mine  man  ! 
These  equal  reminiscences  are  imperatively  due  to  tlie  present 
history.  They  show  how  hostile  the  men,  called  ecclesiastical, 
in  eit/ier  aouutry  were,  and  at  the  same  momi^nt,  to  the  highest 
favour  which  Heaven  had  ever  bestowed  on  them  both.  It  was 
certainlv  too  soon  foi-  anv  such  men  to  throw  a  snow-ball  at 


1535-37.]]  I'HE  MAKUIAUK  ()K  THE  KIN(I.  493 

their  next  neighbours,  while"  the  lay  people''''  in  Scotland,  as 
well  as  England,  were  alike  so  far  a-liead  of  them.  Barlow, 
however,  had  now  set  out  on  his  hunt  after  preferment^  and  a 
more  dangerous  course  it  is  not  possible  for  a  man  to  pursue. 
Whether  it  was  in  reward  of  his  services,  or  in  preparation  for 
the  noted  Convocation  about  to  be  held  in  June  ;  even  before  he 
left  Scotland,  he  was  translated  to  St.  David's,  in  which  cha- 
racter he  sat,  and  heard  all  that  we  have  hinted,  as  in  prepa- 
ration for  him.^^  What  must  Barlow  have  thought  or  felt, 
when  he  saw  a  native  of  Edinburgh  so  encounter  his  brethren, 
and  try  their  temper  ?  But,  at  all  events,  we  are  indebted  to 
him  for  the  information  he  has  given  us,  respecting  those  lav 
people  in  the  north,  for  whom  Ales  had  already  so  powerfully 
pled. 

Under  the  iufluence  of  his  ecclesiastical  advisers,  James  was  now  bent 
on  a  matrimonial  alliance  with  France.  A  regency  was  appointed,  of 
which  James  Beaton  was  the  head  ;  and  taking  his  nephew,  the  Abbot  of 
Arbroath,  with  certain  noblemen  in  his  train,  he  left  the  kingdom  in 
September,  and  after  an  absence  of  fully  eight  months,  returned  with  a 
queen  for  his  royal  master,  an  accomplished  princess,  Madeleine,  the 
only  daughter  of  Francis  I. 

During  the  absence  of  his  nephew  from  Scotland,  Henry  VIII.,  ever 
intriguing,  had  sent  down  Ralph  Sadler  to  his  sister,  the  Queen-Mother, 
as  early  as  February  ;  and  from  thence  he  proceeded  with  instructions 
to  King  James  himself  at  Amiens  in  March,  professedly  in  reference  to 
his  mother,  Henry's  sister.  The  visit,  in  both  instances,  no  doubt,  had 
a  double  object  in  view  ;  and  hence  the  Scotish  King  was  scarcely  landed, 
with  his  bride,  on  the  19th  of  May  1537,  than  Sadler  was  down  once 
more,  charged  with  long  and  particular  instructions.  Henry,  under- 
standing that  the  gentlemen  of  "  the  old  learning"  were  very  much  alike 
every  where,  and  judging  also  by  those  who  stood  round  his  own  person 
to  the  end  of  his  life,  again  must  this  ambassador  whisper  in  the  ear  of 
James,  his  uncle's  sayings  in  reference  to  the  clergy. 

They  were  "  commonly  held  by  the  affection  they  have  to  their  maintenance, 
and  to  their  authority  in  pomp  and  pride."  If  Sadler  actually  went  as  far 
as  his  Master  instructed  him,  he  was  to  say  that  James  was  "  not  to  think 
of  himself,  as  perchance  some  of  his  clergy  would  have  him  to  be,  as  hrtitf  as  a 
stock,  or  to  mistrust,  that  his  wits,  which  lie  had  received  of  God,  be  not  able 
to  perceive  Clu-ist's  word,  which  his  grace  has  left  us,  common  to  be  understood 
bv  all  Christian  men."     Henry  farther  advised  his  nephew  to  try  these  clergy 


21  See  the  account  of  the  Convocation,  to  which  he  was  so  soon  summoiKil,  vol.  i.,  pp.  4)«i, 
■!!M-.'jllt. 


ifU  TIIK  yUliKN  SOON   OIKH.  [liooK   IV. 

"  by  their  works  and  di'fds" — f(ir  "  that  would  iiKhicc  hiiii  tu  loan  to  the  puro 
word  of  Liotl,  and  to  pass  hj^ht  njion  droanis  of  men  ahiiM'd  hy  sii[>ii"slition,  to 
Idiud  ])rincos,  anil  otlicr  ])c'rsoiiK  of  much  sinipUcity."  Sailh-r  was  tlicii  to  pray 
Henry's  ^ood  nophow  "  not  to  conceive  any  evil  opinion  of  his  uncle,  from  false 
and  lyiuf;  reports,  only  because  his  Highness,  sticking  to  the  word  of  God,  had 
abolisheil  certain  Roman  abuses  and  superstitions  in  his  realm  ;"  with  many 
other  such  words.-- 

The  entire  document  is  in  perfect  keeping  with  the  deep  hypocrisy  of 
Henry's  character  ;  but  if  this  was  a  specimen  of  his  policy,  not  to  say 
the  refinement  of  his  language,  it  was  not  likely  to  have  much  effect  on 
such  a  Prince  as  James,  at  the  age  of  twenty-six,  recently  married  to 
the  only  daughter  of  the  French  monarch  ;  and  immediately  after  he  had 
been  accustomed,  for  so  many  months,  to  a  very  different  style  of  ad- 
dress. Henry's  nephew  was  not  now  to  be  rated  like  a  school-boy,  and 
Sadler,  of  course,  had  to  return  as  he  came.  In  pursuance  of  the  same 
policy,  he  had  brought  a  present  of  ,£200,  by  way  of  fee,  to  the  Queen- 
Mother,  and  she,  as  in  duty  bound,  acknowledges  receipt,  to  her  brother, 
in  June,  when  she  trusts  that  the  King,  her  son,  is  sending  to  him  David 
Beaton.  She  prays  him  to  talk  kindly  with  the  Abbot,  as  he  was  a 
great  man  with  his  master  .^3 

The  young  Queen,  however,  had  but  a  short  time  to  live,  having  in- 
deed been  ill  of  consumption  before  her  marriage.  Upon  landing  at 
Leith,  she  had  "  knelt  upon  the  beach,"  says  INIr.  Tytler,  "  and  taking  up 
some  portion  of  the  sand,  kissed  it  with  deep  emotion,  whilst  she  implored 
a  blessing  upon  her  new  country,  and  her  beloved  husband."  It  says 
much  for  her  character  that  in  so  short  a  period  she  had  so  endeared 
herself  to  all  classes  ;  as  within  fifty  days  after  her  arrival  she  expired. 
The  deep  regret  of  many  was  shewn  by  their  putting  on  mourning,  a 
custom,  till  then,  altogether  unknown  in  Scotland.  James,  however, 
recovering  from  this  shock,  retained  his  purpose  of  sending  Beaton  to 
England.  In  the  month  of  August  we  find  him  as  far  as  Stamford, 
there  soliciting  an  audience,  through  Crumwell,  with  the  King,  then  at 
Dunstable.  ^'^  He  had  gone,  no  doubt,  as  an  esjnal,  rather  than  an 
ambassador,  in  return  for  the  visit  of  Sadler  in  James's  absence.  But 
there  could  be  no  cordiality  between  the  countries  at  this  moment.  On 
the  contrary,  the  life  of  .James  had  been  twice  threatened  by  secret  con- 
spiracy, through  the  intrigues  of  the  Douglas  family,  who  were  living 
under  Henry's  protection.  The  clergy  Avill  continue  to  advise  or  pro- 
mote alliance  with  France. 


22  Gov.  St.  rapors,  vol.  v.,  pp.  HI,  82,  note.  2.1  Idem.  p.  !m.  «*  Idem.  )>.  <f.t. 


1538-1-2.]  THE  STATE  OK  THE  COUNTRY.  495 


SECTION    V. 

PROM  1538  TO  1542 — state  op  the  country — BEATON  A  CARDINAL  AND 
PERSECUTION  REVIVED — THE  MARTYRDOMS  OF  1538 — DEAN  FORRET — 
THE  CAUSE  OF  ALL  THE  TUMULT  IN  OPPOSITION  TRACED  TO  THE  NEAV 
TESTAMENT  IN  THE  NATIVE  TONGUE ANOTHER  MARTYRDOM MEN  ESCAP- 
ING  THE  CRUEL  PROGRESS  OF  CARDINAL  BEATON DEATH    OF  THE  KINO 

JAMES  V. GLOOMY    STATE    OF    THE    COUNTRY  AS  TO  ITS  GOVERNMENT  AT 

THIS   MOMENT. 

^S^^HROUGHOUT  tliGse  fivG  jGars  ensuing,  or  from  1538  to 
^^£  ]  542  inclusive,  just  as  though  it  had  been  intended  by 
"^ """  divine  providence  to  be  the  more  observed  by  the 
people  as  such,  and  at  all  events,  by  posterity,  the  only  cause 
that  looked  upward,  was  that  which  was  most  hated  ;  the  only 
progress  towards  improvement,  in  any  department,  was  in 
that  of  Divine  truth.  At  the  close  of  this  period  the  King  is 
to  die,  and  even  now,  whether  in  relation  to  himself  or  the 
country  at  large,  every  movement  was  from  bad  to  worse. 
All  things  went  the  downward  road. 

In  justice,  however,  to  James  V.,  it  must  be  remembered  that  he 
was  called  to  contend  with  more  than  Henry  VIII.  ever  had  to  encoun- 
ter. The  English  Barons  had  been  brought  low  by  Henry  VII.,  before 
his  son  came  to  the  throne  ;  but  in  Scotland,  although  in  1513  the 
"  Flowers  of  the  Forest"  had  died  away,  another  race  had  sprung  up 
since  then.  The  clergy,  too,  had  a  David  Beaton  among  them,  as  licen- 
tious and  ambitious  as  Wolsey  himself,  and  far  more  unrelenting  in  his 
dispositions  than  the  English  cardinal  ever  was.  Besides,  James,  younger 
than  the  English  King  when  he  came  to  the  throne,  had  been  watched 
and  swayed  by  interested  parties  from  childhood  ;  so  that  having  to  cope 
with  the  Barons  as  well  as  the  Clergy,  it  discovered  no  small  force  of 
character,  that  he  proved  so  much  of  a  sovereign  as  he  did.  In  early 
life,  amiable  in  his  dispositions,  he  had  evidently  endeared  himself  to 
the  people  of  his  kingdom  ;  and  afterwards,  in  being  dragged  into  such 
cruelties  by  these  ecclesiastics,  it  only  shews  to  what  fearful  extent  a 
man  may  go,  whether  from  profligacy  or  mistaken  political  motives.  In 
short,  among  all  these  public  men,  the  King  is  the  solitary  individual 
who  draws  on  our  pity.  At  one  moment,  indeed,  he  will  be  seen  to  sink 
himself  to  the  lowest  depth,  by  compliance  with  his  bishops,  in  the 
burning  of  his  subjects  for  their  attachment  to  divine  truth  ;  but  before 


1!m;  TMK  KING'S  SKC'OM)  jMAUKIAGK.  [uook  IV. 

ii  year  {i;oos  round,  we  shall  not  only  (joc  him  .sit  for  hours,  and  hoar  the 
c'cclcsia.stical  order  lashed  with  the  severest  Hatiro  for  their  vices  ;  but 
he  will  turn  round  afterwards,  and  acquiescing  in  the  justice  of  the  ex- 
hihition,  rate  the  whole  order  severely  to  their  faces,  as  the  root  of  all 
evil.  Both  Henry  and  James  vainly  iniaf^ined  that  they  themselves 
might  live  as  they  listed,  though  neither  of  them  were  Mind  to  the  scan- 
dalous lives  of  the  priests  and  their  superiors. 

But  to  proceed,  David  Beaton  having  gone  to  France  once  more,  and  to 
negociate  for  another  Queen,  returned  in  May  1538,  (only  ten  months 
after  the  death  of  Madeleine)  with  a  woman  of  a  widely  different  cha- 
racter— ]\I.\uv  of  Grisi: — an  alliance  perfectly  agreeable  to  the  clergy, 
though  ere  long  to  prove  most  injurious  to  the  best  interests  of  the 
country.  Beaton,  like  Wolsey  in  past  years,  looking  out  for  his  own 
advancement  by  the  way,  had  contrived  to  be  made  Bishop  of  Mirepoix 
in  Languedoc,  with  not  less  than  ten  thou.sand  livrcs  of  annual  revenue  ; 
and  though  not  yet  a  bishop  in  his  own  country,  his  French  appoint- 
ment will  strengthen  the  ladder  to  higher  promotion.  Sharpened,  no 
doubt,  by  his  visit  to  England  last  year,  and  having  now  furnished  so 
trusty  a  checkmate  for  his  Sovereign,  no  time  Avas  to  be  lost  in  proceed- 
ing against  all  the  insinuations  of  his  uncle,  by  strengthening  his  own 
jtcrsoual  authority  through  the  court  of  Rome.  He  was  indeed,  as  yet, 
nothing  more  than  an  Abbot  in  Scotland  ;  but  with  his  French  see  in 
addition,  Beaton  had  applied  to  the  Pontiff" for  one  of  his  highest  honours. 
Of  course  this  was  represented  as  by  no  means  on  his  own  account,  but 
merely  for  the  benefit  of  the  kirk,  and  to  meet  the  signs  of  the  times. 
This,  however,  was  no  usual  demand,  no  common  step  in  advance,  yet 
through  the  vigilance  of  his  agent  in  Italy,  the  able  and  aspiring  Abbot 
succeeded,  and  was  actually  raised,  by  Paul  III.,  to  the  powers  of  a 
Cardinal,  on  the  20th  of  December  1538. 

Throughout  the  year  15S8,  the  new  learning  having  made 
very  manifest  progress,  the  disposition  to  persecute  was  about 
to  be  fully  gratified.  The  secret  of  Beaton's  zeal  for  power 
could  not  long  remain  hid,  and  since  James  was  both  so  mar- 
ried, and  too  far  gone  to  jirofit  by  any  warning ;  his  character 
as  a  man  must  "  smart  for  it,""  as  Henry,  his  uncle,  had  pre- 
dicted. Nothing  improved  by  his  former  visit  to  France, 
gay,  licentious  and  thoughtless,  James  was  as  nnich  in  want 
of  money  as  his  uncle  always  was,  and  money  he  must  have. 
In  vounc;er  life  he  had  shrunk  from  the  sheddin"-  of  blood,  but 
now,  in  order  to  beguile  him  fi-om  an  eye  to  clerical  wealth  and 
tlie  accumulated  treasures  of  the  monasteries,  the  property 
of  all  who  should  either  die  for  their  opinions,  or  ahjure,  was 


1538-42.]  BITTER  PERSECUTION  REVIVED.  497 

held  out  as  the  base  incitement  to  the  enslaved  and  infatuated 
monarch.  If,  therefore,  among  the  subjects  of  James  there 
were  those  who  would  "  take  joyfully  the  spoiling  of  their 
goods,  knowing  that  they  had  in  heaven  a  better  and  an  en- 
during substance,"  and  if  their  attachment  to  the  word  of 
God  as  such,  should  thus  become  apparent,  a  better  evidence 
of  progress  made  could  not  be  wished.  At  the  same  time,  the 
course  about  to  be  pursued  by  the  enemy,  is  worthy  of  notice, 
on  another  account.  It  was  the  choice  plan  of  Stephen  Gar- 
diner in  England  to  hunt  after  such  as  he  styled  "  the  head 
deer ; """'  and  as  the  persecutor  in  Scotland  is  about  to  not  merely 
gratify  his  own  malice,  but  supply  the  King's  necessities  ;  the 
poor  believer,  who  had  nothing  to  forfeit  or  leave  behind  him, 
not  being  a  subject  suitable  to  the  miserable  end  in  view,  must 
have  been,  most  providentially,  passed  over.  The  poor,  often 
the  richest  in  faith,  were  below  notice,  merely  because  not 
worth  the  trouble  and  expense. 

Before  however  noticing  any  instances  of  persecution,  it 
must  be  remembered  that  "  the  New  Testament  in  the  vulgar 
tongue^''  had  been  pointed  out  since  May  1536  by  public  pro- 
clamation. There  may  have  been  some  other  English  books 
suspected  of  heresy  already  in  Scotland,  but  even  still,  no 
other  book  is  expressly  named.  The  presumption  therefore  is, 
that  in  all  these  proceedings,  the  Scriptures  chiefly,  if  not 
solely,  were  now  aimed  at,  and  all  opinions  grounded  on  the 
Sacred  Volume. 

It  was  in  the  very  month  in  which  Beaton  was  made  a  Car- 
dinal at  Rome,  that  the  persecution  in  Scotland  had  already 
revived.  No  one  had  suffered  death  since  August  1534;  but 
after  four  years  had  elapsed,  an  early,  if  not  the  lirst  arrest- 
ment, afforded  rather  a  curious  illustration  of  blind  fury. 

Martin  Balkesky,  a  burgess  of  Edinburgh,  had  been  thrown  into  con- 
finement in  the  Castle,  as  early  as  December  1538,  for  "  breaking  our 
Sovereign  Lord's  proclamation  against  using  and  having  such  books  as 
are  prohibited  by  Parliament."  He  first  complained  therefore  to  the 
King,  who  referred  him  to  Beaton,  only  a  few  days  before  he  was  made 
a  Cardinal,  or  about  a  month  before  he  could  hear  of  the  appointment. 
Beaton  still  only  an  Abbot,  but  coadjutor  of  St.  Andrews,  referred  the 
burgess  to  the  Lords  of  the  Privy  Council.  Balkesky  then  supplicated 
them,  and  they  promised  enlargement  on  condition  of  his  finding  caution 
to  the  Justice-Clerk,  Thomas  Scott  of  Pitgorno.     The  caution  he  de- 

VOL.   II.  2   [ 


498  CONFISCATIONS  OF  PROPEKTV.  Qbook  IV. 

manded  was  not  less  than  a  thoumnd  pounds.  On  the  28th  of  February, 
the  very  thiy  before  a  dreadful  martyrdom,  which  Biilkesky  may  have  wit- 
nessed from  the  Castle,  the  caution  was  found  and  ottered  ;  but  now  not 
satisfied,  on  the  7th  of  March,  Sir  John  Campbell  of  Calder,  Archibald 
Williamson,  burgess  of  Edinburgh,  and  Robert  Ilopringill,  l)urgcss  of 
Peebles,  had  to  become  sureties  for  tiro  thousand  pounds  more,  that  the 
prisoner  should  "abide  the  King's  Grace's  pleasure  and  will ;"  no  slender 
proof  that  they  had  already  got  one  substantial  citizen  by  the  hand. 
Only  five  days  elapsed,  however,  when  they  were  obliged  to  let  him  go, 
"  remitting  to  him  the  escheat  of  all  his  goods,  &c.  for  having  and  using 
certain  English  heretical  books."  A  letter  of  remission  was  granted  to 
him  on  the  12th  of  March  ;  his  professed  defence  being,  that  he  had 
merely  "  refused  to  deliver  up  his  Matin-hook  to  the  official  of  Lothian 
at  his  first  command." 

But  if  this  proved  a  blank,  they  had  caught  a  richer  prize  in  the  per- 
son of  Walter  Stewart,  son  of  Lord  Ochiltrie.  He  was  fined  in  his  whole 
estates,  or  possessions  moveable  and  immoveable,  "  by  reason  that  the 
said  Walter  was  abjured  of  heresy." 

Beaton,  however,  once  a  Cardinal,  there  was  no  farther  occasion  for 
troubling  either  the  Lords  of  the  Privy  Council,  or  those  of  the  Justi- 
ciary. Wherever  his  cross  was  borne  before  him,  there  he  reigned  as 
lord  paramount  over  the  conscience,  and  other  gentlemen  will  not  now 
so  easily  escape.  By  the  10th  of  January  1539,  we  find  Robert  Forres- 
ter, brother  to  the  Laird  of  Arngibbon,  William  Forrester,  son  of  John, 
burgess  of  Stirling,  Walter  Cousland,  David  Graham,  and  James  Watson, 
all  of  Stirling,  were  seized  for  hooks,  suspected  to  be  heretical ;  "  for 
breaking  his  Highness'  proclamation,  in  having  and  using  such  books  as 
are  suspected  of  heresy,  and  are  ])rohihited  hy  the  Kirk."  Observe  the 
altered  phraseology,  or  how  soon  and  slyly  they  were  interposing  their 
own  authority.  The  caution  at  once  exacted  from  these  parties  amounted 
to  no  less  than  3100  marks,  so  that  the  entire  property  must  have  been 
considerable.  The  first  gentleman,  we  shall  find  die  at  the  stake  ;  the 
second  and  third,  as  well  as  another,  a  burgess  of  Edinburgh,  Robert 
Cant,  were  all  entirely  forfeited  in  March.  Similar  forfeitures  extended 
to  Perth,  as  well  as  to  Stirling,  where  John  Stewart,  son  to  Henry, 
Lord  Methven,  was  among  the  number ;  and  so  far  as  the  seizure  of 
property  was  concerned,  the  persecution  lay  very  heavy  upon  Dundee.^^ 

Two  parties  had  now  fully  engrossed  the  iniud  of  Beaton, 
namely,  the  Kirk  and  the  King.  The  former  was  to  be  de- 
fended by  fire,  the  latter  to  be  cajoled  by  fines ;  and  this 
month  of  March  served  to  unfold  his  character,  as  equally 


2*  See  the  Criminal  Trials. 


J53S-42.]  KIVE  MARTYRS  IN  EDINBUKGH.  l!)i» 

busy  ill  both  departments.  The  most  fearful  week  was  the 
first  in  this  month,  and  Saturday  the  1st  its  most  sliocking- 
(hiy.  The  country  hitherto  liad  witnessed  no  scene  so  out- 
rageous. Tlic  trial,  such  as  it  was,  and  the  sentence  to  death 
being  all  overtaken  before  the  sun  went  down,  it  must  have 
been  intended  to  strike  with  terror,  not  Edinburgh  alone,  but 
every  other  place.  Not  fewer  than  five  diflerent  men  ap- 
peared ;  John  Keillor  and  John  Beveridge,  two  Benedictine 
monks  or  Blackfriars,  not  improbably  from  the  same  monas- 
tery in  Edinburgh  where  Prior  Buckingham  had  lodged  till 
1535,  when  he  set  off"  to  the  persecution  of  Tyndale  ;  Sir  Dun- 
can Simpson,  so  called  as  being  a  priest,  from  Stirling ;  Mr. 
Robert  Forrester,  notary,  a  gentleman  of  the  same  place  ;  and 
last,  though  not  least,  a  Dean  of  the  Kirk,  Thomas  Forret, 
canon  regular  in  the  Monastery  of  St.  Colm's  Inch,  and 
Vicar  of  Dollar.  Having  been  summoned  before  Beaton,  and 
Chisholm,  Bishop  of  Dunblane,  men  equally  notorious  for 
licentious  habits,  and  bigoted  attachment  to  their  system,  no 
mercy  was  in  store  for  any  of  the  five,  while  the  last  was 
treated  with  characteristic  reproach  and  barbarity.  The  trial, 
soon  over,  the  fire  was  prepared  on  the  esplanade  of  the  Castle, 
visible  at  once  far  and  near,  to  two  counties,  Mid-Lothian 
and  Fife. 

The  King,  too,  must  proceed  one  step  farther  on  the  pre- 
sent occasion.  In  1584  he  had  presided  in  a  red  dress  at  the 
trial  of  Straiten,  but  his  authority  on  the  bench  was  now  not 
consulted.  It  had,  in  fact,  been  superseded  by  that  of  this 
Cardinal,  but  still  his  Majesty  must  sanction  all.  He  must 
follow  the  footsteps  of  his  father-in-law  Francis  I.,  in  1535, 
and  himself  be  present  to  see  the  red  flames  on  the  Castlehill, 
when  five  of  his  best  subjects  were  consumed  to  ashes  before 
his  eyes,  on  the  1st  of  March  1539.26 

Dean  Forret,  Avho,  with  his  four  companions,  died  so  nobly  this  day, 
was  a  son  of  the  Master  Stabler  to  the  King's  father,  James  IV.  He 
had  perfected  his  education  at  Cologne,  from  whence,  however,  he  had 


26  "  1  March  1538-39.  Accusatio  haereticorum  et  eorum  combustio,  apud  Edinburg  Bege 
prcsente."  Household  Book  of  King  James  V.  The  King  left  the  city,  next  day,  for  Lithgow, 
perhaps  to  escape  odium  ;  but  it  was  in  perfect  keeping  with  the  whole  affair,  that  on  the  day 
itself,  the  Searcher  was  gone  after  the  property!  Slarcli  1,  Item.  "  Delivered  to  Archiliald 
Hcriot,  Messenger,  to  pass  and  search  their  goods,  who  were  al)jured  and  declared  lierctics  in 
Edinl)urgh  and  Stirling,"  16  sh.  Lord  Treasurer's  Aeeounts.  Independently  of  the  cruelty  and 
deep  depravity  of  pcrsecntiori,  it  is  generally  accompanied  by  a  meanness  most  detestable. 


500  DEAN  FORRKT  CONDEMNED  KOH  [boOK  IV 

returned  as  blind  as  he  went,  with  respect  to  the  Word  of  God.  But 
after  his  return,  a  dispute  arising  between  the  Abbot  of  St.  Colm's  Inch 
and  these  Canons,  they  had  obtained  the  book  of  foundation,  to  examine 
into  their  rights.  To  induce  them  to  part  with  this  book,  the  Abbot 
offered  them  a  volume  of  Augustine's  works  ;  and  this  it  was  which  led 
Forrct  to  study  the  Scriptures  for  himself.  The  epistle  to  the  Romans 
engrossed  his  attention,  and  he  became  useful  to  a  number  of  the  canons. 
From  six  in  the  morning  till  noon  he  was  engaged  in  study,  and  com- 
mitting three  chapters  of  the  Bible  every  day  to  memory,  he  made  his 
servant  hear  him  repeat  the  whole  before  night.  Once  appointed  Vicar 
of  Dollar,  he  preached  every  Sunday  to  the  people,  a  practice  then  un- 
known to  any  other  Dean,  Dignitary,  or  Bishop,  in  all  Scotland  !  This 
practice,  joined  to  his  determined  opposition  to  the  sale  of  indulgences, 
and  his  declining  to  accept  of  the  usual  clerical  exactions,  had  rendered 
him  so  obnoxious,  that  he  had  been  frequently  called  before  the  Primate, 
Beaton's  uncle,  and  Chisholm  from  Dunblane,  at  St.  Andrews.  But 
whether  warned  or  threatened,  by  the  Abbot  of  his  Monastery,  by  Bishop 
or  Archbishop,  he  had  persevered,  till  at  last,  having  fought  a  good  fight, 
he  had  finished  his  course. 

In  a  history  such  as  this,  however,  the  place,  the  very  conspicuous 
place,  which  was  this  day  given  to  the  Scriptures  of  the  New  Testament, 
as  translated  by  Tyndale,  must  not  pass  unnoticed. 

The  official  accuser  in  court  on  this  occasion  was  a  servile  creature  of 
Beaton's,  Mr.  John  Lauder,  when  the  following  dialogue  took  place  : — 

Accuser.  "  False  heretic  !  Thou  sayest  it  is  not  lawful  to  Kirkmen  to 
take  their  teinds  (tythes)  and  offerings  and  corps-presents,  though  we  have 
been  in  use  of  them,  constitute  by  the  Kirk  and  King,  and  also  our  holy 
father,  the  Pope,  hath  confirmed  the  same  ?"  Dean  Forret.  "  Brother,  I 
said  not  so  ;  but  I  said  it  was  not  lawful  to  Kirkmen  to  spend  the  patri- 
mony of  the  Kirk  as  they  do,  as  on  riotous  feasting  and  on  fair  women, 
and  at  playing  at  cards  and  dice  ;  and  neither  the  Kirk  well  maintained 
nor  the  people  instructed  in  God's  word,  nor  the  Sacraments  duly  ad- 
ministered to  them  as  Christ  commanded."  Ace.  "  Dare  thou  deny 
that  which  is  openly  known  in  the  country  ?  That  thou  gave  again  to 
thy  parishioners  the  cow  and  the  upmost  clotJis,  saying  you  had  '  no  right' 
to  them  ?"  Dean.  "  I  gave  them  again,  to  them  that  had  more  mister 
(need)  than  I."^  Ace.  "  Thou  false  heretic  !  Thou  learned  all  thy 
parishioners  to  say  the  Paternoster,  the  Creed,  and  the  Ten  Command- 
ments in  English,  which  is  contrary  to  our  acts,  that  they  should  know 
what  they  say.''''  "  Dean.  "  Brother,  my  people  are  so  rude  and  ignorant 
they  understand  no  Latin,  so  that  my  conscience  moved  me  to  pity  their 
ignorance,  which  provoked  me  to  learn  them  the  words  of  their  salvation 

*7  Sec-  Note  111.  \<.  4H!I. 


1538-42.]      USING  THE  ENGLISH  NEW  TESTAMENT.  501 

in  English,  and  the  Ten  Commandments,  which  are  the  law  of  God, 
whereby  they  might  observe  the  same.  I  teached  the  belief,  whereby 
they  might  know  their  faith  in  God,  and  Jesus  Christ  his  son,  and  of 
his  death  and  resurrection.  Moreover,  I  teached  them  and  learned  them 
the  Lord's  own  prayer,  in  the  mother  tongue,  to  the  etfect  that  they  should 
know  to  whom  they  should  pray,  and  in  whose  name  they  should  pray,  and 
what  they  should  ask  and  desire  in  prayer ;  which  I  believe  to  be  the  pattern 
of  all  prayer."  Ace.  "  Why  did  you  that  1  By  our  acts  and  ordinances 
of  our  holy  father,  the  Pope  1"  Dean.  "  I  follow  the  acts  of  our  Master 
and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ  ;  and  of  the  Apostle  Paul,  who  saith  in  his 
doctrine  to  the  Corinthians,  that  he  had  rather  speak  Jive  words  to  the 
understanding  and  edifying  of  his  people,  than  ten  thousand  in  a  strange 
tongue,  which  they  understand  not."  Ace.  "  "Where  finds  thou  that  1" 
Dean.  "  In  my  book  here,  in  my  sleeve." 

Upon  which,  the  Accuser  starting,  wdth  a  bound,  to  the  Vicar,  pulled 
the  book  out  of  his  hand,  and  holding  it  up  to  the  people,  said  with  a 
loud  voice — "  Behold,  Sirs,  he  has  the  book  of  heresy  in  his  sleeve,  that 
makes  all  the  din  and  play  in  our  Kirk  !"  "  Brother,"  said  the 
Dean,  "  God  forgive  you  !  Ye  could  say  better,  if  ye  pleased,  nor  to 
call  the  book  of  the  Evangel  of  Jesus  Christ  the  book  of  heresy  !  I 
assure  you,  dear  brother,  that  there  is  nothing  in  this  book  but  the  life, 
the  latter  will  and  testament  of  our  Master  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ, 
penned  by  the  four  Evangelists  for  our  wholesome  instruction  and  com- 
fort"— The  Accuser  interrupting  him — "  Knows  thou  not,  heretic,  that 
it  is  contrary  to  our  acts  and  express  commands,  to  have  a  New  Testament 
or  Bible  in  English,  which  is  enough  to  bum  thee  for  V  Then  the 
council  of  the  clergy  gave  sentence  on  hun  to  be  burnt,  for  the  having 
and  using  of  the  same  book — the  Nev;  Testament  in  English.  For  these, 
and  the  like  sentences,  was  he  taken  up  to  the  Castlehill  in  Edinburgh, 
and  most  unmercifully  burnt."  The  bodies  of  these  five  men  appear  to 
have  been  strangled,  before  they  were  consumed  to  ashes. 

No  attestation  could  be  raore  distinct  than  that  which  was 
here  given  by  those  unprincipled  and  wicked  men.  No  other 
book  is  once  named.  All  the  healthful  and  life  sivins:  com- 
motion  is  ascribed  to  one  source,  and  that  the  book  of  God. 
This  alone,  it  is  confessed  and  deplored,  was  that  which  gave 
such  great  annoyance,  and,  in  their  style,  occasioned  all  the 
din  and  play  throughout  the  country! 

Not  satisfied  with  this  horrible  scene,  Beaton  must  look 
westward,  where  it  seems  to  have  been  resolved  there  should 
be  another  martyrdom  by  way  of  terror.  Here,  however, 
he  was  to  meet  with  some  temporary  obstruction  from  Gavin 
Dunbar,   who  was  not  only  an  Archbishop,  (of  Glasgow)  but 


502  .MARTYRS  IN  (iLASCiOW  AND  CUl'AK-1'II- K.      [book  IV. 

iit  the  saiMo  tiiiu  j)osses8ing  the  liighost  c/r// authority,  as  the 
Lord  ChancoUor,  The  fact  was  that  Beaton,  thougli  nomi- 
iKilly  a  Cardinal,  had  not  even  yet  received  the  "  instrument 
of  possession"'  to  his  titk',  nor  did  he  do  so  till  October;  but 
though  he  had  been  in  full  power,  Glasgow  as  well  as  Ross 
would  have  deniurre«l  to  his  authority,  and  objected  to  his 
cross  being  borne  there.  He  will  provide  f(^r  all  this  present- 
ly, but  now,  being  still  only  an  Abbot  in  Scotland,  if  resolved 
to  push  his  way  over  the  head  of  Dunbar,  it  will  only  display 
the  arrogance  and  fury  of  this  man's  ambition. 

Two  individuals  having  been  apprehended  in  the  diocese  of  Glasgow  ; 
Jerome  Russel,  a  Franciscan  or  Greyfriar,  and  a  young  man,  Ninian  Ken- 
nedy, only  eighteen,  of  good  education,  and  possessing  "  an  excellent  in- 
gync  (genius)  for  Scotish  poetry ;"  they  were  immediately  brought  to  trial. 
This  myrmidon  of  Beaton's,  John  Lauder,  and  two  other  willing  agents, 
Mr.  Andrew  Oliphant,  as  notary,  and  one  Friar  Mertman,  were  sent  off 
to  Glasgow  in  commission,  to  assist,  or  rather  secure  success.  The  Arch- 
bishop, not  so  bloodily  inclined,  hesitated.  "  I  think  it  better  to  spare 
these  men,"  said  he,  "  than  to  put  them  to  death."  "  What  will  ye  do, 
my  Lord  ?"  said  the  commission  from  Edinburgh.  "  Will  ye  condemn 
all  that  my  Lord  Cardinal,  other  Bishops,  and  we  have  done  ?  If  so,  ye 
do  shew  yourself  enemy  to  the  Church  and  us,  and  so  we  will  report  you, 
be  assured  !"  Dunbar  became  afraid,  having  no  relish  for  coming  into 
collision  with  this  new-made  Cardinal.  The  King  had  conceded  his 
ov:n  authority,  and  his  Lord  Chancellor  now  as  meanly  followed  !  Ad- 
judging both  the  martyrs  to  death,  they  died  in  triumph.  In  addition 
to  these  tragedies  there  was  a  third,  at  Cupar  in  Fife,  in  order  to  awe 
that  part  of  the  country,  where,  by  the  Lord  Treasurer's  Accounts,  one 
man,  not  named,  also  suffered  at  the  stake. 

During  a  season  of  confiscation  and  murder  such  as  this,  the  victims 
pillaged  must  have  been  numerous  ;  we  could  name  more  than  we  have 
mentioned,  and  it  is  manifest,  that  they  were  not  only  men  of  intelli- 
gence, but  of  considerable  substance.  But  among  those  in  imminent 
danger  at  this  moment,  there  was  one,  the  most  eminent  scholar  of  his 
age.  We  need  scarcely  name  George  Buchanan.  His  Somnium  or 
Dream,  his  satire  ralinodia,  as  well  as  his  Franciscanns,  all  of  which 
had  been  so  deeply  resented  by  the  whole  fraternity  of  "  the  old  learn- 
ing," rendered  him  the  most  desirable  of  all  victims,  and  he  was  actually 
in  close  custody  at  St.  Andrews.  The  Cardinal,  it  is  said,  offered  the 
King  a  sum  of  money  as  the  price  of  his  blood.  Once  apprised  of  this, 
Buchanan  made  his  escape  from  the  window  of  his  prison,  through  Eng- 
land into  France,  and  before  the  close  of  this  year,  he  had  been  chosen 
Latin  Professor  in   the  College  of  Guiennc.  Bourdeaux.     But   besides 


l538-*2.3  'fHE  ESCAPE  BY  FLIGHT.  503 

him,  iu  the  coui'se  of  this  mouth  of  March,  many  others  had  fled.  The 
tires  had  produced  their  desired  consternation.  Thus,  if  we  look  to  Ber- 
wick aloue,  as  aheady  quoted  under  our  English  history,  on  the  29th  of 
that  month,  the  Duke  of  Norfolk  informs  Crumwell — "  Daily  cometh 
unto  me  some  Gentlemen  and  some  Clerks  (priests)  which  do  flee  out  of 
Scotland,  as  they  say  for  reading  of  Scripttire  in  English,  saying  that  if 
they  were  taken  they  should  be  put  to  execution.  I  gave  them  gentle 
words,  and  to  some,  money."  So  did  this  determined  enemy  of  the  Sacred 
Volume  in  English  write,  and  act,  at  the  moment,  merely  from  vile 
political  motives.  But  the  enemy  himself  has  often,  throughout,  corro- 
borated the  truth  of  this  history. 

Such,  then,  was  the  result  of  the  influence  and  title,  newly 
imported  from  Italy,  but  at  the  same  time  the  storm  has  again 
cleared  the  moral  atmosphere,  giving  decided  proof  that  a 
great  and  unwonted  power  had  been  introduced  into  Scotland, 
In  other  words,  we  have  before  us  the  veritable  progress  of  all 
the  Scriptural  Christianity  which  has  been  in  the  country  ever 
since ;  and  however  feeble  and  unpretending  in  its  commence- 
ment, the  work,  since  1526,  was  now  of  thirteen  years  standing. 

With  such  a  second  Queen  as  the  Cardinal  had  procured, 
and  with  this  increase  of  tyrannical  power  to  such  a  man,  it 
was  to  be  expected  that  James's  uncle,  the  King  of  England, 
would  take  alarm.  Through  his  own  rude  violence  of  language, 
however,  to  say  nothing  of  his  licentious  character,  and  the 
undermining  policy  he  had  pursued,  all  influence  over  his 
nephew  was  now  gone ;  but  for  his  own  sake,  he  must  try  the 
efi"ect  of  warning,  through  his  herald  or  ambassador,  once  more. 
Two  or  three  sentences  will  explain  the  general  purport. 

" Forasmuch  as  it  is  most  certainly  come  to  the  intelligence  of  the  King's 

Majesty,  that  the  Abbot  of  Arbroath  should  be  chosen  of  late  and  elected  to  be 
a  Cardinal  in  this  your  realm  of  Scotland.  Then,  should  the  Bishop  of  Rome 
creep  into  jour  own  very  bosom,  know  all  your  secrets,  and,  at  last,  imless  you 
will  be  yoked,  and  serve  their  pleasure  in  all  points,  your  Grace  is  like  to  smart 
for  it.  The  thing  perchance,  in  the  beginning,  shall  seem  to  your  Grace  very 
honourable  and  pleasant :  but  wisdom  would,  to  beware  of  the  tail,  which  is  very 
black  and  bitter.  His  Majesty's  father,  and  grandfather  to  your  Gi'ace,  had  a 
Cardinal,  (Morton,)  whereof  he  was  weary,  and  never  admitted  others  after  his 
decease,  knowing  the  importable  pride  of  them.  In  like  manner  also  his  High- 
ness, by  the  experience  of  one,  (Wolsey),  hath  utterly  determined  to  avoid  all 
the  sort  :  so  well  his  Grace  hath  known  and  experienced  their  mischief,  yoke, 
and  thraldom,  tliat  thereby  is  laid  upon  princes." 

Henry's  letter  might  be  regarded  as  a  commentary  on  the 


;,0|.  BEATON  NOW  A  CARDINAL.  QlJOOK  IV. 

limning  month,  but  it  was  too  lato,  and  lie  might  have  saved 
himself  the  trouhlc  Jamos  had  already  "  .smarted"  in  his 
character,  by  yielding  to  Jieatou ;  who  wa.s  by  no  means  to 
bo  interrupted  in  his  career  after  higher  authority  still.  In 
the  autumn  of  153f),  by  the  death  of  his  uncle,  he  had  be- 
come Primate,  but  even  this,  and  the  red  hat  of  a  cardinal  to 
boot,  would  not  satisfy.  The  western  Archbishop,  the  Lord 
Chancellor,  still  sitting,  like  Mordecai  in  the  King's  gate,  must 
bo  fully,  or  without  question,  overruled.  The  primate's  mind, 
by  this  time,  was  soaring  after  all  power,  whether  over  the 
King  or  the  country,  as  he  will  prove  before  long.  Meanwhile, 
he  felt,  at  this  moment,  that  there  was  still  a  technical  flaw 
in  the  authority  for  which  he  panted.  He  must  carry  his 
cross  triumphantly  over  broad  Scotland,  and  no  man  shall 
gainsay  or  plead  exemption.  In  short,  though  both  an  Arch- 
bishop and  a  Cardinal,  he  must  not  only  be  Legate  a  natus, 
which,  as  primate,  he  was  already,  but  Legate  a  latere,  or 
plenipotentiary,  and  enjoy  as  much  or  more  power  than  any 
primate  had  done  before  him.  Hence  Oliphant,  his  most  wil- 
ling agent,  who  had  been  to  Glasgow,  was  then  dispatched  to 
Rome,  and  by  the  16th  of  November  1539,  we  have  Beaton 
writing  from  Kelso,  urging  him  on  to  "  diligence  and  to  labour 
at  his  power." 

"  Attour,"  says  he,  or,  "  Besides,  ye  shall  incontinent  get  us  a  brief,  that  we, 
as  Pi'imate  of  the  realm,  may  bear  ourcros.s  before  us,  throuc/h  the  whole  kingdom 
of  Scotland,  both  in  the  diocese  and  prorince  of  Glafgov,and  all  other  jd  aces  irhat- 
soerer  exempt.  And  again,  in  December  from  Edinburgh,  he  adds — "  Make  the 
best  and  most  honourable  persuasions  ye  can,  or  may,  to  induce  his  Holiness  to 
the  granting  of  the  said  legation. "2ft 

The  fact  was,  that  the  Pontiff  himself  faltered  and  hesitated, 
but,  at  last,  Beaton's  agent  was  successful ;  and  since  he  was 
the  last  individual  in  Scotland  to  be  clothed  in  such  hifjh  and 
shocking  authority,  we  can  now  see  a  propriety  in  the  Pontiff 
being  permitted  to  put  forth  all  his  power,  and  lift  his  head 
as  high  as  he  possibly  could  in  the  person  of  this  man,  a  little 
before  his  authority  in  Scotland  was  to  be  broken  for  ever.^ 


28  Sadler's  Letters,  4to,  i.  p.  14-1". 

2!>  There  is,  however,  some  obscurity  as  to  the  precise  time  of  liis  confirmed  elevation.  In  the 
State  papers  this  is  spoken  of  as  not  taking  place  till  1545.  One  bull  is  dated  .')  Kal.  Feb.  1544, 
that  is,  27th  February  I.it'.     Oov.  St.  papers,  v.  p.  143. 


1538-42.]  THE  INTERLUDE  AT  LITHGOVV.  505 

It  will  be  remembered,  that  precisely  the  same  thing  had 
been  permitted  to  take  place  in  England. 

Whether,  however,  it  was  infiituated  policy,  or  rather  pro- 
fligate extravagance,  in  the  Scotish  King,  there  could  be  no 
excuse  for  the  guilt  of  persecution  ;  though  still  we  are  not  to 
imagine  that  James  was  a  true  sou  of  the  Kirk.  He  did  not 
care  one  straw  for  their  system,  and  held  the  persons  of  his 
ecclesiastics  in  profound  contempt.  In  the  drollery  and  satyre 
which  was  played  oft' against  them,  he  would  himself  indulge, and 
even  listen  to  it  for  hours,  with  the  keenest  pleasure.  An  in- 
stance had  occurred  at  this  very  time,  on  the  6th  of  January 
1540  at  Lithgow,  and  it  is  referred  to  by  a  veritable  wit- 
ness, Thomas  Bellenden  of  Auchnoull,  recently  appointed  Lord 
Justice-Olerk.^  Happening  to  be  at  Coldstream  in  commu- 
nication with  Sir  William  Eure,  the  latter  writes  to  Crumwell 
on  the  26th  of  the  month.-''^ 

"  I  had  divers  communings  with  Mr.  Thomas  Belleudeu,  one  of  the  Council- 
lors for  Scotland,  a  man  of  estimation,  appearing  to  be  of  the  age  of  fifty  years 
or  above,  and  of  gentle  and  sage  conversation,  specially  touching  the  itay  of  the 
spirituality  in  Scotland  :  and  gathering  him  to  be  a  man  inclined  to  the  sort 
used  in  our  Sovereign's  realm  of  England,  I  did  so  largely  break  with  him  in 
those  behalves,  as  to  move  to  know  of  him,  of  what  mind  the  King  and  Council 
of  Scotland  was  inclined  unto,  concerning  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  and  for  the  re- 
formation of  the  mis-using  of  the  spirituality  in  Scotland.  Whereunto  he  gently 
and  lovingly  answered,  and  showing  himself  well  contented  of  that  communing, 
did  say,  that  the  King  of  Scots  hiiHse/f,  with  all  his  temjwral  Council,  was  greatly 
given  to  the  reformation  of  the  misdemeanours  of  Bishops,  religious  persons, 
and  priests,  within  the  realm.  And  so  much,  that  by  the  King's  pleasure,  he 
being  privy  thereto,  they  have  had  an  interlude  played  in  the  feast  of  the  Epi- 
phany last  past,  before  the  King  and  Queen  at  Lithgow,  and  the  whole  Council 
spiritual  and  temporal.  The  whole  matter  whereof  concluded  upon  the  decla- 
ration of  the  naughtiness  in  religion,  the  presumption  of  Bishops,  the  pollution 
of  the  courts  called  the  consistory  Courts  in  Scotland,  and  misusing  of  p)riests. 
I  have  obtained  a  note  from  a  Scotsman  of  our  sort,  being  present  at  the  playing 
of  the  said  interlude,  of  the  effect  hereof,  which  I  send  to  your  Lordship  by 
this  bearer.  My  Lord,  the  same  Mr.  Bellenden  showed  me  that,  after  the  said 
interlude  finished,  the  King  of  Scots  did  call  upon  the  Archbishop  of  Glasgow, 
being  Chancellor,  and  divers  other  bishops,  exhorting  them  to  reform  their 
fashions  and  manners  of  living  ;  saying  that  unless  they  so  did,  he  would  send 
six  of  the  proudest  of  them  to  his  uncle  of  England,  and  as  those  were  ordered, 
so  he  would  order  all  the  rest  that  would  not  amend.  And  thereto  the  Chancel- 
lor answered  and  said  to  the  King,  that  one  word  of  his  Grace's  mouth  should 
suffice  them  to  be  at  commandment  !  The  King  hastily  and  angi'ily  answered, 
"  that  he  would  gladly  bestow  any  words  of  his  mouth,  that  could  amend  them  !" 

Bellenden  went  so  far  indeed  as  to  intimate,  that  James  was  "  fully  minded  to 

""  26th  December  1539.  31  Gov.  St.  I'apers,  v.,  p.  16:>. 


506  TlIK  CARDINAL  I'UKDOMINANT.  [liOOK  iv. 

expel  all  «'i-cleHiastlcH  from  haviiif;  any  authority  l»y  oHice,  in  lii«  liousilioM,  or 
t'lsewlicrc." 

JJut  tlu'u  upon  such  an  occasion  as  that  of  this  play,  what 
has  become  of  Ijcaton  'i  He  was  not  there,  and  as  lonf,^  as  he 
carried  his  cross  so  high,  all  this  was  nothing  more  than  idle 
talk.  James  might  amuse  liimself,  but  ho  must  live  and  die, 
the  mere  shadow  of  a  King.  This  scene  at  Lithgow,  however, 
was  not  a  solitary  or  unwonted  affair.  Such  plays  and  poems 
and  satires  were  repeatedly  acted,  and  though  Buchanan  had 
to  fly,  there  was  another  man,  who  never  did,  and  whom  the 
Cardinal  never  was  allowed  to  touch.  Here  was  a  second  Mor- 
decai,  far  more  obnoxious  than  Gavin  Dunbar  had  been,  who 
was  long  to  survive  all  the  fury  of  this  period,  and  write  his 
"  Tragedie  of  the  late  Cardinal,"  after  he  had  gone  to  his  ac- 
count. This  was  no  other  than  the  Lord  Lyon  King  at  Arms, 
Sir  David  Lindsay  of  the  Mount,  Fifeshire.  He  had  been 
the  ofHcial  keeper  and  companion  of  the  King,  in  the  days  of 
his  infancy  ;  and  now,  the  author  not  only  of  the  interlude  re- 
ferred to,  but  of  other  satirical  pieces,  bearing  with  such  force 
and  effect  on  the  superstition  of  the  day,  and  especially  on  the 
ignorance  and  immorality,  or  vices  of  the  kirk,  as  to  render  its 
officers,  both  high  and  low,  most  contemptible  in  the  eyes  of 
many.  Yet  must  he  never  be  molested,  nor  Beaton  ever  wave 
liis  cross  over  his  head.  So  far  from  it,  the  Queen  having  been 
lately  crowned.  Sir  David  had  been  not  the  least  conspicuous 
fiffure.  We  find  a  sum  of  not  less  than  a  thousand  marks 
had  been  actually  paid  to  him  and  his  wife,  for  their  official 
services  on  that  occasion. 

Mary  of  Guise  was  scarcely  crowned  Queen,  when  Sir  Ralph 
Sadler  was  down  once  more  to  vi,sit  the  King.  He  tried,  but  in 
vain,  to  shake  the  confidence  of  James  in  his  Cardinal  and  Le- 
gate ;  at  least  so  the  King  pretended,  by  the  manner  in  which 
he  continued  to  rally  Sadler  in  reply.  But  in  May,  clothed 
in  all  his  honours  thick  ujion  him,  Beaton,  as  Legate  a  latere, 
proceeded  in  grand  entrance  to  St.  Andrews,  with  an  unwonted 
array  of  nobility,  and  there  delivered  his  first  oration. 

It  w^as  on  the  22d  of  this  month,  from  his  Abbey  of  St. 
Andrews,  that  the  King  informed  Henry  of  his  having  be- 
come a  father,  by  the  birth  of  James  his  eldest  son  :  but  from 
this  period,  it  may  be  added,  the  gay  but  enslaved  monarch 
was  hasteninir  rapidly  to  his  ruin.     One  cause  of  molestation 


1.J38-42.]  ENGLAND  PROCLAIMS  WAR.  r>07 

or  perplexity  now  followed  the  other  in  quick  succession.  By 
the  sudden  death  of  Thomas  Scott,  the  predecessor  of  Bellen- 
den,  as  Lord  Justice-Clerk,  the  King  had  been  not  a  little 
disturbed,  but  the  execution  of  Sir  James  Hamilton  of  Fin- 
nart,  already  mentioned,  for  high  treason,  appears  to  have 
shaken  his  nervous  system.  Jealousy  of  his  nobility  preyed 
on  his  mind,  and  there  were  those  who  were  ever  ready  to 
promote  the  feeling. 

Hence  it  was  that,  soou  after  his  death,  we  find  individuals  arraigned 
before  the  Justiciary  for  "  consulting  with  and  frequently  giving  false 
information  to  the  late  King  for  the  purpose  of  deceiving  him  ;  thereby 
occasioning  vehement  suspicions  between  him  and  his  Earls,  Barons,  and 
lieges ;  and  for  causing  in  him  great  apprehension  and  fear  for  his 
slaughter  and  destruction."  ^^  In  April  1.541,  James's  second  son  Ar- 
thur was  born,  but  he  survived  only  a  few  days,  and  in  a  few  more  his 
eldest  son  and  heir  followed  his  brother  to  the  grave  !  In  July  the  King 
writes  to  his  uncle,  and  sends  Lord  Justice  Bellenden  desiring  "  peace, 
amity,  and  kindness  to  stand  between  them  ; "  but  then  in  the  autumn 
of  this  year,  he  committed  his  unpardonable  offence. 

After  his  uncle  had  long  strived  to  secure  a  personal  interview  with 
him,  Henry  set  off  to  York  in  secret  hope  of  success.  Like  a  reed  shaken 
by  the  wind,  James  wavering,  never  appeared  ;  and  the  enraged  uncle 
never  forgot  or  forgave  the  affront.  In  December,  the  Queen  Mother, 
Henry's  sister,  died  at  Perth  ;  and  her  son  had  now  only  another  year 
to  live.  The  sequel  is  soon  told.  The  storm  which  had  been  gathering 
for  some  time,  must  have  vent.  The  reign  of  discord  between  England 
and  Scotland  commenced,  and  open  violence,  between  parties  on  the 
borders,  was  but  the  precursor  of  other  quarrels.  The  first  movement 
was  from  the  English  lines,  and  on  the  24th  of  August  1542,  the  skir- 
mish at  Halidon  Rig  took  place.  James,  not  knowing  this,  wrote  the 
next  day  to  Henry,  asking  passports  for  ambassadors,  intimating  that 
he  had  sent  the  Earl  of  Huntly  to  prevent  farther  feuds  ;  but  Iluntly 
had  scarcely  arrived  in  England,  when  the  battle  of  Halidon  had  taken 
place,  in  which  the  English  were  beaten.  As  this  was  in  resistance  of 
the  Earl  of  Angus  and  Sir  George  Douglas,  many  years  banished  from 
Scotland  ;  on  the  1st  of  September  James  wrote  again,  with  a  justifica- 
tion of  the  defence,  and  specially  of  Iluntly  ;  still  desiring  peace.  But 
Henry  will  not  permit  the  ambassadors  to  advance  farther  than  York  ; 
and  now  resolved  for  war,  on  the  3d  of  October  his  Privy  Council  desire 
Lee,  the  Archbishop  of  York,  to  search  his  registers  respecting  Henry's  title 


92  Pitcairn's  Criminal  Trials,  i.,  p.  32it.    There  can  be  no  doubt  by  whom  such  men  were  hired 
and  ujOuld. 


liOH  WAU  WITH  ENGLAND.  [book  IV, 

to  the  realm  of  Scotland  !  Having  first  proclaimed  that  the  Scots  were 
the  aggressors,  Henry  then  publisheJ  his  niunifcsto,  in  which  he  claimed 
the  socereigntij  of  Scotland  ;  and,  hy  the  end  of  October,  the  Duke  of 
Norfolk  having  crossed  the  borders,  was  destroying  the  country.  Lords 
Iluntly,  Home,  and  Seton,  continued  to  watch  him  only,  while  James 
was  assembling  his  army.  On  the  Borough  Muir,  near  Kdiuljurgh,  thirty 
thousand  men  had  gathered  round  him  ;  but  by  this  time  they  had  as- 
sembled from  various  motives,  and  gave  another  proof  of  the  divided  state 
of  the  realm.  Some  leading  men,  sick  of  "  the  old  learning,"  felt  no  ob- 
jection to  a  change,  or  an  escape  from  the  iron  yoke  of  this  new-made  Car- 
dinal and  Legate.  Some  felt  hereditary  attachment  to  the  Angus  or 
Douglas  family,  who  were  with  the  enemy  ;  while  others,  foreseeing  the 
inequality  of  the  contest,  wished  to  act  only  on  the  defensive.  The  last 
were  the  wisest  men,  but  their  advice  was  not  to  be  taken.  With  this 
anny  James  set  off,  and  having  halted  at  Fala,  reviewed  his  troops.  He 
was  then  bent  upon  pursuit  of  the  English,  now  in  full  retreat,  and  dis- 
tressed for  want  of  provisions.  He  proposed  to  follow  them,  but  he  pro- 
posed in  vain.  To  his  bitter  mortification,  almost  every  chief  refused  ! 
He  upbraided  them  with  cowardice,  and  threatened.  They  pled  the  late- 
ness of  the  season,  the  difficulty  of  obtaining  provisions,  and  that  the 
King  must  not  expose  himself  to  the  same  man  as  his  father  had  done 
at  Flodden.  The  real  obstruction  lay  in  the  different  sentiments  of  his 
nobility  ;  and  the  loss  of  his  authority  as  King,  was  now  too  manifest. 
Indignant,  yet  deeply  depressed  in  spirit,  James  rode  back  to  Edinburgh. 
One  final  effort,  however,  was  made,  to  raise  the  spirits  of  the  already 
sinking  monarch.  Robert,  the  fourth  Lord  Maxwell,  with  ten  thousand 
other  men,  proposed  to  burst  into  England  from  the  west,  and  obtain  re- 
prisals for  the  violence  done  by  Norfolk.  With  this  little  army  the  King 
rode  out,  and  as  far  as  Caerlaverock,  the  ancient  castle  of  the  Maxwells. 
But  here,  once  more,  this  jealousy  of  his  nobles  having  become  like  a 
fixed  disease,  the  infatuated  monarch  must  now  himself  take  the  final 
step  towards  his  own  ruin.  For  no  sooner  had  Lord  Maxwell  and  his  men 
reached  English  ground,  or  Solway  Moss,  than  a  minion  of  the  King's, 
Oliver  Sinclair,  produced  a  royal  commission,  appointing  him  to  the  com- 
mand !  Disorder  and  mutiny  were  the  immediate  consequences,  and  in 
the  midst  of  this  confusion,  three  hundred  of  the  English  horse  came  up 
to  reconnoitre.  The  Scots  mistaking  these  for  only  the  vanguard  of 
Norfolk's  army,  were  panic-struck,  and  fled  in  every  direction.  Prisoners 
of  title  and  substantial  wealth,  to  the  number  of  nearly  one  thousand, 
were  taken,  including  the  Earls  of  Cassilis  and  Glencairn  ;  Lords  Max- 
well, Somerville,  Gray,  Oliphant,  and  Fleming  ;  the  sons  of  Lord 
Erskine  and  Lord  Rothes,  to  say  nothing  of  Sinclair,  the  cause  of  the 
disaster.  Thus  the  foolish  commission  of  the  King  had  been  obeyed  ; 
but,  ruined  by  his  own  favourite,  who  was  afterwards  called  to  account, 


1538-42.]  BIRTH  OF  MARY  QUEEN  OF  SCOTS.  509 

James,  dumb  and  disspirited,  could  only  a  second  time  return  to  Edin- 
burgh, far  more  unhappy,  and  with  deeper  mortification,  than  even  the 
first  time. 

On  returning  to  Holyrood,  however,  farther  misery  awaited  him. 
Something  else  had  occurred  during  his  absence.  On  the  14th  of 
November,  John  Ponde,  Esq.,  Somerset  Herald,  and  Henry  Ray,  Ber- 
wick pursuivant,  had  arrived  in  Edinbuigh,  with  a  letter  from  the  Duke 
of  Norfolk  to  the  king.  Beaton  affirmed,  that  he  was  gone  "  hawking  in 
Fife."  He  then  opened  the  letter,  and  in  ten  days  after  returned  an 
answer,  little  aware  of  what  had  happened  on  the  day  he  did  so.  Pre- 
senting the  herald  and  pursuivant  Avith  twenty  crowns,  Beaton  told 
them,  that  "  as  they  came  from  the  king,  their  master's  lieutenant,  this 
was  a  lieutenant's  reward  ;"  officiously  adding,  that  "  if  they  had  come 
from  the  king,  theii*  master,  they  should  have  had  a  better  reward,  and 
an  answer  from  the  Scotish  king,  their  master."  This  was  on  the  25th, 
or  the  fatal  day  of  Solway  Moss.  Four  days  before  this,  Ponde  and  Ray 
had  been  warned  by  a  Scotish  pursuivant,  named  Dingwall,  to  take  care 
of  themselves  on  the  way  home,  on  which  they  solicited  and  procured 
his  company  on  the  road  ;  but  on  the  evening  of  the  25th,  as  they  were 
approaching  Dunbar,  Mr.  Ponde  was  attacked  by  two  men,  and  bar- 
barously murdered.  This,  of  course,  was  a  most  serious  offence,  and  the 
more  so  at  such  a  moment,  as  far  as  James  was  concerned.  On  hearing 
of  it,  Henry  "  vowed,  that  he  would  have  a  revenge  for  the  same."  In 
this  frame,  we  are  told,  he  sent  a  herald  to  his  Nephew,  informing  him, 
"  that  he  would  j)ut  such  order  to  him,  as  he  had  done  to  his  Father, 
having  the  selfsame  wand  in  keeping  that  beat  his  father  ;"  referring  to 
Norfolk,  who,  as  Earl  of  Surrey,  had  commanded  at  Flodden.  But  be 
this  as  it  may,  the  poor  unhappy  monarch,  on  amving  at  Holyrood,  had 
to  sit  down,  only  five  days  after  the  disaster  at  Solway,  and  pen  his  last 
letter  to  his  uncle — probably  the  last  time  he  put  pen  to  pa2)er — assuring 
him,  "  that  there  was  no  prince  living,  that  would  be  more  loath  than 
he  was,  that  such  an  odious  crime  should  remain  unpunished  ;"  at  the 
same  time  offering  to  send  two  ambassadors,  two  heralds,  and  other 
twelve  lieges,  to  explain  "  the  unhappy  and  cruel  enterprize."  But  the 
king  did  not  live  to  receive  an  answer.  Having  remained  not  more  than 
a  week  at  Holyrood,  he  then  retired  to  Falkland  Palace.  Only  in  the 
thirty-first  year  of  his  age,  in  his  full  strength,  with  a  vigorous  constitu- 
tion, he  had  scarcely  ever  known  what  sickness  was.  But  now  a  slow 
fever  consumed  him,  and  he  sunk  into  a  state  of  distraction,  accompanied 
by  the  deepest  melancholy.  Beaton,  not  far  off,  was  soon  present,  chiefly 
to  look  after  his  own  interest  in  the  event.  The  queen  at  Lithgow 
was  on  the  point  of  being  confined,  and  if  a  son  were  born,  it  was  hoped 
that  this  might  rouse  the  father.  On  the  7th  of  December,  she  was 
delivered  of  a  daughter — '■'■Mar})  Queen  of  Scots" — but  the  intelligence 


.'ilO  DKATU  OK  TllK  KING.  [BOOK  IV. 

had  the  ojjposite  eft'ect  from  that  whioli  had  been  anticiijated.  Rci'er- 
rin;^  to  his  kingdom,  said  the  dying  man — "  It  came  with  a  girl,  and  it 
will  go  with  a  girl."  Then  giving  hin  hand  to  those  near  him,  he  turned 
himself  on  the  bed  and  expii'ed,  on  Thursday  the  14th  of  December. 
The  body  was  brought  to  Edinburgh,  and  interred  at  llolyrood  on  Mon- 
day the  8th  of  January  1.043  ;  when  the  Cardinal  appeared  once  more, 
to  preside  at  the  last  ceremony,  over  the  remains  of  a  prince  to  whose 
calamities  he  had  so  largely  contributed  ;  and  now  he  will  "  mimic  sor- 
row with  a  heart  not  sad." 

Often  has  it  been  said,  that  James  V.  died  literally  of  a  broken  heart, 
and,  in  Scotish  history,  certainly  he  presents  the  most  impressive  illus- 
tration of  that  p.assage  in  holy  writ — "  The  sorrow  of  the  world  worketh 
death;'"  though  in  retiring  from  the  melancholy  scene,  one  question 
immediately  presents  itself — Whether  the  king  was  most  sinned  against, 
or  sinning  ?  He  had  been  profligate  as  a  man,  and  as  a  king  profuse 
in  expenditure,  more  especially  in  his  later  years ;  and,  consequently, 
was  for  ever  craving  money.  Naturally  gay  and  thoughtless,  having 
no  fixed  principles  of  his  own,  and,  at  last,  no  honourable  sense  of  equity, 
he  was  equally  ready  to  have  accepted  supplies  from  his  barons,  as  from 
his  clergy  ;  while  the  latter  partj"^,  simply  through  their  being  by  far  the 
most  dexterous  masters  of  deceit,  carried  the  day.  They,  said  Sadler 
in  1540,  "  They  be  the  men  of  wit  and  policy  that  I  see  here  ;  they  be 
never  out  of  the  king's  ear."  Thus,  like  a  man  placed  between  two 
fires,  James,  of  a  warm  temperament,  was  often  most  wretched,  a  feeling 
which  returned  with  increasing  violence  for  the  last  ten  years  of  his  life. 
One  vice,  or  burst  of  folly,  led  to  another,  till,  in  the  end,  he  stood 
ready  for  the  highest  bidder.  For  all  his  actions  he  had  been  respon- 
sible, and  was  now  gone  to  his  account  ;  but  how  had  he  been  trained 
up  when  a  boy  ?  And  by  whom  surrounded  ever  since  ?  In  this  point 
of  view,  he  must  ever  remain  as  a  victim,  held  up  for  a  warning  to 
rulers.  There  were  ever  near  him  two  men — Sir  James  Hamilton,  the 
murderer  of  the  Earl  of  Lennox  ;  but,  above  all,  David  Beaton,  the  mur- 
derer of  more  valuable  subjects  ;  and  since  the  king  chose  to  lend  his 
ear,  these  alone  were  quite  sufficient  to  have  ruined  any  man  who  would 
not  fear  God  and  think  for  himself. 

Hamilton,  however,  was  put  to  death  in  August  1540,  so  that  from 
that  moment  especially,  Beaton,  by  himself  alone,  had  the  largest  share 
in  the  king's  ruin.  Ever  since  his  promotion,  his  aim  was  one  which 
involved  the  destruction  of  his  sovereign  as  a  civil  ruler  ;  while,  at  the 
same  time,  his  ambitious  eye  was  fixed  upon  many  other  men,  both  of 
wealth  and  power,  who  would  not  bow  the  knee  to  his  cross,  or  crosier, 
legate  extraordinary  though  he  was.  It  will  be  remembered,  that  before 
he  had  even  obtained  the  red  hat  of  a  cardinal,  he  had  no  sooner  heard 
of  his  title,  than  he  stepped  into  blood,  in  the  close  of  1538  ;  and  brought 


1538-42.]  BEATON'S  PROJECTED  CRUELTY.  511 

the  king  to  sanction  him,  by  gazing  on  a  scene  more  revolting  than  any 
which  Scotland  had  ever  witnessed  :  and  as  soon  as  he  had  reached  the 
pinnacle  of  human  depravity,  by  obtaining  the  highest  power  which 
Rome  so  presumptuously  dispensed,  he  seems  to  have  felt  as  though  his 
arm  were  hampered  still. 

In  May  1540,  to  which  we  have  alluded,  when  he  had  once  entered 
St.  Andrews  with  such  a  cavalcade,  he  must  commence  with  some  busi- 
ness worthy  of  his  office  as  legate.  Sir  John  Borthwick,  Provost  of  Lith- 
gow,  said  to  be  "of  Nenthorn,  and  brother  of  Lord  Borthwick,"  must  be 
first  denounced  as  a  noted  heretic  ;  when  the  Cardinal  delivered  his 
long  oration  to  the  prelates,  noblemen,  and  priests  assembled,  lamenting 
over  the  increase  of  heresy,  as  having  reached  even  the  neighbom-hood 
of  the  throne  ;  the  king  also,  though  not  perhaps  present,  being  then 
in  St.  Andrews.  He  at  that  time  urged  resistance  to  Henry  VIII., 
and  intimated  his  determination  to  act  with  vigour  in  his  own  sphere. 
Borthwick,  whose  trial  may  be  read  in  our  common  histories,  having 
been  cited,  and  not  appearing,  was  condemned,  his  property  forfeited  to 
the  crown,  and  his  effigy  burnt  at  the  market  cross  of  St.  Andrews  on 
the  28th  of  May  ;  a  ceremony  which  was  repeated  in  Edinburgh  a  few 
days  after.  This,  however,  was  a  trifling  affair,  by  way  of  giving  some 
point  to  the  legate's  oration.  Property  for  the  king,  was,  by  no  means, 
the  solitary  object  in  view ;  the  mere  smell  of  fire,  by  way  of  terror,  was 
not  to  satisfy  the  persecutor  ;  and  if  he  fails  of  burning  men  themselves 
to  death,  if  be  miss  his  mark,  or  his  fury  be  restrained,  it  will  be  only 
in  consequence  of  his  disclosing  too  soon  his  heartfelt  and  full  intentions. 
The  fact  was,  that  before  Sir  James  Hamilton's  death  in  August  that 
year,  Beaton  had  fully  anticipated  his  zealous  offices  as  a  coadjutor,  and 
had  he  lived,  they  would  have  proceeded  hand  in  hand.  There  was  to  have 
been  a  court  of  Inquisition  by  way  of  cure,  and  Hamilton  had  actually 
been  appointed  as  prosecutor,  with  the  king's  concurrence.  He  is  said 
to  have  even  been  engaged  in  preparations  for  the  fiery  day,  when,  it  is 
very  observable,  in  consequence  of  information  lodged  by  the  brother  of 
Patrick  Hamilton,  the  illustrious  martyr,  the  very  prosecutor  himself 
came  to  an  ignominious  but  apj^ropriate  death  for  high  treason,  of  which 
he  had  been  guilty  years  before.  Nothing  daunted,  however,  Beaton 
now  longed  to  wield  his  cross,  with  a  vigour  yet  unprecedented  in 
Europe,  and  strike  down,  at  one  blow,  the  best  subjects  of  his  sovereign 
to  please  himself,  and  these  the  most  substantial  in  point  of  property, 
to  supply  the  king  !  He  had  nerve  sufficient  to  contemplate  this  once 
and  again.  A  list  of  the  proscribed  had  been  drawn  out,  at  the  head  of 
which  was  the  Earl  of  Arran,  Beaton's  own  cousin,  and  presumptive  heir 
to  the  crown,  the  Earl  of  Cassilis,  the  Earl  of  Glencairn,  and  his  son, 
the  Earl  Marishal.  The  number  of  intended  victims  has,  it  is  true,  been 
diff'erently  stated.     One  author  tells  us  they  amounted  to   seventeen 


r>l2  MAiNY  PEUUSING  THE  SCRIPTURES.  QboOK  IV. 

score,  or  throe  liundrecl  and  forty  ;  another  specifics,  that  "  there  were 
more  than  a  hundred  hmded  gentlemen,  besides  others  of  meaner  de- 
gree ;"  while  Sir  Ralph  Sadler  says  there  were  "  a  great  many  gentle- 
men, to  the  number  of  eighteen  score,  (or  three  hundred  and  sixty,) 
because  they  were  all  well  miiuled  to  God's  Word." 

IVIercifuliy,  however,  this  dreadful  proposal  was  by  far  too  much 
so  for  the  nerves  of  the  king.  Even  after  Hamilton's  death,  he  had 
been  haunted  by  dreams,  and  now  he  could  not  stand  even  the  sight  of 
the  roll.  As  soon  as  it  was  laid  before  him  he  revolted,  and  with  strong 
marks  of  disapprobation.  It  has  been  said,  indeed,  that  before  the  rout 
at  Solway  moss,  the  measure  was  proposed  a  second  time  ;  but  whether 
or  not,  for  all  the  jnirposes  of  history  this  is  of  no  moment.  Once  was 
quite  sufficient,  since  that  once  has  discovered  a  state  of  things  which 
would  never  have  been  so  distinctly  known,  or  even  conjectured.  That 
already  in  Scotland,  any  change  of  opinion  so  very  extensive  as  this  had 
taken  place,  could  not  have  l>een  imagined  from  any  other  events  yet 
recorded  in  history.  Much  more,  indeed,  has  now  been  authenticated 
in  the  preceding  i>ages,  than  has  ever  been  before  known  ;  and  allowing 
that  the  Word  of  God,  like  secret  leaven,  had  been  in  silent  operation 
since  the  year  1526,  or  nearly  fourteen  years,  still,  after  all  that  we  have 
yet  read,  a  measure  so  very  formidable  in  its  range  comes  upon  us  with 
surprise,  as  almost  incredible.  Taking  the  very  lowest  number,  such  a 
roll  would  have  more  than  satiated  even  Bonner  of  London  with  regard 
to  all  England. 

Of  course  it  would  be  a  violation  of  all  historical  propriety,  to  repre- 
sent all  these  proscribed,  or  marked  men,  as  Christians,  simply  because 
they  were  opposed  to  the  Cardinal's  politics,  principles,  or  procedure  ; 
nor  among  them  all,  do  we  know  of  a  single  individual,  either  at  that 
moment  or  ever  afterwards,  who  understood  the  rights  of  conscience,  or 
who,  when  in  possession  of  power,  would  have  refrained  from  persecu- 
tion ;  nor  is  there  much  room  left  for  our  boasting  over  them,  since  too 
many  such  men  exist  even  in  our  own  day.  But  conceding  all  this,  still 
we  have  before  us  one  striking  proof,  that  a  great  change  had  already 
taken  place  in  Scotland  on  the  public  mind.  Let  the  twofold  object  of 
the  proposed  persecution  be  only  borne  in  mind.  It  was  to  seize  on 
2)roperti/,  as  well  as  destroy  or  expatriate  certain  impracticable  men, 
who  now  stood  in  the  way  of  the  Cardinal  and  legate.  But  then  below 
the  rank  of  these  men,  as  formerly  hinted,  there  were  others,  and  it 
should  seem  wwn^  others,  throughout  the  country,  less  sophisticated, 
and  more  devout  readers  of  the  Sacred  Volume,  whose  names,  though 
not  mentioned,  were  already  recorded  in  another  roll,  on  which  the  eyes 
of  God  not  rarely  look.  Including  the  entire  community,  it  is  in  refe- 
rence to  this  very  period,  that  Buchanan  goes  so  far  as  to  speak  of 
"  many  thousand  men  who  did  not  hesitate  to  peruse  the  hooks  of  the  Old 


1538-4.2.]  THOUGH  STILL  IN  SECRET.  513 

and  Neio  Testament."  Farther  evidence,  too,  awaits  uy,  whether  in  rela- 
tion to  men,  or  the  Sacred  Scriptures  ;  but  the  more  important  question 
now  is — How,  or  hy  what  instrumentality,  had  this  mighty  change  already 
been  effected  1 

Seven  years  after  the  Scriptures  of  the  New  Testament  in 
Englisli  had  been  first  conveyed  into  Scothmd,  there  had, 
indeed,  been  an  able  and  well  sustained  controversy,  though 
hitherto  buried  in  oblivion,  as  to  the  right  and  duty  of  the 
people  to  read  the  Scriptures  for  themselves,  and  at  home  in 
tiieir  own  dwellings ;  but  there  had  been  no  ministry  of  the 
word,  properly  so  called.  One  man,  Forret,  in  a  very  limited 
district,  for  a  short  time  had  spoken  out ;  but  he  was  almost 
immediately  silenced,  and  then  burnt  to  ashes.  There  had 
been  no  son  of  thunder  lifting  up  his  voice,  nor  had  any  such 
means  been  employed  as  to  account  for  this  confessedly  great 
change.  Two  or  three  men  from  England  may  come  down 
afterwards,  and  make  some  impression ;  but  we  now  speak  of 
the  past,  and  of  what  had  been  already  eff'ected.  Putting 
the  presumptive  heir  to  the  crown  entirely  out  of  view,  as  a 
weak  and  vacillating  man,  have  so  many  round  about  him  been 
so  shaken  in  mind,  as  to  involve  themselves,  by  Beaton's  casu- 
istry, in  the  deadly  sin  of  what  he  called  heresy  ?  Then,  as 
far  as  the  art  of  printing,  or  English  books  were  concerned, 
nothing  can  be  ascribed  to  either  cause  :  and  of  books  im- 
ported from  abroad,  we  find  not  upon,  record  a  single  title- 
page,  save  one.  But  that  one  has  been  proclaimed  in  open 
court,  by  Lauder,  in  1538,  as  having  been  the  great,  nay, 
the  only  source  of  annoyance.  He  denounced  it  as  heresy. 
"  God  forgive  you,"  said  Forret,  "  that  ye  should  call  the 
book  of  the  Evangel  of  Jesus  Christ  heresy."  But  he  insisted 
that  it  was,  and  that  it  was  this  which  had  occasioned  "  all 
the  din  and  play  in  their  Kirk,''''  or  throughout  Scotland. 
Certainly  it  was  intended,  that  posterity  should  observe  this, 
and  no  event  of  the  day  has  been  more  distinctly  marked,  if 
so  much  so. 

The  ministry  of  the  word,  though  of  Divine  appointment, 
has  again  and  again,  throughout  this  history,  been  presented 
by  God  as  entirely  subordinate  to  his  own  word — the  living 
voice  of  man,  to  the  voice  of  the  living  God.  In  the  scale  of 
human  depravity,  or  the  profanation  of  divine  things,  besides 
the  neglect  or  perversion   of  the  ministry,  there  is  a  lower 

VOL.  II.  2  K 


514.  BKATON  ANTICII'ATES  THE  REGENCY.  [BOOK  IV. 

depth,  or  greater  sin.  This  had  been  shewn  in  Scotland  as 
well  as  England,  in  the  treatment  of  the  Divine  Record  itself 
— in  the  wilful  concealment  of  the  Word  of  God — in  the 
denial  of  it  to  the  people — nay,  in  the  denunciation  of  it  by 
the  prolligate  rulers  of  the  darkness  which  reigned  around 
them.  This  was  the  greatest  of  all  crimes.  The  force  of 
systematic  depravity  could  no  farther  go.  They  had  rejected 
the  Word  of  Jehovah,  and  what  wisdom  was  in  them  ?  The 
Sacred  Scriptures,  therefore,  and  more  especially  those  of  the 
New  Testament,  standing  in  the  same  relation  to  the  Christian 
Church,  which  the  law,  when  lost,  did  to  the  Jewish,  and 
which,  when  found,  became  the  means  of  its  revival ;  so  the 
Sacred  Volume  must  now  take  precedence.  We  leave  other 
nations  to  examine  for  themselves ;  but  in  the  course  pursued 
by  Divine  Providence  towards  this  island  entire,  and  by  way 
of  eminence,  this  fact  is  worthy  of  more  reflection  than  it  has 
ever  obtained.  The  Word  of  the  Lord,  as  an  instrument  in 
his  own  hands,  and  conveyed  into  the  island  in  spite  of  all 
opposition,  was  to  be  first,  and  to  be  thus  glorified.  So  it 
had  happened  in  England,  as  already  explained.  But  here, 
in  the  north,  as  well  in  the  south,  in  Scotland  as  well  as  in 
England — 

Jeliovali  had  resolved  to  show 

What  his  own  Sovereign  Word  could  do. 

And  vet,  after  all  that  can  be  said,  at  this  moment,  what 
was  now  to  be  done?  nay,  what  to  be  expected  I  We  have 
come  to  December  1 542.  The  King  is  dead,  and  Beaton  has 
reached  the  highest  point  of  his  ambition.  Before  his  sove- 
reign was  even  laid  in  the  grave  at  Holyrood,  /le  has  usurped 
the  government ;  and  look  wherever  the  people  might,  every 
thing  seemed  to  portend  success  in  favour  of  such  a  move- 
ment. With  regard  to  his  own  crafty  brethren,  he  sits,  like 
a  sovereign  Pontiff,  over  every  one  of  them.  The  king  has 
left  for  his  heir  only  an  infant,  whose  mother  is  favourable  to 
all  the  intentions  of  Beaton.  The  pi-esumptive  heir  to  the 
crown,  the  Earl  of  Arran,  is  not  merely  a  weak  man,  but  he 
seems  to  be  quite  indisposed  for  action  ;  while,  in  point  of 
talent  and  activity,  there  is  no  other  individual  to  be  com- 
pared with  the  Cardinal  and  legate.  As  for  the  nobility  at 
large,  their  power  is  broken  ;  such  of  them  as  possessed  any 


1.538-42.]        CRITICAL  STATE  OF  THE  GOVERNMENT-  515 

authoritative  influence  arc  either  dead,  or  in  exile ;  and  the 
best  of  them  have  been  carried  out  of  the  way,  from  Solvvay 
Moss  to  London.  The  neighbouring  powerful  monarch,  elated 
by  his  victory,  threatens  war ;  and  it  may  be  one  of  conquest 
or  of  extermination.  In  short,  according  to  Buchanan,  "  the 
considerate  foresaw  a  tempest  overhanging  Scotland,  dark  and 
gloomy  beyond  conception  ;  for  the  king  had  not  made  a  will, 
and  left  a  girl,  scarcely  eight  days  old,  as  his  heir." 

From  all  these  circumstances,  it  must  have  been  quite  im- 
possible for  any  man  to  see  before  him  a  single  day,  or  to 
foretell  what  awaited  either  himself  or  his  country.  The  only 
certain  thing  was,  that  Beaton  had  resolved  to  be  both  "  king 
and  priest "  for  the  time  being ;  having,  it  is  said,  caused  the 
will  of  the  king  to  be  proclaimed  on  Monday  after  his  death, 
and  this,  it  is  understood,  pointed  to  him  as  the  future  regent. 
But  let  what  will  take  place,  nothing  shall  prevent  the  pro- 
gress of  Divine  truth ;  and,  as  in  nature,  the  darkest  hour 
precedes  the  day-break,  so  it  may  be  even  now. 


REIGN   OF    MARY    QUEEN    OF    SCOTS. 

THE  YEAR  1543,  A  MEMORABLE  ONE — CRITICAL  STATE  OF  THE  GOVERN- 
MENT— REMARKABLY  SUDDEN  CHANGE — THE  PRIMATE  OF  ST.  ANDREWS, 
THOUGH  A  CARDINAL,  IN  PRISON — HIS  CLERGY  IN  MOURNING,  AND  ALL 
THEIR  CHURCHES  CLOSED,  WHEN  PARLIAMENT  ASSEMBLED,  AND  BY  A 
BILL  AND  PROCLAMATION  THROUGHOUT  SCOTLAND,  SANCTIONED  THE 
GENERAL   PERUSAL   OF    THOSE   SCRIPTURES,  WHICH    HAD    BEEN    READING 

IN    SECRET     FOR    SIXTEEN    YEARS CONTRAST    WITH     ENGLAND    AT    THIS 

MOMENT EXTENT    TO    WHICH     THE    SCRIPTURES    HAD    BEEN     POSSESSED, 

AND     THEREFORE    PERUSED    IN    SCOTLAND — THE    EARL    OF    ARRAN,    THE 
GOVERNOR,    VERY    SOON     ABJURES,    AND    FALLS    UNDER     THE    POWER   OF 

BEATON,    NOW    ENLARGED THE     SINGULAR    EXISTING    POSITION    OF    ALL 

THE    EUROPEAN    SOVEREIGNS,    WITH    THE     PONTIFF    AND    THE    TURK    IN- 
CLUDED— MORE  MARTYRDOMS  BY  HANGING,  DROWNING,  AND  THE  FLAMES 

THE  DEATH  OF  BEATON PECULIARITY  IN  THE  HISTORY  OF  THE  BIBLE 

IN  SCOTLAND. 

ll^HE  year  1 54.3  was  a  memorable  period,  and  deserves  to 
stand  by  itself,  whether  we  allude  to  Scotland  or  Eng- 
land.    In  relation  to  both  countries,  it  was  a  crisis ; 
but  as  viewed  in  conjunction,  we  are  furnished  with  matter 


r,\G  IIKNKY  THE  KIGHTM  IN   MOTION.  [book  IV. 

well  worthy  of  notice,  and  in  close  connexion  with  the  Sacred 
Scriptures.  In  Scotland,  the  opening  of  the  year  will  dis- 
cover how  insignificant  is  the  power  of  any  human  party, 
however  ahly  led,  when  the  moment  arrives  in  which  the 
Supremo  Ruler  begins  to  deal  with  it.  IJeaton  we  have  just 
left,  in  great  power,  and  fondly  anticipating  a  higher  place  than 
Wolsey  himself  had  ever  reached.  He  may  be  allowed,  for 
a  few  days,  to  dream  of  reigning  over  the  kingdom,  at  the 
head  of  a  regency,  of  which  the  Earls  of  Argyle,  Iluntly, 
and  Murray,  were  to  be  chief  men  ;  and  as  for  the  pre- 
sumptive heir  to  the  crown,  the  Earl  of  Arran,  he  must  be 
neutralized  or  overruled.  If  we  can  rely  on  the  deliberate 
testimony  of  Arran  himself,  Beaton  exhibited  a  will  of  the 
King,  appointing  hi7}i  to  be  puardian  of  the  infant  Queen,  as 
well  as  Regent,  or  Governor  of  the  realm. 

Henry  VIII.,  his  determined  enemy,  was  now  dreaming 
also,  as  well  as  Beaton,  though  in  very  different  strain.  The 
death  of  James  V.  instantaneously  gave  fresh  impulse  to  his 
ambition.  If  possible,  and  immediately,  he  is  to  reign  over 
Scotland.  He  is  to  get  possession  of  Beaton,  as  well  as  the 
infant  Queen  Mary,  who,  as  he  now  proposed,  should  in  due 
time  be  married  to  his  son  Edward.  Once  awake,  however, 
both  the  King  and  the  Cardinal  must,  like  other  men,  follow 
with  the  tide  of  events  ;  but  the  question  between  them  at 
this  moment  being  one  of  time,  the  sequel  will  explain  which 
of  them  gained  his  object.  No  sooner  had  Henry  been  in- 
formed of  his  nephew''s  death,  than  he  sent  for  the  Scotish 
lords  and  gentlemen,  the  prisoners  from  Solway,  who,  only  a 
few  days  before,  had  been  marched,  as  in  disgrace,  through 
London,  and  then  they  had  been  only  upbraided.  The  King 
now  sounded  them,  with  a  view  to  his  intentions,  when,  with- 
out exception,  they  bowed  to  his  terms,  and  without  gainsay- 
ing !  Henry  exacted  pledges,  which  they  left  behind  them  ; 
and  they  engaged,  that  when  Queen  Mary  came  to  be  ten 
years  of  age,  she  should  marry  Prince  Edward,  On  Friday 
the  29th  of  December,  the  prisoners  were  allowed  to  depart, 
and  coming  down  by  way  of  Darlington,  they  had  reached 
home  by  Wednesday  the  24'th  of  January.'  Arran  now 
found  himself  in  circumstances  to  act  with  decision ;  and  no 

'  Gov.  Slate  Papers,  vol.  v.,  pp.  234,  242,  notes. 


1.U3.]  BEATON,  THE  CARDINAL,  IN  PRISON.  517 

sooner  do  we  turn  to  Scotland,  than  we  find,  that  not  one 
day  had  been  lost  by  the  Governor. 

Upon  Monday  the  8th  of  January,  the  King,  as  abeady 
mentioned,  had  been  interred ;  but  on  Wednesday  the  1 0th, 
not  more  than  forty-eight  hours  having  elapsed,  the  Earl  of 
Arran  was  proclaimed  Protector  and  Governor  of  the  king- 
dom.^ Thus  far  successful,  still  the  Governor  was  not  suffi- 
ciently strong  to  take  any  step  against  Beaton.  On  the  con- 
trary, slow  to  forego  all  secular  power,  it  appears  that  Beaton 
actually  snatched  at  the  chancellorship,  and  obtained  it,  for 
one  solitary  week  I  With  such  an  office  in  addition  to  those 
he  possessed,  if  he  had  eftectually  ousted  Dunbar,  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Glasgow,  he  no  doubt  intended  ultimately  to  over- 
rule the  Governor  according  to  his  pleasure.^ 

Here,  then,  at  last,  it  becomes  evident,  that  Henry  VIII. 
had  overreached  his  greatest  opponent  in  the  North ;  for 
though  already  in  possession  of  the  great  seal,  by  Friday  the 
26th  of  this  month,  the  Chancellor  and  Cardinal,  though 
Legate,  was  in  safe  keeping  at  Dalkeith ;  only  two  days  after 
the  arrival  of  the  Scotish  barons  from  England  !  The  will 
exhibited,  pronounced  a  forgery,  had  been  of  no  avail.  But 
whatever  obscurity  still  hangs  over  the  precise  charges  against 
Beaton,  he  was  put  in  prison  on  the  day  now  mentioned. 
From  Dalkeith  he  was  removed  to  Seton  House  ;  from  thence, 
under  the  charge  of  Lord  Seton,  to  Blackness  Castle  on  the 
Forth ;  and  finally,  to  St.  Andrews,  from  whence  he  was  not 
released  till  April,  or  more  than  a  fortnight  after  Parliament 
had  transacted  all  their  business.^  Thus  are  we  left  free  to 
inquire  what  this  business  included. 

In  the  meanwhile,  however,  was  the  arrestment  of  such  a 
man  as  this  to  pass  without  notice?  So  far  from  it,  all  the 
disciples  of  "  the  old  learning"  were  immediately  in  mourn- 
ing, and  struck  with  horror.  "  The  public  services,"  says  Mr. 
Tytler,    "  were  instantly  suspended ;   the  priests   refused  to 


s  "  Diurnal  of  Occurents." 

3  On  the  18tli  of  January,  "David  the  Cardinal  was  now  Chancellor  and  Keeper  of  the  Great 
Seal."— Scotish  Acts  of  Pari,  vol.  ii.,  p.  424.  "I  asked  Sir  George  Douglas,"  says  Lord  Lisle, 
"  who  was  Chancellor  now  in  Scotland  ?  He  said  the  Cardinal ;  for  he  caused  the  Governor  to 
take  the  seal  from  the  Bishop  of  Glasgow,  and  to  deliver  it  to  himself."  They  had  intended  to 
appoint  the  Earl  of  Gk-ncairn  to  this  office,  but  had  not  then  sufficient  power,  not  to  say  that  he 
was  still  only  a  prisoner  at  large.— Gov.  State  Papers,  vol.  v.,  p.  250,  note.  The  Great  Seal  was 
therefore  refiirncil  to  Dunbar,  and  he  held  it  till  towards  the  close  of  the  year. 

*  Gov.  State  Papers,  vol.  v.,  p.  242,  note. 


518  THE  MOURNING  loK  TIIK  CARDINAL.  [boOK  IV. 

adininistor  cither  baptism  or  burial;  the  churches  were  closed: 
an  universal  gloom  overspread  the  countenances  of  the  people, 
and  the  country  presented  the  melancholy  appearance  of  a 
land  excommunicated  for  some  awful  crime.  The  days,  in- 
deed, WQve  past  when  the  full  terrors  of  such  a  state  of  spirit- 
ual proscription  could  be  felt,  yet  the  Catholic  party  were  still 
strong  in  Scotland;  they  loudly  exclaimed  against  their  oppo- 
nents for  so  daring  an  act  of  sacrilege  and  injustice  ;  and  the 
people  began,  in  some  degree,  to  identify  the  cause  of  ]3eaton 
with  the  independence  of  the  country."  The  barons  also 
were  far  from  being  unanimous  on  the  subject.  Four  days 
only  after  the  imprisonment,  or  on  Tuesday  the  30th  of 
January,  the  Earl  of  Argyle  had  left  Edinburgh  for  his 
estate  in  the  west,  where,  gathering  his  clan,  he  might  stand 
ready  for  any  future  emergency.  The  Earls  of  Iluntly, 
Murray,  and  Bothwell,  had  offered  to  be  sureties  for  the  Car- 
dinal's libei'ty,  but  in  vain.  Mass  might  be  suspended,  while 
the  priests  and  monks,  having  little  or  nothing  to  do,  had 
more  time  for  politics  and  intimidation ;  but  still  there  was 
no  enlargement  of  their  Cardinal.  At  this  early  period,  and 
in  reference  to  the  clergy,  such  an  instance  of  inflexibility 
was  analogous  to  that  of  the  Venetian  government ;  and  it 
becomes  the  more  observable,  when  the  two  cousins  are  viewed 
in  contrast.  Between  the  Earl  of  Arran  and  Beaton  there 
was  the  greatest  possible  distinction,  in  point  of  strength  of 
mind  and  firmness  of  purpose.  It  was  therefore  fit,  that  at 
this  peculiar  crisis,  the  weakest  individual  in  authority,  or 
the  most  vascillating,  not  to  say  treacherous,  should  be  in- 
strumental in  putting  aside  by  far  the  most  acute  and  power- 
ful man  in  the  kingdom.  All  that  the  Pontiff  could  possibly 
convey  to  him  from  Rome,  had  previously  been  bestowed ; 
and  if  any  words  are  about  to  be  spoken  in  Parliament  regard- 
ing the  Sacbed  Volumk  ;  if  any  thing  was  about  to  be  done, 
which  was  never  to  he  undone  ;  it  was  certainly  something  to 
say  in  future  years,  that  all  this  power  had  gone  for  nothing  ! 
Parliament  having  been  summoned  to  meet  on  Monday 
the  12th  of  March,  throughout  the  month  of  February,  the 
Earls  of  Argyle  and  Huntly,  Bothwell  and  Murray,  were 
straining  every  nerve  to  rally  and  invigorate  their  adherents  ; 
so  that  the  week  immediately  before  the  opening  of  Parlia- 
ment exhibited  two  parties  in  hostile  array,  one  assembled  at 


1543.]  THE  AGITATION  OP  THE  KINGDOM.  519 

Perth,  the  other  in  Edinburgh.  At  the  former,  besides  the 
earls  ah-eady  mentioned,  there  were  other  noblemen,  with  a 
great  number  of  bishops,  abbots,  and  knights.  They  com- 
menced with  negociation,  sending  certain  articles  to  the 
Governor  and  his  council.  The  very  first  of  these  stipulated, 
that  the  Cardinal  should  he  set  at  liberty ;  the  second,  that  the 
New  Testament  in  the  native  tongue  shoidd  not  go  abroad. 
They  then  requested  that  the  Governor  should  be  counselled 
by  them  in  all  the  aftairs  of  the  realm,  and  that  other  ambas- 
sadors to  Henry  VIII.,  than  those  which  were  intended, 
should  be  sent  to  England  !  ^ 

There  was  not  a  moment's  delay  at  Edinburgh  in  returning 
a  most  decided  answer.  The  Governor  and  council  would  listen 
to  no  such  terms.  On  the  contrary,  they  immediately  dis- 
patched a  herald  of  arms,  charging  all  these  lords  at  Perth, 
under  pain  of  treason,  to  repair  to  the  capital  and  serve  the 
Governor,  according  to  their  allegiance.  At  the  same  time, 
or  upon  Friday  the  9tli  of  March,  by  way  of  making  their 
intentions  doubly  sure,  Archibald  Beaton  of  Capildra  was 
committed  to  ward  at  Dalkeith,  as  his  relative  the  Cardinal 
had  been  in  January,  he  being  now  in  safe  keeping  at  a 
greater  distance.*'  The  party  at  Edinburgh  was  now  ready 
for  business. 

The  appearance  of  the  herald  at  Perth  had  proved  quite 
sufficient.  The  Earl  of  Huntly  immediately  gave  in.  As 
for  the  clergy,  while  they  could  not  extricate  the  Cardinal,  if 
they  had  any  thing  to  say  against  the  Scriptures,  it  was  pro- 
per that  they  should  be  mustered  on  the  spot.  Since  Beaton 
only  is  put  out  of  the  way,  let  the  fraternity  assemble  and  put 
forth  all  its  strength.  As  a  body,  therefore,  whether  bishops 
or  abbots,  they  now  followed  Huntly's  example ;  and  they  all 
arrived  in  Edinburgh  on  Sunday,  or  the  day  before  Parliament 
was  opened.     By  Monday,  the  Earl  of  Murray,  and  on  Tues- 


5  These  articles  were  sent  by  the  hands  of  a  bishop  and  a  knight,  Robert  Reid,  Bishop  of 
Orkney,  tlie  first  Lord  President  of  the  Court  of  Session,  and  Sir  John  Campbell  of  Calder,  uncle 
of  Argyle.— Goi'.  State  Papers,  vol.  v.,  p.  2G3. 

6  Four  thousand  pounds  were  exacted  in  security  for  this  man  remaining  at  Dalkeith,  from 
whence  he  was  to  send  no  writing,  or  any  manner  of  person  to  Edinburgh,  on  pain  of  treason. 
His  sureties  were  Sir  Walter  Scott  of  Branxholm  and  James  Douglas  of  Drumlanrig.  Nor  was 
it  till  the  day  after  Parliament  had  risen,  that  he  was  allowed  to  leave  tlie  spot,  and  cross  the 
Forth.  Even  there  he  was  to  remain  in  ward,  having  found  security  that  lie  would  not  go 
beyond  the  sherifi'dom  of  Fife ;  thus  placing  the  Cardinal  and  his  friend  on  oi)posite  sides  of  the 
water.— See  Pitcairn's  Criminal  Trials,  i.,  p.  .'fc8 


620  I'AULIAMKNT  MET  AND  DISCUSSING  [book  IV. 

day,  the  Earl  of  Bothwell,  sent,  craving  tliat  they  might  serve 
the  Ciovornor.  The  only  baron  absent  was  the  Earl  of  Argyle, 
who  pled  sickness  ;  but  on  Thursday  he  sent  his  procurator 
and  his  two  uncles  to  make  his  excuse.  In  short,  and  on  the 
same  day,  the  Earl  of  Angus  and  his  brother.  Sir  George,  in 
their  joint  letter  to  Lord  Lisle,  describe  the  assembly  as  "  the 
most  substantial  Parliament  that  ever  was  seen  in  Scotland 
in  any  man's  remembrance,  and  best  furnished  with  all  the 
three  estates ;  the  multitude,  including  their  serving  men, 
being  as  much  as  Edinburirh  and  Leith  could  lodjje."'' 

This  "  substantiar'  Parliament  having:  assembled  on  Mon- 
day  the  1 2th,  on  Tuesday  they  proceeded  to  business,  and  in 
three  days  only  dispatched  the  whole ;  for  though  it  did  not 
rise  till  Saturday,  after  Thursday  there  is  nothing  recorded. 
On  Tuesday,  as  James,  the  Earl  of  Arran,  had  been  chosen 
by  an  inferior  number  of  Lords  only,  he  was  now  ratified  and 
confirmed  by  all  the  three  estates,  as  Governor  and  second 
person  in  the  realm.  On  the  same  day,  Dunbar,  Archbishop 
of  Glasgow,  and  as  Lord  Chancellor,  made  a  motion  as  to  the 
treaty  of  peace  with  England,  and  the  marriage  of  Mary  to 
Edward.  By  Wednesday  they  had  reinstated  the  Earl  of 
Angus  and  his  brother.  Sir  George  Douglas,  in  their  honours 
and  estates,  after  having  been  kept  in  banishment  by  the  late 
King  for  fifteen  years.  But  Thursday,  the  fifteenth,  was  re- 
served for  by  far  the  most  memorable  transaction,  or  rather 
the  only  one,  worthy  of  our  notice. 

On  that  day  a  bill  having  been  presented  by  Lord  Maxwell 
for  allowing  the  Scriptures  to  be  read  hy  all  icithout  any  limita- 
tion, the  Lords  of  the  Articles  found,  because  there  was  no 
law  shewn  or  produced  to  the  contrary,  that  the  same  may  be 
used  by  all  the  lieyes  of  this  realm  in  our  tulyar  tojigue ;  and 
therefore  in  full  Parliament  allowed  the  bill  to  be  read.^  The 
proposer  of  this  measure  was  the  same  man  who  had  been  so 
disappointed  of  command  at  Solway  Moss,  through  the  folly 
or  infatuation  of  the  late  King.  He  was  one  of  those  de- 
scribed by  Arran  as  "  well  minded  towards  God's  word," 
which,  under  the  sway  of  Beaton,  he  "  durst  not  avow ;"  but 
little  could  he  have  imagined  that  in  less  than  three  months, 
his  Sovereign  in  the  grave,  and  the  mighty  Cardinal  in  prison, 

^  State  Papers,  vol.  v.,  p.  2M.  «  Scotish  Acts,  vol.  ii. 


1543.]  THE  READING  OF  THE  SCRIPTURES.  521 

his  next,  or  first  important  step,  would  be  to  move  in  Parlia- 
ment on  such  a  subject.  Maxwell's  visit  to  England  has  been 
loosely  conjectured  to  have  had  some  influence  on  his  mind ; 
but  his  mind,  as  well  as  that  of  many  others  with  him,  had 
been  influenced  for  years  before  they  had  seen  England ;  and 
at  all  events,  his  present  movement  could  not  have  been  in 
obedience  to  any  previous  instructions  received  there,  much 
less  any  engagement.  No,  when  he  departed  from  London, 
leaving  pledge  for  his  return,  if  called  for,  ]Jeaton  was  in  full 
force  as  chief  ruler  of  the  country,  and  no  such  speedy  result 
could  have  been  either  foreseen  or  conjectured.  The  truth  is, 
that  many  others  in  Parliament  were  of  Maxwell's  opinion, 
and  hence  his  success. 

But  was  such  a  proposal  as  this  to  pass,  and  grow  into  the 
shape  of  an  Act  of  Parliament,  without  any  opposition  1  Cer- 
tainly not ;  and  this,  at  the  moment,  formed  part  of  its  value, 
as  a  memorable  occurrence.  It  was  not  within  the  power  of 
these  men,  though  they  had  been  unanimous,  either  to  retard 
or  greatly  further  this  cause.  That  cause  was  now  nearly 
seventeen  years  old,  independently  alike  of  their  aid  or  opposi- 
tion ;  and  it  will  go  on,  when  this  pusillanimous  and  unprin- 
cipled cousin  of  Beaton's,  the  Governor,  has  turned  his  coat, 
and  is  sanctioning  the  bloody  deeds  of  the  Cardinal,  again 
ruling  over  him.  But  in  the  meanwhile,  the  opposition  was 
well  fitted  to  instruct  the  people  at  large,  as  to  who  were  not^ 
and  who  tcere^  the  determined  enemies  of  the  will  of  God  being 
made  known  to  his  creatures.  There  was  therefore  a  select  band 
of  men  in  Parliament  now  in  alarm,  though  only  one,  but  that 
one  unanimously.  We  need  scarcely  name  the  Bishops  and 
their  brethren ;  for  though  the  body  of  the  Cardinal  and 
Legate  had  been  placed  at  a  convenient  distance,  the  animus 
of  his  party  was  present,  and  in  its  full  strength. 

Accordingly  up  rose  Dunbar,  the  Archbishop  and  Lord 
Chancellor,  "  in  his  own  name,  and  in  name  of  all  the  prelates 
of  the  realm  that  were  present,  and  dissented  simpliciter.'''' 
They  now  opposed  the  measure  at  least  "  unto  the  time  that 
a  provincial  council  might  be  had  of  all  the  clergy  of  this 
realm,  to  advise  and  conclude  thereupon,  i/the  same  be  neces- 
sary to  be  had  in  vulgar  tongue,  to  be  used  among  the  Queen's 
lieges  or  not ;  and  thereafter  to  shew  the  utter  determination 
what  shall  be  done  in  that  behalf;    and  thereupon  he  craved 


522  READING  THE  SCRIPTURES  DECLARED         [BOOK  IV. 

instruments."  Tlius  spake  one  of  the  three  estates  in  Parlia- 
iiit'iit  to  a  man,  but  upon  this  day  altoLrcther  in  vain,  as  the 
bill  was  immediatt'ly  pas.sed  into  a  law,  and  in  these  terms: — 

"  It  is  statute  and  ordained  that  it  shall  be  lawful  to  all 
our  Soterc'if/u  Lai)y\s  lief/es  to  have  the  holy  writ.  Loth  the  New 
Testament  ami  the  Old  in  the  vulf/ar  tongue,  in  the  English  or 
Scotish,  of  a  good  and  true  translation,  and  that  they  shall  incur 
no  crimes  fur  the  having  or  reading  of  the  same ;  providing  al- 
ways that  no  man  dispute  or  hold  opinions,  under  the  pains  con- 
tained in  the  Acts  of  Parliament.'''' 

The  party  in  opposition  might  complain,  and  still  decline  to 
say  mass,  nay  even  refuse  to  bury  the  dead,  but  as  soon  as  Par- 
liament had  risen  on  Saturday,  no  time  was  lost  in  proclaim- 
ing to  all  the  people  what  had  been  done.  On  Monday  an 
order  came  from  the  Governor  to  the  Clcrk-Rcgister,  Mr. 
James  Fowles  of  Colinton,  and  proclamation  was  made  at  the 
market-cross  of  Edinburgh  ;  but  this  was  not  sufficient.  Let- 
ters were  sent  off  by  special  messengers,  ordaining  the  Act  to 
be  proclaimed  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  protesting  Arch- 
bishop, in  the  icest — also  in  Dundee  and  Aberdeen,  in  Elgin, 
Forres,  and  Inverness ;  in  Dunfermline  and  Perth  ;  in  Lanark 
and  Dumfries,  Kirkcudbright,  and  Wigtony^ 

It  is  interesting  to  observe  from  the  reasonings  in  Parliament,  that  the 
EngHsh  Scriptures  in  print  had  been  produced  before  the  Assembly ;  when  the 
friends  of  "  the  old  learning"  did  not  deny  but  that  they  might  be  read,  provided 
the  translation  were  true.  It  was  then  demanded  what  fault  could  they  find 
with  it  ?  When  much  search  was  made,  nothing  worthy  of  reprehension  could 
be  found,  but  that  lore,  they  said,  was  put  in  the  place  of  charity,  as  Tyndale 
certainly  had  ti-anslated  from  the  beginning.  When  it  was  asked,  what  differ- 
ence there  was,  and  if  they  understood  the  nature  of  the  Greek  word  Agape, 
{AycfTi)  they  were  diDub.  At  length  the  commissioners  of  burghs  and  part  of  the 
nobility  required  "  that  it  might  be  permitted  to  every  man  to  use  the  benefit  of 
the  trauslat'ton  «f  the  Old  and  New  Testament  uhich  then  they  had — till  the  pre- 
lates and  kirkmen  set  forth  a  translation  more  con-ect ;"  but  which,  it  is  well 
known,  they  never  did.  The  clergy  still  opposed  and  for  a  long  time  ;  but  the 
number  of  voices  prevailed  against  them,  and  so  by  the  Act  of  Parliament,  it 
was  made  free  to  etery  man  or  woman  to  read  the  Scrijytures  in  their  own  or  the 
English  tongue,  and  all  acts  made  to  the  contrary  are  aholished.^o 

There  was  certainly  no  ambiguity  in  this  parliamentary  de- 


9  Lord  Treasurer's  Accounts. 

I"  See  Caldcrwood,  anno  1543.  An  old  Scotish  Chronicler,  Sir  James  Balfour,  has  reported 
one  Friar  Gwilliams  or  Tliomas  Williams,  as  liaving  now  translatid  tlic  New  Testament  into  the 
vulgar  tongue;  but  this  must  be  a  mistake,  jTohablv  arising  from  his  being  zealous  in  the  im. 
jwrldliim  of  tlie  Sacred  Volume.  At  the  same  time  tliiic  is  not  a  vestige  of  proof.  By  other 
historians  he  is  mentioned  only  as  a  prtaelier,  who  was  silenced  and  soon  departed  for  England. 


I5i3.]  LAWFUL  BY  GENERAL  PROCLAMATION.  523 

cision,  nor  any  want  of  vigorous  dispatch  in  sounding  it  out, 
through  the  length  and  hreadth  of  the  hind.  All  of  a  sudden, 
the  trumpet  had  given  a  certain  sound,  from  Wigton  to  In- 
verness, nor  should  it  pass  unnoticed  that  the  voice  of  the 
Scotish  senate  never  was  recalled.  The  act  was  never  repealed, 
nor  was  there  any  haggling  with  the  subject  in  Parliament, 
amidst  all  the  turmoil  of  many  subsequent  years.  The  step, 
taken,  however,  considered  as  a  Parliamentary  one,  becomes 
doubly  striking,  as  soon  as  we  observe  what  was  doing  in 
England  at  the  same  moment.  In  the  northern  part  of  the 
island,  in  one  single  day,  they  had  discussed  and  settled  a 
subject,  on  which  Henry's  obsequious  Parliament  were  deli- 
berating and  disputing  for  weeks,  if  not  months,  together.^'  If 
the  Bishops  of  "  the  old  learning"  were  discomfited  and  down 
in  Scotland,  at  the  same  precious  moment  they  were  up  and 
doing  in  England.  The  English  Convocation  had,  it  is  true, 
been  made  to  feel  and  confess  its  own  impotence,  again  and 
again,  before  this  period ;  but  at  last,  having,  through  its 
organs  in  Parliament,  for  once  got  the  subject  before  the 
Senate,  the}'  succeeded  eflectually  in  befooling  it.  All  their 
proceedings,  however,  it  is  freely  granted,  recoiled  on  the  head 
of  Henry  himself,  who  did  what  he  pleased,  in  a  Parliament 
prostrate  at  his  feet ;  nor  in  referring  to  him,  as  the  sovereign 
agent,  is  it  possible  to  forget  his  course  of  intrigue,  in  Scot- 
land, year  after  year.  Had  he  not  been  prompting  his  nephew, 
James  V.,  for  the  last  seven  years  to  compliance  ?  Nay,  teas- 
ing him  to  admit  the  Scriptures  to  be  read  in  his  kingdom  ? 
How  often  he  had  anxiously  felt  his  pulse  on  this  subject,  we 
need  not  recount ;  but  now  the  Scotish  monarch  is  gone,  and 
the  very  first  Parliament  after  his  decease  has  thus  deter- 
mined, and  so  promptly.  And  what  is  the  still  surviving 
uncle,  Henry  YIIL,  now  doing,  or  what  does  he  say?  Why 
his  Parliament,  after  abundance  of  wrangling  between  Gardi- 
ner and  Cranmer,  have  only  now  discovered  that  "  the  Lord 
Chancellor  of  England,  the  Captains  of  the  wars  and  the 
King's  Justices  may  read  the  Bible  ! — That  any  nobleman,  or 
gentlewoman,  or  merchantman,  being  a  householder,  may  fol- 
low the  example  !     But  that  7io  woman-servant,  no  artificer, 


"  It  was  the  longest  session  in  Henry's  reign,  Parliament  sitting  from  the  22<1  of  January  to 
the  12th  of  Mav. 


.■>24  SCOTLAND  AND  ENGLAND  IN  [boOK  IV. 

710  apprentice,  no  journeyman,  no  husbandman,  no  labourer, 
was  to  read  either  the  New  Ti'stament  or  the  Old,  by  them- 
selves, or  to  any  other,  privately  or  openly,  on  pain  of  one 
month's  imprisonment !  !" 

And  were  these  two  l*arliaments  within  the  compass  of  the 
same  island,  thus  acting,  and  at  the  same  moment?  They 
certainly  were ;  and  for  additional  proof,  the  reader  has  only 
to  refer  to  the  preceding  volume,  under  the  year  1543.  But 
from  the  singular  coincidence  in  point  of  time  and  theme,  with 
the  striking  contrast  in  regard  to  treatment ;  if  it  was  intended 
that  posterity  should  learn  a  lesson  ever  after,  as  to  the  folly 
of  Parliamentary  interference  on  such  a  subject,  we  ask  if  it 
be  possible  to  conceive  of  one  more  decisive  ?  Nor  does  the 
lesson  terminate  here,  Henry  the  Eighth  has  an  ambassador 
on  the  road  to  Scotland,  and  in  proceeding  with  our  narrative, 
we  find  him  arrive  on  the  evening  of  Sunday  the  18th  of 
March,  or  the  day  after  the  Scotish  Parliament  had  risen. 
It  was  Sir  Ralph  Sadler  once  more.  That  evening  he  saw 
the  Governor  at  Holyrood,  and  heard  of  all  the  doings  of  the 
preceding  eventful  Aveek.  Next  day,  when  proclamation  was 
made,  he  had  his  first  deliberate  interview,  and  on  Tuesday 
commenced  his  first  and  long  letter.  By  his  correspondence, 
so  far  as  the  readinfj  of  the  Sacred  Volume  was  concerned,  he 
will  certainly  not  add  to  the  consistency  of  his  Royal  Master's 
character.  For  whatever  they  were  deciding  in  his  English 
Parliament,  as  a  part  of  the  best  news  Sadler  could  convey, 
he  informs  his  Royal  Majesty  personally,  not  indeed  one  syl- 
lable respecting  the  distinction  now  making  in  the  south, 
between  gentlewomen  and  maid-servants,  between  noblemen 
and  labourers,  or  captains  of  the  wars  and  husbandmen ;  but 
that  in  Scotland,  "  the  gospel  was  now  set  forth  in  English, 
and  open  2iroclamations  made  that  it  shall  be  latcfulfor  all  men 
to  read  the  Bible  or  Testament  in  the  mother  tongue^  and  special 
charge  that  no  man  preach  to  the  contrary  on  pain  of  death .'" 
And  by  the  10th  of  April,  that  same  Monarch,  who  was  on 
the  point  of  endeavouring  to  restrain  the  Bible,  threatening 
to  punish  every  soul  among  the  useful  or  working  classes  in 
his  kingdom  for  daring  to  look  between  its  leaves,  was,  in 
order  to  accomplish  his  ambitious  designs  upon  Scotland, 
urging  his  ambassador  there,  respecting  "  the  setting  forth  of 
the  Scriptures!"     Nor  was  this  newly-appointed  Governor 


l.Vl,3.]  CONTRAST  THIS  YEAR.  525 

in  Scotland  far  behind  tlie  English  King.  His  fickleness  had, 
by  this  month,  excited  the  suspicions  of  Sadler ;  but  we  shall 
hear  of  him  presently. 

These  gentlemen,  however,  having  now  chosen  to  say  that 
it  was  lawful  for  "  all  men  to  have  the  holy  writ,  and  to  I'ead 
it,  whether  in  the  New  Testament  or  the  Old  ;"  the  only  ques- 
tion is,  rchere  were  copies,  either  of  the  one  or  the  other,  to 
be  found,  sufficient  to  satisfy  the  demand  ?  Not  a  single  edi- 
tion was  ordered  to  be  put  to  press,  nor  was  there  any  Bible 
to  be  printed  in  Scotland  for  fully  thirty-five  years  to  come. 
Sadler,  it  is  true,  had  written,  at  the  Governor's  request,  for 
certain  copies  to  be  sent,  but  this  was  not  till  a  fortnight  after 
Parliament  had  risen,  nor  can  this  render  the  proclamation 
intelligible.  The  Governor  had  ordered  open  proclamation  to  be 
made,  not  in  Edinburgh  alone,  but  in  all  the  principal  towns 
of  the  kingdom  ;  but  was  this  to  be  regarded  as  no  more  than 
a  liberty  to  read  what  was  no  u'here  to  be  found  ?  This  would 
have  been  nothing  short  of  a  piece  of  mockery.  Here,  there- 
fore at  last  we  meet  with  a  sudden,  but  certainly  no  slight  or 
ambiguous  confirmation  of  our  previous  history.  Long  before 
these  parliamentary  men  had  thus  spoken,  human  authority 
for  such  liberty  had  never  been  consulted.  It  was  now  above 
sixteen  years  since  the  English  New  Testament  at  least  had 
been  in  Edinburgh  and  Leith,  as  well  as  St.  Andrews  and 
Dundee.  Maxwell,  who  had  spoken  in  Parliament,  was  then 
a  much  younger  man  ;  and  it  is  curious  enough  that  at  that 
time,  the  Archbishop  of  St.  Andrews,  the  uncle  of  Beaton, 
should  have  been  a  fugitive  tending  sheep,  under  the  disguise 
of  a  shepherd ;  while,  at  the  present  moment^  the  nephew, 
though  clothed  with  the  highest  pontifical  authority,  was  now 
a  prisoner  in  safe  custody. 

At  the  same  time,  it  should  be  observed,  that  but  for  what 
had  just  occurred,  no  one  could  have  imagined  that  the  import- 
ation of  the  Scriptures  had  been  going  on  to  such  extent ;  and, 
in  a  historical  point  of  view,  it  is  this  which  lends  any  im- 
portance to  the  step  taken  in  Parliament.  It  was  like  the 
drawing  aside  of  a  curtain,  to  let  us  see  what  had  been  accom- 
plished, without  any  human  sanction,  either  asked  or  given  ; 
and  without  the  agency  of  even  one  conspicuous  character,  to 
be  known  in  future  years.     These  proclamations  were  like  so 


526  EXTENT  TO  WHICH  THE  SCRIPTURES         [book  iv. 

many  invitations  for  the  Sacred  Volume  to  be  produced,  if  it 
was  already  in  tlio  country.  The  precious  l)ook  wliich  for  so 
many  years  had  been  read  in  secret,  or  at  midnight  over  the 
houseliold  lamp,  might  now  be  held  up  at  noon  day. 

In  such  a  history  as  the  present,  therefore,  nothing  could 
be  more  desirable  than  to  ascertain  the  precise  extent  of  the 
circulation  of  the  Sacred  Volume,  or  by  whom,  at  this  early 
period,  it  was  actually  and  already  possessed.  Our  authority 
for  this,  is  one  which  will  not  here  be  disputed,  although  he 
was  a  man  of  whom,  till  now,  we  have  had  no  occasion  to  speak. 
Even  at  the  present  moment,  indeed,  he  had  not  yet  declared 
himself  to  be  in  favour  of  the  Scriptures,  About  seventeen 
years  must  elapse  before  he  will  take  up  his  abode  in  Edin- 
burgh, and  at  least  a  few  more  before  he  described  the  fame  of 
1543  ;  for  though  born  in  the  year  1505,  he  had  nearly  reached 
his  fortieth  year  before  his  mind  was  ripe  for  any  decisive 
step.  It  has  been  conjectured,  indeed,  that  about  the  year 
1535,  some  favourable  change  in  his  sentiments  had  com- 
menced ;  but  whatever  these  were,  he  had  not  possessed  suffi- 
cient fortitude  openly  to  profess  them,  nor  to  act  with  decision 
till  about  ten  years  after  that  period.  We  now  allude,  it  may 
be  anticipated,  to  the  well  known  John  Knox, 

If  it  has  hitherto  been  imagined  by  many,  that  there  had 
been  no  vital  and  important  movements  in  Scotland  before  his 
appearance,  the  previous  history  is  left  in  explanation,  and  Knox 
himself  will  now  so  far  draw  aside  the  curtain.  The  positive 
importation  of  the  Sacred  Volume  in  the  language  of  the 
people,  for  at  least  seventeen  years  past,  and  that  till  the  men 
in  power  were  constrained  to  bow  and  acknowledge  it  ;  or  its 
importation  for  about  seventeen  years  more  before  his  settle- 
ment in  Scotland,  he  has  not  interpreted  ;  but  when  sitting 
down  to  review  the  past,  he  had  a  distinct  and  lively  remem- 
brance of  the  memorable  occurrence  in  1543,  Indeed,  such 
an  event  was  well  fitted  to  stimulate  even  the  timid  and  the 
wavering  mind. 

About  six  or  eight  years  had  elapsed  after  Knox''s  settlement 
before  he  commenced  that  history,  the  wdiole  of  which  passes 
under  his  name ;  and  since  by  the  year  1543,  though  not  yet 
decided  in  his  views  of  Divine  truth,  he  must  have  become  no 
unobservant  spectator  of  his  country,  no  man  was  more  able  to 


1543.]  HAD  BEEN  ALREADY  POSSESSED.  527 

narrate  with  fidelity  what  liad  been  so  visible  to  many  eyes. 
Looking  back,  therefore,  about  twenty-five  years,'-  and  speak- 
ing of  the  freedom,  then  at  last  proclaimed,  for  all  to  read  the 
Scriptures,  he  says — "  This  was  no  small  victory  of  Christ  Je- 
sus, fighting  against  the  conjured  enemies  of  his  verity  ;  not 
small  comfort  to  such  as  before  were  holden  in  such  bondage, 
that  they  durst  not  have  read  the  Lord''s  prayer,  the  ten  com- 
mandments, nor  articles  of  their  faith,  in  the  English  tongue, 
but  they  should  have  been  accused  of  heresy.  Then  mkiht  have 
been  seen  the  Bible  lying  upon  almost  every  gentleman  s  table. 
The  New  Testament  teas  borne  about  in  many  mens  hand sT''^^ 

Now,  these  volumes,  of  course,  had  been  in  Scotland  before, 
and  most  of  them  long  before  this  period  ;  otherwise  such  a 
display  could  not  have  been  made,  for  a  very  considerable  time 
to  come  ;  so  that,  up  to  this  period,  the  progress  of  Divine 
truth  had  been  entirely  independent  of  human  approbation,  or 
rather  in  spite  of  human  authority  ;  and  the  cause  will  now 
proceed  as  it  had  done,  whatever  should  occur,  or  whatever  men 
in  power  may  yet  either  say  or  do  to  the  contrary,'* 

The  present  crisis  had  served  to  show  that  Beaton  was 
nothing  more  than  as  "  clay  in  the  hands  of  the  potter  ;"  but 
after  all,  the  triumph  in  its  full  extent,  was  little  more  than  a 
gleam  of  sunshine.  The  parliamentary  "  liberty"  granted,  was 
very  much  akin  to  the  present  Russian  idea  of  that  term. 
There  was  unlimited  freedom  to  have  and  to  read  the  Sacred 
text,  but  none  whatever  to  form  any  opinion,  or,  at  least,  ex- 


'2  From  an  expression  of  Knox  himself,  Dr.  M'Cric,  in  one  place,  supposes  liim  to  have  been 
engaged  with  his  history  in  the  year  1568. 

13  Knox"s  History;  the  first  book  of  which  was  written  by  himself,  the  second,  third,  and 
fourth  from  his  papers,  by  Richard  Bannatyne,  and  the  fifth  by  Mr.  David  Buchanan. 

14  It  has  been  said  that  John  Knox  was  at  St.  Andrews  as  early  as  1528,  nay,  and  a  spectator 
of  the  martyrdom  of  Patrick  Hamilton.  Of  this,  however,  he  has  not  himself  informed  us,  and 
the  fact  yet  remains  to  be  ascertained.  But  whether  he  was  at  Glasgow  or  St.  Andrews,  neither 
the  death  oF  our  proto-Martyr,  nor  the  voice  of  Scton,  nor  the  cruel  usage  of  Ales,  had  made  any 
favourable  impression.  We  have  already  explained  his  earliest  movements  in  connexion  with 
(ieneva,  (see  before  p.  320,  note,)  and  as  connected  with  his  native  land,  we  now  subjoin  other 
particulars.  Called  to  the  work  of  the  ministry  at  St.  Andrews,  in  the  year  1.547,  he  was  soon 
after  carried  out  of  Scotland,  and  did  not  return  to  it  for  above  eight  years.  Remaining  only 
nine  months,  or  from  November  155j  to  July  following,  he  embarked  for  the  Continent,  and  did 
not  return  till  the  2d  of  May  15.5!).  In  1560,  he  was  settled  as  minister  in  Edinburgh.  Thus,  it 
appears,  that  as  the  Scriptures  had  been  reading  for  about  eighteen  years  before  he  declared 
himself,  so  they  continued  to  be  read  for  sixteen  more  before  he  took  up  his  abode  in  the  coun- 
try. In  other  words,  for  a  space  of  time  equal  to  an  entire  generation,  the  Divine  record  had 
been,  first  in  secret,  and  then  more  openly  fulfilling  its  purpose,  at  the  bidding  of  Him  alone, 
who  thus,  so  providentially,  first  gave  it  to  Xorth  Britain.  After  his  final  return,  Knox  i)reached 
his  first  sermon  at  St.  Andrews,  in  June  1559 ;  but  it  is  never  to  be  forgotten,  that  this  was  about 
thirty-three  years  after  the  first  copiesiin  print  of  the  Sacred  Volume  had  arrived  in  that  City,  as 
well  as  at  Edinburgh  ;  nay,  and  twenty  years  after  it  had  been  publicly  announced  that  it  was 
this  which  then  occasioned  all  the  din  andj^la;/  throughout  the  kingdom. 


.028  SINGULAR  KXHIBITION  THIS  YEAU.  [bOOK  IV. 

press  it  I  In  strict  propriety  of  speech,  the  terms  of  the  Act 
were  a  mixture  of  presumption  and  cruelty,  or  of  j)rofanity  and 
persecution  :  of  presumption  in  any  men  taking  it  upon  them 
to  legislate  on  a  subject  so  sacred  ;  of  cruelty,  in  resolving  to 
punisli  their  fellow-subjects  for  their  opinions,  and,  according 
to  the  report  of  Sadler,  with  death  itself. 

The  most  memorable  circumstance  however  was,  what  we 
have  already  hinted,  that  the  Act  never  was  repealed.  As 
it  was  therefore  "  lawful  for  all  men  to  have  the  holy  writ," 
it  never  could  be  illegal  to  import  it,  and  we  have  to  witness 
presently  the  extent  to  which  this  importation  must  have 
gone.  Meanwhile,  and  just  as  if  to  render  all  future  progress 
only  the  more  observable,  the  Regent  of  Scotland,  the  self- 
same governor  who  had  sent  out  these  proclamations,  in  less 
than  six  mouths  had  entirely  changed  his  politics  I  Indeed, 
the  very  next  month  after  Parliament  rose,  he  had  begun  to 
betray  symptoms  of  wavering  ;  and  though  he,  and  some 
others,  had  sold  their  country  for  English  gold,  since  Beaton 
was  once  more  at  liberty,  as  well  as  in  great  wrath  at  what  had 
been  done  while  he  was  in  confinement,  it  will  not  be  long  be- 
fore the  Earl  of  Arran  will  be  entirely  at  his  command.  In 
short,  the  Lords  of  the  "  substantial"  Parliament  were  soon 
at  variance,  and  though  the  treaties  both  of  peace  and  marriage 
with  England,  concluded  at  Greenwich  on  the  1st  of  July, 
were  ratified  by  Arran  on  Friday  the  25th  of  August,  and  at 
the  same  time  he  proclaimed  Beaton  a  traitor ;  in  ten  days 
after,  or  Sunday  the  3d  of  September,  he  threw  himself  into 
the  arms  of  the  Archbishop  !  They  met  at  Callender  House, 
went  together  to  Stirlin*;,  where,  in  the  Franciscan  convent, 
the  Governor  abjured  in  favour  of  "  the  old  learning,"  and  from 
the  man  he  had  imprisoned  in  January,  received  absolution  in 
September  for  all  that  he  had  done  ! 

The  year  1543  is  indeed  a  marked  and  conspicuous  one,  as  having 
been  fatal  to  the  reputation  of  every  sovereign  in  Europe,  with  the  Pon- 
tiff in  the  midst  of  them  all.  Without  exception,  their  characters  suffer- 
ed shipwreck  in  open  day  ;  for  wherever  we  turn  our  eye,  hypocrisy,  how- 
ever shallow,  and  want  of  principle,  are  conspicuous.  Under  our  English 
history,  we  had  occasion  to  glance  at  this  spectacle,  but  it  is  not  un- 
worthy of  being  looked  at  once  more,  now  that  Scotland  also  must  be 
included.  These  rulers  being  all  gathered  before  us,  as  into  one  focus, 
and  at  the  same  time,  renders  the  lesson  more  striking.  It  is  one  which 
was  well  fitted  to  convey  some  lasting  instruction  to  posterity. 


154.3.]  OF  ALL  THE  EUROPEAN  POWERS.  520 

On  looking  abroad,  we  sec  the  King  of  France  standing  before  us,  with 

the  I\mtiff  on  one  side,  and  the  Turk  on  the  other,  in  closest  political 
alliance  ;  and  if  we  ask  for  a  fellow  to  this  picture,  we  have  it  in  the  per- 
son of  our  English  monarch.  There  he  is,  with  the  Emperor,  Charles  V., 
on  one  hand,  and  the  Regent  of  Scotland  on  the  other.  At  this  moment, 
from  political  motives,  and  however  the  Cardinals  at  Rome  might  profess 
to  be  scandalized,  even  to  the  Turk,  the  Pont  iff  h.\\Xis,c\i  was  far  from  being 
inimical  ;  while  he  was  enraged  with  the  Emperor,  now  in  alliance,  offen- 
sive and  defensive,  with  the  condemned  or  anathematized  heretic  sove- 
reign of  England.  The  Emperor,  that  steady  enemy  of  all  change,  or 
of  every  opinion  denounced  as  heretical,  was,  professedly,  no  less  angry 
with  Francis,  because,  as  Charles  himself  expressed  it,  he  "  had  not  de- 
serted Rome,  and  consented  to  a  reformation  according  to  his  promise  !" 
Henry,  greatly  incensed  with  Francis,  for  his  desertion  of  himself,  was,  to 
serve  his  own  ambition,  courting  alliance  with  the  Regent  of  Scotland.  He 
had  been  urging  him,  as  he  had  done  James  V.,  to  "  set  forth  the  Scrip- 
tures "  throughout  all  Scotland,  while,  at  the  same  moment,  he  was  not 
only  restraining  their  perusal,  within  his  own  kingdom,  as  far  as  his  feeble 
power  went  ;  but  was  taking  them  from  all  those  who  had  as  much  need 
to  be  saved,  and  were  as  likely  to  profit,  as  any  "  nobleman,  or  gentle- 
woman, or  captain  of  the  wars,"  in  all  England.  This  was  class  legisla- 
tion with  a  vengeance,  which  soon  fell  upon  his  own  head.  As  for  the 
Governor  of  Scotland,  who  had  first  signed  a  treaty  with  England,  de- 
nouncing Beaton  as  a  traitor,  and  in  ten  days  afterwards  espoused  his 
cause  and  the  French  interest,  he  was  now  preparing,  with  his  cousin, 
the  Cardinal,  to  resist  the  incensed  ambition  of  his  former  ally.  Henry's 
voice  was  now  for  war,  and  in  Scotland  war  to  the  knife  ;  so  that  the  same 
English  monarch  who,  this  year,  had  been  professing  to  Scotland  such 
zeal  for  the  Scriptures,  by  the  next  had  given  orders  to  "  beat  down  and 
overthrow  the  castle  of  Edinburgh,  to  burn  and  sack  the  capital,  with 
Holyrood  and  Leith,  and  the  villages  around,  putting  man,  woman,  and 
child  to  the  sword,  without  exception  !  To  overthrow  St.  Andrews  so  as  the 
upper  stone  may  be  the  nether,  and  not  one  stick  stand  by  another  !" 
To  lay  waste  the  country  with  fire  and  sword  ! 

Thus,  glaringly,  did  all  those  men,  whether  at  home  or  abroad,  re- 
move everything  sacred  or  praiseworthy  far  from  them,  and  probably 
the  most  consistent  man  among  them  all  was  the  Grand  Turk  ;  but  cer- 
tainly it  has  been  a  strange  perversion,  in  too  many  historians,  to  men- 
tion the  sacred  name  of  Christianity,  or  the  Sacred  Volume,  in  connexion 
with  any  one  of  these  rulers  ;  as  though  he  cared  for  either  the  one  or 
the  other.  No  injury  to  the  reader  can  be  greater  than  that  of  con- 
founding the  history  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  or  the  Christianity  of  the 
Scriptures,  with  such-men.     It  was  God  ruling  in  the  midst  of  his  ene- 

VOL.  II.  2  L 


.-■,30  THE  MARTYRS  AT  PERTH.  [UOOK  IV. 

mics,  uikI,  with  logard  to  his  own  cause,  most  evidently  holding  them  all 
in  derision. 

Turning  away  from  this  conspicuous  display  of  liunian  de- 
pravity, there  is  hut  little  more  to  add,  than  that  the  King  in 
Euirland,  and  the  Cardinal  in  Scotland,  who  hated  each  other 
with  a  perfect  hatred,  were  now  alike  hastening  to  their  ruin, 
and  to  die  within  eight  months  of  each  other.  Beaton  once 
more  in  possession  of  unlimited  power,  was  sure  to  take  ad- 
vantage of  the  word  opinions^  so  strangely  inserted,  like  a  sting 
in  the  tail  of  the  late  Act  of  Parliament ;  and  with  this  pre- 
cious Governor  at  his  feet,  he  took  him  forth  in  154o,  as  he 
had  formerly  done  James  V.,  to  witness  and  sanction  his  mur- 
ders. To  say  nothing  of  those  who  were  hanished,  these 
amounted  to  at  least  seven  in  number,  and  through  theCardi- 
naFs  influence,  it  is  worthy  of  remark,  partook  of  a  new  cha- 
racter. It  had  been  the  practice  of  that  community  to  which 
he  belonged,  to  burn  people  to  ashes  for  their  opinions  ;  but 
whether  it  was  cowardice  in  Beaton  that  he  durst  not  do  this, 
or  rather  cunning,  that  he  might  identify  the  State  with  what 
he  did ;  yet  so  it  was,  that  of  five  persons  put  to  death  at 
Perth,  four  were  hanged,  and  one  was  drowned.  The  last  was 
a  female,  the  first  and  only  martyr  of  that  sex  of  which  we 
read.  She  was  the  wife  of  one  of  the  sufferers,  with  an  infant 
at  her  breast,  who,  before  she  was  thrown  into  the  water,  gave 
the  infant  to  another,  and  expressed  great  joy  in  following  her 
husband  to  a  better  world.'-'  A  sixth  individual,  a  priest,  John 
Rogers,  is  said  to  have  been  dispatched  within  the  Castle  of 
St.  Andrews,  or  thrown  over  the  wall,  so  as  to  occasion  his 
death  ;  but  the  only  instance  of  death  by  ^r^  was,  conspicuous- 
ly, Beaton's  own  act,  shortly  before  his  own  murder.  This  was 
George  Wishart,  whose  martyrdom,  on  the  1st  of  March  1546, 
is  to  be  found  in  our  general  histories,  taken  in  connexion  with 
the  Government  state  papers  and  manuscripts,  but  recently  pub- 
lished. One  point  only  is  deserving  of  notice  here,  as  illustra- 
tive of  the  pinnacle  on  which  Beaton  stood,  just  before  he  was 
thrown  down  or  slain  within  his  own  strong  castle,  while  in  the 
act  of  rendering  it  stronger  still.    This  is  to  be  seen  in  the  inso- 


'5  The  names  ofthcse  worthy  citizens  of  Perlli  were— William  Anderson,  Robert  Lamb,  James 
Ronald,  James  Finlayson,  and  his  wife  Helen,  formerly  named  Stark. 


1543.]  THE  DEATH  OF  CARDINAL  BEATON.  501 

lence  with  which  lie  tratnplecl  on  his  victim,  the  (jrov(;nu)r,  ;iii(l 
now  treated  his  authority.  Arran  had  advised  delay,  and  tliat 
the  cause  of  Wishart  should  be  thoroughly  examined,  intima- 
ting that  if  the  Cardinal  acted  with  precipitation,  the  blood  of 
this  man  would  be  required  at  his  hands.  However  deeply 
chagrined  at  this  message,  Beaton  coolly  replied,  "  that  he  had 
not  written  to  him  about  this  matter,  as  supposing  himself  to 
bo  any  way  dependent  upon  his  authority,  but  from  a  desire  that 
the  prosecution  and  conviction  of  heretics  might  have  a  shoio 
of  public  consent !  But  since  he  could  not  obtain  it,  ho  would 
proceed  in  that  way  which  to  Mm  appeared  to  be  most 
proper  I"^^  He  did  proceed,  and  shortly  after  followed  to  his 
own  judgment  in  another  world.  His  death  by  violence,  which 
took  place  on  the  morning  of  the  29th  of  May  1-546,  may  be 
traced  to  the  long  cherished  desire  of  Henry  YIIL,  so  well 
known  by  his  agents  at  the  time ;  or  to  the  violent  existing 
quarrel  between  Norman  Lesly,  Master  of  Rothes,  and  the 
Cardinal,  respecting  a  piece  of  land,  heightened,  no  doubt,  by 
his  treatment  of  Wishart ;  but  the  event  was  nothing  more 
than  might  have  been  expected,  while  it  is  impossible  to  over- 
look the  circumstance,  that  the  man  who  would  not  allow 
another  to  be  deliberately  and  legally  tried,  was  himself  put 
to  death,  without  trial  or  ceremony  of  any  kind. 

To  return,  however,  from  this  slight  anticipation  of  our  nar- 
rative. It  is  here  that  the  necessity  for  following  out  the  his- 
tory of  Scotland,  in  any  point,  save  one,  comes  to  an  end. 
To  many  readers  this  assertion  may  appear  not  a  little  extra- 
ordinary, but  such  is  the  fact ;  that  thus  early,  in  North  Bri- 
tain, so  far  as  the  Sacred  Scriptures  are  concerned,  we  are  re- 
lieved from  all  necessity  for  any  reference  to  politics  or  political 
men,  or  almost  any  allusion  to  what  has  been  styled  either 
Church  or  State.  This  is  a  peculiarity  in  Scotish  history,  as 
yet  observed  by  very  few  readers  of  the  Bible,  either  there  or 
elsewhere,  and  it  remains  to  be  explained. 


'6  And  therefore  without  any  "  show  of  public  consent."  Could  he  only  have  obtained  this, 
he  mipht  have  yielded  to  the  Governor  so  far  as  to  have  hanged  Wishart,  instead  of  committing 
him  to  the  flames,  just  as  he  had  already  done  with  the  victims  at  Perth  ;  but  in  such  acourse, 
the  Governor,  advised,  or  rather  overawed  by  the  advice  and  solemn  warning  of  David  Hamil- 
ton, the  Laird  of  Preston,  would  yield  consent  to  Beaton  no  longer. 


>S2  SCOTLAND  SINGULARLY  SUPFLIKl)  [book  IV. 


QUEEN   MARY,  JAMES    VI.,   TO  THE 
COMMONWEALTH. 

FROM  1543  TO  1050 — SINCULAK  IIISTOKY  OF  THE  SCUIPTURF.S  IN  SOOT- 
LAND,  DUniNO  THIS  ENTIRE  PERIOD — NOT  SUPPLIED  FROM  ITS  OWN 
NATIVE  PRESS,  BUT  BY  IMPORTATION,  FOR  MORE  THAN  A  HUNDRED 
YEARS — STATE  OF  LITERATURE  AND  EDUCATION — THE  APOOUYPHA. 

THE  PRESENT  VERSION  OF  THE  BIBLE  BECOME  THE  ONLY  ONE  IN  USE,  AND 
AT  A  PERIOD  INDISPUTABLY  SIGNIFICANT  OF  DIVINE  SUPERINTENDENCE 
OVER  THE  ENTIRE  KINGDOM. 

>HOM  the  year  1543,  and  for  more  than  tliree  sueces-sive 
generations^  the  history  of  the  English  Bible  north  of 
the  Tweed,  is  of  a  very  marked  or  memorable  charac- 
ter, and  peculiar  to  Scotland  among  all  the  other  nations  of 
Europe.  Certainly  not  one  of  them  has  the  same  story  to  tell. 
Throughout,  it  forms  a  remarkable  continuation  of  that  inde- 
pendence  of  human  patronage,  which  has  been  so  steadily 
repudiated  from  the  beginning ;  while  no  country  has  been 
more  signally  indebted  to  the  gracious  providence  of  God. 

In  154)3,  when  it  was  first  proclaimed  to  be  lawful  to  peruse 
the  Scriptures,  although  they  had  been  reading  in  secret  for 
fully  sixteen  years,  it  is  to  be  observed  that  no  edition  of  the 
Bible  entire,  or  of  the  New  Testament  separately,  was  ordered 
to  be  printed.  Cardinal  Beaton  having  immediately  regained 
his  authority,  such  a  proposal  was  not  to  be  whispered  for  a 
moment.  But  as  he  was  removed  by  death  only  three  years 
after,  this  will  not  account  for  its  being,  not  three,  or  five, 
but  thirty-five  years,  before  any  Bible  was  issued  from  the 
Scotish  press !  This,  too,  was  in  folio,  nor  did  a  second 
edition  follow,  and  of  the  same  unwieldy  character,  till  1610, 
or  above  thirty  years  more  had  passed  away.  Nay,  only  the 
third  edition,  and  at  last  in  the  octavo  size,  did  not  appear 
till  the  year  1633 ;  or  ninety  years  from  the  day  on  which  it 
was  said  to  be  lawful  to  hare  and  to  read  the  Bible  in  Eng- 
lish !  There  was  then  also  a  fourth  edition,  in  1637,  and 
one  in  duodecimo  next  year.  Thus  it  was,  that  for  more 
than  a  hundred  years,  or  a  space  of  time  equal  to  that  of 
three  jjenerations,  there  were  no  more  than  five  editions  of  the 


lo'1.3-l(iJ0.]  WITH  THE  SACRED  SCRIPTURES.  533 

Bible  issued  from  the  printing  presses  in  the  country  ;  not  to 
say  that  tAvo  of  these  were  in  folio,  no  size  even  approaching 
to  that  which  the  people  required,  having  made  its  appear- 
ance till  so  late  as  1633.  The  first  pocket  Bible  was  not 
printed  till  1638. 

Such  then  was  the  condition  of  our  Scotish  ancestors,  so 
far  as  their  own  natite  press  was  concerned.  No  Bible,  even 
so  convenient  as  that  of  an  octavo  size,  had  been  printed  in 
Scotland,  for  the  use  of  the  community,  till  one  hundred 
and  seven  years  after  the  New  Testament  of  Tyndale  had 
been  first  conveyed  to  Edinburgh  and  St.  Andrews,  as  well 
as  other  ports. ^  What  then  had  become  of  the  people  at 
large  ?  Had  they  been  left  destitute  of  the  book  of  life  to 
such  an  extent  as  this,  and  for  an  entire  century  after  it  first 
reached  their  shores  I  Far,  very  far  from  it.  In  proportion 
to  its  population,  perhaps  in  no  other  country  had  it  been 
more  generally  possessed,  if  not  eagerly  perused  ;  and  the  ex- 
planation will  afi'ord  us  now  in  review,  one  of  the  most  signal 
displays  of  the  goodness  of  God  to  our  northern  ancestors. 
Once  pointed  out,  it  certainly  will  be  difficult  for  the  present 
generation  to  escape  from  the  obligation  to  send  the  Sacred 
Volume  over  sea  and  land  to  other  nations. 

The  very  commencement  of  this  long  period  was  auspicious 
for  Scotland.  It  should  not  be  forgotten,  that,  as  soon  as  the 
Earl  of  Arran  was  overruled  to  make  his  proclamations 
throughout  the  country,  no  trifling  display  was  given  of  the 
Scriptures  having  been  already  there,  and  to  an  extent  which 
could  not  have  been  imagined.  But  at  the  same  moment, 
Henry  in  England  had  frowned  on  the  general  perusal  of  the 
Sacred  Volume,  because,  as  it  has  been  said,  "  he  being  now 
to  go  abroad,  upon  a  weighty  expedition  to  France,  thought 
it  convenient  to  leave  his  subjects  at  home  as  easy  as  might 
be."  This  frown,  though  it  was  disregarded  by  many,  even 
in  England,  must  have  been  quite  in  favour  of  Scotish  usage. 
Whatever  supernumerary  copies  there  were,  might  have  been 
sent  down  to  the  north,  where  Henry  had  no  objection  that 
the  subjects  should  be  as  little  at  ease  as  possible.  The  prin- 
ters in  England  must  have  been  perfectly  aware  of  the  crooked 


1  Ouc  edition  had  been  printed,  it  is  true,  but  at  Dort,  by  Hart  and  Charteris,  expressly  for 
Scotland,  in  ICUl,  to  be  afterwards  mentioned,  but  this  ranks  with  the  other  imported  editions. 


031-  TllK  I'KOI'LK  DISTINGUISHED  [hook  IV. 

policy  ol'  tlieir  Sovereign,  iiiid,  from  solt'-intorcst,  would  act 
ai'C()i(liii<;ly.  Not  only  the  Bible,  but  what  Sadler  styles 
''  lu.s  Majesty's  books  of  religion,"  Henry  was  eager  should 
now  be  road  in  the  North,  and  by  the  month  of  August,  or 
just  before  the  llegent  liad  turned  his  coat,  his  Majesty  had 
been  personally  anxious  to  know  hotc  they  were  "  liked"  there. 
The  distinction  drawn,  in  reply,  between  them  and  the  Scrijj- 
tures,  should  not  be  overlooked.  Although  the  gentlemen  of 
the  old  learning  were,  says  Sadler,  "  well  pleased  with  the 
restraint  of  the  Scriptures  in  England,  and  yet  would  have 
liked  it  much  better,  if  it  had  been  generally  restrained  from 
all  sorts,"  there  was  another  class  "  much  offended  with  the 
same ;"  while,  at  the  same  moment,  the  "  books  of  religion," 
so  called,  the  ambassador  confesses  were  "  not  much  liked  by 
any  party,"  and  as  for  the  Governor  or  Regent,  he  did  not 
desire  "  to  have  any  more  of  them." 

Beaton,  it  is  granted,  might  prevail  with  the  Regent  to 
discountenance  the  circulation  of  the  Scriptures,  but  Provi- 
dence soon  found  him  enough  to  do,  whether  in  maintaining 
his  seat,  or  providing  for  his  own  safety.  Besides,  he  died  in 
the  short  space  of  three  years  ;  and  as  the  first  Bible  printed 
on  Scotish  ground  was  not  published  till  the  year  1579,  or 
seven  years  after  the  death  of  Knox ;  not  to  say  that  this  was 
in  folio,  and  appointed  to  be  sold  for  the  sum  of  oC4,  13s.  4d., 
or  seven  marks ;  how,  all  this  time,  had  it  fared  with  the 
people,  or  the  thousands  who,  even  now,  could  afibrd  no  such 
sum  ?  It  may  indeed  appear  scarcely  credible,  but  by  even 
this  early  period  it  comes  out,  that  the  Sacred  V  olume  in  tho 
vulgar  tongue,  was  almost  in  every  house  I  A  better  testimony 
to  the  truth  of  this  fact  could  not  be  desired,  since  it  is  to 
be  found  in  the  Dedication  to  James  VI.  of  this  first  Bible. 
After  acknowledging  the  "  great  occasion"  they  had  "  to 
glorify  the  goodness  of  God  towards  their  country,"  the 
Assembly  addressing  the  King  exclaims — 

"  0  what  difference  may  be  seen  between  these  days  of  light,  when  almost  in 
every  private  house  the  Book  of  God's  Law  is  read,  and  understood  in  our  ridijar 
tonr/ue,  and  tliat  age  of  darkness,  when  scarcely  in  a  whole  city,  (without  the 
cloisters  of  monks  and  friars,)  could  tho  13ook  of  God  once  be  found,  and  that  in 
a  strange  tongue  of  Latin,  not  good,  but  mixed  with  barbarity  ;  used  and  read 
by  few,  and  almost  understood  or  cxponed  by  none  ;  and  when  tlie  false  named 
clergy  of  this  realm,  abusing  the  gentle  nature  of  your  Highness'  most  noble 
goodsire,  of  worthy  memory,  made  it  a  capital  crime,  to  be  punished  with  the 


1543-1050.]  AS  NEW  TESTAMENTERS.  535 

fire,  to  have  or  read  the  New  Testament  in  the  vulgar  hvnguagc  ;  and  to  make 
them  to  all  men  more  odious,  as  if  it  had  been  the  detestable  name  of  a  perni- 
cious sect,  they  were  named  New  TestameiNteus."-  And  certaiidy,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  Clirhtian  itself,  a  more  honourable  appellative,  by  way  of  reproach, 
was  never  bestowed  on  the  people  of  any  country. 

The  fact  was,  that  the  folio  Bible  now  published  was  in- 
tended chiefly  "  to  the  end,  that  in  every  parisli  kirk  there 
should  be  at  least  one  kept,  to  be  called  '  the  common  book  of 
the  kirk,"*  as  a  most  meet  ornament  for  such  a  place,  and  a  per- 
petual register  of  the  Word  of  God,  the  fountain  of  all  true 
doctrine,  to  be  made  patent  to  all  the  people  of  every  congre- 
gation, as  the  ONLY  ri^ht  rule  to  direct  and  govern  them  in 
matters  of  religion,  as  also  to  confirm  them  in  the  truth  re- 
ceived, and  to  reform  and  redress  corruptions,  whensoever 
they  may  creep  in." 

But  still  the  question  returns — How  had  the  Sacred  Volume 
found  its  way  into  so  many  private  families  ?  There  was  no 
word  of  command  from  rulers,  no  voice  of  human  authority, 
and  yet  still,  from  the  beginning,  or  for  fifty  years  past,  from 
time  to  time,  the  Word  of  God  had,  it  is  evident,  come  into 
the  country.  There  was  no  such  thing  once  thought  of  then 
as  gratuitous  distribution.  The  people  desired  to  have  the 
Book  of  God,  and  must  have  gladly  paid  the  price,  but  it  came 
to  them  actually  terra  marique,  over  land,  nay,  and  over  sea. 
They  were  supplied  not  only  from  England,  but  from  the 
printing  presses  of  Holland,  as  they  continued  to  be  from  both 
countries,  for  more  than  half  a  century  to  come.  Hence  the 
next  edition  executed  in  Scotland  was  still  a  folio,  and  not 
printed  till  1610,  or  only  a  few  months  before  our  present 
version ;  the  first  edition  of  that  version  not  appearing  till 
1633,  and  the  first  pocket  Bible  not  till  five  years  later.     In 


2  See  the  dedication  to  what  is  commonly  styled  Bassandyne's  Bible,  for  the  original  ortho- 
graphy. While  this  Bible  was  printing,  or  in  1578,  the  Assembly  had  come  to  the  following 
among  other  conclusions,  which  were  inserted  in  their  records  the  second  year  after  it  was  pub- 
lished, or  in  151il. — "  The  power  ecclesiastical  floweth  immediately  from  God  and  the  mediator 
Jesus  Christ,  and  is  spiritual,  not  havlmja  temporal  Head  on  the  cartli,  but  only  Christ,  iha onli/ 
spiritual  King  and  Governor  of  his  Kirk." — "  Therefore  this  power  and  policy  of  the  Kirk  should 
lean  upon  the  Word  immcdiatcli/,  as  the  only  ground  thereof;  and  should  be  taken  from  the 
pure  fountains  of  the  Scriptures,  the  Kirk  hearing  the  voice  of  Christ  the  only  sjiiritual  King,  and 
being  ruled  by  his  laws."—"  It  is  proper  to  Kings,  Princes,  and  Magistrates,  to  be  called  lords 
and  dominators  over  their  subjects,  whom  they  govern  cii'illt/:  but  it  is  proper  to  Christ  only  to 
be  called  Lord  and  Master  in  the  spiritual  government  of  the  Kirk  ;  and  all  others  that  bear 
office  therein,  ought  not  to  usurp  dominion,  nor  be  called  lords,  but  only  ministers,  disciples,  and 
servants.  For  it  is  Chuist's  proper  office  to  command  and  rule  his  Kirk  universal,  and  every 
particular  Kirk,  througli  his  Spirit  and  yVord,  by  the  ministry  of  men. 


Jim  lUL  MUST  lillil.K  [book  IV. 

this  point  of  view,  certainly  no  utiicr  j)C'(t|)U'  in  Europe  can 
look  hack  to  such  a  century.^ 

After  this  wo  need  not  repeat  that  the  course  pursued  hy 
an  indulgent  Providence  was  one,  in  no  sense  relying  on  the 
patronage  or  power  of  the  authorities  in  Scotland  ;  hut  this 
fact  will  become  still  more  striking  if  we  now  glance  at  the 
history  of  these  two  folio  Bibles,  printed  in  the  country  itself. 

The  first  intimation  of  any  printer  in  Scotland  obtaining  a  direct 
license  to  publish  any  part  of  the  Scriptures  in  the  vernacular  tongue 
is  dated  22d  March  1064.  This  license  was  nothing  more  than  what 
was  customary  with  relation  to  every  other  book,  but  there  is  not  even 
the  shadow  of  proof  that  any  part  was  ever  put  to  press,  a  circumstance 
rendered  next  to  certain  from  what  followed.  Four  years  after  this,  or 
14th  April  15G8,  Robert  Lekprevik,  the  printer  referred  to,  was  licensed 
to  print  the  translation  commonly  called  the  Geneva  Bible  ;  and  as  this 
right  was  declared  to  be  for  twenty  years,  although  importation  was  not 
prohibited,  since,  from  printing  the  Bible,  every  other  person  in  Scot- 
land was,  what  hope  was  there  that  there  would  be  an  edition  by 
Lekprevik,  or  by  any  other  man,  before  the  year  1588  ?  Certainly  none. 
Lekprevik,  too,  let  it  be  observed,  had  been  constituted  "  King's  Printer" 
three  months  before  his  license  ;  and  in  the  course  of  business  printed 


3  How  many  editions  of  the  EiiRlish  Bible  were  thus  printed  beyond  seas,  whether  for  South 
or  North  Britain,  it  is  impossible  to  say,  as,  with  a  few  exceptions,  they  had  the  iMtidon  imprint, 
and  can  only  be  detected  by  an  experienced  eye,  but  that  there  were  many  thousands  is  well 
known.  At  first,  some  of  these  editions  may  have  been  undertaken  with  the  concurrence  of  the 
English  patentee,  if  not  at  his  expense,  but,  in  the  end,  the  Dutch  were  reading  a  severe  lecture 
to  this  country,  on  the  superiority  of  cumjielition  to  monoiioly.  The  workmanship  in  Holland 
had  become  of  a  superior  character,  and  threatened  to  carry  the  printing  of  Bibles  out  of  the 
kingdom.  Hence  the  language  of  Laud  already  quoted:— "<Ae  books  that  came  from  thtna 
tare  better  print,  better  bound,  Ixtter  iiaper,  and  for  alt  the  charges  of  bringing,  sold  tietlerclicap." 
A  free  pressat  home  would  have  effectually  met  this  grievance,  while  at  thesame  time  the  course 
pursued  by  Holland,  in  this,  as  in  every  other  department,  may  well  serve  as  a  warning  to  any 
people  against  aunnc*.  The  object  of  her  people  was  to  acquire,  never  to  dispense;  and  thev 
sought  to  gather  wealth  in  every  possible  direction.  Though  they  grew  no  timber,  yet  they,  at 
last,  used  more  ships  than  almost  all  the  rest  of  Europe  put  together,  and  certainly  never  any 
country  traded  so  much,  and  consumed  so  little.  They  had  no_/f<Jur  of  their  own  growth,  yet  made 
the  finest  linen  in  the  world  ;  grew  no  tvaol,  yet  made  immense  quantities  of  good  cloth.  "  Thev 
are,"  said  Sir  William  Temple,  "  They  are  the  great  masters  of  Indian  spices  and  Persian  silks, 
yet  wear  plain  woolen,  and  feed  on  their  own  fish  and  roots.  They  sell  the  finest  of  their  own 
cloth  to  France,  and  buy  coarse  cloth  out  of  England  for  their  own  wear.  They  send  abroad 
the  best  of  their  own  butter,  and  buy  the  cheapest  out  of  Ireland  and  the  north  of  England  for 
their  own  use.  In  short,  they  furnish  infinite  luxury,  which  they  never  practise,  and  traffic  in 
pleasures  which  they  never  taste."  And  what  ensued  after  all  ?  Why  should  the  "  High  and 
Might)/,"  as  they  styled  themselves,  ever  come  to  petition  as  "  the  jioor  and  oppressed  States 
of  Holland  ?"  Let  a  nation  fall  into  the  |>arsimonious  and  hoarding  course  of  the  solitary  miser, 
its  downfall  is  certain.  Of  nations,  as  well  as  individuals,  it  is  true  that  "there  is  that  scattereth, 
and  yet  increa.seth ;  there  is  that  withholdeth  more  than  is  meet,  and  it  tendeth  to  poverty." 
If  the  cyesof  England,  <i*  a  nation,  therefore,  be  open,  she  must  sec  that  her  only  safety  now 
depends  upon  herbeing  not  only  just,  but  ginerous — generous  as  a  nation  towards  other  nations. 
Sympathy  is  a  talent,  and  when  possessed  by  a  nation,  one  of  the  strongest  guarantees  for  its 
own  prosperity  and  peace,  when  laws,  and  human  policy,  or  grasping  avarice,  arc  alike  in  vain. 


1543-1650.]  PRINTED  IN  SCOTLAND.  537 

books  at  Edinburgh,  St.  Andrews,  and  Stirling,  but  still,  from  whatever 
cause,  and  although  licensed,  he  never  printed  a  Bible  at  all  !  What 
was  the  precise  value  implied  in  the  title  or  office  of  "  King's  Printer" 
at  that  period  has  never  been  ascertained,  but  whatever  it  was,  the 
Scriptiu-es  were  to  be  printed  independently  of  that  office.  It  so  hap- 
pened, that  in  1574,  this  King's  printer  had  published,  without  license, 
"  A  Dialogue  between  a  Clerk  and  a  Courtier,  in  verse,  to  the  reproach 
and  slander  of  our  Sovereign  Lord's  Regent."  He  fell  under  the  dis- 
pleasure of  the  Government,  and  for  some  time  was  confined  in  Edin- 
burgh castle.  He  may  then  have  forfeited  his  office,  though  he  con- 
tinued to  print  for  many  years  after.  But,  at  all  events,  soon  after  Lek- 
previk  had  lost  favour,  the  printing  of  the  Scriptures  was  to  be  taken 
up  in  good  earnest,  and  by  a  man  who  was  not  now  the  King's  printer, 
nor  ever  was. 

This  first  Bible,  therefore,  and  in  folio,  appeared  at  last.  It  is  a  verbatim 
reprint  of  the  Geneva  translation  of  1 561,  or  that  book  which  we  have 
already  referred  to  as  promoted  by  the  father  of  Sir  Thomas  Bodley, 
only  it  is  more  correct.  Like  the  first  Bible  of  1537  for  England,  by 
Grafton  and  Whitchurch,  this,  therefore,  was  a  personal  enterprise,  ori- 
ginating with  two  men,  burgesses  of  Edinburgh,  Thomas  Bassandyne  and 
Alexander  Arbuthnot ;  the  latter,  it  should  seem,  the  man  of  most  sub- 
stance, the  former,  a  printer  by  profession.  Bassandyne,  a  native  of 
Scotland,  had  gone  first  to  Paris  and  then  to  Leyden,  where  he  acquired 
the  art  of  printing,  and  returning  to  his  own  country,  had  already  begun 
business  for  some  time,  in  the  Netherbow  of  Edinburgh.  He  commenced 
now  with  the  New  Testament,  which  was  finished,  and  dated  1576,  but 
its  issue  had  been  hindered  or  delayed  till  the  Old  was  completed,  in 
three  years  after,  or  1579.  By  about  this  time  Bassandyne  died,  and 
the  book  was  published  with  Arbuthnot's  name  only  at  the  beginning. 
It  had  been  finished  in  July,  and  in  six  weeks  after,  having  applied 
to  the  Pri^^  Council  for  a  license,  as  it  was  necessary  for  all  other  books, 
he  obtained  one,  and  at  the  same  time  also  the  title  of  King's  Printer.' 
It  is  therefore  entitled 

"  The  Bible  and  Holy  Scriptures  contained  in  the  Old  and  Newe  Testament. 
Printed  at  Ediubm'gh  be  Alexander  Arbuthnot,  Printer  to  the  King's  Majestic, 
dwelling  at  the  Kirk  of  Field.  1579.  Cum  gratia  et  privilegio  regia;  Majes- 
tatis."^ 

It  will  be  remembered  that  this  was  a  Bible  not  for  general  use  at 
home,  but  for  the  "  Kirk,"  wherever  it  was  ;  and  it  deserves  notice,  that 
a  large  proportion  of  the  money  requisite  for  the  work  was  furnished 


<  Hence  it  appears  as  if  Lekprevik  liatl  lost  the  office  in  1574. 

s  This  last  phrase  is  not  to  be  understood  as  denoting  any  privilege  either  peculiar  to  the  book 
itself,  or  to  Arbuthnot.  It  was  common  to  other  books,  to  almost  all,  as  well  as  used  by  the 
other  printers. 


r>3H  THE  SECOND  IJIULK  [boOK  IV. 

white  it  was  printing  ;  not,  however,  out  of  the  public  purse,  but  by  con- 
tribution of  the  parishioners,  through  their  ministers,  whether  bishops, 
superintendents,  or  visitors.  It  was,  in  fact,  a  present  from  the  people 
to  their  respective  places  of  worship,  and  tvs  a  proof  of  their  zealous  de- 
sire it  deserves  to  be  recorded,  that  in  many,  if  not  iu  most  instances, 
the  money  was  furnished  about  three  years  before  the  Bibles  were  fully 
delivered. 

It  was  not  till  thirty-one  years  after,  as  before  mentioned,  that  the 
next,  or  second  Bible  printed  in  Scotland,  appeared,  from  the  press  of 
Andrew  Hart,  dated  1610.  This  much  admired  folio  carries  equal  evi- 
dence of  its  being  an  independent  personal  undertaking.  Hart,  as  already 
stated,  was  not  the  King's  printer  now,  nor  ever  was  ;  but  it  is  curious 
enough  that  he  published  this  book  in  the  face  of  Robert  Charteris,  then 
printer  to  his  INIajesty,  who,  in  June  1606,  had  received  a  special  license 
for  twenty-five  years,  to  print  Bibles  in  the  vulgar  tongue  ;  but,  like  his 
predecessor  before  Bassaudyue's  time,  he  ucver  printed  even  one  solitary 
edition. 

Here,  then,  was  an  exact  repetition  of  what  occurred  before,  as  to 
Lekprevik,  the  royal  printer.  In  this  final  instance,  like  many  preceding 
throughout  this  history,  it  must  now  appear  that  the  Sacred  Volume  was 
a  subject,  with  which  royalty,  for  the  sake  of  its  own  consistency,  should 
have  been  cautious  of  intermeddling.  Touching  with  it  had  invariably 
elicited  j^ersomd  character.  Thus,  the  solitary  Bible  printed  in  his 
own  country,  while  James  VI.  was  yet  a  boy  of  thirteen,  had  been  the 
Geneva  translation,  and  under  every  sermon  to  which  he  had  ever 
listened,  for  more  than  twenty  years,  this  was  the  Bible  from  which  the 
text  was  read  ;  but  once  so  elated  with  being  James  I.  of  England,  of 
this  version  in  1 603,  he  had  chosen  to  express  his  opinion  very  contempt- 
uously. Now,  however,  it  comes  out,  that  three  years  afterwards,  and 
while  the  Scriptures  were  actually  under  revision  in  England,  like 
Ilenry  VIIL,  who,  at  the  same  moment,  could  speak  one  way  in  England 
and  another  in  Scotland,  James  followed  his  example ;  and  Robert 
Charteris,  the  royal  printer,  and  Thomas  Finlason,  were  licensed  at 
Edinburgh,  on  the  17th  of  June,  1606,  to  print  Bibles  in  the  vulgar 
tongue,  where  only  the  Geiuva  would  sell.  So  far  as  James's  license 
went,  indeed,  this  signified  nothing,  for  nothing  followed  ;  neither  Char- 
teris or  Finlason  ever  printed  the  Scriptures,  while  Hart,  well  knoAv- 
ing,  though  the  sovereign  had  spoken  out,  that  his  customers  in  Scotland 
thought  for  themselves,  published  his  Bible.  So  admired  was  it,  and  for 
so  long,  that  a  veiy  fine  edition  was  printed  by  an  Englishman,  Thomas 
Stafford,  at  Amsterdam,  as  late  as  the  year  1040,  claiming  this  distinc- 
tion on  its  title,  "  conform  to  the  edition  printed  by  Andrew  Hart." 
This  book  was  no  doubt  intended  for  the  British  market,  being  folio,  and 
it  conveys  a  proof  that  the  Geneva  was  still  reading  even  in  public 


1543-1()'J0.]  PRINTED  IX  SCOTLAND.  539 

worship,  thirty  years  after  our  present  version  had  been  issued,  and 
fifteen  years  after  James  was  in  his  grave.  So  thoroughly  free  and  in- 
dependent, all  along,  so  separate  or  disengaged  from  all  other  national 
affairs,  has  been  the  history  of  the  English  Bible. 

The  evidence  of  this,  under  our  history  in  England,  has  been  already 
completed,  and  placed  in  such  a  light  as,  it  is  presumed,  can  never  be 
refuted.  The  same  character  has  been  discovered  in  Scotland,  nor  does 
the  proof  close  even  hei'c,  although  we  are  now  arrived  at  the  period 
when  our  present  version  was  first  published  in  London.  The  folio  Bible, 
therefore,  finished  by  Hart  only  a  few  months  before,  still  invites  notice. 
It  was  not  a  reprint  of  the  preceding,  or  Bassandyne's,  throughout.  In 
the  Old  Testament  it  was,  but  the  New  was  similar  to  that  published 
in  England,  by  Laurence  Tomson,  almost  the  same  with  the  Geneva 
text,  but  having  what  were  styled  the  Notes  of  Beza  in  the  margin. 
S^o  license  whatever  for  printing  this  book  has  ever  been  found,  though 
there  may  have  been  one;  but,  at  all  events,  the  next  year,  or  1611, 
when  the  first  edition  of  our  present  version  had  come  forth  in  England, 
we  find  the  following  enactment  by  the  diocesan  Synod  of  St.  Andrews. 

"  Forasmuch  as  it  was  thought  expedient  that  there  be  in  every  kirk  a  com- 
mon Bible,  it  was  concluded  that  every  brother  shall  urge  his  parishioners  to 
buy  one  of  the  Bibles  lately  printed  by  Andro  Hart ;  and  the  brother  failing 
either  to  cause  buy  one,  as  said  is,  or  else  to  give  in  his  exact  diligence,  shall 
pay  at  the  next  synod  6  lib.  money  ;"  that  is,  ten  shillings  sterling. 

Thus,  although  James  had  been  acknowledged  as  supreme  governor 
in  the  south  of  the  island,  and  a  iiew  translation  had  been  published  there, 
here  was  the  Geneva  required  to  be  used  in  all  these  Scotish  places  of 
worship. 

If  it  should  now  be  asserted  that  the  people  of  the  north  might  not 
even  yet  have  been  fully  apprised  of  the  new  Version  being  out,  more 
especially  as  no  proclamation  was  ever  issued,  even  in  England  ;  there 
can  be  no  question  that  by  1612,  all  parties  were  fully  aware  of  the 
fact ;  but  what  had  occurred  in  Scotland  by  this  time  ?  In  the  mouth 
of  June,  Charteris,  the  King's  printer,  through  some  misconduct,  hav- 
ing forfeited  his  office,  Finlason  had  succeeded  to  it,  and  obtained  a 
new  license,  extending  for  twenty-five  years  from  the  17th  of  June 
1612,  but  not  one  word  is  mentioned  respecting  the  new  Version  !  He 
was  licensed  indeed,  though  not  to  the  exclusion  of  others,  to  print 
"  the  books  of  Holy  Scripture,  containing  the  Old  and  New  Testament, 
in  all  languages  ;"  but  he  did  nothing  more  than  prolong  the  mockery 
of  such  grants,  which  had  now  been  practised  for  more  than  fifty  years. 
He  nei-er  printed  the  Scriptures  in  any  language  whatever.  Lekprevik, 
Gibson,  Charteris,  Finlason,  had  all  been  King's  printers  in  succes- 
sion ;  every  one  of  them  had  been  licensed  to  print  the  Bible,  but  not 


640  SCOTLAND  SUPPLIED  WITH  SCIUPTUKE  [boOK  IV. 

one  of  them  ever  did  ho/'  Our  history,  in  its  progress,  disengages 
itself  from  all  these  men  ;  but  the  last  license  hestowed,  becomes  by  far 
the  most  ol)scrvablc,  owing  to  an  unprecedented  clause  inserted.  IJy  this 
clause,  it  becomes  evident,  not  only  that  the  Scriptures  might  be  legally 
imported,  as  for  nearly  seventy  years,  since  1543,  they  had  been  ;  but 
now,  by  the  express  terms  of  this  license,  any  printer,  bookseller,  or 
other  person,  might  le(j<dhi  jirint  the  Scriptures,  or  cause  them  to  be 
printed,  either  in  Holland,  in  England,  or  at  home.  The  prohibition 
clause  is  expressly  and  entirely  abrogated.''  The  observant  reader  will 
mark  this  fact.  "  What  then,"  he  will  say,  "  could  possibly  be  the  in- 
ducement, and  in  the  year  after  our  present  version  had  been  published 
in  England,  to  make  this  exception  in  favour  of  Scotland,  the  effect  of 
which  was  to  leave  the  printing  of  the  Scriptures  eiriirely  free  ?  If  even 
a  license  were  at  all  necessary  for  any  one  edition,  it  was  open  to  any, 
or  many,  to  apply,  but  the  probability  is  that  Hart  had  printed  his  last 
impression  without  any  thing  of  the  kind.  Nothing  similar  to  this  was 
doing,  or  done,  in  England."  No,  nor  ever  has  been  done  there,  since  tlie 
days  of  Edward  tlie  Sixth,  iq)  to  the  present  hour.  By  leaving  the  path  open 
to  all,  was  it  intended  to  induce  or  invite  some  individual  in  Scotland, 
from  preference,  and  of  his  own  free  choice,  to  print  the  present  version 
of  the  Bible,  then  recently  published  ?  So  it  might  seem,  but  no  man 
can  tell ;  the  motive  is  no  where  stated.  Such,  however,  are  the  facts 
of  the  case,  and  at  this  juncture  they  are  of  historical  importance. 
That  the  propriety,  necessity,  or  wisdom,  of  non-interference,  should 
have  been  made  to  appear,  and  at  this  pieriod,  is  worthy  of  special 
notice.  It  was  nine  years  after  James  is  represented  to  have  spoken, 
and  so  wildly,  at  Hampton  Court,  respecting  the  English  translations  of 
the  Bible,  especially  that  which  he  had  read  from  his  childhood  ;  and  a 
full  year  after  our  present  version,  with  such  a  fulsome  dedication  to 
himself,  had  made  its  appearance.  Thus  in  the  north,  as  well  as  in  the 
south,  the  people  were  left  to  choose  the  present  version  of  the  Sacred 
Volume — ivhen  they  weee  so  disposed. 

In  reference,  however,  to  Scotland,  that  her  sons  should 
have  been  supplied,  and  so  richly,  with  the  book  of  God,  in  a 
way  altogether  independent  of  her  native  press,  not  to  say  her 
reigning  government,  and  for  more  than  a  hundred  years,  is 
one  of  the  most  singular  points  in  her  liistory.     From  the 

s  For  most  of  the  facts  relating  to  these  Scotish  patents,  the  author  has  followed  the  accu- 
rate information  given  by  the  Kev.  Dr.  Lee  in  1824-6.  As  the  first  memorial  hai)pencd  to  be 
interdicted  at  the  time,  and  the  second  was  not  printed  for  8ale,  the  contents  of  both  are 
not  known  beyond  a  select  circle.  Founded  on  orifjiiial  documents,  printed  at  the  end  of  each 
memorial,  the  inquisitive  reader  will  there  find  many  other  curious  particulars. 

6  "  Exce}>lhi()  ulways  the  Bible,  the  New  Testament  and  the  I'salm-book,  which  shall  no 
ways  be  comprehended  under  this  present  Rift,  but  hpecially  reserved  and  excepted  forth 
tlicrcof,  under  the  pain  of  five  hundred  marks  money  of  this  realm." 


1543-1650]        ALMOST  SOLELY  BY  IMPORTATION.  541 

year  1526  down  to  1633,  and  even  later,  the  people  at  large 
liad  been  supplied  entirely  from  without.  The  Neio  Testa- 
menters  acquired  their  lionourable  distinction  from  reading  an 
imported  book.  Their  liibles,  after  this,  were  prepared  for 
them  at  a  distance,  with  paper  and  types  foreign  to  their 
country,  and  yet  as  early  as  1579,  the  book  was  "  almost  in 
every  house."  The  tide  of  importation,  however,  was  then 
only  setting  in  with  a  stronger  current,  for  after  that  it  rose 
to  a  far  greater  height." 

After  these  statements,  it  cannot  but  appear  passing  strange 


R  Xor  let  it  be  imagined  that  the  !>cripturc9  onhj  thus  arrived.  Food  for  the  mind,  speaking 
generally,  came  from  a  distance,  and  so  spirited  was  the  importation,  so  numerous  the  editions 
of  some  other  books,  that,  including  England  itself,  the  disposition  to  read  could  scarcely  have 
l)cen  stronger  in  any  other  country  at  the  time.  This  becomes  very  evident  throughout  the  last 
thirty  years  of  the  sixteenth  century,  during  the  whole  of  which  time,  Elizabeth  of  England 
was  so  apprehensive  of  the  power  of  the  press,  that,  at  last,  books  were  printed  in  Edinburgh, 
which  the  i)rintcrs  upon  English  ground  were  afraid  to  risk.  But  first,  in  proof  of  importation, 
so  earlv  as  June  1573  we  find  a  license  for  one  Hooper  to  carry  books  from  England  down  to 
Scotland  in  the  way  of  regular  business.  By  1580  a  native  of  France,  and  printer  well  known 
in  London,  Thomas  Vautrollier,  had  obtained  liberty  to  import  books  there,  and  he  himself  was 
probably  in  Scotland  next  year;  but  in  l.'i84  he  had  come  down  from  London  to  live  in  Edin- 
burgh. Obliged  to  decamp,  it  has  been  said,  for  having  printed  the  Spaccio  of  Jordano  Bruno, 
a  profane  Italian  writer,  though  the  Genera!  Assembly  asserted  that  he  was  "  banished  for  re- 
ligion," he  yet  continued  to  print  in  both  capitals,  having  left  his  wife  to  negotiate  his  business 
in  London.  One  of  his  first  productions  at  Edinburgh  was  "  The  Temporise?;  or  he  that 
ehangeth  with  the  times,  I5f>4  ;*'  and  in  the  same  year  he  printed  for  King  James,  then  in  his 
eighteenth  year,  the  first  edition  of  his  "  Essays  of  a  prentise."  In  1.5ft7  John  Norton  of  Lon- 
don, in  conjunction  with  Andrew  Hart  of  Edinburgh,  were  bringing  books  from  Germany,  to 
Scotland  equally  with  England,  from  "  whence  Edinburgh  was  supplied  with  better  books 
than  heretofore,  as  cheap  as  they  were  sold  in  London."  Hart,  indeed,  was  one  of  the  most 
useful  and  respectable  men  of  his  day,  and  deserved  well  of  his  country.  But  a  short  time 
elapsed  when  he  petitioned  the  Privy  Council,  on  the  8th  of  February  1580,  i.  e.  1500.  Repre- 
senting to  them  the  hurt  sustained  by  the  scarciti/  of  books,  and  the  exorbitant  j>Hces  paid  for 
those  brought  from  England,  which  were  thus  sold  at  ttdrd  hand,  because  brought  there  from 
the  continent ;  he  petitioned  that  books  should  be  imported  direct  from  abroad,  duty  free. 
He  succeeded,  not  only  for  himself,  but  others.  The  Lords  ordained  the  officers  of  customs 
at  "  Edinburgh,  and  the  other  burghs,  to  desist  asking  custom  for  any  books  or  volumes 
brought,  or  to  be  brought,  within  this  realm."  We  need  not  exclaim — What  a  contrast  to  the 
proceedings  of  Queen  Elizabeth  and  her  counsel  at  the  moment !  But  at  the  distance  of  more 
than  25<)  years,  we  ask,  if  as  much  can  be  said  now?  Here,  however,  was  proof  powerful  of 
thirst  for  reading,  and  the  liberty  granted  becomes  more  observable  from  the  King,  under  some 
temporary  alarm,  having,  in  July  1587,  procured  an  act  of  Parliament  against  the  sellers  or 
dispersers  of  erroneous  books.  Thus,  at  all  events,  not  only  Bibles  but  other  books  were  pro- 
cured at  far  less  expense  and  trouble  from  Holland  and  France  than  from  England,  and  the 
eflTects  soon  became  evident.  It  was  shortly  after  this  that  John  Norton,  already  mentioned, 
having,  in  June  l.ifll,  obtained  a  separate  license  from  the  Privy  Council,  his  factors  received 
"  full  power,  liberty,  and  license,  from  the  King,  to  use  his  traffic  of  importing  and  selling  all 
sorts  of  books,  in  all  languages  ;"  upon  which  Norton  opened  a  shop  in  Edinburgh  for  vending 
by  retail.  Not  being  a  freeman  of  the  city,  this  was  complained  of  as  an  infringement,  though 
no  objection  was  made  to  his  wholesale  trade.  Again,  however,  in  1597  Hart,  for  some  reason, 
finding  it  necessary  to  petition  the  Lords  of  the  Exchequer  against  the  Custom-house,  they 
ordained,  as  the  Privy  Council  had  done  before,  that  ho  duty  should  be  asked,  or  taken,  for 
any  book  brought,  or  to  be  brought,  in  anp  time  coming,  into  this  realm.  Accordingly,  impor- 
tation continued.  Books  were  printing  abroad  expressly  for  the  Scotish  market,  and  also  for 
Scotish  authors,  in  Holland  and  Paris,  to  an  extent  now  but  little  known.  As  for  the  Scrip- 
tures, we  find  Hart  printing  at  Dort,  in  conjunction  with  the  heirs  of  Henry  Charteris,  an  edi- 
tion of  the  English  Geneva  Bible  in  KiOl  ;  a  New  Testament  in  1G03  ;  and  finally  in  Edinburgh , 
his  folio  editions  of  1010  and  lffl3.  The  first  New  Testament  of  our  piesent  version  printed  in 
Scotland,  was  by  his  heirs,  in  1628. 


542  TIIK  KKADKKS  NUMEKOU.S.  QbOOK  IV. 

that  it  slnmld  liiivo  heon  supposed,  nay  asserted,  and  in  print, 
even  in  our  own  d;iy,  tli:it  from  the  time  wltcn  the  people  of 
Scothmd  (in  154.S)  ol da  hied  leave  to  read  the  liible,  very  few 
peopUf  in  those  days  could  read  at  all !  !  And  that  very  few 
copies  were  introduced  into  Scotland,  till  after  the  year  1  oGO! ! 
Such  is  the  ignorance  still  betrayed  respecting  one  of  the  most 
heart-stirring  periods  of  her  history,  and  which,  as  the  earliest, 
ought  to  have  been  regarded  with  the  deeper  interest.  These, 
however,  are  only  like  the  assertions  of  a  man,  who  never  all 
his  lifetime  enquired  what  was  then  doing,  or  done.  Why, 
for  sixteen  years,  without  asking  leate^  the  people  had  been 
reading  the  New  Testament,  at  least  to  this  extent,  that,  their 
enemies  themselves  being  judges,  they  declared,  it  was  this  that 
occasioned  all  the  din  throitrihout  the  land.  IJefore  l.')43  also, 
or  before  one  word  was  spoken  about  leave.,  they  had  been 
reading  the  Bible  entire ;  only  they  could  then  carry  in  their 
hand,  w'hat  formerly  they  had  read  in  concealment.  Nay, 
after  leave  was  proclaimed,  and  after  the  man  by  whose  orders 
this  was  done,  had  changed  his  tone,  reading  went  on  as  be- 
fore, and  to  an  extent  not  only  as  to  the  Sacred  Scriptures, 
but  even  as  to  other  books,  with  which  many  in  the  present 
day  are  but  little  acquainted,  and  but  too  few  have  ever  ob- 
served.'' 

After  the  opening  of  the  seventeenth  century,  not  only  im- 
portation of  books  from  abroad,  but  printing  of  books  at  home 
having  proceeded  with  accelerated  progress,  we  have  the  surest 
index  to  the  art  of  reading  having  advanced  with  equal  steps. 
Indeed,  some  time  after  this,  it  is  by  no  means  difficult  to 
prove  that  anxious  attention  had  been  bestowed  upon  educa- 
tion down  to  the  humblest  rank,  and  the  art  of  reading  had 
become  very  general.  It  may  be  thought  by  some  a  picture 
too  highly  coloured  ;  but  according  to  Kirkton  the  historian, 
by  the  time  that  our  present  version  of  the  Bible  was  prcvail- 


9  AccordinR  to  the  statements  of  Dr.  Lee ;  of  Buchanan's  version  of  the  Psalms,  from  VtGCt  to 
Kiln,  there  had  been  l/iirliz-oiie  editions,  printed  at  Paris,  Antweqi,  and  London  ;  to  say  nothinj; 
more  of  his  history,  than  that  there  had  been  four  editions  from  15H2  to  1.5!l4.  Not  to  mention 
many  editions  of  the  separate  pieces  of  Sir  David  Lindsay  in  the  course  of  only  fifty-six  years, 
from  15.58  to  1G14,  there  had  been  fourteen  editions  of  his  entire  works ;  nine  at  least  printed  in 
Scotland,  besides  three  in  London  and  two  in  Paris,  cliiefiy  for  importation  into  the  north.  Of 
Principal  RoUoc's  works,  who  died  in  l.'iiW,  at  least  sixteen  volumes  were  ])ublishcd  before  lOirt, 
all  of  which  passed  rapidly  through  successive  editions.  In  short,  the  books  printing  in  the 
country  had  now  proceeded  from  nine  or  ten  dilfercnt  presses,  and  as  the  booksellers  of  Edin- 
burgh were  about  the  same  number,  some  of  them  importing  foreign  publications,  and  all  sell- 
ing the  productions  of  their  own  country,  of  course  the  purchasers  and  readers  corresponded. 


1343-l()o0.]  THE  APOCRYPHA.  54.3 

ins;  throucrhout  the  kiiiirdom,  or  before  the  restoration  of 
Charles  II.,  he  alHrnis  that  "  every  village  in  Scotland  had  a 
school,  every  family  almost  had  a  Bible ;  yea  in  most  of  the 
country  all  the  children  of  age  could  read  the  Scriptures,  and 
wore  provided  with  Bibles  either  by  their  parents  or  the 
ministers.''''  Whatever  deductions  from  this  statement  can 
be  proved,  may  be  freely  allowed,  but  after  all,  we  presume 
that  a  very  remarkable  degree  of  moral  cultivation  had  cer- 
tainly been  attained,  and  beyond  this  period  wo  do  not  at 
present  proceed. 


tS^c  ^jjocrapT)a. 


Although  our  present  version  of  the  Bible  was  now  gaining  general 
acceptance  throughout  Britain,  there  was  still  one  serious  incumbrance 
from  which  it  behoved  to  be  delivered,  and  with  which  it  ought  never, 
for  a  moment,  to  have  been  associated.  We  allude  to  the  Apocrypha. 
The  clear  and  very  decided  views  of  divine  truth  held  by  Tyndale,  forbid 
the  idea  that  he  would  have  ever  associated  it  with  the  Sacred  Volume, 
and  at  all  events,  of  its  introduction,  in  the  vulgar  tongue,  into  this 
country  he  stands  innocent.  But  Coverdale,  who,  as  we  have  seen,  had 
so  lent  himself  to  Crumwell,  entertained  no  such  scruples.  The  books  of 
the  Apocrypha  were  then  indeed  placed  by  themselves,  as  in  distinction 
from  the  Sacred  Canon,  but  their  insertion,  between  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments,  like  the  term  ijenance  adopted  in  Coverdale's  text,  was  a 
sacrifice  made  at  the  altar  of  expediency ;  that  baneful  doctrine  by 
which  the  Vicar-General  was  at  once  ruled  and  ruined.  Sir  Thomas 
]\Iore,  constrained  to  bow  before  the  power  of  Crumwell 's  influence,  never 
having  once  denoixnced  Coverdale,  might  well  let  the  book  pass  without 
open  censure,  or  wink  at  the  progress  of  a  version  which  was  to  contain 
both  penance  and  the  Apocrypha. 

Penance  had  been  so  far,  and  at  once  banished  from  public  approba- 
tion, by  the  adoption  of  Tyndale's  version  in  1537,  and  in  preference  to 
that  of  Coverdale.  But  John  Rogers  having  included  the  Apocrypha, 
from  Coverdale,  that  was  now  to  be  dealt  with,  and  in  no  measiu-ed 
terms.  Even  before  our  last  revisers  began,  great  dissatisfaction  had 
been  expressed  in  print  as  to  the  Apocrypha.^*'  But  it  deserves  our 
notice,  that  when  our  present  version  was  preparing,  and  as  early  as 
1604,  the  King  was  warned  by  a  voice  even  from  without  the  kingdom. 


Among  others,  see  "  The  Plea  of  tlie  Innocent,"  by  Josias  Nichols,  1G(p2. 


.1+4  THK  AHJCRVPHA  DENOUNCED.  [bOOK  IV. 

in  very  decided  terms.  This  referred  at  once  to  the  contents  of  the 
Apocryphal  books,  but  especially  to  their  Ijeing  read  in  public  worship — 

"  Because  the  canonical  Scriptures  are  ahnie  sufficient  for  the  Cliurch  ;  and 

have  tills  prerogative  and  excellency  above  all  other  writings  whatsoever." 

"  Else  should  errorf,  faUet,  ma<jic,  Unfphnny,  and  contr/ulictinn  of  the  cnnoniccd 
Scrif'titr€»  be  brought  into  the  Church  ;  for  such  are  found  in  the  AjMHiryplia 
l>ooks.  As,  for  e.vample,  see  Error*  in  Ecclesiasticis  and  2  Machaiiees  ; 
Fabl'f  in  Esdras,  2  Machabees,  and  Tobit  ;  Ma>iir  and  Blasphemy  in  Tobit  ; 
rontrad'ict'ion  to  canonical  Scripture  in  Jidith,  Esther,  and  Ecclesiasticls." 
"  Else  should  many  still  Ije  nousled  in  their  ignorance  and  error,  to  think  that 
the  Apocrypha  books  Ije  the  Word  of  God  and  part  of  the  Bible,  as  well  as 
the  books  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament."  J ' 

No  attention  baring  been  paid  to  this  remonstrance,  and  the  Apocry- 
pha having  been  printed  along  with  our  present  version,  the  Parliament 
was  now  to  be  addressed  in  bolder  language,  not  as  to  its  being  read 
merely,  but  in  reference  to  its  place  within  the  boards  of  the  Bible.  In 
1642,  to  Bartholomew's  Church,  behind  the  Old  Exchange,  London,  an 
individual  had  been  chosen  minister,  who  was  about  the  most  learned 
man  of  his  day,  and  in  rabbinical  learning  too,  but  certainly  no  advocate 
for  the  Apocrypha  holding  such  a  place  in  the  Sacred  Volume.  Having 
been  appointed  to  preach  before  the  House  of  Commons  on  the  29th  of 
March  1643,  which  happened  to  be  his  birthday  at  the  age  of  41,  he 
took  for  his  text  Luke  i.  17. 

"  The  words  of  the  text,"  said  he,  "  are  the  last  words  of  the  Old  Testament 
— there  uttered  by  a  prophet,  here  expounded  by  an  angel  ;  there  concluding  the 
law,  and  here  beginning  the  Gospel.  '  Behold,'  saith  Malachi, '  I  will  send  you 
Elijah  the  prophet  ;'  and  '  he,'  saith  the  angel, '  shall  go  before  him  in  tlie  spirit 
and  power  of  Elias.'  And  '  He  sliall  turn  the  hearts  of  the  fathers  to  the  chil- 
dren,' saith  the  one  ;  and  '  the  disobedient  to  the  wisdom  of  the  just,'  saith  the 
other.  Thus  sweetly  and  nearly  should  the  two  Testaments  join  together,  and 
thus  divinely  would  they  kiss  each  other,  but  that  the  irrctcfied  Apocrypha  doth 
thrust  in  between.  Like  the  two  cherubims  in  the  temple  oracle,  as  with  their 
outer  wings  they  touch  the  two  sides  of  the  house,  from  '  In  the  beginning,'  to 
'  Come  Lord  Jesus  ;'  so  with  their  inner,  they  iroidd  touch  each  other — the  end 
of  the  Law,  with  the  beginning  of  the  Gospel — did  not  this  patchery  of  human 
inrtntion  divorce  them  asunder. 

"  It  is  a  thing  not  a  Uttle  to  be  admired,  how  this  Apocrypha  could  ever  get 
such  a  place  in  the  hearts,  and  in  the  Bibles,  of  primitive  times,  as  to  come 
and  sit  in  the  very  centre  of  them  both.  But  to  this  wonderment  there  may 
be  some  satisfaction  given — namely,  because  that  these  books  came  to  them 
from  among  the  Jews,  as  well  as  the  Old  Testament  and  the  New ;  and  because 
that  the  Jews  alone,  and  alone  so  long,  had  had  the  knowledge  of  divinity  and 


"  "An  apology  or  defense  of  snch  true  Christians,  as  arc  commonlv,  but  unjustly,  called 
Brownists."  Amsterdam,  1604,  pp.  65,  G6,  where  the  texts  are  specified  in  proof  of  their  asser- 
tions. This  is  addressed  to  the  King  by  "  the  English  Church,  at  Amsterdam  in  the  low  coun- 
tries, exiled  for  the  truth  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ  •,"  and  from  which  we  shall  find  his  English 
subjects  soon  taking  their  departure  to  a  more  distant  abode. 


1 543-1 G50.]  THE  APOCRYPHA  DENOUNCED.  545 

religion  among  them,  the  converted  Gentiles  could  not  but  give  their  writings 

extraordinary  esteem. But  it  is  a  wonder,  to  which  I  could  never  yet  receive 

satisfivction,  that  in  churches  that  arc  reformed — that  have  shaken  off  the  yoke 
of  superstition,  and  unpinned  themselves  from  off  the  sleeve  of  former  customs, 
or  doing  as  their  ancestors  have  done  ;  yet  in  such  a  thing  as  this,  and  of  so 
great  import,  should  do  as  first  ignorance,  and  then  superstition,  hath  done 
before  them.  It  is  true,  indeed,  that  they  have  refused  these  books  out  of  the 
canon  ;  but  they  have  reserved  them  still  in  the  Bible  !  As  if  God  should  have 
cast  Adam  out  of  the  Mate  of  happiness,  and  yet  have  continued  him  in  the 
}>lace  of  happiness." 

This  was  no  other  than  the  well  known  Dr.  John  Lightfoot ;  auJ  it  is 
curious  enough,  that  he  was  then  preaching  weekly  on  the  very  spot  to 
which  the  body  of  Coverdale  had  been  consigned  in  1568,  or  seven ty- 
tive  years  before ;  the  man  who  Jtrst  placed  the  Apocrypha  in  English 
between  the  Old  Testament  and  the  New.'^  The  present  preacher, 
indeed,  had  long  felt  as  he  now  did,  and  fourteen  years  ago,  at  the  age 
of  twenty-seven,  in  his  earliest  publication,  had  spoken  out  in  a  similar 
strain.  The  figure  he  employed  with  the  Commons  must  have  been  a 
favourite  one,  for  he  had  employed  it  before,  and  was  now  only  quoting 
his  matiu'e  sentiments  before  Parliament  on  a  public  fast  day,  in  the 
probable  hope  that  they  might  have  some  practical  effect.  Speaking, 
in  1629,  of  those  who  had  put  in  the  Apocrypha  between  Malachi  and 
Matthew,  he  had  said — 

"  What  do  they,  but  make  a  wall  between  the  seraphim,  that  they  cannot 
hear  each  other's  cry  ?  What  do  they,  but  make  a  stop  between  the  cherubim, 
that  they  cannot  touch  each  other's  wings  ?  What  do  they,  but  divorce  the 
marriage  of  the  Testaments,  and  so  are  guilty  of  the  breach  of  '  that  which  God 
hath  joined  together,  let  no  man  put  asunder  ?' "  In  short,  he  earnestly  longed 
for  its  being  banished  from  the  Bible  ;  and  therefore,  once  more,  on  the  •26th 
of  August  1 645,  when  again  officiating  before  the  House  of  Parliament,  he  was 
not  less  eager  for  "  a  review  and  survey  of  the  translation  of  the  Bible  ;"  and 
that  they,  as  a  body,  would  "  look  into  the  oracle,  if  there  be  anything  amiss 
there,  and  remove  it " — refen-ing,  no  doubt,  especially  to  the  Apocrypha. 

Lightfoot,  however,  it  should  seem,  was  not  aware  that  the  Almighty 
had  never  pennitted  any  such  body,  in  their  official  character,  nor,  in- 
deed any  other,  as  such,  thus  to  "  look  into  His  oracle."  No,  and  as  Par- 
liament was  never  allowed  to  touch  the  Sacred  Text  itself,  so,  however 


12  The  long-suffering  of  God  towards  Israel  of  old,  was  often  displayed  in  liglitening  their 
burdens,  when,  though  they  had  destroyed  their  idols,  their  groves  were  not  cut  down,  nor  their 
high  places  demolished  ;  and  the  same  long-sufftring  had  here  been  displayed.  But,  we  repeat 
it,  well  might  Sir  Thomas  More  pass  over  Coverdale  in  silence,  when  about  to  give  along  with 
his  translation,  prayers  for  the  dead— the  intercession  of  saints— the  heroism  of  suicide— the  doc- 
trine of  xiurgatory— atonement  by  alms-giving— Justijicaiion  t>y  the  teorks  of  the  law— as  taught  in 
the  Apocrypha  !  Lightfoot  seems  to  have  thought  that  a  greater  insult  could  not  be  offered  to 
the  Majesty  of  heaven,  than  to  read  any  portion  of  this,  on  the  same  day,  and  at  the  same  place, 
with  the  oracles  of  the  li%ing  God- 

VOL.   II.  2  il 


54(J  THE  PRESENT  VERSION  HAS  [iioOK  iv. 

urged,  neither  was  the  voice  of  their  authority  to  remove  the  Apocrypha 
from  its  place.  That  was  to  he  removed  hy  Ilim  who  moves  the  human 
mind  ;  and  so,  as  far  as  the  Bible  generally  was  concerned,  the  Ajtocry- 
pha  sunk  at  last  from  that  place  to  which  it  should  never  have  been 
raised.  It  disappeared  from  Bibles  as  l>y  common  consent  ;  it  sunk 
under  the  power  of  general  opinion.  From  that  jjcriod  the  Christians 
in  Britain  have  stood,  and  for  many  a  year,  beckoning,  as  it  were,  to 
the  surrounding  European  nations  to  follow  in  the  same  safe  and  law- 
ful, or  incumbent  career. 


Thus  the  history  of  the  IJiblo  in  Scotland,  has  been  brought 
down  to  the  same  point  of  time  with  the  previous  detail  re- 
specting England.  Since  the  commencement,  in  1525,  or  of 
the  Scriptures  entire,  in  1537,  there  had  been  a  fivefold  revi- 
sion of  the  original  translation,  an  advantage  altogether  pecu- 
liar to  itself,  and  doubly  valuable  from  that  circumstance. 
Consetjuently,  there  had  been  jive  different  versions  printed, 
and  these  had  proved  in  succession  the  means  of  salvation,  and 
the  source  of  comfort  to  four  successive  generations ;  but  now 
there  came  to  be  but  one  version.  Entertaining  no  supersti- 
tious reverence  for  that  one,  as  though  it  were  already  perfect, 
or  never  destined  to  be  yet  improved  and  corrected,  we  cannot 
but  pause  over  this  general  consent,  as  a  very  memorable  his- 
torical event.  The  last  rival  competitor  for  general  acceptance 
had  been  the  Geneva  book,  a  version  in  several  passages  pre- 
ferable to  our  own,  and  especially  in  translating  "  love^  not 
"  chariti/ ;''''  but  it  had  been  generally  encumbered  with  notes 
or  glosses  ;  and  it  is  observable,  that  so  late  as  the  year  1649, 
an  attempt  was  made  to  saddle  our  present  version  with  those 
notes,  but  it  was  in  vain.  One  or  two  editions  of  the  Bible 
were  thus  printed,  but  such  additions  to  the  Sacred  Text  must 
not  continue.  Notes  and  comments  must  be  withdrawn.  Since 
the  year  1611,  however,  these  two  versions  of  the  Sacred  Vo- 
lume had  been  before  the  people  in  both  countries  ;  our  present 
translation,  from  the  beginning  xcithout  notes,  the  other  very 
generally  icith  thcra  ;  so,  at  last,  and  about  the  middle  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  our  present  venerated  Bible  had  nearly 
arrived  at  that  state  of  prevalence  which  it  has  ever  since 
maintained.  ^Vhatever  opinions  have  since  prevailed,  or  died 
awav,  from  that  time  to  the  present,  and  in  any  part  of  the 


1543-1650.]  BECOME  UNIVERSAL.  547 

United  Kingdom,  the  sanio  version,  without  a  single  inter- 
ruption, has  continued  to  be  the  Bible  of  Great  Britain  and 
Ireland,  or  wherever  the  language  is  spoken. 

In  looking  back,  however,  from  the  commencement,  even 
down  to  this  period,  it  must  be  very  evident,  that  no  space 
whatever  is  left  for  self-complacency.  No  inhabitant  of  Britain 
can  now  say,  that  the  Revelation  of  the  Divine  Will  was  re- 
ceived by  his  forefathers  generally,  with  any  ready  or  cordial 
concurrence.  On  the  contrary,  the  point  to  which  the  Sove- 
reign disposer  of  all  events  had  now  brought  our  country,  was 
precisely  that  with  which  he  had  begun  so  long  before.  It 
was  the  Bible,  but  icitliout  note  and  comment^  which  was  now  at 
last  received,  whether  in  England  or  Scotland  ;  but,  then,  such 
had  been  the  original  movement  of  Divine  providence.  This 
it  was,  which  Tj^ndale  had  laid  down  to  Henry  the  Eighth,  as 
the  sole  or  exclusive  terms  of  combat,  above  one  hundred  and 
twenty  years  ago  !  Through  the  medium  of  his  Word,  the 
Almighty  had  been  striving  with  the  nation  ever  since,  and 
"  the  long-suffering  of  God  had  waited^  and  long  it  had  waited, 
as  in  the  days  of  Noah.''" 

The  season  and  circumstances,  therefore,  in  which  this  ge- 
neral consent  took  place,  it  would  be  criminal  to  overlook,  or 
ever  forget.  The  event  was  one  of  moment  to  unborn  genera- 
tions, and  every  one  must  be  eager  to  mark  the  time.  Both 
the  season  and  circumstances,  it  is  true,  may  be  humbling  to 
our  national  vanity,  but  for  this  we  have  been  fully  prepared  ; 
after  having  had  such  frequent  occasion  to  observe,  that  inde- 
pendence of  human  authority,  patronage,  or  power,  has  been 
one  distinguishing  feature  of  this  history  throughout.  By  far 
the  most  remarkable  display  of  this,  however,  was  reserved  to 
the  close.  There  was  a  moral  significance,  others  will  say  sub- 
limity, in  the  season  chosen.  It  was  at  a  crisis  altogether 
sui  generis,  when  God,  by  his  providence,  as  all  agree,  was 
speaking  loudly  to  every  corner  in  Great  Britain  and  Ireland. 

It  was  at  a  period  when  there  was  no  earthly  throne  in  the 
island  to  invoke ;  no  King  in  Britain  to  enjoin  such  consent.  It 
was  when  there  was  no  primate  of  Canterbury,  or  St.  Andrews, 
to  enforce  it,  or  any  House  of  Lords  in  being.  Even  the  office 
of  "  Licenser  of  the  press''"  had  been  abolished,  nor  must  the 
existing  legislature  of  the  day  for  once  interfere.  No  voice  of 
human  authority  was  raised,  when  a  nation,  in  other  respects 


548  THK  ONLY    PERMANENT    EVENT.  [BOOK  IV. 

greatly  divided,  became  of  one  consent,  and  a  consent  unbro- 
ken to  the  present  hour ;  nor  did  any  one  thing  in  wliich  man 
was  then  engaged,  concur  to  produce  an  cfl'cct,  then  first  felt 
by  the  whole  kingdom,  and  since  enjoyed  for  nearly  two  hun- 
dred years  ! 

In  those  unprecedented  and  tumultuous  times,  certainly 
the  main  consolation  of  those  who  feared  God,  and  loved  the 
Scriptures,  must  have  run  in  very  much  the  same  channel ; 
and  perhaps  at  no  preceding  era  in  this  country,  had  they 
more  frequently  closed  their  mutual  communications  in  the 
same  expressive  terms — the  Lord  reigneth.  ]3ut  we  who 
live,  though  at  such  a  distance,  can  now  see  this  event  in 
greater  perfection,  as  by  far  the  most  conspicuous  proof  that 
He  did  reign,  as  still  He  does.  It  was  the  solitary  eminent 
public  occurrence,  which  was  to  admit  of  no  mutation  for  two 
centuries  to  come. 

The  kingdom  itself  may  yet  be  moved,  from  its  centre  to  its 
shores,  and  be  greatly  agitated.  The  civil  power  may  change 
its  aspect.  The  monarchy  may  be  restored,  only  to  be  dealt 
with  providentially,  as  the  Pontiff  had  been.  The  line  of 
succession  may  be  broken,  and  the  existing  dynasty  even  be 
banished  from  the  soil.  Yet  better  days  are  coming,  and  no 
weapon,  though  employed  by  a  future  Sovereign,  shall  pros- 
per against  the  Bible  of  his  subjects :  though  among  the 
causes  of  removal  from  his  crown  and  kingdom,  should  hos- 
tility to  the  Sacred  Volume  be  discovered,  this  is  not  to  be 
buried  in  oblivion  amongst  other  provocations. 


THE  HISTORY  OF 

THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE. 

BOOK  V.-GREAT  BRITAIN. 

jfrom  tf)e  Commonluealt!)  to  (Bxmn  Victoria* 


SECTION  I. 
THE   COMMONWEALTH    TO   GEORGE   III. 

BRIEF  SURVEY — DOWNWARD    PROGRESS  OF  THE   STUART  DYNASTY — OPPOSI- 
TION  AT   HOME    INEFFECTUAL LEAGUE,    IN  WHICH   EVEN   THE   PONTIFF 

AND  GERMANY    CONCURRED   AND   ASSISTED — THE    LINE  OF  SUCCESSION  IN 

BRITAIN  BROKEN — THE  REVOLUTION  OF  1688-9 PRECEDING  OPPOSITION 

TO  THE  SCRIPTURES  BY  JAMES  II.,  AN    ADHERENT  OP    THE  OLD  LEARNING 

CONSEQUENCES   OP    THE    REVOLUTION STATE   OF  THE  BIBLE   PRESS    IN 

ENGLAND — CANNE's   BIBLE — GUY's   BIBLES — BASKERVILLe'S — BLAYNEY's 

BIBLE STATE  OF  THE    BIBLE  PRESS   IN   SCOTLAND — JAMES   II.    EQUALLY 

BUSY  IN    OPPOSITION  THERE — THE  NUMBER   OF  BIBLES  IS  NOW  PAST  ALL 

HUMAN  COMPUTATION THE   RESULTS,  IF    BUT  TOO    FEEBLE    IN    BRITAIN, 

MUST   BE  LOOKED  FOR  ELSEWHERE. 

c-i:^  ■--■'■  HIS  period,  extending  to  one  hundred  and  thirty 
f^^^Wfj  years,  from  1650  to  the  twentieth  year  of  the  reign 
^^^ft  of  George  the  Third,  or  1 780,  involved  many  changes 
(S^^&^f^  in  the  sovereignty  of  the  kingdom,  namely — 

The  Commonwealth,  1649-1660.  Queen  Anne,  .  .  1702-1716. 

Charles  II.        .       .  1660-1685.  George  I.    .  .  .  1714-1727. 

James  II.  .       .       .  1685-1688.  George  II.  .  •  1727-1760. 

William  and  Mary,  1689-1702.  George  III.  1760-1780. 


550  THE  PROGRESS  OF  [book  V. 

The  new  title  given  to  our  native  land  \vc  have  not  before  employed, 
but  since,  after  a  season  of  misrule  and  dc[tres8ion,  occasioned  by  its  own 
sovereigns,  it  was  about  to  assume  a  position  quite  worthy  of  its  name, 
it  becomes  the  more  appropriate.  By  the  way,  it  is  nothing  more  than 
a  vulgar  mistake  which  ascribes  the  invention  of  this  title  to  the  first  of 
the  Stuarts.  Before  that  James  had  set  his  foot  in  Jlnglaud  it  had  been 
mentioned  by  a  monarch  of  far  superior  powers.  In  the  month  of  August 
IGOI,  it  was  expressed,  and  i)erhapa  not  for  the  first  time,  by  the  lips  of 
Elizabeth  herself,  in  conversation  with  Rosny,  afterwards  Duke  of  Sully, 
when  she  disclosed  such  views  of  Continental  politics  as  filled  even  him 
with  astonishment,  and,  of  course,  such  as  were  far  above  the  comprehen- 
sion of  James  the  First.  "  Neither  the  whole,  nor  any  i)art  of  these  (Low 
Country)  states  need  be  coveted,"  she  said,  "  by  either  herself,  the  King 
of  France,  or  the  King  of  Scotland,  who  would  become  one  day  King 
of  Great  Britaiti."^ 

Glancing  back  for  a  moment  at  the  commencement  of  the 
Stuart  dynasty,  though  there  was  some  expression  of  apparent 
momentary  interest  by  James  I.,  in  reference  to  tlie  Scriptures, 
as  this  was  never  followed  up  by  any  substantial  or  recorded 
proof  of  continued  zeal,  it  was  ominous  of  all  that  followed  in 
the  times  of  his  son  and  grandsons.  That  king,  it  is  notori- 
ous, in  his  latter  years,  had  discovered  a  decided  leaning  to- 
wards the  gentlemen  of  "  the  old  learning ;"  and,  at  all  events 
under  the  successive  reigns  of  his  descendants,  we  witness  such 
neglect  in  the  printing  and  publishing  of  the  Sacred  Volume, 
not  to  say  open  contempt ;  that  if  the  eye  has  once  fixed  on  this 
history  throughout,  one  cannot  help  anticipating  the  approach 
ofsome  great  national  crisis.  Whatwere  dignified  with  the  title 
of  "  public  aflairs'"  had  frequently  in  this  kingdom,  before  now, 
been  treated  as  subordinate  to  one  other.  Among  the  elements 
of  our  national  changes,  it  is  true,  any  reference  to  the  Sacred 
Oracles,  though  first  given  to  us  after  such  an  extraordinary 
manner,  has  seldom,  if  ever,  found  a  place.  And  yet,  in  re- 
ference to  the  Scriptures  in  the  language  of  the  people,  a  con- 
trast is  forced  upon  us  between  the  house  of  Tudor  and  that 
of  Stuart.  The  princes  of  the  former,  from  Henry  to  Eliza- 
beth, had  been  overruled,  and  to  tliis  they  submitted — those 
of  the  latter  were  at  last  banished  from  the  soil.     Among  the 


'  "  It  surt'ly  iiiighl  not  to  have  been  forgollen  that  it  was  Queen  Elizabeth,  herself,  who  gave 
to  that  j>rohpective  empire  the  uaine  of  Oreat  Urilain."-  See  .Miss  b'trickland'!)  Elizabeth,  vol  ii., 
1<\>.  271  272 


16'50-17«0.]  THE  STUART  DYNASTY.  561 

impelling  causes  of  this  final  step,  the  treatment  of  the  Divine 
Record  may  have  had  more  to  do  than  has  hitherto  been  ob- 
served. But  the  state  of  the  kingdom  first  demands  our 
notice. 

One  of  the  earliest  indications  of  the  downward  progress  of  the  Stuart 
kings  became  very  evident,  in  their  contributing  so  plentifully  to  emigra- 
tion from  the  entire  kingdom,  whether  to  the  American  colonies  or  even 
to  Poland,  where  about  thirty  thousand  families  from  Scotland  had  taken 
up  their  abode.  This  might  operate  for  a  season  as  a  safety  valve,  but 
in  the  end  the  entire  kingdom  was  but  ill  at  ease. 

In  the  course  of  the  reigns  of  Henry  VIII.  and  two  of  his  children, 
the  deliverance  of  this  country  from  foreign  mental  despotism  had  been 
accomplished  and  prolonged,  through  the  sovereign  disposer  of  all  events. 
Yet,  after  this,  Britain  was  to  suffer  at  the  hands  of  her  own  kings.  Not 
only  religious  but  civil  liberty  were  to  be  alike  in  jeopardy,  and  amidst 
the  perils  of  the  nation  at  that  period,  he  must  be  blind  as  a  sceptic 
who  cannot  distinguish  the  hand  of  Providence  raised  in  favour  of  our 
country  once  more.  It  wears  much  more  of  the  character  of  a  final 
measure,  or  finishing  stroke,  than  any  thing  which  had  occurred  in  the 
days  of  Henry  VIII.  The  despotic  power  of  monarchy  had  then  been 
overruled  in  favour  of  oxnYjirst  deliverance  ;  but  now,  if  Britain  is  to  be 
favoured  with  a  race  of  constitutional  monarchs,  limits  must  be  set  to 
the  power  of  the  monarchy  itself.  A  period  being  fixed  for  abolish- 
ing absolute  power  in  the  temj^oral  order,  as  had  already  been  done  in 
what  was  styled  the  spiritual ;  it  was  at  last  glaringly  evident  that  the 
princes  of  the  house  of  Stuart  were  not  the  men  who  could  ever  be 
moulded  to  any  such  desirable  end.  But  if,  in  order  to  confer  on  this 
already  favoured  kingdom  the  consolidation  of  its  liberties  and  welfare, 
there  was  not  sufficient  power  within  its  shores,  then  what  was  to  be 
done  ?  The  whole  of  the  adjoining  continent  itself  must  be  moved.  For 
sooner  than  Britain  shall  not  inherit  her  greatest  national  blessings, 
namely,  civil  and  religious  liberty,  even  the  power  of  Rome  itself,  from 
which  she  had  withdrawn,  or  against  which,  others  would  say,  she  had 
rebelled,  nay,  and  that  of  Romish  votaries  with  whom  Britain  was  at  vari- 
ance, shall  not  be  wanting  to  concur  in  establishing  her  government  on 
a  far  more  solid,  and  even  on  an  unprecedented  basis.  Nothing  is  more 
worthy  of  observation  in  the  Revolution  of  ]689  than  this,  and  especially 
when  it  is  once  remembered  that  the  prejudices  of  the  last  two  Stuart 
kings  were  so  recklessly  in  favour  of  "  the  old  learning."  How  the  last, 
especially,  would  have  rejoiced  in  bringing  back  the  nation  to  the  days 
of  Mary  the  First,  or  even  of  her  grandfather,  Henry  the  Seventh  !  The 
prejudices  and  infatuation  of  these  two  monarchs,  however  regretted  by 
some  authors,  were  the  preludes  to  that  memorable  change  which  was 


r,52  niK  LAsr  of  tiik  sti'akts.  [book  v. 

80  hastened  to  its  eommeuccmcut  iu  the  year  l()8b,  aud  to  its  completion 
iu  tlic  month  of  February  1G8!). 

Iu  the  days  ol'  the  first  of  this  dynasty,  so  far  from  meddling  with  the 
balance  of  power  in  Europe,  as  Henry  the  Eighth  had  so  often  done, 
James  was  eagerly  bent  on  alliance  with  Spain.  On  the  other  hand, 
during  the  reigns  of  his  grandsons,  the  King  of  France  was  stretching 
after  the  possession  of  all  power,  and  by  the  year  1G78,  Louis  the 
Fourteenth  had  already  regarded  himself  as  the  arbiter  of  Europe. 
Fully  resolved  after  universal  sway,  he  had  at  last  raised  his  power  to 
such  a  height  as  to  endanger  the  jicace  and  independence  of  all  neigh- 
bouring states.  To  him,  the  concurrence  of  this  country  he  had  felt  to 
be  indispensable,  and  such  was  the  miserable  condition  to  which  two  suc- 
cessive kings  had  brought  it,  that,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  England 
was  at  the  disposal  of  France.  But  the  day  of  her  deliverance,  under 
James  II.,  the  last  of  his  race,  was  near  at  hand.  There  is  no  occasion 
here  to  dwell  on  his  progress  to  ruin — his  new-modelling  of  corporations 
— his  filling  the  army  and  navy  with  his  partizans — his  expulsion  of  the 
Fellows  of  Magdalene  College,  Oxford,  hard  by  the  spot  where  Tyndale, 
in  early  days,  had  expounded  Scripture  ;  liut  where  now  mctss  was  once 
more  said  and  sung  in  the  chapel,  and  every  thing  of  another  character 
was  forcibly  excluded.  The  King  himself,  a  determined  and  open  dis- 
ciple of  "  the  old  learning,"  was  earnestly  looking  far  beyond  the  free 
exercise  of  his  own  opinions.  Through  the  agency  of  Lord  Castlemain, 
then  in  Italy,  he  had  been  courting  alliance,  and  sighing,  though  in 
vain,  after  a  resident  cardinal  of  Rome,  in  the  person  of  Father  Petre, 
his  confessor.  Before  his  accession  he  had  had  the  meanness  to  accept 
of  500,000  livres  from  Louis  the  Fourteenth,  to  carry  on  his  designs. 
His  afterwards  drawing  l)ack,  and,  from  pride,  no  more  courting  that 
monarch,  while  engaged  in  a  double  game  by  treating  with  Spain,  were 
among  the  proofs  of  that  infatuation  which  was  to  terminate  only  in  the 
memorable  Act  of  Settlement  and  the  Bill  of  Rights. 

Meanwhile,  it  is  curious  to  observe  one  quarter  from  whence  resistance 
arose.  At  the  opening  of  the  reign,  the  men  of  Oxford  could  expatiate 
on  the  rights  of  monarchy,  and  boast  of  an  obedience  which  knew  no 
bounds.  They  now  became  most  determined  opponents  of  the  reigning 
king,  and  ultimately  ranked  among  the  instruments  of  his  overthrow  ; 
but  some  power  from  abroad  must  be  called  to  the  rescue.  Mean- 
while the  ambition  of  France  had  become  the  subject  of  general 
apprehension.  They  were  the  footsteps  of  Louis,  which  had  pro- 
duced a  far  spread  reaction.  The  league  in  opposition  was  headed 
by  William  Prince  of  Orange,  and  such  was  the  ten-or  felt  at  the  pro- 
gress of  "  the  Grand  Monarch"  that  the  Emperor  of  Germany,  and  even 
Innocent  XI.  of  Rome,  suj)ported  him.  The  couseiiuences  of  William 
stepping  ashore  at  Torbay  arc  known  to  all,  and  they  have  been  well 


10'50-178U.]  THE  REVOLUTION  SETTLEMENT.  .'iSS 

expressed  by  an  able  French  anthor  of  the  present  day,  who  is  at  this 
moment  in  the  government  of  that  kingdom. 

"  The  league  against  Louis  was  so  powerful  that  many  sovereigns  en- 
tered into  it,  either  publicly,  or  in  an  underhand,  though  very  eftective 
manner,  who  were  rather  opposed  than  not  to  the  interests  of  civil  and 
religious  liberty.  The  Emperor  of  Germany  and  Innocent  XL  both  sup- 
ported William  against  France.  And  William  crossed  the  Channel  less 
to  serve  the  internal  interests  of  the  country  than  to  draw  it  entirely 
into  the  struggle  against  Louis.  He  laid  hold  of  this  kingdom  as  a  new 
force  which  he  wanted,  but  of  which  his  adversary  had  had  the  disposal 
up  to  this  time  against  him.  So  long  as  Charles  II.  and  James  II. 
reigned,  England  belonged  to  Louis  XIV.  He  had  the  disposal  of  it, 
and  had  kept  it  employed  against  Holland.  England  then  tvas  snatched 
from  the  side  of  absolute  and  universal  monarchy,  to  become  the  most  power- 
ful siqyport  and  instrument  of  civil  and  religious  liberty.  This  is 
the  view  which  must  be  taken,  as  regards  European  civilization,  of  the 
Revolution  of  1688-9.  It  is  this  which  gives  it  a  place  in  the  assem- 
blage of  European  events,  independently  of  the  influence  of  its  example, 
and  of  the  vast  effect  which  it  had  upon  the  minds  and  opinions  of  men 
in  the  following  centiu-y." 

"  Thus,  I  think,  I  have  rendered  it  clear  that  the  true  sense,  the  essential 
character  of  this  Revolution  is,  as  I  said,  an  attempt  to  abolish  absolute 
power  in  the  temj/oral  order,  as  had  already  been  done  in  the  spiritual. 
This  fact  appears  in  all  the  phases  of  the  Revolution,  from  its  first  out- 
break to  the  Restoration,  and  again  in  the  crisis  of  1688 ;  and  this  not 
only  as  regards  its  interior  progress,  but  in  its  relations  with  Europe  in 
general." 

But  certainly,  at  such  a  crisis,  and  among  the  entii'e  group,  by  far 
the  most  observable  personage  before  us,  was  the  Pontiff  of  Rome  ! 
Will  he  come  to  the  rescue  of  that  kingdom  by  which  his  predecessors 
had  been  so  humbled  to  the  dust  ?  The  power  which  had  thi-own  him 
ofi"  for  ever  ?  He  might  not  indeed  be  in  direct  or  personal  communica- 
tion with  William,  for  this  would  have  been  contrary  to  the  usual 
policy  of  remaining  behind  the  curtain ;  but  his  Ministers  were  fully 
acquainted  with  the  entire  movement,  the  Pontiff  promised  considerable 
subsidies,  and  his  Secretary  of  State  knew  before  the  close  of  1 687,  more 
than  James  the  Second  had  ever  dreamt  ;  that  the  object  was  to  de- 
thi-onc  him,  and  transfer  the  Crown  to  the  Princess  of  Orange.  But 
what  is  even  still  more  remarkable,  it  was  actually  from  the  secret 
papers  in  the  cabinet  of  this  same  secretary.  Count  Cassoni,  that  the 
Courts  of  England  and  France  derived  their  Jirst  knowledge  of  the 
whole  design  I     "  Strange  complication  !     It  was  at  the  Court  of  Rome 

2  General  History  of  Civilization  in  Kurope.  by  M.  Gnizot,  Second  Edition,  p.  3!)fl. 


5.3 1  OPPOSITION  TO  THE  SCRIPTURES  [bOOK  V. 

that  the  threads  of  a  machination  wore  destined  to  meet,  which  had  for 
its  aim  and  result,  to  liheratc  the  West  of  Europe  from  the  last  great 
danger  that  threatened  it,"  and  to  secure  to  the  English  throne  for 
ages  to  come  the  inestimable  blessings  of  Civil  and  Religious  liberty  !' 

Thus  the  line  of  succession  was  broken,  and  though  this  was  long 
lamented  by  not  a  few,  the  principles  and  j)roceeding8  of  the  late  King, 
taken  in  connexion  with  his  ultimate  design,  admitted  of  no  other  re- 
medy. The  headstrong  ardour  displayed  in  his  rooted  attachment  to 
"  the  old  learning,"  was  such  as  to  offend  and  alarm  even  its  votaries. 
The  Spanish  ambassador  one  day  remonstrating  with  him,  the  King 
became  highly  incensed.  "  Is  it  not  the  custom,"  said  he,  "  in  Spain, 
for  the  King  to  consult  on  such  subjects  with  his  Confessor  ?"  "  Yes 
Sire,"  was  the  reply,  "  and  that  is  the  very  reason  that  our  affairs  suc- 
ceed so  ill."  Even  the  reigning  Pontiff  had  gone  so  far  as  to  remon- 
strate with  James  on  his  precipitancy,  but  in  vain.  Unwelcome  and 
even  blunt  language  had  been  spent  upon  him  without  any  effect.  The 
obstinacy  and  infatuation  of  that  Monarch,  were  among  the  means 
through  which  were  to  ensue  our  highest  national  blessings.  For  two 
months,  or  from  the  23d  of  December  1688  to  the  1.3th  of  February 
1689,  the  Monarchy  was  lying  in  abeyance  ;  but  from  that  day  com- 
menced the  reign  of  William  and  Mary. 

It  may  now  be  inquired — What  possible  connexion  can 
ever  be  traced  between  this  great  national  change,  and  the 
possession  of  the  Divine  Record  in  the  language  of  the 
people  ?  It  is  true,  that  many  instances  might  be  adduced 
of  the  very  slovenly  manner  in  which  the  privileged  printers 
had  been  executing  their  task.  This,  however,  the  long-suf- 
fering of  God  had  endured,  and  will  continue  to  do,  so  that  it 
may  be  glanced  at  afterwards.  ]3ut  now  tlie  supreme  autho- 
rity of  the  Sacred  Volume  having  been  unblushingly  im- 
pugned under  the  immediate  sanction  of  the  Crown,  there 
nmst  be  a  change.  The  very  jirst  year  of  the  reign  of  James 
II.  was  marked  by  several  noted  events,  indicative  of  direct 
hostility  to  Divine  Truth,  as  aftccting  its  devoted  adherents 
at  home  and  abroad.  From  the  year  1670,  indeed,  the  sen- 
timents of  this  Prince  had  created  uneasiness,  aaitatino-  Par- 
liament  again  and  again,  and  his  doings  in  Scotland  from  1679 
were  known  to  all.  But  once  crowned,  in  February  1685,  he 
then  pledged  himself  to  be  a  disciple  and  adherent  of  "  the 


3  Sec  llankc's  SoverciRns  and  Nations  of  Southern  Europe.     Pp.  318  319. 


IG50-1780.]  BEFORE  THE  REVOLUTION.  555 

old  learning."  In  June,  Charles  the  Elector  Palatine  dying 
without  issue,  was  succeeded  by  the  house  of  Ncwburgh,  no 
less  ardently  devoted  to  Rome.  In  October,  Louis  the  Four- 
teenth revoked  the  edict  of  Nantes  ;  and  in  December,  threa- 
tened by  the  Court  of  France,  the  Duke  of  Savoy  had  re- 
called the  edict  that  his  father  had  granted  in  favour  of  the 
Vaudois.  All  these  were  indications  of  some  general  storm, 
and  the  King  of  England  will  hasten  its  approach.  Ere  long 
a  select  junto  of  persons  in  favour  of  the  old  learning  and  its 
re-establishment,  with  Father  Edward  Petre,  the  King's 
confessor,  as  a  privy  councillor  at  their  head,  took  the 
management  of  many  affairs,  the  too  evident  proof  of  some 
concerted  scheme  being  in  progress. 

And  now  when  the  King  was  down  at  Oxford,  for  the  last 
time  in  1 687,  he  might  "  be  presented  in  the  name  of  the 
University  with  a  rich  Bible,  printed  there,"  which  his  Ma- 
jesty, as  a  blind,  said  he  would  accept ;  and  he  might  after- 
wards talk  of  establishing  toleration  by  an  Act  of  Parlia- 
ment ;  but  it  is  of  far  more  importance  to  observe,  both  be- 
fore and  after  this,  how  he  had  been  acting  elsewhere,  both 
at  London,  and  in  his  former  abode  at  Edinburgh. 

The  reader  has  already  heard  much  of  the  Barkers,  as  the 
printers  of  the  Bible,  but  long  before  their  rights  expired, 
Charles  II.  had  granted  a  reversionary  patent  to  Thomas 
Newcome  and  one  Henry  Hills.  Sooner  or  later  this  last  man, 
whose  moral  character  seems  to  have  been  far  from  correct, 
had  actually  been  employed  in  printing  the  Scriptures,  and, 
according  to  report,  shamefully  incorrect.'*  But  no  sooner 
was  James  upon  the  throne,  than  Hills  had  come  into  closer 
confidential  contact.  He  then  styled  himself  openly,  "  Prin- 
ter to  the  King's  Most  Excellent  Majesty,  for  his  Household 
and  Chapel."  This  might  serve  for  whatsoever  was  to  be 
done  in  London,  but  there  was  another  man  sustaining  the 
same  office  and  title  down  at  Edinburgh,  and  the  question 
will  be,  how  were  they  engaged  ?  Was  the  press  about  to  be 
employed  in  hostility  to  the  Word  of  God,  and  by  printed 
sanction  of  the  King  ?     In  both  capitals  the  design  was  the 


•»  See  "The  Loiulon  Printer's  Lanu'iitation,  or  the  Press  Opi>rebt  and  Overprcst,"  ItiCO. 
the  reprint  in  the  Harlcian  Miscellany. 


5.">()  A  VKIty  DIMCERNIDLK  FEATURK  [boOK  V. 

aaiiie.  So  early  as  October  IG80,  the  .servile  Privy  Council 
in  Edinburgh  had  issued  orders  to  every  printer  and  book- 
seller, forbidding  the  j)rinting  or  selling  any  books  which  re- 
flected on  the  faith  of  the  King.  Among  these,  however, 
there  was  at  least  one  bookseller  of  Kome  spirit  and  con- 
science, named  James  (Jlen.  He  explicitly  stated  that  he 
had  one  book  which  he  was  resolved  to  sell  at  all  hazards, 
though  it  was  the  worst  enemy  the  Church  of  Rome  had  ever 
seen  ;  and  that  one  book  was  the  Bible.  But  still  the  progress 
downward  went  on.  The  King's  yacht  had  arrived  at  Leith 
from  London  in  November  1686",  with  an  altar  and  vest- 
ments, images  and  priests,  to  be  accommodated  in  no  other 
place  than  Holyrood.  A  college  of  Jesuits  was  there  estab- 
lished— a  printing  press  was  set  up,  and  among  its  fruits  we 
need  only  to  mention  one  production  : — 

"  The  Catholic  Scripturist,  third  edition,  more  correct,  by  Joseph  Mumford, 
priest  of  the  Society  of  Jesus,  Holyrood  House.  Printed  by  James  Watson, 
printer  to  his  Most  Excellent  Majestie's  Royal  Family  and  Household,  1G87. 
Pennissu  fupcriorum." 

In  this  book  the  reader  was  told  in  so  many  words — "  Scrip- 
ture alone  cannot  he  the  rule  of  faith. ''''^  So  determined  was 
the  opposition  shewn  to  all  this,  that  ere  long  blood  had  been 
shed,  and  cruelties  inflicted ;  though  these  doings  in  Scot- 
land were  merely  a  branch  of  the  same  wild  design,  which 
was  driving  with  unblushing  vigour  in  London  itself.  Hence 
from  the  press  of  Hills,  who  had  just  served  the  office  of  Mas- 
ter of  the  Stationers'*  Company,  we  have  more  than  one  pub- 
lication, full  of  monstrous  and  daring  profanity  in  reference 
to  the  Sacred  Scriptures.     Witness  the  following — 

"  The  Question  of  Questions,  which,  rightly  interpreted,  resolves  all  other 
questions.  By  James  Mumford,  priest  of  the  Society  of  Jesus.  Permissu 
supenoruui.  London,  j)rinted  by  Heni-y  Hills,  Printer  to  the  King's  Most 
Excellent  Majesty,  for  his  Household  and  Chapel,  168C.  There  was  also 
another  edition  in  1 G88,  said  to  be  by  "  Optatus  Ductor,"  but,  slyly,  without 
either  place  or  printer's  name." 

Now  in  this  book  the   running  title  for   more   than  260 


5  To  this  man  James  II.  liad  acrtually  nssi^nc-d  a  salary  of  £'I0<)  annually ;  nor  was  he  flie 
only  man  employed  with  the  same  title.  No  sooner  had  Watson  died  in  1()87,  than  Peter 
Bruce  or  Bruschii,  a  German,  was  afipoinfed  as  printer  "  to  his  Majesty's  Household,  Chapel 
and  College."    What  salary  the  King  assigned  in  London  wc  have  not  ascertained. 


1()50-1780.]  IN  THIS  REVOLUTION.  557 

pages  was  in  these  words — Thr  Biblk  is  not  our  Jupge. 
And  as  many  more  were  employed  in  telling  the  reader 
that  "  The  lioman  Church  is  our  invalliulr  Judrje?''  Tlie 
false  and  violent  abuse  of  our  Translators,  commencing 
with  Tyndale,  we  cannot  pollute  the  page  by  quoting. 
But  enough  has  been  stated  to  shew  the  propriety  of  such 
impiety  on  the  part  of  the  Crown  being  no  longer  per- 
mitted on  British  ground.  James  might  now  call  secret- 
ly for  the  Great  Seal,  and  throw  it,  as  he  did,  into  the 
Thames,  and  at  last  retiring  to  France,  he  may,  in  little 
trifles,  faintly  imitate  the  style  of  Louis  the  Fourteenth,  or 
visit  the  monks  of  La  Trap ;  but  he  must  no  more  conduct 
himself  towards  the  Word  of  God  in  the  way  which,  through 
his  printers,  he  had  so  presumptuously,  or,  by  the  laws  of  his 
country,  treasonably  done.  The  displeasure  of  the  God  of 
Truth  he  had  brought  upon  himself,  and  in  the  great  change 
so  remarkably  wrought  in  favour  of  Britain,  the  indignity 
thrown  upon  the  Sacred  Volume  was  avenged. 

Such,  at  all  events,  was  the  Revolution  of  1688-9,  and  what  were  the 
consequences  ?  These  we  prefer  to  express  in  the  language  of  one  of 
our  best  constitutional  wi-iters  : — "  The  assertion  of  passive  obedience 
to  the  Crown,  grew  obnoxious  to  the  Crown  itself.  Our  new  line  of 
sovereigns  scarcely  ventured  to  hear  of  their  hereditary  right,  and 
dreaded  the  cup  of  flattery  that  was  drugged  with  poison.  The  laws 
were  not  so  much  materially  altered,  as  the  spirit  and  sentiments  of  the 
people.  Hence  those  who  look  only  at  the  former,  have  been  prone  to 
underrate  the  magnitude  of  this  Revolution.  The  fundamental  maxims 
of  the  constitution,  both  as  they  regard  the  king  and  the  subject,  may 
seem  nearly  the  same  ;  but  the  disposition  with  which  they  were  re- 
ceived and  interpreted  was  very  different."  But  where  shall  we  find  a 
secret  leaven,  which  had  been  operating  directly  on  the  disposition  of 
the  people,  if  we  exclude  from  consideration  all  reference  to  that  Sacred 
Volume,  recently  indeed  so  slighted  by  the  Crown,  but  which  had  been 
reading  by  both  rich  and  poor  throughout  the  families  of  the  land  % 

What  the  Revolution  did  for  us  was  this  ;  continues  Mr.  Hallam, 
"  it  broke  a  spell  that  had  charmed  the  nation.  It  cut  up  by  the  roots 
all  that  theory  of  indefeasible  right,  of  paramount  prerogative,  which 
had  put  the  Crown  in  continual  opposition  to  the  people.  A  contention 
had  subsisted  for  five  hundred  years,  but  particularly  during  the  last 
four  reigns,  against  the  aggressions  of  arlntrary  power.  The  Sovereigns 
of  this  country  had  never  patiently  endured  the  control  of  Parliament ; 
nor  was  it  natural  for  them  to  do  so,  while  the  two  Houses  of  Parliament 


558  NOTICES  RESPECTING  VARIOUS  [BOOK  V. 

appeared  historically,  and  in  legal  language,  to  derive  their  existence  as 
well  as  privileges  from  the  Crown  itself."" 

To  enter  with  any  minuteness  into  the  history  of  tho 
Eni^lisli  IJiblo  throughout  tliis  h)ng  period,  from  IGoOto  1780, 
couhl  answer  no  vahiable  or  j)rcsent  i)raetical  purpose  ;  but  this 
work  would,  confessedly,  be  incomplete,  did  we  not  put  upon 
record  certain  particulars,  in  reference  both  to  the  Scriptures 
themselves,  and  the  vast  number  of  editions  printed. 

With  regard  to  the  IJibles  themselves,  and  especially  their 
style  of  execution,  the  history  is  too  often  so  very  unwelcome, 
that  we  have  no  disposition  to  go  into  more  detail  than  is  ne- 
cessary. Classics,  and  almost  every  species  of  mere  human 
composition,  not  only  beautiful,  but  sometimes  almost  fault- 
less, were  teeming  from  the  press,  or  at  least  in  the  best  man- 
ner which  could  then  be  executed  ;  while  the  Sacred  Record, 
in  the  most  miserable  style,  both  as  to  paper  and  printing, 
was  issued  by  printers,  who,  to  crown  all,  were  proclaimed  to 
the  nation  as  privileged  to  do  so.  This,  however,  let  it  be 
ever  remembered,  was  mans  department  in  the  affair,  and  the 
slovenly,  the  penurious  manner,  in  which  he  too  frequently, 
and  so  long  performed  his  task,  left  to  his  posterity  nothing 
whatever  save  the  blush  of  shame.  There  were,  it  is  granted, 
many  most  creditable  editions,  and  the  English  Bible  consi- 
dered as  an  instrument  of  infinite  good,  still  continued,  by  the 
favour  of  God,  to  be  sufficient  for  its  purpose,  or  intended  end  ; 
but  a  minute  detail  of  the  incorrect  manner  in  which  it  so  often 
came  from  the  press,  would  serve  to  illustrate  only  the  for- 
bearance and  long-suffering  patience  of  Heaven. 

We  have  already  alluded  to  the  King's  printers  in  London  as  having  been 
fined  for  incorrect  printing  of  the  Scriptures  in  1C34,  but  this  did  not  prevent  the 
repetition  of  a  similar  offence  soon  after  in  1G.'}8.  As  if  to  show  that  the  privi- 
lege wherever  gi-anted,  was,  to  say  the  least,  no  security  against  the  same  defect, 
this  instance  came  from  the  press  of  Buck  and  Daniel,  the  privileged  printers 
of  Cambridge,  in  the  reign  of  Charles  I.  In  the  Acts,  vi.,  3,  they  had  printed 
"  Wherefore,  brethren,  look  ye  out  among  yourselves  seven  men  of  honest  re- 
port, &c.,  whom  ye  may  appoint  over  this  business" — instead  of  "  ire  may  ap- 


6  "  Hallam's  Constitutional  History  of  EnRland."  Since  that  time,  adds  the  same  author, 
''it  seems  equally  just  to  say,  th.it  the  predominatinp  character  has  been  aristocratical  ;  the 
royal  prerORative  being  in  some  respects  too  limited,  and  in  others  too  little  capable  of  effec- 
tual exercise,  to  counterbalance  the  hereditary  peerage,  and  that  class  of  great  territorial  pro- 
prietors, who,  in  a  political  division,  arc  to  be  reckoned  among  the  proper  aristocracy  of  the 
land. 


1G50-1780.]  EDITIONS  IN  ENGLAND.  559 

point."  Tliis  careless  error  of  the  press,  for,  from  the  iri'egularity  of  its  occur- 
rence, it  was  nothing  more,  and  without  the  shadow  of  design,  continued  to  infest 
many  eihtions  from  the  days  of  Charles  I.  down  to  those  of  William  and  Mary. 
Such,  however,  was  the  virulence  of  party  spirit,  that  instead  of  the  blunder 
being  visited  on  the  six  or  eight  guilty  parties  in  succession,  throughout  half  a 
century,  not  only  no  fine  was  imposed,  but  the  blame  was  thrown  on  those  who 
had  no  control  over  the  press.  At  one  time  the  foolish  mistake  was  fathered  on 
the  printers  during  the  Connnonwealth  or  Protectorate  ;  and,  at  a  later  period, 
it  was  ascribed  to  the  Presbyterians,  which  they  solemnly  disclaimed.  The  plain 
facts  of  the  case  were  only  a  glaring  and  repeated  proof  of  the  carelessness  of 
successive  patentees.  Although  the  mistake  began  as  we  have  stated,  it  has 
been  erroneously  ascribed  to  John  Field,  who,  though  he  unwittingly  followed 
Daniel,  in  two  or  three  editions,  was  ultimately  the  printer  of  some  of  the  best 
Bibles  then  in  the  kingdom.  An  old  and  very  good  judge  has  said  of  him — "  The 
correctness  of  a  book  is  that  which  makes  it  valuable  and  delightful  to  the 
reader  ;  yea,  registrates  honour  to  the  memory  of  the  printer.  How  much  in 
these  nations  are  the  true  editions  of  the  Bible,  printed  by  Field,  sought  aftei". 
It  was  only  the  correctness  of  them  gained  their  reputation,  for  the  Dutch  coun- 
terfeits, generall}',  far  exceeded  them  in  beauty  and  clean  working."  Many  of 
his  editions  read  a  severe  lesson  to  other  patentees  ;  for  if  the  blunder  referred 
to  was  committed  three  or  four  times  in  the  time  of  the  Protectorate,  it  has  been 
traced  in  thirty-three  editions  under  Charles  the  Second  and  his  brother  James. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  to  her  exiles  for  conscientious  opinion,  fi'om 
Tyndale  downward,  Britain  had  been  all  along  under  far  greater  obligations 
than  to  any  of  her  subjects  living  at  home.  About  the  middle  of  this  century, 
she  was  indebted  to  another,  who  was  living  at  Amsterdam.  The  first  English 
Bible,  with  Scriptural  references  on  the  margin  throughout,  was  prepared  and 
printed  in  that  city,  by  John  Canne.  He  proceeded  on  the  principle,  that 
"  Scripture  was  the  best  interpreter  of  Scripture,"  and  his  parallels,  therefore, 
are  parallels  oi  sense  and  not  of  soimd,  as  too  many  have  been  since  his  day.  Of 
this  Bible  there  were  various  editions,  at  home  as  well  as  abroad,  viz.  : 

1644.  Amsterdam,  4to.  1682.  Amsterdam,  London  title,  12rao. 

1647.  London,  2  vols.,  8vo.  1698.  London,  Bill  and  Newcomb. 

1662.  London,  12mo.  1700.  London,  ditto,  in  quarto. 

1664.  London,  2  vols.,  8vo.  1720.  Cambridge,  Basket,  quarto. 

1671.  London.  1727,1754.  Edinburgh  editions. 

Several  of  these  books  are  but  too  incorrect,  and  many  of  the  later  have  been 
corrupted  by  additional  texts.  After  a  careful  collation  of  these  pi'eceding  edi- 
tions, a  good  reprint  would  prove  a  very  valuable  and  saleable  book. 

Though  rather  an  eccentric  character,  we  must  not  omit  notice  of  Thomas 
Guy,  as  a  printer  of  Bibles  from  1680.  The  English  Bibles  being  so  badly 
printed,  Mr.  Guy  engaged  with  others  in  printing  them  in  Holland,  and  then 
imported  them.  Upon  this  being  prevented,  he  contracted  with  the  University 
of  Oxford  for  the  privilege  of  printing  there.  For  many  yeai's,  to  his  own  ad- 
vantage, he  carried  on  a  great  trade  ;  and  thus  began  to  accumulate  vast  wealth, 
though  he  engaged  in  other  speculations.  The  Bibles  he  printed,  though  cer- 
tainly not  elegant,  were,  as  books,  by  no  means  contemptible.  At  his  death  in 
1724,  he  left  as  large  an  amount  of  property  as  any  commoner  before  him  had 
ever  done.  Though  personally  of  penurious  habits,  he  must  have  given  away 
during  his  lifetime,  at  least  £1 0,000,  if  not  more.  At  the  age  of  seventy -six,  he 
resolved  to  erect  the  hospital  in  London,  so  well  known  since  as  Guy's  or  St. 


5(;((  NOTICES  HESPECTINCJ   VARIOUS  []u00K  V. 

ThomoH's  Hospital,  ami  before  his  dciitli,  four  years  after,  at  an  expense  of  above 
Xl!»,0(l(),  ho  saw  it  roofed  in.  Ily  the  year  17:i2,  the  Hospital  had  carried  to 
the  account  of  liis  executors  for  its  endowment,  £2'2i),\'M,  2s.  7d.,  forming  a 
total  of  £'J-lfl,i:54.  To  the  almshouses  and  library  at  Taniwortli,  ho  devoted 
about  £-2(l(KI  ;  to  Christ's  Hospital,  from  £«(tl)()  to  £in,no(»  ;  and  there  were 
£)tO,(t(tO  still  romaininj^,  for  any  who  could  prove  themselves  to  bo  related  to 
liim.  Whatever  was  the  character  of  the  deceased,  therefore,  it  may  be  said, 
that  among  printers  of  the  Bible,  Thomas  Guy  stands  by  himself.  Ilis  property 
must  have  been  above  £.'5:S(),0()0. 

After  the  Revolution,  the  very  first  monarch  who  took  any  cognizance  of  the 
carelessness  of  the  privileged  printers  of  the  Bible  belonged  to  the  House  of  Ha- 
nover. George  I.  having  informed  himself  on  the  subject,  issued  the  following 
orders  to  the  patentees —  1.  That  all  Bibles  printed  hereafter  shall  be  upon  as 
good  paper,  at  least,  as  the  specimens  they  exliilntcd.  2.  That  they  foi'thwith 
lodge  four  copies  in  the  two  Sccretai'ies'  offices,  in  the  registry  of  the  Arch- 
bishop of  Canterbury  and  Bishop  of  London,  ."i.  That  they  shall  employ  such 
coiTCctors  of  the  press  as  shall  be  approved  of  by  these  two  bishops.  4.  That 
they  print  in  the  title-page  the  exact  price  at  which  each  book  is  to  be  sold  to 
the  booksellers.  These  orders,  dated  2ith  April  1724,  must  have  had  some  ef- 
fect, though  they  could  not  possibly  reach  the  root  of  the  inaccuracy. 

There  was,  however,  considerable  improvement,  and  in  the  reign  of  George 
XL,  a  folio  Bible  was  produced,  said  to  be  the  most  beautiful  ever  yet  printed. 
This  was  by  John  Baskerville  of  Birmingham,  the  printer  and  typefounder,  in 
1763  ;  though  once  more  the  country  had  been  indebted,  as  it  had  often  been  be- 
fore, not  to  any  privileged  or  incorporate  body,  but  to  individual  genius  and 
enterprise.  Baskerville,  indeed,  had  to  pay  a  considerable  premium  to  the  Uni- 
vereity  of  Cambridge  for  permission  to  print  his  Bibles,  and  after  his  death  his 
types,  which  lay  a  dead  weight  for  want  of  a  purchaser,  were  carried  out  of  the 
counti'y.7  The  reign  of  George  II.  was  also  distinguished  by  one  of  the  most 
careful  revisions  of  the  Scriptures  which  had  yet  been  made.  In  17G9,  a  Bible 
in  folio  and  quarto  was  edited  by  Dr.  Blayney,  the  subsequent  Professor  of  He- 
brew at  Oxford.  Professedly,  in  this  edition,  the  punctuation  was  thoroughly 
revised  ;  the  words  in  italic  were  examined  and  corrected  by  the  Hebrew  and 
Greek  ;  the  jjroper  names  were  translated  and  entered  on  the  margin  ;  the 
heads  and  running  titles  were  corrected;  errors  in  chronologij  were  rectified  ; 
and  marginal  references  were  corrected  and  considerably  increased.  This  lias 
been  referred  to  often  since  as  the  standard  edition.  Yet  even  then,  there  had 
not  been  sufficient  vigilance  in  superintendence,  as  more  than  a  hundred  errors 
have  been  detected  since,  and  it  was  reserved  for  our  own  age  to  make  a  nearer 


7  In  1765,  Baskerville  applied  to  Benjamin  Franklin,  then  at  Paris,  to  sound  the  literati  as 
to  purchasing  types.  The  answer  was,  that  the  French,  "  reduced  by  the  war  of  l/Sfi,  were  so 
far  from  being  able  to  pursue  schemes  of  taste,  that  they  were  unable  to  repair  their  public 
buildings."  After  the  death  of  iMrs.  Baskerville  in  1777>  many  efforts  were  used  to  disjjose  of 
the  stock  of  types,  but  in  vain.  The  London  booksellers  preferred  the  types  of  Caslon  and  Jack- 
son—the University  of  Cambridge  rejected  any  offer.  In  two  years  after,  they  were  purchased 
by  M.  de  Beauraarchais  of  Paris,  and  very  soon  em))loycd  in  printing  the  works  of  Voltaire, 
with  the  advertisements  and  notes  of  C'ondorcet !  This  edition  of  Voltaire,  printed  with  the 
types  of  Baskerville,  consisted  of  ii'twi/.v  volumes  in  handsome  octavo.  This  man's  vast  projects 
and  incessant  activity  in  paper-making  and  printing  at  A'W(7,  near  Strasburg,  were  worthy  of  a 
belter  cause.  At  last,  however,  they  terminated  in  the  loss  of  one  million  of  livres,  but  nothing 
could  cure  his  thirst  for  speculation.  Ingulfed  in  the  delirium  of  the  approaching  French  Re- 
volution, ho  finished  by  importing  sixty  thousand  st.ind  of  arms  in  17!>2,  though  he  survived  to 
his  seventieth  year  in  \70i). 


ir)."iO-17SO.]  EDITIONS  IN  SCX)TLAN1).  .j(>  1 

approach  to  an  inmiaculatf  voluiiu'.     lUit  enough  has  bcon  said  of  tht;  Enghsh 
press.     It  remains  only  that  we  h)ok  to  North  Britain. 

With  reference  to  Scotland,  were  it  not  tliat  the  inhabitants 
liad  been  constantly  receiving  the  Scriptures  both  from 
England  and  Holland,  their  condition  would  have  been  de- 
plorable, so  far  as  their  nativ^e  press  was  concerned.  During 
the  Commonwealth,  and  down  as  far  as  the  twenty-fourth  year 
of  Charles  II.,  or  from  1649  to  J  672,  there  is  understood  to 
have  been  no  Bible  printed  in  Scotland,  and  perhaps  the  people 
had  better  have  remained  dependent  on  foreign  supply  for 
forty  years  longer. 

It  was  in  the  year  1G71,  that  a  privilege  was  obtained  by  one  Andrew  Ander- 
son from  Charles  II.,  which  continued  for  forty  years,  to  the  great  disadvantage 
and  molestation  of  the  country,  and  most  dishonourable  to  the  King.  At  his 
very  outset,  Anderson  had  Ijcen  convicted  by  the  Privy-Council  of  gross  inac- 
cui-acy  in  printing  a  New  Testament,  yet  still  this  man,  and  especially  his  widow, 
were  permitted  to  harass  the  trade  on  one  hand,  and  the  country  on  the 
other,  with  their  productions  ;  this  woman  actually  accumulating  very  consider- 
able wealth  at  the  expense  of  both.  Anderson's  8vo  Bible  in  1679,  was,  in- 
deed, very  well  executed,  but  all  the  subsequent  editions,  down  to  1 7 1 2,  waxed 
worse  and  worse.  The  privilege  thus  granted  by  Charles  II.,  was  of  such 
shameful  extent,  that  it  has  been  said  of  it  by  one  who  felt  its  effects —  "  By 
this  gift  the  art  of  printing  in  this  kingdom  (of  Scotland)  got  a  dead  stroke  ; 
for  by  it,  no  printer  could  print  anything  from  a  Bible  to  a  ballad,  without  An- 
derson's license."  Bibles  the  most  illegible  and  incorrect  that  ever  were  printed 
in  the  world  came  from  this  press ;  the  patentee  persecuted  all  the  other  prin- 
ters in  Scotland,  and  at  last  went  so  far  as  to  seize  a  number  of  Bibles  brought 
from  Loudon  by  the  booksellers.  Still  the  patent  was  never  revoked,  and  when 
it  came  to  an  end,  it  will  scarcely  be  believed,  that  this  woman  "  left  no  stone 
unturned  to  procure  a  new  one  !""  But  the  Stuart  kings  were  gone,  and  under 
Queen  Anne  such  an  avaricious  pest  was  no  longer  to  be  endured.  Watson 
from  whose  history  we  have  quoted,  became  priuter  under  Freebairn,  the  pa- 
tentee, and  a  better  day  succeeded.  For  ten  years,  from  1713,  he  printed  a 
number  of  most  excellent  editions  in  folio,  quarto,  octavo,  duodecimo,  and 
twenty -foui's.  His  editions  of  small  size  in  1715,  1716,  1719,  and  17"22,  as  well 
as  his  folio  of  1 722,  are  still  deservedly  esteemed.  The  assignees  of  Watson  were 
not  so  careful,  but  by  this  time  the  Scriptures  were  printing  in  Edinburgh  by 
two  or  three  other  houses.  One  merciful  peculiarity,  however,  in  regard  to  Scot- 
land, and  during  the  whole  period  under  review,  must  not  be  forgotten.  It  was 
this  :  importation  was  never  interdicted,  and  the  consequence  was,  that  long 
before  1650,  and  beyond  1780,  the  Scriptures  had  been  imported  during  the  run 
of  all  the  home  patents.  Such  Bibles  ai'e  still  in  existence,  and  to  be  found 
there,  ranging  in  point  of  dates  throughout  a  period  of  above  two  hundred  years. 
More  than  half  the  Bibles  used  in  Scotland  throughout  the  eighteenth  century, 
are  supposed  to  have  been  printed  in  England  or  Holland. 

But  we  must  not  omit  to  glance  at  the  number  of  Bibles 


8  Watson's  History  of  tlic  Art  ot  rrintiiiK;   Fdinlnirgh,  ITI-''. 

VOL.  II.  '2  y. 


5f;2  TlIK  KDITIONS  I'UINTKD  [boOK  V. 

and  New  Testaments  printed  in  England,  Holland,  and  Scot- 
land on  the  whole.  At  the  very  threshold  of  this  period, 
and  so  forward,  we  meet  with  one  circumstance,  which,  to 
every  reflecting  mind,  must  immediately  convey  an  idea  of 
personal,  and,  of  course,  national  responsibility,  rising  to  a 
height  beyond  all  accurate  calculation.  It  is  simply  this — 
The  Books  cannot  be  numbered!  Hitherto,  we  have  numbered 
the  editions  printed.  This  is  now  impossible.  From  the 
commencement  of  this  period  to  its  close,  no  one  can  say  how 
many  editions  of  the  English  Bible  have  been  published,  much 
less  inform  us  how  many  copies  on  the  whole.  On  attempting 
this,  one  is  soon  lost,  as  in  a  wilderness ;  but  it  is  one  un- 
known to  any  other  part  of  the  world,  or  any  other  language 
upon  earth  ;  and  all  is  vague  conjecture.  The  printers  them- 
selves have  left  no  data,  nor  can  those  now  living  lend  any 
assistance.  Both  in  England  and  Scotland,  it  is  long  since 
they  have  left  off  numbering  even  the  editions. 

That  there  should  be  one  ever-watchful  eye,  and  only  One, 
who  knows  this  secret,  and  the  number  of  them  all,  is  a  con- 
sideration of  no  light  import ;  the  amount  of  which  will  only 
be  known,  when  another  book  is  opened,  which  is  "  the  book 
of  life."  But  we  have  noticed  this  circumstance  here,  chiefly 
in  order  to  point  out  its  bearing  upon  every  thing  else  printed 
in  the  English  tongue.  Even  long  before  1780,  no  other  book, 
in  the  annals  of  printing,  occupied  such  a  place.  Of  no  other 
book,  in  the  history  of  our  country  and  its  literature,  can  any 
thing  approaching  to  this  be  asserted.  As  far  as  the  English 
language  and  the  art  of  printing  were  concerned,  every  thing 
else  in  the  form  of  human  composition,  or  in  the  shape  of  a 
book,  was  reduced  to  a  thing  of  comparative  insignificance. 
Even  before  the  close  of  the  last  century,  notwithstanding  the 
countless  multitude  of  publications  by  men  issued  from  the 
press,  how  triumphantly  had  the  Sacred  Volume  redeemed 
itself  altogether  out  of  the  usual  category  of  books !  This  it 
has  already  done,  by  our  simply  following  out  only  its  his- 
tory. Nor  is  this  all.  From  the  place  it  thus  occupied  even 
then  in  this  land,  it  never  will  be,  never  can  be,  superseded 
as  to  its  number,  by  any  book  of  human  composition  in  the 
shape  of  print.  With  all  safety,  at  the  present  moment,  we 
assert  as  much,  not  blind  to  all  the  approaching  wonders  of 
the  steam-press  itself. 


1(>."')0-17S0.]  NOW  CANNOT  MK  NUAIBERKD.  563 

It  is,  however,  with  the  times  that  passed  over  Britain 
during  these  one  hundred  and  thirty  years,  that  we  have  now 
to  do  ;  and  the  all-important  inquiry  remains  to  be  answered 
—  What  were  the  results  ?  To  record  all  these,  would,  of 
course,  demand  a  volume.  The  days  of  burning  the  Sacred 
Volume,  or  those  who  possessed  it,  had  long  since  passed 
away.  And  whatever  the  beneficial  consequences  now  were, 
wliile,  we  repeat,  that  there  had  been  many  most  estimable 
editions  of  the  Divine  Word,  the  slovenly  and  imperfect  style 
in  which  man  had  too  often  fulfilled  his  part,  only  render  the 
results  so  much  the  more  observable.  On  the  whole,  how- 
ever, at  home,  or  within  the  shores  of  Britain,  it  must  be 
confessed,  there  was  by  far  too  much  ground  for  the  genuine 
patriot  to  hang  down  his  head.  Thus,  in  finishing  his  Avell 
known  "  History  of  the  Translations  of  the  Bible,"  in  1738, 
one  cannot  but  observe,  that  good  John  Lewis  seems  to  have 
been  in  but  very  low  spirits  indeed  with  reference  to  the 
subject  on  which  he  had  bestowed  unprecedented  research. 

"  This  is  the  account,"  says  he,  "  wliieh  I  have  been  able  to  give  of  the  seve- 
ral translations  of  the  Bible  and  New  Testament  into  the  ancient  and  modei-n 
English  tongue,  and  of  their  most  remarkable  editions  in  print.  From  whence, 
I  suppose,  any  one  will  infer  the  great  honour  and  esteem  that  these  holy  boolcs 
were  always  held  in  by  our  Christian  ancestors  :  since  they  were  so  very  desir- 
ous to  have  them,  and  to  know  and  understand  their  contents,  as  to  spare  no 
cost  or  pains,  but  to  run  the  hazard  of  even  their  lives  and  fortunes,  and  not  to 
count  them  dear,  so  that  they  might  but  procure  the  free  use  of  these  books, 
and  have  the  advantage  of  perusing  them.  The  great  number  of  the  copies  of 
them  in  manuscript,  before  printing  was  invented,  and  the  many  editions  of 
them  since  printing  came  into  use,  is  a  demonstration  of  the  gi-eat  value  put  on 
them  by  the  Christians  here  in  England  ;  and  that  every  one  who  could  read 
took  care  to  purchase  a  Bible  or  Testament  in  the  tongue  wherein  he  was  born. 
This,  no  doubt,  will  be  thought  a  very  great  reproach  to  the  professed  Chris- 
tians of  the  present  age,  and  but  too  good  an  argument  of  their  having  lost  their 
first  love,  and  being  nowise  earnest  for  the  faith  delivered  to  the  saints  in 
these  holy  books.  Since — to  our  shame  be  it  spoken — whatever  reputation  the 
Holy  Bible  has  been  had  in,  it  is  now  treated  with  the  utmost  slight  and  ne- 
glect, and  is  scarce  any  wliere  read  but  in  our  churches  !  So  far,  too,  are  many  of 
our  modern  Christians  here  in  England,  from  reading  this  book,  meditating  on 
it,  and  letting  the  sense  of  it  dwell  richly  or  abundantly  in  them  ;  that,  every 
body  knows,  the  writings  of  the  most  silly  and  trifling  authors  are  often  pre- 
ferred, and  read  with  greater  pleasux'e  and  delight.  What  surer  sign  can  be 
given,  that  we  have  a  name  that  we  live,  and  are  dead  ?  And,  consequently, 
that  unless  we  remember  from  whence  we  are  fallen,  and  i-cpent,  and  do  the 
first  works,  the  great  Author  and  finisher  of  our  faith  will  come  unto  us  quickly, 
and  will  remove  our  candlestick  out  of  his  place.     Sed  Deus  avertat  omen." 

Mr.  Lewis,  no  doubt,  spake  as  he  felt  at  the  moment,  and 


5G4  NEW  MOVEMENT  IN  FAVolK  [boOK  V. 

must  havo  had  too  much  reason  for  all  that  he  expressed. 
Yet  such  is  the  history  of  our  English  ]3ible,  when  /«%  fol- 
lowed out,  that  it  will  be  sure  to  raise  any  man  far  above  his 
own  vicinity,  his  own  community,  or  connexions.  From  the 
bofjinning  to  the  then  existing  moment,  our  Sacred  Volume 
had  been  the  counsellor  of  all  departments  throughout  this 
nation,  the  partizan  of  none ;  and  immediately  after  the 
author  had  penned  these  lines,  by  many  who  had  never  read 
them,  considerably  revived  attention  was  given  to  the  Scriptures 
of  truth.  JJut  as  we  have  now  to  raise  our  head,  and  survey  a 
century  and  a  half,  we  shall  obtain  a  more  enlarged  view  of 
the  progress  made ;  and  it  is  not  for  us  to  present  so  sombre 
a  picture  of  the  times  as  that  of  Lewis.  True,  indeed,  we 
have  been  accustomed  all  along  to  look  to  our  own  favoured 
island  only,  as  embracing  the  soil  where  the  seed  was  sown  ; 
but  we  have  come  to  another,  and  more  advanced  stage  of 
this  stupendous  cause ;  and  in  tracing  it  out,  if  we  simply 
follow  the  Sacred  Volume,  we  are  invited  to  depart,  or  to 
look  far  beyond  the  shores  of  either  England  or  Scotland. 


SECTION    II.  — NORTH   AMERICA. 
THE   REIGN  OF  JAMES   I.  TO  GEORGE    III. 

NEW  MOVEMENT  IN  REFERENCE   TO    THE   ENGLISH  SCRIPTCRES THE    BIBLE 

FIRST    BEHELD  BY  THE    NATIVES  IN  AMERICA,   AN  ENGLISH    ONE COPIES 

CARRIED    AWAY    TO    NEW    ENGLAND   BY    THE   REFUGEES   AND   FOLLOWING 

SETTLERS NO  INDIVIDUAL  EVER    SPECIFIED  AS  PARTICULARLY    ZEALOUS 

IN  THE  TRANSIT  OF  COPIES — YET  WERE  THEY  SENT  ACROSS  THE  ATLANTIC 
OCEAN  FOR  ABOVE  A  HUNDRED  AND  SIXTY  YEARS  ! — A  MOVEMENT  SUCH  AS 
NEVER  DISTINGUISHED  ANY  OTHER  EUROPEAN  VERSION,  AND  NOW  NEVER 
WILL — THE  EXTRAORDINARY  RESULTS  DURING  THIS  LONG  PERIOD WIL- 
LIAMS, ELIOT,  MATHER,  EDWARDS,  BRAINERD,  AND  MANY  THOUSANDS  BE- 
SIDE  THE  RESTRICTIVE  AND  UNNATURAL  POLICY  OF  BRITAIN — SHE  MUST 

BE  OVERRULED,  AS  HER  MONARCHS  HAD  BEEN  IN  ENGLAND — IN  JUSTIFICA- 
TION OF  ITS  CONTINUED  INDEPENDENCE  OP  ALL  HUMAN  AUTHORITY,  THE 
ENGLISH  BIBLE  IS  AT  LAST  PRINTED  IN  AMERICA — NO  CONSULTATION  OF 
THE  MOTHER  COUNTUV — THK    FIRST    KPITION    ONLY   IN   1782 THE  INDE- 


i 620- 17 80.]  OF  THE  ENGLISH  SCRIPTURES.  565 

PENDENCE    OF    AMERICA    ACKNOWLEDOUD    BY    BRITAIN,    lIOLIiANl),  ETC. 

THE  B^IRST  BIBLES  IN    OCTAVO,  QUARTO,    AND     FOLIO,    PRINTED  THERE    IN 
17i)l — THE  SECOND  IN  DUODECIMO  NOT  TILL  1797. 

.V  to  this  period,  or  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  cen- 
tury, we  presume  it  will  be  admitted,  that  the  history 
of  the  English  Bible,  in  comparison  with  that  of  the 
Sacred  Volume  into  every  other  European  tongue,  had  sus- 
tained a  character  all  its  own.  This  peculiarity  may  now 
undergo  a  change  in  its  general  appearance  ;  but  the  singular 
distinction  of  character  will  remain,  nay,  and  be  more  strongly 
marked  than  ever  before. 

In  the  opening  of  the  seventeenth  century,  England  and 
Scotland,  once  united  under  the  same  crown,  had  received  the 
appellation  of  Great  Britain  from  her  overjoyed  monarch, 
James  the  First — a  title  peculiarly  flattering  to  his  personal 
vanity.  In  connexion  with  the  Sacred  Volume,  his  kingdom 
exhibited  the  aspect  of  an  island  which  had  been  invaded  from 
without,  and  which,  after  long  resistance  at  first,  had  been 
ultimately  subdued  by  the  Word  of  God.  The  Scriptures  in 
the  vernacular  tongue,  which  were  now  happily  printing  both 
in  England  and  Scotland,  had,  from  the  beginning,  been  often 
also  imported.,  nay,  and  from  Holland,  copies  were  importing 
afterwards.  But  if  perfect  liberty  not  only  to  read,  but  also 
to  judge  of  their  contents,  is  not  to  be  here  obtained,  Divine 
Providence  has  now  another,  and  a  greater  lesson  in  reserve. 
The  inestimable  gift,  or  deposit,  is  not  to  be  always,  or  even 
long,  confined  within  the  shores  of  Britain. 

Of  course,  it  could  not  then  have  crossed  the  imagination 
of  any  man,  that  the  same  unseen  hand,  which  we  have  ob- 
served all  along,  was  already  in  motion,  and  actually  prepar- 
ing for  the  population  of  a  neiv  world,  where  a  freer  life  and  a 
fresher  nature  were  to  be  enjoyed ;  and  even  at  the  present 
day,  few  individuals  may,  at  first,  be  disposed  to  trace  the 
populating  of  the  American  wilderness,  in  any  degree,  to  the 
consequences  of  reading  the  English  Bible  in  Britain.  At  all 
events,  the  time  had  arrived,  when,  as  it  was  carried  out  of 
England  to  the  European  Continent  in  the  reign  of  Queen 
Mary,  so  under  that  of  James,  nay,  and  of  seven  sovereigns 
in  succession,  it  was  to  be  carried  farther  still.  If  the  liberty 
to  form  opinion  of  its  dictates,  was  a  blessing  denied  to  many 


JbO'  THE  ENGLISH  SCRIPTURES  TO  BE  QboOK  V. 

uiultT  tlie  Tiulur  family,  so  it  happened  iiiulcr  tliat  of  the 
Stuarts ;  and  tlie  same  cause  pro(hiced  the  same  etiect,  only 
to  a  far  greater  extent.  Under  (^uccn  Mary  I.,  all  that  had 
occurred,  was  an  affair  of  little  more  than  five  years'*  duration. 
It  might  bo  compared  to  the  migration  of  those  birds,  who, 
in  summer,  return  again  to  gladden  the  land,  for  at  that  time 
many  returned ;  but  now,  from  the  American  "  Pilgrim 
Fathers,"  and  so  onward,  the  people  in  general  who  hurried 
across  the  Atlantic,  like  the  passengers  to  eternity,  were  to 
return  no  more.  For  this  sinjiular  movement  of  the  British 
people,  in  the  civil  department  of  the  British  constitution, 
there  was  not  to  be  found  even  the  shadow  of  a  cause  ;  but  if 
the  existing  government  of  the  mother  country,  generally 
speaking,  was  either  so  framed,  or  to  be  so  conducted,  as  to 
charge  itself  with  the  vain  task  of  regulating  the  mind,  as 
well  as  that  of  ruling  the  bodies  of  its  subjects,  then  was  there 
no  relief  or  remedy,  but  in  another  arrangement  beyond  seas. 
Hitherto,  we  have  long,  and  not  uufrequently,  seen  the 
Almighty  overruling  individuals  of  the  highest  authority 
within  this  kingdom  ;  but,  if  necessary,  it  was  as  nothing  with 
Him  to  overrule  the  realm  itself.  The  only  question  will  be. 
What  connexion  had  all  this  with  the  perusal  of  the  Sacred 
Volume  in  our  native  language,  and  in  our  native  land  ? 

With  reference  to  America  at  large,  it  is  well  known  that  both  Si)ain, 
Portugal,  and  France,  were  upon  the  alert,  before  Britain,  just  as  the 
Portuguese,  the  Dutch,  and  French,  were  in  the  East  Indies.  But  in 
regard  to  North  America,  although  there  were  no  mines  of  silver  and 
gold,  as  in  the  South,  no  tempting  immediate  prospects  of  wealth  or 
pleasure,  nor  indeed  any  thing  whatever  so  inviting  in  the  unexplored 
wilderness  of  the  North  ;  still,  if  the  delusion  that  it  was  possible  to 
set  boundaries  to  the  mind,  or  that  knowledge  was  to  grow  up  only  to  a 
certain  fixed  point,  must  prevail  in  England  ;  then  shall  the  Sacred 
Volume,  so  wondrously  bestowed  on  the  mother  country  at  first,  and 
60  long  afterwards,  be  read  also  beyond  the  ocean,  on  the  banks  of  un- 
known rivers,  amidst  the  sylvan  grandeur,  or  in  the  deep  recesses  of  a 
new  world.  Long  had  the  Divine  Record  in  our  native  tongue  been 
imported  into  both  England  and  Scotland.  It  was  now  to  be  exported, 
or  rather  first  carried  away,  by  all  who  knew  its  value.  Since  1526  it 
had  been  sent  home ;  it  was  now  to  be  sent  abroad,  but  for  a  period 
longer  still,  and  to  more  than  ten  times  the  distance  it  had  ever  come. 

The  very  first  Bible  that  was  ever  beheld  by  the  Indians  of  North 
America,  was,  unquestionably,  an  English  one,  and  so  early  as  the  year 


1(J20-17S0]        CARRIED  ACROSS  THE  ATLANTIC.  567 

1585.  That  part  of  the  Continent  then  visited,  Queen  Elizabeth  had 
just  named  Virginia,  and,  in  the  expedition  sent  out,  there  happened 
to  be  one  Heriot,  an  eminent  mathematician,  and  apparently  a  kind- 
hearted  Christian.  Feeling  deeply  interested  in  the  artless  and  hospit- 
able Indian  natives,  he  took  advantage  of  the  impressions  made  by  the 
sight  of  their  instruments,  whether  marine  or  mathematical,  perspective 
and  burning  glasses,  clocks  and  books.  This  led  many  of  them  to  give 
credit  to  what  he  said  respecting  God.  "  In  all  places,"  says  he,  "  where 
I  came,  I  did  my  best  to  make  his  immortal  glory  known,  and  told  them, 
though  the  Bible  I  showed  them  contained  all,  yet  of  itself  it  was  not  of 
any  such  vii-tue  as  I  thought  they  did  conceive.  Notwithstanding,  many 
would  be  glad  to  touch  it,  to  kiss  and  embrace  it,  to  hold  it  to  their 
breasts  and  heads,  and  stroke  all  their  body  over  with  it.'" 

These  merely  mercantile  and  scientific  adventurers,  however,  as  gene- 
rally known,  did  not  succeed.  Twenty  years  after  Sir  Walter  Raleigh 
had  planted  the  first  colony  in  Vii-ginia,  not  a  single  Englishman  re- 
mained alive,  and  the  colonization  of  America  had  to  await  the  energy 
of  a  widely  diflferent  impulse,  to  be  followed  by  far  other  results. 

Although  America  had  been  discovered  to  England,  by  Cabot,  in 
1497,  under  Henry  VII.,  the  first  permanent  colony  on  the  coast  of  Vir- 
ginia did  not  arrive  till  1607,  Avhile  our  present  version  of  the  Bible 
was  preparing  ;  but  this  was  still  nothing  more  than  a  mercantile  ad- 
venture under  James  I.  It  was  in  the  year  1620  that  the  refugees 
from  England  to  Holland  embarked  on  board  the  Mayflower,  and  touch- 
ing, by  way  of  farewell,  at  the  land  of  their  birth,  proceeded  across  the 
ocean.  On  the  12th  of  November  that  year,  these  "  Pilgrim  Fathers" 
as  they  have  been  ever  since  styled,  having  their  Bibles  with  them,  kept 
then-  first  Sabbath  on  the  shores  of  Neio  England.  The  name  thus  given, 
by  Prince  Charles,  a  few  years  before,  seemed  to  send  its  echo  back  to 
the  country  which  they  had  left  for  ever.  The  Sacred  Volume  in  their 
native  tongue,  which  these  people  prized  above  life  itself,  was  now  within 
the  shores  of  a  new  Continent ;  but  this  was  in  the  year  1620,  whereas 
the  first  Bible  with  an  American  i77iprint  was  not  published  till  the  year 
1782,  that  is,  above  a  hundred  and  sixty  years  afterwards,  or  little  more 
than  only  sixty  years  ago  !     Yes,  such  is  the  remarkable  fact. 

From  the  first  reception  of  the  English  New  Testament  by  Britain,  it 
was  about  a  hundred  years  before  the  Bible,  so  singularly  conveyed  to 
the  island  at  first,  began  to  be  carried  away,  never  to  return.  But  what 
must  now  appear  in  retrospect  far  more  extraordinary,  for  a  hundred  and 
sixty  years  the  authorities  at  home  would  never  permit  of  a  single  edition 
being  printed,  except  within  this  island  !  To  speak  still  more  correctly 
is  humiliating  to  our  common  nature.     The  British  authorities,  in  fact 


1  Smith's  VirRiiiia,  !>•  "• 


568  THIS  MliMOKABLK  KXPOKTATION  [book  V. 

tiever  did  give  any  permission,  but  at  the  end  of  this  long  period,  the 
English  Bible  was  then  printed,  four  thousand  miles  distant,  wit/tout 
authority  or  liberty  being  either  asked  or  granted  by  any  man.  As  if 
the  singular  history  of  this  version  must  still  retain  the  integrity  of  its 
character,  down  to  our  own  day,  and  exhibit  to  the  world,  once  more, 
the  same  independence  with  which  it  was  first  presented  to  us  at  home, 
the  American  edition  was  printed  in  defiance  of  all  British  restrictions, 
in  the  year  1782. 

The  simple  announcement  of  this  fact,  though  never  pointed  out  or 
contemplated,  as  it  has  deserved  to  be,  at  once  gives  birth  to  a  crowd  of 
remarkable  associations.  Here  was  a  period  of  more  than  a  century  and 
a  half,  in  all  which  time  no  man,  or  set  of  men,  is  represented  in  history 
as  particularly  zealous  in  the  business.  Nothing  similar  to  a  society,  con- 
federacy, or  association,  was  formed  ;  the  idea  of  either  cheap  or  graUu- 
totis  circulation  had  never  once  entered  the  human  mind,  to  any  known 
extent ;  and  yet,  by  the  good  providence  of  God,  through  the  usual 
channels  of  commerce,  fro7n  the  reign  of  James  the  Fii'st,  dozen  to  that  of 
the  eighth  sovereign  in  sticcession,  or  the  midyear  of  George  III.,  vms  the 
Divine  Record  in  English  uniformly  carried  all  the  way  across  the  At- 
lintic !  It  belongs  to  the  Christians  throughout  Ameriv^a  at  present, 
along  with  those  now  living  in  Britain,  devoutly  to  mark  this  as  by  far 
the  most  remarkable  sign  of  those  times.  It  was  the  zeal  and  long-suf- 
fering patience  of  God  which  thus  ministered  his  Word  to  those  who  lived 
and  died  at  such  a  distance  from  the  spot  where  it  was  prepared  !  Odi- 
ous, indeed,  and  humiliating  must  this  spirit  of  restriction  or  monopoly 
now  ajipear ;  but  as  to  the  event  itself,  never  were  any  people  upon 
earth  so  singularly  supplied,  and  for  so  long  a  period,  with  the  Word  of 
Life.  As  one  step  in  the  path  of  Providence,  it  even  still  suggests  the 
idea  that  something  far  more  powerful  and  extensive  is  intended,  through 
the  medium  of  this  version,  than  it  has  ever  yet  accomplished. 

The  greatness  and  importance  of  this  movement,  however, 
can  only  bo  estimated,  by  observing  its  results ;  or,  in  other 
words,  by  adverting  to  the  trans-atlantic  events  of  that 
period,  or  the  men  who  lived  and  died  in  America,  through- 
out these  years,  and  this  would  require  a  volume.  But  for 
our  present  purpose  a  very  few  names  may  suffice,  and  these 
are  mentioned  simply  in  the  order  of  time,  as  they  come  be- 
fore us.  The  first  was  born  in  Wales,  the  second  in  Eng- 
land, and  the  three  last  in  America  itself. 

RociKR  Williams,       Ijorn  in  ]o'J9,  diod  in  16^3.     Aged  8-1. 
Joii.N  Eliot,  born  in  IGOJ,  died  in  16!)0.     Aged  iiH. 

Cotton  Mather,         born  in  16'6'3,  died  in  17"2S.     Aged  (j.'). 


1G20-17SO.J         VIEWED  IN  ITS  CONSEQUENCES.  569 

Jonathan  Edwards,  born  in  1703,  died  in  1758.     Agod  55. 
David  Brainerd,        born  in  1718,  died  in  1747.     Aged  30. 

It  is  not  a  little  singular  that,  in  point  of  time,  among  the  first  con- 
spicuous moral  characters,  connected  with  such  a  history  as  the  present, 
there  should  be  found  Roger  Williams,  though  his  principles  have 
frequently  been  misunderstood  or  mis-stated.  At  all  events,  his  case 
stands  in  history  as  if  intended  to  explain  at  least  one  cause  of  the 
emigration,  and  its  current  for  many  years.  Perhaps  he  was  the  only 
emigrant  who  ever  happened  to  come  into  personal  contact  with  three 
of  the  Stuart  dynasty — James  I.,  his  son,  and  grandson.  The  founder 
of  Rhode  Island,  he  was  the  first  legislator  in  the  world,  who  effectually 
provided  and  established  a  government  of  free,  full,  and  absolute  liberty 
of  conscience.  A  native  of  Wales,  he  had  been  first  bred  to  the  law  in 
England,  under  the  immediate  eye  of  Sir  Edward  Coke.  He  had  once 
conversed  with  King  James  himself,  procured  his  first  charter  in  1644 
from  Charles  I.,  and  the  second  in  1 663,  with  the  full  consent  of  Charles 
the  Second.  The  latter  gave  his  promise,  under  his  hand  and  broad 
seal,  that  "  no  person  in  Rhode  Island  should  be  molested,  or  ques- 
tioned for  matters  of  conscience  to  God,  if  so  be  he  was  loyal  and  kept 
the  peace."  This  charter  once  granted,  the  high  ofiicers  of  State  were 
startled,  but  "  fearing  the  Lion's  roaring,  they  couched,  against  their 
wills,  in  obedience  to  his  Majesty's  pleasure."  "  Sir,"  said  Williams, 
when  writing  to  Major  Mason  (of  New  Hampshire  1)  in  1670,  "  Sir,  we 
must  part  with  lands  and  lives  before  we  part  with  such  a  jewel.  I 
judge  you  may  yield  some  land,  and  the  government  of  it  to  us,  and 
we,  for  peace  sake,  the  like  to  you,  as  being  but  subjects  to  one  King  ; 
and  I  think  the  King's  Majesty  would  thank  us,  for  many  reasons. 
But  to  part  with  this  jewel,  we  may  as  soon  do  it,  as  the  Jews  would 
have  done  with  the  favour  of  Cyrus,  Darius,  or  Artaxerxes.  Yourselves 
pretend  liberty  of  conscience,  but,  alas  !  it  is  but  self,  the  Great  God 
self,  only  to  yourselves.  The  King's  Majesty  winks  at  Barbadoes,  where 
Jews,  and  all  sorts  of  Christian  and  Antichristian  persuasions  are  free  ; 
but  our  grant,  some  few  weeks  after  your's  sealed,  though  granted  as 
soon,  if  not  before  your's,  is  crowned  with  the  King's  extraordinary 
favour  to  this  colony,  as  being  a  banished  one  ;  in  which,  his  Majesty 
himself  declared,  that  he  would  experiment,  whether  civil  government 
could  consist  with  such  Liberty  of  conscience."^ 

Thus  was  insured  to  this  small  State  almost  entire  exemption  from 
all  Indian  hostility,  and  although  their  quiet  was  interrupted  once  in 
1686,  under  James  the  Second,  by  Sir  Edmund  Andros,  who  dissolved 
theii'  government,  and  broke  their  seal ;  after  the  Revolution  in  1688-9, 


*  See  the  account  given  by  Williams  himself,  dated  "  Providence,  2'2d  June  lil7<',  tdvulyo, 
in  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society's  Collections,  vol.  i.,  jip.  iTt^-'^d'i. 


.070  EXPORTATION  CONTINUED  ABOVE  [book  V. 

Rhode  Islaud  and  Providence  resumed  their  charter,  on  the  ground  that 
an  act  extorted  by  terror  might  be  justly  recalled  when  restraint  no 
longer  remained.  With  the  exception  of  these  three  years,  therefore, 
the  Government,  on  which  King  Charles  was  experimenting,  has  now 
consisted  for  two  hundred  years. 

Next  comes  Joun  Eliot  to  meet  us,  and  carrying  his  Bible  in  the 
language  of  the  North  American  Indians,  completed  in  the  year  1G63  ; 
for  though  the  emigrants  to  America  might  not  print  their  own  Bible, 
they  might  print  the  Indian,  or  any  other  they  pleased  ! 

"  Though  there  be  in  this  western  World,"  said  Eliot,  when  address- 
ing Charles  the  Second,  in  1663,  "  though  there  be  in  this  western 
World,  many  Colonies  of  other  European  nations,  yet  we  humbly  con- 
ceive no  Prince  hath  had  a  return  of  such  a  work  as  this  ! — The  South- 
ern Colonies  of  the  Spanish  nation  have  sent  home  from  this  American 
continent,  much  gold  and  silver,  as  the  fruit  and  endoi  their  discoveries 
and  transplantations  :  that,  we  confess,  is  a  scarce  commodity  in  this 
colder  climate.  But  suitable  to  the  ends  of  our  undertaking,  we  pre- 
sent this,  and  other  concomitant  fruits  of  our  poor  endeavours  to  plant 
and  propagate  the  gospel  here  ;  which,  upon  a  true  account,  is  as  much 
better  than  gold,  as  the  souls  of  men  are  more  worth  than  the  whole 
world.  This  is  a  nobler  fruit  of  Columbus's  adventure,  and,  indeed,  in 
the  counsels  of  All-disposing  Providence,  was  an  higher  intended  end." 

In  the  same  year  that  Eliot  published  his  Bible,  Cotton  Mather 
was  born,  and  here  he  comes  with  his  singular  "  Ecclesiastical  History 
of  New  England."  For  passing  over  all  its  strange  credulity,  he  brings 
his  "  Essays  to  do  good,"  to  which  Benjamin  Franklin,  and  many  others, 
have  acknowledged  themselves  so  much  indebted ;  to  say  nothing  of  his 
three  hundred  and  eighty  publications  beside. 

Lest,  however,  any  inquiry  be  made  after  strength  of  mind,  here  is 
Jonathan  Edwards,  not  only  with  his  "  Notes  on  the  English  Bible," 
and  his  "  History  of  Redemption,"  but  all  his  profound  writings.  Per- 
haps no  man  was  held  by  him  in  higher  admiration  than  David 
Braixerd,  that  prince  of  missionaries  to  the  American  Indians,  whose 
example  has  been  of  such  value  ever  since. 

The  time  would  now  fail  to  tell  of  many  other  venerable, 
laborious,  and  useful  characters ;  but  though  they  were  all 
before  us,  or  all  mentioued  by  name  individually,  one  of  the 
most  notable  circumstances  in  their  lives  was  this — that  not 
one  of  these  men  ever  possessed  any  other  than  an  imported 
English  Bible!  And  all  who  ever  heard  them,  a^/ who  read 
the  book  from  which  they  preached,  were  using  volumes  which 
had  come  to  them,  thousands  of  miles,  across  the  sea,  from 
tiie  land  of  their  ancestors  !     A  similar  track,  or  lengthened 


]  020-1780.]      ONE  HUNDRED   AND   SIXTV  VEAK8.  571 

train  of  proceeding,  of  course  cannot  be  pointed  out,  with 
relation  to  any  other  European  version  of  the  Scriptures ; 
and,  with  refci-ence  to  any  Bible  in  any  language  whatever, 
we  may  safely  say,  that  the  same  remarkable  course  will 
never  again  occur  in  the  history  of  future  times.  Meanwhile, 
if  the  path  pursued  has  lent  additional  emphasis  to  the  his- 
tory of  the  English  Bible,  so  it  ought,  assuredly,  to  the  obli- 
gations of  those  millions,  far  and  near,  who  now  all  read  tho 
same  version. 

To  return,  however,  to  the  history  itself,  the  first  proper  Ame- 
rican imprint,  as  already  stated,  was  not  before  1782;  though  in 
the  course  of  this  long  extended  period,  there  was  one  attempt 
at  what  has  been  styled  piracy,  in  a  small  edition  of  only 
800  copies  of  the  Bible,  in  quarto,  by  Kneeland  and  Green 
of  Boston.  But  it  certainly  casts  no  honourable  reflection  on 
the  monopoly  so  long  maintained  in  England,  that  this  was 
done  only  by  an  evasion  of  the  patent.  Carried  through  the 
press  as  privately  as  possible,  about  the  year  1752,  it  bore 
this  imprint — "  London :  Printed  by  Mark  Baskett,  Printer 
to  the  King's  most  excellent  Majesty."  A  similar  expedient 
Avas  resorted  to  with  a  solitary  edition  of  the  New  Testament, 
by  Rogers  and  Fowle  of  the  same  place.  The  principal  man 
concerned  in  both,  was  Daniel  Henchman,  a  spirited  book- 
seller, who  had  built  one  of  the  first  paper  mills  in  New  Eng- 
land. The  fact  is,  that  the  printing  press  had  been  set  up  as 
early  as  1639,  and  its  noblest  fruit  had  been  the  Indian  Bible 
for  the  natives ;  other  books  they  were  at  liberty  to  print ; 
they  had  a  newspaper  as  early  as  1704,  and  were  making 
paper  from  one  generation  to  another ;  but  owing  to  their 
connexion  with  Britain,  they  must  not  print  the  English 
Bihle  !  The  very  few  Scriptures  now  mentioned — such  was  the 
humiliating  apology — were  thus  put  forth,  "  in  order  to  pre- 
vent a  prosecution  from  those  in  England  and  Scotland  who 
published  the  Bible  by  a  patent  from  the  Crown,  or  '  cum 
privilegio,''  as  did  the  universities  of  Oxford  and  Cambridge." 
Nor,  alas  !  for  Old  England,  was  the  liberty  ever  granted  ! 
At  last  it  was  wrested  from  her,  nolens  volens,  so  that  the 
first  English  Bible,  with  an  American  imprint,  was  not  pub- 
lished till  the  year  already  specified.  In  connexion  with  this 
fact,  one  should  have  imajrined  there  could  scarcelv  have  been 


572  TIIK  FIRST  KN(JLISI1   lUliLES  [UOOK  V. 

another  more  lunniliatin<;  to  national  vanity  ;  and  yet  there 
was  one,  which  must  not  be  nuppresseJ,  as  it  may  be  of  some 
value  even  still.  During  this  lon<T  period,  no  other  nation  in 
Europe  had  so  treated  its  vernacular  Bible.  There  never 
was  any  monopoly  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  as  to  printing 
them,  in  Germany,  similar  to  that  in  England;  no  patents 
from  the  beginning,  to  compare  with  JJritish  policy.  And 
therefore  the  first  Bible  in  any  European  language,  printed 
in  our  oini  America,  was  in  German.  This  was  in  1743, 
after  having  been  three  years  in  the  press,  by  Christopher 
Sauer  at  Germantown,  near  Philadelphia.  He  ))rinted  a 
second  edition  in  1  7G2,  and  a  third  in  1776.  It  was  only 
her  oicn  Bible,  as  already  stated,  that  England  held  in  chains, 
thus  painfully  reminding  us  of  the  language  of  one  of  her 
own  poets — 

"  oil  ljri;;ht  occasions  of  dispensing  good  ! 
How  seldom  used,  liow  little  undci'stood  ! 
To  give  Relif^ion  her  un))ri(lled  sco|)e, 
Nor  judge  by  statute  a  believer's  hope." 

Still,  however,  and  as  if  to  link  the  two  countries,  even  theti., 
more  closely  than  ever  in  Christian  bonds,  this  first  American 
Bible  is  the  more  worthy  of  notice,  as  not  having  been  the 
work  of  a  native  American.  It  was  a  year  equally  memorable 
in  both  countries.  Political  ties  might  be  snapt  asunder  ;  not 
so  those  of  Christianity  ;  and  at  the  very  moment  in  which 
American  independence  was  acknowledging  by  Britain,  there 
had  been  printed,  by  a  native  of  Scotland,  on  the  American 
shore,  and  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  a  practical  acknowledg- 
ment, that  we  were  still  the  readers  of  one  common  Bible,  and 
equally  bound  by  the  same  Divine  authority. 

Robert  Aitken,  bom  in  1734  at  Dalkeith,  had  served  a  regular  ap- 
prenticeship to  some  bookbinder  in  Edinburgh,  and  afterwards  perfecting 
himself  in  the  knowledge  of  the  book  trade,  at  the  age  of  thirty-five  he 
sailed  for  America.  Having  seen  the  country,  he  came  home,  and  in 
1771,  with  a  stock  of  books,  embarked  for  Philadelphia.  Three  years 
after  this,  having  commenced  printer,  and  in  1775,  a  magazine,  it  was 
in  1782  that  he  published,  in  small  duodecimo,  his  edition  of  the  Bible 
in  brevier  type —  "  Philadeli)hia,  printed  and  sold  by  R.  Aitken,  &c., 
MUCCLXXXii."  Mr.  Aitken  died  only  in  1802,  having  survived  his  son, 
but  he  left  a  daughter,  who  continued  the  business  ;  and  she  has  had 


1(?:iO-1780.]  PRINTED  IN  AMERICA.  573 

the  honour  of  printing  the  only  edition  of  the  Scptuagiat  that  ever  had 
been  translated  into  English.^ 

When  formerly  treating  of  Scotland,  it  must  have  appeared  strange, 
that  it  should  have  been  so  singularly  supplied  with  the  Scriptures  from 
without,  and  for  so  long  a  period  ;  but,  in  point  of  distance  from  supply, 
as  well  as  length  of  time,  here  in  America  had  been  a  course  stran- 
ger still.  Both  cases,  however,  and  in  succession,  thus  form  essential 
features  in  the  history  of  our  common  version  ;  and  it  is  in  perfect  keeping 
with  this  retrospect,  that  the  first  printer  of  the  English  Bible  openly  in 
America,  should  be  taken  away  from  the  mother  country,  and  in  that 
country  from  Scotland.  It  was  fit  that  such  a  man  should  be  the  first 
to  do  that  for  his  adopted  country,  which  had  been  so  remarkably  done 
for  his  own.  Nor  is  it  less  observable  that  he  should  do  this  in  such 
a  year,  when  there  came  the  acknowledgment  of  that  independence  by 
Britain  and  Holland,  to  which  so  soon  after  Sweden  and  Denmark,  Spain 
and  Russia  fully  acceded.  At  the  end  of  the  Old  Testament,  in  Aitken's 
edition,  was  printed  a  resolution  of  Congress,  recommending  it  to  the 
people  at  large,  "  as  a  pious  and  laudable  undertaking,  in  the  existing 
state  of  the  country." 

Into  the  history  of  the  printing  of  the  English  Scriptures  by  native 
Americans,  we  here  enter  no  farther  than  to  mention,  that  the  first 
English  Bible,  in  folio,  was  published  at  Worcester,  Massachusetts,  by 
Isaiah  Thomas,  in  1791  ;  and  the  first,  in  quarto,  with  a  concordance, 
also  that  year.  At  the  same  period,  ihQ  first  edition  of  the  English  ver- 
sion in  octavo,  was  printed  at  Trenton,  in  New  Jersey,  by  Isaac  Collins. 
The  second,  in  duodecimo,  was  not  published  till  1797,  by  Thomas  at  Wor- 
cester, Massachusetts,  which  seems  to  prove,  that  Bibles  of  this  size,  at 
least,  if  not  others,  were  still  importing  from  Britain.  Farther  than  this 
we  need  not  now  proceed,  under  this  head. 

Thus,  as  far  as  we  have  come,  and  before  we  proceed  to  our 
final  section,  we  may  be  permitted  to  assert,  it  has  been  de- 
monstrated, that  for  more  than  two  hundred  and  fifty  years, 
or  from  1526  to  1782,  the  Sovereign  Disposer  of  all  events  had 
proceeded  invariably,  and  with  infinite  long-suffering,  after  the 
same  manner,  whether  in  England  or  Scotland,  or  finally  in 
America.  The  same  mysterious  and  unwearied  footsteps,  are 
now  visible  throughout.     First,  in  braving  all  the  hostility  of 


3  "  The  Old  Covenant,  commonly  called  the  Old  Testament,  translated  from  the  SeptuaRint, 
by  Charles  Thomson,  late  Secretary  to  the  Congress  of  the  United  States.  Philadelphia,  printed 
bv  .tane  Aitlvcn,  71,  North  Third  Street,  )8()H."  Forming,  with  the  New  Covenant,  or  Testa- 
ment, four  volumes  8vo.  It  is  singular,  that  the  Septuagint  should  never  have  been  translated 
or  printed  in  Britain  tiU  only  the  other  day.  We  have  for  years  jiossessed  the  first  translation, 
lint  know  not  as  yet  the  comparative  merits  of  the  two  versions. 


.")?  I.  T1!K  LAST  MOVK.MKNT  []bOOK  V. 

the  authorities  in  succession,  at  home,  as  in  Britain,  and  then 
ahroad,  as  in  America;  thus  overruling  the  narrow  policy  of 
England  towards  her  distant  colonies,  with  regard  to  that 
blessed  book  which  had  been  so  undeservedly  bestowed  upon 
herself.  Conveyance  from  a  distance  had  been  adopted,  first 
in  the  one  case,  and  then  in  the  other.  There  was  printing  in 
one  country,  and  reading  in  another ;  first  for  a  hundred,  and 
then  for  above  a  hundred  and  sixty  years !  Importation  was  ever 
and  anon  pursued,  and  for  so  long  a  period.  As  if  to  elevate 
every  mind  conversant  with  this  language,  to  a  higher  tone  of 
veneration  for  the  Divine  will  and  record,  than  it  has  eter  yet 
obtained  ;  it  was  in  this  lofty  and  independent  manner,  that 
Divine  Providence  had  now  proceeded  throughout  the  space  of 
two  centuries  and  a  half!  No  other  nation  upon  earth  had 
been  so  visited  at  first — no  other  people  so  favoured  and  fol- 
lowed ever  since — no  race  of  Adam  so  frequently  addressed. 


III.— OR    FINAL   SECTION. 

REIGN  OF  GEORGE   III.  TO  QUEEN  VICTORIA. 

The  lad  Sixty-four  Years. 

THE    COMMENCEMENT  OF    A  GREATER    MOVEMENT    THAN    EVER    BEFORE — TO 
BE  UNDERSTOOD  ONLY  BY  FIRST  LOOKING  ABROAD— THE  REVOLUTIONARY 

MOVEMENT    IN    FRANCE THE    AOITATION    EXTENDS — NEITHER    BRITAIN 

NOR    HER    COLONIES    REMAIN    UNSCATHED THE    SAGACITY    OF     ENGLISH 

AUTHORS    IN    EVERT    FORM    OP    COMPOSITION    IS     EXHAUSTED,    WITHOUT 

AVERTING  OR  EVEN  ALLAYING  THE  STORM — ACTION  IS  CALLED  FOR BUT 

THE  OBSTACLES  TO    UNITED    ACTION    APPEAR   TO    BE   INSUPERABLE — THE 

SOVEREIGN  DISPOSER  OF  ALL  EVENTS,  AS  A  SECRET  MOVER,  UNOBSERVED 

IN  SECRET  HE  MUST  BE  ACKNOWLEDGED — THE  FIRST  FEEBLE  MOVEMENT 
TAKING  ITS  NAME  PROM  THE  BIBLE — THE  SECOND — ITS  ENTIRE  FAILURE 
NO  GROUND  FOR  DISCOURAGEMENT — TEN  TEARS  BEFORE,  DIVINE  PROVI- 
DENCE HAD  FIXED  ON  ONE  YOUNG  MAN — READING  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 
IN  OBSCURITY,  HIS  MIND  IS  RIPE  FOR  ACTION — A  NEW  FEELING,  OR  SPIRIT 
OF  ENLARGED  BENIGNITY  IS  IMBIBED — IN  MATURER  YEARS,  HIS  HISTORY 


1780-184.4.]        GREATER  THAN  ANY  PRECEDINCt.  575 

AND  EXERTIONS  GRADUALLY  INTERPRET  THE  BENEFICIAL  REFLEX  IN- 
FLUENCE   OF    FOREIGN  OPERATIONS — TWO    OTHER   MEN  GO   TO  HIS   AID 

THESE  EFFORTS  MUCH  IMPRESS  A  FEW  POWERFUL  MINDS  AT  HOME — 
THE  BIBLE  WITHOUT  EITHER  NOTE  OR  COMMENT  DRAWS  MORE  ATTEN- 
TION— THE   DESTITUTION  OP  IT    IN  WALES THE  BRITISH    AND    FOREIGN 

BIBLE  SOCIETY  WITH  ITS  AUXILIARIES — THEIR  EXERTIONS  UP  TO  THE 
PRESENT  DAY — THE  UNITED  KINGDOM  AND  HER  COLONIES  EMBRACE 
ABOVE  FOUR  THOUSAND  SIMILAR  ASSISTANT  OR  INDEPENDENT  UNIONS — 
THESE  FORM  ONLY  AN  INFERIOR  DIVISION  OF  THE  VAST  FIELD  OF 
ACTION — AFTER  A  DISTRIBUTION  AND  SALE  OF  SO  MANY  MILLIONS  OF  THE 
ENGLISH  SCRIPTURES,  THERE  OCCURS  AN  EXTRAORDINARY  AND  UNPRE- 
CEDENTED FALL  IN  THE  PRICE  OF  THE  SACRED  VOLUME — THUS  LENDING 
TO  THE  PRESENT  HISTORY,  ITS  LAST  PROVIDENTIAL  MOVEMENT,  OR  A 
CONCLUSION  AS  CHEERING  AS  IT  WAS  UNANTICIPATED. 
BRITAIN  AT  THE  HEIGHT    OP  A  RESPONSIBILITY  NOT  EASILY  CONCEIVED,  AS 

IT    BAFFLES    ALL     ADEQUATE    DESCRIPTION ON    THE     SUMMIT     OF     HER 

HIGHEST  PRIVILEGE  THERE  IS  NO  REPOSE — THE  PRESENT  HISTORY  IN- 
DICATES A  COURSE  OF  ACTION,  IF  NOT  THE  ONLY  ONE,  WHICH  INVOLVES 
HER  FUTURE  WELFARE  AND  STABILITY A  PATH  OF  DUTY  WHICH  CAN- 
NOT, WITH  IMPUNITY,  BE  EVADED. 

@3p.N  the  first  year  of  this  period,  or  1780,  we  discover  the 
^[t    first  feeble  symptom  of  a  great  movement,  and  one  with 

" '^  regard  to  the  Sacred  Volume,  more  especially  the  E?i(jf- 
lish  Bible,  greater  than  this  nation,  or  even  the  world  had 
ever  witnessed.  But  it  cannot  be  duly  appreciated,  nor  its 
true  bearing  understood,  if  we  at  once  begin  here. 

While  the  Scriptures  were  in  the  course  of  translation  into 
English,  when  they  were  first  printing  abroad,  and  importing 
into  our  native  land,  the  state  of  the  Continent,  as  well  as  that 
of  Britain,  invited  our  attention,  and  that,  alternately,  for  a 
series  of  years.  And  now,  in  the  last  division  of  this  history, 
now  that  these  Scriptures  had  been  read  and  enjoyed  for  so 
many  generations  ;  now  that  they,  and  they  alone,  are  to  be  re- 
garded as  the  means,  under  God,  of  having  given  to  Britain  her 
distinguishing  character  among  the  European  nations,  we  are 
constrained  to  look  across  the  Channel  once  more,  but  only 
once.     It  is  to  France. 

It  is  long  since  we  have  looked  particularly  in  that  direction,  and,  in- 
deed, since  the  days  of  Francis  the  First,  we  have  had  little  occasion  so 
to  do.  But  now,  and  with  immediate  reference  to  Divine  Revelation, 
and  to  that,  vre  hesitate  not  to  say,  above  every  other  object  whatever, 
the  last  sixty  years  are  to  be  regarded  in  the  light  of  a  critical  period  or 


.'iTH  SIATK  OK  FUANCH  AND  BUITAIN  [liodK  V. 

crisis,  not  even  yet  oxhausteJ  ;  anJ  williout  a  l)riuf  retrospect,  the  exer- 
tions now  makin;jj,  'AwAijet  to  lie  madf,  cannot  l)e  properly  unrlcrstood. 

Speaking  general!}',  for  these  three  hundred  years,  there  has  hcen  one 
feature  of  distinction  between  this  country  and  our  next  neighbour  on 
the  Continent.  It  here  invites  observation,  and  the  more  so,  that  it 
scarcely,  if  ever  has  been  followed  out.  A  marked  distinction,  confessed 
by  all,  has  long  existed,  and  it  has  appeared  so  palpable,  that  the  British 
people  have  been  described  as  "  living  in  a  sort  of  moral  separation  from 
the  rest  of  Europe,  analogous  to  their  physical  insulation."  An  eminent 
French  writer,  M.  Guizot,  has  lately  said  as  much,  and  then  he  traces 
this  to  "  the  development  of  the  princijiles,  the  different  elements  of  so- 
ciety taking  place  in  some  measure  at  Wi^&saiiutime^  at  least  much  more 
simultaneously  than  upon  the  Continent."  There  is  much  of  truth  and 
beauty  in  his  subsc<iucnt  explanation,  but  in  searching  for  an  adequate 
cause  of  distinction,  must  wc  not  go  farther,  or  deeper  than  this  ?  Must 
we  not  inquire  whether  there  was  not  some  appliance,  or  pjowerful 
agency  within  this  country,  which  France,  as  a  country,  had  repudiated, 
or  of  which  she  has  been,  for  ages,  comparatively  destitute  ?  And  if  we 
do  find  something  among  the  people  here,  but  not  there,  the  operation 
of  which,  in  its  influence  on  society,  may  be  compared  to  the  irresistible 
influence  of  secreted  leaven,  are  we  not  called  to  watch  and  observe  it  ? 
To  observe  it  too,  in  its  operation  upon  every  element  of  society,  let  that 
society,  as  a  whole,  be  found  in  whatever  condition  it  may  ?  Now  it  is 
notorious,  that  the  Sacred  Volume  has  never  been  received  so  as  to  be 
calmly  and  deliberately  enjoyed  in  France,  as  it  has  been  in  Britain. 
Civilization,  indeed,  in  the  popular  sense  of  that  term,  has  proceeded  in 
both  countries,  and  so  much  the  better  for  all  the  purposes  of  compari- 
son. There  is,  indeed,  no  necessity  for  our  nicely  balancing  which  has 
been  foremost  in  that  race,  but  we  are  certainly  bound  to  observe  how 
one  people,  with  the  Divine  record  in  their  hands,  have  gone  on  ;  and 
then  to  observe  the  other,  who  have  advanced  in  what  is  styled  civiliza- 
tion, without  it.  Their  respective  careers  aff"ord  one  great  moral  lesson, 
in  which  the  incidents  on  the  road,  and  the  progress  of  the  journey, 
become  alike  impressive,  and  full  of  instruction  ;  while,  at  the  same  time, 
it  is  not  to  be  forgotten  that  such  has  been  the  place  ^hich  France  and 
Britain  have  occupied  in  the  eye  of  the  world,  that  all  Europe  has  looked 
on — all  Europe  has  been  engrossed,  and  even  affected  ;  nay,  such  is  the 
actual  position  of  these  two  kingdoms  at  the  present  moment. 

The  history  of  Britain,  in  connexion  with  the  Scriptures,  we  have  al- 
ready given  ;  and,  in  this  comparison,  let  all  justice  be  done  to  her  po- 
tent neighbour.  There  wrn^  a  time,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  when  France 
bade  fair  to  have  followed  in  the  same  career.  Like  England,  and 
especially  Scotland,  she  was  highly  favoured  from  without.  In  the  course 
of  only  fifty  years,  or  from  1.5.50  to  IfiOO,  there  were  printed  not  fewer 


]  780-1 844.]  THK  MONARCH  V  OK  FRANCE.  5  77 

than  ninety-eight  editions  of  the  French  Bible,  and  fifty-nine  of  the  New 
Testament  separately.  Again,  when  in  IGOO,  Lertoui-t  had  printed  his 
edition  in  folio,  it  was  followed  by  thirty-five  editions  in  various  sizes, 
besides  fifty-six  separate  editions  of  the  New  Testament.  To  these  we 
may  add  thirty-six  editions  of  the  Catholic  version,  and  seventy-four  of  the 
New  Testament,  from  1600  to  1700.  Here,  then,  of  the  Scriptures  in  the 
French  tongue,  we  have  not  fewer  than  three  liundred  and  fifty-eight  dis- 
tinct issues  from  the  press  !'  Oh,  what  an  afiecting  retrospect,  if  all  this 
was  not  to  prevail  ?  If  all  this  was  to  be  resisted  from  within  the  kingdom 
at  large  ?  For  of  these  358  editions,  not  fewer  than  205  had  been  print- 
ed, not  in  France,  but  chiefly  at  Geneva,  on  the  one  hand,  and  at  Amster- 
dam, on  the  other.  Yet  so  it  happened,  for  then  came  the  reign  of  Louis 
XIV.,  with  a  brilliancy  of  a  far  diiFerent  character.  Were  any  one  to 
take  the  hundred  years  which  preceded  his  being  declared  of  age  in  1651, 
and  compare  it  with  the  century  which  followed  his  death  in  1715,  few 
historical  contrasts  would  be  more  striking.  In  the  former,  Ave  should  see 
the  truth  of  God  combating  superstition,  and  promising,  if  only  let 
alone,  to  make  the  vine-covered  hills  of  France  rejoice  in  the  possession 
of  the  true  vine  ;  in  the  latter  would  be  seen  but  little  or  nothing  else 
save  infidelity,  undisguised  and  unblushing,  in  frantic  rage  against  Di- 
vine truth  itself. 

For  our  present  guidance,  however,  all  that  is  requisite  is  only  a 
brief  survey  of  the  two  last,  or  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  cen- 
turies. Throughout  the  former,  our  attention  is  perpetually  drawn  to 
the  government ;  throughout  the  latter,  it  is  more  irresistibly  fixed  on 
the  French  ^:)i?o/j>^^. 

During  the  seventeenth  century  in  France,  but  more  especially  from 
the  year  when  Louis  the  Fourteenth  was  declared  of  age,  all  eyes  were 
fixed  on  the  Crown,  and  for  sixty  years  despotic  monarchy  was  the 
order  of  the  day.  This  long  reign  has  not  unfrequently  been  compared 
to  that  of  Augustus.  Poets  and  orators,  philosophers  and  lawyers, 
painters  and  architects,  were  not  merely  allowed  to  play  their  several 
parts,  but  they  were  fostered  and  stimulated  by  the  royal  bounty,  while 
at  the  same  time  arts  and  commerce  were  brought  into  a  flom-ishing 
condition.  But  was  this  all  ?  Not  to  mention  the  licentiousness  of  this 
Monarch  and  his  Court,  how  did  he  conduct  himself  towards  the  human 
mind  and  the  Sacred  Volume  ?  After  hearing  Massillon  on  more  occa- 
sions than  one,  well  might  he  go  away,  as  he  confessed,  "  very  much 
displeased  with  himself ;"  but  he  was  the  slave  of  his  own  passions,  and 
so  died.  It  was  the  same  man  who  persecuted  the  Port- Royal  of  which 
Pascal  was  the  head,  who  banished  Fenelon,  but  to  crown  aU,  revoked 
'the  Edict  of  Nantes,  in  1685!      And  what  then?     More  than  fifty 

'  See  "Le  Long-Biblia  Gallica  Genevens."  &c.,  although  he  has  not  marked  all  the  edition*. 

2o 


.•j78  THK  people  of  FRANCE  [ikiok  v, 

thousand  families,  nay,  it  has  been  said  eight  hundred  thousand  indivi- 

(1u;iIh  Hod  the  kiugJoni,  and  they  are  not  in  this  history  to  be  called  by 
any  mere  nickname.  Correctly  speaking,  they  were  the  people  who  pled 
for  the  Hcriptures,  or  possessed  them  ;  and  prizing  them  from  principle, 
above  life  itself,  left  all  behind.  They  were  the  salt  of  the  land,  as  the 
pestilential  exhalations  which  followed,  most  fully  proved.  No,  the 
condition  in  which  a  Monarch  leaves  his  country,  has  been  well  described 
as  the  key  to  his  character  and  to  his  reign  ;  and  in  what  condition  was 
France  when  Louis  the  XIV.  died  in  September  1715  ?  Dying  at  the 
age  of  seventy-seven,  after  a  reign,  in  full  sovereignty,  of  more  than 
eixty  years,  several  provinces  were  left  less  powerful  than  they  were 
even  at  the  beginning.  The  insatiable  thirst  for  splendour  at  Court 
had  beggared  the  kingdom,  and  another  Versailles  would  have  com- 
pleted its  ruin.  The  people  possessed  no  rights  ;  the  Royal  authority 
was  restrained  by  no  limits.  And  how  did  the  people  behave,  when 
their  King  died  ?  They  insulted  his  funeral  procession,  and  the  Parlia- 
ment cancelled  his  will.  He  had  carried  despotism  to  its  utmost  height, 
violating  laws  both  human  and  divine  ;  but  the  eyes  of  Louis  Le  Grand 
once  closed  in  death,  his  entire  system  was  levelled  to  the  ground. 
Such  was  the  termination  of  brilliant  despotic  monarchy  in  France. 

Twenty-seven  years  before  the  death  of  this  man,  it  was  well  that  the 
surrounding  nations,  Britain  included,  had  taken  alarm.  His  aim  ap- 
pearing to  them  to  be  nothing  short  of  universal  monarchy,  that  league 
was  formed,  of  which  we  have  already  spoken  .^  As  a  providential  inter- 
position in  favour  of  the  best  interests  of  this  island,  it  is  ever  to  be 
ranked  next  in  importance,  to  its  deliverance  from  Rome  at  first.  To 
this  apparently  chosen  land  was  then  presented  a  fairer  prospect  of  its 
becoming  "  an  asylum  for  freedom  of  thought." 

But  if  after  this  period,  French  government  as  such  had  little  or  no 
power  to  annoy,  the  eighteenth  century  was  to  prove  of  a  far  more 
serious  or  searching  character.  A  storm  which  had  been  long  gathering, 
amidst  the  elegant  gaiety  or  external  polish  which  reigned  at  Paris  and 
Versailles,  was,  in  the  end,  to  break  over  the  country  at  large  ;  and  occa- 
sion not  a  few,  even  in  Britain,  to  stand  in  doubt  whether  she  should  be 
able  to  weather  it.  Properly  speaking,  this  was  a  question,  not  respect- 
ing government  of  any  kind,  but  society  at  large.  It  was  not  any  single 
monarch  which  now  filled  the  eye,  all  over  Europe,  but  the  people  of 
France,  in  full  resolve,  to  throw  off  every  restraint,  human  and  divine. 
It  was  a  development,  of  what  was  styled  "  public  opinion,"  working  for 
unlimited  display,  and  for  many  years.  The  closing  ten  years  of  the 
eighteenth  century  only  interpreted  a  process  which  had  been  in  con- 
stant operation,  ever  since  the  days  of  the  Grand  Monarch.     The  death 

-  i^ce  licforc.  pp.  552-.').'i4. 


17S0-IN  +  i.]  LED  ON  BY  A  CONKEUEKACV.  579 

of  Louis  the  Foui'teenth  had  been  the  signal  for  action.  In  patronizing 
genius,  he  had  been  all  along  inviting  intelligence  and  opinion,  and  the 
next  century  was  to  explain  to  all  Europe,  as  had  been  done  in  ancient 
times,  "  that  science  may  flourish  amidst  the  decay  of  humanity,  and 
that  the  utmost  barbarity  may  be  blended  with  the  utmost  refinement." 

Under  Louis  the  Fifteenth,  the  French  in  general  were  at  a  loss  to 
comprehend  how  a  narrow  channel  of  seven  leagues  sufiiced  to  separate 
a  country  where  the  people  were  every  thing,  from  one  in  which  they 
were  nothing  :  but  there  were  philosophers,  falsely  so  called,  busy  night 
and  day,  and  they  had  sternly  resolved  to  make  "  something"  of  the 
people.  It  was  not  an  error  into  which  these  men  had  separately  fallen, 
and  which  they  separately  avowed,  but  a  deep  laid  understood  design. 
A  powerful  confederacy  had  been  formed,  at  the  head  of  which  all  his- 
torians agree  in  placing  Voltaire.  His  disciples  or  associates  are 
known  to  all.  There  was  Toussaint  and  Helvetius,  D'Alembert,  Diderot, 
Condorcet,  and  many  others  of  the  same  school.  The  vain  design, 
which  was  carried  on  for  many  years,  with  great  subtilty,  was  to  sap 
the  foundations  of  Christianity,  and  destroy  the  authority  of  Scri'ptuTe. 
Before  these  men,  there  was  nothing  so  inviting  in  their  own  apprehen- 
sion as  the  triiunph  of  Reason,  the  perfectibility  of  the  human  race. 
By  this  time,  the  mind  of  man,  they  said,  sighed  for  its  native  home, 
and  well  it  might  ;  but  they  fearfully  mistook  their  way,  when  they 
confounded  Chi'istianity  with  superstition,  and  cast  away  the  word  of 
Jehovah.  There  was,  however,  to  be  no  Temple,  save  the  Temple  of 
Reason.  As  it  were,  in  the  inner  court  of  this  structiu-e,  the  league  had 
been  formed  against  all  who  looked  higher  than  Nature,  for  the  object 
of  their  veneration  and  confidence.  They  had  banded  together,  and 
theii'  Dictionnaire  Encyclopedique  contained  the  entire  poison  of  the  sect 
— Scepticism,  Materialism,  Deism,  and  unblushing  Atheism.  Carefully 
enlisting  the  lusts  and  passions  on  their  side,  against  every  species  of 
restraint  they  had  vowed  vengeance  ;  but,  above  all,  the  Sacred  Volume 
excited  their  implacable  hatred.  Voltaire,  their  hoary  ringleader,  was 
bom  in  1694,  and  at  the  age  of  81,  was  full  of  the  hope  of  success. 
Upon  Louis  the  Sixteenth  ascending  the  throne,  in  1775,  when  writing 
to  Frederick  of  Prussia,  the  philosopher  King,  for  such  was  the  title  in 
which  they  gloried. — "  I  know  not,"  said  he,  "  whether  our  young  King 
will  imitate  your  example,  but  I  know  that,  with  the  exception  of  one, 
who  is  a  bigot,  he  has  taken  philosophers  for  his  ministers  ;  one  of 
them,  M.  Turgot,  is  worthy  of  your  Majesty's  conversation.  The  priests 
are  in  despair.     This  is  the  heginning  of  a  great  revolution''' 

This  vain  and  miserable  apostle  and  high  priest  of  infidelity  had 
now  for  half  a  century  vented  all  his  malice,  especially  against  the 
Scriptures.  With  learning,  such  as  he  had  cultivated  and  possessed, 
with  genius  and  wit,  he  had  daily,  year  after  year,  put  forth  all  his 


580  THK  FRENCH  I'lllLOSOl'll V  AL'KECTS  [uouK  V. 

strengtli.  Both  Jews  and  Christians,  the  Old  Testament  and  the  New, 
he  had  assiiilod,  as  if  hil)ouring  under  a  virulent  species  of  black  in- 
spiration. At  this  moment  he  was  within  three  years  of  his  death,  as 
he  expired  at  Paris  on  the  30th  of  May  1778,  it  is  generally  understood, 
in  mental  agony,  not  to  be  described.  It  was  only  three  years  after, 
when  one  of  tlic  best  of  our  English  poets  placed  him  in  contrast  with 
an  English  Christian  cottager — "  never  heard  of  half  a  mile  from  home," 
and  in  verse  which  will  never  die. 

"  The  Scripture  was  his  jest-book,  whence  he  drew 
'  Bon  mots'  to  gall  the  Christian  and  the  Jew  ; 
An  infidel  in  health— but  what  when  sick  ? 
Oh — then  a  text  would  toucli  him  at  the  quick  : 
View  him  at  Paris  in  his  last  career. " 

The  votaries  of  this  school,  it  is  well  known,  died  miserably,  almost 
to  a  man.  Condorcet  swallowed  poison,  when,  in  the  depth  of  wretched- 
ness, he  was  pursued  by  the  myrmidons  of  the  Revolution  at  that  time 
raging.  The  scene  was  then,  if  it  be  not  still,  indescribable.  There  was  no 
inundation  of  surrounding  nations  from  without,  no  earthquake  or  pesti- 
lence from  within,  but  a  ferocity  more  terrible  than  them  all  in  union, 
which  spared  no  age,  nor  sex,  nor  rank.  With  all  its  horrors,  however, 
it  was  nothing  more  than  the  natural  or  necessary  result  of  those  prin- 
ciples which  had  been  diffused  throughout  France,  for  many  years  ;  and 
with  a  zeal  which  had  never,  in  modern  times,  been  exhibited  by  the 
believers  in  Chi-istianity.  As  if  to  keep  them  humble,  and  rouse  them 
to  activity,  in  all  time  to  come,  and  especially  in  times  like  the  pre- 
sent;  never  let  it  be  forgotten,  that  before  the  Revolution  of  1792,  the 
promoters  of  infidelity  in  France  are  stated  to  have  raised  among  them- 
selves and  spent,  a  sum  equal  to  nine  hundred  thousand  potmds  in  one 
year,  nay,  again  and  again,  in  purchasing,  printing  and  dispersing  books,  to 
corrupt  the  minds  of  the  people,  and  prepare  themfor  desperate  measures ! 
Amidst  a  frenzy,  so  peculiar  in  its  character,  and  certainly  unknown 
to  any  former  age,  while  France  was  driving  on  in  misery,  neither 
Britain,  nor  even  her  colonies,  remained  unmoved.  To  say  nothing  of 
older  sceptics,  from  Herbert  to  Hobbes,  England  had  now  her  Edward 
Gibbon  ;  Scotland,  her  David  Hume,  who  by  the  way  had  first  lighted 
his  taper  in  France,  with  a  view  to  his  own  country  ;  and  then  finally 
came  home,  an  Apostle  to  the  common  people,  Thomas  Paine  from 
America.  In  Britain  the  sentiments  of  Gibbon  and  Hume  had  infected 
the  higher  classes,  and  it  is  well  if  many  of  them  be  not  infected  still ; 
but  for  the  people  at  large,  Paine,  though  obliged  to  leave  his  native 
land,  sent  into  it  fourteen  thousand  of  his  deistical  publications,  and 
these  were  followed  by  large  and  cheap  editions  printed  on  British 
ground,  and  most  industriously  circulated. 

After  all  this,  and  on  both  sides  of  the  Channel,  certainly  never  more 


1780-1811.]        BOTH  BRITAIN  AND  HER  COLONIES.  581 

could  infidelity  complain  of  want  of  time  or  space,  to  put  forth  all  her 
strength.  The  tree  was  one  of  a  hundred  years'  growth,  and  now  it  stood 
like  the  deadly  upas,  in  great  vigour,  spreading  its  branches  all  around- 
Philosophy,  falsely  so  called,  had  actually  done  her  "  perfect  work,"  and 
to  what  now  did  it  all  amount  ?  The  mass  of  a  mighty  neighbouring 
nation  was  reduced  to  the  rank  of  atheism  ;  one  of  the  most  current  of 
all  languages  had  become  the  language  of  infidelity  ;  the  most  polished 
people  upon  earth  had  become  the  most  profligate,  and  even  ferocious  ; 
the  burning  lava  of  French  principles  was  overflowing  the  Continental 
nations,  and  Britain  was  now  more  than  threatened  :  she  had  been 
scorched,  and  begun  to  suffer.  Her  very  colonies  were  aff'ected.  Not 
only  was  the  baneful  influence  felt  in  America,  but  even  in  India,  almost 
all  Europeans  were  of  the  infidel  school.  There,  said  Sir  James  Mack- 
intosh, "  every  form  of  religion  was  tolerated,  except  the  Chi-istian." 
Some  English  writers  went  so  far  as  to  apply  to  the  times  one  passage  of 
Sacred  writ :  "  And  the  fourth  angel  poured  out  his  vial  on  the  sun  ; 
and  power  was  given  unto  him  to  scorch  men  with  fire  :  and  men  were 
scorched  with  great  heat,  and  blasphemed  the  Name  of  God,  which  hath 
power  over  these  plagues  :  and  they  repented  not  to  give  him  glory." 
They  remarked,  at  the  same  time,  that  this  "  heat "  could  not  be  under- 
stood of  the  persecution  of  the  faithful,  because  they  would  not  hlas- 
pheme  under  it.     But  all  prophetic  or  ambiguous  language  apart — 

"  The  very  spirit  of  the  world  was  tired 
Of  its  owTi  taunting  question,  asked  so  long, 
'  Where  is  the  promise  of  your  Lord's  approach  V 
The  infidel  had  shot  his  bolts  away, 
Till,  his  exliausted  quiver  yielding  none, 
He  glean'd  the  blunted  shafts  that  had  recoil'd, 
And  aim'd  them  at  the  shield  of  Truth  again." 

Such  a  scene  Europe  had  never  before  witnessed,  so  that  if  the  dormant 
energies  of  all  who  believed  in  Divine  Revelation  had  not  been  awakened, 
never  could  they  have  said  that  burning  zeal  had  not  been  displayed  by 
the  enemy — zeal  sufficient  to  have  roused  the  soul  of  every  one  in  this 
country,  who  rested  all  his  hope  for  time  and  eternity  on  the  Sacred  Vo- 
lume alone.  To  this,  therefore,  and  to  this  alone,  and  loitlioxit  note  or 
comment,  must  they  not  finally  turn  ? 

In  these  cu-cumstances,  however,  and  only  thus  far,  we  may  be  per- 
mitted to  remark  one  notable  distinction  between  France  and  Britain. 
Both  coimtries,  it  will  be  said,  had  produced  their  respective  infidels, 
and  where  then  lay  any  difierence  %  In  France  had  they  not  enjoyed 
elegant  writers  in  Fenelon  and  Pascal  %  Ecclesiastical  and  civil  histo- 
rians, as  in  Dupin,  Fleuiy,  and  Rollin  %  Nay,  celebrated  preachers,  as 
in  Bourdalouc  and  Massillon  ?  True,  nor  do  we  forget  among  them  all, 
ITnubigant,  living  till  within  about  thirty  months  of  being  an  hundred 


rjH-2  HARMONIOUS  ACTION  TO   BK  DK.SIKKD.  [book  V. 

jfcaraold,  from  1686  to  1783.  Shut  out,  by  deaiucss,  from  society  around 
him,  for  more  than  eighty  years  of  study,  he  had  jiut  forth  his  Hebrew 
Bible  in  four  volumes  folio  in  1753  ;  and  borrowing  strength  from  Eng- 
land and  Scotland,  translated  Charles  Leslie's  tracts  against  Deism,  and 
President  Forbes's  thoughts  on  Religion,  natural  and  revealed.  But 
still,  throughout  the  eighteenth  century,  there  had  risen  not  one  French 
mind,  of  sufficient  power  and  skill  to  gainsay  and  resist,  so  as  to  check 
the  tide  of  infidelity.  No,  it  spread  over  the  people,  and  swept  all  before 
it  into  one  common  ruin.  And  why  ?  The  people  in  France  had  not 
READ  THE  Scriptures  for  TiiEJiSEiiVES.  A  ceremonial  religion,  though 
supported  by  immense  wealth,  had  proved  to  be  no  barrier.  On  British 
ground  there  was  a  difference.  Her  sceptics  in  succession,  had,  every 
one  of  them,  been  looked  hard  in  the  face.  From  Herbert  down  to  Hume 
and  Paine,  they  had  been  fully  met,  exposed  and.  overthrown  ;  while 
Deism,  false  philosophy,  and  boasted  human  reason  were  not  only  tried 
by  appeal  to  the  oracles  of  God,  but  scrutinized  as  to  their  moral  ten- 
dency, and  found  wanting.  But  Avhy  all  this,  or  rather  why  successful, 
to  whatever  degree  ?  We  hesitate  not  to  reply,  that  there  is  but  one 
answer.     The  people  in  Britain  had  long  read  the  Scriptures  for 

THEMSELVES. 

Such  a  storm  as  this,  however,  was  not  to  be  drifted  to  leeward  by 
the  breezes  of  controversy.  Man  might  do  his  utmost,  and  seemed  to 
have  done  so  ;  but  the  sky  had  not  cleared,  nor,  to  human  apprehen- 
sion, had  the  tide  turned.  At  last,  towards  the  close  of  the  century, 
Richard  Watson,  who  had  so  meanly  crouched  to  Gibbon  in  1779,  after 
having  wi'itten  against  him  in  his  "  Ap>ology  for  Christianity,"  put  forth 
a  second  apology.  It  was  no  other  than  an  "  Apology  "  for  the  Bible  !  ! 
This  able  publication  was  of  great  use,  so  far  as  the  audacious  and 
vulgar  sophistry  of  Paine  had  imposed  on  such  as  had  not  previously 
examined  for  themselves  ;  although  the  advocate  of  divine  truth  could 
not  have  descended  loiver,  in  adopting  such  a  title,  in  reference  to  such 
a  creature  ;  but  still  there  was  actually  nothing  done  by  man,  such  as 
the  times  demanded.  Disentangling  the  sophisms  of  infidel  writers,  or 
resisting  the  scurrility  of  licentious  and  profane  men,  was  but  like  fight- 
ing in  the  fire  for  very  vanity.  Hvunan  composition  of  any  kind  was 
but  of  little  avail.  It  was  not  a  time  for  writing  hool:s.  The  season 
called  for  action — united  action. 

Here,  however,  obstacles  deeply  rooted,  and  of  long  standing,  presented 
themselves,  and  especially  in  Britain  throughout.  That  there  were 
myriads  of  Christians  within  her  shores,  all  reading  the  same  Bible, 
could  be  questioned  by  no  man  ;  but  how  to  bring  those  myriads  to- 
gether, or  how  to  make  them  act  in  union,  were  questions  more  difficult 
than  that  which  Columbus  proposed  with  respect  to  the  egg.  Diffe- 
rences, professedly  conscientious,  had  kept  British  Christians  asunder 
for  ages.     A.s  bodies  of  men,  they  had  been  living  in  a  state  of  estrange- 


1780-I844.J  BUT  THE  TIMES  UNFAVOURABLE.  583 

inent  from  each  other,  from  father  to  son.  It  seemed  as  if  there  were 
even  a  degree  of  hereditary  alienation  from  each  other.  The  writer  is 
old  enough  to  remember  all  this  distinctly,  and  more  than  this.  Not  to 
mention  prejudice,  selfishness,  or  easy  indifference,  there  was  the  spirit 
of  nationality,  as  seen,  not  merely  in  the  different  forms  under  which 
Christianity  was  professed,  but  in  the  five  different  languages  spoken 
within  the  realm.  Among  them  all,  there  were  those  who  read  and 
revered  the  sacred  page ;  but  hoio  they  were  to  be  brought  together ; 
how  they  were  ever  to  put  forth  their  energy  in  union,  no  man  had  yet 
said,  because  no  one  had  yet  seen.  There  was  the  spirit  of  monopoly 
affecting  every  interest,  whether  sacred  or  civil ;  or,  what  was  many 
years  since  designated  by  no  common  miud,"^  that  "  nasty  little  corpora- 
tion spirit,"  which  not  only  tied  up  the  hand,  but  froze  the  heart,  and 
made  self  the  centre  and  circumference,  whether  of  feeling  or  desire. 
All  these  things  had  given  such  a  tough  and  unaccommodating  charac- 
ter to  Chi-istians,  on  the  whole,  that  union  to  any  great  extent  was  cer- 
tainly not  premeditated.     By  the  generality,  it  was  not  then  expected  ! 

Long  had  Britain  boasted  of  her  "  Institutions  " — far  too  long.  But, 
though  formed  professedly  both  for  defence  and  safety  in  time  of  dan- 
ger, to  which  of  them  could  she,  or  did  she,  now  look  for  help,  against 
the  common  foe  of  divine  truth  1  She  stood,  indeed,  like  a  stag  at  bay, 
and  withstood,  as  no  other  nation  had  ;  but  it  is  not  now  to  be  concealed, 
or  to  be  forgotten,  that  not  one  of  her  corporate  bodies,  not  one  of  her 
"  interests,"  or  her  long-established  institutions,  stepped  forward,  as 
such ;  nor  would  the  strongest  of  them  all  have  been  of  any  avail  in 
turning  the  tide  of  infidelity,  much  less  in  driving  it  back.  The  fact 
was,  that  a  spirit  ef  scepticism  had  more  or  less  infected  all  ranks  and 
all  parties  ;  and  yet  the  union  of  all  was  demanded,  a  united  phalanx,  a 
larger  Chiistian  circle  than  Britain  had  ever  witnessed,  and,  ultimately, 
than  the  world  itself  had  seen.     Yet  how  was  such  a  thing  possible  ? 

Meanwhile,  the  enemy  had  been  united,  and  united  only  for  purposes 
of  vengeance  or  disorganization.  The  enemy  was  at  the  gates,  and 
had  spoken  with  a  voice  which  had  made  the  nations  quail — our  own 
included.  But  in  regard  to  this  country,  it  is  most  of  all  remarkable, 
for  we  are  now  at  sufficient  distance  to  see  it  as  soon  as  pointed  out, 
the  real  state  of  things  was  perceived  by  no  man  in  it.  In  the  very 
heart  of  this  crisis,  as  in  every  other  such,  or  just  when  the  tide  of  infi- 
delity was  rising  to  its  height.  Providence  was  first,  and  the  first  mover. 
The  names  of  a  very  few  men  then  moved,  remain  unknown  to  this  day  ; 
nor  was  a  single  individual  among  this  feeble  band  then  aware  of  the 
work  he  had  begun.  The  enemy  was  certainly  coming  in  like  a  flood  ; 
but  the  finger  of  God  had  already  at  least  pointed  to  a  standard  against 
him.    It  involved  but  a  single,  but  a  simple  idea,  in  proof  of  the  quarter 

^  Wilbcrforcc. 


1S+  THK  FIRST  KEKBLt:  MOVEMENTS  [buoK  \. 

from  whence  it  came  ;  yet  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  passed  away, 
before  it  was  Itmrtih)  taken  up  by  man.  God  had  spoken  once,  nay, 
twice,  yet  man  perceived  it  not.  The  first  time  he  did  so,  a  remedy  was 
pointed  out,  applicable  not  to  one  class  in  this  nation  alone,  or  at  such 
a  season,  but  to  the  world  at  large,  though  this  was  not  yet  obsers'ed. 
The  second  time  was  in  reference  to  France  itself,  and  at  the  very 
moment  in  which  their  fearful  Revolution  was  about  to  burst  out  ; 
though  that  was  not  a  soil  where  such  an  idea  could  then  be  expected 
to  ripen  into  action.  "  The  still  small  voice,"  however,  already  uttered, 
and  on  both  sides  of  the  channel,  was  not  to  be  ultimately  drowned  in 
the  roar  of  infidelity. 

But  in  addition  to  those  incidents,  which  will  be  explained  presently, 
it  will  also  appear  that,  though  it  was  in  the  shades  of  obscurity,  God 
had  ab'eady  infused  a  spirit  of  deepest  sympathy  into,  one  human  breast 
in  England.  It  was  sjTnpathy  for  his  country,  though  not  for  it  alone, 
but  more  especially  for  foreign  and  distant,  or  heathen  nations.  In 
modem  times,  it  was  the  commencement  of  a  xew  feeling  in  the  human 
heart,  and  of  more  value  to  the  best  interests  of  Britain,  than,  as  a 
nation,  she  has  even  yet  perceived.  Such,  however,  will  turn  out  to  be 
the  first  s>/mptoms  of  that  great  movement  to  which  we  have  alluded, 
and  now  turn. 

In  the  year  1  780,  while  England  was  in  a  state  of  v,-arfarc 
not  only  with  America  and  France,  hut  with  Spain  and 
Holland,  the  first  association  of  individuals  knoAvn  by  a  title 
taken  from  the  Scriptures  themselves,  without  note  or  com- 
ment, took  its  rise.  "  The  Bible  Society,''''  and  nothing  more, 
was  the  name  chosen.  With  whom  the  idea  originated,  has 
never  been  clearly  stated ;  but  at  such  a  period  it  wa.*:  the 
more  singular,  as  being  intended  solely  for  the  benefit  of 
soldiers  and  sailors.  It  had  been  resolved  to  put  into  their 
hands  the  words  of  Him  of  whom  it  is  said,  "  He  shall  judge 
among  the  nations,  and  rebuke  many  people,  and  they  shall 
beat  their  swords  into  ploughshares,  and  their  spears  into 
pruning  hooks — neither  shall  they  learn  war  any  more."  It 
appears  to  have  been  simply  the  idea  of  their  frequent  expo- 
sure to  death,  whether  by  land  or  sea,  that  suggested  the 
movement. 

This  Society  was  supported  by  "  voluntary  individual  subscriptions, 
and  collections  at  difi"erent  places  of  worship."  Within  two  years  they 
had  expended  upwards  of  £1500,  having  distributed  more  than  eleven 
thousand  Bibles  among  difiFerent  regiments  and  ship's  crews.  The  very 
first  ship  to  which  they  gave  the  Scriptures,  it  is  singular  enough,  was 
one,  tke  hulk  of  which  Major-General  Paslev,  with  such  laborious  in- 


1780-1844.]        PAYIXCt  HOMAGE  TO  THE  BIBLE.  585 

genuity,  has  been  raising  out  of  the  deep  in  our  own  day,  at  the  distance 
of  sixty  years  after  she  had  sunk. 

"  It  was  not  in  the  battle  ;  "  A  land  breeze  shook  the  shrouds, 

No  tempest  gave  the  shock  ;  And  she  was  overset  ; 

She  sprang  no  fatal  leak  ;  Down  went  the  Royal  George, 

She  ran  upon  no  rock.  With  all  her  crew  complete." 

It  must  have  been  about  eighteen  months  before  this  that  a  Bible 
had  been  given  to  every  couple  of  seamen  ;  and  "  by  letters  from  some 
on  board,  written  before  the  sad  and  sudden  event,  there  was  sufficient 
ground  to  believe  that  the  Holy  Scriptui-es  had  made  some  of  that  crew 
wise  unto  salvation."  There  were  400  bibles  on  board,  "  when  Kempen- 
felt  went  down,  with  twice  four  hundred  men."  At  subsequent  periods 
we  read  of  many  thousands  of  the  Sacred  Volume  having  been  distri- 
buted ;  for  it  need  scarcely  be  mentioned  that  this  is  the  same  institu- 
tion which  exists  at  the  present  day,  under  the  title  of  the  Naval  and 
Military  Bible  Society. 

It  was  not  till  ten  years  later,  or  May  1792,  that  we  hear 
of  another  kindred  association.  A  certain  number  of  indivi- 
duals in  England,  chiefly  in  London,  had  met,  and  assumed 
the  title  of  "  The  French  Bible  Society^  Their  object  was  to 
furnish  those  persons  in  the  French  nation  who  were  destitute, 
with  copies  of  the  Scriptures  in  their  native  tongue. 

They  had  opened  correspondence  with  some  gentlemen  in  Paris,  who 
had  expressed  an  intention  of  forming  a  similar  Society.  A  printer  at 
Paris  had  been  engaged,  and  four  thousand  livres  remitted  in  advance, 
while  they  in  England  recommended  the  formation  of  societies  in  dif- 
ferent parts  of  this  country.  But  all  this  was  in  vain  :  it  was  all  too 
late,  whether  on  this  side  of  the  Channel  or  on  that.  Over  France,  in  ge- 
neral, and  especially  throughout  the  summer  of  1792,  there  was  louring 
nothing  save  the  sulkiness  of  a  thunder-storm  before  it  opens,  and  the 
Revolutionary  war  put  a  period  to  all  communication  between  the 
countries.  The  funds  remitted  were  lost.  "  We  have  lived  in  times," 
said  the  printer,  still  alive  in  1801,  "  which  have  destroyed  every  thing, 
overturned  every  thing,  and  all  must  begin  afresh."  But  nothing  then 
could  be  either  begun,  or  carried  on  ;  so  the  money  collected  in  England 
had  to  be  spent  in  circulating  English  Bibles  in  Ireland,  and  the  Society 
was  then  dissolved! 

Nor,  in  this  failure  was  there  any  thing  to  discourage  the 
historian  of  the  times.  No  work  of  any  magnitude  eter  took 
its  first  rise  from  an  assemblage,  or  confederacy,  whether  large 
or  small.  Of  this  fact  we  have  abundant  illustration  in  Scrip- 
ture itself;   it  is  reiterated  with  great  power,  especially  in  the 


:>Se  THE  SECRET  ORIGIN  OK  [book  v. 

eleventh  chapter  to  the  Hebrews ;  and  our  previous  history 
from  the  beginning  throughout  forms  a  running  attestation  to 
the  same  efibct.  An  association  of  any  kind,  involved  too 
many  for  God  to  begin  with.  At  all  events,  we  do  not  hear 
one  word  more  of  a  Bible  Society,  nor  was  one  spoken  of, 
for  more  than  ten  years  to  come. 

These  years,  however,  even  from  1780,  were  pregnant  with  vital 
importance  in  regard  to  all  that  have  followed  since.  And  though 
even  now  but  imperfectly  understood,  in  other  days,  when  tracing 
the  footsteps  of  a  gracious  Providence,  not  in  our  Island  alone,  but  in 
lands  distant  "  far  as  the  sea-fowl  in  a  year  can  fly,"  they  will  look  back 
to  this  period,  or  before  the  existence  of  any  modem  efforts,  styled  mis- 
sionary, when  the  Church  at  large  lay  in  a  state  of  sad  and  criminal 
repose.  But  in  doing  this,  every  one  will  have  to  be  alike  content,  should 
he  meet  with  scarcely  more  than  one  human  agent,  or  no  more  than  one 
man,  wherever  he  was,  and  however  unknown  at  the  time. 

If,  therefore,  throughout  these  years,  there  was  any  thing  else  in  pro- 
gress, however  secretly, — if  there  was  one  individual  mind  loaded  with 
one  subject,  and  if,  instead  of  any  community  of  whatever  description, 
that  individual  attract  notice,  it  will  only  be  in  perfect  keeping  with  the 
entire  history  through  which  we  have  passed.  Now,  from  the  year  1780 
down  to  1792,  when  he  fully  declared  himself,  and  in  the  very  same 
month,  when  certain  men,  of  whom  he  knew  nothing,  were  thinking  of 
France,  their  next-door  neighboui*  only  ;  we  are  informed  of  one  who, 
when  all  that  he  accomplished  before  death  is  taken  into  account,  can- 
not be  overlooked  without  doing  injustice  to  the  present  history.  If  his 
mind  had  been,  for  years,  engrossed, — if  his  heart  had  been,  in  truth, 
oppressed  by  a  sense  of  pity  for  mankind,  and  of  imperative  obligation 
to  convey  the  Volume  of  Inspiration  to  every  land,  we  have  found  at 
least  one  appropriate  link  in  the  chain  of  our  narrative  with  regard  to 
the  Scriptures,  nor  have  we  been  able  to  find  any  other. 

It  was  in  the  year  1779,  when  he  had  only  completed  his  eighteenth 
year,  that  this  young  man  was  brought  to  a  heartfelt  persuasion  of  the 
truth  of  Christianity,  and,  in  justice  to  the  English  Bible,  in  the  first 
instance,  let  it  be  observed,  that  in  little  more  than  three  years,  "  with- 
out reading  any  thing  material  on  Christian  doctrine,  besides  the  Scrip- 
tures, he  had  formed  his  own  system."  The  same  version,  for  many 
generations,  his  countrymen  and  forefathers  in  succession,  had  been 
perusing  ;  but  certainly  never  since  it  was  first  translated,  had  it  been 
read  with  the  same  ultimate  effects,  for  his  mind  was  already  bent  upon 
action.  These  early  impressions  were  the  more  remarkable,  in  that  they 
were  cherished,  and  grew,  amidst  a  most  singular  conflict  of  opinion, 
respecting  the  dvty  of  all  to  whom  the  Gospel  is  proclaimed,  to  believe 


17801844.]  SOME  APPROACHING  CHANGE.  587 

it — so  very  low  had  Scriptural  Christianity  sunk  !  At  the  same  moment, 
senior  ministers  of  the  truth,  around  him,  were  saying, — "  The  time  is 
not  come  ;  the  time  that  the  Lord's  house  should  be  built ;"  and  those 
in  younger  years  responded, — "  There  is  more  than  enough  to  do  at 
home."  Certainly,  no  one  was  more  ready  to  admit,  that  much,  very 
much,  remained  to  be  accomplished  in  his  own  country  ;  but  of  this 
young  man  it  requires  to  be  particularly  observed,  that  it  was  rather  the 
dark  and  immoral  state  of  the  Avorld  itself,  and  upon  the  largest  scale, 
which  had  taken  possession  of  him,  and  so  preyed  upon  his  spirits.  It 
is  now  an  established  fact,  that  for  years  together  he  had  no  one  who 
could  fully  sympathize  with  the  deep  and  peculiar  frame  of  his  spirit. 
From  a  personal  acquaintance  with  circumstances,  even  the  writer  is 
able  to  attest  as  much.  All  that  time  he  emphatically  belonged  to  hhn- 
self.  A  persisting  and  unquenchable  efficacy  of  piu'pose  dwelt  in  him, 
night  and  day. 

As  this  took  place,  however,  above  sixty  years  ago,  it  is  not  impro- 
bable that  certain  readers  may  be  disposed  to  inquire,  and  say, — "  But 
why  should  such  a  state  of  mind  have  been  found  in  all  England,  and, 
as  if  he  alone  were  to  blame  for  the  darkness  which  had  brooded  for 
ages  over  heathen  nations  V  We  need  not  answer  this  question  by 
asking  another, — "  Why  should  Thomas  Clarhon,  in  England  too, 
have  but  one  gloomy  subject  before  him,  from  morning  to  night  1  or 
why  in  the  day  time  be  uneasy,  and  in  the  night  have  little  rest,  before 
he  knew  even  of  a  single  step  taken  to  destroy  the  slave  trade,  or  saw 
how  it  could  ever  be  possible  to  destroy  it  ?  But  apart  from  this  ana- 
logy, we  may  now  ask  every  one  to  look  back,  and  consider,  how  long 
ago  it  was  since  England  had  been  put  in  possession  of  the  Oracles  of 
God,  and  by  such  singular  means,  in  spite  of  herself  1  How  long  she 
had  enjoyed  the  unmerited  boon  ?  We  ask,  too,  whether  the  Christians 
within  her  shores  had,  for  two  hundred  years,  cherished  the  gift  so  be- 
stowed with  becoming  gratitude  ?  But,  above  all,  whether  they  had 
remembered  their  Redeemer's  own  unrepealed  commission,  by  taking 
pity  on  other  nations,  and  striving  to  convey  the  light  of  heaven  to 
other  lands  ?  Certainly  they  had  not.  With  the  exception  of  the 
never-to-be-forgotten  eflForts  of  the  truly  honourable  Robert  Boyle,  in 
the  seventeenth  century,  in  promoting  the  translation  of  parts  of  the 
Scriptures  into  the  jNIalayan,  Turkish,  and  Irish  languages,  and  some 
translation  of  the  New  Testament  into  Arabic,  by  the  Society  for  Pro- 
moting Christian  Knowledge  ;  the  greater  part  of  the  last  or  eighteenth 
century  but  too  strongly  reminds  one  of  that  parable  of  the  Virgins, 
where  it  is  said,  "  they  all  slumbered  and  slept." 

Why,  then,  should  it  ever  have  been,  or  be  now,_matter  of  surprise, 
that  infidelity  had  prospered,  and  grown  up,  and  threatened  to  become 
rampant,  throughout  even  this  country,  in  the  destruction  of  the  Sacred 


.'iS8  EFFECT  OF  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE  [bOOK  V. 

Volume  itself,  and  of  all  civil  liherti)  1  Had  not  the  Almighty,  of  old, 
twice  destroyed  his  own  Temple  ?  France,  in  full  view,  was  now  posting 
on  to  its  own  dreadful  crisis,  and  there  was  a  moral  propriety  in  our 
being  most  severely  handled.  The  sins  of  more  than  two  hundred 
years'  neglect  lay  at  the  doors  of  the  righteous  in  the  house  of  God,  and 
it  was  fit  that  judgment  should  awake  them,  or  there  begin.  Had  we 
received  the  "  Oracles  of  God,"  that  we  might  either  reverence  or  neglect 
them  at  pleasure  ?  Or  that,  worse  than  the  Jews  of  old,  we  might  keep  them 
to  ourselves,  and  say  of  every  or  any  other  nation,  "  This  people  that 
know  not  the  law,  are  cursed  ?"  But  surely,  if  judgment  was  averted, 
it  becomes  us  to  inquire  in  what  manner  ?  If  the  plague  was  stayed, 
how  much  is  it  now  to  be  admired,  if  a  long-suflFering  and  yet  gracious 
Providence  had  already  been  preparing  for  its  assault,  though  in  a  way 
altogether  unobserved  by  the  nation,  and  but  too  sparingly  acknow- 
ledged since  ? 

By  tlii.s  time  there  may  be  not  a  few  who  suspect  or  anti- 
cipate that  we  have  been  alluding  to  Carey — the  Tyndale,  in 
our  own  day,  not  of  an  island  only,  but  of  a  continent,  or  not 
of  Bengal  alone,  with  its  thirty  millions  of  a  population,  but 
the  first  translator  of  the  Bible  entire  into  the  parent  lan- 
guage of  India,  as  well  as  several  of  its  dialects,  and  of  the 
New  Testament  Scriptures  into  others,  not  a  few.  As  a 
reader  of  the  English  Bible^  in  the  first  instance,  and  with  such 
effect,  he  comes  to  fill  his  appropriate  place  in  such  a  work  as 
the  present ;  and  although  half  a  century  may  yet  pass  away 
before  his  position  in  history  will  be  properly  understood, 
having  now  gone  to  his  reward,  we  are  permitted  to  speak  of 
him  with  a  little  more  freedom  than  his  own  innate  modesty 
before  allowed. 

William  Caret,  who,  in  point  of  resolute  determination,  may  well  be 
ranked  as  akin  to  William  Tyndale,  is  supposed  to  have  been  a  descend- 
ant of  James  Carey  or  Cary,  the  curate  of  Paulers  Pury,  near  Towcester, 
from  1624  to  1030.  But  if  so,  the  family  had  undergone  a  gradual  de- 
clension with  regard  to  circumstances.  His  grandfather,  Peter  Carey, 
appears  to  have  been  well  educated,  from  the  very  free  and  even  elegant 
style  of  his  signatures  in  the  register  as  parish-clerk.  His  father,  Ed- 
mund Carey,  was  originally  a  journeyman  Tammy  weaver,  and  lived  in 
a  very  humble  cottage,  at  a  spot  in  this  village  called  Purycnd.  Here 
WUliam,  his  eldest  son,  was  born  on  the  17th  of  August  1761.  When 
he  was  about  seven  years  of  age,  his  father  being  appointed  parish-clerk 
and  schoolmaster,  removed  to  the  school  at  Church  End.  These  united 
offices  he  continued  to  fill  in  a  manner  which  gained  him  the  respect  of 


1780-1844.]  THOUGH  READ  IN  OBSCURITY.  58^ 

all  his  fellow-parishioners  for  nearly  half  a  century.  The  elementary  in- 
struction imparted  to  William  by  his  father,  constituted  the  first  educa- 
tion of  the  future  learned  linguist  and  botanist.  But  if  there  were  any 
tokens  of  genius  then  apparent,  circumstances  would  admit  of  no  other 
course  than  that  of  his  being  bound  as  an  apprentice  in  1775,  at  the  age 
of  fourteen,  to  a  shoemaker  at  Hackleton,  a  hamlet  in  the  same  county, 
about  five  miles  from  Northampton.  The  change,  however,  which  took 
place  in  1779,  already  noticed,  proved  to  be  the  turning-point  in  his  exist- 
ence. After  that,  while  he  derived  certain  advantages  from  residing  at 
Olney,  in  Buckinghamshire,  he  is  to  be  regarded,  in  an  eminent  degree, 
as  self-taught,  and  we  are  now  prepared  to  observe  what  became  of  him.* 

The  truth,  as  far  as  we  have  been  able  to  ascertain  it,  seems 
to  be  this — that  from  the  year  1783  to  1786,  the  bondage  of 
the  human  mind,  as  well  as  that  of  the  human  hody,  had  come 
up  in  remembrance  before  God  ;  and  however  arduous  was  to 
be  the  struggle,  not  only  the  chains  of  superstition  and  idola- 
try, but  the  chains  of  the  slave  were  ultimately  to  be  broken. 
To  retain  the  Scriptures  in  our  own  possession,  we  must  give 
them  to  the  heathen ;  to  preserve  whatever  of  Christianity 
existed  at  home,  it  must  be  sent  to  the  ends  of  the  earth  ;  and 
if  we  were  longer  to  retain  our  own  civil  liberty,  we  must  make 
others ^gg  .'  With  a  view  to  these  immense  and  glorious  pur- 
poses of  infinite  wisdom,  God  had  already  looked  down  upon 
our  native  land.  With  all  its  faults,  not  to  say  heedless  in- 
gratitude, most  of  Christianity,  and  most  of  civil  liberty,  were 
yet  to  be  found  there.  But  for  these  great  ends,  in  the  first 
instance,  so  far  as  indefatigable  perseverance  and  amount  of  la- 
bour were  to  be  concerned,  little  or  nothing  more  seems  to  have 
been  requisite  than  that  the  hearts  of  two  men  only  should  be 
touched.  They  were  equally  unknown  to  each  other.  The 
first  so  moved,  was  William  Carey  of  Paulers  Pury,  North- 
amptonshire ;  the  second,  Thomas  Clarkson  of  Wisbeach, 
in  the  county  of  Cambridge ;  and  having  once  pronounced 


4  See  the  elegant  county  history  of  Northamptonshire  by  Mr.  Baker.  It  is,  perhaps,  worth 
mentioning,  that  the  only  event  which  had  ever  before  distinguished  this  rural  parish,  was  the 
birth  of  another  learned  man,  in  the  17th  century — Edward  Bernard,  born  in  1C38.  A  scholar, 
astronomer,  and  critic,  he  was  master  of  Latin,  Greek,  and  Hebrew  ;  and  to  these  he  added  Sy- 
riac,  Arabic,  Persic,  Coptic,  and  Kuss.  Succeeding  Sir  Christopher  Wren  as  Savilian  Professor 
of  Astronomy  at  Oxford,  he  was  the  author  of  various  learned  productions.  On  the  dispersion 
of  his  library  after  death,  his  Polyglot  Bible,  iuWoi coWsXwns,  notes,  and  scholia,  was  purchased 
for  £20  by  Olaus  Wormius,  and  carried  to  Denmark.  Dr.  Bliss  thinks  it  most  probable  that  his 
father  was  not  the  rector,  but  the  curate  of  Paulers  Pury  in  1638.  If  this  be  correct,  he  had  suc- 
ceeded Carey's  supposed  ancestor.    fVood's  Athena,  by  Bliss,  vol.  iv.,  pp.  701,  2,  3. 


590  IMJIVIDUAL  A(fKNCV  [dOOK  V. 

thoir  names,  as  they  will  bo,  hy  successive  ages,  there  can  be 
little  doubt  that  we  have  referred  to  by  far  the  most  instruc- 
tive and  important  reminiscence  in  the  present  age.  The 
bondage  of  the  mind,  as  an  intolerable  grievance,  had  already, 
as  it  were,  seized  upon  the  spirits  of  the  one ;  the  bondage  of 
the  ho(h/,  upon  those  of  the  other.  Carey  was  up,  indeed, 
earliest  in  the  morning  ;  Clarkson  rose  next,  and  almost  im- 
mediately after  him  ;  but,  in  point  of  time,  the  coincidences 
between  them  were  so  very  remarkable,  that  it  would  even  here 
be  unpardonable  to  pass  them  over  ;  and  the  more  so,  as  we 
are  not  aware  of  their  having  ever  before  been  pointed  out. 

Here  were  two  young  men,  who  never  met  ;  who  nevoi-  exchanged  one  woi*d 
with  each  other  ;  who  were  entirely  ignorant  of  each  other's  feeUngs,  however 
painful  at  the  same  moments.  They  were  not  only  alike  natives  of  the  same 
coimtry,  and  born  witliin  seventeen  montlis  of  each  other,  but  the  mental  con- 
flict, which  each,  under  his  own  burden,  endured,  was  literally  contemporane- 
ous !^  Carey,  as  already  hinted,  was  first  in  distress,  simply  because  he  was 
firat  awakened  from  that  bed  of  easy  indifference,  on  which  millions  lay  asleep 
around  him.  This  had  begun  in  1784,  if  not  a  little  earlier,  but  next  year 
Clarkson  rose  after  him,  and  to  his  own  gloomy  subject  of  African  slavery, 
from  morning  to  night,  or  from  day  to  day.  By  November  1785,  he  had  given 
himself  up  to  his  subject.  So,  as  it  respected  anxiety  and  a  painful  sense  of 
obligation,  it  had  been  and  now  was,  with  Carey  ;  while  his  eye  roved  over  a 
slavery  more  ancient,  and  spread  over  a  wider  surface  ;  sighing  and  praying 
for  the  extension  of  a  liberty,  which  U])  to  that  moment  had  remained  unsung — 

"  unsung 

By  poets,  and  by  senators  unpraised, 

W^hicli  raonarchs  cannot  grant,  nor  all  the  powers 

Of  earth  and  hell  confederate  take  away  : 

A  liberty,  which  persecution,  fraud, 

Oppression,  prisons,  have  no  power  to  bind  ; 

Which  whoso  tastes  can  be  enslaved  no  more." 

If  these  lines,  however,  were  written  then,  here  was  a  third  individual,  though 
lie  also  was  "  Retired  from  all  the  circles  of  the  gay — and  all  the  crowds  that 
bustled  life  away."  But  he  had  laid  hold  of  his  lyre,  and  he  too  had  begvm  to 
sigh  after  liberty,  both  in  the  sense  of  Clarkson,  and  in  that  of  Carey.  Little 
did  Cowpcr  imagine  that,  at  the  very  moment  when  he  was  penning  the  whole 
of  this  beautiful  passage  for  the  press,  there  was  then  actually  living  in  quiet 
and  peaceful  Olncy,  within  the  sound  of  his  voice,  and  nearly  the  sight  of  his 
own  parlour  window,  another  man  of  equal  modesty,  with  the  same  initials  as 
his  own  ;  and  that  too  such  a  man  as  the  future  translator  of  the  Sacred  Volume 
into  60  many  Oriental  languages.     But  so  it  happened.^ 


s  Clarkson  was  bom  on  Friday,  28th  March  1760,  and  still  lives  in  his  85th  year,  after  devot- 
inp  fifty-nine  years  to  the  cause  of  the  oppressed.  Carey  was  bom  on  Monday,  17th  August 
1/61,  and  fell  asleep  on  Monday,  9th  June  1834,  with  a  mind  which  had  been  fifty  years  under 
one  governing  principle. 

6  The  progress  of  that  enchanting  performance,  '"  The  Task,"  was  this.  The  first  four  books 
and  part  of  the  fifth,  were  written  by  the  22d  of  February  1784  ;  the  final  verses  of  the  poem  in 
September  following.  The  work  being  sent  to  the  press  in  October,  the  poet  wrote  to  Mr.  New- 
ton on  the  3nth  :     "I  mentioned  it  not  sooner,  because  almost  to  the  last,   I  was  doubtful 


1780-1 8 J.4. J  TO  BE  FIRST  EMPLOYED.  591 

Througliout  the  whole  of  the  following  yeai-,  or  1 786,  it  is  impossible  to  say 
of  Carey  and  Clarkson,  which  was  most  painfully  engrossed  with  his  appropriate 
subject.  The  latter,  to  interest  the  public  mind,  was  translating  into  English 
his  Latin  poem,  for  which  he  had  obtained  the  first  prize  from  Dr.  Peckard, 
Master  of  Magdalene  College,  Cambridge,  the  year  before.  The  former  was 
actually  taking  account  of  the  four  quarters  of  the  earth,  and  had  begun  his 
"  Enquiry  into  the  Obligations  of  Christians  to  use  means  for  the  Conversion 
of  the  Heathen."  The  latter  began  to  think  "  that  the  finger  of  Providence 
was  discernible,"  but  the  former  still  met  with  objections,  on  the  gi-ound  of 
"  so  much  needing  to  be  done  at  home."  Before  the  close  of  this  year,  Clarkson 
imagined  "  that  the  day  star  of  African  liberty  was  rising,  and  that  probably  he 
might  be  permitted  to  become  a  humble  instrument  in  promoting  it ;"  but  to 
Carey  neither  sun  nor  star  for  many  days  appeared.  His  object  being  of  a 
deeper  character,  he  must  sustain  still  longer  ment^il  suspense.  The  fact  was, 
that  Clarkson  had  been  more  than  surprised,  to  hear  of  the  labours  of  Gran- 
ville Sharp,  and  that  some  six  individuals  in  London  had  been  associated  for 
tlie  purpose  of  enlightening  the  public  mind  ;  while,  at  the  same  moment,  Carey 
also  had  at  least  three  stanch  friends,  to  whom  he  had  applied  with  great  ear- 
nestness. These,  it  is  well  known,  were  Fuller,  Sutcliff,  and  Ryland.  He 
this  year  had  urged  any  one  of  them  to  take  up  his  subject,  but  they,  knowing 
well  how  much  and  deeply  he  had  thought,  devolved  it  on  himself.  When  the 
extent  to  which  he  pushed  his  "  Enquiry  "  is  observed,  and  the  circumstances 
of  the  writer  at  the  moment  are  taken  into  account,  if  we  consider  it  simply  as 
a  literary  production,  it  would  be  difficult  to  find  a  parallel.  Ungainly  in  his  ap- 
pearance, absorpt  in  thought,  he  was  regarded  by  some  otliers  as  phlegmatic,  and 
how  could  he  be  otherwise  than  dull  ?  Independently  of  the  subject  Nvith  which 
his  mind  was  loaded,  he  was  now  preaching  regulai'ly  at  Moulton,  a  village  four 
miles  from  Northampton,  for  an  income  much  below  twenty  pounds,  and  he 
was  teaching  a  school  as  an  additional  moans  of  support  !  These  were  circum- 
stances not  likely  to  elevate  the  spirits  of  any  man,  and  which  certainly  augured 
anything  but  future  influence  and  power  ;  save  in  the  eye  of  Him  who  "  draws 
from  human  littleness,  his  grandeur  and  renown."  But  still,  he  was  now  read- 
ing the  Bible  in  three,  if  not  four  languages,  and  every  incidental  circumstance 
only  contributed  to  deepen  the  impression  on  his  mind,  as  well  as  his  sympathy 
for  the  most  distant  nations.  Among  other  branches,  when  instructing  some 
of  the  village  childi'en  in  geography,  of  which  he  was  very  fond,  he  had  resolved 
to  inform  them,  as  he  pointed  out  the  different  countries  on  the  map,  or  rather, 
on  a  globe  by  himself  constructed  of  leather,  the  religion  professed  by  each  of 
them.  Going  over  these,  as  he  had  to  do,  again  and  again,  saying — "  These  are 
Christians,  and  these  are  Mahomedans,  and  these  are  Pagans,  and  these  are 
Pagans,  and  these  are  Pagans .'"  The  thought  would  as  often  return  upon  him 
— "  Why  they  are  almost  all  Pagans,  and  I  am  now  telling  these  children  as  a 
mere  fact,  that  which  involves  a  truth  of  tlie  most  melancholy  character."  But 
so  passed  away  1786  and  longer  still. 

The  Abolitionist,  it  is  well  known,  then  sped  on  his  way,  with  an  immensity 
of  bodily  toil,  and  intellectual  effort,  which  have  been  amply  described  ;  and 


whether  I  should  ever  bring  it  to  a  conclusion  ;  working  often  in  such  distress  of  mind,  as  while 
(7  simrred  me  to  the  work,  at  the  same  time  threatened  to  disiiuallfy  me  for  it."  Here  then 
was  a  triumvirate  ;  equallj'  unknown  to  each  other,  but  individually  sombre  or  sad,  like  Nehe- 
miah  of  old.  Such,  at  the  commencement  of  great  moral  changes,  are  the  ways  of  infinite 
wisdom,  and  so  they  have  been  from  the  beginning.  Carey,  in  1784,  not  yet  called  to  the  minis- 
try, was  then  living  with  his  venerated  tutor,  Sutclifl'.  within  hail  or  sight  of  Cowper's  dwelling- 
house. 


592  THK  REFLEX  INFLL'EXCK  [book    V. 

fio  (lid  tlio  Traimlator  of  tlie  Divine  Word  on  lti>,  with  whom  wo  have  here 
more  es|)ecially  to  do.  Painful  reflections  about  the  same  time  nmst  have 
pa.ssed  through  a  few  other  minds  ;  but  with  reference  to  these  two  men,  in 
tlifir  distinct  walks,  or  the  arduous  couree  which  they  took  respectively  ;  as 
the  fii-st  who  were  absorpt  or  overwhelmed  with  a  sense  of  obligation  ;  the 
first  who  put  their  shouldei-s  to  their  different  objects,  and  personally  accom- 
plished so  much  ;  posterity  can  never  mistake  the  place  of  either  the  one  or 
the  other.  The  farther  it  recedes  from  the  times,  this  will  only  become  the 
more  apparent.  In  tracing  our  past  and  present  obligations  to  individuals 
whom  God  had  so  distinctly  moved,  the  analogy,  in  point  of  mental  conflict, 
and  coincidence,  in  point  of  time,  appear  to  have  been  so  remarkable,  that  it  is 
difficult  to  say  whether  we  have  much  digressed.     But  we  have  done. 

Heartfelt  sympathy,  or  conscientious  obligation  with  regard  to  the 
moral  condition  of  Heathen  nations,  or  distant  lands,  Avas  unquestionably 
a  new  feeling,  which  had  now  sprung  up  within  the  shores  of  England.  For 
more  than  two  centuries  and  a  half  she  had  enjoyed  the  light  of  Divine 
revelation,  but  had  never  yet  acted  fully  in  character,  or  almost,  in  any 
degree,  worthy  of  the  high  favour  bestowed  upon  her,  whether  in  1526, 
or  in  1537. 

The  feeling,  however,  now  to  be  found  in  the  bosom  of  one  man,  was  not  to  be 
cherished  only,  and  then  to  die  with  him.  For  several  yeare  still,  indeed,  this 
deep  impression  had  to  be  maintained  amidst  feeble  hopes  of  success,  or  rather 
many  discouragements.  Thus,  partly  owing  to  straitened  circumstances,  and 
to  his  own  modesty,  the  "  Enquiry"  of  Carey  was  not  published  till  1 792. 
But  the  same  year  he  enjoyed  one  special  public  opportunity  of  unburdening 
his  mind  of  the  convictions  and  impressions  of  previous  years.  Having  read 
Isaiah  liv.,  2,  3,  lie  remarked  in  his  introduction,  that  the  Church  was  here 
addressed  as  a  desolate  widow,  dwelling  in  a  little  cottage  by  herself  ;  that  the 
command  given,  to  enlai'ge  her  tent,  contained  an  intimation  that  there  should 
be  an  enlargement  of  her  family  ;  and  that  to  account  for  so  unexpected  a 
change,  she  was  told  that  her  "  Maker  was  her  husband,"  so  that  another  day 
he  would  be  called  "  the  God  of  the  whole  earth."  He  then  enforced  what  he 
conceived  to  be  the  spirit  of  his  text,  in  two  exhortations.  "  Expect  great 
things — from  God."  "  Attempt  great  things — for  God."  "  If  all  the  people 
had  lifted  up  their  voices  and  wept,"  said  Ryland,  "  I  should  not  have  wondered 
at  the  effect  ;  it  would  only  have  seemed  propoi'tionate  to  the  cause  ;  so  clearly 
did  he  prove  the  criminality  of  our  supineness,  in  the  cause  of  God."  To  all 
he  then  uttered,  the  preacher  soon  gave  the  force  of  his  own  example,  by  leav- 
ing his  native  land,  with  the  fixed  intention  of  laying  his  bones  in  India. 

It  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  while  the  audience  he  had  addressed,  was  so 
deeply  moved  at  the  moment,  there  is  certainly  no  discourse  in  modem  times, 
which  has  been  so  frequently  alluded  to  since.  The  two  leading  remarks  have 
been  repeated,  as  a  sort  of  "  key-note;"  then  first  struck  ;  and  repeated  also, 
as  an  instigation  to  exertion,  ever  since,  for  these  fifty  years,  in  England, 
America,  and  the  East.  And  why  ?  Within  the  compass  of  an  hour,  the  man 
was  expressing  the  deep  feeling  of  eight  or  nine  years. 

Upon  embarking  for  India  next  year,  it  might  have  been  supposed  that 
England  would  have  enjoyed  the  favour  of  sending  to  her  own  colonial  posses- 
sions, one  of  her  own  sons,  so  bent  on  conveying  the  word  of  life  and  truth  to 
the  Heathen  ;  but,  as  a  nation  or  government,  she  could  no  more  enter  into 
the  design,  even  in  1 7.02,  than  she  had  done  when  she  herself  was  about  to  be 
so  mercifully  visited,  through  Tyndale,  in  1.526.    The  analogy  between  the  two 


1780-1841-.]  OF  FOREIGN  OPERATIONS.  5D3 

cases  was  but  too  strong.  If  on  the  part  of  autliority,  in  the  early  part  of  the 
sixteenth  century,  there  had  been  fear  of  England  receinmj  the  Sacred  Volume 
in  her  native  language  ;  so  in  the  close  of  the  eighteenth,  on  the  part  of  cer- 
tain authorities,  there  was  also  fear  as  to  the  consequences  of  cjirinfi  it,  and 
that  to  her  own  Eastern  possessions  !  !  The  second  jjsalni,  after  having  been 
read  upon  British  ground,  for  above  two  hundred  and  fifty  ycai-s,  was  not  yet 
understood  !  The  honour,  therefore,  of  conveying  Carey  to  his  appointed  field 
of  action,  was  given  to  a  Danish  vessel,  and  he  left  his  native  land,  never  to 
return,  as  Tyndale  had  done,  so  long  before.7  Nor  did  the  resemblance  here 
terminate.  Our  translator  was  never  quite  secure  of  permanent  residence,  in 
his  adopted  continent,  till  he  had  sat  down  upon  Danish  ground  at  Serampore, 
and  for  a  short  period,  when  it  was  taken  by  the  British,  scarcely  even  there. 
Still  it  was  from  this  spot,  as  from  a  little  sanctuary  of  only  six  square  miles, 
that  the  Sacred  Volume  was  to  issue  forth  in  so  many  of  the  Oriental  lan- 
guages. In  the  modern,  as  well  as  the  ancient  instance,  the  undertaking  must 
appear  to  be,  not  a  national,  but  a  providential  one. 

Carey  having  arrived  at  Calcutta,  in  November  1 793,  as  there  was  no  de- 
cided movement  in  his  native  laud  with  regard  to  the  English  Bible,  or  any 
other,  for  more  than  ten  years  to  come,  the  space  can  only  be  filled  up  by  his 
progress  in  the  translation  of  the  Scriptures  into  Bengalee  and  other  tongues, 
and  in  their  printing,  as  commenced  in  the  year  1 800. 

Possessed  of  a  mature  acquaintance  with  Christian  doctrine,  in  his  thirty- 
third  year,  and  in  the  spring  of  1794,  Carey  had  begun  to  translate  the  New 
Testament  into  the  language  of  Bengal,  and  by  1797  it  was  finished,  and  nearly 
I'eady  for  the  press,  as  soon  as  types  could  be  cast,  and  a  printing  press  pi'o- 
cm-ed.  These  were  the  days  when  every  thing  was  to  bet/'ui,  and  far  different 
in  their  character  from  those  of  following  years  ;  but  thus  labouring  in  India, 
there  was  time  sufiicient  given,  if  not  appointed,  for  the  character  and  exertions 
of  our  Translator  to  make  a  deep  impression  upon  individual  minds  at  home,  and 
this  they  certainly  did.  Thus,  the  venei-able  John  Newton  was  fully  acquainted 
with  his  progress,  and  so  early  as  August  1797,  in  his  own  playful  style,  he  in- 
forms his  intimate  friend.  Dr.  Ryland, — "  Mr.  Carey  has  favoured  me  with  a 
letter,  which,  indeed,  I  accept  as  a  favour,  and  mean  to  thank  him  for  it.  I 
look  to  such  a  man  with  reverence.  He  is  more  to  me  than  bishop  or  arch- 
bishop :  he  is  an  apostle.  May  the  Lord  make  all  who  undertake  missions 
like-minded  with  brother  Carey ."8  Far  separated  from  all  Christian  society, 
and  literally  alone,  in  the  midst  of  the  most  ancient  idolatry  in  the  world,  meet- 
ing only  with  Europeans  more  than  tinged  with  infidelity,  they  told  him  that 
it  was  impossible  to  convert  the  natives ;  but  nothing  could  either  damp  his 
zeal,  or  at  least  affect  his  determined  perseverance.  His  dearest  friends  at 
ho7tte,  in  feeling  for  his  situation,  had  become  more  alive  to  their  own.  Thus, 
in  April  1798,  Fuller  informs  him, — "  The  spark  which  God  stirred  you  up 
to  strike  has  kindled  a  great  fire,  not  only  here,  but  in  America.  I  received  a 
letter  lately  from  a  society  in  New  York,  who  are  endeavouring  to  station  mis- 
sionaries all  along  their  frontiers.  There  is  a  good  understanding  among  Clu-is- 
tians  of  all  denominations  on  this  subject.  Dark  clouds  overshadow  us  as  a 
nation,  but  we  are  happy  in  God.     Infidelity  threatens  to  swallow  up  C'hristi- 


7  He  was  not,  however,  solitary  and  alone.  Mr.  John  Thomas,  who  as  surgeon  on  board  an 
Indianaan,  had  been  in  Bengal  before,  and  deeply  concerned  for  the  state  of  the  natives,  had 
now  found  in  Carey  as  his  companion,  and  as  a  messenger  to  the  East,  all  that  his  heart  de- 
Bired.  There  were  devoted  friends  at  liome  too,  never  to  be  forgotten,  who  "  helped  thera  over 
the  sea,"  as  Munniouth  had  served  Tyndale.  *  M.S.  letter. 


594  THE  REFLEX  INFLUEN'CK  [book  V. 

anUif ;  but  iiowcvcr  those  wlio  arc  intcreated  in  its  emolument:)  may  tremble, 
we  have  no  ajiprehensions.  Instead  of  waiting  for  tiie  attack  of  the  enemy,  we 
are  aetin;;  offensively.  The  Christian  world  is  almost  laying  its  account  with 
notiiing  but  victory,  and  commencing  its  operations  against  the  strongholds  of 
heathenism.  So  we  have  nothing  to  do  but  to  pray  and  preach.  Our  worthy 
friends  IIahdcasti.e  and  Rey.ner  feel  ujterested  much  in  the  work,  particularly 
the  trangliitiuii.  I  have  just  now  received  a  letter  from  the  former,  full  of  in- 
quiries as  to  what  can  be  tlone  to  promote  it."''  Thomas  Scott,  the  well  known 
expositor  of  Scripture,  had  early  conceived  high  expectations  of  Carey,  and  in 
171*3  had  written  to  Charles  Grant,  Esq.,  in  his  favour,  who  expressed  the  most 
cordial  desire  to  serve  him  in  his  purpose.  At  that  period,  however,  and  without 
an  atom  of  patronage,  the  translator  must  and  did  proceed  to  India,  as  already 
described.  The  son  of  Mr.  Scott,  the  late  minister  of  St.  Mary's,  Hull,  had  felt 
with  his  father,  and,  in  writing  the  life  of  that  venerable  and  useful  man,  alludes 
to  Carey  and  these  early  days.  "  He  is,"  says  he,  "  perhaps,  better  entitled  than 
any  other  individual  to  the  praise  of  having  given  the  first  imjnihe  to  the  extra- 
ordinary exertions  of  the  present  age  for  the  pro|)agation  of  Christianity  in  the 
world.  I  well  remember  the  late  Rev.  Andrew  Fuller  reporting,  at  my  father's 
house,  m  the  year  171*2,  the  impression  wliieh  had  been  made  upon  an  a.ssocia- 
tion  meeting  of  his  own  denomination,  by  Carey's  sermon  on  the  addi-ess  to  the 
Church,  Isaiah  liv.,  2,  3,"  &c.  Mr.  S.  then  refers  to  various  institutions  as  spring- 
ing up  in  succession,  "  all,  we  trust,  destined  to  contribute  their  share  to  that 
great  and  blessed  consummation,  by  pi'ophccy's  unerring  finger  mark'd,  to 
faith's  strong  eye."  But  in  these  pages  we  are  necessarily  restricted  to  the 
ScRiPTDRES  themselves,  and  the  progress  here  made,  till  the  period  when  that 
subject  was  taken  up,  in  good  earnest,  by  the  mother  country. 

By  the  close  of  1 799,  Marshman  and  Ward  having  arrived  in  India,  the  three 
men  so  well  known  ever  since,  had  met,  and  settling  down  at  Serampore,  on  the 
16th  of  May,  1800,  the  Bengalee  New  Testament  was  put  to  pres.s,  and  in  less 
than  nine  months  it  was  finished,  on  the  7th  of  February  1801.  Upon  copies 
being  sent  home,  one  was  conveyed  by  Fuller  to  the  late  Earl  Spencer,  on  whose 
property  Carey  had  once  lived.  He  immediately  sent  a  cheque  on  his  banker 
for  £50,  to  be  applied  to  the  translation  of  the  Old  Testament  into  Bengalee, 
recommending  that  a  copy  of  the  New  should  be  presented  to  George  III.  as  by 
his  request.  This  was  done,  accoi'dingly,  by  the  late  Mr.  Bowyer,  one  morning, 
at  Windsor.  In  the  address  presented  along  with  this  volume,  desire  was 
expressed  that  his  Majesty  might  live  to  see  the  principles  it  contained  univer- 
sally prevail  throughout  his  eastern  dominions,  when  some  doubt  was  whispered, 
by  the  lord  in  waiting,  as  to  whether  this  book  had  now  come  through  the  pro- 
per channel.  The  king,  however,  replied  immediately, — "  The  Board  of  Con- 
trol has  nothing  to  do  with  it  ;"  and  turning  to  Mr.  B., — "  I  am  greatly 
pleased  to  find  that  any  of  my  subjects  are  employed  in  this  manner." 

In  1801,  Carey  having  been  appointed,  by  the  lately  deceased  Marquis  Wel- 
lesly,  to  one  of  the  Chairs  in  Fort-William  College,  his  views  as  to  translation, 
in  conjunction  with  those  of  his  colleagues,  were,  throughout  1802,  ripening  into 
a  plan  for  embracing  others.  "  We  have  it  in  our  power,"  said  Carey,  in  1 803, 
"  if  our  means  would  do  for  it,  in  the  space  of  about  fifteen  years,  to  have  the 
Word  of  God  translated  and  printed  in  all  the  languages  of  the  East.  Our  situa- 
tion is  such  as  to  furnish  us  w  ith  the  best  assistance  from  natives  of  the  different 
countries.     We  can  liave  types  of  all  the  different  characters  cast  here,  and 


9  Fuller's  Letters,  .MS. 


1780-184'!..]  OF  FOREIGN  OPERATIONS.  .595 

about  700  rupees  per  month,  part  of  wliicli  I  liope  (tv  shall  be  able  to  furnish, 
would  complete  the  work." 

An  undertaking  of  such  growing  magnitude  as  this,  in  the  Eastern  World, 
but  in  constant  correspondence  with  the  mother  country,  could  not  fail  to  have  a 
powerful  iiiHucnce  upon  certain  individuals  at  home.  It  not  merely  affected 
but  vastly  enlarged  the  mind.  Instead  of  being  cooped  up  within  the  limits 
of  its  native  island,  or  only  brooding  over  its  own  private  personal  concerns,  a 
habit  of  feeling  for  the  masses,  of  pity  for  nations  had  been  induced  ;  and  it  ex- 
pressed itself  in  language  lofty  as  the  Sci'iptures  alone  could  furnish.  So  at 
least  were  deeply  affected,  the  immediate  correspondents  of  Carey,  Marshman, 
and  Ward. 

"  If,"  said  they,  "  the  Gentiles  had  been  called  in  the  cai'ly  ages  of  the 
world,  there  had  been  no  such  proof  afforded  of  the  necessity  of  divine  grace, 
by  the  manifest  insuflicicncy  of  human  wisdom  to  lead  men  to  God :  and  if 
they  had  not  been  called  when  they  were,  and  the  blessings  of  the  Gospel  had 
been  nearly  confiued  to  the  Jews,  the  spiritual  pride  which  abounded  in  that 
people  might  have  become  intolerable.  But  by  things  being  thus  wisely 
balanced,  the  favour  of  God  appears  to  be  what  it  is,  altogether  free  ;  and  both 
Jews  and  Gentiles  may  each  see  enough  of  themselves  to  humble  them  in  the 
dust.  First,  the  world  is  provoked  to  jealousy  by  God's  calling  and  blessing 
Israel ;  next,  Israel  is  provoked  to  jealousy  by  His  calling  and  blessing  the 
world  ;  and  He  will  at  last  have  mercy  upon  both,  and  perhaps  by  means  of 
one  another.  At  least  the  "  receiving"  of  the  one,  shall  be  a  kind  of  moral  re- 
sm'rection  to  the  other,  so  gi'eat  in  extent,  that  all  which  the  "  casting  away" 
of  them  has  hitherto  occasioned  in  our  favom*,  will  be  little,  it  seems,  in  com- 
parison of  it.  Reflections  like  these  may  preserve  us  from  impatience  and 
despondency,  though  but  little  fruit  should  appear  for  years." 

"  Something  analogous  to  this,"  added  Fuller  when  writuig  to  India  in  1804, 
"  has  lately  struck  me,  iu  respect  of  the  Eastern  and  Western  parts  of  the 
world.  For  two  thousand  years  and  upwards  after  the  flood,  learning,  govern- 
ment, I'eligion,  and  every  distinguished  favour,  was  conferred  on  the  East,  and 
our  fathers  in  the  West  were  mere  barbarians.  For  the  last  two  thousand 
years,  learning,  government,  and  religion,  have  been  in  the  West,  yea,  have 
extended  beyond  the  Atlantic  ocean.  Before  the  end  of  the  world,  and  per- 
haps before  many  years,  the  East  and  West  shall  both  accede  to  the  Church  of 
God.  I  think  this  is  predicted  iu  Isa.  Ix.,  6,  9.  Premising  that  the  geogra- 
phical descriptions  of  Europe  and  Asia  are  given  by  way  of  synecdoche,  those 
parts  of  each  which  lay  nearest  to  the  Holy  Laud,  being  put  for  the  whole — 
'  the  dromedaries  of  ^lidian  and  Ephah,'  '  all  they  from  Sheba,'  '  the  flocks  of 
Kedar  and  the  rams  of  Nebaioth,'  will  signify  the  accession  of  Asia  ;  and  '  the 
isles  and  the  ships  of  Tarshish,'  may  denote  Europe  and  all  the  western  world." 

"  One  great  cause  of  mercy  to  the  western  world  was  the  Roman  conquests, 
which,  whatever  were  their  motives,  were  overruled  for  the  introduction  of  the 
gospel  among  the  European  nations  :  and  who  knows  but  the  extension  of  the 
British  conquests  in  the  East,  may  be  designed  for  a  similar  purpose.  Even 
that  miquitous  traffic  in  the  persons  of  men,  seems  already  to  have  been  over- 
iTiled  for  the  salvation  of  thousands.  A  goodly  number  of  those  poor  people 
have  been  torn  from  their  relations,  connexions,  and  native  shores,  that  they 
might  be  brought  into  the  gospel  net.  While  their  masters  are  basking  m 
wealth,  rolling  in  filthiness,  neither  entering  into  the  kingdom  of  Heaven 
themselves,  nor  suffering  those  who  would,  to  enter,  God  is  gathering  to  him- 
self a  people  from  among  these  despised  outcasts. ""J 


'0  Fuller  writing  to  the  East.    MS. 


596  'IHE  RKFLKX  INFLUENCE  [book  V. 

StMitiim-iits  of  sucli  onlargfcl  ciniipass  a«  these,  ever  met  with  coiigeiiiiil  minds 
at  Serami>()re.  In  truth,  tlie  "  Enquiry"  of  Carey  lia<l  si>road  out  before  them 
the  four  quarters  of  tlie  earth  with  tlieir  various  countries,  in  all  their  destitu- 
tion of  the  Word  of  God,  or  knowledge  of  Christianity. 

But  we  have  now  arrived  at  that  most  ilceply  interesting  jieriod,  18114,  when 
there  was  a  movenx-nt  at  home  in  this  our  native  land.  That  is,  one  more 
worthy  of  the  exalted  favour  so  long  bestowed  upon  it,  as  a  distinguished  store- 
house or  depository  of  Divine  Truth  ;  more  worthy  of  the  place  which  it  had 
long  held  among  the  European  nations,  and  of  a  country  whose  commerce  had 
extended  to  the  ends  of  the  earth.  Before,  however,  turning  to  this  event,  the 
formation  of  the  BiiiTisn  and  Foreign  Bihle  Socip;tv,  as  we  have  been  pre- 
engaged,  it  would  be  unpardonable  to  break  ofT  here,  and  not  follow  to  his 
grave,  the  man  who  had  been  so  deeply  moved  on  this  subject  for  twenty 
years  before. 

Carey,  in  the  close  of  ]7'.>!^,  as  already  hinted,  having  been  joined  by  two 
others,  Murshman  and  Ward,  who  laboured  with  him,  they  all  in  union  pur- 
sued the  same  course.  Ward,  though  he  had  been  called  to  the  ministi'y,  was 
a  finished  printer,  and  under  his  eye  all  printing  was  conducted.  When  upon 
his  voyage  to  the  East  he  happened  to  write  in  his  journal  these  words,  by 
way  of  anticipation, — "  Unto  me,  who  am  less  than  the  least  of  all  saints,  is 
this  grace  given,  that  I  should  j^rint  among  the  Ileatlien  the  unsesirchable 
riclies  of  Christ," — though  he  little  knew  to  what  extent  this  favour  would  be 
gi-anted  him  ;  otherwise  he  might  have  added,  "  and  in  twenty  of  their  lan- 
guages." The  twentieth  version  of  the  New  Testament  had  advanced  to  the 
book  of  Revelation  at  the  press,  by  the  day  of  Mr.  Ward's  decease,  Friday  7th 
Marcli   1823.     It  was  the  twenty-fourth  year  of  his  residence  in  India. 

In  Marshman,  our  first  translator  had  met  with  a  mind  no  less  determined 
than  his  own  ;  but  as  he  had  taken  up  India,  Marshman  had  sat  down  to  the  lan- 
guage of  the  largest  associated  population  upon  earth — the  Chinese.  "  Four  or 
five  persons  in  our  family,"  said  Carey  in  February  1806,  "  are  labouring 
hard  at  the  Chinese  language."  It  was  about  the  beginning  of  that  jcar  that 
Marshman,  with  two  of  his  own  sons  and  one  of  Carey's,  had  commenced  the 
study  of  this  peculiar  tongue,  and  through  their  persevering  efforts,  within 
two  years  they  had  attracted  notice. 

"  I  am  in  truth  strongly  inclined,"  said  Lord  Minto,  on  the  27th  February  lOOfi,  as  lisitor  of 
the  ColleRe  of  Fort-William,  "  whether  rcRularly  or  not,  to  deal  one  encouraginR  word  to  the 
meritorious,  and  I  hope  not  unsuccessful  effort,  making,  I  may  say,  at  the  door  of  our  College, 
though  not  admitted  to  its  portico,  to  force  that  hitherto  impregnable  fortress,  the  Chinese 
language."  "A  Chinese  press,  too,  is  established,  and  in  actual  use.  In  a  word,  if  the  founders 
and  supporters  of  this  little  College  have  not  yet  dispelled,  they  have  at  least  sent  and  admitted, 
a  dawn  of  day  through  that  thick  impenetrable  cloud  ;  they  have  passed  that  oceanum  ilitso- 
ciubilcm,  which  for  so  many  ages  has  insulated  that  vast  Jimpire  from  the  rest  of  mankind." 

By  181 1,  not  only  was  the  Pentateuch  translated  as  far  as  Numbers,  but  two 
of  the  Gospels  were  printed  off,  and  the  others  at  press.  Ere  this  time,  how- 
ever, as  Mai'shman  could  translate  from  Chinese,  when  advancing,  with  more 
caution,  in  translating  tutu  it,  he  had  completed  a  translation  of  the  first  vo- 
lume of  Confucius,  with  a  preliminary  dissertation.  And  this  gave  occasion  for 
the  Governor-General  to  break  silence  once  more. 

"  I  cannot,"  said  he  on  the  15th  September  181(»,  "  omit  the  opportunity  which  this  singular 
publication  presents  of  ofTcring  the  homage  which  appears  to  me  to  be  due  to  this  laudable 
effort  of  modest  genius  and  labour.  This  commendable  design  has  advanced,  however,  silently, 
without  aid  or  notice,  by  the  innate  jiowers  of  strenuous,  though  humble  and  unassuming 
energy  of  mind,  directed  by  liberal  and  virtuous  views.  What  Mr.  Marshman  has  already  ac- 
complished, both  in  the  tuition  of  his  young  but  distinguished  pupils,  and  in  works,  the  produce 
of  self-instructioii,  would  have  done  honour  to  institutions  fostered  by  all  the  aids  of  munifi- 


1780- 184k]  OK  FOREIGN  OPERATIONS.  597 

fence  and  power.     To  liave  risen,  in  the  shade,  ij>sc  siiis  jMlUns  oi>il>iis,  renders  liis  successful 
labours  only  the  more  worthy  of  admiration."  ' ' 

But  it  should  seem  as  if  the  time  to  favour  China,  yea,  the  set  time  had  come, 
since  another  laborious  and  persevering  man  had  now  boon  engaged  with  the 
same  language.  Robert  Morrison  of  Morpeth,  in  Nortliumborland,  had  landed 
at  Macao  in  September  1807,  and  in  li!08  had  commenced  his  studies.  By 
1811  and  1812,  he  too  had  printed  the  Gospels  of  Matthew,  Mark,  and  Luke. 
Ne.Kt  year,  William  Milne,  a  native  of  Aberdeenshire,  also  arrived  at  Macao, 
and  was  no  less  diligent  in  the  cultivation  of  Chinese.  In  short,  here  at  last 
were  two  translations  of  the  entire  Scriptm-es  in  Chinese  left  by  these  three 
men.  The  Ciiinese  Bible  entire,  by  Marshman,  was  completed  at  press  in  April 
1822.  Upwards  of  a  year  after,  or  in  the  summer  of  182.3,  that  by  Morrison 
was  ready  for  publication.  As  first  versions  they  remain,  just  as  all  our  first 
European  versions  did,  to  be  greatly  improved.  But  as  divine  truth  makes 
progi'ess  in  China,  as  unquestionably  it  will,  another  day,  when  contemplating 
the  infancy  of  Scriptural  Christianity  there,  these  devoted  men  will  never  be 
forgotten  as  the  first  and  best  friends  of  that  vast  Empire. 

To  proceed,  therefore,  no  farther  than  the  tenth,  or  last 
memoir  of  translations  before  the  decease  of  Carey  on  the  9th 
of  June  1834,  the  entire  Scriptures  of  the  Old  and  New  Tes- 
taments had  been  printed  and  circulated  in  seven  languages, 

"  See  the  "Disputations"  at  Fort-William  College,  1808-lftlO.  We  have  quoted  this  lan- 
guage, however,  not  for  the  sake  of  Marshman,  or  Carey,  one  of  its  Professors,  but  for  a  special 
reason.  Although  Marquis  Wellesley,  as  the  first  founder  of  the  College,  and  Marquis  Hast- 
ings, L,ord  Bentinck,  and  others  after,  had  expressed  cordial  approbation  of  both  these  men, 
the  language  of  Lord  Minto  is  deserving  of  being  put  on  record,  because  it  was  uttered  through- 
out a  period  actually  by  far  the  most  critical  in  the  history  of  these  exertions.  Before  his  arrival 
in  India,  not  a  little  had  been  said  and  printed,  calculated  to  prejudice  any  Governor-General 
on  the  wrong  side,  and  even  poison  his  mind.  But  though  Lord  Minto  began  his  administration 
with  consummate  caution,  no  ruler  of  India  ever  expressed  himself  in  terms  more  decidedly 
favourable.  Nor  was  this  approbation  unprecedented.  In  1804,  or  forty  years  ago,  the  noble- 
man first  mentioned,  with  his  brother.  General  Wellesley,  the  Duke  of  Wellington,  were 
present,  when  Carey  addressed  the  Governor-General  in  a  speech,  which,  with  the  exception  of 
his  own  pupils,  no  European  present  understood !  It  was  in  Sunpskrit,  the  parent  language  of 
India.  The  compliment  was  felt  at  the  moment,  and  after  its  translation  into  English,  still 
more  so.  Both  in  writing,  and  afterwards  verbally.  Lord  Wellesley  acknowledged  it ;  but  it 
was  in  such  a  style,  as  Carey's  modesty  never  would  allow  him  to  comprehend.  "  I  am  truly 
pleased  with  Carey's  original  and  excellent  address.  1  would  not  have  a  word  of  it  altered. 
Such  praise,  from  such  a  man,  I  esteem  above  the  applause  of  Courts  or  of  Parliaments." 

— Wellesley. 

In  his  address,  Carey  had  quoted  the  hanguage  of  the  Brahmins  as  to  Sungskrit  learning.  "  It 
was  like  .an  extensive  forest,  abounding  with  a  great  variety  of  beautiful  foliage,  splendid  blos- 
soms, and  dehcious  fruits;  but  surrounded  by  a  strong  and  thorny  fence,  in  ilie  language  itself, 
which  prevents  those  who  are  desirous  of  plucking  its  fruits  and  flowers  from  entering  it." 
Jones,  Wilkins,  and  others  were  then  glanced  at,  as  having  broken  down  the  fence  in  several 
places,  but  by  the  College  now  founded,  a  high- way  had  been  made  into  the  midst  of  this  forest. 
"  This  ancient  language,  which  refused  to  disclose  itself  to  the  former  Governors  of  India,  un- 
locks its  treasures  at  your  command,  and  enriches  the  world  with  the  history,  learning,  and 
science  of  a  distant  age."  "  W^cre  the  Institution  to  cease  from  this  moment,  its  salutary  eti'ects 
would  remain.  Good  has  been  done,  which  cannot  be  undone.  Sources  of  useful  knowledge, 
moral  instruction,  and  political  utility,  have  been  opened  to  the  natives  of  India,  which  can 
never  be  closed  ;  and  their  civil  improvement,  like  the  gradual  civilization  of  our  own  country, 
will  advance  in  progression  for  ages  to  come." 

FiJLLEu's  interpretation  of  all  this,  though  never  printed,  need  not  now  be  withheld.  "I 
rej^.ice,"  said  he  to  Mr.  Ward  in  1809,  "  in  all  your  literary  attainments,  as  they  afford  not  only 
a  mean  oi  sprcndiiif)  the  ff^onl,  but  a  shelter  to  you.  Had  you  been  a  comiiany  of  illiterate  raen, 
humanly  sjicaking  you  must,  ere  now,  have  been  crushed.  God  gave  Daniel  and  his  companions 
irisdom  in  Babylon,  for  a  prk.servative." 


598  THE  REFLEX  INFLUEN'CE  Qbook  V. 

that  is,  ill  .six  Oriental  tongues  besides  the  Chinese  ;  the 
Now  Testament  had  been  printed  in  twenty-three  languages 
more  ;  tlie  Pontateucli,  and  other  parts  of  tlic  Old  Testament, 
hatl  been  also  printed  and  circulated  in  several  of  these  lan- 
guages last  mentioned,  and  portions  of  the  Scriptures  had  been 
printed  in  ten  others.  In  other  words,  more  than  two  hun- 
dred and  ticehe  thousand  tolumes  of  the  Divine  Word,  m  forty 
different  languages,  had  issued  from  the  Serampore  press. 
The  population  of  China  has  been  rated  as  low  as  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty,  and  as  high  as  three  hundred  and  sixty-five 
millions  ;  but  should  we  reckon  it  at  no  more  than  two  hundred 
millions,  these  languages  embrace  the  vernacular  tongues  of 
three  hundred  and  eighty  millions  of  immortal  beings  ;  of 
whom  about  one  hundred  and  forty  millions  are  either  our 
fellow  subjects,  or  living  under  the  immediate  eye  or  influence 
of  our  rule.  It  is  curious  enough,  that  upon  an  average,  we 
have  here  a  distinct  language  issued  from  the  press  where  he 
was  sitting,  for  every  year  in  which  Carey  had  been  so  en- 
gaged. 

Thus  it  happened,  and  before  the  death  of  this  indefatig- 
able translator,  that  as  far  as  the  translation  and  printing  and 
circulating  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures  were  concerned,  or  in  re- 
ference to  that  object  on  which  his  heart  was  daily  bent  for 
forty  years,  there  had  been  expended  above  ninety-one  thousand 
fire  hundred  pou7ids.  Of  this  sum,  more  than  sixty-five  thou- 
sand pounds,  in  congregational  collections,  donations,  or  sub- 
scriptions, from  the  year  1798  to  1833  inclusive,  had  been 
furnished  by  the  Christian  public  at  large  in  Great  Britain 
and  Ireland,  America,  and  India  itself;  and  from  the  year 
1809  to  1826,  also  inclusive,  there  had  been  voted  by  the 
British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society,  twenty-six  thousand  two 
hundred  pounds,  besides  two  thousand  reams  of  paper,  to  re- 
pair, in  part,  the  loss  sustained  by  fire  in  1812. 

That  an  undertaking  of  this  magnitude,  to  say  nothing  of 
its  infinite  importance,  should  have  been  accomplished  at  an 
average  annual  expense  of  less  than  two  thousand  four  hundred 
pounds,  is  not  the  least  extraordinary  feature  belonging  to  it ; 
and  to  all  who  have  paid  any  attention  to  such  business,  it 
can  only  be  accounted  for  by  certain  memorable  circumstances. 
The  translators,  Carey  and  Marshman,  had  not  merely  sup- 
ported themselves,  but  translated,  from  first  to  last,  without 


1780  1844..]      OF  FOREIGN  OPERATIONS.  590 

salary  or  reward  from  any  man,  whether  abroad  or  at  home ; 
not  forgetting  the  printers,  whether  Ward  or  Marshman 
junior,  Avho  had  followed  their  footsteps,  and  also  executed 
their  part,  all  along,  at  the  lowest  rate.  Nor  would  even  this 
account  for  an  average  amount  so  very  low.  The  great  ex- 
penditure of  these  men  in  founts  of  types,  cut  on  the  spot,  and 
in  the  improvement  of  paper  made  in  India,  impervious  to 
the  worm,  to  which  every  sheet  was  before  exposed,  is  not  here 
included. '- 

That  these  translations  of  the  Sacred  Volume  should  have  been  de- 
precated, and  assailed,  can  be  no  ground  of  surprise,  for  so  it  has  hap- 
pened from  the  beginning.  We  say  nothing  of  one  attack,  no  less  im- 
potent than  arrogant,  made  upon  them  all,  which  was  so  ably  demolished 
by  the  lamented  William  Greenfield.  But  it  is  neither  to  be  concealed 
or  to  be  forgotten,  that  by  certain  gentlemen  in  England,  who  live  at 
home  at  ease,  some  of  these  translations  have  been  spoken  of  lightly,  as 
being  of  little  value,  when  referring  to  those  first  versions  least  of  all  un- 
derstood by  Europeans.  Such  language,  however,  can  proceed  only  from 
minds  but  ill  informed  in  relation  to  first  foreign  versions,  and  more 
especially  as  to  the  history  of  their  own  English.  It  cannot  be  but  with 
an  ill  grace  that  any  Englishman,  with  Ms  Bible  in  his  hand,  can  ever 
so  speak.  He  either  knows  not,  or  has  forgotten,  that  he  is  reading  a 
translation  from  the  original,  five  times  derived  ;  and  one,  invaluable  as 
it  is,  and  has  been,  for  its  purpose,  in  which,  after  all,  even  grammatical 
errors  and  unnecessary  supplements,  have  been  suffered  to  remain  for 
more  than  two  hundred  and  thirty  years  ;  while  no  version  upon  earth 
of  the  Sacred  Volume  has,  in  former  times,  been  printed  in  a  manner 


12  This  average  annual  expense  may  be  farther  explained.  The  entire  amount  contributed 
appears  to  have  been  £91,046,  lis.  4id.  From  this  wo  may  first  deduct  i'lO,61I,  Is.  lid.,  of 
which,  in  about  three  months  only,  £8148,  Os.  6d.  was  raised  in  England,  and  £24C3,  Is.  5d.  in 
Scotland,  to  repair  the  loss  sustained  by  fire  in  March  1812,  thus  leaving  £81,035,  9s.  5id.  for 
work  done.  Of  this  sum  there  had  been  furnished  in  money,  through  the  translators,  or  at  Se- 
ramporc  by  India  itself,  £5439,  Os.  2id.  ;  by  America,  £4701,  Os.  3Jd.  ;  by  Scotland,  £26,332, 
19s.  8id.,  of  which  £19,832,  19s.  85d-  had  been  raised  by  the  Christian  public,  and  £(i500  by  the 
Edinburgh  Bible  Society,  and  by  England,  £44,502, 9s.  3d.,  of  which  £  18,302, 9s.  3d.  had  been  con- 
tributed by  the  public  at  large,  and  £26,200  voted  by  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society,  mak- 
ing in  all  £81,035,  9s.  5Jd.  ;  the  average  for  thirty-five  years  being  £2315.  But  as  the  damage 
sustained  by  fire  was  less  than  the  sum  raised,  the  average  may  be  taken  at  somewhat  less  than 
£2400.  The  very  deep  interest  in  this  undertaking  discovered  by  the  Christian  public  individu- 
allij,  both  at  home  and  abroad,  is  a  very  memorable  feature  in  its  progress.  It  was  individual 
Christians,  and  not  any  single  or  exclusive  hodi)  of  them,  considered  as  such,  who  had  carried 
forward  the  enterprise,  and  with  a  measure  of  cordiality  and  union  never  surpassed.  Thus,  even 
in  England  alone,  though  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society,  about  to  be  noticed,  had  voted 
altogether  £26,200,  the  individual  subscriptions  and  congregational  collections  had  exceeded  this, 
being  £26,4,50,  Os.  6d.  But  in  Scotland,  while  the  Edinburgh  Bible  Society  had  voted  £6500,  the 
personal  subscriptions  and  collections  had  been  not  less  than  £22,296,  Is.  IJd.  On  the  whole, 
the  public  at  home  and  abroad  had  contributed  nearly  £59,000  out  of  the  total  sum  of  £91,646  ; 
these  Bible  Societies  having  voted  £32,700.  The  impulse,  in  short,  was  a  preiiotis  one,  and  this 
shows  the  extent  to  which  it  had  gone. 


(!00  THE  RKFLEX  INFLUENCE  [booK  V. 

so  sluveiily  and  incorrect.  The  first  trauBlations  of  Tyndale,  and  the 
English  IJihles  of  the  aixteenth  century,  are  jiattcrns  of  correctness,  when 
compared  with  thousands  in  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth.  Modesty 
and  patience  are  alike  suggested  by  the  history  of  our  own  country. 
But  waving  all  these  considerations,  have  such  cool  and  easy,  if  not 
envious,  ohjcctors,  ever  adverted  to  what  the  first  translation  of  their 
own  English  New  Testament,  and  by  far  the  most  abused,  actually  ac- 
complished  for  the  country  in  which  they  now  breathe  so  freely  ?  No  ; 
every  first  version  from  the  original  has  been,  and,  from  the  infirmity  of 
our  common  nature  at  its  best  estate,  must  be  imperfect ;  and  yet  it  is 
an  incontrovertible  historical  fact,  that  every  such  version,  the  produc- 
tion of  a  scholar,  drawing  from  the  original  fountain,  and  himself  ac- 
quainted with  Christianity  as  there  revealed,  has  been  owned  and 
honoured  by  the  great  Author  of  truth  in  a  manner  peculiar  to  itself. 
Witness  only  the  translation  of  Tyndale,  and  that  of  Carey's  very  first, 
into  Bengalee.  It  was  under  the  influence  of  the  fonner  that  the  power 
of  Rome  was  broken  in  this  country,  not  so  much  by  Henry  the  Eighth, 
although  Shakspeare  thus  sung  ;  and  so  it  has  happened  in  India,  with 
the  most  ancient  idolatrous  thraldom  in  the  world.  It  was  under  the 
existing  power  of  Carey's  first  version  that  the  chain  of  the  cciste  was 
broken  in  Bengal.  This  is  an  honour  peculiar  to  each,  and  one  of  which 
no  subsequent  version  can  bereave  them.  It  is  a  memorable  fact,  and 
worthy  of  repetition,  that  the  man  who  first  broke  caste,  and  who  was 
afterwards  a  useful  native  minister,  for  many  years,  could  scarcely  ever 
overcome  his  peculiar  attachment  to  the  first  version,  even  after  it  was 
revised  again  and  again.  It  was  by  the  first  that  he  had  been  en- 
lightened, and  came  to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth.  At  the.  same  time, 
no  man  in  our  day  was  ever  so  much,  if  half  so  much,  impressed  with 
the  importance  and  necessity  for  carrying  forward  every  version  to  per- 
fection, as  was  Carey.  His  last  revision  of  the  Bengalee  Bible  entire  in 
one  volume,  was  finished  in  June  1832.  Time,  however,  will  show,  and 
in  a  very  singular  manner,  that  every  version,  without  exception,  which 
came  from  his  hands,  has  a  value  affixed  to  it,  which  the  present  gene- 
ration, living,  as  it  were,  too  near  an  object,  is  not  yet  able  to  estimate 
or  descry.^"*  Fifty  years  hence,  we  repeat,  the  character  of  this  extra- 
ordinary and  humble  man,  will  be  more  correctly  appreciated. 


'3  Only  ten  months  after  he  was  gone  to  his  reward,  this  he^an  to  appear,  and  prove  how  far 
he  had  lived  above  his  age.  In  1819,  the  New  Testament  had  been  printed  in  the  Kunkun  lan- 
fiuagc.  Some  time  after,  certain  missionaries  in  the  Bombay  Presidency  wrote  to  the  effect  that 
there  was  no  such  language  in  existence,  and  even  a  Brahman  betrayed  his  ignorance  by  pro- 
nouncing it  no  language  at  aH— thus  seeming  to  make  Carey  a  more  extraordinary  man  than  he 
had  been  ever  before  supposed  to  be.  However,  fifteen  years  after  the  book  had  left  the  press, 
and  the  next  after  Carey's  death,  a  civilian,  two  German  missionaries,  and  two  Scotish,  began  to 
speak  very  differently.  These  were  F.  Anderson,  Esq.,  Messrs.  Lea|>old  and  Lehner,  as  well  as 
Dr.  Wilson  and  Mr.  Mitchell  of  Bombay.  "  The  translation,'"  said  the  first  gentleman,  "is  good, 
and  understood  bv  the  iiundits."    "  It  h  inrnlitnhl,' a^  the  ground  work  of  an  improved  vcr- 


1 780- 1 84  k J  OF  FOREIGN  OPERATIONS.  601 

The  venerable  friend  of  Carey  survived  him  only  three  years  and  a 
half,  and  though  "  he  bore  the  separation  with  more  firmness  than  was 
expected,  the  dissolution  of  such  a  union,  cemented  by  the  noblest  of  all 
undertakings,  and  sanctified  by  time,  made  a  deep  and  visible  impression 
on  his  mind."  The  activity  of  that  mind,  however,  continued,  with 
some  interruptions,  till  it  was  worn  out,  and  on  the  5th  of  December 
1837,  in  the  seventieth  year  of  his  age,  Marshman  sunk  to  rest,  without 
pain,  in  the  lively  enjoyment  of  that  hope  which  is  full  of  immortality. 

In  merely  glancing  over  the  past,  it  seems  impossible  to  resist  the 
evidence  that  these  two  men  were  born  for  each  other,  in  the  highest 
sense  of  the  term  ;  the  former  on  the  17th  August  1761,  the  latter  on 
the  20th  of  April  1 768.  Brought  into  existence  within  six  years  and 
eight  months  of  each  other,  they  met  in  India  on  the  10th  of  January 
1800,  after  Carey  had  been  six  years  and  one  month  there  ;  and  de- 
votedly attached,  they  were  permitted  to  act  in  union  for  the  long 
period  of  thirty-five  years.  It  is  also  worthy  of  being  now  known  that 
in  their  early  mental  struggle  upon  English  ground,  the  one  had  fol- 
lowed the  other,  in  exact  correspondence  to  the  distance  at  which  they 
were  born.  Even  from  childhood,  so  keen  a  reader  had  Marshman  been, 
that  from  1778  to  1786,  or  from  his  tenth  to  his  eighteenth  year,  he 
had  devoui'ed  the  contents  of  at  least  five  hundred  volumes.  In  1783, 
at  the  age  of  fifteen,  this  thirst  for  knowledge  appeared  to  be  in  the 
course  of  having  more  ample  gratification,  from  his  being  sent  to  Lon- 
don by  his  father,  where,  in  the  shop  of  Mr.  Cator,  bookseller  in  the 
Strand,  he  expected  to  have  enjoyed  tbe  opportunity  of  reading  vo- 
lumes, which  he  had  never  before  beheld  :  but  the  intellectual  drudgery 
of  carrying  parcels  of  books  which  he  could  not  read,  while  it  whetted 
his  appetite,  embittered  his  prospect  of  acquiring  knowledge.  Thus,  at 
the  same  moments  in  1784,  while  Carey,  down  in  Northamptonshire, 
was  sighing  over  the  state  of  the  heathen,  Marshman  in  London,  un- 
known to  him,  was  toiling  in  anxiety  after  the  improvement  of  his  own 
mind.  One  day  having  been  sent  to  the  Duke  of  Grafton's,  with  three 
folio  volumes  of  Clarendon's  history,  and  several  others,  he  was  over- 
come with  fatigue,  and  walking  into  Westminster  Hall,  he  laid  down 
his  load,  and  began  to  weep  over  the  drudgery  to  which  he  was  sub- 
jected. "  But  the  bitterness  of  his  feelings  soon  passed  oif ;  the  asso- 
ciations of  the  place,  with  which  his  reading  had  made  him  familiar, 
crowded  into  his  mind,  and  filled  him  with  new  energy."     From  that 


sion."  And  as  for  the  unknown  language — "  It  is,"  said  Dr.  W.,  "  the  medium  oi  ordinar>/  in- 
tercourse among  the  lower  orders,  (the  very  classes  whom  Dr.  Carey  so  longed  to  reach,)  in  a 
place  no  less  celebrated  than  Goa,  in  general  use  IG  miles  to  the  North,  if  not  farther,  and  the 
language  daily  spoken  by  thousands  of  Goandese  cooks  and  butlers  in  Bombay  itself;"  just  as 
Welsh  is  spoken  in  Liverpool,  or  Gaelic  in  Glasgow,  where  they  have  the  Scriptures  and  places 
of  worship  in  their  respective  languages.  The  seat  of  this  language  had,  however,  been  pointed 
out  for  years  before,  from  Scramporc. 


C()2  THE  REFLEX  INFLUENCE  [BOOK  V. 

tiiuo  ho  (lotermincil,  in  however  humble  a  situation,  to  continue  storing 
his  mind  with  knowledge,  till  the  opportunity  might  come  for  his 
emancipation. 

In  the  same  year  that  Carey  began  to  write  out  his  "  Enquiry," 
already  mentioned,  the  attention  of  IMarshman  had  been  turned  earnest- 
ly to  Divinity,  in  which,  without  any  regard  to  the  narrow  limits  of 
a  sect,  he  made  himself  familiar  with  the  best  authors  ;  and  as  for  lan- 
guages, little  aware  of  what  was  before  him,  by  his  school  at  Bristol, 
and  especially  superior  pui)ils  taught  at  private  hours,  he  was  the  more 
thoroughly  prepared  for  investigating  other  tongues.'*  In  one  word,  if 
upon  leaving  England,  Carey  was  reading  the  Scriptures  in  Hebrew, 
Greek,  and  Latin,  French,  Italian,  and  Dutch  ;  in  doing  the  same  thing, 
Marshman  had  followed  him  in  the  three  first  languages,  adding  Arabic 
and  Syriac,  till  he  was  greatly  above  mediocrity.'^ 

Thus  it  was  that  three  men,  including  Ward  already  mentioned, 
brought  together,  and  placed  by  Providence  in  the  Eastern  world,  in 
situations  where  they  might  easily  have  amassed  wealth,  and  as  easily 
retired  to  England  to  enjoy  it,  in  the  evening  of  their  lives  ;  with  one 
heart  and  soul,  chose  a  very  different, — an  unfrequented  path  to  im- 
mortality. And  having  once  girt  their  loins  with  lowliness,  and  walked 
the  pilgrimage  of  Christ,  at  the  end  of  their  days,  they  successively  en- 
joyed the  honour  and  glory  of  djmg  poor.  Most  of  Carey's  library  was 
sold,  literally  to  fulfil  his  dying  bequests  ;  and  as  for  his  surviving  col- 
league, he  left  not  behind  him  more  than  a  single  year's  income  of  his 
seminary  in  its  former  days.  But  throughout  a  long  life,  both  having 
been  equally  "  rich  in  good  works,  ready  to  distribute,  willing  to  com- 
municate," and  that  even  the  word  of  life ;  with  equal  foresight  they 
had  "  laid  up  in  store  for  themselves  a  good  foundation  against  the 
time  to  come,  having  laid  hold  on  eternal  life."  Had  they  lived  in 
ancient  times,  like  Jehoiada  of  old,  the  fraternal  triumvirate  might 
have  been  "  buried  in  the  city  of  David  among  the  Kings,  because  they 
had  done  good  in  Israel,  both  towards  God,  and  towards  his  House." 

Two  of  the  number.  Ward  and  JMarshman,  had  revisited  Europe,  but 
there  was  great  propriety  in  their  being  laid  to  sleep  in  one  spot,  within 
the  little  Danish  settlement,  in  which  they  had  lived  so  long  in  har- 
mony, and  as  in  a  sanctuary.  The  British  dominions,  large  as  they 
are,  certainly  contain  not  a  deposit  more  precious,  nor  one  to  which 
they  have  been  so  deeply  indebted.  In  generations  to  come,  their 
graves  will  be  visited  by  many  a  native  ;  and  as  for  any  who  succeed. 


'*  One  of  those  pupils  was  Mr.  Rich,  the  British  Resident  at  Bagdad,  and  author  of  the  well 
known  works  on  Babylon  and  Nineveh. 

'•■'  While  at  Leicester  for  four  years,  Carey's  constant  hahit  was  that  of  reading  carefully 
one  cliapter  of  the  Scriptures  every  morning,  first  in  EniiUsh,  and  then  in  all  the  languages 
with  which  he  was  acquainted.     These  were  known  to  he  at  least  six. 


1780-1844.]  OF  FOREIGN  OPERATIONS.  (?03 

it  will  be  well  if,  iu  poiut  of  fidelit}',  perseverance,  and  the  noble  de- 
votion of  their  substance  to  the  cause  of  God  and  his  truth,  they 
should  ever  attain  to  the  first  three.  But  if  not,  let  the  aim  be  to  fol- 
low them. 

The  great  object  they  had  in  view  was  not  indeed  understood  by  many, 
and  as  it  was  deprecated  by  others,  they  did  not  through  life  escape 
obloquy  and  reproach  ;  but  still  they  were  the  wisest  in  their  generation, 
nay,  and  lived  above  it,  whether  for  themselves,  or  the  best  interests  of 
millions  around  them  ;  and  providentially,  the  successive  rulers  of  India 
became  of  the  same  opinion.  The  deceased  Marquis  of  Hastings,  one 
day  in  conversation,  thought  proper  to  assure  them,  that,  "  in  his 
opinion,  the  freedom  of  resort  to  India  which  missionaries  then  enjoyed, 
was  owing,  under  God,  to  the  prudence,  the  zeal  and  the  wisdom  they 
had  manifested,  when  the  whole  weight  of  government  in  England  and 
India  was  inclined  to  the  extinction  of  the  missionary  enterprise." 

With  regard  to  the  first  mover  in  all  these  proceedings,  however,  the 
people  in  India,  among  whom  he  had  lived  for  upwards  of  forty  years, 
will  be  regarded  as  the  most  competent  and  impartial  judges  of  his 
character  and  attainments,  nor  did  they  fail  to  express  their  opinion. 
Thus,  among  others,  three  weeks  after  his  decease  on  the  9tli  of  June, 
and  at  their  first  meeting,  2d  July  1834,  we  find  the  following  : — 

"  The  Asiatic  Society  cannot  note  upon  their  proceedings  the  death  of  the 
Rev.  William  Carey,  D.D.,  so  long  an  active  member  and  an  ornament  of  this 
Institution,  distinguished  alike  for  his  high  attainments  iu  the  oriental  lan- 
guages, for  his  eminent  services  in  opening  the  stores  of  Indian  literature  to 
the  knowledge  of  Europe,  and  for  his  extensive  acquaintance  with  the  sciences, 
the  natural  history,  and  the  botany  of  this  country,  and  his  useful  contributions, 
in  every  branch,  towards  the  promotion  of  the  objects  of  the  Society,  without 
placing  on  record  this  expression  of  their  high  sense  of  his  value  and  merits  as 
a  scholar,  and  a  man  of  science  ;  their  esteem  for  the  stei'ling  and  surpassing 
religious  and  moral  excellences  of  his  character  ;  and  their  sincere  grief  for 
his  irreparable  loss." 

We  only  add,  that  they  were  the  literary  exertions  of  his  colleague 
and  friend  Marshmau,  which  led  to  his  connexion  with  the  Royal  Insti- 
tute of  France,  as  an  honorary  member  of  the  third  division — or  "  Aca- 
demic des  Inscriptions  et  Belles  Lettres."  In  1826,  at  a  meeting  of  the 
Institute  in  Paris,  it  was  a  gratifying  sight  to  witness  such  a  man  sitting 
in  company  with  more  than  one  venerable  head  that  had  passed  through 
and  survived  all  the  tumults  of  the  Revolution. 

In  conclusion,  therefore,  and  under  all  the  circumstances, 
however  imperfectly  glanced  at,  we  presume,  that  in  this  un- 
dertaking, as  a  whole,  it  is  impossible  not  to  recognise  the 
hand  of  God,  and  much  more  so,  when  it  is  to  be  traced,  as 
it  has  been,  and  must  be,  to  the  anxiety  felt  by  a  single  human 
spirit — to  a  solitary  young  man  reading  his  English  Bible,  or 


CdJ.  TIIK  lllUTl.SH  AND  FORKIGN  |^BOOK  V. 

artirwiird.s  cxpouiKliii^  it  in  ;in  lOiigli.sh  village,  lor  Ics-s  than 
twenty  pounds  a-year,  and  teaching  a  village  school  to  eke 
out  his  support.  IJecausc  that  tlii.s  man  "  received  not  the 
bt'iu'lit  of  what  they  call  rer/ular  instruction  in  the  dead  lan- 
guages during  the  course  of  his  early  life ;"  nay,  and  belonged 
to  a  connnunity  "  which  is  supposed  to  hold  out  no  peculiar 
encouragement  to  the  cultivation  of  literary  attainments" — 
all  that  followed  has  appeared  to  some  one  of  our  Journalists 
at  home,  to  he  no  other  than  an  incomprehensible  riddle,  or 
story  incredible  ;  but  whatever  imperfections  there  were,  every 
well-informed  mind  will  naturally  revert  to  what  was  said 
long  ago — "  God  hath  chosen  the  weak  things  of  the  world  to 
confound  the  things  that  are  mighty,  and  things  which  are 
despised  hath  God  chosen,  yea,  and  things  which  are  not,  to 
bring  to  nought  things  that  are ;  that  no  flesh  should  glory 
in  his  presence."  Nor  will  ho  forget  that  it  was  the  same 
man,  though  inspired  from  heaven  and  miraculously  endowed, 
who  said  of  himself  and  his  coadjutors — "  So  then  neither  is 
he  that  planteth  any  thing,  neither  he  that  watereth,  but 
God,  that  giveth  the  increase." 

Such  an  enterprise,  so  warmly  supported  from  home,  could  not  pos- 
sibly fail  to  have  a  powerful  reflective  influence  on  the  mother  country, 
and  more  especially  on  the  healthiest  minds  throughout  Britain,  who 
grounded  their  chief  hope  of  permanent  good  on  the  Sacred  Volume 
alone.  To  the  Scriptures  themselves,  however,  in  these  pages  we  are, 
of  necessity,  confined,  and  cannot  be  expected  to  notice  various  delight- 
ful proofs  of  the  mind  having  become  quite  alive  to  foreign  operations, 
as  a  duty  imperative  on  British  Christians.  The  inclination  to  look  far 
beyond  the  limits  of  our  own  Island  had  shown  itself,  for  ten  years,  in 
the  formation  of  one  institution  after  another,  wearing  ?i  foreign  aspect. 
But  still  the  honour  of  an  amount  of  union,  and  of  union  at  home 
throughout,  such  as  Britain  had  never  witnessed,  or  any  other  nation 
known,  was  reserved  for  the  Bible  alone,  without  note  or  comment.  We 
turn  therefore  to  that  movement,  which  marked  the  early  years  of  the 
present  century. 

The  British  a.\u  Foreigx  Bible  Society  had  been  contem- 
plated, and  spoken  of,  by  a  few  individuals,  for  above  fifteen 
months  before  any  step  was  taken.  Its  origin  may  be  viewed 
in  (»ne  simple  incident ;  but  this  incident  occurring  within  the 
kingdom,  it  becomes  more  worthy  of  observation.  Had  the 
first  proposal  of  this  institution  referred  to  the  Bible  in  English 
only,  it  is  impossible  to  conceive  how  such  warmth  fould  have 


17KU-1844.]  BIBLE  SOCIETY.  (505 

been  immediately  displayed.  It  was  understood  by  all,  that 
no  country  upon  earth  was  already  so  richly  supplied,  and 
certainly  not  one  had  more  uninterruptedly  enjoyed,  the  free 
perusal  of  the  Sacred  Volume.  It  had  even  been  supposed, 
that  the  English  Scriptures  then  in  existence,  were  equal,  if 
not  superior  in  point  of  number,  to  that  in  all  the  other 
languages  of  the  world  put  together. 

How  then  was  it  possible  to  make  out  a  case  in  1804,  which 
should  lead  to  any  great  result  i  It  could  not  have  been  by 
immediate  reference  to  the  English  Bible  only,  if  at  all.  Cer- 
tainly it  was  not.  But  then,  within  the  shores  of  this  king- 
dom, there  had  been  spoken,  from  time  immemorial,  not  fewer 
than  four  languages,  very  different  from  English.  They  all 
belonged  to  the  Celtic  or  Iberian  tribe,  viz.,  the  Welsh  and 
Manx,  the  Gaelic  and  Irish.  And  what  then  ?  From  the  days 
of  Henry  VIII.,  had  they  not  all  been  regarded  as  so  many 
barriers  to  improvement,  nay,  as  so  many  nuisances,  to  be 
swept  away  before  the  reigning  power  of  our  own  English 
tongue  1  So  they  certainly  had,  by  some  men,  not  over-wise ; 
but  could  any  event  have  been  more  unlikely,  not  to  say  more 
humiliating,  than  that  three  hundred  years  after  they  had  been 
so  regarded,  the  Enplish  Bible  should  owe  any  collateral  benefit 
to  them  ?  Had  not  two  of  these  dialects,  the  Gaelic  and  the 
Irish,  been  denounced  by  the  ruling  power?  And  the  Avhole 
regarded  with  feelings  of  contempt,  as  altogether  unworthy  of 
consideration  ?  Not  one  of  these  vernacular  dialects  had  ever 
been  included  in  any  one  of  the  calculations  of  government, 
moral,  political,  or  professedly  religious  ;  and  as  mediums  of 
intercourse,  they  had  long  remained  among  "  the  things  that 
were  despised  "  throughout  the  kingdom.  What  then  was  to 
be  expected,  from  the  partiality,  however  natural  and  enlight- 
ened, of  any  one  Welshman  for  his  mother  tongue  ;  and 
though  he  should  happen  to  meet  with  another  man  in  Lon- 
don, of  Welsh  extraction,  what  could  possibly  ever  come  out 
of  that  ?  INIeanwhile,  there  is  to  be  no  consultation  of  any 
human  authority  on  the  subject ;  nor  did  this  signify.  All 
these  circumstances  were  now  to  form  no  objection,  or  any 
obstacle  before  an  all-wise  and  invincible  Providence.  Quite 
the  reverse.  Among  "  the  things  that  are  despised"  had 
been  often  found,  "  the  hiding  of  his  power,"  and  so  it  hap- 
pened here.     One  of  these  very  dialects  shall  prove  the  occa- 


601)  TllK  H1UTI8H   AND  KOKKIGN  [uOOK  V. 

sion  (if  iiiurc  Kualigh  Bibles  being  printed  tiian  then-  had  ever 
been  from  the  day  tliat  any  Englislinian  had  first  beheld  one  ; 
or,  in  other  words,  far  more  is.sued  from  the  press  in  about 
thirty  years  only,  tlian  tiiere  had  been  for  above  two  centuries 
and  a  half  before  !  A  striking  proof,  by  the  way,  to  all  l^ig- 
lishmcn  especially,  whether  at  liome  or  abroad,  whether  in 
India,  in  Britain,  or  Ireland,  that  solanguacie,  though  spoken 
by  only  half  a  million  of  people,  is  a  proper  or  j)rolitable 
subject  of  contempt.  Let  the  gentlemen,  wherever  they 
dwell,  who,  without  due  observation  of  the  past,  happen  to 
be  smitten  with  the  Aiir/lo-mania,  never  overlook,  or  slightly 
rejrard,  this  memorable  occurrence  on  their  native  soil. 

The  language  alluded  to  was  the  Welsh,  for  it  is  generally 
known  as  an  established  fact,  that  the  institution  of  the 
British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society  grew  out  of  this  one  inci- 
dent— the  scarcity  of  Welsh  Bibles  throughout  the  Princi- 
pality. It  is  curious  enough,  that  it  was  not  the  Celtic  tribe 
which  had  been,  all  along,  so  grievously  neglected,  which  now 
at  last  engaged  notice.  The  destitution  of  the  native  Irish, 
was  almost  like  the  destitution  of  life  itself.  They  had  then 
no  one  to  speak  for  them,  and  Britain,  like  the  hard-hearted 
Levite  of  old,  had  ever  passed  by  on  the  other  side.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  scarcity  so  complained  of  by  the  Welsh,  was 
actually  the  result  of  previous  supplies.  But  upon  enquiry 
respecting  these,  we  are  led  back,  not  to  any  authoritative  or 
national  movement,  but  simply,  as  in  other  cases,  to  indivi- 
dual benevolent  exertion.'*' 


">  Had  the  native  Irish,  or  aborigines  of  Ireland,  at  this  moment  excited  sympathy,  it  would 
have  been  nothing  more  tlian  common  humanity  at  last  rising  into  exercise,  after  whole  cen- 
turies of  gross  ncRlect.  But  their  native  tongue  had  been  for  267  years  under  the  ban  of  a  pre- 
cious Act  of  Parliament  passed  by  Henry  VIII.  in  the  year  1537.  It  is  a  circumstance  never  to 
be  forgotten,  that  this  Act  was  passed  in  the  very  same  year  in  which  that  tyrannical  Monarch 
was  so  singularly  overruled  to  sanction  the  Knglish  Bible  of  Tyndale.  The  cruel,  or  rather 
soul-less  policy,  then  first  applied,  has  never  been  frankly  and  ex))licitly  repealed  to  the  present 
hour.  Bent  on  the  wild  and  fruitless  policy  of  sup]>lanting  the  Irish  by  the  English  language, 
the  moral  and  religious  instruction  of  millions  had  been  sacrificed  from  age  to  age,  leaving  to 
the  philanthropist  of  the  day  the  eighth  or  ninth  generation  in  succession,  and  in  what  a 
mournful  state  of  destitution,  as  to  the  !?acred  Volume  in  their  mother  tongue!  In  a  similar 
strain  did  Kkoi.vald  Hkber  lament  over  this  policy,  before  going  out  to  India.  But  if  the 
mania  within  the  shores  of  this  kingdom  for  the  last  three  hundred  years,  has  been  followed 
by  such  miserable  consequences,  let  not  the  same  disease  now  retard  the  progress  of  the 
human  mind  in  other  lands,  and  especially  in  any  of  the  British  dependencies.  Let  not  souls 
be  blindly  thrown  to  the  winds  in  India,  as  they  have  been  in  IreUiitd,  through  bigoted  and 
stupid  neglect  of  the  tongue  which  their  mothers  gave  them.  Let  theorists  say  what  they  will, 
but  with  {hi!  people  as  such,  in  every  laud,  to  begin  the  art  of  reading  with  God  and  nature,  is 
no  more  than  the  imperative  dictate  of  humanity  and  common  sense. 


USU-KSli-.]  BIBLE  SOCIETY.  607 

There  liad  been  a  scarcity  of  the  Sacred  Vohime  in  the  vernacular  tongue 
of  Wales,  deeply  felt  and  long  huncntcd,  but  if  any  one  search  for  the  cause  of 
this  feeling,  he  will  soon  find  himself,  from  the  sixteenth  to  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury, among  the  hills  and  dales  of  the  Principality.  During  that  period  there 
had  been  dispei'sed,  one  hundred  and  two  thousand  copies  of  the  Welsh  Bible 
entire,  chiefiy  in  octavo,  and  at  least  eighteen  thousand  five  hundred  of  the 
New  Testament ;  but  in  accounting  for  this  dispersion,  three  or  four  instances 
of  individual  exertion  chieHy  engage  notice. 

To  say  nothing  of  the  New  Testament  in  Welsh,  first  given  to  his  country- 
men, by  William  Salisbury  in  15G7  ;  of  the  Bible  entire  in  1.588  by  Dr.  Davies 
and  others  ;  or  of  the  Standard  Vei'sion  in  1620  by  Drs.  Richard  Parry,  and 
John  Davies  ;  for  the  multiplication  of  copies,  there  was  first,  the  well  known 
Thomas  Gouge  of  London.  Once  ejected  fi'om  his  pulpit  in  the  Metropolis, 
he  betook  himself  to  works  of  benevolence  and  mercy.  Though  possessed  of 
independent  property,  or  a  good  estate  of  his  own,  after  he  had  lost  much  by 
the  great  fire  in  1 666,  had  settled  his  children  in  the  world,  and  been  bereaved 
of  his  wife,  he  had  but  one  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  a  year  left.  Thus  cir- 
cumstanced, and  now  about  sixty-five  years  of  age,  it  was  then  that  he  began 
to  compassionate  the  condition  of  Wales.  For  the  next  ten  years  of  his  life, 
he  visited  that  country  annually.  His  objects  were  to  preach  the  truth,  to 
educate  the  children,  and  disperse  the  Scriptures  in  their  mother  tongue.  He 
preached,  till  they  persecuted  him  from  place  to  place,  and  at  last  he  was  ex- 
commimicated  from  the  Church  of  which  he  had  been  so  long  a  minister  ;  but 
nothing  could  prevent  his  travels  in  Wales,  nor  his  spending  regularly,  tico- 
thirds  of  his  annual  income,  and  living  on  the  remaining  /yVy  pounds  !  To  his 
bounty  and  personal  solicitations,  the  editions  of  2000  of  the  Welsh  New  Testa- 
ment, in  1672,  of  8000  of  the  Welsh  Bible  in  1678,  if  not  also  that  of  16.00, 
are  chiefly  to  be  ascribed.  But  he  had  to  die,  before  justice  was  done  to  his 
character,  when  a  funeral  sermon  was  preached  for  him  by  no  other  than 
Tillotson,  afterwards  Archbishop  of  Canterbury. 

Then  there  was  Griffith  Jones  of  Llandourer,  with  his  delicate  state  of 
health,  who  in  the  next  century,  from  1737  to  1760,  was  the  superintendant  in 
teaching  at  various  schools,  above  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  of  his  coun- 
trymen to  read  their  native  tongue,  when  more  than  thirty  thousand  of  the 
Welsh  Bible  were  printed  and  circulated.  And  then,  at  last,  after  a  long  in- 
terval, came  Thomas  Charles  of  Bala  ;  or  three  men  whose  memories  are  still 
fragrant  throughout  the  Principality.  Thus  it  is,  that  in  reviewing  the  past, 
relative  proportion  in  the  way  of  indindual  effort  should  never  be  forgotten. 
These  were  labours  of  which  subscribers  to  a  Bible  Society,  in  these  easy  days, 
know  little  or  nothing. 

It  was  in  December  1802,  that  Mr.  Charles  happened  to 
be  in  London,  lamenting,  as  he  had  often  done,  the  scarcity 
of  Welsh  Bibles  throughout  the  country.  On  Tuesday,  the 
7th  of  that  month,  at  a  meeting  of  the  Tract  Society,  of  which 
the  Rev.  Joseph  Hughes  of  Battersea  was  Secretary,  Mr. 
Charles  was  present,  and  the  subject  was  introduced.  Mr. 
Hughes,  a  member  of  the  same  community  with  Carey,  had 
been  acquainted  with  every  step  of  his  progress  from  the  be- 
ginning, ten  years  before.    After  a  long  conversation,  he  stood 


COS  THE  BRITISH  AM)  FOREIGN  [bOuK  V. 

up,  and  suggested  whether  it  wouhl  not  be  desirable  to  awaken 
the  ])ublio  mind  towards  a  general  dispersion  of  the  Sacred 
Scriptures  in  all  languages,  or  throughout  the  world.  The 
proposal  was  warmly  greeted,  and  at  the  request  of  all  pre- 
sent, Mr.  Hughes  drew  up  his  tract  or  pamphlet  of  thirty 
pages,  on  "  The  excellence  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  an  argu- 
ment for  their  more  general  dispersion."  Of  this  tract,  two 
editions  were  circulated  throughout  1 803,  and,  after  various 
consultations,  the  result  was,  that  on  the  7th  March  1804, 
that  institution  was  formed,  with  whose  title  not  a  few  are 
perfect!}  familiar  in  the  four  (juarters  of  the  globe. 

In  the  first  instance,  it  will  be  understood  that  it  is  mainly 
in  its  connexion  with  the  English  Scriptures  that  we  are  now 
called  to  notice  the  operations  of  the  British  and  Foreign 
Bible  Society  ;  while,  at  the  same  time,  the  reader  need 
scarcely  be  apprized,  that  the  field  now  opening  before  him, 
in  the  history  of  the  English  Bible,  embraces  a  far  larger 
surface.  Before  and  since  the  formation  of  that  Society,  the 
printing  of  the  Sacred  Volume  in  our  vernacular  tongue  has 
proceeded  to  an  extent  which  was  never  foreseen,  never  once 
contemplated,  and  that  extent  has  now  reached  a  point,  of 
which  but  very  few  persons  are  at  all  aware.  This  extent, 
indeed,  may,  at  first,  be  viewed  by  some  with  astonishment, 
but  unlike  many  other  events,  it  never  can  be  with  regret ;  not 
only  as  having  been  ordered  by  more  than  human  wisdom, 
but  because  in  conclusion,  we  shall  find  there  is  a  moral  in- 
volved, which  will  be  found  to  demand  the  notice  of  the  Chris- 
tian community,  individually  and  entire  ;  and  in  the  present 
day  especially,  more  than  any  other  to  which  it  can  be  di- 
rected. The  sphere  occupied  by  the  British  and  Foreign 
Bible  Society,  in  the  English  department  has  been  delight- 
fully large,  and  this  has  been  dwelt  upon  in  a  variety  of  ways 
so  frequently,  that  it  is  in  danger  of  diminishing  the  rate  or 
pace  of  exertion,  if  not  of  filling  the  whole  field  of  vision. 
But  as  it  regards  the  English  Scriptures  printed  within  the 
last  forty-four  years,  the  field  we  now  contemplate  is  far 
greater.  Independently  of  whatever  number  of  English  Bibles 
and  Testaments  may  have  been  dispersed  through  that  one 
medium,  we  have  to  include  those  which  have  been  printed 
in  Scotland,  and  the  general  sale  throughout  the  kingdom 
from  1800  to  1844.     From   these  three  sources  we  come  to 


1 780-1 84.^-.]  BIBLE  SOCIETY.  609 

the  following  aggregate  of  English  Bibles  and  New  Testa- 
ments separately : — 

The  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society  have  issued,       .  9,400,000 

There  have  been  printed  in  Scotland,  independently,  ahove  4,000,000 
The  general  sales,  besides  these,  have  been  considered  to 

be  more,  but  cannot  have  been  less,  than     .          .  9,000,000 

or  above  twenti/-tico  millions  in  round  numbers  !  Now,  where- 
over  these  volumes  have  gone,  whether  throughout  England, 
Scotland,  or  Ireland,  or  to  the  British  dependencies  at  the  ends 
of  the  earth  ;  we  have  here  to  do  at  first  simply  with  the  re- 
markable fact,  and  it  may  well  serve  to  regulate  exertion  for 
years  to  come.  But  having  once  pointed  it  out,  we  are  the 
better  prepared  to  take  up  the  institution  referred  to,  as  not 
merely  an  important  subject  of  review,  but  as  forming  one  in- 
dex to  the  plain  path,  or  the  special  course  o^ future  duty. 

To  those  who  are  old  enough  to  remember,  with  any  in- 
terest, the  formation  of  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society, 
and  its  immediate  eftects,  the  recollection  must  ever  prove  one 
of  the  most  pleasing  in  their  past  lives.  Its  simple  or  exclu- 
sive object  being  to  circulate  the  Sacred  Volume;  "  the  Bible, 
without  note  or  comment,"  being  its  only  motto,  the  effect 
was  such  as  should  be  pondered  still.  Well  does  it  deserve, 
and  in  these  days  demand,  reconsideration ;  for  no  proposal  on 
British  ground  had  ever  gone  so  directly  to  the  heart,  nor  to 
the  hearts  of  so  many,  throughout  the  empire.  Founded  on 
a  principle  so  simple,  so  intelligible,  so  unexceptionable,  the 
formation  of  the  Society  produced  an  effect  altogether  unpre- 
cedented ;  indeed  the  mere  announcement  ran  through  every 
denomination  in  the  kingdom,  and  conveyed  an  impulse,  at 
once  the  most  powerful  and  the  most  extensive  under  which 
the  Christians  of  this  country  had  ever  come. 

Unquestionably  it  was  the  most  powerful,  in  its  visibly  drawing  to 
itself  parties  who,  ever  since  their  origin,  had  lived  in  estrangement 
from  each  other,  if  not  in  a  degree  of  prejudice  ;  though  in  their  appre- 
hension, of  conscientious  or  consecrated  separation.  Many  wondered 
why  the  proposal  had  never  been  before  made,  since  it  was  one  to  which 
there  was  but  one  response.  The  most  estimable  and  useful  membera 
of  every  community  discovered  the  same  cordiality,  and  vied  with  each 
other  only  in  their  zeal  to  advance  a  cause,  which  they  all  alike  felt 
to  be  their  privilege  and  duty.     Upon  British  ground  there  never  had 

vol..  u.  2  Q 


CIO  IIIK  BKlTISll  AM)  FOKKK^N  [BOOK  V. 

been  au  association  of  greater  moral  power.  There  might,  indeed,  be 
many  others  drawn  in,  as  by  a  vortex  ;  but  still  they  were  Christians, 
and  these  the  most  eminent  and  consistent,  who  led  the  van  and  formed 
the  strength  of  the  institution.  No  combination  ever  so  earned  for 
itself  the  title  of  British,  for  although  the  proposal  first  emanated  from 
Loudon,  the  Bible  Society  has  never  been  a  local,  or  merely  a  metropo- 
litan institution,  up  to  the  present  hour,  and  less  now  than  ever  it  was. 
Its  resources  have  been  drawn  from  every  corner  of  the  empire  ;  its 
strength  has  ever  lain  in  its  auxiliaries  ;  forming,  on  the  whole,  the 
largest  Christian  circle  that  had  ever  existed  in  this  country.  To  that 
circle,  its  single  but  sublime  object  conveyed  a  degree  of  invigorating 
warmth,  which,  as  separate  bodies,  the  Christians  thus  united  had 
scarcely,  if  ever,  before  enjoyed.  It  was  the  discovery  of  a  nev)  influence. 
It  was  as  if  a  finer  sun  had  risen.  Nor  was  this  all.  The  institution 
had  assumed  the  name  of  "  The  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society  j" 
and  this  one  word,  charged  as  it  was  with  more  disinterested  feeling, 
brought  with  it  a  degree  of  animation  greater  still ;  and  one  beyond  any 
thing  of  the  kind,  ever  since  Christianity  had  an  existence  within  the 
shores  of  this  favoured  Island.  But  for  this  word,  which,  at  that  time, 
came  like  a  refreshing  breeze  over  the  whole  land,  the  number  of  con- 
tributors, the  collections  made,  and  the  sums  subscribed,  had  never  been 
what  they  were,  then  or  since.  Hence  it  was  that  the  most  powerful 
impulse  became  the  most  extensive. 

The  title  assumed  was,  in  short,  tantamount  to  this, — that 
the  Sacred  text,  the  Divine  Record,  standing  by  itself,  as  it 
always  ouijlit  to  have  done  from  the  beo;inninjr,  and  ought 
in  due  reverence  to  do,  in  all  time  to  come ;  or,  in  other 
words,  that  the  Bible,  without  note  or  comment,  was  not 
only  all-sufficient  for  the  people  of  Britain,  but  for  every  otuku 
nation  tinder  heaven,  or  for  all  the  world,  far  as  the  curse  was 
found.  British  Christians  had  seized  at  last,  upon  a  simple 
principle,  of  imperative  and  infinite  value  to  our  common 
humanity,  in  all  its  dialects ;  and  in  these  days,  by  solemn, 
public,  and  often  repeated  acknowledgments,  they  were  never 
to  stop  short  of  its  universal  application. 

The  men  who  then  lived  are  now  rapidly  passing  away,  but 
those  early  friends  who  yet  survive  certainly  owe  it  to  them- 
selves, in  connexion  with  the  generation  they  are  so  soon  to 
leave,  to  inform  it  fully  of  the  deep  sensation  then  felt,  and 
the  joy  with  which  this  simple  proposal  respecting  the  Sacred 
Volume  was  then  hailed  throughout  the  kingdom.  They  can 
explain   to   their  families  to  wliat  extent   this  proposal  was 


I7S()-JS4i.]  BIBLK  SOCIETY.  (,11 

felt  by  every  denomination  of  British  Christians,  as  conveyin^^ 
life  to  themselves  and  sympathy  for  the  world ;  how  it 
smoothed  the  asperity  of  discordant  sentiment,  and  absorbt 
the  best  feelings  of  the  heart  in  favour  of  the  Oracles  of  God. 
They  can  tell  them,  that  no  sooner  were  the  terms  simply 
announced,  than  they  were  felt  as  a  summons  from  on  high, 
far  above  the  regions  or  spirit  of  party  ;  for  all  right-hearted 
men  came  out  to  obey  the  call.  But  why  need  we  thus 
speak?  The  palpable  results  are  now  before  us,  and  with 
these  the  existing  generation  of  Christians  have  to  do.  They 
speak  in  language  which  our  countrymen,  less  than  forty 
years  ago,  would  have  regarded  but  as  some  visionary  pros- 
pect or  pleasing  dream.  Of  these  results  then^  they  had 
no  more  expectation  than  they  had  of  those  of  steam-power, 
or  of  the  benefits  about  to  spring  from  the  atmosphere 
around  them,  by  the  discovery  of  gas  light.  We  repeat, 
therefore,  that  there  is  no  subject  to  U'lilcli  the  attention  of  all 
Christians  can  be  more  profitably  recalled  ;  none  upon  which, 
in  the  present  state  of  our  country,  and  of  the  world,  it  can  be 
more  profitably  fixed. 

To  give  any  history  of  the  British  and  Foreign,  or  of  any 
other  Bible  Society,  is  here  altogether  unnecessary  ;  but  there 
are  several  statements  which  are  now  essential  to  our  knowing; 
with  some  degree  of  accuracy  the  present  position  of  this 
cause,  whether  in  relation  to  this  Island,  or  its  very  singular 
connexion  with  the  rest  of  the  world.  Independently  of  the 
general  sales,  as  there  has  been  already  expended  in  money, 
even  by  these  Bible  Societies,  considerably  more  than  three 
millions  sterling ;  it  is  time  to  report  progress,  and  far  more 
than  time  to  mark  the  relative  proportion,  or  rather  dispro- 
portion, between  home  and  abroad  ;  or  between  the  Scriptures 
printed  merely  in  the  languages  of  Britain  or  Ireland,  and 
those  in  the  languages  of  all  other  nations  put  together. 

There  has  been  received  by  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible 
Society,  from  every  source  of  supply,  up  to  May  1844,  the 
total  sum  of  ^£'3,083,436,  18s.  8|d. ;  of  this  amount,  not  less 
than  .£^3,036,698,  Os.  8d.,  have  been  expended,  according  to 
the  last  or  Fortieth  Eeport,  leaving  a  balance,  upon  which 
the  Committee  were  under  engagements  to  the  amount  of 
0^41,469,  12s.,  7d. 

Before,  however,  turning  to  the  expenditure,  and  especially   to   its 


612  THE  BRITISH  AND  FOREIGN  [book  V, 

connexion  with  the  English  Bible,  the  various  items  of  this  large  re- 
ceipt are  not  only  observable  in  themselves,  but  they  are  of  value  in 
retrospect,  with  ppccial  reference  to  that  broad  path  now  opened  up, 
and  still  opening,  before  this  country,  as  well  as  to  all  future  exertions 
in  that  jiath.     The  parent  Society  itself,  therefore,  independently  of  all 
its  auxiliaries,  claims  the  first  notice.     The  amount  received  by  it,  on 
the  whole,  has  been,  £537,831,  5s.  5f  d.  ;  and  it  should  be  remarked  as 
a  proof  of  zeal  on  the  part  of  the  early  subscribers  and  friends,  that  the 
largest  aggregate  amount  of  pecuniary  aid  has  come  from  them.     At 
the  same  time,  this  becomes  apparent,  not  so  much  in  their  contribu- 
tions when  alive,  as  in  what  they  left  behind  them  ;  though,  when  these 
are  taken  together,  we  have  striking  evidence  of  their  deep  interest. 
The  legacies  have  amounted  to  .£193,222,  4s.  5d.     This  forms,  in  fact, 
by  far  the  largest  item  of  receipt,  but  it  comes  like  a  voice  from  the  dead 
to  the  living  ;  for  it  is  not  only  far  more  than  all  the  donations  from 
the  living,  but  it  is  more  than  double  the  amount  of  all  the  annual 
subscriptions   from   first   to   last  !     Had  this  singular  disparity  been 
diminishing,  it  might  have  been  allowed  to  pass,  but,  on  the  contrary, 
it  has  ever  been  upon  the  increase,  and  especially  of  late.     Thus,  since 
1830,  or  for  the  last  fifteen  years,  the  annual  subscriptions  have  come 
to  no  more  than  £28,763,  9s.  5d.,  whereas  the  legacies  in  that  period 
have  amounted  to   iil35,83G,  4s.  7d.     Nay,  during  these  fifteen  years 
the  entire  amount  aiforded  by  the  living,  whether  in  subscriptions,  do- 
nations, or  congregational  collections,  only  comes  up  to  £l06,794, 18s.  4d., 
BO  that  still  the  deceased  friends  have  contributed  £29,041,  6s.  3d.  more  ! 
Or,  finally,  if  we  look  back  only  at  the  five  last  years,  and  allow  the 
living  to  have  the  credit  of  all  that  they  have  done,  they  have  yielded 
£29,726,  163.  9d.,  but  the  legacies  have  been  £38,339,  13s.  7d.,  so  that 
those  who  survive  have  fallen  short  of  the  departed  by  more  than 
£8500,  or  £8612,  16s.   lOd.     It  must  not,  indeed,  be  forgotten,  that 
legacies  have  come  to  the  parent  Society  from  various  quarters,  and  in 
regard  to  the  annual  subscriptions,  that  powerful  auxiliary  societies  have 
been  formed  in  London   and  Middlesex ;  and  if  these  circumstances 
would  account  for  this  disparity  or  decay,  it  is  well ;  but  we  suspect  that 
they  will  not,  at  least  fully.     These  remai'ks,  however,  may  be  of  some 
service  to  the  cause.     At  the  same  time,  there  are  but  very  few  per- 
sons, eager  for  the  diffusion  of  the  Scriptures  throughout  the  world,  who 
will  not  be  startled  when  they  once  observe  that  the  annual  subscrip- 
tions to  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society,  properly  so  called,  though 
existing  in  by  far  the  richest  city  in  the  world,  have  not,  for  these  last 
fifteen  years,  averaged  two  thousand  2)ounds.     The  average  has  been 
£1910,  17s.  4d.,  and  last  year  these  subscriptions  amounted  to  no  more 
than  £1854,  10s.  Id.     In  reference,  also,  to  the  entire  amount  received, 
it  will  be  observed,  that  after  deducting  what  has  come  by  legacies,  we 


1780-1844.3  BIBLE  SOCIETY— RECEIPT.  613 

have  only  £344,609,  Is.  0|d.  to  account  for ;  and  even  of  this,  there 
turns  out  to  have  been  no  more  than  £202,054,  3s.  2|d.  in  money 
proper,  or  considerably  below  the  half  of  the  whole  receipt ;  nearly 
£82,000,  or  £81,954,  17s.  lOd.  having  been  derived  merely  from  interest 
on  stock  and  dividends,  draw-backs,  and  insurance  received,  or  Reports 
sold. 

These  few  particulars,  while  they  demonstrate  the  deep  interest  felt 
by  old  and  early  friends,  can  scarcely  fail  to  rivet  attention,  and  the  fol- 
lowing abstract  may  be  of  use  in  farther  explanation  of  the  preceding 
remarks. 

Legacies  to  the  Parent  Society, 
Donations  received. 
Annual  subscriptions, 
Congregational  collectious, 
Negro  special  fund, 

Interest  on  stock  and  dividends, 
Drawbacks  and  insurance  received,    . 
Reports  and  abstracts  sold. 


But  of  the  large  amount  received,  from  whence  then  has  the  remain- 
der been  derived  %  In  proof  of  this  being  no  local  institution,  it  has 
come  from  the  auxiliary  societies.  They  have  contributed  not  less  than 
£2,545,605,  13s.  3d.  Of  this  amount,  however,  it  requires  to  be  ob- 
served, that  £112,657,  13s.  3d.  have  come  from  abroad,  in  return  for 
Scriptures  sent  ;  and  of  the  remainder,  the  auxiliary  societies  have 
demanded  no  less  than  £l, 117,373,  15s.  for  Scriptures  at  home  ! 
Leaving  not  more  than  £l,315,574,  5s.  at  the  free  disposal  of  the 
Society. 

For  all  the  purposes  of  comparison,  therefore,  the  entire  receipt  may, 
we  presume,  with  sufficient  accuracy,  be  thus  stated,  viz. — 

Received  by  the  Parent  Society,         .  .  .  £537,831     5     5| 

„         from  auxiliary  Societies,'     .  .  .  2,432,948     0     0 

„        from  abroad,  chiefly  Europe,  .  .  112,657  13     3 


£193,222  4 

119,119  3 

95,855  9 

31,518  3 

16,161  7 

5 

64 

1 

2i 
5 

£455,876  7 
54,693  1 
25,432  18 

.   1,828  18 

n 

7 
1 
2 

£537,831  5 

5| 

£3,083,436  18     8| 


But  whatever  else  might  be  said  respecting  the  amount  re- 
ceived, it  is  to  the  declared  expenditure  that  every  one  must 
look  as  to  the  guide  for  all  future  operations.  Gathered  as 
the  supplies  have  been  from  the  kingdom  at  large,  it  may  be 
supposed,  that  not  only  in  the  character,  but  the  direction  of 
their  outlay,  the  contributors  at  large  will  now  be  interested. 


(111.  I  HE  BRITISH  AM)  FOREIGN  [book  V. 

Tho  entile  expenditure,  according  to  tlie  last,  or  fortieth 
Report,  has  been  i?3,03(),6l)8,  Os.  3d.  Naturally  enough, 
one  of  the  first  questions  will  be ;  "  how  much  has  been 
spent  in  the  British  and  how  much  in  the  Foreign  depart- 
ment?" Or,  in  other  words,  "how  much  has  been  spent 
upon  the  Scriptures  in  the  languages  of  Great  Britain  and 
Ireland  onhj^  and  how  much  on  the  Sacred  Volume  in  the 
languages  of  all  Foreign  nations,  whether  in  Europe,  Asia, 
Africa,  or  America  V  To  these  questions  the  following  may 
be  received  as  the  first  reply  : — 

Expenditure  in  tiie  British  department,  on  the  languages)    £.,  qq,  -c,g   p,   |q 
spoken  within  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,         .         .       \       ~'       '  ~       " 

Ex])enditure  in  the  Foreiijn  department,  upon  languages  \ 

spoken  throughout  all  the  rest  of  tiie  world,  no  moi-e  >      1,031,971     7     5 
than  ......] 


£3,036,6.')8     0     3 


At  an  early  stage  in  these  exertions,  it  may  be  remembered  that  a 
cry  was  heard,  not  unfrequently,  though  from  no  friendly  quarter,  as  to 
the  follj/  of  collecting  and  sending  such  large  sums  out  of  the  country, 
and  that  more  attention  ought  to  be  paid  to  our  own.  But  although 
such  a  cry  was  rather  intended  to  divert  from  any  effort  whatever,  it 
must  now  be  confessed  by  all,  that  the  British  Lion  has,  all  along,  en- 
joyed the  Lion's  shareJ^  Such  a  disparity  as  this,  however,  courts  en- 
quiry, and,  for  futurity's  sake,  it  may  be  supposed  to  interest  the  great 
body  of  contributors. 

It  is  not  then  to  be  supposed  that  these  two  sums  entire  have  been 
spent  upon  the  Scriptures  themselves.  The  expenses  of  management 
and  distribution,  of  course,  remain  to  be  deducted,  and  these  involve  a 
material  reduction  of  the  total  amount. 

For  if  the  whole  amount  of  expenditure  has  been  £3,03(),G98     0     3 

The  expenses  refei'red  to,  turn  out  to  have  been         .  433,284     8     7.i 


Leaving  for  the  Scriptures,  whether  at  home  or  abroad,  |    ^o  fio"?  41 "{  11     "] 
not  more  to  be  accounted  for  than  .  .  ^      ->     '  j  i. 

Before  proceeding  to  the  relative  expenditure,  therefore,  it  becomes 
necessary  to  explain  the  relative  expenses,  and  the  following  Abstract 
will  serve  in  explanation  of  the  particular  items,  as  taken  from  the 
annual  reports  published. 


17  A  very  foolish  proverb,  too  great  a  favourite  with  the  penurious,  was  then  often  quoted — 

Charilp  hcrjina  at  home— y!\i\c\i  it  never  docs,  anil  novor  can.  /Jh/.v  reigns  there,  nnquestioncd 
and  alone,  not  charity.  In  the  sense  attached  to  charily,  it  can  only  bfc/in  abroad,  and 
Brttain  it  is  hoped,  warned  as  she  has  hccn  l)y  the  States  of  Iloi.LA.sr)  and  their  descent, 
never  inlends  to  follow  snch  an  example,     i-cc  p.  .Vlfi  of  this  volume.  Xolc  .1. 


1780-184.4.]  BIBLE  SOCIETV— EXPENDITURE.  fil5 

Depository  aud  wareliouse,  clerks,  porters,  and  taxes,                £54,981     5  6 

Geueral  disbursements  and  postages,  fire  and  light,     .         .         23,806  19  10  4 

10,993     4  4 

4,664     1  11 

789  16  1 

2033  14  5 

4613     6  2 

78,056  11  0 

32,236     4  10 

38,394  13  6 

13,608  13  24 


Insurance  of  depository  and  warehouse,  with  stock, 
Stationery,  account-books,  and  stamps, 
Society's  library  of  bibles  and  testaments,  &c.     . 
Expenses  connected  with  the  annual  meetings,    . 
Poundage  for  collecting  annual  subscriptions  in  Lond 

Salaries  paid  in  London, 

Travelling  expenses  in  England  and  Wales, 

Salaries  paid  throughout  Europe, 

Travelling  expenses  throughout  Europe, 

Salaries  paid  in  Asia,  South  America,  Canada,  and  West  Indies,  1 6,052     9     6 

Travelling  expenses  in  Asia,  S.  America,  Canada,  and  W.  Indies,    5044     7  II4 

Freight,  sea  insurance  and  j)acking,  chiefly  for  abroad,       .         47,398     6     3 

For  annual  reports  and  monthly  extracts,  .         .         .         100,610  14     1 


£433,284     8     74 


The  disproportion  between  our  own  country,  only,  and  all  the  world 
beside,  is  no  less  significant  in  these  items  than  it  was  before  ;  but  the 
difference  between  home  and  abroad,  may  be  more  briefly  stated,  thus — 

Depository,  warehouse,  and  library,  with  general  disbursements  and  postage, 

stationery,  and  insurance,      ......         £95,235     7     84 

Salaries,  poundage,  and  travelling  in  England  and  Wales,  114,906     2     0 

Annual  reports  and  monthly  extracts,  circulated  chiefly  at  I        iat<?jj      o     r. 
\  -ii   xi  i-  1  X-  r       103,644     8     6 

liome,  with  the  expenses  01  annual  nieetmg,  .  j  ' 

£312,785  18     24 
Salaries,  and  travelling  in  Europe,  Asia,  America,  &c.         .        73,100     4     2 
Freight,  sea  insurance,  and  packing,  as  chiefly  for  abroad,  47,398     6     3 


£433,284     8     7,i 


To  whatever  reflections  these  figures  may  in  future  lead  the  friends 
of  this  great  cause,  certainly  no  person  can  charge  them  with  parsi- 
mony. No  individual  engaged  here,  remains  to  be  thanked  for  what 
he  has  done,  as  there  can  be  no  question  now,  that  every  man  has  been 
paid,  and  well  paid,  for  his  time  and  labour,  whether  when  stationary 
in  the  capital,  or  travelling  through  England  and  Wales.  At  the  same 
time,  whenever  we  advert  to  the  size  and  population  of  our  own  Island, 
as  compared  with  the  four  quarters  of  the  earth  ;  even  in  this  sum  of 
£433,000,  the  disparity  between  home  and  abroad,  deservedly  merits 
consideration  in  time  to  come. 

To  the  positive  expenditure  on  the  Scriptures  themselves,  however, 
we  now  turn.  The  sum  total,  as  now  reduced,  and  to  be  explained,  is 
£2,603,413,  lis.  7^d.  ;  of  which  there  appears  to  have  been  spent 

On  languages  spoken  in  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  £1,691,940  14     7^ 
On  all  others  spoken  throughout  the  world,  only  911,472  17     0 


GIG  TIIK  ALXILIAUY  AND  C)THP:U  QndOK  V. 

As  Boon  as  this  is  observed,  the  extraordinary  disproportion,  will  pro- 
bably excite  regret  in  those  who  are  truly  interested,  that  so  very 
little,  comparatively,  has  ^et  been  done,  for  destitute  foreign  nations,  or 
the  world  at  large  ;  and  the  question,  the  important  question,  as  to 
whether  this  disparity  shall  be  suffered  to  continue  any  longer,  is  one 
which  will  certainly  come  upon  us  with  great  force,  before  we  have 
done.  But,  at  this  moment,  the  eye  must  on  no  account  be  diverted 
from  the  history  of  the  English  Bible.  Let  that  subject,  above  all,  be 
here^rs^  fully  understood,  and  then  no  mystery  will  remain  as  to  the 
imperative  obligations  of  British  Christians  for  many  years  to  come. 
We  have  not  yet  before  us  the  whole  field  of  action.  Far  from  it. 
The7i,  every  English  Bible  will  prove  a  monitor. 

Before,  however,  looking  at  the  broad  surface  of  England  and  Wales, 
it  would  be  doing  injustice  to  London  and  its  immediate  vicinity,  as 
the  centre  of  action,  were  we  to  pass  unnoticed,  the  sum  sjicnt  upon 
the  Scriptures  by  the  auxiliai-y  Societies  even  there.  What  share  have 
they  enjoyed  in  this  general  expenditure  ?  It  is  only  twenty-eight 
years  since  the  distinction  was  drawn  between  money  contributed,  and 
Bibles  received  in  return,  but  since  then  more  than  seventy-six 
thousand  pounds,  or  £76,704,  15s.  8d.  have  been  expended  by  them,  in 
the  distribution  of  the  Sacred  Volume,  and  at  the  reduced  prices.  This 
upon  an  average  throughout  has  been  jE2739,  9s.  l^d.  annually,  and 
so  far  from  this  diminishing,  the  issue  is  greatly  upon  the  increase. 
Thus,  in  the  last  fourteen  of  these  years,  JE43,841,  Is.  lOd.  have  been 
actually  thus  spent,  which  presents  an  annual  average  of  £3131, 
10s.  l^d.  Nay,  within  the  last  five  years,  the  annual  average  has  been 
£3398,  3s.  lid.  ;  Bibles  and  Testaments,  separately,  to  the  amount  of 
£  16,990,  19s.  8d.  having  been  put  into  circulation  by  these  auxiliaries, 
and  all  within  the  compass  of  London  and  ]\Iiddlesex  alone  !  In  other 
words,  in  the  first  fourteen  years,  Scriptures  to  the  value  of  £32,863, 
13s.  lOd.  were  disposed  of;  in  the  last  fourteen,  the  amount  has  been 
not  less  than  £43,841,  Is.  lOd  ,  or  together,  £76,704,  15s.  8d.  What  a 
contrast  is  presented  here  to  Paris,  Vienna,  Madrid,  or  indeed  any 
other  city  in  Europe  !  Nor  must  we  forget  that  those  expenses  of  man- 
agement, already  noted,  which  have  been  paid  on  the  spot,  has  been  an 
advantage  in  favour  of  the  capital,  inciting,  as  it  ought,  to  greater 
exertion.  These,  when  added  to  the  sum  now  mentioned,  form  a  total 
sum  amounting  to  ,£436,889,  Os.  l^d.,  which  has  been  expended  in  the 
British  metropolis. 

If  we  now  turn  from  the  Parent  Society  and  these  London  auxiliaries, 
to  the  kindred  Societies  throughout  England  and  Wales,  we  find  that, 
independently  of  their  free  contributions,  or  £1,128,762,  7s.  8d.,  they 
have  spent  on  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  in  their  various  localities,  not  less 
than  £962,863,  3s.   8d.     Additional  supplies   for  England,   Scotland, 


1780-1844.]         INDEPENDENT  BIBLE  SOCIETIES.  617 

Ireland,  and  the  British  Colonies,  will  account  for  the  entire  amount 
defrayed  by  the  parent  institution,  in  its  British  or  home  department. 

But  the  general  reader  must  be  perfectly  aware,  that  there  are  many 
Bible  institutions,  in  Scotland  and  Ireland,  which,  during  almost  all  these 
years,  have  been  exerting  themselves  independently  of  the  British  and 
Foreign  ;  while,  at  the  same  time,  their  main  strength  has  been  spent 
upon  our  native  land  and  colonies,  through  the  medium  of  the  English 
Scriptures  ;  so  that,  look  wherever  we  may,  in  regard  to  money  spent, 
precisely  the  same  echo  is  heard. 

And  even  still,  justice  is  not  yet  done  to  the  subject  before  us  ;  nor, 
in  comparison  with  all  other  nations,  can  either  its  magnitude  be  seen, 
or  its  importance  felt,  except  we  turn  from  pounds  sterling,  to  the 
Scriptures  themselves.  Confining  the  statement,  therefore,  only  for  a 
few  moments  longer,  to  this  British  and  Foreign  Society  ;  in  their  Re- 
port for  1844,  they  tell  us  that  they  have  issued  fifteen  millions,  nine 
hundred  and  sixty-five  thousand,  and  twenty-five,  volumes  of  Bibles 
and  Testaments.  But  then  of  these,  how  many  have  been  in  the  lan- 
guages of  our  own  diminutive  country  alone  ?  More  than  ten  millions 
and  a  half ;  or  10,523,157  !  Thus  leaving  for  all  the  world  besides,  not 
equal  to  five  millions  and  a  half,  or  5,441,868  !  And  even  with  regard 
to  the  home  department,  or  the  languages  spoken  within  this  kingdom, 
what  proportion  of  these  Scriptures  have  been  in  the  English  tongue 
alone  %  Not  fewer  than  nine  millions,  seven  hundred  and  thirteen  thou- 
sand, seven  hundred  and  sixteen.  Bibles,  Testaments,  Psalms,  and  Gospels. 

In  addition,  moreover,  to  the  disparity  exhibited  by  these  millions,  as 
compared  with  the  scanty  and  inferior  supply  yet  sent  to  all  other  na- 
tions ;  it  is  greatly  heightened  by  another  consideration.  Every  one 
must  be  aware  that  an  English  Bible  or  New  Testament  has  never  cost 
so  much,  as  almost  all  in  foreign  languages ;  and  that,  consequently, 
every  single  pound  has  gone  much  further  at  home,  than  it  could  by 
possibility  have  ever  done  abroad. 

Thus,  at  the  distance  of  not  less  than  forty  years  from  its 
commencement,  or  more  than  the  space  of  an  entire  genera- 
tion, it  is  now  evident,  that  the  formation  of  the  British  and 
Foreign  Bible  Society,  with  that  of  all  its  auxiliaries,  as  well 
as  all  the  kindred  institutions  in  Scotland  and  Ireland,  was  a 
movement,  not  so  much  with  regard  Xa  foreign  lauds.  It  was 
one,  up  to  the  present  hour,  mainly,  though  not  foreseen,  with 
reference  to  the  Scriptures  in  the  English  language,  through- 
out the  United  Kingdom  and  its  colonies.  It  was,  in  truth, 
the  same  gracious  Being,  whom  we  have  beheld  from  the  be- 
ginning, still  pursuing  his  own  wondrous  way  towards  this 


(.18  IIIK  KNTIRE  FIELD  OF  I'AST  [boOK  V. 

country,  which  he  had  pursued  so  long;  and  stirring  up  a 
part  of  tlie  population  to  accomplish  that  of  which  not  one 
amo)i(t  them  had  the  sllfihtest  intention  at  the  outset !  So  en- 
tirely providential,  because  above  the  purpose  of  the  original 
movers,  has  the  result  been,  that  if  any  one  man,  in  the  room 
at  London,  on  the  7th  of  May  1804,  had  proposed  to  do,  what 
lias  actually  been  done ;  whatever  might  have  been  thought 
of  the  state  of  his  judgment  or  reason  at  the  moment,  the 
proposal  must  have  been  viewed,  as  not  only  the  height  of  ex- 
travagance, or  selfish  policy,  but  altogether  absurd.  Had  any 
person  risen  and  said — 

"  Gentlemen,  you  have  met  to  make  a  commencement  indeed,  but  it  is 
mainly  in  order  that  you  should  print  the  Scriptures  in  your  own  English 
tongue,  and  that  not  for  sale  at  their  original  cost  only,  which  they  never  have 
been  before,  but  for  distribution  at  a  reduced  price,  and  to  the  extent  of  more 
than  nine  millions  of  Bibles  and  Testaments." 

Would  not  such  an  announcement  have  been  fatal  to  this, 
the  very  first  meeting,  and  consequently  to  the  design  of  the 
secret  mover  of  them  all  ?  Is  it  to  be  imagined,  that  the 
speaker  would  have  found  any  person  present  ready  to 
second  him,  since  no  one  there  or  elsewhere  had  any  such 
purpose  in  view  ?  Meanwhile,  all  were  unanimous,  cordially 
unanimous,  as  under  one  impulse,  and  they  obeyed  it,  having 
no  conception  whither  it  would  lead  them,  and  thousands 
more.  They  began,  but  least  of  all  imagining  that  they  had 
combined  to  do  more  for  their  native  land  onlif,  than  for  all 
the  world  beside  ! 

Such  an  amount  however  having  been  expended  on  the 
whole,  it  is  evident  that  the  proportion  of  Scripture  in  the 
English  tongue  has  been  immense ;  and  yet  though  many 
may  wish  that  a  larger  share  had  fallen  to  nations  in  far 
greater  need,  let  this  only  operate  the  more  powerfully  after 
we  have  done  ;  but  in  the  meanwhile  actually  no  room  is  left 
for  regret  as  to  the  English  proportion,  when  the  entire  sub- 
ject, or  field  of  operation,  comes  into  view.  This  money  is 
gone,  it  is  true  ;  it  has  been  so  spent,  and  yet  considered  as 
an  event  past,  perhaps  its  most  extraordinary  feature  is  this, 
that  it  is  an  event,  for  which,  as  no  particular  person  is  to  be 
blamed,  so  no  one  can  be  applauded,  since  not  a  single  indi- 
vidual either  foresaw,  or  ever  intended  it  !  It  may  be  true, 
that  there  is  absolutely  nothing  precisely  similar  to  this  in 


1 780-1 84  k]  KXERTIONS  AT  HOME.  61& 

the  history  of  British  expenditure,  during  the  last  forty  years, 
if  ever  before  ;  for  certainly  it  is  not  usual  for  an  institution 
to  work  in  a  direction,  by  no  means  originally  contemplated  ; 
and  more  especially  to  such  an  extent  as  to  swallow  up  the 
great  proportion  of  its  funds.  This,  however,  should  only 
win  for  the  event  itself  now,  the  more  deliberate  consideration. 
For  let  us  suppose  only  once  more,  and  on  the  other  hand, 
that  by  any  means  such  a  course  as  has  been  taken,  had  been 
contemplated  or  proposed  from  the  beginning,  certainly  the 
astonishment  must  have  risen  higher  still,  could  any  zealous 
friend  have  addressed  them,  and  said — 

"  Go  on,  Gentlemen,  and  with  growing  enei'gy,  by  all  means — let  your  So- 
ciety now  foi'mcd  do  its  utmost,  through  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  land — 
but  the  multiplication  of  the  Emjllfh  Scriptures  will  still  proceed,  and  even  to 
a  far  greater  extent  than  nou  will  ever  be  able  to  overtake,  and  that  loithout 
any  Society  at  all.  Go  on,  he  might  have  added,  and  exert  yourselves,  print, 
and  put  into  circulation,  more  than  nine  millions  of  Bibles  and  Testaments  in 
your  own  vernacular  tongue,  but  this  will  not  prevent  thirteen  millions  moi-e 
issuing  from  the  press  !  At  the  end  of  forty  years'  exertion,  the  sales,  united  to 
the  efforts  of  other  congenial  parties,  will  far  exceed  your  circulation  ! 

In  relation  to  the  Scriptures  in  English,  therefore,  let  it 
now  be  specially  observed,  that,  in  the  operation  of  these 
Bible  institutions,  there  has  been  actually  nothing  which  can, 
correctly  speaking,  be  denominated  excess  ;  since,  all  along, 
in  the  usual  current  of  national  affairs.  Divine  Providence 
has  been  going  far  beyond  it,  and  effecting  far  more  by  men 
separately.,  than  by  men  combined.  The  latter,  it  is  true,  have 
issued  above  nine  millions  of  English  Bibles  and  Testaments, 
but  the  former,  without  its  being  annually  noted  in  any  way, 
have  produced  a  larger  number.  The  men  combined  may 
have  spent  a  million  and  a  half  sterling,  and  in  the  English 
tongue  alone,  but  this  is  far  from  approaching  even  the  half 
of  what  has  actually  been  expended  on  the  whole.  Besides, 
in  the  latter  case,  the  Scriptures  have  been  sold,  they  have 
been  purchased  at  a  price,  yielding  to  the  bookseller  his  pro- 
lit  ;  in  the  former,  they  have  been  dispersed  at  reduced  rates  ; 
but  when  both  methods  are  combined,  they  form  a  retrospect, 
certainly  of  the  most  commanding  character.  The  Divine 
blessing  has,  without  doubt,  rested  on  these  united  voluntary 
efforts  ;  but  still  the  hand  of  Him  who  "  instructs  the  plough- 
man to  discretion,"  has  been  upon  the  printer,  and  the  pur- 
chaser also,  and  even  to  greater  extent  all  the  time  !     There 


(120  IMMENSE  REDUCTION  OF  PRICE  Qbook  v. 

is  a  vast  difference  between  even  ten  or  eleven  millions  of 
volumes  issued  according  to  the  former  method,  and  above 
twenty-two  millions  on  the  whole,  as  already  explained.  In 
conclusion,  if  we  look  at  this  subject  with  reference  to  money, 
how  few  persons  throughout  the  kingdom  have  ever  observed, 
or  been  aware  of  the  fact,  that  since  the  present  century 
commenced,  an  amount  equal,  at  the  least,  to  four  miUiom 
sterling  has  been  spent  upon  the  Sacred  Volume  in  the  English 
tongue  ? 


Such  might  have  been  the  conclusion  of  the  present  work, 
and,  but  little  more  than  four  years  ago,  probably  must  have 
been,  but  for  an  event,  altogether  unprecedented,  which  then 
took  place.  Happening  without  any  previous  intimation,  it 
took  every  man  by  surprise  ;  though  now  it  forms,  if  not  the 
top-stone  to  the  present  history,  that  which,  in  a  few  years 
hence,  will  be  regarded  as  the  stone  next  to  it.  But  even 
now,  or  rather  every  moment  since  it  took  place,  it  has  added 
more  than  double  emphasis  to  all  that  has  been  stated,  re- 
specting that  immense  mass  of  English  Scripture  printed  and 
circulated  in  our  day.  The  event  conveys  a  meaning,  from 
which  there  is  no  possibility  for  any  Christian,  or  even  the 
nation,  to  escape. 

Long  before  this  time,  the  reader  is  perfectly  aware,  that 
for  many  generations  back,  the  English  Bible  has  been  printed 
by  the  authority  of  what  has  been  styled  a  Patent  from  the 
Crown.  Now,  whatever  may  be  said  respecting  the  merits  or 
demerits  of  patents  in  general,  or  of  the  benefit  or  injury  re- 
sulting from  such  royal  grants ;  it  will  certainly  be  singular 
enough,  if,  on  looking  back,  it  should  be  found  that  all  these 
Bible  Patents  have  taken  their  rise  from  what  was  once  dis- 
tinctly understood,  and  pronounced  to  be  illegal.  In  other 
words,  if  it  shall  be  found  that  these  Patents  actually  rest 
upon  one  granted  by  Queen  Elizabeth  in  1577,  and  then 
styled  a  Patent  of  privilege.  It  was  upon  the  strength  of 
this  that  Christopher  Barker  first  printed  the  Bible  for  nearly 
twelve  years.  But  that  was  a  description  of  patents,  which, 
when  submitted  to  the  Attorney-General  of  the  day,  he  dis- 
tinctly ruled  that  they  could  not  stand  with  the  laics  and  sta- 
tutes of  the  realm.     Various  such  patents,  therefore,   fared 


1780-1814-.]  IN  THE  ENGLISH  SCRIPTURES.  621 

accordingly.  They  became  null  and  void,  though  by  way  of 
marvellous  exception,  this  of  Barker's  remained  untouched  ! 
But  more  strange  still,  Elizabeth,  either  not  recollecting,  or 
not  adverting  to  the  distinction  already  drawn,  but  quoting 
the  patent  of  privilege  by  way  of  precedent,  granted  anotlier 
with  her  own  hand  in  1589."'  Thus,  the  course  began,  which 
has  been  discussed,  and  re-discussed,  in  courts  of  law,  not  un- 
frequently,  at  great  expense,  both  in  England  and  Scotland, 
again  and  again. 

In  our  day,  liowever,  this  Patent  for  printing  the  Bible,  must  be  somehow 
made  to  stand  out  in  distinction  from  all  others  that  had  ever  been  issued,  or 
indeed  any  other  Patent  now  in  existence.  The  history  of  the  English  Bible 
has  been  peculiar  for  its  providential  character  all  along,  and  in  this  final 
event,  that  character  is  fully  sustained.  Look  at  the  ex'isthuj  English  Patent. 
No  legal  steps  are  to  be  taken  to  destroy  it.  There  is  to  be  no  formal  appeal 
to  Parliament,  or  to  the  Crown,  in  the  matter.  But  as  this  patent  is  the  last 
which,  it  is  next  to  certain,  will  ever  be  issued,  it  appears  as  if  it  had  not  been 
fit  that  it  should  maintain  its  strength,  to  the  end  of  its  appointed  existence  ; 
nor  fit  that  it  should  die  suddenly,  by  either  regal  or  legal  hands.  It  must 
rather  expire,  as  it  were,  by  a  lingering  consumption.  In  the  order  of  events, 
it  must  be  neutralized,  long  before  the  time  fixed  for  its  duration.  Yet  who 
could  have  anticipated  that  the  Patentee  himself  would  come  forward,  and  sud- 
denly do  as  much  ;  or  that  he  would  appear  before  his  brother  patentees  in  all 
other  departments,  as  though  he  had  laid  violent  hands  on  his  own  vested 
rights  1     Yet  so  it  has  come  to  pass. 

But  certainly  it  is  something  to  be  able  to  record,  at  the  close  of  such  a  his- 
tory as  the  past,  that  her  Majesty's  Printer,  in  the  spi-ing  of  1841,  came  for- 
wai'd  and  reduced  the  value  of  his  patent,  to  such  a  degi'ee  as  to  create  asto- 
nishment. It  would  be  saying  too  much,  that  it  became  of  no  more  value  than 
waste  paper,  or  a  piece  of  old  parchment ;  for  still  he  is  secure  of  certain  ad- 
vantages, with  relation  to  the  Scriptures,  in  large  size.  But  in  regard  to  many 
smaller  editions,  as  it  appears  now  that  as  he  could,  so  he  actually  did,  neai'ly 
merge  the  trade  in  the  nation,  by  placing  them  almost  on  the  same  footing. 

There  is  no  occasion  for  any  minute  detail  here,  in  proof  of  a  fact  so 
very  well  known  to  many.  But  by  way  of  brief  illustration,  it  may  be  stated  ; 
that  in  the  close  of  1840,  the  Patentee  advertising  five  different  sizes  of 
the_Bible,  viz.,  twenty -fourmo,  duodecimo,  octavo,  quarto,  and  folio  ;  and  thus 
presenting  a  Bible  in  twenty-four  distinct  editions,  the  united  price  charged  was 
£20,  Is.  6d.  Early  in  1841,  he  came  forward,  and  by  a  list  of  prices,  offered 
the  whole  for  £9,  14s.  5d.  !  The  largest,  or  folio  Bible,  for  which  before  he 
charged  £4,  he  had  now  reduced  to  £],  10s.  !  The  smallest,  formerly  charged 
8s.,  was  now  only  3s.  That  which  before  cost  5s.  6d.,  was  now  to  be  no  more  than 
one  shilUng  and  twopence  !  A  similar  reduction  was  advertised  upon  nineteen 
editions  of  the  New  Testament.  Single  books,  gospels  or  epistles,  printed 
separately,  which  had  been  charged  sixpence,  were  now  to  be  sold  for  three 
half -pence .'  So  much  for  February  1841,  but  even  this  would  not  suffice  for 
the  very  next  month  of  March.     The  surprise  and  satisfaction  felt  at  the  for- 

'0  See  the  more  particular  cxjilanation,  pp.  343-350  of  this  volume. 


G22  IMMENSE  REDUCTION  OF  PIIICE  [nOOK  v. 

iiicr  reductions  had  not  Hiib^idcd,  wlien  there  came  farther  reduction  still,  and 
upon  ten  different  books.  Tlius,  the  edition  which  iu  January  was  nine  shil- 
lin};s,  and  in  Fehniary  only  six,  was  now  down  to  four  shillings  and  sixpence  ! 
And  so  in  proportion  with  various  other  editions  of  the  English  Hihle. 

In  England,  however,  not  only  does  Mr.  Spottiswoode  possess  a  patent  for 
printing  the  Scriptures,  but  the  University  presses  of  Oxford  and  Candiridge 
enjoy  what  are  styled  concuirent  rujltts,  to  do  the  same.  The  exhibition  made 
by  these  thi-ce  parties  was  such  as  could  not  fail  to  attract  the  notice  at  least 
of  the  discerning  few,  who  were  deej)ly  interested  in  the  charges  hitherto 
made.  These  were  three  very  powerful  houses  of  business,  and  it  is  worthy  of 
observation  by  those  who  arc  not  aware  of  the  fact,  that  Oxford  did  more  busi- 
ness than  Cambridge  and  London  united.  In  other  words,  and  in  our  own  day, 
no  city  in  the  kingdom,  or  on  the  face  of  the  earth,  has  been  so  distinguished  as 
Oxford,  or  the  spot  whei-e  Tyndale  first  flourished,  for  the  jwinting  of  the 
Scriptures.  The  Queen's  printer  and  Cambridge  united,  were  doing  but  little 
more  than  two-thirds  of  their  business.  Only,  as  there  was  something  not 
right,  common  to  them  all,  it  was  not  surprising,  if  at  this  crisis,  they  were  not 
all  of  the  same  mind.  Oxford  was  said  to  have  turned  Queen's  evidence 
against  the  other  two  presses,  and  more  than  hinted  a  gi'eat  reduction  of  prices, 
but  the  largest  establishment  faltered,  and  confidence  in  her  prices  was 
shaken.  Tiiis,  however,  like  every  thing  else,  when  the  time  arrives  for  'any 
great  change,  was  of  no  moment.  Her  Majesty's  own  patentee  came  forward, 
and,  as  already  detailed,  prodigiously  reduced  his  charges. 

In  the  history  of  English  literature,  there  never  had  occurred  any  event  at 
all  approaching  to  this,  nor  could  any  thing  similar  erer  have  taken  place  in 
any  other  branch  of  printing.  Of  course,  it  showed  to  demonstration,  that  all 
along,  and  especially  iu  our  own  day  of  unwonted  zeal  for  the  circulation  of  the 
Scriptures,  there  had  been  something  passing  strange,  in  the  relation  which 
had  subsisted  betwen  the  purchaser  and  the  printer  of  the  Sacred  Volume  ;  and 
yet  the  Englishman,  through  many  years,  had  passed  on,  without  adverting  to 
the  fact,  that  he  was  paying,  and  especially  for  the  largest  Bibles,  far  more  than 
double  price  !  And  even  when  the  change  did  take  place,  and  the  extraordinary 
inferior  prices  came  to  be  made  known,  would  that  we  could  have  added,  what 
Cowper  said  of  the  Bastile — 

"  Tliere's  not  an  English  heart  that  did  not  leap 
To  hear  that  they  were  fallen  at  last." 

This,  however,  should  only  secure  for  the  subject,  in  all  its  bearings,  the  greater 
attention  now.  For  though  unknown  to  millions  at  the  moment,  unobserved 
afterwai'ds  by  far  too  many,  and,  alas  !  a  point  of  perfect  indiffei-ence  even  still 
to  many  more,  an  event  had  occurred,  which,  in  one  day,  doubled  at  once  the 
ability  and  the  responsibility  of  every  man  throughout  the  kingdom,  at  all  con- 
cerned about  the  diffusion  of  Sacred  writ.  It  enabled  him  to  do  more  than 
double  the  good,  at  the  same  cost. 

Enquire  not  hoic  this  could  possibly  be  done.  The  patentee  himself  best 
knows  this.  He  had,  indeed,  accomplished  that,  which  no  other  man  in  the 
kingdom  could  have  done,  and  did  it  in  the  style  already  described  ;  but  every 
one  else  knows  also,  that  he  could  not  be  bent  upon  his  own  ruin.  For  our 
present  purpose  it  is  sufficient  to  record  the  fact ;  and,  when  looked  at  in  its 
consequences,  it  is  by  far  the  most  memorable  deed  of  the  day.  ^Vhy  it  was 
done,  is  another  question,  and  since  the  reader  may  w  ish  to  be  informed,  and 
the  question  admits  of  a  brief  historical  reply,  perhaps  the  present  will  suffice. 

It  was  in  the  year  IR.".!  that  Parliament  began  to  inquire  into  the  working 


1780-184.4..]  IN  THE  ENGLISH  SCRIPTURES.  G23 

of  this  patent,  and  abundance  of  evidence  was  taken,  jet  all  this  died  away,  or 
was  permitted  to  sleep  for  years.  It  was  aftcrwai'ds  to  be  of  value,  but  this  was 
to  be  in  other  hands,  and  of  tliese  but  very  few.  By  way  of  preserving  inviolate 
the  integrity  of  the  history  of  tlie  English  Bible,  already  so  distinguished  for 
its  independence  of  character.  Parliament,  as  such,  was  to  accomplish  nothing. 
Thus,  let  it  be  observed,  at  the  very  close  of  our  narrative,  are  wc  reminded  of 
all  previous  authoritative  interferences  with  respect  to  the  Sacred  Volume  ; 
and  the  present  instance  comes  to  us,  very  appropriately,  by  way  of  peroration. 

The  patent  of  Mr.  Spottiswoode  was  not  to  expire  till  the  year  IfiCO,  but  that 
gi'anted  for  Scotland  was  then  near  its  end.  Evidence  was,  therefore,  called 
for  in  reference  to  it ;  and  wise,  at  last,  in  the  doctrine  of  »jo?<-interference,  but 
without  foreseeing  what  were  to  be  the  very  remarkable  results,  that  patent 
was  allowed  to  expire,  without  renewal,  on  the  l.Oth  of  July  HVS9.  This  print- 
ing establishment  being  at  the  moment  in  possession  of  many  advantages  as 
such,  to  her  Majesty's  former  printers  for  Scotland  was  thus  transferred  the 
honour  of  being  the  first  free-traders  in  that  part  of  the  kingdom  since  the  days 
of  Andrew  Hart,  or  two  hundred  and  thirty  years  ago,  nay,  and  the  first  in 
Britain  since  the  reign  of  Edavard  the  Sixth. if>  As,  then,  when  any  i-espect- 
able  house  applied  for  a  license  to  proceed,  it  was  forthcoming,  so  it  came  to 
pass  now  in  Scotland,  simply  by  an  application  to  the  Lord  Advocate  ;  a  mode 
of  procedure  of  which  other  printers  immediately  availed  themselves.  A  board 
had  been  appointed,  of  which  he  was  the  official  organ.  Perhaps  out  of  charity 
to  England,  or  care  over  her  vested  rights,  this  might  be  considered  as  the 
utmost  extent  to  which,  at  that  moment,  it  was  expedient  to  go ;  while  the  par- 
ties in  Parliament  could  have  no  conception  of  what  would  be  the  effect  of  their 
expedient,  for  it  was  nothing  more. 

Only  a  few  months  had  elapsed  when  the  Committee  of  the  British  and  Foreign 
Bible  Society  began  to  wonder  at  an  impulse,  for  which,  they  informed  their 
subscribers,  in  May  1840,  they  "could  scarcely  account."  It  arose  from  an 
earnest  desire  for  the  Scriptures,  and  at  a  more  moderate  price.  This  led  to 
an  offer  on  their  part,  of  a  Bible  and  a  New  Testament,  separatelj-,  at  a  much 
lower  rate  than  they  had  ever  been  presented  ;  but  the  step  they  had  taken 
showed,  ind  in  a  very  short  time,  that  if  persisted  in,  it  would,  at  the  prices 
then  paid  to  the  English  patentee,  soon  swallow  up  their  free  income  entire. 
In  six  months,  by  this  single  step,  they  had  thus  spent,  or  lost,  £1 3,000  !  They 
paused,  and  suspended  the  offer.  Meanwhile,  the  free-trade  prices  in  the  north 
could  not  remain  a  secret,  and  before  the  close  of  the  year,  the  people  of  Eng- 
land were  paying  for  their  Engfish  Bibles,  from  one  hundred  and  fifty  to  two 
hundred  per  cent,  more  than  those  in  Scotland. 

In  England,  however,  all  parties  still  remained  actually  dormant.  The 
pressui'e  from  without  happening  not  to  have  originated  there,  so  long  as  no 
voice  was  raised  against  the  enormous  difference  between  the  two  sides  of  the 
Tweed,  the  English  patentee  held  fast  by  his  prices,  affirming,  in  print,  before 
all  his  countrymen,  and  that  even  so  late  as  November  1840,  that  "  equal 
efficiency  and  cheapness  could  not  be  obtained  upon  any  other  system."  The 
people  of  London,  also,  or  of  the  south  generally,  still  appeared  as  though  they 
believed  this,  even  though  her  Majesty's  Board  for  Scotland  were  reporting 


19  Three  years,  however,  before  the  Scotish  patent  expired,  and  precisely  three  hundred  years 
since  the  martyrdom  of  Tvndalk,  it  is  singular  enough  that  this  name  appeared  in  the  imprint 
of  the  title  pa;;e  of  the  English  Bibles  printed  in  Scotland;  but  the  circumstance  is  the  more 
worthy  of  notice,  in  that  the  respected  gentleman  referred  to,  (O.  Tvndall  Bri-cb,  Esq.  of 
Falkland,)  claims  some  affinity  with  the  most  conspicuous  of  all  our  British  martyrs. 


C24  IMMRNSK  REDUCTION  OF  PRICE  [nnOK  V. 

till!  rciiiK'tion  of  prices  tliero,  ami  tlie  advaiit.igcH  whicli  liad  arisen  from  tlie 
liajipy  chanijc.  "  IJcsides,"  saiil  tliey,  "  it  is  not  merely  a  <|uestion  as  to  the 
amount  of  reduction,  but  wliether  a  vast  nunil)er  of  individuals  arc,  or  are  not, 
to  be  put  in  possession  of  tlie  Sacred  Serijitures  ?"  "  The  difference  of  a  single 
penni/  in  the  jirice  of  a  Hihle,  detemiines,  year  after  year,  whether  the  Word  of 
God  is,  or  is  not,  to  enlighten  and  gladden  thousiinds  of  families." 

Now,  had  any  other  of  the  perishable  commodities  of  this  transitory  scene 
been  at  stake,  or  in  similar  circumstances,  the  masses  would  have  been  in 
motion,  and  there  would  have  been  requisitions  in  all  our  Cities,  numerously 
signed,  and  public  meetings  lield,  till  the  press  had  groaned  under  the  account. 
But  there  were  to  be  no  such  proceedings ;  no  petitions  to  Parliament  respect- 
ing the  enormous  i)rice  charged  for  the  "  broad  of  life,"  in  one  part  of  the  king- 
dom as  compared  with  that  in  another  ;  nor  did  any  Member  rise,  in  either 
House,  and  for  once  advert  to  the  very  singular  existing  disproportion  between 
the  Scotish  and  English  market.  Nor  was  it  at  all  reiiuisite  that  he  should,  or 
that  there  should  be  any  connnotion.  At  all  events,  thei'e  were  to  be  no  more 
mere  Committees  of  inrjuii-y  in  the  Commons'  House  of  Parliament ;  nor  was  this 
necessary.  The  Secretaries  of  the  British  and  Foreign  ISible  Society,  too,  at  this 
crisis,  came  forward,  antl  begged  "  most  distinctly  to  say,  that  they  woidd  not 
touch  the  question  of  the  monopoly  at  all."  Nor  was  it  necessary  that  they 
should.  The  Bible  Societies  throughout  the  kingdom  amounted,  Ijy  this  time, 
to  three  thousand  four  hundred,  of  which  number  there  were  two  thousand  five 
hundred  in  England  and  Wales.  Every  one  of  them  jirofessed  to  be,  or  rather, 
as  far  as  funds  were  concerned,  positively  were,  interested,  in  a  cheap  Enijlixh 
Bible,  and,  when  taken  on  the  whole,  to  an  immense  amount.  If  ?//ry  did  not 
feel  and  act  as  one  man,  it  may  appear  altogether  unaccountable  to  posterity, 
since  to  many  it  already  does  now.  But  they  did  not.  Not  one,  even  in  Lon- 
don, Edinburgh,  or  Dublin,  moved.  Nor  was  it  necessary  that  they  should.  In 
this  most  mechanical  age,  when  so  much  is  ascribed  to  the  "  million"  in  union, 
these  Societies  altogether  had  formed  the  too  fond  boast  of  many  a-s  the  gi-andest 
machinery  of  the  day  ;  but  though  they  had  assisted  materially  in  supplying  the 
nation  with  the  Scriptures,  as  a  larger  number  had  been  furnished  in  the  usual 
course  of  a  benignant  Providence,  they  were  not  now  employed.  Although  evei'y 
one  of  these  institutions  was  just  on  the  point  of  being  placed  in  a  position  en- 
tirely neiF,  every  thing  was  to  be  done /or  them,  and  nothing  hij  them.  Though 
to  see  the  whole,  without  exception,  stand  by,  silent,  as  if  paralyzed,  and  at  such 
a  time  as  this,  was  a  sight  to  which  there  has  been  nothing  similar  in  the  usual 
current  of  human  affairs.  These,  in  short,  and  all  other  bodies,  seem  to  have 
been  too  main/  for  Him,  who  once  so  spake  to  Gideon  of  old  :  and  upon  looking 
back  thi'oughout  the  present  history,  the  reader  will  see  at  once  that  any  multitu- 
dinous jiroceeding  would  have  been  indecorous.  It  would  have  been  inconsis- 
tent, or  not  in  perfect  keeping  with  the  usual  procedure  for  these  three  hundred 
years.  If  the  Majesty  of  the  thi'one,  and  that  of  Parliament,  had  been  declined 
and  kept  aloof,  so  also  must  the  majesty  of  the  people. 

The  royal  Patentee,  it  is  true,  might  speak,  or  even  print,  as  he  had  done  in 
November,  but  without  saying  more,  he  was  to  act  very  differently,  and  in  little 
more  than  eight  weeks,  or  in  February  1841,  as  already  stated.  When  review- 
ing, another  day,  what  will  appear  very  remarkable,  the  sudden  and  prodigious 
fall  in  the  prices  of  the  Sacred  Volume,  posterity,  if  not  iufoi'med,  might  be  apt 
to  conjecture  that  the  monopolist  nnist  have  been  roused  to  act  so  by  the  nation 
at  large, — but  no  ;  nothing  more  was  requisite  than  that  three  individuals  only 
should  move,  and  the  unprecedented  reduction  followed. — Followed  also  very 


17.S0-1844..]  IN  THE  ENGLISH  SORU'TUUES.  02 J 

quietly,  and,  contrary  to  all  custom  in  this  advertising  age,  without  any  boasting, 
or  the  slightest  ostentation  on  the  part  of  the  Patentee  himself.  Since  the  day 
that  business  of  any  moment  was  done  in  Britain,  such  a  thing,  in  business,  was 
never  so  done.  One  Englishman,  indeed,  with  two  natives  of  the  north,  must, 
it  is  granted,  feel  deeply  interested  in  the  subject,  and  to  many  now  it  may  be 
unnecessary  to  mention  their  names, — Mr.  Childs,  of  Bungay,  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Thomson,  of  Coldstream,  and  the  Rev.  Dr.  Campbell,  of  London.  The  fii-st 
gentleman  had  coi-respondcd  with  the  second,  but,  without  farther  detail,  it  so 
happened,  that  into  his  mind  had  come  the  idea,  that  as  these  "  Living  Oracles" 
had  been  originally  committed  in  charge,  as  a  sacred  deposit,  to  the  people  of 
God  as  such  ;  so  it  ought  to  be  an  object  with  them  to  present  the  Scriptures  to 
any,  or  to  all,  at  no  higher  price  than  the  simple  cost  of  their  production  ;  or,  in 
other  words,  that  they  ought  to  be  redeemed  out  of  the  usual  channels  of  com- 
merce altogether.  But  in  these  days,  when  it  seems  as  if  no  individual  ex- 
pects to  accomplish  any  enterprise  single  handed,  what  was  styled  a  Board 
must  be  formed.  In  the  present  instance,  but  for  the  artificial  state  of  society 
into  which  Britain  has  wrought  herself,  this  might  have  been  dispensed  with, 
and  it  appears  to  have  been  of  no  other  moment  than  that  of  directing  atten- 
tion to  the  efforts  of  an  individual.  The  prices  of  Bibles  and  Testaments,  then, 
thus  advertised,  were  so  low  as  to  appear  incredible  ;  while  the  London  patentee 
became  so  adventurous  as  to  affirm  that  under  the  whole  affair  there  lurked 
some  fallacy.  Meanwhile,  all  that  became  necessary  was  that  this  gentleman 
should  move  from  the  banks  of  the  Tweed  to  visit  the  north  of  England,  where, 
having  once  explained  his  views,  and  exhibited  certain  specimens  of  Bibles  and 
Testaments,  at  their  affixed  prices,  many  eyes  were  opened.  The  reception 
given  was  cordial,  nay,  enthusiastic  ;  nor  did  he  require  to  visit  the  metropolis 
at  all.  The  third  individual,  however,  who  was  residing  there,  was  now  re- 
quired, and  both  meeting  at  Liverpool,  and  elsewhere,  both  spoke  and  wrote, 
and  both  were  listened  to,  and  read.  Nothing  more  was  requii-ed,  and  though 
neither  of  these  friends  to  the  cause  they  advocated  could  expect  to  meet  with 
that  applause  which,  in  our  day,  has  been  so  often  awarded  to  men  for  doing 
little  or  nothing,  an  impulse  more  powerful  had  been  felt  than  either  the  one 
or  the  other  had  anticipated.  The  royal  Patentee  evinced  penetration  and 
wisdom  to  a  degree  seldom,  if  ever  before,  exhibited  in  such  circumstances.  He 
had  spoken  out  once,  as  already  mentioned,  but  proceeding  no  farther,  he  pre- 
sently issued  his  delightful  and  most  extraordinary  reduction  of  prices.  The 
patent  itself,  it  will  be  remembered,  has  not  been  abolished,  but,  sixteen  years 
before  its  natural  termination,  it  has  been,  to  a  great  degree,  effectually  neutra- 
lised. Ever  since,  competition  has  been  at  work,  and  all  in  favour  of  the  pur- 
cliaser.  Into  the  merits  or  demerits  of  this  competition  as  to  price  between 
the  patentee  and  the  free-trader,  there  is  no  necessity  for  us  to  enter  hei-e  ; 
though  it  must  be  evident  to  all,  that  so  long  as  the  patent,  and  these  concur- 
rent rights  of  Oxford  and  Cambridge  continue,  the  sales  throughout  the  Kingdom 
cannot  arrive  at  a  healthy  or  natui-al  and  desirable  condition.  Meanwhile,  the 
public  at  large  is  happily  left  to  judge  for  itself  ;  but  that  such  an  immense  cir- 
culation as  that  which  had  taken  place  should  have  been  suddenly  followed  up 
by  such  a  vast  and  unprecedented  reduction  in  price,  is  an  occurrence  far  from 
being  the  least  remarkable  among  the  multitude  of  events  which  it  has  been  our 
aim  thi'oughout  impartially  to  record. 

Such  then  have  been  the  mysterious,  and,  compared  with 
every  other  nation  under  Heaven,  the  majestic  outgoings  of 
VOL.  II.  2  n 


C2{>  POSITION  OK  BRITAIN  [flOOK  V. 

Iliiii  who  luis  been  with  this  cause,  all  along  and  so  evident- 
ly, from  the  beginning  ;  and  who  having  now  brought  it  to 
this  stupendous  height,  will,  to  a  certainty,  not  leave  it  in  its 
present  state  or  position,  or  ever  be  turned  aside  from  his 
own  high  purpose  and  ultimate  design.  ^Ve  have  said,  mi/s- 
terious  outgoings,  because  the  cause  as  such,  may  bo  com- 
pared to  a  path  without  an  end  ;  that  is,  an  end  worthy  of 
the  path  ;  an  end  in  unison  with  the  present  condition  of  a 
nation,  where  the  number  of  the  copies  of  the  Sacred  Record, 
actually  outnumbers  the  souls  that  are  in  it,  but  where 
thousands  still  contemn  the  proffered  gift !  The  reader  of 
the  previous  history,  it  is  true,  has  travelled  a  very  singular 
and  eventful  journey,  and  all  the  while,  for  more  than  three 
hundred  years,  ho  has  been  ascending  to  the  eminence,  on 
which  he  now  stands ;  so  that  according  to  this  time,  he  may 
be  exclaiming — "  What  hath  God  wrought  /"  Yet  the  ex- 
clamation is  no  sooner  uttered,  than  it  seems  to  excite  in 
every  considerate  mind  but  one  question — what  is  he  about 

TO  DO? 

Were  the  public  mind  in  this  kingdom  once  brought  to 
such  a  state  of  watchful  enquiry,  although  to  answer  such  a 
question  is  not  within  the  province  of  human  foresight ;  yet 
there  is  one  point  connected  with  the  present  position  of  our 
English  Bible,  and  only  one,  to  which  we  may  advert,  before 
bidding  adieu  to  the  history  itself.  Whatever  Providence 
intends  to  accomplish,  and  whatever  obscurity  may  rest  on 
the  future,  it  is  already  evident  that  an  Almighty  hand  has 
been,  and  is  now  proceeding,  on  a  scale  far  beyond  the  limits 
of  our  sea-girt  island.  Some  of  our  legislators  have  recently 
begun  to  ruminate  over  what  they  call  systematic  emigration ; 
but  that  Providence,  which  perfectly  foresaw  what  would  be 
the  condition  of  the  inhabitants  of  Britain  for  some  years 
back,  in  which  every  time  the  clock  has  struck  twelve,  another 
thousand  has  been  added  to  our  population — that  Providence 
has  already  and  long  been  at  work,  with  His  own  word,  for  such 
as  go  away,  or  have  gone,  never  again  to  see  their  native 
land  ;  and  the  printing  press,  which  is  now  more  busy  than 
ever  it  was,  both  in  England  and  Scotland,  can  very  easily 
keep  pace  with  the  emigration,  let  it  increase  as  it  may.  Now 
this,  it  is  confessed,  so  far  as  the  Scriptures  in  the  English 
tongue  only  are  still  to  be  concerned,  may  be  the  next  legiti- 


1780-18+4.]         AS  TO  THE  ENGLISH  SCRIPTURES.  627 

mate  sphere  of  action  ;  but,  at  the  same  time,  every  one  must 
perceive,  that  this  can  never  involve  more  than  a  traction,  or 
not  so  much  as  approaching  to  a  tithe  of  our  future  and  im- 
perative obligations. 

In  point  of  responsibility  as  a  nation,  we  have  been  exalted 
into  circumstances  of  which  many  before  had  little  or  no  con- 
ception ;  nor  had  they  been  at  all  aware,  that  we  have  been 
placed  in  a  condition,  involving  duty  and  obligations,  from 
which  there  is  no  escape.  The  very  rich  supply  of  Sacred 
Scripture  peculiar  to  our  country  even  before  this  century 
began,  will  be  held  in  remembrance ;  more  than  twenty-two 
millions  of  volumes  have  since  been  added  to  the  number,  and 
still  the  printing  press  is  as  urgently  plied  as  before  ;  so  that  an 
amount  of  above  four  millions  sterling  has  been  spent  upon  our 
otcn  version  !  After  an  entire  generation  has  been  thus  so 
peculiarly  distinguished,  that  there  is  nothing  approaching  to 
it,  on  the  face  of  the  earth ;  to  rouse  us  from  slumber,  as  but 
too  visible,  in  our  unequal  dealing  with  the  world  at  large  ; 
all  at  once,  and  in  the  quarter  where  it  was  least  of  all,  or 
last  of  all,  to  be  expected,  there  comes,  in  one  day,  a  great, 
an  immense  reduction  of  price  with  regard  to  the  Sacred  Vo- 
lume in  English^  and  let  it  be  particularly  observed,  in  English 
ALONE.  What  though  no  real  voice,  no  sound,  was  heard  ! 
No  man  accustomed  to  think  at  all,  will  presume  to  say  that 
in  an  event  so  unexpected,  and  altogether  so  unprecedented, 
there  was  nothing  intended  for  the  ear,  or  rather  the  heart  of 
those  who  are  daily  deriving  light  and  counsel  from  the  sacred 
page.  Taking  the  entire  previous  history  into  account,  and 
the  broad  field  of  action  now  full  in  view  ;  is  it  not,  to  say  the 
least,  as  if  Providence  had  sounded  a  pause  ? — an  authorita- 
tive pause,  calling  upon  us  to  do  the  same ;  and,  at  last,  re- 
view his  footsteps  ?  Calling  upon  us  to  observe,  more  de- 
liberately. His  procedure,  and  then  putting  the  all- important 
question — "  Hoic^  or  in  xchat  manner^  will  it  become  the  Chris- 
tians in  Britain  to  act  now  ? 

We  are  perfectly  aware,  that  some  of  our  men  of  "  profit 
and  loss  "  may  be  disposed  to  detain  us,  by  fretting  over  this 
prodigious  fall  of  price.  Something,  indeed,  may  be  mooted 
in  reply,  as  to  a  gradual  fall  in  the  price  of  paper,  if  not  other 
materials,  but  this  will,  by  no  means,  satisfy  others,  who  have 
looked  more  deeply  into  the  circumstances.     "  Why,  at  these 


G28  THE  ULTIMATE  QUESTION.  [book  V. 

present  prices,""  says  one,  "  we'niight  have  dispersed  more  than 
double  the  number  of  Bibles  and  Testaments,  and  is  there  any 
man  who  can  now  deny  it?"  "  But  what  is  more  to  be  de- 
plored," says  another,  "  at  these  prices,  wo  might  have  been, 
all  these  years,  expending  upon  destitute/or^iV^w  nations,  eight 
or  nine  hundred  thousand  pounds,  more  than  ice  hare  done ! " 
While,  independently  altogether  of  these  former  high  prices, 
a  third  party  meets  us  with  his  complaint,  as  to  the  expenses 
incurred  at  home,  throughout  England  and  Wales,  and  more 
especially  within  the  last  twenty  years.  But  weighty  as  these 
murmurings  may  appear  to  some  minds,  they  are  actually  of  no 
consequence^  when  compared  with  the  solemnity  of  our  present 
obligations,  or  that  momentous  position  in  which  Providence 
has  now  placed  us.  In  truth,  tliey  only  press  our  one  ques- 
tion with  greater  urgency.  Besides,  standing,  as  we  do,  in 
the  midst  of  a  nation,  which  has  but  recently  paid  twenty 
millions  of  money,  for  the  liberation  of  not  nearly  one  million 
of  men  in  bondage  ;  it  would  be  idle  to  suppose  that,  as  a 
people,  we  have  been  thus  strikingly  summoned  to  pause, 
merely  for  the  purpose  of  murmuring  over  the  past.  Cer- 
tainly they  are  not  to  be  envied,  who  exacted  such  prices 
from  the  benevolent  public ;  but  as  for  those  who  have  paid 
them,  every  moment  now  is  lost,  if  spent  merely  in  lamenting 
over  the  outlay.  The  supremely  important,  the  urgent,  and 
the  only  question  at  present  is — How,  or  in  what  manner,  and 
to  what  extent,  will  it  become  the  Christians  of  Britain  to  act 


NOW 


7? 


At  the  close  of  the  present  history,  therefore,  it  so  happens 
that  there  are  several  points  left  for  deliberate  and  general 
consideration,  every  one  of  which  will  be  found  to  bear  with 
accumulating  force  on  this  one  question. 


620 

CONCLUSIONS, 

DRAWN  FROM  THE  PRECEDING  HISTORY. 

There  is  a  frequent  propensity  in  the  mind  of  man  to  run 
every  thing  into  one  thing.  But  even  after  all  that  has  been 
said,  it  will  not  be  supposed  that  the  renovation  of  man  is  an- 
ticipated by  the  present  author,  from  the  mere  multiplication 
and  dispersion  of  the  Sacred  Volume  throughout  any  country 
whatever.  If  but  one  native  of  Britain  has  ever  so  dreamed, 
the  present  state  of  his  own  land  may  now  awaken  him  to  the 
painful  reverse.  No  nation  has  ever  enjoyed  such  opportu- 
nities of  discovering  its  devotion  or  hostility  to  the  Book  of 
God,  and  in  none  is  there  to  be  found  the  two  extremes  in 
greater  strength.  Yet,  if  the  past  history  has  referred  to  only 
one  subject,  it  has  been  because  of  its  supreme  importance  as 
the  basis  or  ground-work  of  all  moral  improvement.  To  pre- 
vent confusion,  we  have  proceeded  on  the  principle  that  it  is 
necessary  to  consider  only  one  thing  at  a  time  ;  and  that  in 
applying  the  same  incumbent  remedy  to  the  world  around  us, 
it  is  of  importance  to  understand  what  has  been  the  history  of 
Divine  Revelation  in  our  own  tongue,  and  what  is  the  existing 
condition  of  our  native  land. 

In  survevino^  the  cause  to  which  these  volumes  have  been 
devoted,  from  an  origin  of  the  most  unpretending  character, 
it  has  grown  to  a  magnitude  as  already  explained,  which  meets 
us  in  the  very  threshold  to  all  reflection.  One  leading  feature 
of  the  history  itself  will  then  invite  some  notice.  After  this, 
the  visible  and  uninterrupted  progress,  or  efi'ect  produced,  must 
not  escape  observation.  Thus,  as  a  community,  however  dis- 
persed, yet  the  most  important,  because  most  influential  upon 
earth, — "  the  present  readers  of  the  English  Bible"''  naturally 
come  before  us ;  for  here,  and  in  these  times  most  happily, 
they  must  be  regarded  in  the  light  of  but  one  body.  Though, 
after  this,  the  responsible  position  of  this  wide  circle,  but  espe- 
cially at  its  centre,  on  British  ground,  cannot  fail  to  lend  a 
tone  of  deeper  solemnity  to  the  unwearied  footsteps  of  that 
gracious  Providence,  which  so  visited  at  first,  and  has   so 


r,30  CONCLUSIONS  DRAWN  FROM 

watched  over  this  land  ever  since.  In  conclusion,  only  one 
question  will  remain, — How,  or  in  what  manner,  shall  becom- 
ing gratitude  to  God  bo  expressed  and  proved,  by  far  more 
vigorous  action  ? 

T/ie  Magnitude  of  this  Came. 

Considered  in  the  light  of  a  conspicuous  public  undertaking,  if  there 
be  any  thing  in  the  iiiagnitxule  of  an  object  fitted  to  attract  or  interest 
and  fix  the  mind,  it  is  found  here.  The  cause  of  Divine  Revelation  ad- 
mits of  no  superior  authority  in  any  land  ;  but  in  ours,  it  has  assumed 
an  appearance  visible  to  any,  if  not  to  every  eye.  As  such,  this  cause 
has  reached  a  height  more  than  sufficient  to  silence  any  opponent.  Of 
infinite  importance  in  itself,  and,  at  the  same  time,  by  far  the  largest 
movement  in  our  day,  possessing  all  the  attributes  of  a  fixed  or  invin- 
cible Divine  purpose,  the  difficulty  lies  in  duly  apprehending  or  grasping 
it.  In  casting  our  eye  upon  only  one  of  these  millions  of  volumes,  every 
page  of  which  is  the  voice  of  God  to  man,  and  every  man  is  interested 
in  its  meaning,  it  would  here  be  out  of  place  to  dwell  upon  the  Scriptures 
themselves — upon  the  majesty  of  their  style — the  solemnity  of  their 
matter — their  comprehensiveness — their  correspondency  to  the  spirit  of 
man,  whether  as  corrupt  and  depraved  or  regenerated  and  renewed — on 
their  peculiar  efficacy,  or  obvious  design.  By  all  who  duly  prize  them 
they  are  confessed  and  regarded  to  be  the  only  standard  of  unerring 
wisdom — the  only  means  of  rousing  effectually  the  human  mind — con- 
taining the  only  ground  of  hope  before  his  Maker  for  the  burdened  or 
wounded  spirit — the  unfailing  source  of  solid  comfort,  peace,  and  joy — the 
only  effectual  medium  of  strength  for  sustaining  the  trials  or  performing 
the  duties  of  life.  Nor  let  it  ever  be  forgotten,  that  this  Sacred  Record, 
in  our  vernacular  tongue,  wherever  it  be  found,  near  or  afar  off,  whether 
in  Britain  itself,  or,  as  it  actually  is,  at  the  ends  of  the  earth,  enjoys 
this  unspeakably  glorious  privilege — there  its  diviiie  Author  is  present, 
specially  present ,  with  it  I 

But  when,  instead  of  one  book,  we  turn  to  those  millions  of  volumes, 
as  all  given  to  one  people,  and  look  upon  the  whole,  in  their  only  true 
character,  that  of  a  deposit — a  deposit,  given  in  custody,  and  in  every 
instance  to  be  accounted  for  another  day  ;  and  when,  from  these  volumes 
themselves  we  turn  to  their  actual  dispersion,  till  we  are  lost  among 
the  numbers  that  are  now  reading  the  same  book  in  the  same  language, 
every  hour  of  the  day  and  every  hour  of  our  night,  in  the  four  quarters 
of  the  globe  ;  then,  in  point  of  magnitude,  as  well  as  importance,  there  is 
no  other  object,  as  an  object,  to  which  the  native  of  Britain  can  direct 
his  eye,  that  will  allow  of  any  comparison.  When  one  contemplates  his 
Country,  as  thus  "  exalted  to  heaven"  in  the  midst  of  the  nations,  as  by 


THE  PRECEDING  HISTORY.  «31 

far  the  most  conspicuous  custos,  or  keeper  of  Divine  Truth,  and  in  a 
language  upon  which  the  sun,  as  already  explained,  is  ever  shining,  it 
seems  next  to  incredible  that  the  great  body  of  British  Christians  should 
not  have  been  more  alive  to  this,  as,  by  way  of  eminence,  the  sign  of  the 
times.  If  they  had  been  found  gazing  upon  it,  and  watching  every  step 
in  advance  ;  suffering  no  inferior,  no  local,  no  limited  party  interests,  to 
divert  them  away  ;  this  would  have  been  nothing  more  than  its  supreme 
character  has  long  demanded ;  and  the  more  so,  as  there  can  be  no  question, 
that  as  a  sign,  it  is  an  undoubted  "  token  for  good,"  approaching  good, 
in  more  senses  than  one,  and  of  good  extending  far  beyond  the  narrow 
limits  of  our  island  of  the  sea. 

Nor  should  the  singular  manner  in  which  this  cause  has  risen  to  its 
present  majestic  height  now  pass  unnoticed.  This,  however,  is  matter 
of  history,  and  however  briefly  reviewed,  it  will  be  found  to  deserve 
corresponding  attention  from  all  who  revere  the  sacred  page,  whatso- 
ever may  happen  to  be  their  own  particular  views  of  social  religion 
exemplified. 

One  leading  feature  in  the  preceding  History. 

Whatever  imperfections  may  be  detected  in  the  preceding  pages,  there 
is  a  peculiarity  of  character  belonging  to  the  history  as  a  whole,  of  which 
it  is  not  likely  ever  to  be  bereaved.  This  feature  of  distinction  is  now 
visible  in  a  long  and  uninterrupted  series  of  provable  events.  Whether 
any  importance  will  be  attached  to  the  disclosua-e  and  proof  remains  to 
be  seen  ;  but  as  there  was  a  commencement  made,  in  spite  of  all  human 
sanction  at  first,  and  an  unceasing  progress,  in  superiority  to  all  human 
control  ever  since,  it  seems  as  if  there  were  still  some  special  homage  to 
be  paid  to  the  sacred  Volume ;  and  more,  much  more,  than  there  has 
ever  yet  been.  The  very  imperfect  and  scattered  notices  hitherto  given 
of  the  English  Bible,  have  been  too  often  bloated  with  unwarrantable 
assertions  of  a  species  of  interference,  direction,  and  control,  which  the 
authentic  history  disowns. 

For  some  years  past,  a  very  strong,  or  insatiable,  curiosity  has  been 
felt  and  displayed,  in  searching  into  the  origin  and  character  of  all 
British  interests,  whether  sacred  or  civil ;  and  hence  the  reprinting  ver- 
batim, of  what  have  been  styled,  by  way  of  courtesy,  writers  of  authority, 
has  proceeded  to  an  extent  altogether  unknown  in  any  preceding  age. 
Whether  this  revival  of  all  these  old  writers,  for  once,  in  an  improved 
form,  be  any  thing  more  than  a  prelude  to  their  descending  again,  in  a 
more  decent  dress,  into  oblivion,  time  will  show  ;  but  it  is  no  disparage- 
ment of  all  human  authors,  without  exception,  to  affirm,  that  a  revived, 
a  superior,  or  rather  a  supreme,  attention  to  Divine  authority,  as  first 
issued  from  the  press  in  our  native  tongue,  and  so  wondrously  continued 


(i:V2  CONCLUSIONS  DRAWN  FROM 

ever  since,  would  be  found  of  infinitely  higher  benefit  to  the  Nation  at 
large,  and  especially  in  its  present  condition.  During  a  crisis,  or  that 
moment  of  time  Avhen  affairs  have  come  to  their  destined  height,  the 
most  important  point  of  all  has  not  unfrcqucntly  been  neglected  ;  and 
whether  the  present  era,  but  especially  the  condition  of  Britain  as  full 
to  overflowing  with  Divine  Revelation,  docs  not  very  loudly  call  us  from 
men  to  the  Divine  Being  himself,  it  now  remains  for  the  reader  to  con- 
sider, and  resolve  for  himself. 

Wc  have  seen  that  the  history  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  as  printed  in 
the  English  language,  for  more  than  three  hundred  years,  has  a  character 
of  its  own,  and  such  a  one,  as  even  common  reverence  suggests,  ought 
to  be  observed  and  studied  hi/  itself.  Hitherto  it  has  been  considered 
by  historians  as  a  theme  which  scarcely  came  in  their  way,  and  when  it 
did,  it  has  either  been  loosely  glanced  at,  or  treated  as  a  subject  with 
which  they  had  but  little  or  nothing  to  do.  On  the  contrary,  we  have 
looked  upon  the  first  entrance,  and  singularly  continued  possession,  of 
these  Scriptures,  as  involving  by  far  the  highest  point  of  national  in- 
terest and  responsibility,  while  the  history  itself  seems  to  invite,  or  rather 
demand,  attention  and  remembrance,  both  as  to  its  commencemetit  and 
its  continuance. 

With  reference  to  the  former,  taking  its  rise  at  a  period  before  the  existence 
of  any  denomination  of  Christians  afterwards  known  in  Britain,  the  history 
comes  before  us  with  an  exclusive  claim  to  primary  consideration,  whether  in 
England  or  Scotland.  Hitherto,  indeed,  but  little  has  been  known  of  this  period, 
but  if  additional  light  has  now  dawned  upon  us,  from  original  and  authentic 
sources,  it  seems  to  be  here  alone  that  we  can  lay  hold  of  our  subject,  as  Lord 
Bacon  has  said,  by  "  the  right  handle."  The  principle  of  combination,  of 
action  by  joint  forces,  or  associated  numbers,  so  common  in  our  day,  no  doubt 
has  its  value,  but  if  it  be  imagined  that  such  union  alone  is  competent  for  a 
great  purpose,  we  look  for  it  here  in  vain.  To  those  who  have  been  born,  and 
now  dwell,  in  the  midst  of  what  are  styled  "  institutions,"  and  who  but  too  fondly 
ascribe  every  thing  to  their  power,  to  begin  otherwise  may  not  be  so  inviting, 
but  there  is  no  remedy.  To  all  who  speak  our  mother  tongue  the  commence- 
ment of  this  history  employs  the  same  language.  "  Never  forget  this  origin. 
Look  to  the  humiliating  condition  in  which  your  entire  country  once  lay.  For- 
get not  the  darkness  and  superstition  wliich  then  reigned,  without  a  rival  ;  and 
should  any  one  section  of  your  countrymen  ever  swell  out  into  any  foolish  pre- 
tensions, or  fancied  superiority  over  their  brethren  ;  but,  above  all,  should  any 
party  have  the  aiTOgance  to  talk  of  this  Bible  as  theirs,  by  way  of  eminence,  or 
of  their  production,  your  answer  is  ready  at  hand,  and  perfectly  explicit. 
You  have  only  to  point  to  the  genuine  history  of  the  volume  itself,  and  then 
inquire, — 

Who  brnught  the  lamp,  that  with  awakening  beams 
Dispell'd  thy  ):loom  and  broke  away  thy  dreams? 

No,  all  alike,  without  any  exception,  must  be  perfectly  satisfied  to  begin  after 
the  actual  manner,  and  that  is,  with  the  interposition  of  the  Almighty,  through 
the  medium  of  only  one  man.  In  the  midst  of  darkniess,  as  darkness  itself,  and 
in  the  most  thoroiighly  Italianised  part  of  England  too,  where  it  was  least  of 


THE  PRECEDING  HISTORY.  633 

Jill  to  be  expected,  wo  found  certain  discussions  arise  at  only  one  spot,  and 
carried  on  witli  but  one  man.  Tiio  disputants  never  could  agree,  and  parted  ; 
but  this  man,  full  of  compassion  for  his  Country,  remaining  firm  as  a  rock, 
and  fixed  in  his  opinions,  no  power  on  earth  could  turn  from  his  purpose.  The 
result,  then,  was  nothing  more  than  the  premeditated  design  of  a  solitai'y  indi- 
vidual ;  but  once  so  rooted  in  his  heart,  the  consequences  were  to  extend  to  many 
generations,  or,  as  in  our  day,  literally  to  the  four  quarters  of  the  globe.  In 
this  point  of  view,  the  indomitable  purpose  once  formed,  the  resolution  once 
taken,  must  now  be  regarded  as  the  greatest  national  event  of  the  day  ;  though 
it  was  then  but  a  secret  infused  into  a  single  mind,  and  that  the  mind  of  a  man 
wlio  had  been  "  rated  as  a  dog,"  in  the  county  where  he  dwelt.  Here,  however, 
it  was,  tliat  we  first  met  with  a  hidden  or  secret  spring,  which  began  to  well 
out,  and  from  the  manor-house  of  Little  Sodbury,  in  Gloucestershire,  it  has 
never  failed  us,  down  to  the  present  day.  Time  there  was,  it  is  true,  when  the 
cause,  like  the  water  of  Siloah,  went  softly,  and  even  after  that,  it  might  be  com- 
pared to  nothing  more  than  some  little  tinkling  rill,  which  any  man  could  step 
across,  without  heeding  it ;  but  it  has  grown  and  swelled  into  a  place  of  broad 
rivers  and  streams,  a  river  that  cannot  be  passed  over.  No  man  can  now  sound 
its  depth,  or  tell  the  nation  whithei',  or  how  far,  it  will  go  and  yet  gladden  the 
wide  earth  ! 

Resolutely  bent  on  the  execution  of  his  purpose,  we  beheld  Tyndale  leave 
his  native  country,  never  to  return  ;  and  some  time  after,  we  saw  his  earliest 
production,  the  New  Testament  in  English,  arrive  on  these  shores.  We  had 
heard  the  bitter  foreign  enemy  of  divine  truth,  in  every  vernacular  tongue, 
Cochlceus,  forewarning  Wolsey  and  his  Royal  Master  to  stop  every  inlet,  to  lay  an 
embargo  on  every  seaport,  and  prevent  its  enti'ance :  yet  have  we  not  observed 
it,  coming  to  our  ancestors  across  the  sea,  before  there  was  any  fixed  form  of 
opinion,  save  that  of  hostility,  either  in  England  or  Scotland  ?  And  long  be- 
fore there  was  an  Institution  of  any  name,  professing  to  bow  to  its  authority  ? 
Yes,  come  it  did,  and  with  powerful  effect  ;  but  what  was  its  reception  from 
many,  and  especially  from  men  of  authority,  for  more  than  ten  years  ?  Can 
any  other  Nation  be  now  specified  that  discovered  equal,  or  such  persevering, 
hostility  ?  And  if  in  this  hostility  Britain  stood  pre-eminent,  so  much  the  more 
ought  never  to  be  forgotten,  the  first  presentation  of  the  Divine  Record.  It  is  a 
feature  in  her  national  history,  which  so  enhances  the  self-moved  goodness  of 
God,  as  to  render  all  that  has  occurred  since,  worthy  of  the  profoundest  adora- 
tion. ^Ve  have  witnessed,  very  distinctly,  that  the  most  deadly  opponents 
were  men  who  had  arrogated  to  themselves,  exclusively  and  by  way  of  emi- 
nence, the  title  of  "  the  spirituality."  Have  we  not  beheld  those  individuals, 
moved  with  mingled  terror  and  indignation  ;  and  united,  as  one  man,  from 
their  Primate  downwards,  however  vainly,  to  purchase,  and  then  destroy  the 
New  Testament  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour,  because  it  was  in  the  language  of  our 
common  counti'y  ?  In  their  heartfelt  alarm,  have  we  not  observed  them  apply  to 
a  civilian,  the  phoenix  of  his  age,  that  he  might  put  forth  all  his  strength,  and 
his  power  of  sarcasm,  in  opposition  ?  In  the  north  as  well  as  the  south,  a  com- 
mon sense  of  danger  had  prevailed.  A  general  call  to  arms  was,  as  it  were, 
the  order  of  the  day.  The  masses,  with  their  leaders,  were  banded  together  in 
hostility.  But  still,  month  after  month,  nay,  year  after  year,  we  have  seen  the 
di-eaded  Book  arrive,  in  many  ways,  though  by  channels  inexplicable,  and  then 
brave  every  species  of  opposition.  Authority  could  not  command  it  awaj\ 
Neither  could  skill  devise  an  antidote,  nor  power  banish  it  from  the  land. 
Terror  proved  itself  to  be  impotent,  and  all  the  threatenings  of  vengeance  were 
in  vain.     Siu'cly  this  strange  commencement,  this  early  and  emphatic  page  in 


634  CONCLUSIONS  DRAWN  FROM 

the  history  of  our  own  English  Bible,  is  never  to  be  forgotten,  much  luss, 
consif^ned  to  oblivion. 

Tiie  reader  may  liave  perused  Foster's  powerful  Essay  on  Decision  of  Cha- 
racter, at  the  close  of  which  he  has  said — "  I  am  sorry,  and  I  attribute  it  to 
defect  of  memory,  that  a  greater  proportion  of  the  iilustratiuns  which  I  have 
introduced  are  not  as  conspicuous  for  goodness  as  for  jjotrer,"  Martin  Luther 
abroad,  and  John  Howard  at  home,  are  there  indeed  not  forgotten,  and  let 
them  ever  enjoy  deservedly  their  own  high  place  ;  but  let  England,  at  last,  do 
justice  to  one  of  her  own  sons  !  For  goodness  and  power  united,  now  that 
his  history  is  better  known,  we  may  be  permitted  to  hesitate,  whether  this 
Country  ever  produced,  or  even  Europe  at  the  moment,  a  more  valuable,  be- 
cause influential  instance  of  decision  of  character,  than  that  of  William  Tyn- 
dale,  who  died  in  triumph  at  the  stake,  above  nine  years  before  Luther  ex- 
pired on  his  bed  !  Luther,  it  will  bo  remembered,  was  never  expatriated, 
never  from  under  the  kind  protection  of  his  Elector ;  and  in  his  literary  under- 
takings he  ever  enjoyed  the  benefit  or  assistance  of  scholars,  at  least  equal  to 
himself.  He  had  Melancthon,  Justus  Jonas,  and  others,  with  whom  to  consult 
and  advise.  Tyndale  stood  alone,  literally  alone,  whether  at  the  outset,  or  at 
the  close  of  his  career.  Generally  speaking,  he  was  destitute  of  every  support 
or  encouragement.  "  The  lonely  individual  was  placed  in  the  alternative  of 
becoming  the  victim  or  the  antagonist  of  the  power  of  the  empire."  He  never 
had  a  patron,  and  when  hunted  by  English  spies,  or  English  ambassadors,  he 
had  no  Electoral  authority  to  shield  him  from  his  Monarch's  wrath,  or  the 
vengeance  of  his  Ministers.  His  Melancthon  was  taken  from  him,  and  slain 
upon  the  high  places  in  England,  when  he  might  indeed  lament  over  him,  as 
David  did  over  Jonathan  ;  yet  still  he  must  plough  through  the  deep  as  before, 
or  fight  on — and  live — and  die  alone  !  Though  one  of  the  noblest  of  mankind, 
he  expired  at  the  stake,  as  an  outcast  from  all  human  society.  The  world  was 
not  his  friend,  nor  the  world's  law.  Leaving,  however,  his  labours  to  be 
gathered  up  into  the  Bible  of  1537,  he  had  effectually  laid  the  foundation  of 
all  future  versions  or  editions  of  the  English  Scriptures  ;  and  these  ten  long 
years,  from  1526  to  1536,  now  appear  to  be  unquestionably,  among  the  most 
important,  as  influential,  in  the  subsequent  history  of  this  Island. 

But  if  these  years  stand  distinguished  by  a  commencement  and  early  pro- 
gress altogether  irresistible  ;  an  extended  course  began,  not  less  worthy  of 
observation  when  the  Bible  entire  arrived.  Tyndale  and  his  translations, 
whether  of  the  New,  or  of  the  Old  Testament,  had  been  bitterly  opposed, 
though  in  vain.  The  hostility  was  distinctly  and  frequently  expressed  by  the 
King  and  Cardinal,  by  the  Vice-Gerent  or  Vicar-General,  by  Primate  and 
Bishop,  with  all  their  underlings,  by  his  Majesty  in  person,  by  his  Privy  Coun- 
cil as  a  body  :  but  now,  though  the  Translator  be  gone  to  his  reward,  his 
labours  having  been  preserved,  incorporated  into  a  folio  volume,  and  imported 
into  his  native  land,  it  was  meet  that  all  these  adverse  authorities,  without  ex- 
ception, should  be  signally  overruled.  The  course  thus  begun  was  never  to  bo 
abandoned.  Intermeddling  there  was.  A  shew  of  nominal  Royal  authority, 
though  never  of  any  other,  might  and  did  occur  ;  but,  substantially,  all  parties 
must  either  stand  aloof,  or  be  overruled,  down  to  the  present  day.  Henry 
VIII.,  indeed,  might  waver,  but  not  until  as  many  Bibles  had  been  printed,  as 
might  serve,  somewhat  like  Joseph's  corn  in  Egypt,  during  the  famine.  His 
adverse  policy,  too,  then  had  but  little  power,  nay,  the  capriciousness  displayed, 
was  only  calculated  to  whet  curiosity.  Every  one  can  now  see  that  a  book 
half  interdicted,  must  have  been  looked  at  with  the  keener  avidity  in  private. 
The  King  talked  of  his  power  to  give  and  to  restrain  the  Scriptures,  but  these 


THE  PRECEDING  HISTORY.  635 

were  only  vain  words.  He  confessed  his  impotence  before  he  died,  and  this 
was  the  on?y  department  in  which  Henry  ever  did  so.  In  the  reign  of  Edward 
VI.,  liowever  friendly  in  his  own  person,  as  neither  the  Convocation  or  Par- 
liament of  the  Father  had  ever  been  permitted  to  banish  the  book  entirely,  so 
here  they  must  not  interfere  at  all.  Divine  truth  having  free  course  was 
glorified  ;  and  though  Mary  succeeded  with  her  husband  Philip,  we  have  seen 
that  neither  the  one  nor  the  other  were  ever  allowed  to  issue  any  official  de- 
nunciation of  the  book  of  God.  No  doubt  the  Scriptures  were  then  consumed, 
Jis  they  had  been  under  the  father  of  the  Queen,  but  the  great  majority  seem 
to  have  been  preserved.  Many  were  carried  away  ;  many  were  concealed, 
and  even  built  up,  till  a  better  day.  Besides,  these  few  years  were  the  season 
appointed  for  revising  the  translation,  and  once  revised,  the  English  monarch 
was  once  more  to  be  still  more  signally  overruled.  Elizabeth  who  i-uled  over 
every  thing  else,  in  every  other  department,  must  yield  here,  and  never, 
throughout  her  long  reign,  speak  one  word  to  the  contrary.  Her  own  patent 
printer,  too,  shall  be  the  instrument  for  supplying  the  people  with  that  version 
of  the  Bible  for  which  they  called,  and  which  they  continued  to  read,  both  in 
England  and  Scotland,  long  after  her  successor,  James  VI.,  was  in  his  grave. 
To  the  proposal  of  our  present  version,  that  monarch  had  acceded,  at  an 
anomalous  conference,  with  a  few  men,  before  he  was  recognised  by  Parlia- 
ment, as  King ;  but  though  fond,  even  to  ostentation,  of  proclamations,  as  he 
then  never  issued  one  respecting  the  Bible,  and  did  not  live  to  witness  its 
general  adoption,  nor  his  son  either,  the  same  character  for  independence  is 
stamped  upon  the  version  ever  since  in  use.  That  version,  as  already  noticed, 
only  became  the  Bible  of  this  island  entire,  at  a  period  of  all  others  the  most 
impressive  and  significant,  as  to  all  the  authority  residing  in  poor  human 
nature.  It  was  when  there  was  no  king  within  our  borders,  and  many  other 
authorities  were  for  the  time  extinct  ;  but  the  Sovereign  Disposer  of  all  events, 
the  Unseen  Ruler,  was  there.  King  and  Convocation,  Lords  and  Commons, 
for  the  moment  set  aside  or  laid  low,  surely  He  intended  that  his  hand  and 
power  should  have  been  then  observed,  nay,  and  remembered,  from  that  time 
forward.  And,  finally,  to  come  down  to  our  own  day,  when  so  much  has  been 
done,  and  so  much  said,  respecting  the  circulation  of  the  Scriptures,  it  has  not 
been  at  the  bidding  of  any  human  authority  whatever,  whether  civil,  or  what 
is  called  ecclesiastical.  At  a  period  when  combination,  or  association  under 
patronage  has  been  all  the  rage,  and  the  highest  that  could  possibly  be  pro- 
cured has  been  aimed  at,  as  a  great  affair  ;  still,  of  the  Bible  Society,  out  of 
fom*  Sovereigns  in  succession,  on  the  throne,  not  one  of  them  has  been  a  mem- 
ber, nor  has  any  Primate,  or  Prince  of  the  Blood,  ever  presided  at  its  annual 
meeting.  It  has  been  a  movement  of  the  people,  as  the  people,  irrespective  of 
all  their  divisions  ;  and  yet,  on  the  whole,  God  has  been  accomplishing  far 
more  by  men  separately,  than  by  men  combined  :  more  in  the  customary 
course  of  his  kind  Providence,  than  by  what  has  been  called  the  Bible  Society. 

With  regard  to  legislation,  it  is  true,  that  as  Britain  has  been  charged 
with  excess  of  interference,  in  almost  every  thing,  successive  attempts 
we  have  witnessed,  even  here  ;  and  there  have  been  patents  for  print- 
ing, of  which  due  notice  has  been  taken  ;  but  still,  all  along,  the  inte- 
grity of  the  history  of  the  English  Bible  has  been  most  singularly  pre- 
served, and  the  distinct  line  of  an  overruling  Providence  has  been  quite 
visible,  from  first  to  last.     In  holding  on,  throughout  its  entire  course, 


99$  CONCLUSIONS  DRAWN  FSOM 

erer  tBdepcadaat  of  ail  maBoeated  bodies,  u  •mch,  erea  th«  kiMmy  ef 
oar  S»cred  YofanM  eoaei  dodi«d  with  a  prerogatiTe,  or  sorereign  au- 
thoritr,  abore  ererj  thng  dM^  in  the  altape  <rf  rdigknis  history. 

Irresp«ctiTe  of  all  iciiMB»c»  to  intenal  erideDee  m  the  Scriptnxes,  ve 
point  simpij  to  the  proridential  hi^teiy  of  the  hook  hsdf.  It  haa  heen 
kept  distinct,  or,  as  it  were  ab^^re,  jet  among,  this  people,  for  ntore  than 
three  hundred  years  ;  and  nerer  was  the  highest  &Toar  which  God  has 
bestowed  so  kag  note  eon^eeooas  and  abondant,  than  at  the  present 
■iMitnt  li^  st  sack  a  tim^  then  akonld  he  anj,  or  too  many  who  seon 
to  be  iriboDy  w^owinl,  wkeyMr  by  frrkwiMtinl  aelf^i^teoasness,  or 
Mefe  pwrty  spirit ;  still,  it  is  altogether  in  rain  for  any  Community,  as 
rackj  within  the  shores  of  Britain,  to  talk  of  its  strperior  importance 
kere.  All  other  qnestkasj  are  abeohitety  local,  and  snhosdinate.  All 
fwimiticn^  offEr  to  tke  ^e,  hoi  a  aectioB  of  the  pecfl^  or  an  inferior 
cirde.  ETOjoae  of  tkem  is  kere  not  only  ^oken  to  direct,  but  all  alike 
m  kere  prvfidcBtially  ofer-aidied.  Hot  osm;,  withoot  exception,  can 
riM  and  lay  daim  to  the  gkay  of  dmt  Imr  m  Ae  eUmds. 

CSanees  in  snUhiBarj  tking;^  there  have  been  many  ;  •iiviiioni  and 
;  as  to  ita  meaning,  hot  never  has  it  been  permitteil  to  fall 
'  tibe  povei^  mnidk  kas  into  the  keeping  of  any  one  circle.  Nerer 
has  fb  heetx  aDoved  to  become  the  badge,  or  the  partimn  of  a  single 
party.  Not  one  eoold  erer  addicas  anotiher  in  the  style  of  the  Yenedans 
to  tke  Soman  ponlil^  and  aaj — Hat  Boat  i»  wm.  An  kistosieal  erent, 
Aerefiare,  e  \  ieiwliii^  oxer  three  centuries^  wiik  immediato  reference  to 
our  Tonaeaiar  BiUe,  may  certainly  be  prestaned  to  carry  mme  signifi- 
eanee  beyond  tke  external  fatk.  But  if  soi,  that  cannot  be  any  tking  of 
trrnal  moment,  wkiek  sqpeaks  to  all  alike,  and  fiir  so  loi^  a  period.  It 
is  tnie,  only  one  anafde  pnneqile  may  be  all  that  is  inTolred,  though 
it  met  he  one  worthy  of  this  kigk  and  k)og-continued  ojurse  of  proce- 
dare.  Afber  all  this  then,  aonae^  if  not  erery  ratelligent  obserrer,  may 
nov  he  di^oeed  to  pause  a  little^  kavii^  verified  this  anomaly  in  our 
natknal  kislosj.  The  boon  bestowed  ke  has  long  felt  to  be  BritairCa 
lot  h»pe,  thoog^  never  hefiore  pseaented  exactly  in  this  light ;  and  if  the 
peace  and  tanquillitj  of  kis  country  kas  been  supposed  to  depend  upon 
the  harmony  and  stability  of  die  Inatitntions  withia  ha  shores,  he  may 
begin  to  apfaekend  diat  season,  if  not  pns^  may  be  passing  away.  But 
again  ke  turns  to  die  hi^best  gift  bestowed  on  aD  aUke.  In  its  history 
it  now  appears  as  if  it  had  been  unintermptedly  «^nfng  upon  eray  cir- 
cle, withoot  exeepdcm,  to  look  up  for  superior  light ;  or  in  waiting  for 
its  own  peculiar  place  in  tke  wide  coonnnnlty  below — waiting  for  a 
■iijei  mwy  to  wkiA  it  kas  been  all  akiy  entitled. 

Wky  dien  skoold  not  flodi  a  long  and  patient  so^Mnaion  of  tkis  Sacred 
Record,  held  beyond  the  grasp,  or  abore  the  head  of  a  whole  commTinity 
BtiQ  doTided  in  opinion,  not  now  lead  to  a  more  tkoo^itfnl  consideration 


THE  PRECEDING  HISTORY.  637 

of  that  place  which  Infinite  Wisdom  seems  to  be  determined  it  shall  one 
day  occupy  ?  This  might  prove  to  be  an  end  worthy  of  the  long  w<ty  to 
it  ;  since,  in  the  suflBciency  and  explicitness  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  the 
sovereignty  of  God  is  alike  involved.  Beyond  all  question,  a  writing  U 
capable  of  being  so  complete,  that  it  needs  no  addition,  and  shall  this 
completeness  be  any  longer  denied  even  to  the  Divine  Record  1  One  man 
in  this  country,  it  is  granted,  has  long  and  frequently  been  lauded  as 
immortal,  simply  because  of  his  having  said,  that  "  The  Bible,  and  the 
Bible  alone,  was  his  religion."  But  from  his  lips,  as  well  as  from  thou- 
sands who  have  quoted  him,  what  has  this  been  more  than  a  mere  say- 
ing ?  Or  more  than  a  proof  that  even  thousands  may  be  governed  in 
speculation,  by  a  theory,  which  in  practice  they  reject  ?  It  is  quite  pos- 
sible that  here  may  have  lain  the  real  secret  of  ouj  Sacred  Volxmie  hav- 
ing been  so  long  locked  up  in  what  is  called  a  Patent.  Perhaps  we 
have  not  been  tnisted  with  it,  and  are  not  to  be,  tiU  we  are  able  duly  to 
estimate  its  character  and  value  as  a  perfect  standard  of  faith  and 
practice. 

It  has  indeed  been  frequently  said,  that  the  Christians  of  Britain  can 
never  be  one  people,  till  they  become  a  people  of  only  one  Book.  But 
unquestionably,  if  they  do  insist  upon  having  two  centre-points  in  a  circle, 
all  the  lines  drawn  from  both,  must  of  necessity  cross  each  other.  And 
so  it  ever  must  be  till  the  day  when,  as  one  man,  they  contend  for  the 
Sacred  Scriptures  as  the  common  centre  against  aU.  antiquity. 

We  are  now,  however,  able  to  account  historicallj  for  the 
majestic  height,  or  the  magnitude  of  this  cause.  That  Sove- 
reign Book,  in  addition  to  the  supreme  authority  of  its  con- 
tents, has  become  visibly  the  Sovereign  also,  even  in  point  of 
number  and  dispersion  ;  an  event,  which  may  never  have 
been  sufficiently  regarded,  as  containing  in  itself  some  distinct 
and  very  significant  meaning  to  all  who  read  this  version, 
whether  at  home  or  abroad. 

Three  hundred  years  ago,  in  many  parts  of  Europe,  but 
particularly  in  this  country,  both  in  England  and  Scotland, 
the  high  and  keen  dispute  was,  whether  what  they  called  the 
Church,  or  the  Sacred  Scriptures  were  uppermost,  or  which 
was  to  be  regarded  as  supreme  in  point  of  authority.  For 
ages  preceding,  it  had  seemed  to  be  the  former.  At  least,  a 
body,  usurping  that  name,  had  long  wantonly  reigned  over 
them  ;  and  the  use  they  made  of  that  daring  assumption  is 
well  known.  It  brought  on  that  night  of  pitchy  darkness 
which  so  long  brooded  over  Europe.  They  had  taken  away 
the  kev  of  knowledse.  and  substituted  other  kevs.    Thev  had 


638  CONCLUSIONS  DKAWN  FROM 

not  only  closed  or  contemned  the  Sacred  Volume  ;  they  de- 
nied to  the  people  at  largo  the  use  or  even  the  possession  of 
it.  But  the  time  to  favour  Zion,  the  sot  time  was  come.  The 
Almighty  vindicated  his  own  cause  in  this  our  native  land, 
by  way  of  eminence ;  and  after  a  peculiar  manner,  by  the 
power  of  his  oxen  word,  rescued  it  out  of  the  liands  of  those, 
the  profane  rulers  of  darkness.  This  was  His  first  note  of 
interpretation,  which,  for  illustration"'s  sake,  we  ventured  to 
compare  to  the  key-note  in  music ;  and  it  really  seems  to 
vibrate  in  the  ear  now,  as  distinctly  as  it  did  in  August  1537. 

Now,  in  this  kingdom,  where  so  much  has  been  said  about 
the  Church,  ever  since,  perhaps  more  than  in  all  the  world 
besides,  at  present  it  becomes  worthy  of  universal  observation, 
that  God,  by  his  high  providence,  has  all  along,  never  permitted 
his  Word,  in  a  single  instance,  to  fall  into,  much  loss  under, 
the  power  of  any  Church,  so  called,  of  whatever  form,  or  what- 
ever name.  The  supreme  authority  of  the  Scriptures  he  has 
visibly  demonstrated,  before  the  eyes  of  the  nation  at  large, 
by  canning  them,  in  point  of  numbers  and  dispersion,  far, 
very  far  above  the  capacity,  and  beyond  the  narrow  bounds, 
of  any  Church  so  named,  or  of  any  single  community  within 
our  shores.  The  supremacy  of  the  Divine  Word,  though  still 
far  from  being  understood  even  on  British  ground,  a  w'atchful 
Providence  has  not  left  to  expositors,  to  spell  out  or  explain. 
God  has  been  his  own  interpreter,  and  he  has  made  it  plain. 
This  is  one  great  lesson,  which  the  Sovereign  Euler  has  been 
reading  to  this  kingdom  entire,  for  more  than  three  hundred 
years. 

Hence  it  is,  at  the  present  most  eventful  crisis,  whatever 
may  betide  the  country  as  a  whole,  or  whatever  may  await 
any  of  its  more  limited  interests,  that  His  own  cause  stands 
out  before  us,  healthy  and  strong,  and  in  vigorous  operation ; 
far  more  vigorous  than  at  any  previous  period,  and  by  far  the 
highest  undertaking  of  our  (\^a,y.  Forming,  therefore,  as  it 
does,  such  a  commanding  providential  event,  or  a  voice  so 
significant  and  so  loud;  there  may  be  impending  danger  to  all 
subordinate  interests  throughout  the  land,  in  disregarding  it 
any  longer,  or  in  its  not  occupying  that  high  place  in  the 
national  mind,  to  which  it  is  entitled. 

We  need  not  to  be  informed,  that,  under  the  influence  of 
the  present  low  estimation  in  which  some  appear  to  hold  the 


THE  PRKCEDINO  HISTORY.  63y 

Scriptures  themselves,  they  may  reply — "  But  what  is  all 
this  array  at  the  best,  save  an  array  of  means  f''  It  is  even 
so,  though  we  might  first  sa}' ;  but  look  again  and  consider  ; 
it  is  such  an  array,  and  of  such  means  !  After  perusing  such 
a  history  of  the  past,  let  us  have  a  care  how  we  estimate  the 
divine  provision  for  millions.  Substitute  or  exchange  all  these 
volumes  for  men,  right-hearted,  and  what  are  styled  able  meriy 
and  then  point  out  the  difference.  What  would  they  be,  though 
full  in  view,  but  an  array  of  means  ?  Or  before  God,  only  so 
many  ciphers,  without  an  unit,  or  the  root  of  numbers,  before 
them  r'  ^' For  who  is  Paul,  or  icho  Apollos,  but  ministers  by 
whom  ye  believed,  even  as  the  Lord  gave  to  each  of  us?  I  have 
planted,  Apollos  watered,  but  God  gave  the  increase — These 
things  brethren,  I  have  applied  to  myself  and  to  Apollos  for  your 
sakes ;  that  ye  might  learn  in  us,  not  to  esteem  any  one,  any 
teacher,  above  what  hath  been  icrittenr  No,  every  thing  is 
beautiful  in  its  own  time  and  place.  The  minister  of  truth 
is  never  to  be  undervalued ;  but  the  Word  of  God  is  the 
sword  of  the  Spirit,  and  that  is  a  sword,  which  is  only  to  be 
wielded  with  eftect,  by  the  arm  of  conscious  weakness.  In 
both  instances,  whether  of  the  Sacred  Volume,  or  the  man  of 
God,  the  life-giving  Spirit  is  all  in  all.  Meanwhile,  at  such 
an  array  of  means,  it  will  not  be  safe  to  wink.  The  event  is 
auspicious,  and  calls  for  deeper  reflection. 

The  uninterrupted  progress,  or  effect  produced. 

In  the  year  1526,  Tyndale's  first  editions  of  the  New  Testament  had 
reached  both  England  and  Scotland,  and  to  enumerate  some  of  the  visi- 
ble consequences  of  the  arrival  on  these  shores  of  this  blessed  book,  has 
been  the  object  of  the  preceding  pages  ;  but  there  is  oiie  effect  by  way  of 
eminence,  which,  even  in  our  own  age,  and  in  the  present  state  of  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland,  imperatively  demands  notice. 

Almost  immediately  after  the  introduction  of  the  Sacred  Volume  in 
our  native  language,  we  saw  it  at  once  divide  the  people,  whether  in 
England  or  Scotland  into  ttoo  bands.  Scarcely  a  month  seems  to  have 
passed  away,  before  this  result  became  visible.  At  first,  indeed,  one  of 
these  divisions  embraced  but  few  in  number,  and  an  appearance  so 
feeble  as  to  be  doomed  to  destruction.  They  were  despised,  as  Benha- 
dad  of  Syria  did  the  Israelites,  and  the  words  once  employed  of  old, 
might  seem  not  inapplicable.  "  The  children  of  Israel  pitched  before 
them,  like  two  little  flocks  of  kids  :  but  the  Syrians  filled  the  country.''^ 
It  will  now  be  remembered,  that  in  those  early  days  the  names  given  to 


640  CONCLUSIONS  DRAWN  KHOM 

these  two  parties  were,  "  the  Friends  of  the  Old  Learning"  and  "  Friends 
of  the  Xew."  Tliuy  are  titles,  to  which,  without  entering  into  any  petty 
controversy,  wc  had  not  only  no  ohjection,  but  adopted  them,  and  for 
certain  reasons,  we  prefer  them  still.  They  convey  nothing  violent,  no- 
thing offensive  in  sound,  and  if  their  actual  import  be  understood,  they 
serve  perfectly  well  to  indicate  by  far  the  most  momentous  division  of 
this  empire.  In  observing  it,  we  need  to  fetch  no  compass,  for  in  a 
straight  and  uninterrupted  line,  we  have  still  the  two  parties  standing 
before  us.  They  are,  as  they  have  ever  been,  for  and  against  the  Sacred 
Scriptures  in  the  vulgar  tongue,  and  their  being  given  to  all,  without 
note  or  comment.  This  division,  as  being  the  first,  and  therefore  the 
most  ancient,  is  one  from  which  the  public  mind  ought  never  to  have 
been  diverted.  It  possesses  the  advantage  of  great  or  perfect  simplicity, 
nor  throughout  the  long  war  of  opinion,  is  there  any  other  by  which  a 
more  distinct  understanding  can  bo  obtained. 

In  the  beginning,  or  from  the  first  moment,  the  friends  of  the  old 
learning  were  opposed  to  the  importation  of  the  Scriptures  in  the  verna- 
cular tongue,  and  above  all  things  deprecated  their  being  given  to  the 
peoi^le.  They  hunted  after  them,  as  wc  have  often  witnessed  ;  they 
ordered  them  to  be  given  up  ;  burnt  them,  and  even  those  who  read 
them,  or  possessed  them  and  refused  to  surrender.  Right  or  wrong,  the 
first  translator  traced  the  misery  of  the  day,  chiefly  to  this  opposition. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  friends  of  the  nevj  learning,  eagerly  sought  after 
the  hated  book ;  they  read  it  with  insatiable  avidity,  and  cleaved  to 
it  in  the  face  of  threatening,  cruelty,  and  bitter  death.  By  them  it  was 
prized,  as  the  book  of  life  and  salvation,  as  the  voice  of  God,  as  the  book 
of  the  soul ;  and  still  it  went  on  to  prove,  as  it  had  declared,  "  mighty 
in  operation."  Even  its  first  arrival  had  served  to  shew  its  power, 
though  we  need  not  now  to  say  any  more  of  its  having  so  agitated  the 
men  of  the  Metropolis,  and  both  the  Universities  ;  of  its  rendering  alto- 
gether abortive  the  magnificent  and  deep-laid  scheme  of  Wolsley,  at 
Cardinal  College,  Oxford,  to  set  "  learning  against  learning  ;"  or  of  its 
having  so  moved  the  students  at  Cambridge  and  Oxford,  as  to  cause  the 
Primate  of  England  to  wail  over  the  change.  We  have  only  to  remem- 
ber the  many  other  minds,  on  which  divine  truth  took  so  deep  a  hold, 
and  these  belonging  to  no  professed  seat  of  learning.  The  thirst  seemed 
as  if  it  never  could  be  satisfied.  The  common  people  heard,  or  read 
gladly. 

In  process  of  time,  however,  the  gentlemen  of  "  the  old  learning," 
finding  that  all  threatening  and  denunciation  were  in  vain  ;  having 
failed  to  exterminate  the  Scriptures  themselves,  and  failing  in  power  to 
consign  their  opponents  to  the  flames,  it  was  not  long  before  they  had 
brought  forward  what  they  styled  other  authorities  to  be  obeyed,  be- 
side that  which   was  daily   proving  itself,  and    so  powerfully,   to   be 


THE  PRECEDING  HISTORY.  641 

SUPREME.    In  fear  of  losing  their  influence,  and  with  it  their  emoluments, 
other  weapons  must  be  employed.     They  talked  learnedly  about  anti- 
quity.    They  mooted  the  authority  of  the  Church,  even  such  as  it  had 
been  in  their  own  hands,  and  the  authority  of  ancient  doctors,  styled 
the  Fathers ;  upon  which,  far  too  many  of  their  opponents  with  blind 
simplicity  followed  them  ;  whether  by  way  of  argument  or  in  the  way  of 
compliance,  to  prove  their  skill  in  polemics.   Certainly  these,  though  the 
professed  friends  of  the  "  new  learning,"  had  never  intended  to  weaken 
or  betray  the  rising  cause  for  one  moment,  and  much  less  for  genera- 
tions to  come  ;  but  in  thus  acting,  they  but  little  knew  what  they  were 
about,  or  what  they  had  done.     As  yet  far,  very  far  from  being  suffi- 
ciently grounded  in  the  paramount,  the  exclusive  authority  of  the  Word 
of  God,  they  were  not  alive  to  the  fact,  that  there,  and  there  alone,  they 
were  impregnable.     Had  they  but  firmly  maintained,  that  the  testimony 
of  God  was  the  exclusive  basis  on  which  belief,  as  an  imperative  or  reli- 
gious duty  can  rest,  the  only  evidence  by  which  the  truths  there  re- 
vealed can  be  established,  and  that  all  obedience  must  be  regulated  by 
the  same  divine  and  unerring  standard  ;  then  might  they,  in  a  state  of 
perfect  serenity  and  assiu'ance,  have  waited  patiently  for  Jehovah,  as 
being  his  own  interpreter.     Then  and  there,  all  the  darts  of  the  enemy 
must  have  proved  as  stubble,  and  they  might  have  smiled  at  the  shaking 
of  any  spear.     But  once  drawn  aside,  once  moving  away  from  this  first 
principle,  whether  for  the  mere  sake  of  argument,  or  in  vain  hope  of 
conquest,  they  were  ut^oto.  forbidden  ground  ;  and  every  act  of  comj)liance 
proved  to  be  an  instance,  not  of  child-like,  but  of  childish  simplicity, 
only  far  worse  in  its  consequence's.     Had  they  possessed  no  more  than  a 
just  apprehension  of  the  Divine  Majesty,  that  is,  of  his  supremacy  in 
power  and  efficacy,  they  must  have  remembered,  that  of  nothing  is  He 
more  jealous  than  of  his  sovereignty ;  but  that  by  such  a  course  the  Sa- 
cred Volume  was  virtually  dethroned.    "  The  only  book  left  us  of  Divine 
authority,  not  in  any  thing  more  Divine  than  in  its  all-sufficiency,''''  was 
thus  not  treated  with  reverence  due.     And  what  then  ensued  ?     Have 
we  not  seen  gentlemen,  leaders,  or  professors,  of  both  "  learnings,"  met 
at  one  common  table,  and  discussing  these  several  authorities  ?     And 
have  we  not  witnessed  too  many  following  their  example  1     The  Sacred 
Volume,  it  is  true,  had  been  given  to  the  people  providentially,  and  in- 
dependently of  all  these  men,  and  its  progress  to  the  present  hour  has 
been  conducted  after  a  similar  fashion  ;  but  it  is  to  this  sad,  this  heed- 
less and  mistaken  movement,  that  we  are  to  ascribe  in  a  great  degree 
the  history  and  mystery  of  these  two  classes  within  this  kingdom.     Thus 
it  was  in  the  beginning,  that,  vmder  the  shew  of  argument,  the  adherents 
of  the  old  learning  contrived  to  maintain  their  ground,  nay,  and  prolong 
the  existence  of  their  "  learning  ;"  for  precisely  so  have  they  acted, 
from  time  to  time,  as  occasion  has  offered,  ever  since.   The  party,  indeed, 
VOL.  ir.  2  s 


fi42  CONCLUSIONS  DRAWN  FROM 

cannot  now  boast  that  they  are  one  and  indivisible,  any  more  than  their 
opponents,  for  it  is  under  more  names  than  one,  that  the  old  learning 
has  still  lingered  throughout  the  land.  From  generation  to  generation, 
its  votaries  have  survived,  and  certainly  they  have  been  over-ruled  to 
serve  one  valuable  purpose  ;  that  of  ever  and  anon  recalling,  if  not 
driving,  the  friends  of  the  new  learning,  to  their  first  fundamental  prin- 
ciple. That  princij)le  was  the  supreme  authority  and  all-svfficienci/  of 
the  Sacred  Volu7ne  ;  and  had  this  only  been  regarded  as  the  pole-star,  and 
followed  fearlessly,  long  before  the  present  day,  though  not  upon  a  sea 
which  knows  no  storms,  the  natives  of  Britain  must  have  been  under  a 
clearer  sky.  On  the  contrary,  too  many  of  the  adherents  of  the  new 
learning,  though  never  done  with  repeating  their  favourite  maxim  re- 
specting the  Bible,  and  the  Bible  alone,  have  ever  since  treated  it  chiefly 
as  a  sheet  anchor,  and  as  if  it  were  to  be  resorted  to  only  when  assailed 
by  a  storm  ;  though  it  was  given  them  also  as  a  chart  to  guide  through 
all  the  perils  of  the  deep.  A  grand  and  fundamental  first  principle, 
nay,  the  very  highest,  carrying  with  it  more  than  the  certainty  which 
characterizes  the  principles  of  any  science  or  art,  has  never  yet  been  duly 
revered  or  followed  out.  On  the  contrary,  there  seems  to  have  been  for 
ages  a  secret  dread  of  its  being  brought  into  use  ;  although  never  till  the 
authority  and  completeness  of  Divine  Revelation  be  better  understood, 
can  there  be  less  than  two  opinions,  or  parties  ;  and  these  two,  as  main- 
tained hitherto  by  not  a  few  who  have  received  the  Scriptures,  leading 
to  many  more.  Such,  however,  was  the  first  great  controversy  in  Britain, 
and  as  it  took  precedence  of  all  others  in  point  of  time,  so,  as  first  in 
point  of  im20ortance,  even  in  oui-  o^vn  day  it  is  abundantly  manifest,  that 
all  subsequent,  all  subordinate  points  of  difference,  submissively  icait 
upon  its  progress,  and  upon  its  decision  even  still. 

On  looking  back  throughout  these  three  hundred  years,  it  now  becomes 
worthy  of  careful  observation,  that  whenever  the  question  of  authority  has  been 
revived,  aside  from  that  of  Scripture  itself,  or  whenever  the  authority  of  what 
is  called  Antiquity,  Tradition,  the  Fathers,  or  the  Church  has  been  brought 
forward,  with  whatever  appearance  of  modesty,  and  in  language  however  im- 
posing ;  this  has  uniformly  turned  out  to  be  no  other  than  either  a  disparage- 
ment of  the  Sacred  Volume,  or  a  covert  attack  upon  Divine  Revelation  itself. 
Had  the  friends  of  tlie  new  learning,  instead  of  too  often  slumbering  or  sleep- 
ing, not  merely  brandished  their  first  fundamental  axiom,  but  in  good  faith, 
and  as  in  duty  bound,  acted  upon  it ;  the  mere  mention  of  such  authorities 
would  have  roused  them.  Instantaneously,  they  must  have  augured  tliat  the 
gentlemen  of  "  the  old  learning"  were  nigh,  that  the  hand  of  their  ancient 
enemy  was  upon  them.  Or  in  other  words,  that  the  all-sufficiency  or  supre- 
macy of  the  Sacred  Volume,  was  about  to  be  impugned.  The  votaries  of  the 
old  learning,  it  is  time,  have  long  left  this  designation  behind  them  ;  they  have 
often  since  also  made  their  bow  to  the  Bible,  and  spoken  of  it  in  terms  of  ap- 
parent respect  ;  but  he  must  be  but  a  novice  in  tlie  tactics  practised,  so  often 
and  so  long,  who  does  not  at  once  perceive  tliat  the  profane  idea  of  the  in/uffi- 
riencv  of  the  Sacred  Word  to  settle  every  point  of  faith  and  practice  is  cherished 


THE  PRECEDING  HISTORY.  G^S 

still.  Indeed,  whenevci*,  .it  any  pei'iod,  this  controversy  has  been  revived,  this 
bad  and  baneful  sentiment  has  not  merely  been  cherished,  but  expressed  with 
ns  much  bold  impiety,  as  it  was  in  the  sixteenth  century. 

Of  this  early  and  mistaken  movement,  and  its  former  injurious  consequences, 
many  proofs  might  be  adduced,  for  we  must  still,  at  this  hour,  rigidly  insist 
upon  our  iiro-fold  division  of  the  people,  whether  in  England  or  Scotland. 
Whatever  names,  professionally,  subsequent  disputants  might  and  did  assume, 
whenever  they  symbolized  with  the  gentlemen  of  the  old  learning,  to  prevent 
all  mystery  or  mistake,  and  see  clearly  how  the  nation  has  stood,  or  stands  at 
the  present  moment,  they  must,  in  historical  propriety,  ever  be  ranked  under 
the  same  geuei-al  title. 

Perhaps  one  of  the  most  learned  and  able  Conferences  between  the  old  and 
new  learning  party,  was  held  in  1584,  by  the  very  same  man  who  proposed  our 
present  version  of  the  Scriptures  at  Hampton  Court  in  1  (j03.-0  But  to  pass  by 
intennediate  instances,  if  we  come  down  to  the  next  century,  or  more  than  a 
hundred  yeai"s  after  the  reception  of  the  Sacred  Volume,  it  was  with  this  perni- 
cious confusion,  of  Divine  with  human  authority,  that  Milton,  among  others  in 
his  day,  seems  to  have  been  so  much  annoyed.     "  As  if,"  said  he — 

"  As  if  the  Divine  Scripture  wanted  a  supplement,  and  were  to  be  eked  out, 
they  cannot  think  any  doubt  resolved,  and  any  doctrine  confirmed,  unless  they 
run  to  that  indigested  heap  and  fry  of  authors,  which  they  call  Antiquity. 
Whatsoever  time,  or  the  heedless  hand  of  blind  chance,  hath  drawn  from  of 
old  to  this  present,  in  her  huge  drag-net,  whether  fish  or  sea-weed,  shells  or 
shrubs,  unpicked,  unchosen,  those  are  the  Fathers.  Seeing,  therefore,  some 
men,  deeply  conversant  in  books,  have  had  so  little  care  of  late,  to  giA'e  the 
world  a  better  account  of  their  reading,  than  by  divulging  needless  tractates, 
stuffed  with  specious  names  of  Ignatius  and  Polycarpus  ;  with  fragments  of 
old  martyrologies  and  legends  ;  to  distract  and  stagger  the  multitude  of  credu- 
lous readers,  and  mislead  them  fi'om  their  strong  guards  and  places  of  safety, 
under  the  tuition  of  Holy  Wi*it :  it  came  into  my  thoughts  to  persuade  myself, 
setting  all  distances  and  nice  respects  aside,  that  I  could  do  religion  and  my 
Country  no  better  service  for  the  time,  than  doing  my  utmost  endeavour  to 
recall  the  people  of  God  from  this  vain  foraging  after  straw,  and  to  reduce 
them  to  their  fimi  stations  under  the  standard  of  the  gospel  ;  by  making  ap- 
pear to  them,  first  the  insufficiency,  next  the  inconveniency,  and  lastly  the 
impiety  of  these  gay  testimonies,  that  their  great  Doctors  would  bring  them  to 
dote  on." 

Such  confusion  in  debate,  howevei',  such  departure  from  our  "  strong  guards 
and  places  of  safety  under  the  tuition  of  Holy  writ,"  it  is  well  known,  was  not 


20  "  The  Conference  between  John  Rainolde  and  John  Hart  "—first  published  in  1588,  again 
in  1610;  and  attested  by  his  opponent  to  be  "  the  faitliful  report  of  that  which  passed  in  con- 
ference between  them."  Rainolde  maintaining  the  supreme  authority  of  Scripture,  as  well  as 
its  being  the  only  touchstone  of  truth  in  religion  ;  and  once  bowing  to  this  authority  as  revealed 
in  Scripture,  its  believers,  he  insisted,  were  a  free  people,  having  neither  visible  altar  or  visible 
sacrifices  to  lay  thereon.  But  "  with  their  spiritual  sacrifices  of  praise,  they  may  nowsing  the 
songs  of  the  Lord  in  all  places.  To  them  no  land  is  strange  ;  no  ground  unholy.  Every  coast 
is  Jewry,  every  town  Jerusalem,  every  house  Zion,  and  every  faithful  company,  yea,  every 
faithful  body,  a  temple  in  which  they  may  serve  God."  What  then  would  Rainolde  have  said, 
had  he  lived  in  our  day,  and  witnessed  the  wondrous  dispersion  of  the  version  he  proposed  ?  In 
his  view,  at  this  moment,  he  would  have  had  every  one  of  the  devout  readers  of  his  f;nglish 
Bible,  whether  abroad  or  at  home,  near  or  afar  off,  to  have  felt  his  true  elevation,  and  all  to 
hare  united  in  one  chorus — 

"  To  me  remains  nor  place  nor  time ;  My  country  is  in  ev'ry  clime, 
1  can  be  calm  and  free  from  care — On  any  shore,  since  God  is  there' 


C4+  CONCLUSIONS  DRAWN  PROM 

tlu'ii  to  dio  away.  Tlic  "  mistress  island  of  ull  tlic  Britisli,"  as  Milton  styled 
it,  has  had  its  share  of  panics,  and  for  two  hundred  years,  has  been  more  or 
less  so  agitated  ever  since.  The  living  heirs  or  representatives  of  the  gentle- 
men of  "  the  old  learning,"  still  survive,  and  though  under  other  designations, 
not  only  hold  the  precise  sentiments  of  their  forefathers  with  as  finn  a  grasp, 
but  with  as  much  of  spcciousness,  as  they  ever  displayed.  Never,  at  any  pre- 
vious period  have  they  succeeded  to  such  extent,  in  beguiling  away  the  mindfl 
of  many  from  the  main  question,  so  held  up  by  God  for  ages  before  this 
nation,  and  from  that  vital  ^jco-fold  division,  which  has  existed  down  to  the  pre- 
sent hour.  In  proof  of  this,  it  may  only  be  observed,  that,  in  refci-ence  to 
Christianity  itself,  there  is  a  point,  which,  in  these  eventful  times,  has  been 
supposed  by  thousands,  and  even  of  the  "  new  learning  party,"  to  have  no  supe- 
rior. It  has  therefore  been  frequently  referred  to  by  them,  as  "  the  question 
of  questions,"  relating  to  what  is  called  the  Church.  A  short  time  now,  may 
discover  the  mistake,  for  there  is  a  point  superior,  and  being  one  where  God 
alone  is  specially  concerned,  sooner  or  later  it  must  have  the  precedence,  and 
the  sovereignty  belonging  to  it,  by  itself  alone.  Throughout  all  Europe,  but 
especially  in  this  country,  there  is  a  j^rerious  question,  and  if  so,  it  must  be 
first  settled,  before  confusion  can  cease.  After  a  controversy  of  more  than 
three  hundred  years,  standing  upon  British  ground  may  we  not  cherish  the 
hope  that  Ho  will  "  magnify  his  word  above  all  his  name  !"'  Here  seems  to  be 
the  question,  which  must  be  more  fully  met,  than  it  has  ever  yet  been,  and 
in  a  far  different  manner,  before  the  general  surface  of  this  kingdom  can 
exhibit  any  thing  superior  to  "  the  working  of  the  sea  before  a  calm,"  rocking 
itself  to  rest. 

On  glancing  backward,  we  have  already  witnessed,  for  about  forty  years,  all 
the  heart-stirring  activity  displayed  in  circulating  the  Bible,  without  note  and 
comment,  more  especially  in  the  English  tongue  ;  while  those  who  were  thus 
employed  have  been  very  slow  to  believe  that  there  would  be,  or  could  be,  any 
reaction,  in  such  a  country  as  this  ;  and  now  that  it  is  bubbling  up,  and  rising 
to  the  sui-face,  many  have  expressed  great  astonishment,  that  such  a  thing 
should  be  found  in  all  England.  They  must  have  been  slumbering,  however, 
nay,  sleeping,  for  even  still  their  eyes  are  far  from  being  fully  opened.  Our 
own  particular  interests,  our  own  religious  circles,  have  seemed  to  be  all  in  all. 
"  It  is  especially  necessary,  in  the  present  day,"  says  one  party,  "  that  we 
should  look  to  our  oien  Church  as  our  divinely-appointed  guardian  and  instruc- 
tor ;  as  light,  and  as,  consequently,  refuge  !"  And  so,  too  many  appear  to 
have  felt,  till  the  enemy  is  actually  at  the  gates  ;  nay,  and  within  the  gates. 
The  truth  is,  that,  after  their  own  ancient  fashion,  the  gentlemen  of  "  the  old 
learning"  have  been  up  for  yeai"s,  and  working  with  unprecedented  activity. 
Whether  unobserved,  or  not  rightly  understood  by  the  friends  of  Divine  Reve- 
lation, the  reaction  in  this  kingdom  is  now  of  above  tirenty-seren  years'  standing, 
and  in  regular  progi'cssion. 

As  long  ago  as  the  year  1817,  a  learned  and  acute  disciple  of  the  old  leai-n- 
ing,  though  living  on  the  continent,  then  foresaw  the  rising  of  this  cloud,  and 
hailed  its  appearance  with  joy,  as  certainly  to  advance  in  the  direction  of 
Rome.  "  O  noble  England,"  said  he,  "  you  formerly  were  the  first  enemies 
of  unity  ;  today  the  honour  of  bringing  it  back  in  Europe  devolves  upon 
yoM."2l     Without  entering  into  the  grounds  of  his  prescience,  a  few  leading 


ii  Count   lie  Maittre  in  his  work  entitled  'Du  Pape".  1817,  pp.  4iT-42«.     The  Count  died  in 
1B21. 


THE  PRECEDING  HISTORY.  645 

facts  may  be  left  to  speak  for  themselves.  Only  three  years  before  this,  it  is 
true,  the  cause  of  Divine  truth  appeared  to  wear  a  very  different  aspect,  at 
least  in  the  eyes  of  one  man,  Herbert  Marsh,  the  late  Bishop  of  Peterborough. 
"  I  have  long  since,"  said  he,  "  abandoned  the  thought  of  opposing  the  Bible 
Society.  When  an  institution  is  supported  with  all  the  fervour  of  religious 
enthusiasm,  and  is  aided  by  the  weight  of  such  powerful  additional  causes,  an 
attempt  to  oppose  it,  is  like  attempting  to  oppose  a  torrent  of  burning  lava 
that  issues  from  Etna  or  Vesuvius."  Yet  but  a  very  short  period  had  elapsed, 
when  three  English  Bishops,  Tomline  of  Lincoln,  Law  of  Chester,  and  Good- 
enough  of  Carlisle,  had  declared  their  sentiments,  as  adverse  to  this  mode  of 
circulating  universally  the  English  Bible,  without  note  and  comment.  What 
would  these  parties  have  said,  had  they  been  aware  of  the  fact,  that  Divine 
Providence,  at  the  moment,  was  accomplishing  as  much,  or  more,  in  tlie  way 
of  dispersing  the  English  Bible  by  sale,  icithout  any  mode  at  all  different  from 
the  usual  current,  for  centuries  ? 

It  so  happened,  however,  that  the  opposition  fi'om  abroad  was  simultaneous. 
Since  the  year  181G  three  pontiffs,  out  of  four,  in  succession,  have  not  failed  to 
speak  out,  again  and  again,  rallying  the  votaries  of  "  the  old  learning"  to 
action.22  At  the  same  moment  in  which  Count  de  Maistre  was  publishing  his 
sentiments,  another  English  prelate,  Sparke  of  Ely,  had  spoken  out,  besides 
other  men  of  inferior  grade,  both  in  England  and  Ireland.  This  leaven  must 
then  be  left  to  ferment  and  fester  for  years,  till,  at  last,  the  good  people  of 
England  were  to  have  their  attention  very  gradually  directed  to  specious 
TRACTATES  oncc  more.  In  these,  too,  as  in  Milton's  age,  the  names  of  "  Ignatius 
and  Polycarpus,"  with  many  others,  were  to  be  introduced  in  due  season.  The 
garb  of  great  ceremonial  sanctity  was  to  be  assumed,  and  the  danger  of  being 
polluted  by  the  touch  of  the  cei-emonially  unclean  was  to  be  explained.  The 
prevailing  irreverence  of  the  age  was  to  be  condemned,  and  none  of  the  popular 
and  bad  ways  of  the  world  were  ever  to  be  theirs.  We  employ  only  such 
terms  as  thej*  have  themselves  afforded  ;  and  yet  with  singular  inconsistency, 
all  these  years  have  they  been  carrying  on  their  cause  anonymously,  through 
that  once  hated,  and  often  much  abused  engine — the  printing  press.  They 
commenced  cautiously,  with  no  more  than  four  pages,  at  the  easy  charge  of 
one  jienny,  rismg  by  degrees,  in  quantity  and  price,  as  their  readers  were  able 
to  bear  them,  till  they  reached  to  more  than  five  volumes  octavo,  in  the  course 
of  ten  years.  Editors  of  newspapers  and  proprietors  of  reviews,  have  been  in 
constant  requisition,  to  say  nothing  of  poems  and  travels,  nay,  and  even  novels 
and  books  for  children.  Though  resident  in  England,  in  the  nineteenth  century, 
nay,  understood  to  be  friends  of  the  new  learning,  but  certainly  living  on  its 
emoluments,  it  is  curious  enough,  that  these  writers  actually  moan  over  their 
situation,  as  analogous  to  that  of  "  the  Jews  in  Babylon  ;"  while  it  is  worthy 
of  notice  that  they  have  been  in  constant  anticipation  of  some  great  approach- 
ing conflict.  For  the  ten  years  referred  to,  they  have  been  mustering  their 
forces  under  this  expressive  motto — "  If  the  trumpet  give  an  uncertain  sound, 
who  shall  prepare  himself  for  the  battle  ?"  Such,  in  our  day,  are  the  gentlemen 
of  the  old  learning. 

Now,  notwithstanding  this  singular  motto,  in  the  entii-e  compass  of  the  Eng- 
lish language  it  would  be  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  find  any  five  volumes 
octavo,  so  fully  charged  with  sentences  of  uncertain  or  ambiguous  meaning,  to 


M  The  Cardinals  Chiaramonte,  Delia  Genga,  and  Capellari,  iiassiiiR  iiiidci  the  titlts  of  Pius 
VII.,  Leo  XII.,  and  Gregory  XVI.,  as  to  be  mentioned  presently. 


(M-n  CONCLUSIONS  DRAWN  FROM 

sav  nothing  here  of  other  qualities.  Wliatever  may  bo  thought  of  the  trumpet, 
"  uncertainty  of  sound  "  has  been  the  perpetual  eomplaint  of  readers  not  a  few. 
Tiiis,  however,  need  to  have  awakened  no  surprise,  now  that  these  writers,  in 
their  fifth  volume,  have,  at  last,  divulged  that  in  their  system — mystcrtj  and 
reserve  arc  two  cardinal  points. 

So  far  a-s  Christianity  itself  is  concerned,  the  confusion  which  reigns  through- 
out these  Tracts,  between  what  is  external  and  internal,  between  bodily  service 
and  the  operations  of  the  mind  ;  between  repentance  towards  God,  or  faith 
towards  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  obedience  to  revealed  positive  institu- 
tions ;  between  the  rest,  the  perfect  rest  to  the  conscience  which  the  Saviour 
ei'ires,  upon  believing  in  Him,  and  the  rest  to  the  soul  which  the  obedient  be- 
liever finds  in  his  service  ;  the  radical  distinction  between  objective  and  sub- 
jective religion,  or  between  the  glorious  work  of  the  Redeemer  wTought/wr  us, 
and  the  glorious  work  of  the  Spirit  to  be  perfected  in  us — On  all  these  vital 
points,  so  far  from  any  certainty  of  sound,  the  confusion  is  so  frequent,  so  uni- 
form and  complete,  that  no  more  than  one  question  can  present  itself  to  the  in- 
telligent Christian.  What  is  the  cause  ?  For  after  ten  years'  labour,  some  pre- 
siding cause  there  must  be. 

Their  long-drawn  lucubi-ations,  pai-taking  so  much  of  the  darkness  of  the 
night,  on  all  other  subjects,  are  only  effects,  while  it  is  with  the  cause  alone 
that  the  nation,  as  the  nation,  has  been  concerned  from  the  beginning.  Posterity 
may,  and  probably  will,  enquire  with  surprise,  what  had  become  of  the  friends 
of  "  the  new  learning"  all  this  time.  Were  it  not  to  substantiate  that  infinitely 
important  point  with  which  the  admiring  readers  of  the  English  Bible  have  to 
do,  no  consideration  whatever  could  have  induced  us  to  quote  one  sentence  ; 
but  if  the  sickening  sentiments  of  these  writers  have  made  such  progress 
from  the  heart  of  England,  and  in  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century,  it 
would  be  doing  injustice  to  the  history  of  the  Sacred  Volume,  were  we  not  to 
verify  all  that  we  have  asserted.  Uncertainty  of  sound,  may  have  perplexed 
many  readers,  in  reference  to  other  points  ;  but  there  is  unhappily  no  am- 
l>iguity  whatever  with  regard  to  the  Oracles  of  God. 

"  It  is  enough,"  say  they,  "  It  is  enough  that  Scripture  has  been  oveiTuled 
to  contain  the  whole  Christian  faith,  and  that  the  early  Church  so  taught, 
though  its  form  at  first  sight  might  lead  to  an  opposite  conclusion."  "  Yet, 
while  we  admit,  or  rather  maintain,  that  the  Bible  is  the  one  standard  of  faith, 
there  is  no  reason  why  we  should  not  suppose  the  overruling  hand  of  God  to  go 
farther  than  we  are  told  it  has  gone."  "  Both  the  history  of  its  composition, 
and  its  internal  structure,  are  against  its  being  a  complete  depository  of  the 
Divine  Will,  unless  the  early  Church  says  it  is  !  !  Now  the  eai'ly  Church  does 
not  tell  us  this.  It  does  not  seem  to  have  considered  that  a  complete  code  of 
7)wrals,  or  of  Church  (lovernment,  or  of  rites,  or  of  discipline,  is  in  Scripture  ; 
and  therefore  so  far  the  original  improbability  remains  in  force  !  !" 

The  reader  will  mark  here  the  artful  though  absurd  distinction,  di-awn 
between  faith  and  'practice,  or  between  what  we  are  to  believe  and  "  how  we 
are  to  behave  oui*selves  ui  the  house  of  God,"  or  even  anywhere.  But,  again, 
and  as  if  they  had  admitted  too  much,  even  respecting  faith,  they  say — 

"  These  extracts  show  not  only  what  the  Anglican  doctrine  is,  but,  in  par- 
ticular, that  the  phrase  *  rule  of  faith,'  is  no  symbohcal  expression  with  us, 
appropriated  to  some  one  sense  ;  certainly  not  as  a  definition,  or  attribute  of 
Holy  Scripture.  And  it  is  important  to  insist  upon  tliis,  from  the  very  great 
misconceptions  to  which  the  phrase  gives  rise.  Perhaps  its  use  had  better 
BE  avoided  altogether.     In  the  sense  in  which  it  is  commonlv  understood 


THE  PRECEDING  HISTORY.  64? 

at  this  day,  Scripture,  it  is  plain,  is  not,  ou  Anglican  principles,  the  rule 
of  faith  !  !" 

Thus,  with  a  degree  of  boldness  which  might  well  have  startled  all  England, 
so  much  do  these  men  take  it  upon  them  to  say,  on  Anglican  principles,  only 
lamenting  over  the  "  very  great  misconceptions"  and  "  common  understand- 
ing," which  do  not  comport  and  agree  with  their  pernicious  sentiments.  But 
this  is  not  all.  The  Sacred  Volume  itself  has  been  disparaged  by  them,  nay, 
arraigned  and  spoken  of  in  a  style  as  dangerous  to  the  community  as  any  which 
has  ever  been  employed  these  three  hundred  years.  The  oi'iginal  burners  of  the 
Bible  spoke  out,  and  were  not  misunderstood.  There  was  neither  "  mystery" 
uor  "  reserve"  in  them  j  nor  did  they,  like  our  modern  friends  of  the  old  learn- 
ing, plead  hard  for  any.  War  ham  and  Tunstal  denounced  the  New  Testament 
in  English  as  "  pernicious  poison."  Gardiner,  Bonner,  and  others,  raved  against 
the  Scriptures  in  the  \'ulgar  tongue  as  "  dangerous,"  but  these  writers,  in  our 
day,  have  had  the  profanity  to  assail  the  very  style  and  structure,  the  explicit- 
ness  and  adorable  fulness  of  Divine  Revelation  itself.  Like  purblind  men,  out 
of  humour  with  the  stars  in  the  firmament  of  heaven,  for  want  of  system,  they 
are  so  much  so  with  the  Volume  of  Inspiration  itself,  that  it  is  impossible  they 
can  sing,  we  do  not  say  without  reserve,  but  without  hypocrisy,  even  the  nine- 
teenth Psalm.  Levelling  the  Oracles  of  the  most  high  God  with  the  opinions  of 
frail  men,  what  is  the  language  they  have  presumed  to  hold  in  the  ears  of  their 
countrymen  ?    In  love  to  adoration  of  their  "  Fathers,"  they  tell  us, — 

"  If  the  Fathers  contradict  each  other  in  words,  so  do  passages  of  Scripture 
contradict  each  other  ! !"  Nor  will  this  suffice,  "  I  have  above  insisted  much 
upon  this  point,"  says  one  of  these  men,  "  that  if  Scrij^ture  contains  any  religious 
SYSTEJi  at  all,  it  must  contain  it  covertly,  and  teach  it  obscurely,  because  it  is 
altogether  most  m^iETBO'DiCA.L  and  irregular  in  its  structure  J"  Nay,  pinched 
by  an  expression,  which  even  Tunstal  and  Gardiner,  in  their  eax'ly  day,  had 
allowed  to  pass,  viz. — "  Scriptm'e  contains  all  things  necessary  to  be  believed 
to  salvation  ;"  this  insidious,  but  withal  weak  writer,  cannot  permit  it  to  stand, 
without  this  profane  comment.  "  Doubtless,"  says  he,  "  Scripture  contains  all 
things  necessai'y  to  be  believed;  but  there  may  be  things  contained,  which  are 
not  on  the  surface,  and  things  which  belong  to  the  ritual  and  not  to  belief.  Points 
of  faith  may  lie  under  ihe  surface,  points  of  observance  need  not  be  in  Scrip- 
ture AT  all  ! ! " 

After  language  such  as  this,  spoken  and  printed  in  England  in  the  nineteenth 
century,  and  much  more  to  the  same  awful  effect,  and  after  beti'aying  egregious 
ignorance  of  the  meaning  of  many  passages  of  Scriptui-e  itself,  is  it  marvellous 
that  these  anonymous  writex's,  by  good  words  and  fair  speeches,  should  have  been 
ti'ying  to  deceive  the  hearts  of  the  simple  I  They  liave  been  more  than  artfully 
insinuating  that  the  free  circulation  of  the  Sacred  Volume  among  the  people  is  uk- 
NECESSARY  or  INEXPEDIENT,  Hay,  CTcn  o/ DANGEROUS  CONSEQUENCE  ! !  Here,  then, 
beyond  all  question,  we  have  before  us  no  other  than  the  gentlemen  of  "  the  Old 
Learning"  once  more.  They  have  been  overruled,  upon  British  ground,  in  past 
days,  to  liasten  forward  the  cause  of  God,  and  they  will  be  so  again,  but  to  a  more 
glorious  extent  than  ever.  For  above  ten  years  they  have  been  sounding  their 
tioimpet,  far  as  their  feeble  breath  could  carx'y  it,  and  the  only  marvel  has  been, 
where  ax-e  the  friends  of  "  the  New  Learning  ?"  Here  there  need  to  be  no  mis- 
take. There  is  now  no  mystex'y,  no  reserve,  no  uncertain  soimd.  To  tux'n  aside 
after  any  subordinate  point,  to  linger  with  such  opponents,  on  any  subject  what- 
evex',  relating  to  the  credenda  or  agenda,  to  faith  or  px'actice,  would  be  not  only 
time  lost,  but  worse  than  wasted,  or  out  of  place.  This  was,  in  fact,  the  ox'iginal, 
the  old  and  sad  mistake  committed  in  England,  as  already  explained  ;  and  these 


C<-\H  CONCLUSIONS  DUAWN  FROM 

mystical  writers,  for  u  little  season,  may  have  euceecded  in  misleading  a  few  abler 
men  away  from  "  tlieir  strong  guards  and  places  of  safety  under  the  tuition  of 
Holy  Writ."  There  they  might  hav(;  exposed  the  old  enemy,  and  the  root  of  all 
confusion,  and  have  "  recalled  the  j)eople  of  (»od  from  this  vain  foraging  after 
Htraw."  But  our  present  and  main  inquiry  is  after  the  vcritahle  line;il  descend- 
ants of  the  early  "  Friends  of  the  New  Learning."  Let  them  only  give  once  again 
the  ancient  and  "  ccrtiiin  sound,"  and  let  it  be  clearly  seen  who  they  are  that  are 
"  prepared  for  the  battle."  The  first  was  for  the  possession  of  the  Book  itself, 
and  a  more  memorable  one  was  never  sustained  upon  British  ground  ;  let  the 
last,  and  far  more  noble  contest,  bo  for  the  absolute,  the  sole  and  supreme 

AUTHORITY  OF   THE   WoRD  OK  GoD. 

Meanwhile,  it  is  evident  that  Count  de  Maistre,  in  1817,  had  not  been  alto- 
gether without  data,  when  he  hailed  Old  England  as  his  forlorn  hope.  The 
sentiments  of  these  writers  had  afforded  some  gleams  of  comfort,  and  for  some 
years  past  they  have  occasioned  moi-e  heart-felt  joy  to  Old  llome  than  her  pon- 
tiffs and  cardinals  have  tasted  for  ages  ;  but,  strange  to  add,  far  more  than  she 
has  received  from  any  other  European  nation  of  the  day  !  And  if  so,  what  have 
been  the  sentiments  issuing  from  that  quarter  for  moi*e  than  twenty-eight  years 
past  ?     The  pontiff's  themselves  will  explain. 

The  first  man  who  sounded  the  alami  as  to  the  dispersion  of  the  Word  of 
God,  was  Cardinal  Chiaramonte,  or  Pius  VIL  A  prisoner  of  France  till  his 
enlargement  in  1814,  in  two  years  after  he  began  to  speak  out.  By  his  papal 
brief,  dated  1  st  June,  1 8 1 G,  the  Bible  Society  was  "  a  most  crafty  invention,  by 
which  the  very  foundations  of  religion  were  undermined," — that  is,  it  is  here  ac- 
knowledged, of  his  religion, — "  a  pestilence  "  he  adds,  "  and  defilement  of  the  faith, 
most  imminently  dangerous  to  souls!"  This  is  precisely  the  same  language  which 
the  reader  heard  coming  from  the  pens  of  Old  Warham  and  Tunstal,  three  hun- 
dred and  eighteen  years  ago.  On  the  5th  of  May,  1 824,  out  came  an  Encyclical 
(circular)  Letter,  from  Hannibal  dclla  Genga  or  Leo.  XIL,  his  successor,  de- 
nouncing all  such  institutions  as  "  strolling  with  effrontery  throughout  the  world, 
contemning  the  ti-aditions  of  the  Fathers,"  though  not  speaking  one  word  about 
them.  But  then  the  Bible  Society  was  "  labouring  with  all  its  might  to  trans- 
late, or  rather  pervert,  the  Holy  Bible  into  the  ruhjar  language  of  erery  nation." 
And  now,  only  last  year,  or  the  8th  May,  1844,  Cardinal  Capellari,  or  Gregory 
XVL,  has  issued  his  zealous  Encyclical  Letter,  following  up  his  predecessors. 
"  We  confirm,"  says  he,  and  by  Apostolical  authority  renew,  the  aforesaid  direc- 
tions already  issued,  concerning  the  publication,  distribution,  reading,  and  reten- 
tion, of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  translated  into  the  vulgar  tongues." — "  At  the  same 
time  it  will  also  be  your  duty.  Venerable  Brethren,  to  seize  out  of  the  hands  of 
the  faithful,  not  only  Bibles  translated  into  the  vulgar  tongue,  published  contrary 
to  the  directions  of  the  Roman  pontiffs,  but  also  proscribed  or  injurious  books 
of  every  sort,  that  the  faithful  may  be  taught  by  your  monitions  and  authority, 
vhat  sort  of  pasture  they  should  consider  salutary  to  them,  and  irhat  noxious  and 
deadly  !" 

Nor  is  this  all, — see  votaries  of  "  the  Old  Learning,"  in  our  own  Country, 
joined  hand  in  hand  with  this  old  man,  just  verging  on  the  grave,  at  the  age  of 
seventy -nine,  in  the  "  Association"  for  the  propagation  of  such  sentiments,  under 
his  own  immediate  patronage,  and  in  conjunction  with  his  vicars  in  Britain. 
"  The  bond  of  union  amongst  its  members  is  simply  to  recite  a  very  short  prayer 
every  day,  and  to  subscribe  one  half-penny  a  week  to  the  funds  ;"  in  the  distri- 
bution of  which,  "  Scotland  and  the  English  colonics  have  largely  participated." 
Or  witness  "the  College  for  Foreign  Missions"  established  in  Ireland, and  now 
taken  under  the  wing  of  the  Propaganda  at  Rome.     Ma.s3  is  offered  up  every 


THE  PRECEDING  HISTORY.  GiO 

day  for  the  subscribers,  living  and  dead,  and  they  are  all  promised  a  special  share 
in  all  the  masses,  the  prayers,  and  conversions,  which  may  bo  the  fruit  of  this 
institution.  They  are  looking  as  far  as  the  wide  world  for  their  field  of  action, 
and  talk  of  five  hundred  millions  of  their  fellow  creatures  as  "  buried  in  the 
darkness  of  idolatry  /"  In  one  word,  at  no  former  period  in  the  history  of  the 
western  world,  have  the  gentlemen  of  the  Old  Learning  been  more  upon  the 
alert  after  one  object.  To  a  man,  they  all  fight  under  the  old  banner,  though 
by  no  means  after  the  same  fiery  fashion  ;  but  the  inscription  unfurled  is  precisely 
the  same  as  it  w-as  three  hundred  years  ago. — "  No  Bible  is  to  be  tjlren  to  the  people 
of  any  nation  npon  earth  in  their  rernacular  tongue."  To  give  it,  say  [they,  would 
not  only  be  "  profane  eff"rontcry,"  but  uniting  to  spread  "  pestilence"  and  "  de- 
filement" through  the  earth"  I !  Let  the  words  be  noted  down  and  remembered, 
for  when  all  this  is  taken  into  account,  as  coming  from  the  puny  lips  of  dying 
men,  the  long-suffering  of  God  with  Europe,  at  this  late  day,  is  certainly  by  far 
the  most  marvellous  featm-e  in  his  government  of  the  world.  If  men  will  go 
on  after  this  fashion,  as  ripe  for  judgment,  they  must  be  left  to  their  inevitable 
doom. 

It  is  with  our  own  countrymen,  however,  that  we  have  mainly  to  do, 
and  when,  in  conclusion,  one  is  constrained  to  turn  his  eye  to  that  par- 
ticular quarter,  in  England,  from  whence  this  sympathy  with  "  the  Old 
Learning"  has  proceeded,  what  associations  are  these  which  crowd  upon 
the  mind  !  It  seems  as  if  the  spot  had  been  selected,  in  order  to  rouse 
the  public  mind.  Among  all  the  cities  in  Britain,  was  this  that  one 
which  became  the  seat  of  the  yerj  first  printing  press  set  up  in  this  king- 
dom ?  So  it  has  been  affirmed  ;  but  be  that  as  it  may,  there  are  other 
associations  more  than  sufficient  to  awaken  the  mind  and  rivet  the  eye 
of  every  reader  of  his  Bible  in  the  land.  Here  it  was  that  the  morning 
star  first  rose  in  England,  and  so,  over  Europe  ;  when  our  own  Wick- 
liffe  first  opened  to  the  people  of  his  country  the  treasures  of  Divine 
Truth  in  their  mother  tongue.  Here  it  was  where  the  immortal  Tyndale 
first  gave  his  lectures  on  Scripture,  and  then  proceeded  on  his  way. 
And  not  to  mention  others,  here  it  was  where,  a  hundred  and  eighty 
years  ago,  there  was  one  resident  at  Oxford  who  so  nobly  met  the  so- 
phistry of  his  own  day,  in  disparagement  of  that  Sacred  Volume,  which 
he  regarded  with  such  intelligent  and  profound  reverence.  All  that 
profane  and  sophistical  verbiage  which  has  been  repeated  since,  he  seems 
to  have  more  than  answered,  by  anticipation. 

"  It  has,"  said  he,  "  been  a  common  saying  among  the  ancients,  that  even 
Jupiter  could  not  please  all.  But  by  the  objections  I  meet  with  against  the 
Scripture,  I  find  that  the  true  God  himself  is  not  free  from  the  imputations  of 
his  audacious  creatures,  who  impiously  presume  to  quarrel,  as  well  with  his  Re- 
velations as  with  his  Providence,  and  express  no  more  reverence  to  what  He 
hath  dictated  than  to  what  He  doth." — «  For  some  of  them  are  pleased  to  say, 
that  Book  is  too  obscure  ;  others,  that  it  is  iinmetkodical ;  others,  that  it  is  con- 
tradictory to  itself ;  others,  that  its  neighbouring  parts  are  incoherent ;  others, 
that  it  is  unadorned  ;  others,  that  it  is  flat  and  unaffccting  ;  others,  that  it 
abounds  with  useless  repetitions.  And,  indeed,  so  many  and  so  various  are  the 
faults  and  imperfections  imputed  by  these  men  to  the  Scripture,  that  my  wonder 


G5()  CONCLUSIONS  DRAWN  FROM 

at  tlu'in  would  be  almost  as  great  as  my  trouble,  if  1  did  not  also  consider  how 
much  it  is  the  interest  of  the  great  Adversary  of  mankind,  and  especially  of  tho 
Church,  to  depreciate  composures,  which,  IJ  duly  rcrcrenced,  would  prove  so 
destinictivc  to  his  kingdom  and  his  designs." 

In  oppositon  to  the  polluting  and  profane  sentiments  so  arrogantly  put  forth 
by  these  more  modern  objectoi's,  O,  how  different  was  the  view  taken  of  his  Bible 
by  this  illustrious  man  ! 

"  He  that  shall  attentively  survey  that  whole  body  of  canonical  writings  we 
now  call  the  Bible,  and  shall  judiciously  in  their  system  compare  and  confer 
them  witii  each  other,  may  discern  upon  the  whole  matter  so  admirable  a  con- 
texture and  disposition,  as  may  manifest  that  Jiouk  to  be  the  work  of  the  same 
Wisdom  which  so  accurately  composed  the  Book  of  Nature,  and  so  divinely  con- 
trived the  vast  fabric  of  the  world." 

"  When  I  reflect  on  the  Author  and  the  ends  of  Scripture,  and  when  I  allow 
niyself  to  imagine  how  exquisite  a  symmetry  Omniscience  doth,  and  after  ages 
probably  will,  discover  in  the  Scripture's  method,  I  think  it  just  to  check  my 
forward  thoughts,  and  am  reduced  to  think  that  economy  the  wisest  that  is 
chosen  by  a  Wisdom  so  boundless  that  it  can  at  once  survey  all  expedients,  and 
so  imbiasscd,  that  it  hath  no  interest  to  choose  any,  but  for  its  being  fittest," 

But  notwithstanding  "  the  Bible  loses  much  by  not  being  considered  as  a 
system.'"  "  And  as  the  Word  of  God  is  termed  a  Ihjlit,  so  hath  it  this  property 
of  what  it  is  called,  that  both  the  i>lainest  rtistics  may,  if  they  will  not  wilfully 
shut  their  eyes,  by  the  benefit  of  its  light  direct  their  steps  ;  and  the  deejiest  phi- 
losophers may  bo  exercised,  if  not  dazzled,  with  its  abstruser  mysteries.  Thus, 
in  the  Scripture,  the  ignorant  may  learn  all  requisite  knowledge,  and  the  most 
knowing  may  learn  to  discern  their  ignorance. 

And  I  use  the  Scripture,  not  as  an  ai'senal,  to  be  resorted  to  only  for  arms 
and  weapons  to  defend  this  party,  or  to  defeat  its  enemies,  but  as  a  matchless 
temple  where  I  delhjht  to  be,  to  contemplate  the  beauty,  the  symmetry,  and  the  mag- 
nificence of  (he  structure,  and  to  increase  my  awe,  and  excite  my  devotion  to  the 
Deity  there  p>r cached  and  adored  "^^ 

To  that  of  Robert  Boyle,  we  might  have  added,  for  the  last  age,  the  testimony 
of  one  of  the  most  eminent  Oxonians  that  university  ever  produced.  We  refer  to 
Sir  William  Jones,  who  would  have  started  with  horror  at  some  recent  expres- 
sions said  to  have  come  from  that  quarter.  But  every  reader  must  be  familiar 
with  his  language,  and  his  devoted  admiration  of  that  Inspired  Volume,  at  which 
men  of  far  inferior  information  and  attainment  have  sneered.  After  one  of  the 
largest  surveys  which  has,  perhaps,  ever  been  taken  by  one  mind,  he  regai'ded 
the  Scriptures  to  be  the  very  Key  of  Knowledge. 

It  would,  however,  be  doing  great  injustice  to  Oxford,  and  that 
throughout  our  own  times,  did  we  not  discover  something  there  in 
which  there  is  neither  "  mystery"  nor  "  reserve,"  nay,  something  happily 
far  superior  to  any  testimony  from  men.  If  sympathy  Avith  "  the  Old 
Learning"  has  been  oozing  out  from  a  certain  class,  through  the  medium 
of  the  press,  and  though  the  friends  of  the  Nexv  may  have  been  bordering 
upon  slumber,  has  there  been  no  overwhelming  echo  from  the  Oxford 


»a  See  that  admirable  book,—"  Considerations  on  tlie  Style  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  by  the 
Hon.  Robfrt  lioylc.  Bvo.,  16C3.  A  Latin  translation  of  it  was  printed,  intended  most  probably 
for  the  students  at  Oxford.    Oxouia?,  Typis  W.  II  .    Impensis  Kic.  Davis.     16(35. 


THE  PRECEDING  HISTORY.  651 

press  itself  ?  If,  in  times  long  since,  that  City  stands  distinguished  by 
deeds  so  memorable  in  the  history  of  the  English  Bible,  and  sentiments 
so  due  to  the  majesty  and  perfection  of  the  Sacred  Volume  ;  in  coming 
down  to  the  present  day,  has  there  been  no  busy,  no  perpetual,  no  palp- 
able proceeding  there  ?  Has  there  been  no  course  of  action,  regular 
as  the  rising  sun,  and  reminding  us  of  that  Providence  which  we  have 
so  often  observed,  in  such  varied  forms,  for  three  hundred  years  1  Let 
us  look,  and  see. 

It  is  in  this  locality,  for  more  than  ten  years,  that  certain  anonymous 
writers  have  been  very  busy  ;  but  has  nothing  been  doing  there,  in  multi- 
plying the  Sacred  Record  of  which  they  have  thus  dared  to  speak  ?  On  the 
contrary,  and  above  every  other  spot  upon  earth,  has  there  been  a  work 
proceeding,  from  week  to  week,  in  favour  of  those  Scriptures  1  As- 
suredly there  has,  and  even  future  generations  will  be  exulting  in  the 
effects,  when  writers  on  the  times  are  mouldering  in  the  grave.  Among 
the  cities  of  this  kingdom,  or  of  the  world,  the  point  of  distinction  at 
Oxford  is  confined  to  one,  and  that  one  connected  with  the  English 
Bible,  xcithout  note  or  comment.  During  these  years  it  has  been  affirmed 
to  be  within  the  power  of  its  noble  printing  press,  that  they  could  print 
a  Bible  entire,  in  one  minute  !  But  be  this  as  it  may,  the  power  pos- 
sessed has  been  employed  in  giving  existence  to  the  Divine  Record,  in 
oiu:  native  tongue,  and  to  such  an  amount,  that  it  has  exceeded  that  of 
the  presses  of  all  the  cities  in  continental  Eurojie  put  together  !  Even 
London  and  Cambridge,  with  all  their  myriads  of  copies,  have  not  been 
able  to  keep  pace  with  Oxford  alone  ! 

If,  then,  there  has  been  an  enemy  in  this  quarter,  threatening,  how- 
ever feebly,  to  come  in  like  a  flood,  is  no  significance  to  be  attached  to 
the  singular  fact  now  stated  1  Or  rather,  in  the  very  camp  where  he 
has  been  so  long  sounding  his  trumpet,  has  not  a  standard  every  morn- 
ing been  lifted  up  against  him  ?  In  the  conflict  to  which  his  motto  has 
so  often  invited,  although  he  intended  but  a  local  and  far  inferior  one, 
since  the  stress  of  battle,  before  long,  must  bear  on  this  one  point — the 
Sacred  Volume  and  its  all-sufficiency,  whether  for  "  the  plainest  rustic" 
or  "  the  deepest  philosopher  ;"  then  will  it  be  remembered,  as  at  least 
some  encouragement,  that  no  spot  on  the  face  of  the  earth  has  been  so 
distinguished  as  Oxford,  the  school  of  Wickliffe  and  Tyndale,  for  the 
multiplication  of  the  English  Bible. 

If,  however,  the  ancient  contest  between  the  Old  Learning  and  the 
New  is  ever  to  be  revived,  not  only  must  all  "  mystery"  and  "  reserve" 
1)0  dismissed,  but  all  other  consequential  points  be  lost  in  the  grand  one. 
By  the  New  Learning,  as  in  days  of  old,  is  to  be  understood, — tlie  Bible, 
without  note  or  comment,  in  our  vulgar  tongue  ;  and  surely,  if  the  history 
of  the  past  is  admitted  to  be  any  guide  for  the  future,  and  if  there  be 
any  tide,  or  any  voice,  in  human  affairs,  the  Ruler  of  nations  appears  to 


n;.2  CONCLI'.SIONS  DRAWN  KKO.M 

he  suiumouiiig  the  mind  of  Britain,  and  above  every  other  nation,  to  his 
otoi  highest  movement.  If,  then,  this  summons  is  ever  to  he  obeyed,  if  the 
devoted  admirers  of  Divine  Revelation  are  once  more  to  be  favoured  to 
engage  in  this,  the  highest  of  all  warfare,  might  it  not,  as  a  preliminary, 
prove  to  be  the  exercise  of  a  sound  discrimination  or  discerning  wisdom, 
if,  turning  away  from  all  inferior  or  subordinate  sources  of  tunnoil  and 
confusion,  the  liritish  mind  were  afresh  directed,  with  unmitigable  en- 
ergy, to  that  one  division  of  the  people  which  has  in  reality  existed 
throughout  all  the  past,  or  from  the  beginning  ?  Sometime  after  the  in- 
troduction of  the  Sacred  Volume  in  our  native  language,  other  divisions 
of  the  community  in  Britain  there  were,  and  others  since,  far  too  many, 
but  all  these  with  only  one  exception,  have  been  transitory  or  evanescent, 
as  far  as  this  life  itself  is  transitory.  To  all  these  divisions,  the  people  at 
large,  and  in  succession,  have  bid  a  final  adieu,  upon  the  silent  solemn 
shore  of  that  vast  ocean  we  must  sail  so  soon.  Nay,  by  living  survivors,  all 
these  have  been  often  laid  aside  at  the  mouth  of  the  grave.  Not  so  the 
one  uninterrupted,  the  permanent  division,  to  which  we  have  all  along 
adverted,  and  now  allude.  Amidst  the  times  that  have  passed  over  us, 
and  many  changes,  this  has  alike  concerned  every  generation,  and  the 
people  entii-e  have  passed  away  in  succession  in  one  of  only  two  charac- 
ters,— "  Those  xclio  had  received,  and  those  who  had  not  received,  the  love 
of  tlie  truth,  or  the  truth  in  the  love  of  it."  At  first,  in  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury, this  division  soon  became  palpable  or  visible  to  every  eye.  As  if 
it  had  been  expressly  intended  to  explain  to  all  posterity  its  infinite  im- 
jiortance,  to  save  from  all  delusion  or  mistake  in  time  to  come,  it  was 
marked  in  a  manner  never  to  be  forgotten.  It  was  a  division  of  the 
community  then  accompanied  by  distress  in  every  form  of  persecu- 
tion, of  imprisonment,  and  death  l»y  fire.  It  seemed  meet  to  Infinite 
wisdom  to  jjermit,  that  this  line  should  be  drawn  in  Hood,  by  the  awful 
instrvmientality  of  the  rack  and  the  stake,  by  the  flames  and  their  ashes, 
or  pining  death  in  prison  ;  and  though  all  these  horrors  have  passed 
away,  this  line  now  stands  out,  thus  glaringly,  in  authentic  history,  as  a 
division  of  the  entire  community,  from  which  the  eye  of  Omniscience 
all  along  has  never  removed,  nor  ever  will. 

To  this,  the  original  division  of  the  nation  entire,  we  are,  by  the  pre- 
sent narrative,  happily  confined  :  and  if,  to  he  understood,  even  the 
history  of  our  Bible  requires  to  be  studied  by  itself,  in  distinction  from 
all  other  things  in  the  shape  of  a  book  ;  so  unquestionably  does  this 
momentous  division  of  our  countrymen,  as  their  individual  highest 
concern. 

In  these  circumstances,  as  far  as  the  history  of  our  Vernacular  Scrip- 
tures is  concerned,  to  the  existing  generation  the  last  half  century  ap- 
pears to  form  but  one  season,  and  one  now  calling  for  no  transient  retro- 
spect.   An  impressive  period  it  has  been,  not  merely  full  of  importance. 


THE  PRECEDING  HISTORY.  G53 

or  distinguished  for  its  awakening  character,  but  teeming  with  events, 
many  of  which  have  been  fraught  with  consequences.  They  have  been 
germinant  or  prospective  events,  and  the  present  result  is,  in  those  who 
think  at  all  for  their  country,  a  disposition  to  look  forward,  and  in  not 
a  few,  to  look  after  what  is,  or  may  be  approaching.  Now,  with  imme- 
diate reference  to  Scriptural  Christianity,  and  far  apart  from  all  party 
considerations,  one  cannot  fail  to  be  struck  with  a  remarkable  change 
of  feeling  in  the  reflecting  community,  as  prevailing  throughout  the 
Jirst  ten  or  fifteen  years  of  this  period,  and  the  last  ten.  The  feeling  has 
been  the  same,  and  may  be  described  as  one  of  thoughtful  expectation 
in  all.  In  some  over-anxious  and  undisciplined  minds,  it  amounts  to  a 
feeling  of  apprehension  as  to  what  mai/  transpire,  and  they  have  been 
looking  round  about  to  consider  what  has  been,  in  time  past,  the  only 
sheet-anchor  of  their  native  Island. 

During  the  first  ten  years,  the  over-anxious  eye  turned  to  France, 
during  the  last  ten,  strange  to  say,  it  has  done  the  same  to  Italy,  Du- 
ring the  first  ten,  Rome  then  so  depressed,  and  by  France  about  to  be 
laid  lower  still,  excited  no  apprehension  whatever  for  a  single  moment ; 
but  every  post  from  Paris  was  regarded  with  anxious  avidity.  Infideli- 
ty, associated  with  a  species  of  fearful  immorality,  formed  the  subject 
of  general  apprehension  then  :  the  revival  of  what  we  have  all  along 
styled  "  the  Old  Learning,"  with  its  pernicious  cloud  of  superstitious 
observance,  is  deprecated  noiv.  The  first  ten  years,  therefore,  with  those 
which  immediately  succeeded,  may  afi'ord  to  the  existing  age,  some  in- 
valuable lesson,  in  reference  to  the  last  ten.  Some  safe  and  deep  in- 
struction may,  at  present,  be  drawn  from  that  emphatic  summons  of 
awakening.  For  instance,  it  cannot  fail  to  be  distinctly  remembered, 
that  it  was  not  any  of  our  "  Institutions,"  endowed  or  unendoM^ed, 
the  imagined  guardians  or  bulwarks  of  public  virtue,  nor  all  of  them 
leagued  together,  which  were  able  to  roll  back  the  tide  of  infidelity,  or 
prevent  its  incursion  then ;  and  to  every  discerning  mind  it  must  be 
evident,  that  they  are  even  less  able  to  deliver  the  nation,  if  in  any 
crisis  now.  Without  exception,  they  are  engrossed  in  looking  after  their 
own  stability  or  existence.  Deliverance,  therefore,  or  a  brighter  day, 
must  now  arise  from  some  other  quarter,  as  it  did  then.  The  human  pen 
also,  from  the  year  1792,  was  no  less  busy  in  trying  to  stem  the  progress 
of  infidelity  and  foreign  manners,  than  it  has  been  in  our  own  day,  to 
meet  certain  blind,  though,  to  some  minds,  specious  propensities.  But  it 
will  be  remembered  also,  that  the  writings  of  men,  however  able  and 
triumphant  in  reply,  were  but  of  little  avail  then,  and  so  they  have 
proved  nov:.  No,  after  more  than  ten  years  of  serious  apprehension  of 
infidelity,  and  its  invariable  consequences,  as  well  as  able  discussion 
against  both,  after  apologies  for  Christianity,  nay,  an  Apology  for  the 
Bible,  and  after  the  rights  of  man  had  been  confronted  with  "  the  rights 


G54  CONCLUSIONS  DRAWN   FROM 

of  Qod  " — it  was  no  ingenious  theory,  no  new  device,  no  Essay  of  com- 
manding clociucncc,  that  brought  relief,  l)ut  the  mere  fulfilment  of  a 
plain  and  incumhent  duty.  It  was  action  alone,  or,  proi)erly  speaking, 
the  Bible  alone,  that  gained  the  day.  The  simple  proposal  to  dittjyerse 
the  Scriptures  ^oithout  note  or  cominent,  at  home  aiul  abroad,  followed  hy 
the  active  aiid  harmonious  zeal  in  doiiig  so,  brought  deliverance.  Provi- 
dence also,  as  we  have  seen,  has  been  working  wonderfully,  in  the  same  di- 
rection, without  calling  for  any  one  to  look  on,  or'applaud.  By  men  com- 
bined, has  been  accomplished,  what  not  one  among  them  ever  contem- 
plated from  the  beginning  ;  by  men  separately,  what  they  were  led  on 
to  do  in  the  course  of  business.  By  both  agencies  in  combination,  the 
mighty  purpose  has  been  effected  ;  but  perhaps  the  most  striking  view 
to  be  now  taken  of  the  whole  is  this — that  one  'main  intention  of  that 
crisis  was  the  ■multiplication  of  the  Scriptiires  in  the  English  tongue,  not 
in  foreign  languages.  Such,  at  all  events,  has  been  the  result.  Here 
we  arc,  with  a  mighty  and  altogether  unprecedented  amount  of  the 
Divine  Word  in  our  native  tongue,  dispersed  throughout  the  kingdom 
and  its  foreign  dependencies ;  and  yet  at  the  same  time  also,  here  wc 
are,  as  a  nation,  once  more  in  circumstances  so  peculiar  as  to  be  felt  by 
many,  if  not  confessed  by  all. 

At  such  a  crisis  as  the  present,  therefore,  when  not  one  intelligent 
Christian,  of  whatever  persuasion,  can  imagine  that  his  party,  as  it 
stands,  like  Aaron's  rod,  will  ultimately  swallow  up  all  others ;  what 
can  be  the  existing  purpose  or  intention  of  an  overruling  and  ever 
watchful  Providence  ?  Full,  to  overflowing,  with  Divine  revelation,  the 
mere  multiplication  of  the  Scriptures  in  English  cannot  possibly  be  the 
main  intention  now.  The  identical  course  pursued  from  1804  caymot 
now  be  pursued.  We  have  been  brought  forward  to  an  advanced  stage, 
but  it  is  a  stage  only  in  preparation  for  what  is  to  come.  We  may  look 
back,  but  must  look  forward.  It  is  only  a  breathing  time,  which  now 
calls  for  some  vigorous  and  corresponding  exertion,  but  it  must  be  else- 
where. At  this  point,  also,  let  it  not  pass  unheeded,  that  the  whole 
of  the  adjoining  continent,  with  France  included,  is  in  the  act  of  rous- 
ing us  to  duty.  They  are  as  eagerly  bent  upon  the  advancement  of 
their  "  old  learning,"  as  France  herself  once  was  upon  the  spread 
of  her  philosophy.  Abroad,  even  still,  and  though  it  be  one  of  the 
darkest  marks  of  a  pernicious  system,  to  make  religion  emanate  from 
man  himself,  the  old  figment  of  an  universal  Church  founded  on  tradi- 
tion, is  again  held  up,  imblushingly  ;  and  before  the  eye  of  a  nation 
that  for  more  than  three  hundred  years  has  ])een  in  the  uninterrupted 
possession  of  the  "  living  oracles  of  God."  Nay,  and  the  land  of  their 
chief  deposit,  certainly  for  some  specific  reason,  has  providentially  be- 
come the  main  point  of  attack.  Naboth's  vineyard  was  "  hard  by  the 
palace,"  but  though  so  far  distant  from  the  palace  of  tlie  Vatican,  this 


THE  PRECEDING  HISTORY.  €^55 

Island,  like  that  little  vineyard  in  the  eye  of  Ahab,  seems  to  be  coveted 
above  all  other  possessions.  What  can  possibly  have  been  doing  in  this 
kingdom,  to  excite  a  cupidity,  too  fondly  imagined  to  have  been  long 
since  extinct  1  Have  we  lost,  in  any  degree,  the  pertinacity  which  ad- 
heres to  its  purpose  ?  In  the  dispersion  of  the  Scriptui'cs  Britain  has 
been  distinguished  for  thirty  years,  both  for  persistauce  and  persever- 
ance. There  has  been  no  lack  of  ^jemstonce  in  her  continiud  efforts,  as 
to  the  English  Bible.  But  has  there  been  any  relaxation  of  fersever- 
ance  in  her  sejmrate  efforts,  throughout  her  own  foreign  dominions,  or 
the  world  at  large  1    We  must,  of  necessity,  immediately  inquire. 

So  far,  however,  as  the  present  history  is  concerned,  the  actual  state 
of  things  appears  to  be  this  :  There  is  no  sectarian  movement  now 
before  us,  nor  does  any  thing  which  can  be  so  denominated  come  in  our 
way.  But  with  all  her  imperfections  in  the  administration  of  the  affair, 
and,  confessedly,  there  have  been  many  imperfections,  and  far  too  many 
tokens  of  self-applause  ;  still  Britain,  by  her  activity  in  multiplying 
and  dispersing  the  Sacred  Record,  has  drawn  the  eyes  of  the  world 
upon  her,  or,  happily,  far  more  than  the  eye  of  old  Europe.  With 
what  have  been  styled  "  missions,"  therefore,  conducted  by  whomsoever 
they  may,  the  Pontiff,  personally,  does  not  see7n  to  interfere.  These  he 
may  counter- work,  he  imagines  more  effectually,  without  a  bull.  Not 
one  does  he  hold  up  and  denounce  by  name,  except  it  be  one,  though 
little  more  than  proposed,  to  Italy  itself.  But  it  is  the  Sacred  Volume 
in  the  vernacular  tongue,  any  where  and  every  tohere,  upon  which,  in  our 
own  day,  he  discharges  his  gall  of  bitterness  entire.  Thus  it  is,  whether 
British  Christians  become  more  alive  to  the  fact  or  not,  that  three  dif- 
ferent Pontiffs,  out  of  four,  in  regular  succession,  have  been  permitted 
to  signify  to  them,  above  every  other  people,  where  lies  the  strength, 
the  best  or  the  chief  hope  and  mainstay  of  Britain,  and  the  only  ground 
of  security  as  to  her  vast  dominion. 

Time  there  was,  when  the  thunder  of  one  bull  would  have  sufficed  to 
fix  attention  in  this  country,  but  though  three  in  succession  have  failed 
to  excite  much  notice,  and  many  have  never  heard  of  one  ;  still,  if  there 
be  any  relaxation,  if  any  thing  bordering  on  mere  party-spirit,  within 
our  shores,  these  documents  may  well  be  regarded  as  so  many  distinct 
intimations,  that  we  are  neglecting  the  highest  of  all  duties,  and  one 
which  ought  to  be  common,  as  well  as  dear,  to  every  circle  in  the  land . 
There  may  be  those,  it  is  true,  whether  few  or  many,  even  within  this 
country,  who  are  sympathising  with  the  enemy  of  truth  beyond  seas  ; 
others,  for  the  sake  of  pelf,  or  blinded  by  superstition,  ready  to  sell  the 
best  interests  of  their  native  soil ;  and  even  some  but  too  much  re- 
sembling that  Roman  Emperor,  who  is  said  to  have  been  amusing  himself 
with  his  violin,  when  his  capital  was  in  flames  ;  but  in  reality  the  friends 
of  Divine  truth  may  feel  obliged  to  these  three  successive  Pontiffs  ;  and 


656  CONCLUSIONS  DRAWN   KllU.M 

as  tho  preacnt  one,  from  his  age  and  infirmity,  must  soon  cease  to  live, 
tlicre  may  be  a  fourth  frown  on  the  same  cause  presently.  It  is  allow- 
a))le  to  derive  instruction  even  still  from  the  old  Euroj>can  enemy.  Ilis 
opposition  once  contributed  to  the  supply  of  Britain  herself,  and  why 
may  it  not  now  help  to  the  supply  of  even  the  world  in  general  ? 
No  believer  in  Divine  revelation,  it  is  true,  need  to  feel  any  undue  ap- 
prehension at  these  things,  but  it  is  strictly  within  his  province,  to  ob- 
serve the  signs  of  the  times.  Ilis  only  question  must  ever  be, — "  what 
is  the  duty  of  the  day  ?"  And  if  he  tread  only  in  the  footsteps  of  the 
Word  of  God,  he  need  not  to  fear  any  mere  ripple  in  the  waves,  any 
apparent  reflux  in  the  advancing  tide. 

In  the  meanwhile,  since  the  reigning  Pontiff,  unlike  his  predecessor, 
Paul  II.,  is  no  more  wandering  into  the  printing  office  at  Rome  for  his 
amusement  -^^  but  as  it  is  the  vulgar  tongue  in  every  land,  which 
is  now,  as  it  has  ever  been,  the  grand  object  of  dread  in  the  eye  of  the 
enemy,  let  us  first  turn  to  its  actual  aspect,  as  it  regards  the  Sacred 
Scriptures  in  our  own  native  language.  As  a  preliminary  to  renewed, 
but  far  greater  exertion,  this  is  so  animating,  that  every  reader  of  the 
English  Bible  should  be  made  thoroughly  aware  of  it  ;  and  more  espe- 
cially, as  the  sight  may  prove  to  be  of  value,  many  days  hence,  in  re- 
gard to  all  future  and  foreign  operations. 

To  the  present  Readers  of  the  English  Bible. 

After  such  a  history  as  the  past,  and  in  the  existing  state  of  our  Coun- 
try and  its  dependencies,  the  writer  must  own,  that  he  is  drawn,  irre- 
sistibly, and  with  deep  respect,  to  those,  upon  whose  shoulders,  as  instru- 
ments, all  hope  for  future  exertion  must  depend.  Of  course  he  alludes 
to  the  admiring  and  devout  readers  of  our  common  version,  whether  at 
home  or  far  distant.  At  present  we  regard  them  all  as  but  one  com- 
munity, and  the  most  united  upon  the  face  of  the  earth  ;  possessing 
certain  points  of  attraction  to  each  other,  for  which  we  search  in  vain 
throughout  the  world.  Although  the  most  widely  diffused  branch  of 
the  family  of  man,  except  the  Jews,  yet  they  alone  are  in  firm  possession 
of  the  entire  Sacred  Volume  ;  and  once  contemplated  as  a  community 

^Ijcfore  the  eye  of  Ilim  who  never  slumbers,  it  cannot  be  said,  at  any 

o-iven  moment,  that  its  members  have  ceased  to  peruse  or  to  search  the 
same  Divine  Record.  At  any  hour  of  the  twenty-four,  or  rather  any 
minute,  the  eyes  of  some  among  this  body  are  in  the  act  of  resting  on 
the  same  Book  of  Life,  and  that,  from  the  beginning  of  the  year  to  the 
end  of  the  year !  To  be  found  in  the  midst  of  a  people  of  the  same 
tongue,  now  approaching  to  fifty  millions,  and  in  possession  of  Divine 

M  See  Iiilroiluctiori  to  Ihc  first  volume.  pi>.  !\iii.,  lix. 


TITE  PRECEDING  HISTORY.  f;.>7 

Rcvehition  to  an  extent  which  ycrvcs  jis  <'i  contrast  to  the  worhl  ;  these 
favoured  individiuUs,  of  l)oth  sexes,  from  youth  to  old  aj;;e,  are  hourly 
drawn  to  the  same  heavenly  centre  of  attraction  ;  and  however  far 
apart,  there  alone  they  all  alike  find  their  best  and  their  hapjiiest 
moments. 

The  present  age,  with  all  its  faults,  has  been  designated  "  the  age  of 
Bibles  ;"  but  then,  in  the  Readers  we  now  address,  having  this  divine 
and  sovereign  authority  before  their  eyes,  every  page  has  reached  the 
heart  ;  and  no  people  upon  earth  so  feel  the  necessity  for  the  Author's 
presence  ;  or  in  other  words,  for  special  influence  to  accompany  and 
sanction  their  reading.  Already,  however,  the  Divine  Spirit  has  been 
with  His  AVord,  and  as  a  2)reliminary  to  every  other  step,  the  observance 
of  which  is  fitted  to  diffuse  a  friendship,  or  mutual  interest,  never  yet  felt ; 
let  us,  whether  at  home  or  abroad,  near  or  afar  off,  turn  to  that  more 
distinguished  iceekh/ homngo  paid  to  the  Volume  we  alike  revere.  Here 
is  the  point,  the  one  point,  in  which  we  all  meet,  and  it  is  enough.  Even 
in  times  such  as  the  present,  it  is  all-sufficient.  Our  common  centre  of 
attraction,  is  the  only  immovable  centre  of  repose.  It  has  been  said  and 
sung  in  Britain,  in  reference  to  the  world  at  large,  but  merely  as  one  of 
the  blissful  visions  of  futurity — "  The  time  of  rest,  the  promis'd  Sabbath 
comes."  To  us,  however,  one  has  already  come.  As  one  Community,  we 
may  turn  to  it,  one  day  in  seven,  and  in  the  view  now  to  be  presented, 
the  results  of  doing  so  it  is  impossible  to  foresee  or  calculate.  Perhaps, 
in  future,  the  season  should  never  pass  unnoticed  as  a  day  b^  itself — a 
day  which  we  shall  here  distinguish  as — 

THE  SABBATH  OF  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE. 

A  modern  French  writer,  much  in  rapture  with  the  world  of  nature, 
and  anxious  to  interest  his  readers,  has  thus  inquired — 

"  Is  it  not  wonderful,  that  while  you  are  admiring  the  sun  plunging 
beneath  the  western  waves,  another  perceives  him  rising  from  the  re- 
gions of  Aurora  ?  By  what  inconceivable  mystery  is  this  ancient  lumi- 
nary, which  retires  to  rest  weary  and  glowing  in  the  dust  of  the  eve,  the 
same  youthful  orb  that  awakes,  bathed  in  dew,  behind  the  white  cur- 
tains of  the  dawn  ?  Every  moment  of  the  day,  the  sun  is  rising,  glow- 
ing at  his  zenith,  and  setting  on  the  world  ;  or  rather  our  senses  deceive 
us,  and  there  is  no  real  sun-rise,  noon,  or  sun-set.  The  whole  is  reduced 
to  a  fixed  point,  from  which  the  orb  of  day  emits,  at  one  and  the  same 
time,  three  lights  from  one  single  substance.  This  triple  splendour  is 
perhaps  the  most  beautiful  incident  in  Nature  ;  for  while  it  affords  an 
idea  of  the  perpetual  magnificence  and  omnipresence  of  God,  it  exhibits 
a  most  striking  image  of  his  glorious  trinity." 

But  before  the  eyes  of  the  vast  Community  we  now  address,  though  scat- 
tered over  all  the  world,  there  has  already  been  presented  a  superadded 

VOL.   II.  2    T        . 


C.58  CONCLUSIONS  DRAWN  FROM 

and  a  superior  light,  a  gift  inestimable,  where  the  orb  of  day,  and  the 
firmament  he  inhabits,  is  celebrated  in  language  infinitely  surpassing 
this.  There  also  the  boon  bestowed  is  spoken  of,  and  before  going  fai'- 
thcr,  as  no  unsuitable  introduction  to  the  Day,  now  supposed  to  be 
dawning,  in  succession,  upon  us  all,  let  us  listen  to  what  is  there  said  of 
itself,  and  of  its  infinite  value  to  man. 

"  The  law  of  the  Lord  is  iitrfect,— converting  the  soul ; 
The  testimony  of  the  Loud  is  sure, — making  wise  the  simple. 
The  statutes  of  the  Loni)  are  right, — rejoicing  the  heart : 
The  commandment  of  the  Lobp  is  pure, -enlightening  the  eyes. 
The  fear  of  tlie  I.okd  is  clean,— enduring  for  ever : 
The  judgments  of  the  Loud  are  true,  and  righteous  altogether., 
More  to  be  desired  are  they  than  gold,  yea,  than  much  fine  gold  ;  sweeter  also  than  honey, 
and  the  honey  corah.     Moreover,  by  them  is  thy  servant  warned :    And  in  keeping  of  them  there 
is  great  reward." 

Or  take  only  one  description  from  the  New  Testament,  against  which 

our  ancestors  fought  so  furiously  for  more  than  ten  years  complete,  and 

to  the  force  and  beauty  of  which,  many  in  our  own  day  are  still  alas  ! 

but  too  blind — 

"  From  a  Child  thou  hast  known  the  Holy  Scriptures,  which  are  able  to  make  thee  wise  unto 
salvation,  through  faith  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus.  All  Scripture  is  given  by  inspiration  of  God, 
and  is  profitable  for  doctrine,  for  reproof,  for  correction,  for  instruction  in  righteousness ;  that 
the  man  of  God  may  be  perfect,  thoroughly  furnished  unto  all  good  works." 

In  our  world,  men  of  letters  have  sometimes  sighed  after  an  universal 
language,  as  the  medium  by  which  the  contemplative  or  thinking  men 
of  all  nations  might  obtain  possession  of  every  new  discovery,  and  trans- 
fer them,  in  succession  into  their  own  tongue.  But  here,  as  yet,  is  the 
nearest  approach  to  it,  and  it  is  the  more  to  be  observed  and  revered,  as 
being  the  language  not  of  man,  but  of  God.  Situated  as  we  are,  on  the 
morning  of  this  day,  what  though  oceans  wide  do  roll  between  us  ?  We 
are  but  one  peojile,  looking  to  one  common  Standard,  one  unerring 
Guide — the  only  Standard,  and  ultimately  to  be  so  in  all  tongues.  To 
us  it  has  been  given  to  be  the  first,  and,  as  yet,  the  only  people,  repair- 
ing to  it,  on  one  day,  in  every  quarter  of  the  globe  we  inhabit.  Below 
the  heavens,  we  know  no  aspect  of  humanity  more  touching  and  signi- 
ficant than  this.  Surely  it  is  more  than  sufficient  to  awaken  some 
deeper  sympathetic  feeling,  and  feeling  for  good,  than  there  has  ever 
yet  been  cultivated. 

That  period  of  time  to  which  w"e  now  advert,  as  recui'ring  at  every 
seventh  revolution  of  the  sphere,  embraces  one  day  and  night  entire  ; 
and  once  begun,  to  the  admiring  readers  of  the  English  Bible,  considered 
as  a  body,  in  some  resemblance  to  the  sun  in  the  firmament,  there  is  no 
twilight ;  no  evening  shade.  Before  the  Sovereign  Author  of  this  ex- 
traordinary distribution  of  one  people,  in  possession  of  the  same  Sacred 
Record,  it  can  in  truth  be  affirmed — there  is  no  night  there.  Nor  is  He 
ever  more  present  with  them  all,  than  when  they  look  to  Ilira  through 
this  divine  medium. 

It  will,  of   course,  be  understood,   that  we  now  cast  an  eye  not  at 


TlIK  PRECEDIxVG  HISTORY.  ti5!) 

Britain  alone,— a  light  in  which  no  intelligent  man  of  the  present  Jay 
shoukl  ever  regard  this  kingdom.  We  look  also  at  her  dominions,  now- 
held  hy  but  one  imiierativc  condition,  or  that  of  being  subservient  to 
the  designs  of  Providence.  And  here,  as  the  day  we  contemplate  is  a 
day  of  rest  and  reading,  of  worship  and  inquiry,  it  has  no  parallel  in 
any  other  tongue.  The  great  majority  of  reflecting  admirers  is,  no 
doubt,  to  be  found  in  Britain,  Init  long  before  they  have  ceased  from  the 
cares  of  business,  at  the  end  of  the  week,  the  Lord's-day  has  already 
begun  ;  and  long  after  they  have  once  more  drawn  the  curtains  and  re- 
tii-ed  to  rest,  there  are  many  in  the  far  west,  who  are  yet  to  go  on  for 
hours,  exploring  the  same  sacred  page.  We  have  traced  the  English 
Bible  as  being  certainly  in  perusal  above  an  hvmdred  and  seventy  degrees 
east,  and  about  an  hundred  and  eighty  west  of  Greenwich.  The  half- 
hour  out  of  twenty-four,  which  may  yet  easily  be  ascertained,  is,  for  the 
present,  of  no  moment. 

Should  this  very  memorable  day,  however,  be  thus  taken  into  fre- 
quent consideration,  there  is  another  which  will  not  be  forgotten,  and 
it  is  of  equal  length.  It  is  the  day  before.  This  is  perfectly  well 
known,  and  even  to  the  most  influential  members  of  this  singular  com- 
munity. With  them  it  is  a  day  of  research  as  well  as  of  reading  the 
same  common  standard.  Here  there  is  a  positively  ascertained  effort 
of  mind,  of  twenty-four  hours'  duration,  an  uninterrupted  mental  aim 
after  "  rightly  dividing"  the  same  "  word  of  truth."  The  object  in 
view  is  that  the  trumpet  may  give  one  certain  sound,  for  these  men  are 
to  lead  the  devotion  of  myriads  on  the  following  day.  The  ascertained 
fact,  therefore,  is  this,  that  for  a  space  equal  to  not  less  ih-Mi  forty-eight 
hours,  every  week,  the  devoted  attention  of  the  same  people  is  directed 
to  the  same  Sacred  Volume.^^ 


23  But  confining  ourselves  to  the  Lord's-day  itself,  within  the  British  empire  :  any  Saturday 
evening,  were  we  to  place  ourselves  in  England,  at  London,  Oxford,  or  Cambridge,  or  iu  Scot- 
land, at  Edinburgh  or  St.  Andrews,  we  can  see  what  is  sure  to  occur.  To  these  Cities  the  reader 
will  first  remember  how  singularly  were  conveyed  the  Scriptures  of  the  New  Testament  in  1526, 
as  well  as  that  from  that  time  to  the  present  there  has  been  no  interruption  to  this  great  work. 
And  what  is  one  of  the  ascertained  consequences  in  our  day  ?  At  the  close  of  the  week,  and 
some  time  before  the  dead  of  the  night,  the  eye  of  the  English  reader,  not  only  from  England, 
but  America,  is  already  fixed  upon  our  Sacred  Volume,  and,  as  if  it  were  in  echo  to  the  mother- 
country,  it  is  at  a  spot  but  recently  taking  its  name  from  our  reigning  sovereign,  Victoria,  in 
Hong  Kong,  on  the  coast  of  China.  Reading  the  Scriptures,  and  worship  in  the  language  of  the 
largest  associated  population  in  the  world,  the  Chiiwse,  will  not  fail  to  follow  ;  but  from  the  mo- 
ment they  commenced  with  Kntilish  in  the  morning  never  will  many  eyes  be  removed  from  the 
same  sacred  page,  till  the  orb  of  day  passing  over  India,  the  Cape,  Greece,  and  other  parts  of 
Europe— Britain  rises— then  America,  and  the  same  blessed  Book  will  not  be  laid  aside  till  the 
Sabbath-Sun  has  reached  the  far  west,  beyond  another  London  or  Oxford,  or  Toronto,  in  Upper 
Canada.  By  that  time  our  great  Metropolis  has  resumed  the  business  of  the  ensuing  week !  An 
hundred  such  heart-stirring  recollections  might  be  added.  But  wherever  this  far  spread  Record 
is  perused  in  a  Fatii ill/  it  might  answer  some  valuable  ends,  not  only  interesting  the  young,  but 
stimulating  the  old,  were  there  drawn  out  a  distinct  Horolooe  of  the  Knfilislt  BihU;  embracing 
night  and  day,  or  the  twenty-tour  Iioursentire.  The  numerous  localities  being  accurately  ascer- 
tained and  marked,  with  a  moving  centre-liicce,  or  sun,  attached  to  the  card,  the  eye  might 
turn  at  any  hour,  and  know,  almost  to  a  certainty,  one  day  in  seven,  how  others  were  engaged 
all  over  the  World!  Once  furnished  with  the  materials,  we  have  no  doubt  that  some  London 
artist  is  ready  to  take  the  liint,  as  well  as  to  execute  the  thing  in  his  hefct  style. 


(i<;0  CONCLUSIONS  DRAWN  FUOM 

Now,  it  cannot  be  that  such  a  community,  whom  it  is  possible  thus  to 
select,  and  thus  address,  has  yet  fulfilled  the  providential  purpose  of 
its  wide  extension.  By  no  means  ;  for  here  may  already  be  descried  the 
twilight  of  a  brighter  day  than  Britain  has  ever  witnessed.  Whether 
they  be  in  Old  Kngland  or  New  England,  in  Scotland  or  Nova  Scotia, 
in  Middlesex  and  Braidalbin  at  home  or  Middlesex  and  Braidalbin 
abroad,  in  Canada  or  the  Cape  of  South  Africa,  in  India  or  Burmah,  in 
the  Indian  Archipelago,  the  Pacific,  or  on  the  coast  of  China,  this 
favoured  people  of  one  language,  have  been  thus  scattered,  certainly  not 
in  wrath,  but  in  mercy  to  mankind.  "  Thou  hast  scattered  us  among 
the  heathen"  was  the  mournful  complaint  of  the  ancient  Jew  to  his 
God,  because  this  was  the  token  of  his  frown — the  ruin  or  the  death  of 
Judaism  ;  but  this  unprecedented  dispersion  of  one  Gentile  nation  may, 
and  probably  will,  prove  the  life  of  Scriptural  Christianity.  It  was  the 
])rovidcntial  dispersion  of  the  first  community  at  Jerusalem  of  old  which 
gave  birth  to  the  very  name  of  Christian  ;  and  in  this  vastly  greater 
dispersion  of  one  people,  why  may  not  untold  or  unprecedented  good 
be  involved  ? 

There  is  only  one  circumstance  which  remains  to  be  glanced  at,  in 
reference  to  this  select  day,  so  observed  by  one  people  on  both  sides  of 
the  globe.  Theii-  common  language  happens  to  be  the  only  one  in 
Eui-ope  in  which  the  doctrine  of  the  seventh  part  of  time,  as  well  as 
the  joyful  occasion  of  its  observance,  has  been  so  fully  comprehended 
and  observed.  For  these  three  hundred  years  the  day  has  been  difter- 
ently  regarded  by  all  the  nations  on  the  Continent ;  so  that,  with  all 
our  faults,  there  has  been,  as  remarked  by  Guizot,  a  moral  as  well  as  an 
insular  separation.  Let  us  hold  fast  by  the  distinction,  and  improve  it 
now  in  both  hemispheres.  The  neighbouring  nations  may  have  smiled 
at  these  Sabbaths,  and  wondered  at  our  weakness  or  simplicity  in  having 
so  multiplied  the  vernacular  version  of  our  Bible  ;  but  they  will  not 
deny,  that  to  a  people  remarked  for  these  peculiarities,  there  has  been 
conveyed  an  empire  far  more  extensive  than  any  that  has  ever 
existed.  But  for  these,  there  had  been  no  such  singular  community  as 
that  which  it  has  been  our  object  to  address,  and  our  desire  to  interest 
more  deeply  in  each  other,  and  then,  in  the  world  around  them.  After 
this,  would  it  not  be  well  for  the  adjoining  Continent,  were  these  nations 
now  to  take  both  the  Volume  and  the  Day  into  more  thoughtful  consi- 
deration ? — The  circulation  of  the  one  ? — the  observance  of  the  other  ? 

To  many,  it  is  true,  probably  to  many  thousands  even  in  this  country, 
the  remarkable  existing  facts  to  which  we  have  alluded  may  be  alto- 
gether new.  Even  among  such  as  are,  and  liave  been,  interested,  it  may 
seem  as  if  a  mist  had  risen  and  dispersed,  exhibiting  an  assemblage  of 
their  countrymen  hitherto  unknown.  Yet  we  have  dealt  in  no  vague 
suppositions.     This  is   no  imaginary  pioture.      It  may  be  viewed   by 


THE  PRECEDING  HISTORY.  fidl 

any  one,  with  equal  precision,  at  the  greatest  distance  or  near  at  hand, 
every  week  throughout  the  year.  We  have  thus  dwelt  upon  it,  simply 
from  a  desire  to  promote  this  habit.  It  is  moral  iniiuence  especially 
which  is  now  demanded,  and  we  cannot  regard  such  a  habit  as  a  mere 
gratification  or  soothing  reminiscence.  It  would  recall  absent  friends 
and  stimulate  to  action.  Out  of  its  indulgence  would  spring  a  thou- 
sand benefits,  such  as  cannot  at  present  be  foreseen,  and  need  not  be 
described  although  they  were. 


It  is  now  not  unworthy  of  notice,  that  the  nation  which,  with  all  its 
faults,  has  been  most  distinguished  for  the  observance  and  the  mental 
occupation  of  the  Christian  Sabbath,  has  proved  to  be  the  most  energetic 
and  enterprising  upon  earth.  It  has  lost  nothing  by  resting  one  day  in 
seven.  In  its  own  place,  that  day  has  ))cen  found  to  be  equally  in- 
vigorating with  nocturnal  repose.  So  far  from  any  interruption  to  busi- 
ness, it  has  proved  itself  to  be  the  economist  of  time,  nay,  of  human  life 
itself  ;  and  they  are  but  superficial  minds  who  hav«  not  frequently  ob- 
served this.  By  the  season,  however,  that  the  Sabbath  of  the  English 
Bible  has  come  to  its  termination  in  the  west,  business  has  already 
commenced  in  Britain  for  the  ensuing  week,  and  the  printing  press  is 
once  more  in  requisition.  For  many  years  no  Monday  morning  has 
i-eturned  in  which  the  compositor  has  not  repaired  to  his  wonted  occu- 
pation, and  certainly  not  the  least  observable  result  has  been  this — 
though  the  book,  and  even  its  readers,  have  been  dispersed  over  an 
area  of  such  vast  extent,  that,  compared  with  it,  the  whole  of  Britain  is 
but  an  insignificant  island  in  the  western  seas,  a  mere  speck  amidst  the 
waves,  yet  in  that  Island  have  almost  all  these  volumes  been  prepared. 
With  the  single  exception  of  those  but  recently  put  forth  in  America, 
in  Britain  alone  have  all  those  English  Scrij^tures  been  printed,  and 
here  the  great  mass  or  majority  are  now  to  be  found. 

It  is  the  fact  as  thus  stated,  which  lends  such  a  commanding  voice 
to  all  who  have  been  so  engaged,  but  especially  to  those  in  this  country, 
who  have  this  cause  at  heart.  The  high  and  2:)eculiar  ground  on  which 
Providence  has  placed  the  British  Christian,  calls  for  some  correspond- 
ing reflection  at  any  moment,  but  for  supreme  consideration,  should 
there  be  any  thing  ominous  in  the  times  themselves.  The  highest 
character  he  sustains  is  not  that  he  belongs  to  this  or  that  community, 
but  that  to  him  have  been  committed  "  the  Oracles  of  God."  No  object 
whatever  whether  civil  or  even  sacred,  can  justify  his  attention  being 
withdrawn,  diverted  or  allured,  from  the  highest  design  of  the  Almighty 
in  lending  to  this  country  its  wide  and  commanding  influence.  But  the 
history  of  His  Word  in  our  native  tongue  having  never  before  been  his- 
torically made  o\it,  the  peculiarity  of  its  character  must  now  Ite  added  to 


(>('<2  CONCLUSIONS  DRAWN   KKoM 

tlu-  iiimicnse  iiuniher  of  its  existing  copies  ;  anJ  those  together  appear  to 
1)0  more  than  sufficient  to  justify  the  supremo  attention  of  all  Chris- 
tians in  this  kingdom,  being  invitctl  at  the  present  moment  to  a  recon- 
sideration of  the  entire  sul)jcct  before  them. 


THE  FINAL  QUESTION,  OR  PATH  OF  DUTY. 

Our  existing  circumstances  as  a  nation,  in  connexion  with 
the  Sacred  Volume,  whetlier  relating  to  the  height  of  privi- 
lege, or  the  amount  of  duty,  we  have  all  along  felt  our  in- 
ability to  describe,  or  express  in  words.  There  is  a  certain 
crisis  in  the  history  of  nations,  as  well  as  in  the  life  of  n)an, 
fitted  and  intended  to  provoke  or  draw  forth  the  activity  and 
force  of  every  agent.  That  our  present  circumstances  are 
critical,  is  the  persuasion  of  all  thinking  men.  IJut  then 
they  are  the  critical  circumstances  of  a  strong  and  favoured 
nation,  when  so  far  from  repose,  or  even  relaxation,  the  con- 
dition of  other  countries  never  so  favoured,  must  be  taken  into 
consideration,  after  another  manner  than  they  have  ever  yet 
been. 

The  present  times  are  distinguished  by  a  number  of  pecu- 
liarities. The  nation  most  happily  has  imbibed  an  aver- 
sion from  all  war;  its  enterprising  spirit  has  sought  and 
found  vent  in  peaceful  and  profitable  directions.  This,  it  has 
been  said,  is  "  the  age  of  improvement' — the  age  of  social  ad- 
vancement,— it  is  a  mercantile  age,  and  the  wealth  of  the 
world  is  poured  into  the  lap  of  Britain,  while  its  inhabitants 
are  living  in  the  midst  of  discoveries  which  have  almost  given 
life  and  breath  to  material  nature."  In  all  this  the  en- 
lightened Christian  patriot  cannot  but  feel  and  take  an  in- 
terest. But  still,  in  his  sober  and  deliberate  judgment,  by 
far  the  most  momentous  and  significant  point  in  the  state  of 
this  country,  consists  in  the  abundant  possession  of  Divine 
Revelation,  however  lightly  it  may  be  regarded,  and  the  pro- 
digious reduction  in  price  of  the  Sacred  Volume.  Conse- 
quently, the  question  which  he  desires  to  be  resolved  is  this 
— What  is  the  present  duty  ?  What  are  the  obligations 
thus  imposed  on  British  Christians' 

This  subject  of  enquiry,  as  the  final  question,  is  one  which, 


THE  PRECEDING  HISTORY.  ()63 

on  the  part  of  the  author,  it  is  here  confessed,  has  never  been 
absent  from  liis  mind  for  years  past.  And  though  it  was  to 
be  amidst  a  thousand  interruptions  by  professional  engage- 
ments, it  seemed  to  be  above  all  things  else  desirable,  to 
ascertain  the  actual  state  of  our  country ;  not  as  containing 
t/iis  or  that  particular  form  of  ecclesiastical  polity ;  but  the 
state  of  Britain  as  the  distinguished  depository  of  Divine 
Revelation  :  and  consequently  the  paramount  duty  of  a  people 
so  enriched  by  the  possession  of  the  Sacred  Volume.  It  then 
occurred  to  the  writer  that  there  was  no  other  method  so 
likely  to  present  in  their  due  force,  the  imperative  obligations 
of  his  country  to  the  rest  of  the  world,  as  a  distinct  and  im- 
partial record  of  what  had  actually  been  done  for  it,  from  the 
beginning.  Out  of  the  wide  and  wonderful  wilderness  of 
"  religious  privileges"  so  called,  in  the  possession  of  which  so 
many  seem  to  be  satisfied  to  live  and  die,  there  appeared  to 
be  no  way  of  escape,  but  by  fixing  upon  the  Sacred  Volume 
itself,  without  note  or  comment ;  and  following  it  rigidly  as 
the  day-star,  or  surest  index,  far  above  all  party,  all  local, 
narrow,  or  limited  considerations  ;  following  it,  till  one  could 
see  clearly,  and  look  round  on  the  state  of  our  native  island 
as  such.  A  more  certain  clue  to  the  responsible  condition  of 
its  inhabitants  he  did  not  know,  and  he  may  now,  perhaps 
without  presumption,  be  permitted  to  suppose,  that,  in  this 
point  of  view,  our  real  position  among  the  nations,  has  never 
before  been  fully  understood. 

It  is  now  twenty  years  ago,  since  it  was  said  of  this  Kingdom,  that 
"  no  cloud  in  summer  was  ever  more  fully  surcharged  with  electricity, 
than  it  was  with  moral  energy,  and  that  it  needed  but  a  conductor  to 
issue  out  in  any  given  direction."  It  was  described  as  having  become 
''  the  capital  of  a  new  moral  world — the  eminence  on  which  intellectual 
light  strikes,  before  it  visits  the  nations — the  fountain-head  of  the  Rivers, 
that  are  going  forth  to  water  the  earth."  It  was  then  affirmed  to  be 
"  in  the  option  of  Britain,  to  have  well-wishers  in  every  country."  If 
such  Avas  its  condition  then,  what  shall  we  say,  and  esjaecially  of  its  re- 
sponsibility, now  ?  For  ever  since,  the  Sovereign  disposer  of  all  good, 
has  been  pouring  his  precious  Word  in  far  richer  abundance  upon 
Britain.  When  the  language  now  quoted,  was  employed  by  its  intelli- 
gent author,  Mr.  Douglas,  not  above  one-third  of  these  Sacred  Volumes 
had  been  issued  fi-om  the  press.  Hoio  then,  ive  repeat,  will  it  become 
British  Christians  to  act  7iow  't 


';fi4  CONCLUSIONS  DRAWN  FUOiM 

In  suekinj^  for  u  wide  ami  imi>eiiitive  liekl  of  future  exertion,  there  is 
no  neceii.xity,  in  the  first  instance,  for  going  even  out  of  the  Empire. 
Hut  iu  passing  beyond  seas,  instead  of  proceeding  to  action  within  the 
wide  compass  of  our  own  dominions,  there  has  been  a  tendency,  amount- 
ing to  infatuation,  to  go  elsewhere,  and  intermeddle.  That  our  ances- 
tors should  have  been  inveigled  by  their  nearest  neighbours  on  the  ad- 
joining Continent,  is  not  so  marvellous  ;  though  the  utter  fruitlessness, 
not  to  say  the  expense  of  doing  so,  was  early  perceived.  It  was  lament- 
ed even  by  the  original  translator  of  our  Bible.  "  We,"  said  he,  "  hav- 
ing nothing  to  do  at  all,  have  meddled  yet  in  all  matters,  and  have 
spent  for  our  prelates'  causes,  more  tlian  all  Chrinteiuhm,  even  unto  the 
utter  beggaring  of  ourselves  ;  and  have  gotten  nothing  but  rebuke,  and 
shame,  and  hate  among  all  nations,  and  a  mock  and  a  scorn  thereto,  of 
them  whom  we  have  most  holncn."  But  this  language,  at  the  distance 
of  more  than  three  centuries,  will  bear  to  be  repeated  even  now  ;  for 
this  tendency  toward  the  European  continent  was  not  then  to  cease. 
Taking  possession  of  even  the  Legislature,  and  with  all  the  strength  of 
a  natural  principle  from  age  to  age,  it  had  burst  forth  in  all  its  power 
within  our  own  times  ;  and  that  also  during  a  period  when  an  over- 
turning and  over-ruling  Providence  seemed  to  be  calling,  not  only  the 
Friends  of  divine  truth  in  this  country  to  depart,  and  go  far  hence  to 
the  long  neglected,  but  the  nation  at  large,  to  mind  her  own  business, 
within  her  own  foi'cign  possessions. 

It  was,  indeed,  an  old  mistake,  into  which,  as  a  people,  Ave  had  fallen  ; 
an  infatuation  not  without  precedent.  The  only  wonder  has  been  its 
long  continued  prevalence.  Ancient  Babylon  is  said  to  have  been  "  a 
golden  cup  in  the  hand  of  Jehovah,  intoxicating  all  the  earth."  The 
nations  that  had  drunk  of  her  wine  are  descril)ed  as  taking  balm  for 
her  pain,  if  so  be  she  might  be  healed.  Constrained  at  last  to  confess 
— "  We  would  have  healed  Babylon,  but  she  is  not  healed  ;"  they  then 
immediately  said,  "  Let  us  go  every  one  into  his  own  country — come 
and  let  us  declare  iu  Zion  the  work  of  the  Lord  our  God." 

In  our  case,  therefore,  to  posterity  it  cannot  but  ai)pear  strange  in- 
fatuation, after  the  snare  was  broken,  and  Ave  had  escaped  ;  after  the 
battle  of  divine  truth  Avas  fought,  and  the  victory  so  decidedly  given 
in  our  favour  ;  that  instead  of  continuing  to  strengthen  our  indepen- 
dent position,  Ave  should  have  gone,  simply  to  be  embroiled  in  fighting 
the  battles  of  these  continental  nations.  But  it  Avill  appear  stranger 
still,  Avhen  it  comes  to  be  observed,  that  in  this  course  avc  had  incurred 
a  debt,  amounting  to  hundreds  of  millions  sterling — at  the  self-same 
period  that  an  Empire  four  times  the  extent  of  our  natiAe  Island,  Avas 
gradually  coming  under  our  SAvay  ;  and  one,  Avhich  Avhen  the  subject 
is  properly  understood,  in  point  of  money,  has  absolutely  cost  us  no- 
thing.     Such   a    contemporaneous   contrast   bctAveen    mistaken   hmnan 


THE  PRECEDING  HISTORY.  005 

policy  in   Europe,  ami   the  footsteps  of  an  over-ruling   Providence   in 
Asia,  is  not  to  be  found  in  history. 

This  infatuation,  however,  as  a  national  fooling,  happily  seems  to  he 
on  the  wane,  and  let  us  hope  that  it  may  have  expired  for  ever,  with  its 
last  prodigious  eiForts.  Its  revival,  at  all  events,  has  been  often  of  late 
most  earnestly  deprecated.  "  This  country,"  says  the  author  last  quoted, 
"  appears  to  be  intended  by  Providence  for  the  enjoyment  of  perpetual 
peace.  There  is,  at  least,  every  thing  in  our  situation  favourable  for 
the  pennanence  of  our  tranquillity,  and  for  preserving  uninterrupted 
amity  with  every  other  country.  If  we  would  give  up  that  vain  idol, 
the  preservation  of  the  balance  of  power  in  Europe,  that  Moloch  which 
we  have  been  besmearing  for  a  century  past  with  human  blood,  we 
might  sheath  the  sword  for  ever,  as  far  as  Europe  is  concerned.  A  cer- 
tain number  of  changes  are  necessary  there  :  uo  arm  of  flesh  can  prevent 
them  ;  but  these  changes,  if  we  remain  quiet,  will  tvirn  out  for  our 
benefit,  and  for  the  advantage  of  the  world." 

Foreign  wars,  however,  once  laid  aside,  times  of  general  and  profound 
peace  having  come,  but  Europe  still  being  the  favourite  and  fashionable 
resort,  it  was  not  to  follow  that  no  traces  of  our  prolonged  confabulation 
with  that  continent  were  to  remain  behind.  "  Evil  communications  cor- 
rupt good  aianners,"  and  the  leaven  of  this  long  intercourse  was  found 
to  be  lurking  within  the  kingdom  ;  though  it  had  not  occurred  to  many, 
that  battles  abroad  once  over  and  gone,  they  were  then  to  be  invited  to 
skirmishing  at  home.  It  was  not  anticipated,  that  British  Christians, 
already  so  richly  furnished  with  the  Scriptures,  were  to  be  called  upon, 
and  for  years  in  succession,  to  return  and  travel  over  ground  which  had 
been  fought  and  won,  decidedly  won,  centuries  ago  :  or  that  they  were 
to  be  challenged  to  come  once  more  forsooth,  and  fight  over  again  "  the 
battle  of  the  old  learning."  Now,  had  the?/  only  been  more  fidl^  bent 
upon  conveying  Divine  Truth  itself  to  the  nations  afar  off,  v/hile  a  gra- 
cious Providence  was  even  pouring  it  over  their  own  land,  they  at  least 
might  have  safely  remained  deaf  to  all  such  idle  and  endless  interrup- 
tion. But  the  fact  is,  that  zeal  for  diffusing  the  Oracles  of  God  through 
foreign  lands  had  declined — decidedly  declined,  as  Ave  shall  see  presently. 
Meanwhile,  so  far  as  the  public  mind  became  entangled  by  certain 
votaries  of  "  the  old  learning,"  it  was  a  descent  indeed  fi-om  the  high 
ground  which  British  Christians,  as  such,  ought  to  have  maintained.  To 
every  such  call  or  challenge  they  were  in  possession  of  a  reply — 

"  Wc  can  aflbrd  time  no  longer  to  occupy  such  low  ground  as  that  of  merely  prote.sting 
against  error.  We  admit  the  operation  of  positive  principle,  and  miis/  pro|)agate  the  thuth. 
Once,  indeed,  we  were  entangled  in  our  progress  by  your  Apocrypha,  but  the  single  object  to 
which  our  utmost  energ)-  must  now  ever  be  devoted,  is  the  Sacred  Volume  without  note  or  com- 
ment. Too  long  have  we  neglected  this  imperative  duty,  though  we  have  not,  of  late,  been  un- 
mindful of  Furope  ;  having  there  already  spent  more  than  clovlli'  of  that  we  have  done,  even  on 
.\sia.  Africa,  and  America  combined.     Meanwhile,  gn  back  first,  and  atlimj't  a  conclusive  an- 


liffffif 

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CCN  CONCLUSIONS  DRAWN   I'KOM 

viilouce  is  introducing  us  to  the  wiiic  earth,  or  causinj;  tlic  WorUl  to  chaw 
near  and  come,  but  especially  to  thiri  island.  Its  position  is  altogether  un- 
precedented, and  enough  to  rouse  the  most  unthinking  stupidity.  Domi- 
nion so  vast,  and  brought  so  near  at  hand,  the  world  has  never  witnessed. 
In  all  previous  history  there  is  no  reseml)lancc.  Space  and  time  were 
never  so  abridged  to  the  hand  of  any  earthly  power.  Every  other  ac- 
quisition of  territory  or  dominion  by  any  nation,  shrinks  before  it.  The 
conquest  of  South  America  by  Spain  was  not  equal  to  a  fourth  of  the 
extent,  in  which  more  of  human  blood  was  shed  in  a  short  time,  than 
there  may  have  been  in  India  from  the  beginning.  The  Roman  or  Ma- 
hometan conquests  will  not  bear  comparison.  To  this  vast  field  of  action, 
over  which  an  overruling  Providence  has  given  us  influence,  not  to  men- 
tion other  frequent  o])portunitics  of  intercourse,  we  shall  soon  have 
twent)/-four  direct  or  stated  channels  of  communication  every  year. 
These,  like  so  many  distinct  incitements,  call  us  to  go  out,  or  send  out, 
and  double  our  diligence  in  conveying  to  all  these  populous  regions, 
certainly  not  the  peculiarities  of  our  different  indigenous  religious  systems, 
upon  which  some  are  so  blindly  bent,  but  the  unsophisticated  book  of 
GoP,  without  our  notes  or  comments,  but  in  translations,  if  possible,  at 
least  equal  to  our  own.  This,  we  cannot  but  imagine  to  be  the  highest 
end  for  which  such  wide  dominion  has  been  bestowed,  and  the  duty,  by 
way  of  eminence,  assigned  to  this  country. 

By  some  individuals,  however,  it  may  now  be  said, — "  But  why  all  this  ? 
Where  is  the  shadow  of  necessity  for  any  such  pleading  ?  Are  we  not  already 
thus  engaged,  and  hus'ilij  ?  So,  no  doubt,  many  liave  imagined,  hearing  it  said, 
but  too  frequently,  how  much  had  been  accomplished.  Why  have  we  not  been 
told  annually  what  has  been  done  for  the  circulation  of  the  Scriptures  abroad, 
as  well  as  at  home,  nay,  and  from  month  to  month,  what  is  doing  ?  Certainly  we 
have,  and  it  appears  now  that  nioi-e  than  One  hundred  thousand  pounds  liave 
been  spent  on  the  infoi'mation.  And  was  there  ever  an  object  I'cspccting  which  so 
much  has  been  spoken,  as  well  as  printed  ?  Perhaps  never.  Yet,  though  the  de- 
gree of  activity  displayed  has  cbeei-ed  many  a  heart,  there  may  have  been  some 
great  and  even  general  mistake  as  to  its  amount.  Besides,  upon  a  deliberate 
review  of  the  whole,  it  turns  out  not  only  that  the  public  mind,  from  some 
cause,  has  been  weakened,  and  that  the  inqictus  has  declined,  l)ut  that  many 
are  in  danger  of  turning  away  to  other  and  far  inferior  ol)jects,  under  the  de- 
lusion that  all  things  are  going  forward  to  a  triumphant  issue.  Whether  this 
may,  in  any  degree,  be  traced  to  the  manner  of  reporting  progress,  we  know  not. 
But  if,  instead  of  dwelling  chiefly  on  what  was  already  done,  thei'c  had  been 
an  animal  and  improved  exposition  of  the  deplorable  stale  of  other  nations,  de- 
monstrative of  what  remained  to  hi-  aeconqilished,  perhaps  a  different  result 
might  have  followed. 

Meanwhile,  having  now  eonie  forward  to  a  new  era,  a  retrospect  is  due  to 
future  effort,  and  though  it  should  afford  nothing  to  cherish  the  vanity  of  a 
single  mind,  nor  any  ground  as  yet  for  mutual  congi'atulation,  nay,  though  it 
may  surprise  not  a  few  to  find  how  little  has  been  accomplished  out  of  Britain  ; 
all  this  may  warn  us  in  future  of  being  too  easily  diverted  from  what  was  ori- 
ginallv  proposcxl  to  he  done,  as  well  as  preserve  us  from  turning  :iwn_v  our  eyes 


THE  PRECEDING  HISTORY.  669 

from  the  regions  of  the  blind  and  the  weary-hearted.  We  have  styled  the  pre- 
sent an  era,  partly  because  of  the  extraordinary  and  happy  change  which  has 
taken  place  in  the  price  of  the  English  Scriptures,  since  the  time  in  which  the 
Bible  Society  held  out  certain  priri/cges  to  their  subscribers  of  otie  (ininea.-^ 
And  it  may  well  be  styled  an  era,  and  a  happy  one,  because,  if  we  except  only 
one  language  within  the  kingdom,  the  British  division  of  the  Bible  Society  is 
rapidly  approaching  its  termination.-!'  The  object  of  this  Society  was  originally 
declared  to  bo  that  of  "  circulating  the  Scriptures  through  the  British  domi- 
«/o«s,  and,  according  to  its  ability,  extending  its  influence  to  other  countries, 
whether  Christian,  Mahomedan,  or  Pagan." 

First,  then,  there  is  reason  to  apprehend  that  far  too  high  an  idea  has  been 
entertained,  and  even  expressed,  in  regard  to  the  sum  total  that  has  been  ex- 
pended, from  the  beginning  to  the  present  day.  We  have  not  confined  the 
attention  of  the  reader  to  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society,  but  taking  it 
as  unquestionably  the  largest  index  to  the  past,  the  entire  expenditure  at  the 
close  of  forty  years,  has  been  upwards  of  three  millions  sterling.  This  may  be 
considered  as  the  main  strength  of  British  Christians  combined  in  favour  of 
the  Sacred  Volume,  both  abroad  and  at  home.  Yet  is  it  now  extremely  doubt- 
ful whether  this  sum  be  equal  to  the  amount  which  was  collected  and  spent, 
not  in  forty  years,  but  in  about  one-tenth  part  of  the  time,  by  our  neighbours 
the  French,  in  spreading  the  tenets  of  their  baneful  philosophy  before  the  Re- 
volution of  17.'^"2.  If  this  be  anything  near  the  truth,  then  Latimer's  text  be- 
fore the  Bishops  in  1.536,  may  even  still  be  quoted — "  The  children  of  this 
world  are  in  their  generation  wiser  than  the  children  of  light."  But  at  all 
events  this  is  more  than  sufficient  to  put  an  end  to  any  more  out-bursts  of  self- 
applause  and  mutual  congratulation. 

Of  the  three  millions,  however,  now  expended,  there  must  have  been  not  a 
few  perfectly  astonished  to  find  that  about  tico-tJtirds  of  the  whole  sum  have 
been  exhausted  in  the  home  department,  and  only  one-third  in  the  foreign  ; 
or  in  other  words,  that  the  former  have  been  spent  upon  our  own  languages, 
chiefly  English,  and  no  more  than  one-third  upon  the  tongues  of  all  foreign 


27  Formerly  a  pocket  Bible,  which  had  cost  the  Society  5*.  2d,,  and  this  was  below  the  cost 
to  a  bookseller,  was  oflered  as  a  favour  to  subscribers  of  one  guinea,  at  4^.  2(1.,  and  a  New  Testa- 
ment which  had  cost  \s.  7d.  was  offered  at  1,5.  3d.  But  without  subscribing  one  farthing  any 
where,  a  pocket  Bible  may  now  he  j.iircliascd  by  any  person  for  'Jd.  and  a  New  Testament  for  4d. .' 

28  One  language  under  the  British  division  of  operation  has  required  long  and  earnest  plead- 
ing to  obtain  for  it  the  requisite  attention.  Even  the  duty  of  preparing  and  printing  the  Sacred 
Volume  for  this  people,  though  admitted,  is  ever  and  anon  meeting  with  some  sad  interruption. 
Of  course  we  allude  to  the  vernacular  Irish  tongue.  If  the  benevolent  in  Ireland  itself  be  at- 
tending to  this,  in  however  small  a  degree,  it  is  well ;  but  by  the  Reports  of  the  British  and  Foreign 
Bible  Society,  it  may  be  observed  that  there  has  again  occurred  some  unaccountable,  because 
unexplained,  hindrance  in  printing  the  Word  of  God  for  the  Irish  people.  By  their  Report  of 
1839,  they  told  us  that  nearly  1()(),00()  (99,400)  Bibles  and  Testaments  had  been  printed  in  the 
native  Irish  language,  whether  in  the  Exglish  character,  as  at  first,  or  more  appropriately  in  its 
own  character  afterwards.  Now,  since  1539,  they  have  reported  above  2,.320,(i(iO  as  printed  for 
the  English  ;  and  even  for  the  Welsh  above  109,000  ;  but  for  the  Nativk  InrsH,  of  Bibles  or 
New  Testaments,  not  otie  copt/.  Whatever  may  have  been  the  hindrance  it  cannot  be  insuper- 
able, and  we  are  persuaded  that  the  disparity  only  requires  to  be  pointed  out,  and  will  not  be 
forgotten.  At  present  the  Wklshman  has  his  choice  of  Jive  editions  of  the  Bible;  and  the  pea- 
sant may  purchase  one  for  Is.  Cd.,  or  a  New  Testament  for  (id.  The  Englisum.an  may  purchase 
a  Bible  for  9(/.  or  a  New  Testament  for  id.  The  Irish  Bible,  in  its  own  character,  costs  7s.  Gd. 
and  the  New  Testament  1.?.  3rf.  to  Subscribers  of  one  guinea  !  Vet,  of  the  diti'crent  classes  through- 
out the  United  Kingdom,  there  is  not  one  that  has  discovered  a  more  ardent  attachment  to  the 
Sacred  Volume  than  the  tialive  Irish.  The  work  going  on  there  is  an  exact  parallel  to  what 
took  ))lace  in  England  and  Scotland,— but  that  was  above  llirce  hundred  years  ago!  See  also 
p.  OKj  of  this  volume.  Note  16. 


(.'Ttl  CONCLUSIONS  DRAWN  FUOM 

nntiuns  !  If  any  fact  may  be  supposed  capable  of  stopping  tlie  inoutli  of  caliiiniiy, 
tills  one  is  (juite  sufHcient  to  put  an  end,  in  time  coniin;;,  to  all  vague  and  un- 
founiK'd  statements,  as  to  larf^e  sums  of  money  liaving  yet  been  sent  abroad,  to 
any  nation  whatever.  Nor  is  this  tlie  only  use  that  may  be  made  of  the  fact. 
For  if  the  expenditure  of  IJritisli  Christians,  at  the  close  of  /ortif  years  in 
spreading;  the  Oracles  of  God  among  all  other  Nations  has  been  a  million  ster- 
ling, this  is  but  little  more  than  there  was  raised  and  sjieiit  in  the  short  compass 
*of  oHC  year  in  spreading  error  and  delusion  through  France  alone. 

But  again,  looking  at  the  four  quarters  of  the  globe,  and  after  all  that  has 
been  rung  in  the  car  respecting  Heathen  nations,  in  what  pro|)(n'tion  have  tkei/ 
shared  in  this  money  collected  and  spent?  It  is  particularly  observable,  that 
when  we  look  at  what  has  been  transmitted  to  Old  Europe,  and  add  that  to  the 
amount  exhausted  on  and  in  Britjvin  or  her  dependencies,  wo  find  that  the 
far  greater  part  of  these  three  millions  sterling  is  gone  !  Divide  the  entire 
sum  into  thirty  parts,  and  how  stands  the  expenditure  ?  Why,  that  by  the 
languages  of  our  own  Country,  of  course  including  the  management  of  the  whole 
concern,  we  have  engrossed  full  tn-eiitij  parts  out  of  these  thirty  !  Nearly  six 
and  a  half  have  gone  over  to  Europe ;  while  with  regard  to  the  other  three 
continents,  Asia,  Africa,  and  America,  there  have  not  been  assigned  to  them 
all,  three  parts  out  of  the  thirty,  not  a  tenth  of  the  entire  amount  ! 

No  doubt,  it  will  now  be  pleaded — "  But  is  the  zeal  of  British  Christians,  and 
of  the^>rt'st'«<  day,  to  be  tried  by  only  one  standard  ?  Or  is  it  to  be  mea.sured 
only  by  this  single  de])artment  ?  Have  not  all  conmiunities  been  engaged  in 
propagating  Christianity  according  to  their  several  views  of  that  subject  ?  Cer- 
tainly they  have,  and  their  interest  in  the  dispersion  of  the  Sacred  Volume  is 
only  to  be  judged  oi  pruportionalty.  But  then  what  has  been  called  the  Bible 
Society  is  one  to  which  they  have  all  presented  the  homage  of  their  warmest 
regard,  and  one  to  which  they  have  all  been,  and  now  are,  indebted.  It  is  one, 
therefore,  which  has  been  long  understood  to  embrace  the  strength  of  them 
ALL  in  union  ;  and  we  are  now  in  the  act  of  contemplating  the  result  of  their 
united  efforts,  at  the  close  of  forty  years.  Unquestionably,  the  last  half  cen- 
tury has  been  happily  distinguished  by  greater  zeal  in  this  our  counti-y  for  the 
propagation  of  Christianity.  But  upon  a  wide  and  impartial  survey,  it  is  a  very 
grave  consideration,  and  one  more  than  sufficient  to  arrest  attention. — That,  as 
far  as  the  Bible  Society  in  the  widest  sense  is  concerned,  that  is  the  British 
and  Foreign  and  all  its  Auxiliaries,  with  all  others,  whether  in  Scotland  or  Ire- 
land ;  more,  far  more  has  been  expended  by  the  several  communities  in  pro- 
pagating their  own  particular  riews  of  Christianity,  than  by  the  whole  put  to<jether, 
in  conveying  to  other  nations  the  Sacred  text,  the  Word  of  God  itself,  which  alone 
lies  at  the  foundation  of  all  jiermanent  spiritual  good  1  Surely  such  extraordi- 
nary disproportions  as  all  these,  only  require  to  be  pointed  out  for  the  better 
adjustment  of  Christian  zeal,  in  a  course  which  all  alike  profess  to  hold  sacred. 

But  perhaps  the  most  material,  because  humiliating,  circumstance  of  all,  is 
one  at  which  we  have  only  hinted.  We  have  said  that  zeal  for  diflusing  the 
Oracles  of  God  through  foreign  lands  has  declined — deridedly  declined ;  and 
are  we  now  reading,  or  RAxnER  reaping,  the  consequences  ?  British  Chris- 
tians, "  careful  and  troubled  about  many  things,"  have  in  this,  their  highest 
walk,  "  grown  weary  in  well-doing."  This  is  so  painfully  evident,  that  it  only 
requires  to  be  exhibited  in  figures.  We  give  the  amount  of  money  spent  on 
the  Sacred  Scriptures  at  home  and  abroad.  The  first  column,  almost  wholly 
English,  includes  also  the  Celtic  Scriptures.  See  how  it  holds  on,  nay,  rises  in 
amount.     Obsei've  how  sadly  the  last  column  declines. 


THE  PRECEDING  HISTORY.  671 


From  1820  to  1829  inclmive. 

HOME  DKPARTJIE.VT.  KUROPK.  ASIA,  AFRICA.  AND  AMKntCA. 

£48-2,502  11     5  £192,784  14     2  £117,7HO     7  10 

From  1830  to  1839  inchisive. 
£528,819  17     6  £189,950  13     «  £57,909  IG     4 

Thus,  while  more  than  one  million,  cloven  thousand,  and  three  hundred 
pounds  were  absorpt  at  home  ;  and  above  three  hundred  and  eighty-two 
thousands  wore  sent  into  Europe  ;  all  that  Asin,  Africa,  and  America  received, 
was  only  about  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  thousand  pounds  !  But  in  the 
latter  column,  there  is  that  which  is  far  more  distressing,  than  even  the  prodi- 
gious inequality.  The  last  ten  yeai's  did  not  amount  to  the  half  oi'  the  former  ! 
And  then  observe,  the  last  five  years,  when,  notwithstanding  the  inuuense  fall 
in  the  jn-ice  of  the  English  Scriptures,  the  defalcation  becomes  still  more  pain- 
fully striking. 

1840,  £53,513     4  10  £26,719     1     4  £13,981   12     8 

1841,  81,524  10     5  24,556  1  11  11,574  10  8 

1842,  46,068  7     4  22,137  12  11  8,000     2  9 

1843,  44,856  18     1  20,996  5  7  6,818     3  11 

1844,  38,330  9   10  24,464  4  4  5,942  18  0 

The  latter  column  embraces  all  that  has  been  doing  for  the  Heathen  and 
Mahometan  nations  !  For  Asia,  Africa,  North  and  South  America,  and  the 
West  Indies  combined  I  We  have  often  read  of  "  ten  thousand  times  ten 
thousand,  and  thousands  of  thousands,"  safely  landed  in  a  better  world.  Here 
we  have  a  larger  number  in  this  vale  of  tears.  Of  them  more  tlian  nine  thou- 
sand myriads  are  actually,  as  under  the  same  sceptre,  our  fellow  subjects,  but  thus 
they  all,  and  many  more  than  they,  come  before  us,  and  for  the  space  of  twentv- 
five  years  past !  Far  be  it  from  us  to  intercept  the  compassion  of  the  humane, 
towards  the  destitute  of  any  nation  under  heaven ;  but  it  will  now  be  evident, 
that  up  to  this  hour,  we  have  been  expatiating  chiefly  on  the  fairest  portions  of 
what  is  called  the  cirilized  World.  Those  nations,  whether  Idolatrous  or  Ma- 
hometan, ai'e  yet,  comparatively  speaking,  to  be  pitied.  The  Heathen  have  been 
permitted  to  draw  upon  our  sympathy,  only  to  a  very  small  extent.  But 
this  becomes  far  more  worthy  of  universal  attention,  if  a  single  fact  be  only 
once  understood  and  remembered.  It  is  this.  In  our  dealings  with  the  more 
civilized  nations  of  the  West,  we  have  incurred  a  debt,  while  the  heathen  have 
laid  us  under  tribute  !  In  dispersing  the  Sacred  Volume  throughout  Europe, 
the  British  Christian  has  never,  for  one  moment,  been  impeded  by  the  debt,  or 
even  thought  of  it,  nor  will  he  be  impeded,  in  time  to  come  ;  but,  at  the  same 
time,  he  is  not  at  liberty  to  forget  the  tribute.  That  it  should  have  come 
to  this,  is  one  of  those  arrangements  which  lay  beyond  all  human  anticipation 
or  foresight.  But  with  Asia,  Africa,  and  North  America,  Britain  is  more  or 
less  immediately  concerned  and  connected,  rather  than  with  her  next  door 
neighbour  Europe.  With  the  Eastern  World  there  is  a  connexion  which  has  no 
parallel,  nor  ever  had.  Thus,  for  example,  at  the  close  oi  forty  years,  in  which 
something  has  been  effected  for  these  Eastern  Nations,  putting  the  advantages 
and  luxuries  of  commerce  with  them  entirely  out  of  the  question,  all  that  has 
been  sent  or  spent  there  upon  the  Divine  Record,  in  their  several  tongues, 
has  not  been  more  than  a  fifteenth  part  of  what  accrues  to  this  country  from 
India  in  pui'e  money,  in  one  year  !     If  it  should  be  said  that  those  Gentlemen 


(i72  CONCLUSIONS  DUAWN   I' ROM 

at  Immc,  who  ilcrivc  |ifciiiiiary  IxTicfU  from  (jur  ^ovcniiiif^  Inilia,oi*  tluwo  who 
liiivi'  ivtiinu'd  to  spi'iid  tlit'ir  fortunes  in  tlicir  native  laud,  take  no  interest  in 
the  subject  before  us  ;  this  would,  by  no  means,  be  correct.  Hut  suppose  they 
did  not,  nay,  that  not  one  of  them  did,  never  let  it  be  forgotten  that  both  classes 
t'utire  arc  siieuthng  their  means  upon  British  ground,  among  tliose  who  are, 
or  profess  to  be,  interested.  And  tliat  hap])ens  to  b(!  in  a  Land  where  there 
is  not  now  one  single  county,  which  is  not  deriving  pecuniary  advantage,  in 
couse(|uence  either  of  India  being  governed  from  home,  or  of  gentlemen  having 
returned  to  end  their  days  in  Britain,  and  then  leave  their  wealth  to  othei-s. 

Independently,  it  is  granted,  of  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society,  another 
hundred  thousand  pounds  may  have  been  spent  u{)on  Asia  in  Oriental  transla- 
tions, most  of  which  we  have  already  mentioned.-"'  But  what  is  three  or  four 
hundred  thousand  jmunds  in /oW^  years,  compared  witli  our  (i;/»?/a/ obligations, 
or  even  with  the  sums  we  have  rejjorted  as  spent  at  home,  and  elsewlicre  ? 

At  the  same  time,  our  local  position  on  the  coast  of  Europe  is  never  to  be  for- 
gotten, as  either  unimportant  or  without  a  meaning.  It  is  one  which, in  reality, 
only  the  more  augments  our  res])onsibility,both  to  God  and  man.  Living,  though 
detached,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  an  ancient,  subtle,  and  i)ei-nicious  power, 
which  has  so  long  beguiled  these  western  nations,  we  owe  it  the  more  to  man- 
kind at  large,  to  go  out  and  preserve  the  World  from  being  led  away  to  its 
ruin,  by  her  delusive  influence.  No  other  nation  having  such  command  of  the 
sea,  the  duty  appears  to  be  specially  delegated  to  us.  The  duty,  certainly  not 
of  conveying  to  other  \\a.i\m\ii  jiroti'stations  against  her  errors,  which  would  be 
by  far  the  most  likely  mode  of  spreading  them,  but  the  high  and  imperative  duty 
of  filling  the  earth  with  truth,  or  "  the  incorruptible  seed  of  the  Word."-"' 

Thus,  whether  we  look  to  the  favour  already  bestow-ed  on  Britain,  to  her  in- 
sular position,  or  prodigious  dominion,  all  this  her  believers  in  Divine  Revela- 
tion appear  as  though  they  had  been  very  specially  selected,  and  were  now 
enjoined,  to  do.  Yes,  and  British  Christians  may  be  so  far  favoured  as  to  take 
the  lead  in  this  high  calling,  though  apparently  only  upon  one  condition.  Lay- 
ing aside  all  narrow,  all  party  considci'ations,  they  must  abide  faithful  to  that 
simple  but  sublime  ensign,  which  was  first  raised  to  the  eye  of  the  world  forty 
years  ago.  Justice,  has  by  no  means,  ever  been  done  to  it,  and  it  is  well  if  too 
many  who,  but  a  few  years  since,  professed  flaming  zeal  in  its  favour,  have  not 
grown  weary  in  the  right  direction.  Yet  still  that  ensign  or  standard,  round 
which  so  many  have  warmly  rallied,  has  more  to  do  with  our  stability  as  a  peo- 
ple, tlian  some  who  live  around  us  may  lie  willing  to  allow.    It  can  never  again 


29  We  now  include  Aimf.rica,  which  has  been  acting  so  nobly  and  so  well,  as  to  the  Scriptures, 
and  where  she  has  no  dominion,  or  revenue  in  return,  whither  in  Burmah,  the  Sandwich  Islands, 
or  elsewhere. 

30  Nor  need  it  ever  be  imagined  that  there  is  so  much  danger  from  the  Nations  in  our  imme- 
diate vicinity.  In  the  volume  so  wonderfully  and  richly  <"onfcrred  upon  us,  there  is  much  to  en- 
courage the  very  opposite  conclusion.  Tor  thongli  the  following  instance  may  seem  peculiar, 
the  Divine  procedure,  in  ancient  time,  may  well  be  observed  by  this  distant  Island,  in  its  present 
momentous  condition,  as  He  is  the  same  God  still.  Three  times  a  year  he  charged  his  people  to 
resign  their  native  land  to  his  own  invincible  protection.  Then  they  had  to  leave  tlie  defence- 
less—the  aged— the  women — the  children,  behind  thein.  They  were  far  from  compliant  in  many 
things,  yet  frequently  they  put  this  Divine  care  to  the  proof;  and  throughout  the  entire  history, 
there  is  not  one  instance  of  their  enemies,  or  the  neighbouring  nations,  ever  invading  the  land, 
when  they  had  left  home  for  .Ikrusai.k.m.  Indeed,  the  Almighty  had  assured  them  that  while 
t)nis  engaged  no  man  should  even  ilcsirc  their  land,  and  tio  man  did.  See  a  beautiful  analogous 
proof  under  the  reign  of  Jehoshaphal,  2  Chron.  xvii.  7-1(1.  If  engaged,  .according  to  our  ability, 
in  conveying  the  Oracles  of  God  to  other  lands,  we  shall  not  be  forsaken  by  Him  at  home  ;  where 
there  is  a  remedy  for  every  evil,  rxrcftt  the  loss  nf  Die  J>ivincfitv(nir. 


THE  PRECEDING  HISTORY.  673 

be  lowered  with  safeti/  to  the  nation.  Ever  since  the  year  1804,  "  The  Bible, 
witliout  note  or  comment,"  has  been  by  way  of  eminence  a  Buitisii  motto,  one 
whieli  her  Christians  as  a  body  have  proclaimed  to  the  ends  of  the  earth,  as  of 
infinite  moment  to  all  nations  ;  and  though  the  peojjle  who  did  this,  had  not 
possessed  one  rood  of  land  beyond  their  own  shores,  they  would  have  been  held 
bound  to  fulfil  their  often  solemnly  promised  purpose  and  engagement.  Our 
native  Island,  however,  stands  before  the  world,  in  very  different  circumstances, 
and  fully  connnittcd.  With  arms  extended  by  navigation  on  either  hand,  both 
east  and  west,  to  a  degree  never  granted  to  any  human  power,  all  that  she 
holds,  is  held  only  by  one  imperative  condition — that  of  fulfilling,  as  an  instru- 
ment, the  sovereign  purpose  of  Heaven.  The  sceptic,  indeed,  may  smile  in 
scorn  ;  her  selfish  sons,  regarding  all  these  foreign  climes  as  only  so  many  in- 
cumbrances, may  wish  that  their  native  Island  had  never  been  Mistress  of  the 
Sea-s,  and  so  never  been  connected  with  them  ;  her  covetous  and  narrow- 
miudcd  may  shrink  from  all  vital  obligations  ;  and  the  great  mass  scarcely 
know,  or  care  to  know,  what  these  things  mean  ;  but  if  regions  so  linked  to  this 
richly  favoured  kingdom  be  neglected,  especially  in  that  point  for  which  the 
Sovereign  Ruler  has  lent  them  to  its  sceptre,  nothing  can  insure  the  stability 
of  the  ruling  State.  Even  the  tree  now  growing  within  our  own  dominions 
may  serve  as  a  monitor.  In  the  Eastern  World  the  branches  of  the  Peepul 
tree,  or  Banian,  striking  into  the  ground,  have  been  known,  in  process  of  time, 
to  unsettle  the  original  stem  from  whence  they  grew.  And  certainly  there 
have  been  possessions  by  conquest  long  before  now,  which  have  passed  away 
like  a  dream,  the  season  granted  for  securing  them  by  moral  dominion  having, 
through  criminal  neglect,  closed  for  ever. 

With  regard  thou  to  far  more  being  effected  in  future  throughout  the 
world  in  general,  in  this  the  highest  path  of  Christian  duty,  and  parti- 
cularly within  the  vast  and  extensive  domains  of  heathenism  ;  after 
observing  the  facts  already  explained,  it  may,  before  this  time,  have 
been  presumed,  that  our  attempt  to  promote  the  diffusion  of  the  Sacred 
text  in  foreign  countries  cannot  as  yet  have  occupied  its  natural  or  appro- 
priate, that  is  its  incumbent  channels.  To  speak  in  the  gentlest  terms,  the 
disproportions  pointed  out,  shewing  the  defect  of  zeal  as  to  foreign  lands, 
may  have  been  the  result  of  oversight.  There  may  have  been  some  defect 
in  the  manner  of  operation.  Were  there  only  one  mode  of  action,  one  mode 
of  bearing  upon  distant  nations,  there  might  be  less  hope  of  great  increase ; 
but  be  this  as  it  may,  up  to  this  period,  only  one  mode  has  been  chiefly 
pursued.  A  Parent  institution  was  formed,  having  then  a  number  of 
affiliated  societies  throughout  the  kingdom,  which,  we  have  seen,  con- 
stitute its  strength.  When  these  come  to  observe  the  present  state  of 
things,  they  may  at  first  begin  to  think  of  the  Parent  institution,  or 
those  whom  they  had  deputed  to  act  for  them  abroad.  But  this  is  a 
crisis  calling  for  the  consideration  not  of  any  one  society,  but  of  every 
one,  or  rather  of  every  subscriber  throughout  the  kingdom.  The  subject 
invites  personal  reflection.  The  principle  of  centralization,  as  far  as 
Britain  is  concerned,  which  was  adopted  in  the  infancy  of  this  attempt, 
in  order  to  secure  unity  of  design,  has  been  pursued  ;  but  since  it 
VOL.  11.  2  u 


t;7+  CONCLUSIONS  DRAWN  FROM 

has  produced  no  more  for  the  destitute  foreign  nations,  room  is  now  left, 
and  abundant  reason  presented,  for  reconsideration.  Hitherto,  the 
parent  society  alone  being  in  direct  correspondence  with  all  other  parts 
of  the  world,  through  that  one  channel,  have  all,  or  almost  all,  commu- 
nications been  received  and  transmitted,  at  certain  times,  to  their  con- 
stituents throughout  the  kingdom.  IJut  it  is  known  to  every  one,  that 
a  great  internal  alteration  has  come  over  the  face  of  this  country,  which 
is  still  in  rapid  progress.  Our  native  Island  already  is  no  longer  what 
it  was,  when  the  present  mode  of  action,  and  these  efforts,  commenced. 
Britain,  considered  as  the  scat  or  centre  of  benevolent  operations,  is 
not  in  1845  what  it  was  even  in  1815.  A  change  of  the  most  beneficial 
and  benign  character  has  overtaken  us,  which  admirably  fits  every  City 
in  the  land  for  direct  benevolent  exertion  to  the  ends  of  the  earth.  Now, 
if  our  field  of  action  be  indeed  the  world,  as  it  is  professed  to  be,  and  if 
the  power  of  steam  be  changing  the  whole  Island  into  one  vast  city ; 
ought  not  the  world  generally,  in  more  ways  than  one,  to  be  made  to  feel 
the  benefit  thus  bestowed  on  ourselves  ?  At  this  time  also,  after  such 
a  fall  in  the  2)ric€  of  our  own  Scriptures,  the  call  upon  British  Christians 
is  imperative.  This  event  alone,  speaks  so  directly  to  every  Reader  as 
to  evoke  but  one  natm-al  expression — "  What  can  be  effected  now  for  the 
benighted,  and  the  viany  yet  unvisited,  farts  of  our  earth  V 


If,  therefore,  much  more  is  to  be  done,  and  certainly  ought,  by  British  Chris- 
tians, still  it  would  be  preposterous  that  the  great  majority  should  continue  to  be 
comparatively  inactive,  and  only  a  very  small  minority  busy ;  or  that  other  men 
should  be  eased,  and  those  in  London  or  elsewhere  burdened.  It  cannot  harmo- 
nize with  the  benign  purpose  of  Heaven,  that "  the  sameearnes^  care"  for  the  state 
of  the  world  around  us,  as  to  Divine  Revelation,  which  is  incumbent  upon  all, 
should  press  upon  the  shoulders  of  only  a  few  mdividuals,  and  these  few  located 
in  one  spot  of  the  kingdom.  On  the  part  of  the  country  at  large,  this  would  be 
exacting  a  vast  deal  too  much  from  two  or  three  square  miles,  where  too  much 
has  been  exacted  already,  and  some  will  say,  too  long.  Over  the  broad  surface 
of  our  land,  British  Christians  are  transacting  other  business  daily  and  directly 
with  foreign  parts  ;  although  to  tliis  moment,  generally  speaking,  every  thing 
relating  to  the  Volume  of  Inspiration  itself,  they  have  left  to  be  done  by  a  few 
other  individuals  in  their  name.  In  this  course,  as  there  is  something  so  un- 
natural, that  it  would  not  be  tolerated  for  one  day,  with  regard  to  the  perishable 
commodities  of  this  life,  some  great  and  beneficial  improvement  is  most  proba- 
bly at  hand. 

Take  an  illusti-ation  of  our  present  position,  from  commerce  itself  in  general. 
At  tliis  late  hour,  what  would  be  thought  of  a  proposal  that  Britain  should  re- 
turu  to  the  days  of  the  "  coasting  trade  ? "  To  the  days  when  communications 
with  all  foreign  parts,  and  all  returns,  were  confined  to  the  Thames  ?  But  if 
such  a  proposal  would  seem  absurd  ;  if  the  men  of  Manchester  and  BLrming- 
ham,  of  Liverpool  and  Glasgow,  of  Edinburgh  and  Newcastle,  of  Dundee  and 
Aberdeen,  of  Dublin  and  Belfast,  would  smile  and  say — 


THE  PRECEDING  HISTORY.  675 

"  We  would  rather  not.  We  remit  to,  and  receive  returns  from  foreign 
parts.  Already  we  trade  direct  with  India  and  China,  the  Cape,  and  North 
America.  Nay,  feeling  our  strength,  we  at  least  wish  to  do  so  with  all  the 
world.  It  is  our  interest  thus  to  act,  and  it  is  a  duty  which  we  owe,  not  to 
ourselves  alone,  but  to  our  families.  Meanwhile,  beside  the  mental  gi'atifica- 
tion  enjoyed  in  thus  acting,  we  find  an  hundred  ways  of  getting  forward,  and 
doing  business  in  foreign  lands,  which  might  not  have  occurred  to  a  deputed 
agency,  but  more  especially  to  only  one  outlet  from  this  kingdom,  for  years  to 
come.  Much  in  the  same  strain  it  was  that  one  of  our  best  poets  sung,  more 
than  sixty  years  ago — 

'  'Tis  thus  reciprocating,  each  with  each, 
Alternately  the  nations  learn  and  teach ; 
While  Pi'ovidence  enjoins  to  every  soul 
A  union  with  the  vast  teiTaqueous  whole.'  " 

And  is  there  then  nothing  whatever  in  all  this,  urging  to  similar  exertion  in 
a  higher  walk  ?  The  friends  and  professed  believers  of  Divine  Truth  are  in 
the  rear  of  the  sons  of  commerce,  more  than  a  century  ;  though  but  for  com- 
merce, let  us  never  forget  it  now,  how  should  our  own  ancestors,  above  three 
hundi'ed  years  ago,  have  come  into  the  possession  of  the  Sacred  Volume  in 
theu'  vernacular  tongue  I  How  had  England,  for  years  together — how  had 
Scotland,  for  more  than  a  century,  been  supplied  ?  Or  America,  for  more 
than  a  century  and  a  half  ?  No  Christians  upon  earth  are  so  bound,  in  common 
gratitude,  to  avail  themselves  of  such  a  medium,  and  to  its  utmost  extent. 

To  all  it  must  now  be  evident,  that  there  is  an  additional  mode  of  action 
ready  to  our  hand,  and  of  a  character  extremely  favourable  to  greater  accu- 
racy in  translation,  as  well  as  dispatch  of  business.  Were  the  British  and 
Foreign  Bible  Society  from  this  moment,  to  be  relieved  from  a  burden,  and 
rising  from  the  humble  ground  of  merely  turning  over,  and  over  again,  a  mass 
of  English  Scripture,  from  year  to  year  ;  to  bend  all  its  strength,  as  now  in 
duty  bound,  and  in  a  manner  beyond  all  exception  whatever,  towards  foreign 
enterprise  ;  still,  in  the  present  position  and  peculiar  circumstances  of  this 
Country,  there  is  a  loud,  an  imperative  call  for  the  opening  of  other  channels 
of  conveyance.  Individuals  throughout  the  provinces,  residents  in  our  various 
cities  and  seaports,  will  not  continue  much  longer  to  sit  down,  satisfied  that 
they  have  fulfilled  their  duty  in  this  cause,  towards  foreign  lands,  by  simply 
transmitting  a  little  money  to  the  Metropolis. 

With  regard  to  such  a  mode  of  action,  in  which,  however,  great  prudence 
and  perseverance  are  equally  demanded,  it  is  material  to  observe  that  there  is 
an  energy,  as  yet  almost  dormant  in  this  country,  which  is  to  be  associated 
with  great  simplicity  of  procedure.  This  is  its  charm.  It  seeks  not  for  public 
favom",  it  declines  patronage.  It  thirsts  not  for  the  applause  of  any.  It  under- 
takes no  more  tlian  it  can  accomplish,  and  what  it  does,  it  does  well  and  kindly, 
with  a  warm  heart.  Its  progress,  without  precipitation,  and  no  tumult,  is  not 
marked  by  discussion  or  dispute,  for  these  it  alike  repudiates.^!  However 
urgent,  therefore,  we  may  appear  to  some  readers  to  have  been,  now  that  we 


31  In  other  days  of  foreign  Christian  enterprise,  about  forty  years  ago,  said  an  intelligent  man 
at  home,  engaged  in  fostering  a  distant  cause—"  When  our  friends  meet  for  business,  and  any 
matter  demands  counsel  and  deliberation,  we  allow  of  no  motions."  "  Why  so.  Sir?"  "  Be- 
cause you  know.  Sir,  a  motion  is  always  a  signal  for  a  debate,  and  we  have  no  debating."  "  But 
how  then  do  you  ever  get  through  your  business?"  "  Why,  Sir,  in  such  a  case,  with  us,  no 
one  speaks  except  he  has  something  to  say,  and  then  we  talk  over  the  matter  till  we  agree,  and 
ive  do  agree." 


M7n  CONCLUSIONS  DRAWN  FROM 

have  come  to  the  close  of  all,  wo  have  actually  notliinj;  of  what  is  called  sploii- 
ilid,  nothiii!;  i^raiul  <n"  iin]i()siii<^,  nothing  opcroso  to  suggest.  Wo  can  jiropoRo 
no  now  Societies,  no  aihhtional  Hoards,  no  largo  Committees.  It  would  he  no- 
thing short  of  going  in  the  face  of  the  entire  pn-vious  history,  did  we  now  sink 
so  low  as  to  helieve  only  in  the  charm  of  associated  numhers.  All  along  our 
narrative  has  heen  I'cading  to  us  a  very  difterent  lesson.  It  ha.s  been  pressing 
on  our  notice  one  great  historical  truth — 

"  Not  to  the  many  doth  the  earth, 
Owe  wliat  she  hath  of  good — 
The  many  would  not  stir  life's  depths, 
And  could  not,  if  they  would. 
It  is  some  individual  mind — that  moves  the  common  cause  ; 
To  single  efforts  Britain  owes — her  knowledge,  faith  and  laws." 

But  this  is  all  in  favour  of  the  course  of  action  at  which  we  have  hinted,  and 
no  slight  encouragement.  Tenfold  more  energy  is  now  greatly  to  he  desired, 
and  the  cause  before  us  calls  for  more  ;  but  energy  here,  if  we  are  to  be  guided 
by  the  past,  is  not  to  be  found  only  in  tiie  parade  of  mei*e  official  arrangements. 
We  deprecate  new  social  trammels.  Tiiey  arc  far  too  numerous  already.  In 
the  present  artificial  state  of  Society,  reliance  must  be  upon  principles,  not 
plans — upon  individual  men  of  fixed  principle,  acting,  and  conlinuino  to  act, 
not  from  any  external  or  foreign  impulse,  not  from  mere  sympathy  with  a 
crowd.  "  In  all  probability,"  no  common  observer  has  said,  "  in  all  probability 
the  improvement  of  mankind  is  destined,  under  Divine  Providence,  to  advance 
just  in  proportion  as  good  men  feel  the  responsibility  for  it,  resting  on  them- 
selves, an  individuals,  and  are  actuated  by  a  bold  sentiment  of  independence 
(humble,  at  the  same  time  in  refei-ence  to  the  necessity  of  celestial  agency)  in 
the  prosecution  of  it."  But  when  two  such  minds  meet  in  harmony,  what  may 
not  be  expected  ? 

Now,  only  two  such  men  in  our  various  Cities,  having  easy  access  to  the  out- 
ports,  (and  which  of  them  have  not  ?)  is  all  that  is  requisite  for  incalculably 
more  being  accomplished.  If  there  should  liappen  to  be  three,  they  need  not 
inquire  for  a  fourth.  Already  they  are  a  specified,  a  sacred  numbei",  coming 
within  the  express  intimation  of  the  Divine  presence  and  co-operation.  It  is  a 
moving,  a  sublime  assurance,  of  the  most  wonderful  condescension  in  Sacred 
writ.     Matthew,  xviii.,  19,  20. 

Having  once  read  this  immutable  promise,  and  in  possession  of  a  Sacred 
Volume,  which  we  hold  imder  an  imperative  Law  of  Diffusion,  who  will  say 
that  there  is  any  thing  of  the  mere  ideal,  any  thing  romantic,  in  supposing  that 
two  such  men  are  to  be  found  in  all  our  cities  ?  Two  men,  eAgcr  that  all  other 
nations  should  possess,  in  their  several  tongues,  the  boon  which  they  enjoy,  so 
plentifully,  in  their  own  ?  In  these  times  especially,  and  should  these  pages 
have  met  their  eye,  we  can  very  easily  conceive  of  two  or  three  men  of  en- 
larged philanthrophy,  in  Manchester,  Birmingham,  and  Liverpool  ;  in  Gla.sgow, 
Dublin,  and  Belfast  ;  in  Edinburgh,  Newcastle,  and  Dundee,  nay,  and  other 
places  ;  men  who  are  in  frequent  or  almost  daily  intercourse  with  foreign  lands, 
being  stimulated  by  the  examples  already  recorded.  Nor  is  it  any  great  stretch 
to  suppose  them  all  smitten  with  the  admiration  of  such  a  character  as  that  of 
Richard  IIauman,  the  Merchant  Adventm-er  of  Antwerp,  in  the  sixteenth 
century  ;  or  of  their  resolving,  like  him  and  his  partner  in  life,  to  attempt 
something  for  the  world,  similar  to  what  those  two  did  for  our  own  ancestore, 
and,  like  them,  prove  the  intermediate  agents  of  enlightening  the  mind,  and  glad- 
dening the  hearts,  of  those  they  never  saw,  till  they  met  in  a  better  world. 


THE  PRECEDING  HISTORY.  677 

In  such  a  mode  of  action,  porhaps  it  is  noiio  of  tlio  least  rocomraendatious, 
tliat  the  last  thing  of  which  one  should  hoar  any  notice  is  money,  if,  indeed,  it 
wore  ever  mentioned.  These  men  would  undertake  no  more  than  as  much  as 
they  could  accomplish.  They  might  accept,  but  would  never,  on  any  account, 
Solicit  aid  from  any  one,  and  the  consequence  would  be,  that  others,  conscious 
of  their  inactivity,  would  go  and  do  likewise.  Men  of  such  minds  would  first 
institute  in<[uiry  for  themselves,  first  interest  themselves  in  the  particular  foreign 
parts  to  which  they  have  access,  and  with  which  they  transact  other  business. 
Direct  personal  inquiry,  not  what  is  called  official,  or  individual  heart-felt  in- 
terest in  the  people  of  distant  lands,  is  what  is  wanted  at  home  ;  and  once  em- 
ployed, many  an  echo  would  be  heard  in  return.  There  are  now  even  English 
parties  all  over  the  world  with  whom  to  corres])ond  first ;  and  should  that  day  of 
calm  reflection  on  our  highest  privilege  and  incumbent  duty,  the  Sabbath  of  the 
EihiUsh  Bible  be  borne  in  mind,  and  be  improved  as  it  deserves  to  be,  a  thou- 
sand hearts,  though  far  apart,  would  soon  be  drawn  into  co-operation. 

In  this  manner,  not  to  specify  other  benefits,  why  might  not  many  transla- 
tions of  the  New  Testament,  at  least,  or  of  the  entire  Bible,  'n\  foreign  lan- 
guages, be  now  printed  upon  British  ground,  as  the  Malay  was,  so  long  ago, 
by  the  Dutch  in  Holland,  or  as  the  Persian,  which  is  now  printing  in  this 
country  ?  No  sight  could  be  more  gratifying  to  the  Christian  at  home  ;  and 
thus,  as  our  English  Scriptures  first  came  to  us  in  bales  of  flax  and  other 
merchandize,  what  could  be  more  appropriate  than  that  our  men  of  commerce 
should  have  it  in  their  option  to  do  for  many  distant  lands,  without  the  slightest 
risk,  that  which  was  so  dexterously,  and  with  such  hazard,  effected  for  their 
own  ? 

Such  lias  been  the  history  of  our  English  Bible,  and  such 
appears  to  be  the  paramount  duty  imposed  upon  all,  who  have 
so  long  and  so  richly  possessed  it.  If  to  thousands  around 
them  that  Sacred  Volume  be  of  no  more  utility  than  a  sun- 
dial in  the  dark, — if  others  esteem  those  lines  not  worth  read- 
ing, which  God  himself  deemed  worthy  of  his  inspiration,  and 
if  many  more  are  eager  after  the  adjustment  of  merely  certain 
local  interests  upon  British  ground ;  all  this  only  forms  a 
more  powerful  proof  of  the  necessity  for  invoking  the  Divine 
Spirit,  and,  in  present  circumstances,  a  stronger  argument 
need  not,  perhaps  cannot,  be  adduced.  But  nothing  whatever 
can  weaken  our  obligations  to  go  forward  in  this  high  path, 
or  justify  the  hands  hanging  down,  in  a  single  instance.  The 
all-sufficiency  of  the  Divine  Record,  and  now,  especially  the 
Ministration  of  the  Spirit,  form  the  two  great  themes,  calling 
for  universal  and  supreme  regard  throughout  our  native  land; 
but,  at  the  same  time,  not  unmindful  of  the  beneficial  reflex 
influence  oi foreign  operations,  before  the  commencement  of  this 
century,  and  duringa  season  of  great  national  peril,  we  have  thus 
written  ;  as  well  as  from  a  full  persuasion  that  the  permanent 
interests  of  this  country,  her  surest  protection  and  best  de- 


n7S  CONCLUSIONS  DRAWN  FROM 

fence  against  all  aggression,  arc  now  in  a  state  of  dependance 
upon  the  general  diffusion  of  Divine  Truth,  properly  so  called. 
Separate  from  all  systems  of  human  opinion,  removed  from 
the  din  of  disputation  and  the  strife  of  tongues,  this  appears  to 
be  the  pre-eminent  duty  to  which  the  Christians  of  Britain  are 
now  invited,  as  by  a  voice  from  above.  They  have  been  favoured 
beyond  those  of  any  other  nation,  but  this  should  only  lead 
them  the  more  to  remember  that  there  is  a  favour  higher  still 
than  that  of  being  blessed,  nay,  blessed  by  God  himself.  It 
consists  in  their  being  made  a  blessing  to  others.  His  object, 
in  the  first  instance,  is  to  be  adored,  but  let  us  beware,  above  all 
things,  of  forgetting  his  intention,  or,  as  it  were,  retarding  the 
flow  of  the  Divine  benignity  to  mankind.  His  fixed  purpose, 
uttered  again  and  again,  in  the  face  of  open  rebellion,  dissen- 
sion among  his  professed  followers,  and  even  the  people  at  large 
labouring  in  the  fire,  or  wearying  themselves  for  very  vanity, 
is  still  the  same, — "  The  earth  shall  be  Jilted  mth  the  knowledge 
of  the  glory  of  the  Lord^  as  the  waters  cover  the  sea!'"'  The  Divine 
Record,  therefore,  by  itself  considered,  must  visit  every  laud. 
In  the  various  languages  of  our  world,  here  is  the  highest  object 
to  which  the  human  mind  should  address  itself;  and  were  the 
collective  zeal  in  this  kingdom,  now,  at  last,  to  awake  and  take 
this  one  direction,  through  all  our  principal  sea-ports,  it  would 
be  nothing  more  than  the  very  extraordinary  procedure  of  the 
Almighty  towards  this  nation,  for  more  than  three  hundred 
years,  and  the  aspect  of  these  times,  demand. 

At  a  moment  when,  in  every  other  walk  pursued  by  British 
Christians,  the  seeds  of  mutation  are  so  thickly  sown, — a  sea- 
son, in  which  Divine  Providence  is  in  the  act  of  bringing  down 
the  self-importance  of  all  collective  bodies, — drawing  with 
unwonted  solemnity,  over  the  entire  kingdom,  and  to  be  more 
deeply  venerated,  the  line  of  distinction  between  his  own  re- 
vealed Word,  and  all  the  opinions  of  men  respecting  it ;  and  de- 
monstrating to  the  humblest  capacity  that  no  Church,  yet  in 
existence,  is  to  prove  the  ark  of  this  nation. — Even  at  such  a 
period,  whatever  these  signs  portend,  or  come  what  may,  what 
is  the  actual  state  of  this  greater  cause?  Its  prospects  were 
never,  by  half,  so  encouraging,  its  claims  never  so  imperative  ! 
Thus  strikingly,  by  every  calm  intelligent  observer,  may  this 
undertaking  be  seen  at  present,  rising  far  above  the  regions  of 
party,  or  of  mere  party  zeal. 


THE  PRECEDING  HISTORY.  679 

Meanwhile,  if  every  thing  in  the  condition  of  mankind  in- 
dicates the  approach  of  some  great  crisis,  is  it  not  more  than 
observable,  that  in  this  our  eminently  favoured  land,  all  things 
else  appear  as  though  they  had  conspired,  chiefly  to  render 
more  conspicuous  or  glaring,  and  certainly  far  more  invit- 
ing, one  solitary  path,  left  open  by  God  to  British  Christians 
as  such  I  A  path,  indeed,  to  which,  as  far  as  they  regard 
their  common  standard,  they  appear  to  be  now  very  nearly 
hedged  up,  just  as  they  were  above  forty  years  ago,  by  the 
fear  of  infidelity.  A  path,  however,  in  which  they  may  pro- 
ceed in  the  largest  body,  and  by  the  smallest  groups,  or  rather 
by  both  methods,  in  perfect  harmony.  That  path,  in  which 
those  who  revere  Divine  Revelation  as  their  common  charter 
to  the  skies,  or  their  sheet-anchor  in  every  storm,  can  still 
meet ;  and  meeting  with  success  their  common  foe,  however 
divided  on  some  points,  can  only  the  more  triumphantly  repel 
the  charge  of  sectarianism.  That  path,  where,  as  the  aspe- 
rities of  discordant  sentiment  can  have  no  place,  so  every  ac- 
crimoneous  or  noxious  controversy  is  left  to  wither  down  to  its 
root ;  and  where,  though  they  confute  no  heresies,  they  may 
effect  what  is  better  still,  cause  them  all  to  be  neglected  or 
forgotten.  In  that  plain  path,  where  diffusion  seems  to  be  the 
one  idea  that  cometh  out  from  the  Divine  throne  daily ;  dis- 
pensing with  a  bountiful  hand  "  the  sovereign  balm  for  every 
wound,"  through  other  and  distant  climes,  the  parties  so  en- 
gaged are  in  the  way  of  being  twice  blessed  :  and  there,  while 
working  in  the  rear  of  the  Almighty's  most  determined  pur- 
pose and  highest  end,  ultimate  success  is  no  less  certain,  than 
in  the  course  of  nature.  "  For  as  the  rain  cometh  down,  and 
the  snow  from  heaven,  and  returneth  not  thither,  but  watereth 
the  earth,  and  maketh  it  bring  forth  and  bud,  that  it  may 
give  seed  to  the  sower  and  bread  to  the  eater :  So  shall  my 
Word  be  that  goeth  forth  out  of  my  mouth :  it  shall  not  re- 
turn unto  me  void,  but  it  shall  accomplish  that  which  I  please, 
and  it  shall  prosper  in  the  thing  whereto  I  sent  it." 

What,  then,  although  many  things  around  us  say,  or  seem 
to  say,  Trust  not  in  man  I  Let  the  heart  of  no  Christian 
fail  him  for  one  moment.  With  more  profound  reverence 
for  the  Divine  Word  as  the  appointed  instrument,  a  clearer 
perception  of  its  adaptation  to  its  end,  a  firm  reliance  on 
the  Divine  veracitv,  and  a  habitual  reference  to  the   Holy 


fiH(»      CONCLUSIONS  DRAWN  FROM  THE  PRECEDING  HISTORY. 

Spirit  of  (J()(I,  lot  this  pjitli  only  be  pursued  as  its  supreme 
importiuiot'  (It'iiiands,  it  must  end  in  consequences  which  are 
not  left  to  human  conjecture,  and  such  as  the  earth  we  in- 
habit has  yet  to  enjoy. — "  For  ye  shall  go  out  with  joy,  and 
be  led  forth  with  peace ;  the  mountains  and  the  hills  shall 
break  forth  before  you  into  singing,  and  all  the  trees  of  the 
field  shall  clap  their  hands.  Instead  of  the  thorn  shall  come 
uj)  the  fir  tree,  and  instead  of  the  brier  shall  come  up  the 
myrtle  tree :  and  this  shall  be  unto  Jehovah  for  a  memorial, 
for  an  everlasting  sign,  which  shall  not  be  abolished." 


APPENDIX. 


The  Family  of  Tynclale.     See  Vol.  /.,  p.  18-20. 

Fro:\i  the  history  already  given,  it  must  have  been  evident  that  the  name  of  Tyndale  was  not 
uncommon.  We  have  met  with  four  conttmiioraries,  named  William  Tyndale,  but  not  one  of 
them  apjicars  to  have  had  any  connexion  by  family  ties  with  our  martyr.  One  of  these  was  a 
merchant  in  Bristol,  and  the  other  three  were  members  of  the  dominant  Church,  two  of  whom 
are  mentioned  in  Kcnnet's  MSS.  Thus,  on  21st  April  1493,  by  the  Buckden  Reg.  James  Mallet 
succeeded  to  the  Church  of  Irby  in  the  Marsh,  diocese  of  Lincoln,  by  the  death  of  William 
Tyndall,  the  former  incumbent.  Again,  another  William  Tyndale  of  Lambley  Abbey,  in  the 
diocese  of  Carlisle,  was  ordained  in  London  as  a  presbyter  or  priest  to  the  Benedictine  Nunnery 
of  Lambley-upon-the-Tyne,  according  toWarham's  Reg.  on  the  11th  March  l.')()3,  (.  t'.  1504.  Dr. 
Bliss  happening  to  insert  this  last  appointment  at  the  close  of  Anth.  Wood's  account  of  our 
Tyndale,  in  the  Athena^,  it  has  led  others  astray.  We  have  read  also  in  St.  Paul's  Library  a 
memorandum  on  the  Sermons  of  Herolt,  signifying  that  one  John  Tyndale,  the  owner  of  tliat 
volume,  had  given  it  to  the  Monastery  of  Greenwich  on  the  same  day  that  his  son  William  entered 
it  as  a  Brother  in  15(18.  Although  our  Martyr  had  not  told  Sir  T.  More  that  before  he  went 
over  the  sea  he  had  sworn  no  oath,  neither  had  any  man  required  an  oath  of  him,  it  is  evident 
from  his  writings  that  he  had  held  monkery  in  abhorrence.  See  also  Vol.  I.,  j>.  137,  note  3, 
There  is,  in  short,  no  traceable  evidence  of  any  one  of  these  men  being  in  the  slightest  degree 
related  to  the  family  in  Gloucestershire.  The  following  appears  to  have  been  the  family  of  our 
Translator. 


Thomas  Tyndale,  the  son  of  John,  and  grandson  of  Hugh  Tyndale  of 
Stinchcombe,  married  Alicia  Hunt,  daughter  and  sole  heiress  of  Thomas 
Hunt,  of  Hunt's  Court,  North  Nibley,  Gloucestershire,  and  by  her  had 
five  sons,  viz.,  Richard,  William,  Henry,  Thomas,  John,  and  one  daughter, 
Elizabeth.  The  father  died  some  time  about  33d  of  Heni-y  VIIT.,  (1541,) 
as  appears  by  a  deed  of  that  date,  to  which  Edward  Tyndale  of  Pull  Coiirt 
in  Worcestershire  was  a  witness.  See  Rudder's  Gloucestershire,  p.  695, 
and  for  this  witness,  see  Burke's  Commoners,  IV.,  p.  547. 

RicnARD,  the  eldest  son  of  Thomas,  had  a  son  and  heir  of  his  own 
name. 

Richard,  married,  and  had  a  family  of  eight  sons  and  four  daughters. 
Besides  Thomas,  the  eldest  son  and  heir,  we  can  name  three  others, 
Richard,  his  fourth  son,  born  6th  September  ]  585  ;  Arthur,  born  October 
1591  ;  Samuel,  born  November  1593,  and  one  of  the  daughters,  Katha- 
rine, born  February  1597. — From  Stinchcombe  P.  Reg.  In  1561,  or  3d 
Elizabeth,  the  father  had  purchased  Melkshain's  Court,  Stinchcombe,  of 
Lord  Wentworth. 

Thi.'MAs,  married  Catharine,  daughter  and  sole  heiress  of  John  Harris, 
Gent.,  by  whom  he  had  a  son  and  heir  of  the  same  name,  and  two 
daughters,  Sarah  and  Lydia.     The  father  was  born  in  June  1582,  and 


II  APPENDIX. 

died  in  1G38;  the  probate  to  his  will  being  dated  12th  October  1637. 
Catharine,  his  wife,  having  died  in  1031. — See  Stinchcomhe  lleg.  where 
Thomas  is  designated  clothier.  Sarah,  his  daughter,  married  Robert 
Theyer  in  1G37,  and  died  1698.  Ltdia  married  John  Roberts  of  Sidding- 
ton,  near  Cirencester,  in  1646,  of  whom  more  afterwards. 

TuoMAS,  son  of  the  last,  had  one  son,  William,  born  1C68,  and  one 
daughter,  Esther,  born  earlier  in  16G2.  The  father,  who  now  lived  at 
Stinchcombe,  under  Charles  I.,  was  not  in  favour  of  the  King's  cause. 
He  fled  from  his  house  at  the  approach  of  the  Royalists,  and  hid  himself 
for  three  days  and  nights  in  a  large  yew  tree  at  the  top  of  Stinch- 
combe wood  (standing  in  1779,)  whence  he  saw  his  house,  and  that  of  a 
Mr.  Pinfold,  burnt  to  the  ground.  He  then  sold  his  estate  in  North 
A^ible>/a.nd.  purchased  Bobbing  Court  in  Kent. — See  Hasted's  Kent,  II., 
C37-8,  "  Col.  Robert  Crayford,  Governor  of  Sheemess,  under  King  Wil- 
liam, sold  to  Thomas  Tyndale  of  North  Nibley,  in  the  Co.  of  Glo'ster, 
Bobbing  Court,  Milton-hundred,  Kent ;  whose  son,  William  Tyndale, 
Esq.,  dying  on  the  20th  Aug.  1748,  aged  80,  left  no  issue."  See  the 
next  paragraph.  Esther,  his  sister,  had  removed  to  Dursley,  where 
she  died  in  1742,  in  her  82d  year. 

William  Tyndale,  son  of  Thomas,  married daughter  of  Sir  Thomas 

Seabright,  by  whom  he  had  an  only  child,  a  daughter,  who  died  before 
him.  Dying  in  1748,  in  his  80th  year,  he  was  buried  in  the  south  chan- 
cel of  Bobbing  Church,  leaving  this  manor  in  taiUe  mail  to  his  collateral 
kinsman,  the  Rev.  William  Tyndale,  Rector  of  Cotes,  Gloucestershire. 
Thus  the  family  of  our  Martyred  Translator  became  extinct  in  the  direct 
male  line.  But  how  was  this  Rector  the  collateral  kinsman  ?  See 
below. 


Richard  Tyndale,  fourth  son  of  the  last  Richard,  born  in  1585,  mar- 
ried, and  had  a  son  named  Daniel.  He  married  Katharine,  daughter 
and  heiress  of  John  Wilkins,  by  whom  he  had  two  sons,  Richard,  who 
died  unmarried,  and  John.  This  John  Tyndale,  born  in  1097,  married 
Mary,  daughter  of  Thomas  Lodge,  Rector  of  Newington  Bagpath,  Glo's- 
tershire,  by  whom  he  had  four  sons,  William,  of  whom  presently,  John, 
Richard,  and  Daniel.  The  father  having  died  3d  March  1746,  the  pro- 
jierty  of  Bobbing  Coiurt  was  left  to  his  son  William,  the  rector  of  Cotes, 
which  he  enjoyed  till  his  death  in  1765.  His  son,  who  succeeded,  was 
designated 

Thomas  Tyndale,  Esq.  of  North  Cerney,  Glo'stershire  and  Bobbing 
Court,  in  Kent.  In  1791  we  find  him  styled  j'/'csent  proprietor  of  Bob- 
bing Manor.  Upon  his  death.  North  Cerney  was  sold  to  Lord  Bathurst. 
We  can  proceed  no  farther. 


APPENDIX.  iii 

But  the  descendants  of  Tyndale  in  the  female  line  are  not  even  yet 
extinct.  Thus — John  Roberts  married  Lydia  Tyndale,  already  men- 
tioned, in  1640.  That  ornament  of  his  country,  Matthew  Ilalc,  the  Lord 
Chief  Justice  of  England,  was  her  kinsman,  and  drew  the  marriage- 
settlement.  They  had  five  sons  and  one  daughter.  John  Roberts  died 
in  1683  ;  and  Daniel,  his  youngest  son,  married  to  Rebecca  Axtell,  died 
in  1726.  Axtell,  their  sou,  Avho  married  Ilanna  Loveday  of  Painswick, 
died  1759.  John,  their  son,  married  Mary  Olifte,  daughter  and  sole 
heiress  of  Thomas  Oade,  Esq.  of  Bristol,  and  merchant  in  London.  Daniel, 
their  son,  married  Ann  Thompson  of  Nether  Compton,  Dorset.  They 
had  two  sons,  John,  Oade,  and  one  daughter.  Oade,  the  youngest,  the 
correspondent  of  Lysons,  as  mentioned  in  oui-  History,  died  in  1821. 
The  sui'viving  descendant,  therefore,  is  John  Roberts,  Esq.  Temple, 
London. 


TyndaWs  Fixed  Determination  to  Translate  the  Scriptures. 

In  the  preceding  history,  vol.  i.  p.  33,  we  have  quoted  Tyndale's  own  lan- 
guage in  proof  of  his  earliest  intention  of  ti'anslating  the  Scriptures  into  English, 
and  especially  the  New  Testament  ;  nor  is  there  yet  upon  record  any  evidence 
of  a  previous  date.  There  is,  indeed,  a  manuscript,  with  an  ornamented  border, 
having  the  initials  W.  T.  upon  it,  and  dated  1502,  two  specimens  of  which  have 
been  given  by  Mr.  Offer,  one  in  fac  simile,  and  one  iu  print ;  but  such  a  trans- 
lation, at  a  date  so  early,  very  soon  excites  suspicion.  It  is  well  known,  that 
to  serve  some  sinister  purpose,  manuscripts  have  been  antedated  ;  and  as  con- 
nected with  the  Scriptures,  even  in  print,  we  must  not  forget  the  notorious  in- 
stance of  one  Thornton  imposing  upon  the  Duke  of  Lauderdale  an  entire  Bible 
with  marginal  notes  and  cuts,  as  if  printed  in  1520,  which  was  no  other  than 
Matthew's  edition  of  1537  !  Of  this  very  book,  or  its  remains,  we  believe  Mr. 
OfFor  is  now  in  possession,  and  it  appears  as  if  his  predecessor  in  possession  of 
this  MS.,  the  Rev.  H.  White  of  Lichfield,  had  also  been  imposed  upon,  if  he 
imagined  that  he  owned  such  a  version  actually  drawn  out  in  the  year  1502. 
Even  the  orthography  of  certain  words  evinces  a  much  later  period  ;  but  another 
circumstance  is  fatal  to  the  date  affixed.  This  is  a  translation  not  from  the 
Vulgate,  and,  to  a  certainty,  no  man  in  all  England,  so  early  as  1502,  had 
passed  a  single  thought  of  any  version  in  English  taken  from  the  Greek  original. 
One  may  judge  of  the  entire  maimscript  by  the  brief  specimen  given,  viz.  Luke 
vii.  36-50.  In  this  single  passage  of  only  fifteen  verses,  it  conforms,  in  seven 
places,  to  the  Greek  against  the  Vulgate,  and  accords  with  the  latter  only  in 
three.  Whether  the  date  may  ever  have  been  1562,  it  is  not  for  us  to  say,  but 
the  MS.  would  better  correspond  with  that  year. 

At  a  later  period,  it  is  true,  any  man  might  amuse  himself  by  copying  ex- 
tracts from  Tyndale,  and  affix  his  initials  in  honour  of  his  name ;  though,  if  these 
letters  were  intended  to  mark  the  writer  himself,  they  would  harmonize  far  bet- 
ter with  William  Tracy,  Esq.  of  Toddington,  or  with  Dr.  William  Turner,  both 
of  whom  had  ample  reason  for  offering  such  a  supplication  as  that  which  is  in- 
ter-woven with  one  of  the  marginal  ornaments. — "  Defend  me,  O  Lord,  frome  all 
the  that  bait  me." 

The  mind,  therefore,  naturally  recurs  to  the  interesting  discussions  upon 
Little  Sodbury  Hill,  which  led  to  the  expressive  terms  employed  by  our  first 
translator  : — "  Which  thing  only  moved  me  to  translate  the  New  Testament." 


TYNDALE'S  COMMENCEMENT  WITH  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT. 

Xo.  I — Fac  Simile  of  ]iin  Prolofju^. 

If  tlicrc  he  a  peculiar  charm  in  coiitcmplatinj;  the  veritable  origin  of  a  groat 
undortaliing,  by  many  readers  tlie  following  page  in  black  letter  cannot  fail  to 
be  valued.  It  is  the  more  worthy  of  inspection  as  being  a  pleasure  denied  to 
most  of  our  ancestoi-s,  the  edition  to  which  it  is  the  prologue  or  preface  having 
fallen  into  utter  oblivion  for  more  than  three  hundred  years.  We  need  only 
refer  to  its  history,  (see  Vol.  I.,  p.  74,  &c.)  in  proof  that  this  was  the  page 
immediately  following  the  title,  with  which  Tyndale  commenced  his  Testament, 
in  quarto,  at  the  press  of  Peter  QuentcU  in  Cologne,  anno  1 525. 

Xo.  II. — Fac  Simile  of  the  Xew  Testametit  in  quarto. 

Cochlseus  having  artfully  interrupted  Tyndale  at  Cologne  in  1525,  and  got 
into  the  same  printing-office  ;  in  the  large  wood-cut  of  the  Evangelist  Matthew, 
the  Reader  has  now  one  curious  proof  before  him.  Cochla-us  having  left  Co- 
logne early  in  1526,  one  of  the  first  works  he  engaged  Quentell  to  print  was 
"  Rupcrti  in  Matthajura,"  &c.  a  folio  volume  of  325  pages.  At  the  end  of  this 
we  find  him  addressing  Fisher,  Bishop  of  Rochester,  as  early  as  20th  April, 
and  the  work  was  finished  at  press  on  12th  June  152G.  But  at  the  very  com- 
mencement of  this  folio,  on  p.  2,  we  find  this  identical  wood-cut  which  Quentell 
had  formerly  used  for  Tyndale's  Testament ;  only  there,  it  will  be  observed, 
the  block  has  been  pared  down,  two-eighths  at  the  bottom,  and  left  side,  so  as 
to  deprive  it  of  the  white  ground  below,  and  at  the  side  to  encroach  upon  the 
angel's  wing.  This  was  to  fit  it  for  his  folio  page  ;  and  it  being  a  work  ou 
Matthew,  and  this  a  favourite  device,  he  inserted  again  on  the  title-page.  Con- 
sequently, the  cut,  as  it  is  now  to  be  seen,  entire,  must  have  been  the  prior 
publication,  or  in  1525.  Again  the  same  block,  as  thus  cut  down,  was  used  by 
Quentell  in  printing  the  Latin  Bible  of  Rudelius  in  1527,  at  the  beginning  of 
Alatlheic;  and  in  the  beginning  o(  .Tuhn  we  have  his  letter  Y,  with  which  this 
prologue  commences,  which  letter  in  fact  first  led  to  the  discovery  of  what  this 
fragment  is,  and  where  it  was  printed.  See  the  Uislory,  Vol.  I.  pp.  52-64, 
112-1  ID. 

Xo.  III. — Fac  Simile  of  the  smaller  Xew  Testanient. 

The  fii-st  two  pages  of  the  New  Testament  commenced  and  finished  at 
Worms,  in  the  same  year,  is  here  exhibited.  The  only  perfect  copy  in  exist- 
ence, now  at  Bristol,  it  will  be  observed,  has  manuscript  notes,  neatly  written 
on  the  margin  by  a  former  possessor.  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  add,  that  the 
word  "  married  "  in  the  second  page,  Tyndale  altered  to  "  betrothed,"  the  tei-ra 
which  was  adopted  by  Beck,  by  Whittingham,  in  1557  ;  the  Genevan  transla- 
tors in  15G0  ;  and  Parker  in  15G8.  Coverdale,  who  had  used  the  first  term, 
never  altered  it,  at  least  it  is  in  his  Bible  of  1550,  1553,  and  Cranmer  had  fol- 
lowed Coverdale.  Taverner  adopted  eq^oused  from  Wickliffe,  the  term  pre- 
fen-ed  by  our  last  revisors,  though  in  point  of  pei-spicuity  Tyndale's  corrected 
term  has  been  considered  the  best.     ISfe  the  History,  Vol.  I.  pp.  67-74, 112-119. 


Cl)rcinolo0iral  hxHtv  %i^t 


ENGLISH  BIBLES  AND  NEW  TESTAMENTS. 


EXPLANATORY  NOTE. 

The  best  account  of  English  Bibles  and  Testaments,  with  their 
proprietors,  which  has  ever  been  published,  is  that  which  was 
priutod  at  the  Clarendon  press,  Oxford,  in  1821,  by  the  Rev. 
Henry  Cotton,  D.  C.  L.  In  the  following  Index-List  will  be  found 
about  an  hundred  editions  not  there  specified.  Under  the  descrip- 
tion column,  the  quotations  marked  are  taken  verbally  and  literally 
from  the  title  page  or  colojdion,  which  may  assist  other  possessors 
to  identify  their  imperfect  copies.  More  proprietors  might  have 
been  added  to  some  books,  but  these  are  suflBcient  to  authenticate 
all  the  editions  mentioned,  and  put  an  end  to  a  degree  of  uncer- 
tainty respecting  these  precious  volumes,  which  has  too  long  pre- 
vailed. The  number,  on  the  whole,  will  be  found  to  corroborate, 
and  even  strengthen,  the  statements  in  the  preceding  History. 


In  the  following  pages  Ty.  denotes  the  translation  of  Tyndale — 
Co.  that  of  Coverdale — Ma.  that  of  Rogers,  alias  Matthew,  or  that 
of  Tyndale's,  left  for  publication — Cr.  denotes  Cranmcr's — Ta.  that 
of  Tavernor's — Ge.  the  Genevan  version — Bps.  that  of  the  Bishops, 
and  To.  that  of  Laurence  Tomson. 


CORRIGENDA. 


Vol.  I.    The  New  Testament  mentioned  p.  133,  with  leaves  uncut,  is  not  that  of  152C,  hnt  that  of 
Zurich  in  1  iWi.     The  book  of  1526,  after  witnessing  such  a  battle  resiiccting  it,  re- 
mains to  be  identified,  and  it  may  even  yet  be  found. 
P.  .W.l,  for  the  misprint  1537,  read  1837. 

Vol.  II.  p.  2.'i,  for  George  read,  Edward  Whitchurch. 


im. 


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a  manned  c\^hl>re 
wljtcf?  (?i0  bro^cr 


3ofta!5bc5att3cdponw0anbpi0  brethren  about  tpetj>mc  of  fe  Icfte  bcl?j»«>e 
t|)c  captwitcof  babilon  bynt  after  lJl0^e^ 

(E2i(^crt^c|>ia?crcleb  captn)etobabiIoK/3ec^omaebe0att  t\€>bm.)c}:v.c. 


f 


h  oft  tl?e  ^enemcton  off 

3bc|iiB  d;:ifttl)eronneof  fe«« 
i?it>/tbcronc4iroof2ib2at?am. 
2ib2<t(>dm  begat  ^fartc:  ,.     - 

trfaacbcgrtt^acob:  J!:.mcc  i-cvcro. 

5rtcob  begat  3ttO40  4n^  bv» 
bzetb^cn: 
^:5ub4^bcg4tpb«c«ant>  jaw 

offtb^mar: 

pbatee  begat  jefrom: 

JSfrom  begat  :2rram: 

2(ram  begat  2(mma  Dab : 

2(mmabab  begat  i7aaffon: 

Xt^affon  begat  Qalmcn: 

Salmon  begat  ^oo5  of  Kabab : 

3boo0  begat  (D  bet)  of  J^utb: 

(Dbebbegat^eHe: 

;jre(fe  begat  ?Davib  tlje  fvn$et 

(j^^DaviO  tbe  Pytigc  begat  e>olom5/cfl?ert^at 

was  tbcwyfe  of  XJrj' : 

©olomon  begatKoboam : 

Koboam  begat:2(bia: 

2(bia  begat  :2(fa; 

2tfa  begat  ^Jofapbrtt: 

^ofapbatbcgat^ocam: 

;3oram  begat  (D  fiaa : 

0  fias  begat  3oatbam : 

'^oat\:)am  bcgat:2(cba0 : 

^cfeiae  begat -e^€4;w«; 


lilanaffce  begat  2lmon: 

^moii  begat  ^ofias: 

^ofiaobe^at  '^c(t)omae  ant>  (?r^bietb?cnab« 

outctbctymcoftt)ccaptivetcofJi)abHon. 
^.TfcijuM.  X,-.         2(fterrbcTi»crlcb&captireto^abilon/3c« 

cbofita£t  begat  e>alatb««l: 
»■  >i*ibxc  --  ^alatbtelbegac3rozob4bei: 

Sozobabel  begat  ^biuo: 

2(bmb  begat  ifiiacbtm: 

jeiwcbtm  begat  2i^oii 

:5Cjc:  begat  B«Jt>oc; 

e^adoc  begat  :2(cbin: 

2icl?in  begat  £liuJ); 

£liub  begat  fikafar: 

Cleafat  begat  Xnatt\}<tn: 

lITattban  begat  3acob: 

3acob  begat  3ofepb  tbcbufT>5&f  off  tttacr/of 

trbotnc  u>a^  bozen  tbat  ^hcfu^ votyi^  is  calleb 

:2tUtbe  generaciona  from  ^bzab^to  jDaritJ 
<»:fon?tetcncgeneracioa.2irtbfrom  jDavibfn^ 
totbtcaptivetcof^abiiort/arcfcunti'ncgenc^ 
tac\cne.Zm>  from  tbc  captivctc  of  ^ab  ilo  vni 
rfi  to  €b2'f^/drcairofon?ucnegcneraciont». 

Cbc  bycbc  off  Cb:iflc  tfason  tbys  t»f^ 
fc/  Wb^"  bv^  motber  marr  tt>as  titat^eb  vnto 
C^ofepb/  before  tbcr  cam  to  bwcll  togc»ber/fbc 
vpas  founbcvcitl)  cbrlbe  bv  tbc  boly  goofJ.  ^b? 
Ijer  bufbanbc  ;5orepb  bcin^capatfcctman/^b 
lotb  to  befame  bctr/tr  as  mynbet)  to  p  ut  bee  an^f 

ayefccrctly.TObtHbetlnistbougbt/bcbolbtbs 
5gcU  of  tljclp;b  apCWb  3?ntoI?iin  flcpc  raige;3o 


^ljf.jj:ologgf. 


Tbmt  httt  trdtiOdttu 

Cbi(t\)ttn  art^  fuftcremoofl  ^ercatt^ 
ten^crlv  bcfoweb  in<r^:ifl  )  tb^nc^ 
xotZeftamem  fo2  yeurcfpintuafFc^ 
^15fym^c/con(oIadon/an^  folaa: 
!!E?;l)oit^n£jf  mfiand3?anb  bcfcc|)f  ngr 
tbofctbat  are  better  (cm  in  tbetoti^f 
t\)m  j>  /  ant)  tljat  bare  ^fit  ^^fhf  of 
^cace  to  interpret  tbe  (encc  oftijefcr^ 
ipeurc  /ant>nieanj>ii0cof  tl)c  (p^n^ 
re/tl;en  f /toconfyb^c  anbponbte  mf 
(aboure  /  ant>  t\)at  with  tlje  fpyiitc 
of  rmPmcs.  Zn^  )>f  t^ej>  pctccj^vein  enj? places t|> at y  ^Aioe 
not  atta3?neb  tbf  pery  fence  of  t\)e  tonjge  /  02  tncan^n^t  of 
d)e  fcripture  /  oi  ^auij  not  ]gct)eti  ttjen^bt  enctl5>(T^«J  toojbe  / 
tbattl;cj?  purtoctjere^anbf  to  ammbctt/rewetnbtynstc  that  fo 
i0t^erebuetietc  bo?,  ^citcc  t)at)e«iocfCcevr)eb  tl;e  0vftfof0ot> 
fo2  oureferues onlj^/oifojtobfbetljeni: butfoito bcfloroetljcm 
utttotbc  bonournige  of^ob  anbcb^tfj^/artb  ebyfjeincte  of  t^jeconj; 
i0rec(aciort  /oittjtct?  10  t^e  bob\>  ofcb^tjt* 

C^^c  caufee  t\)<it  mo»eb  metotranflatc  /y  tfjou^Jljt  better 
t|)atot[)crf  tjulbeymaglion/tijentbat)'  f^ulberejjearce  tbem. 
!l^o«over)>fuppofeb)?tfttperfluou0/fb:tt)f)o  vsfobfvnbe  to 
ajre  xdJ);  [yg\)t  f  Ijulbe  be  f  betoeb  to  t^em  tl)at  walfe  m  t:>cvch 
nes/ttoljeret^ey  cannot  but  (lomble/anbtD^ccetoflombrc  ^& 
tlje  baunfler  of  ctemafiPbommacion  /  otbet*  fobcfp>^i(i)tfu{P 
t^otb^itoolbcenvyemymart  (j^fpcafenott  ^is  b:ot[)er)  fo 
neceffarf  ci  t\>in$i/  orfo  bcblent  mabbc  toa^ytmc  t\}ctt  0o?t> 
t0  t^c  natural caufeofi?neK'/Anbberftte0  to  procebc  oute  of 
ty0l)t  /  anb  ttjat  XyinQt  f ^ulbe  begrounbeb  in  trou^tl;  an^ 
tjcr)?tie  /anb  nott  rat||er  cPene  contrary/  t^af  [v^\^t  be(h*o ^ 
)>et^bercFtte0/attb  »erittcreprovet{)  afiPmannerfprnife. 


a* 


VARIOUS   EDITIONS 

OF 

THE  NEW  TESTAMENT  AND  THE  BIBLE 

in  Ofuglislft, 

WITH    CERTAIN    PUBLIC    LIBRARIES   AND    INDIVIDUAL    PROPRIETORS 
IN  POSSESSION  OF  COPIES. 

SERVINCx  AS  AN 

INDEX  TO  THE  PRECEDING  HISTORY. 

F IFTV-FOUR  EDITIONS,  VIZ.  THIRTY-NINE  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT  AND  FIFTEEN  OF  THE  BIBLE, 

Printed  in  twenty-two  years,  or  from  1.525  to  the  28th  January  1547. 

DESCRIPTION.                                                           PRINTER.  PLACE. 

Matthew  and  Mark — printed  "  as  written  by  the  Evange- 
lists," with  marginal  notes,  stitched  together  and  separately. 
Sec  the  preceding  History,  Vol.  I.  pp.  51,  153,  156,  183,  1H9.  Hamburph  ir,2i 

1.  T.  The  New  Test,  with  glosses  and  a  prologue, — only  one  frag- 

ment remains,  and  that  not  discovered  till  18.34.   See  pp.  .52-04.  P.  Quentall   Colorpic 

Now  in  the  Library  of  the  Rigid  Bon.  Thomas  Grenvilh:         Ty.  P.  Schocft'er  fVorms        4o.  LW.') 

2.  T.  The  New  Test,  wanting  only  the  title,  and  the  only  copy  in 

this  state  now  known.  Seepp.G7-69.    Befiueathed,  with  many 

other  volumes,  by  Dr.  And.  Gilford,  to  the  Bristol  Museum  Ty.  P.  Schoeffer  fVorms       18o. 

3.  T.  The  New  Test.,  thefirst  surrep.  ed.,  of  which  no  copy  has  yet 

been  properly  identified  in  any  collection.     See  pp.  127-133       Ty.    Endlioven     Aidwerj/  \:>-2G 

4.  T.  The  New  Test,  the  second  surreptitious  ed.    See  pp.  IG.I-IOS    Ty.   Ruremund   Antwerp  Iu27 

j.  T.  The  New  Test,  the  third  surreptitious  edition.    See  p.  240        Ty. Antwerp         1528-9 

G.  T.  The  New  Test,  supposed  reprint  by  Tyndale  himself,  with  his 

prologue  to  the  Romans.    See  pp.  265,  2*»7  and  305,  HOte  Ty.    Hans  Lu ft    Marhurg?         \'j3t\ 

Genesis,  Deitero.vomv,  in  separate  books.    See  pp.  2fl9, 235  Ty.   Hans  Lu  ft    Marfnmi  

Pentateuch,  with  a  general  preface,  and  a  second  edition  of 
Genesis,  dated  17th  Jan.  l.").3fl,/.(;.  1531.  See  p.  242,— a  perfect  Various        Different 

copy  in  the  G««iv7/f  i/?/.   Imp.   Ihilish  Miis.  Bristol  Mus.   Ty.    printers         pl.aces  l.Wl 

VOL.   II.  2  X 


VIII 


INDEX— LIST  OF  BIBLES  AND  TESTAMENTS.        [15.14-1530 


I2o. 


l2o. 


/tnlirfrp 

\2o. 

Aniircrp 

12o. 

AnluKrp 

4o. 

Marburg 

12o. 

Anticcrp 

12o.  15.15 

Anttccr}!? 

12o. 



fol. 

DBSCRIITION.  I'RINTEn.  PLACE. 

7   T.  "  The  New  Test.  (W  it  wan  writtni,"  Ate,  altered  by  Geo.  Joye, 

witli  only  the  Vulnatc  hrforc  him,  datcil  "  »i.<Trrr.xxxiiii.,  Widowc  of 

in  Aupist."    The  only  copy  certainly  known  to  exist  i«  in  the  Tjr.    ChristofTcl    Antwerp 

Grenrilk  Library.     Sec  History,  pp.  .lilS-XK),  and  415,  note  of  Endhouc. 

0.  T.  The  New  Test.  dyljKt'ntly  corrcctod  and  compared  with  the 

Oreke,  by  Willvam  Tiiidalc,— fynishcd  in  .md.xxxiiij.,  in  Nor. 

See  p.  .IM.     Ilrilith  Miueum.    SI.  Piiiirs.     Britlol  3luieum.  Marten 

Lea  fFilton,  Kiq.    Chr.  Anderson.  Ty.    Empcrowr  Anlin-rp 
U.  T.  Unique  copy  on  vellum.     "  Anna  KeRina  Anglis."     Sim|>ly 

the  sacred  text.    Sec  the  History,  p.  41.').        Brituh  Miueum    Ty.    Empcrowr    Anhrerp 

Jonah,  with  a  prolofiuc.     See  pp.  288- 2U!) 

10.  T.  New  Test.  anno.  .MD.xxxmt.  surrcpt.  p.  415.  E.  of  Pembroke  Ty.   G.  H. 

11.  T.  New  Test.  anno,  md.xxxiiii.   gur.  p.  415.      lA'a  f/'i/ton,  Etq.  Ty. 

12.  T.  New  Test,  dated  on  the  back  IS.'H,  p.  415.        liritlol  Mutcum  Ty.    

PK.VT.\TErriT,  corrected.        .S7.  PauFt.         Bristol  .Museum  Ty.     

1.3.  T.  New  Test,  from  Tyiidalc's  corrected  ed.  p.  455.    Bodleian  Lib.  Ty.    

14.  T.  "  The  New  Testament  dylygcntly  corrected,"— peculiarortho- 

graphy,  p.  455-456.  Perfect.  Cumfc.  tVi.  t/6.  \va-p.  Kx.  Col.  Ox.   Ty. 

15.  T.  The  Ne we  Test. — but  imperfect— date  wanting.    Cotton's  list  Ty.    

1.  B.  BiBLiA.     The  Bible,  that  is,  the  holy  Scripture  of  the 

Olde  and  New  Testament,  faithfully  and  truly  translated 

out  of  Douche  and  Latyn  in  to  English.     See  the  Hist.  p.  Not  Zurich 

553-S63.    Earl(ifLeicetter's—\\l\e  l.')35.     Bodleian.    British  Frankfort? 

Museum.   Cambridge  University  Lil/rarii.   Bristol  Museum.  Cologne  f 

Lea  Wilson,  Esq.     Earl  of  Jerse(/'s,  dated  \53li  Co.    Lubecf        fol.  1535 

"  TheNewe  Testament  yet  once  again  corrected."  Fine  copy. 

Duke  of  Newcastle's,  lG7fi,  Earl  Spencer.      Lea  fVilson,  Esq.    Ty.     Anluxrji   l2o.  15.1C 

The  Newe  Testament,  in  many  points  similar,  but  quite  dis- 
tinct.    The  second  title  is  md.xxxvi.  Lea  IVilson,  Esq.  Ty.    Antwerp    12o. 

Tl»e  Newe  Testament,  also  similar,  but  evidently  on  colla- 
tion a  different  edition— same  year.  Le^  Wilson,  Esq.    Ty.    Antwerp 

The  Newe  Test,  quite  distinct  from  the  3  last.     Bristol  Mus.   Ty.     —  Antwerp 

"  The  Newe  Testament,  yet  once  agayne  corrected  by  Wil- 
liam Tyndale.  Lea  Wilton,  Esq.  Ty.  Vosterman  ?  Antwerp 
"  The  Newe  Testament  yet  once  agayne  corrected,"— longer 

paper  and  distinct  edition.  Lea  Wilson,  Esq.  Ty.  Vosterman  ?  Antwerp 

"The  Newe  Testament  yet" — a  block  in  the  cut  of  the 
Apostle  Paul,  preceding  the  Epistles,  is  only  one  distinguish- 
ing mark  of  these  three  editions.  Lea  Wilson,  Esq.  Ty.  Vosterman  ?  Antwerp 

23.  T.  New  Test,  by  W.  Tindalc.    A  thick  pocket  vol.  smaller  than 

any  of  the  preceding— a  fragment  jiossessed  by  C  O^or,  &5.   Ty. Antwerp?  l2o. 

24.  T.  "  The  Nbwk  Testa.me.vt  yet  once  agayne  corrected  by  W. 

Tyndale,"  &c.     This  is  from  the  last  corrected  edit,  and  the  T.  Berthelet 

first  Sacred  Volume  printed  on  English  ground.    Seep.  549.   Ty.     Printer  to   London        fol. 

Bodleian  Lil/rary.    John  Fenwick,  Esq.  the  King 

25.  T.  The  Newe  Testament,  with  Tyndale's  prologue  to  the  Romans 

only,  but  Coverdalc's  version.    Tlie  first  edition  separate  from 

the  Bible?  Lea  Wilson,  Esq.  Co. Antwerp?  12o. 

8.  B.  "  The  Byble.  that  is,  the  Holyc  Scrypture  of  the  Olde 

and  NcwTestamente,  faythfuUy  translated  in  Englysh.  and 

newly  ouersene  and  correcte,  MV.xx.KVif."    Dedicated  "to 

Henry  VIII.  &  his  Queen  Jane." — "  Myles  Couerdale  nnto 

'  Christen  reader."    Correcting  p.  fiG'i.  Earl  Spencer. 

[j-n  Wilson,  Esq.   Co.  J.  Nycolson  Southwarke  4o. 


16. 

T. 

17 

T. 

18. 

T. 

19. 

T. 

20. 

T. 

21. 

T. 

22. 

T. 

12o. 

12o. 


40. 


40. 


4o. 


l.V37-1.5i.O.]        INDEX— LIST  OF  BIBLKS  AND  TESTAMENTS. 


IX 


.hitwer)!  ? 


DESCRirXION.  PRINTER.  PLACK.         YEAR. 

3.  B.  "  The  Byble,  that  is.tho  ouldc  and  newe  Testamct,  faith- 
fully Traunslated  into  Enslish,  ami  newly  ouerscen  and 
corrected,  md.xxxvii."  Dedicated  as  before,  and  both  "  Sett 
forth  with  the  Kynges  most  gr.icions  license.     Sec  p.  5(!5. 

Bristol  AVuscum.    Lincoln  Cathedral.    Lea  ffiUon,  Esq.  Co.  J.  Nycolson  Soutlncail{C  fol.  15.17 

4.  B.  "THK  BtBLB,  WHICH  IS  THB  HoLY  SCRIPTURE,  I.V 
WHICH  ARK  CONTAYNED  THE  OlDK  AND  NkWB  TKSTA- 
MK.NT,  TRURLY  AND  PURKLY   TRANSLATKD  I.NTO  E.S'GLYSH. 

By  Thomas  Matthew."     Dedicated  to  Henry  VIII.     "  Set 

forth  with  the  Kinge's  most  gracious  license."    The  basis 

of  all  subsequent  editions.     See  p.  H'JGiiOy.     British  Urns.  Grafton 

Lambeth  Lib.    Boilliian.    Bristol  Mus.    Earl  of  Pembroke.  Tj.         and 

Onyit\\o\f\ta.\ieT,  Earlqf  Bridgewaler.      Lea  fVilson,  Esq.  Ma. 'Wliitchurch  Ilamhorof 

26.  T.  In  Latin  after  Erasmus,  and  in  English  after  Matthew,  "  un- 

der the  King's  most  gracious  license."  See  the  History,  Vol. 

II.,  pp.  34,  35.  «o?€.       Royal  Institution.    Exeter  Coll.  Oxon.   Ma.   Redman       London        4o.  1538 

27.  T.  New  Test,  of  Coverdale,  but  with  all  Tyndale's  prologues, 

by  Crom  or  Cromer.        Bristol  3Iuseum.     St.  Paul's  Library.  Co.   M.Cromer  Antwerp     12o. 

28.  T.  "  of  our  Sauioure  Jesu  Chrisfe,— in  to  Englysshe." 

Library  0/ the  late  Duke  of  Sussex.    Mr.  G.  DIason  Ma.  Treveris 

29.  T.  "  The  newe  Testament,  both  Latin  and  Englyshe,  after  the 

vulgar  texte,  by  Myles  Couerdale."    See  p.  35-37. 

Bodleian.      Lea  lyilson,  Esq.  Co.   Nicolson 

3(1.  T.  "  The  newe  testament   both  in   Latine  and  Englyshe"— 
"  FaythfuUj-e  translated  by  Johan  Hollybushe."     See  p.  38. 

St.  PauVs.     Lea  JJ-'ilson,  Esq.    Clir.  Anderson  Co.   Nicolson 

31.  T.  "  The  new  Testament  both  in  Latin  and  English,"— title  red 

and  black.     Dedicated  to  Lord  Cromwell,  by  Couerdale. 

St.  Paul's.    Bristol  Museum.     Lea  fyHson,  Esq.     Co.    Regnault      Paris  80. 

32.  T.  "The  new  Testament"— with  a  true  concordance  in   the 

Margent— printed  in  the  yeare  of  our  Lorde  Mcccccxxxviir. 

Herbert,  p.  1549.  Co. London?    I60. 

3,1.  T.  The  Paris  edit,  with  Ded.  and  new  title.  C.  C.  College,  Oxford  Co. London?     80.  KWil 

,34.  T.  "  of  our  sauiour  Jesu  Chryst— for  Thomas  Berthelet,"  p.  82. 

St.  Paid's  Library  Ta.  T.  Petyt 

3,1.  T.  "  after  the  Greeke  Exemplar"— for  T.  Berthelet. 

Herbert,  p.  553,  1550.   Ta.   T.  Petyt 

3G.  T.  Rep.  of  1538,  very  incor.     See  p.  35.       Herbert,  p.  1549,  1550.  Co.   Cromer 
5.  B.  "  The  Byble"— an  undertaking  of  Crumwell's,  with  Co- 
verdale as  corrector  of  the  press.    See  pp.  23-.32,  43,  44,  and  Grafton 

79.  British  Museum.    St.  Paul's.      Lambeth  Library.  Ma.         and 


Southwark  4o. 


Soutlncarke  4o. 


Southwarke  4o. 


London 

Loudon 
Antwerp 

Pur  is 
and 
Bristol  Museum,    perfect  co\iy— Lea  ffilson,  Esq.         AVhitchurcli  London 

6.  B.  "  The  most  sacred  Bible,"  by  Taverner.  See  p.  80-82. 
British  Museum.  St.  Paul's.  Bristol  Museum.  Cam- 
bridge Un.  Library.    Balliol  Col.  Oxon.    Lea  fVilson,  Esq.  Ta.   J.  Byddell    London 

7.  B.  "  The  most  sacred  Bible,"  by  Taverner.  See  p.  82.  But 
no  third  edit,  by  Nycolson,  as  stated  by  Herbert  and  Dib- 

din.    See  Bible,  No. Cotton's  List   T.-i.   J.  Byddell     Lvulon 

8.  B.    "The  Byble  in   Englyshe"  —  "  Fynisshed  in  Apryll  Edward 
Mcccccxi.."    See  p.  80-92,  127-1.30.    The  first  of  Cranmer's.   Cr.       Whyt-        Ijotdon 
Vellum,  British  Museum,    perfect  copy— iea  fVil-on,  Esq.  churchc 


4o. 


80. 

80. 


xii  INDEX-LIST  OF  BIBLES  AND  TESTAMENTS.     [  1. 54^-1. 05 1 . 

DESCRIPTION.  I'KINTEU.  VEAIl. 

211.  n.  The  Bjrblc  in  EnRlishc,  a  reprint  of  1541.    DcinR  n  joint  con- 
cern, some  titles  have  "Grufton  and  Wliitchurcli."     Jlrittiil  Milt.  Cr.    Grafton  4o.  1549 

21.  H.  in  five  vols,  dated  154J),  155(»,  KWl.     "  I'rinted  in  sundry  partes 
for  these  pore— that  they  which  nr  not  able  to  bic  the  liole,  may 

bieapart."    This  copy  wants  only  the  first  vol.    Lea  fyilton,  Ktq.  Ta.   Day  and  Seres    12o. 

(53.  T.  The  Newe  Testament,  "  Imprinted  the  xir.  Daye  of  January.  Anno 
Do.  MCCCCCL.     At  worcetcr  by  Jhon  Oswen,"  Cum  Kratia,  iic. 

lialllul  CulU-yc,  Uxon.    Ua  misoii,  Klq.   Ty.   Oawen  4o.  \.VA> 

W.  T.  "  The  New  Testament  of  our  Sauiour  Christ,— after  the  best  Copie 
of  William  Tindale's  Translation— the  vi.  day  of  February." 

Ml  Souls  College,  Oxon.     Lea  fyiUon,  Es'j.   Ty.   Day  and  Seres   12o. 

().").  T.  '•  The  Newe  Testament,— by  Miles  Couerdale,  conferred  with  the 
translaciou  of  VVillyam  Tyndale,"  dated  "  anno  15511,  in  June." 

Ltimbdh  Library.     L<:a  H'ilsun,  Ksq.  Co.    R.  Wolfe  12o. 

CO.  T.  "  The  Newe  Testament  of  our  Sauiour  Jesus  Christ."  Should  have 
a  port,  of  Kdw.  VI.    A  full  i)aBe  34  lines.         St.  Paul's  Library. 

A  copy  imperfect.      Lea  tyilson,  Esq.   Ty.   R.  Jugge  24o. 

(j7.  T.  "The  newe  Testament  faythfully  translated  by  Miles  Coverdal,  anno. 
155<»."  First  so  "  Imprynted  at  Zurich,  by  Christoflel  Froschouer" — 
by  unaccountable  mistake  for  William  Tyndale.      British  Miiseitm. 

Zurich  L'brary.    British  Museum.     Lea  fFilson,  Ksq.  Ty.   Froschovcr         lUo. 

CO.  T.  "  The  new  Testament  in  Englislie  after  the  greeke  traslation,"  &c. 
Red  and  black  title,  "  in  officina  Thoma;  Gaultier  pro  I.  C."  i.e.  for 
John  Cawood.    "  Pridie  Kalcndas  Dcccmbris  anno  mdl." 

Limbeth.     Bodleian.     Bristol  Museum.      Lea  Wilson,  Esq.  Cr?  Gualticr  Ho. 

22.  B.  "  The  Bible  in  Englishe— the  translacion  that  is  appointed  to 

be  rede  in  the  churches."     St.  Paul's  Library.    Lea  tyilson,  Esq.   Cr.   Whytchurche      4o. 

23.  B.  "The  whole  Byble,— by  Mayst.  Thomas  Mathewe!"    First  so 
"  Imprinted  in  Zurych  by  Chrystoffer  froschower— finished  "  the 

XVI  daye  in  the  moueth  of  August,"  by  strange  mistake  for  Cover-  Froschovcr 

dale.    The  correct  London  title,— "  Prynted/yrAndrewe  Hester."   Co.        and  4o. 

British  Mus.  Bodleian.  St.  Paul's.  Bristol  Mus.  Lea  JVilson,  Esq.  A.  Hester 

CD.  T.  The  New  Testament,  with  Erasmus' paraphrase,  i.  volume. 

Sion  Cvlkge.    All  Souls  College,  Oxon.   var.  Whitchurch       fol.  15.51 

70.  T.  The  Newe  Testament,  by  William  Tyndale.  Bristol  Museum  Ty.   Day  and  Seres   12o. 

71.  T.  "  The  Newe  Testament,  with  certayne  Notes  folowynge  the  chapters." 

Preface  by  Tyndale,  and  margin  references,  sidli.     St.  Paul's  Lib.  Ty.  J.  Daye  fol. 

24.  B.  "  The  Byble,  that  is  to  saye  all  the  holy  Scripture,"— Printed 
by  Nicolas  Hyll,  vi.  May  ihdli.  and  for  eight  "  honest  mcnne." 

See  the  explanation  given  p.  242.  Bristol  Museum  Ma.  Jo.  Wyghte        fol. 

Besides  the  issues  here  iden-  Ma.  W'm.  Boiiliam    fol. 

tified  there  are  other  copies  Lea  fyilson,  Esq.  Ma.  Th.  Pctyt           fol. 

in  the  British  j^ruseiim.    St.  Ma.  T.  Kaynalde       fol. 

Paul's.     Lambeth.      Trinity  Ma.  H.  Kele               fol. 

College  and    All  Souls  Col-  Bristol  Museum  Ma.  J.  Walley           fol. 

legc,Oxford.   Christ's  Church,  Bristol  Museum  Ma.  Ab.  Veale          fol. 

Canterbury.  Bristol  Museum  Ma.  Ro.  Toye            fol. 

2.'i.  B.  "  The  Byble,  that  is  to  say  al  the  holy  Scripture."    Revised 
by  Becke.   Mostly  Taverner's,  with  the  New  Testament  of  Tyndale,   Ta. 

dated  xxirr.  of  Maye  iviDLi.     British  Museum.    Laml>eth  Lil/rary.  Jhon  Day  fol. 

St.  P<iiil's.     Budlaan.    Bristol  Museum.    Lea  Ji'ilson,  Esq.   Ty. 


1 552-1 5G1.]       INDEX— LIST  OF  BIBLES  AND  TESTAMENTS.  xiii 

DESCRIPTION.  I'RINTKH.  YEAR. 

7:?.  T.  "Tlie  Newc  Testament  of  our  SauiourJosu  Cliriste."  Port,  of  Edw. 
and  large  woodcuts,  with  a  license,  dated  10  June,  forbidding  others 
to  print.  See  the  Hist.  p.  240.  Note  tt.  Brilish  Museum.  Lamhclh. 
St.  Paul's.   fVaMam  C.  0.ioh.  Uristol  Museum.   Lea  lyilson,  Esq.  Ty.    H.  Jugge  4o.  1552 

73.  T.  The  Newc  Test,  in  Englyshe,— scp.  copies  of  the  following  Bible, —      Cr.    Nich.  Hyll  4o. 

20.  B.  The  Byble,  &c.  "  London,  by  Nycholas  Hyll,  for  Abraham 
Veale,  anno,  mdljj."  Has  been  ascribed  to  Nicolson  of  South  wark 
by  mistake.   See  Dibdin's  Ames,  vol.  iii.,  p..'>7.     Lea  IVilson,  Ksq.   Cr.    Nich.  Hyll  4o. 

74.  T.  "  The  newe  Testament  of  cure  Sauionr  Jesus  Christe."    This  and 

the  edition  of  1552  fixed  by  the  King  to  be  sold  for  22d.  =  22«.  now. 

British  Museum.    St.  Paul's.    Bristol  Museum.    Lea  fVllson,  Esq.  Ty.   R.  Juggc  4o.  1553 

27.  B.  "The  byble  in  English— the  translacio— to  bo  read  in  churches. 
MDLiii."  St.  Paul's.    /Worcester  Col.  Oxon.    Earl  o/Bridgcwater. 

Lea  fyilson,  Esq.   Cr.    Whytchurche     fol. 

28.  B.  "  The  whole  Byble,"  by  Coverdale, — a  new  issue  of  the  Zurich 

edition,  with  new  title.      St.  Paul's.     Balliol  College  and  Exeter  Froschover 

College,  Oxon.     Bristol  Museum  Co.    Ri.  Jugge  4o. 

2!(.  B.  "  The  Bible  in  Englishe,  according  to  the  translacion  of  the 
great  Byble."  Very  small  skeleton  Saxon  letter.  Some  copies 
have  Grafton  and  Whitchurch. 

St.  Paul's  Library.    Bristol  Museum.     Lea  JFilson,  Esq.   Cr.   Grafton  4o. 


(Bxittn  i^flarp* 


ONE  EDITION  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT,  PRINTED  ABROAD. 

Under  this  rcigu  of  five  years  and  four  months,  from  VMh  July  1553  to  Ylih  Novencbcr  1558. 


'  The  Newe  Testament  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."     10  June.     The  Geneva 

translation  of  William  Whittingham,  in  exile  at  Geneva.     See  the  by 

History,  p.  3tl5-312.     British  31>is.    Lambeth  Lib.    Bodleian.    Bristol  Conrad 

Mus.    Balliol  College,  Oxford.     Lea  Jf-'ilson,  Esq.     Chr.  Anderson.  Badius 


I80.  1557 


(Bmm  eii^atietf)* 


ON'E  HUNDRED  AND  FORTV-TWO    EDITIONS,  VIZ.  FORTY-EIGHT  OF   THE    NEW  TESTAMENT  AND 
NINETY-FOUR  OF  THE  BIBLE. 

Printed  duriny  forty-four  years  and  four  months,  from  \7th  November  1558  to  24tk  March  1C03. 

30.  B.  "  The  Bible  and  Holy  Scriptvres."  The  first  Genevan,  the  first 
in  Roman  letter,  and  first  Bible  in  verses,  Kith  April  1560.  Dnd. 
to  the  Queen,  and  addressed  to  "  the  brethren  of  England,  Scot- 
LA.ND,  and  Ireland.    See  the  Hist.  p.  318-324,  356,  357.  Lambeth. 

Balliol  College,  Oxon.    Rev.  Dr.  Cotton.    Lea  Wilson,  Esq.  Oe.   Rou.  Hall 

76.  T.  The  New  Test. —the  same  version.    No  printer's  name.         Lambeth.   Ge.   Geneva 

77.  T.  "  The  newe  Testament,  EaythfuUy  translated  out  of  the  Greke." 

Dedicated  to  Edward  VI.  forbidding  all  others  to  print,  and  by  his 

former  privilege  still!    All  Souls,  Oxon.    Lambeth.  Lea  JVilson,Esq.   Ty.    R.  Jugge 

78.  T.  "  The  Newc  Testament,"  same  version,  but  perfectly  distinct  dated 

edition.     Both  books  perhaps  kept  up  in  safety  during  Mary's  reign. 

Lea  Wilson,  Esq.  Ty.    R.  Juggc 


4o.  1560 
I60. 


12o.  1561 


12o. 


Xiv  INDKX— LIST  OK  UIBLES  AND  TESTAMENTS.       [15G1-1.")7<>. 

DESCRIl'TIO.X.  IMllNTKK.  VKAU. 

79.  T.  The  New  Test,  without  liccnuc— fined  lU.  Sec  Herl).aH.1.  Cotton's  lJ>t  Cr.    U.  Harrison         4o.  IMl 

.'II.  B.  "The  Hible."  Second  (Jenevan.  Dedicated  as  before,  but 
dated  Kith  April  ia;i.  The  New  Test,  in  1.V31,  the  first  title  \M2, 
Bodlcy's  editisn,  Roman.    Sec  p.  .■)24-.327.     Brazen  Nuse  ColU'ije. 

Oxford.     Geo.  Offbr,  K»(/.     Lea  ff^itton,  Kiq.  Oc.   No  name  fol. 

;B.  B.  "  The  Bible,"  in  small  black  letter.  "  Imprinted  at  London, 
in  Povvlcs  Cliurchc-yarde,  l)y  Jlion  Cawoode.  I'rynter  to  the 
Qucnes  Maiestle,  Anno  mdlxj.   Cum  priuilenio  RcgiaiMaiestatls." 

BrilM  SItueum.    Lambeth.     Lea  fyUimi,  Eiq.  Cr.    J.  Cawoode  4o. 

33.  B.  "  The  bible  in  Englishe— apointcd  to  be  read  in  churches." 
'*  Imprinted  at  London,  in  white  crosse  strcle,  by  Uicliarde  Harri- 
son, Anno  Dorai.  1.5.0.2."    Human.    Sec  Hist.  p.  320,  and  note. 

Bristol  Muteum.    Earl  of  Bridgeicaler.    Lea  fyilton,  Esq.  Cr.    Harrison  fol.  iaj2 

(Ml.  T.  "  The  Ncwe  Testament  of  our  Saulour,"  in  red  and  black.  Still  for- 
bidding others  to  print.     liaUiol  ColUye,  Oxford.    Bristol  Mtucum. 

Lea  fVilson,  Esq.'Jiy.   R.  Jurrc  4o.  laW 

34.  B.  The  Bible  in  Englyshc— "  At  Rovcn,  (Rouen,)  at  thccoste  and 
charges  of  Richard  Carmarden,"  by  Hamillon,  not  Hamilton,  as 
in  the  History,  p.  3;il.      Brili.tU  Museum.     Bodleian.     LamlKth. 

fVorcester  Colltye,  Oxford.      Bristol  Museum.    Lea  IVilson,  Esq.  Cr.    Hamillon  fol. 

33.  B.  The  Bible  "In  oflBcinaR.  Grafton."  Thefirst  edit,  in  onevol. 
ilvo.  and  the  last  he  printed,  probably  sent  to  Ireland.  See  Hist, 
p.  3,31.  //tTficW,  p.  538.  Cr.    R.Grafton  Ho. 

30.  B.  "  The  Bible,"  third  edit,  printed  at  Geneva,  by  John  Crispin. 

See  Herbert's  Ames,  p.  IG24,  and  tlie  previous  History,  p.  33li.  Gc.   J.  Crespin  4o.  1568 

(II.  T.  The  Newc  Test.,  printed  to  sell  separately.  Bodleian.  Geo.OJlhr,  Esq.  Ge.  J.Crispin  4o. 

37.  B.  "  The  .  holie  .  Bible  .  contcyning  the  olde  Testament  and  the 
newe."  Tlie  first  edit,  of  Parker's,  with  143  cuts  and  engravings. 
See  the  Hist.  p.  332-334.  British  Museum.    Bodleian.   Bristol  Mus. 

St.  Paul's.     Caml/ridrje  University  Library.     Lea  ff'ilson,  Esq.  Bps.  R.  Juggc  fol   

38.  B.  The  Bible,  by  R.  Jugge  and  J.  Cawood. 

Trinity  College,  Cambridue.     All  Souls  College,  Oxon.  Cr.    Jo.  Cawood  4o. 

3U.  B.  "  The  Bible  in  Englyshe.  Imprinted— Cum  privilegio  Regia; 
Majestatis."    See  tlie  Hist.  p.  334. 

Lambeth.     Bristol  Musewn.    Lea  fyilson,  Esq.  Cr.    Cawood  4o.  1561) 

40.  B.  The  Bible,— another  edit.  It  may  be  distinguished  by  "THE 
NEWE  TEStamcnt  in   English."  — Cum  priuilegio." 

Lea  ff^ilson,  Esq.  Cr.    Cawood  4o. 

41.  B.  "  The  Bible.    Entirely  distinct  edition,  though  the  same  year. 

Like  an  effort  to  uphold  Cranmer's  version.  Lea  fVilson,  Esq.  Cr.    Cawood  4o. 

42.  B.  "  The  holi  Bible."  Portrait  of  Elizabeth,  and  the  Archbishop 
below,  preaching.  See  Strype's  Annals  and  Lewis,  p.  254.  In  two 
columns,  the  verses  intermingled  with  tlie  text. 

Late  Duke  of  Sussex  Library.    T.  Thorpe,  Esq.    Lea  fVilson,  Esq.  Bps.  R.  Jugge  4o. 

43.  B.  "  The  Bible  and  Holy  Scriptvres  conteyned."— "  At  Geneva, 
printed  by  John  Crispin,  mdlxix."    The  New  Test,  is  mdlxviii. 

—Roman.  Lea  fyilson,  Esq.  Ge.  Crispin  4o. 

44.  B.  The  very  same  book  as  the  last,  though  styled  second  edition. 
It  was,  however,  a  second  or  fresh  issue  this  yvar,— Roman. 

Bodleian.     Ua  ffilson,  Esq.  Oc.   Crispni  4o.  157^ 

45.  B.  "  The  Holie  Bible,"— second  edit,  in  91/aWo  of  the  Bishop's  ver. 

Once  in  Herbert's  collection,  but  at  present  we  know  not  where.  Bps.  R   Jugc<'  4o. 


ISTO-lrjTG.]     INDEX— LIST  OF  BIBLES  AND  TESTAMENTS.  xv 

DESCRIPTION.  PUIN'riCK.  YKAU. 

It?.  T.  The  New  Testament,  very  similar  to  Nos.  77,  7U,  but  a  dilTerciit  edit, 
evident  from  the  wood-cuts  in  the  Revelation,  and  other  marks, — 
black  letter.  Lea  irdson,  Ksq.  Ty.     11.  Jugge  li>o.  IJln 

113.  T.  The  New  Testament,— title  wanting,— extremely  small  black  letter, 
— not  paged.     The  letter-press  measures  two  inches  by  three  and  a 

quarter.     Printed  in  Ifl/O  or  IS?!.  Lea  ff'ilsoii,  Ksi/.  Dps.  U.  Jiigge  24o.  IS?' 

4(J.  B.  "  The  Holie  Bible."    Second  folio  edit,  with  only  30  cuts  and 

engravings,  many  ornamental  initials,  wildly  taken  from  Ovid's 

Metamorphoses  !     A  double  version  of  the  Psalms.     British  Jl/iis. 

Bodkian.    Kxdcr  Colkijc,Oxon.   Bristol  I\I us.     Lea  fnison,  Ksq.  ]i[>a.  U.  J  U!;c,c  fol.  I57'2 

47.  B.  "  The  Holie  Bible."  The  third  in  quarto.  A  splendid  copy, 
bound  in  five  volumes,  is  in  fAimbetli  Liljrarij.    See  the  Hist.  !>. 

334,  and  note.  St.  Paul's.     Lea  fFilson,  Esq.  Bps.  R.  Juggc  4o.  l.l?;! 

48.  B.  "  The  Holy  Byblc,  conteyning  the  olde  Testament  and  the 
newe.  Set  forth  by  aucthoritie,"  i.e.  of  the  bishops.  See  the  Hist. 
p.  338.     The  third  folio,  with  cuts,  dated  "  the  fifth  of  July  1574." 

Bristol  Museum.    Lea  JVilson,  Esq.     Chr.  Anderson.  Bps.  R.  Juggc  fol.  157 

fi4.  T.  "  The  Newe  Testament,"  Genevan  version,  with  Epistle  of  Calvin,  as 
in  the  edit,  of  1557.  Imprinted  at  London,  by  Tho.  VautrouUier,  for 
Christopher  Barkar.  Lea  fVilson,  Esq.  Ge.    VautrouUier    12o.  1.575 

[15  T.  "  The  Ncwc  Testament,"  the  same,  in  quarto.  Herbert,  ^.IdOl^  Ge.    VautrouUier       4o. 

49.  B.  "  The  Holy  Byble,  conteyning,"  &c.  "  Set  foorth  by  auctho- 
ritie," (.t*.  of  the  bishops.     1575.    Thin  paper,  and  not  well  printed, 

asif  he  needed  capital.    Hence  the  next  edition.    Lea  Jf-'ilson,  Esq.  Bps.  B.  Juggc  4o. 

50.  B.  "  The  holy  Byble,  conteyning,  &c.  Set  foorth  by  aucthoritie," 
as  before,  "finished  the  xxini.  day  of  Nouember."  For^/ifC  others, 

besides  himself,  as  in  the  History,  p.  334,  335.  Earl  Spencer.  Bps.  R.  Juggc  fol. 

The  same,  but  titled,  "  Imprinted  at  London,  by  Richard  Kele." 

The  Bodleian. 

The  same,  ■'  Imprinted  at  London,  by  Lucas  Harison." 

Lea  JFilson,  Esq. 

The  same, "Imprinted  at  London,  by  John   Walley." 

Kiny's  College,  Cambridge. 

The  same,  ■'  Imprinted  at  London,  by  John   Judso.v." 

Mr.  Herbert. 

The  same, "  Imprinted  at  London,  by  William  Nor- 

1  TON."  Lea  fnison,  Esq. 

31.  B.  "  The  Bible."  Genevan.  Thejirst  printed  on  English  ground, 
and  by  Tho.  VautrouUier,  for  Christopher  Barkar.      Bristol  Mus.  Ge.    VautrouUier       4o. 

52.  B.  "  The  Bible,"  of  the  same  version,  for  the  same,  in  small  size.  Ge.    VautrouUier       80. 

Ki.  T.  The  New  Test. 'of  the  Bishop's  version,— no  date.  St.  Paul's  Library.  Bps.  R.  Jugge  Itio.  1570 

17.  T.  "  The  New  Testament,"  the  first  edition  said  to  be  from  Beza,  but 

simply  a  revision  of  the  Genevan  version,  with  Notes  by  Beza,  Came- 

rarius,  &c.  by  Laurence  Tomson,  undersecretary  to  Sir  Francis  Wal- 

singham,  differing  in  some  parts  from  subsequent  edits.     Dr.  Cotton. 
y     SionCollege.  fVadhamCol.Oxon.  Lea  Wilson, Esq.    Chr.  Anderson.  To.    C.  Barkar  f'o. 

53.  B.  "The  Bible."  The  text  in  long  primer,  Roman,  the  arguments 
in  Italic  letter.  "  Imprinted  at  London,  by  Christoidicr  Barkar — 
Cum  priuilcgio.  In  the  late  Sussex  Librari/. 

The  Earl  0/ Bridgewatcr.    Lea  fFilson,  Esq.  Gc.    C.  Barkar  fol. 

54  B.  "  The  Holy  Byblc,  conteyning  "    In  a  very  small  type,  very 


xvi  INDEX— LIST  OK  BIBLES  AND  TESTAMENTS.    [157G-1581. 

DKSCUIITION.  rillNTKIl.  YKAU. 

well  printed,  nnd  on  a  thick  tine  pnpcr,  running  title  Roman,  con- 
tents in  Itiilic.  A'xf  Cranmer'it.aaliatibc-cnittutcd.    LeaiyUnun,  Ksit.  l\\n.  K.  Ju^^^i'  4o.  l.^i; 

55.  O.  Tlic  Dililc.     (icnevan  vcinion,  neatly  printed,  in  long  primer 

Koman  nnd  Italic  arguments.  Herbert,  \t.  MfJT.    Cutlon't  List.   Ge.    C.  Uarkar  4o. 

IMI.  T.  "  The  NewcTestiiment  of  ourSaviovr  JesvsChriste."   Small  quarto. 

l^-a  lyilton,  KS'i-  Bps.  It.  Juggc  4o.  1J77 

It).  T.  "  The  Nevv  Testament  of  ovr  Lord."    Tomson'g  rersion. 

(;.  Otl'iir,  Ksq.    Ua  WiUon,  Ktq.  To.    C.  Uarkar  80. 

5(5.  "  n.  The  Bible.  That  is,  the  Holy  Scriptvrcscontcined/'&c.  De- 
dicated and  Addressed  to  "  the  Brethren,"  Ac.  See  the  Hist.  p.  34G. 

Lea  IVilson,  Ksii.    Orivl  CvlUye,  Oxford.    fyHliam  Pickerhuj,  Esq.   Ge.    C.  Barkar  fol. 

The  lust  is  the  copy  presented  to  tj.  £liz.  once  in  the  Sustejc  Lib. 

57.  B.  "  The  Holie  Bible,"  the  last  printed  by  him,  in  large  8vo. 
See  Hist.  p.  346.  St.  Paul's  Library.    Lea  fVilson,  Esq.  Bps.  R.  Juggc  Ho. 

9(».  T.  "  The  Newe  Testament  of  our  Sauiour. — Cum  privilegio— *o/«m," 
between  the  privilege  of  Juggc,  and  the  jiatent  of  Barker.  Not  in 
lOX),  as  in  Herbert,  nor  1505,  as  in  Cotton.        Cambriili/e  Unit'.  Lib.  Bps.  Ri.  Walking        4o. 

01.  T.  "  The  Nevre  Testament  of  our  Sauiour,"  in  black  and  red,  same 

version.    Rich.  Jugge,  now  deceased.  Lea  fVilsun,  Esq.  Bi)s.  VautrouUicr     12o. 

!B.  T.  "  The  Newe  Testament  of  ovr  Lorde."    Extremely  small  type,  by 

Barker,  now  printer  to  the  Queen.  Lea  ffilson,  Esq.  Ge.    C.  Barker         24o.  157B 

5U.  B.  "  The  Bible."  Two  versions  of  the  Psalms.  Gen.  and  the 
Bps'.  Ded.  to  Eliz.  and  the  address  now  "  to  the  diligent  and 
Christian  reader."  The  verses  by  Greshop,  in  many  editions,  here 
first  appeared, — "  Here  is  the  spring  where  waters  flowe."  Sec 
Hist.  p.  X)],  where  for  1j79  r.  1578.  British  Museum. 

BoiUeian.    Lambeth.    Bristol  Museum.    Lea  fyilson,  Esq.  Ge.    C.  Barker  fol. 

59.  B.  "  The  Holy  Bible,  conteyning,"  &c.  "  Imprinted— by  the  as- 
signcment  of  Christopher  Barker,  printer  to  the  Qucenes  Majestic, 
1578."  Merton  College.      Lea  fVilson,  Esq.  Bps.  C.  Barker  fol. 

93.  T.  "  The  Newe  Testament."    The  Bishops' version.  Earl  Siiencer.  Ti\)s.  C  BAxker  1  Go.  157.0 

C(>.  B.  "The  Bible,"  with  double  Psalms  again.  "  Imprinted  at  Lon- 
don, by  Christopher  Barker,  Printer  to  the  Queenes  most  excellent 
Majestic."  The  Zurich  Library.     Lea  ffilson,  Esq.   Ge.    C.  Barker  4o. 

61.  B.  "  The  Bible."    Entirely  different  edit.    The  New  Test,  and  last 

leaf  are  dated  158(1,  besides  other  distinctions.      Lea  fVilson,  Esq.  Ge.    C.  Barker  4o. 

62.  B.  "  The  Bible  and  Holy  Scriptvres  contcined,"  &c.    Ti\c,first 

Bible  printed  in  Scollaiul.    See  the  Hist.  p.  537.     iJom«)t  letter.  Basscndcn 

Finished  at  press  in  July  this  year.  Earl  0/ Morton.  Ge.  and  fol.. 

Advocate's  Library,  Edinbur(i)i.    Earl  .Spencer.    Lea  fVilson,  Esq.  Arbuthnot 

94.  T.  "  The  Newe  Testament."    Tomson's  revision.          Lea  fVilson,  Esq.   To.    C.  Barker            80.  15«() 
O'l.  T.  "  The  Newe  Testament."    The  same  version.  Lea  fVilson,  Esq.   To.    C.  Barker  24o. 

63.  B.  "  The  Bible,"  with  Dedication,  and  the  address  "  To  the 

Christian  reader."  Large  paper.  See  Hist.  J).  357.  Lea  fViUon,Esq.   Ge.    C.  Barker  4o. 

64.  B.  The  Bible,  no  Dedication,  &  a  distinct  edit.    Lea  fVii-sun,  Esq.   Ge.    C.  Barker  4o. 

65.  B.  "  The  Bible."     The  Genevan  version.  Cotton's  List.   Ge.    C.  Barker  fol. 

96.  T.      The  Newe  Testament  of  our  Sauiour  Jesus  Christ."     A  clean 

black  letter,  Italic  contents,  notes  in  Roman.       Lea  fVilson,  Esq.  Bps.  C.  Barker  li'o.  l.JHI 

97.  T.  "The  Newe  Testament,"  of  Tomson'srevis.    lUrbert.   Cotton's  List.   To.    C.  Barker  12o. 


.581-1588.]    INDEX— LIST  OK  BIBLES  AND  TESTAMENTS.  xvii 

DESCRIPTION.                                                         PRINTER.  YEAR. 

G().  B.  "  The  Bible."  Genevan  ver.  Gfo.  Offvr,  Ksq.  Lea  jyUson,  Esq.  Gc.    C.  Barker  4o.  Liai 

07.  B.  "  The  Bible,"  of  the  same  version.  Cotton's  List.  Ge.    C.  Barker  fol. 

fift.  B.  "  The  Bible,"  of  the  same,  bound  in  four  vols.    Eai'l  Spencer.  Ge.    C.  Barker  llo. 

i.  T.  " The Newe Testament ofourLordJesus Christ."  Tomson's revision. 

Lea  TVilsm,  Esq.    Earl  of  Bridgewatcr.  To.    C.  Barker  «o.  1582 

Gi).  B.  "  The  Bible."  Genevan  version,  with  the  customary  Dedica- 
tion to  Queen  Elizabeth,  and  once  more  still — "  To  the  brethren  of 
England,  Scotland,  and  Ireland."  See  pp.  3JG-7.   Lea  ff'ilson,  Esq.   Gc.    C.  Barker  fol. 

70.  B.  "  The  Bible."    The  Genevan  version.  Geo.  Offor,  Esq.  Ge.    C.  Barker  4o. 

71.  B.  '■  The  Bible."    The  same  version.  Ge.    C.  Barker  Oo. 

).  T.  "  The  Newe  Testament."  Tomson's  revision,  best  edition,  with  the 
royal  arms,  large  4o.  Exeter  Colk<jc,  Oxfo^rd.  Rev.  Dr.  Cotton's  is 
yellow  paper.  Lea  frUson,  Esq.   To.    C.  Barker  40.1583 

H).  T.  The  Newe  Testament  of  our  Sauiour.     In  \.\\c\:dc  Sussex  Library.  Bps.  Bynneman  4o. 

il.  T.  "  The  Newe  Testament."  Tomson's  revis.l.  4o.      Lea  Wilson,  Esq.  To.    C.  Barker  4o. 

13.  T.  The  New  Testament.    Genevan  version.     Herbert.    Cotton's  List.  Ge.    C.  Barker  12o. ■ 

13.  T.  The  New  Testament.    Tomson's  revision.  St.  Paul's  Library.  Ge.    C.  Barker  32o. 

72.  B.  Portion,  entitled  "the  third  part  of  the  Bible."  St.  Paul's  Lib.  Ge.    C.  Barker  ZCo. 

73.  B.  "  The  Bible  and  Holy  Scriptvre,"  in  red  and  black,  splendidly 
printed  in  large  folio,  margin  nearly  three  inches  broad,  and  pai)cr 
emulating  vellum.      Bodleian.     Lambeth.    SI.  John's  Coll.  Oxon. 

Pemltroke  College,  Oxon.    Bristol  Museum.    Lea  fVilson,  Esq.   Ge.    C.  Barker  fol. 

74.  B.  "  The  Bible  and  Holy  Scripture."     The  Same  version. 

Lea  jyilson,  Esq.   Ge.    C.  Barker  4o. 

75.  B.  "  The  Holy  Bible,  conteining  the  Olde  Testament  and  the 
Newe,"  in  a  fine  new  black  letter :  contents  in  Roman.  Fre- 
quently mistaken  for  the  Genevan  version.         Lea  fFilson,  Esq.  Bps.  C.  Barker  fol.  15(14 

76.  B.  "  The  Holy  Bible."  This  and  the  last  edition  contain  the 
Psalms  of  Cranmcr's  version,  "  to  be  sung  or  said  in  churches." 

Lea  fVilson,  Esq.  Bps.  C.  Barker  4o. 

77.  B.  "  The  Holy  Bible."  This  and  the  last  edition,  "  a  bigger  and 
a  less,"  printed  by  order  of  Whitgift,  as  the  translation  "  autho- 
rised by  the  Synod  of  Bishops."    See  Hist.  p.  .S38.  Lambeth. 

S ion  College.    Bristol  Jlluseum.    Earl  Spencer.    Lea  fyilson,  Esq.  Bps.  C. 'Barker  fol.  1585 

78.  B.  "  The  Bible  and  Holy  Scripture."     Genevan  version. 

Lea  JVilson,  Esq.   Ge.    C.  Barker  4o. 

U.  T.  The  Newe  Testament.     Tomson's  revision. 

Cotton's  List.     Lea  fVilson,  Esq.  To.    C.  Barker  12o.  15fiG 

79.  B.  "  The  Bible."    Genevan  version.         Exeter  College,  Oxford. 

Lea  ff^ilson.  Esq  Ge.    C.  Barker  4o. 

80.  B.  "  The  Bible."    Same  version.  King  of  fVirtemljeyg . 

Lea  fFilson,  Esq.    Gc.    C.  Barker  80. 

81.  B.  "  The  Bible."  Same.  Roman.  With  Tomson's  New  Testa- 
ment. Lea  fVilson,  Esq.  Ge.    C.  Barker  4o.  1587 

82.  1!.  "  The  Holy  Bible."  Black  and  red  title,  the  first  "  Imprinted 
by  the   Deputies  of  Christopher  Barker,"  or  G.  Bishop  and  R. 

Niwbcry.    See  the  Hist.  p.  350,  383.  Lea  fVilson,  Esq.  li\>s.  D.o{Ba.rki.r      fol.  ].j;a 

83.  B.  "  The  Bible."   Genevan.    Geo.  Offor,  Esq.    Lea  fVilson,  Esq.  Ge.    D.  of  Barker       4o. 


xviii  INDEX— LIST  OF  UIULES  AND  TESTAMENTS.    [  I. >«!)-!  j!»7. 

DESCUIPTlON.                                                                     I'Rl.NTliK.  VKAlt. 
10.').  T.  "  The  New  Testament."    HUc  firtt  printed  nt  CamhrUUjf ;  and  by 
Julin  I.cKalc,  Hon-in-law  of  C.  Darker,  and  printer  to  tlie  Univer- 
sity, from  2(1  Nov.  l-'iIHI.                  Cnlton't  List.     Mr.  T.  UradUi/.   Oc.    J.  LcRatc  24o.  ISaO 

KKi.  T.  The  New  Testament.    Oenevan  version.  Utinbeth  Librar'i.  Oc.    D.  of  Barker     Mo. 

ll>7.  T.  The  Now  Testament,  tlio  Bishops'  and  Rhemish  version,  jn  columns, 

by  VV.  Kulke.         ChriiVi  Church  CulUye,  Oxun.    Uristul  Muicum.  Bps.  D.  of  Barker      fol. 

tM.  B. '•  The  Bible."    The  Genevan  Torsion.  Lotmide'i  List.  Ue.    D.  of  Barker      fol. 

U5.  B.  "  The  Bible."    The  same  version.  Ua  fFilson,  Esq.  Ge.    D.  of  Barker      4o. 

(Mi.  B.  "  The  Bible."    Same  version,  distinct  edit.      Oeu.  Offor,  Ksq.   Gc.    D.  of  Barker      4o. 

lull.  T.  "  The  Newc  Testament  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."    Roman  pearl 

type,  at  C'am^rWyc  again.                                      /A;a  fyUson,  Esq.  Oe.    J.  Leg-ite  4flo.  l.'-Wt 

l(t!).  T.  The  Newc  Testament.    Genevan,  in  Uvo.  Cotton's  List.  Ge.    D.  of  Barker      80. 

Ity.  B.  "  The  Bible."    On  yellow  paper.     Imperfect.        Sussex  Lib.   Gc.    D.  of  Barker      4o. 

1 10.  T.  The  New  Testament.    Genevan  version.                        Cotton's  List.  Ge.    D.  of  Barker  12o.  I.Wl 

(Ml.  H.  "  The  Holy  Bible."  Large  folio.     Siuii  Cut.  Uajyilson,  Esq.  Bps.  D.  of  Barker      fol. 

W-  n.  "  The  Bible:  That  is,  the  Holy  Seriptvres— Anno  do.  1591, 
Maij.  2!)."  The  first  Bible  known  to  have  been  printed  at  Cam- 
bridtjc,  and  in  a  beautiful  lioman  letter.  Lea  fyilson,  Esq.  Gc.    J.  Legate  80. 

90.  B.  "  The  Bible,"  of  the  Genevan  version,  with  Tomson's  revision 

of  New  Testament.                                                Lea  fVilson,  Esq.  Ge.    D.  of  Barker  fol.  1592 

91.  B.  "  The  Bible."  Genevan  version  throughout.   There  is  s.aid  to 

be  a  copy  of  this  at  S<M»pard.  Kingo/fVirtcmberg.  Ge.    D.  of  Barker       4o. 

1 1 1 .  T.  Tlie  New  Testament  of  the  same  version.                       Rev.  Dr.  Lk  Ge.    D.  of  Barker  4o.  ISD'J 

112.  T.  The  New  Testament.  Cotton's  List.  Ge.    D.  of  Barker     24o. 

92.  B.  "  The  Bible."    Genevan  version.  Rev.  Dr.  Lee.  Ge.    D.  of  Barker      4o. 

93.  B.  "  The  Bible."    Gen.  ver.    Geo.  Offor,  Esq.    Lea  fTilson,  Esq.  Ge.    D.  of  Barker      80. 

11,1.  T.  The  New  Testament.    Same  version.    Brazen  Nose  College,  Oxford .  Ge.    D.  of  Barker  4o.  1594 

94.  B.  "  The  Bible."  Same  version.  Cotton's  List.  Lea  IVilson,  Esq.   Ge.    D.  of  Barker      4o. 

114.  T.  The  New  Testament.         Library  of  the  late  Granville  Sharp,  Esq.  Gc.    D.  of  Barker  80.  1595 

95.  B.  "  The  Holic  Bible."      British  Museum.     Lambeth  Library. 

St.  .John's  College,  Oxford.    Lea  IVilson,  Esq.  Bps.  D.  of  Barker      fol. 

!K:.  D.  "  The  Bible."    Lambeth.  Bal.  Col.  Oxford.   Lea  Wilson,  Esq.   Ge.    D.  of  Barker      fol. 

97.  B.  The  Bible,  with  Tomson's  revision,    Roman  letter. 

Brazen  Nose  College,  Oxford.     Lea  fyilson,  Esq.  Ge.    D.  of  Barker      4o. 

1 15.  T.  "  The  Newe  Testament,"  of  Tomson's  revision. 

LamMh.     Bristol  Mu.ieum.    Lea  rViLmn,  Esq.  To.    D.  of  Barker  4o.  I.'i9:i 

110'.  T.  Tlic  New  Testament.  Same  version.    Printed  abroad.  Cotton's  List.  To.    ilolland?  fol. 

98.  B.  "  The  Bible."    Genevan  version.  .S7.  Paul's  Lihrari/. 

Bristiil  Museum.     Lea  fyilson,  Esq.  Ge.    D.  of  Barker       4o. 

117.  T.  The  Newe  Testament.    Tomson's  revision,     ilomau  letter. 

Pembroke  College,  Oxford.  To.    D.  of  Barker  4o.  15.';7 

118.  T.  The  Newe  Testament,  of  the  same  version.  Lea  fyilson,  Esq.  To.    D.  of  Barker     12o. 

99.  B.  "  The  Bible,"  printed  at  Middlcburgh.  Geo.  Offor,  Esq.  Ge.    Schilders  80. 

IOC.  B.  "  The  Bible,"  with  Tomson's  revision  of  N.  T.  but  even  this 
has  the  Ded.  and  address—"  To  the  brethren  of  England,  Scotland, 

Ireland,  &c."     British  Mus.   /Ill  Souls,  Oxon.    Lea  ff'ilson,  Esq.   Gc.    D.  of  Barker  fol.— 


5!»7-lG()2.]    INDEX— LIST  OF  BIBLES  AND  TESTAMENTS.  xix 

DESCRirXION.                                                                   PUINTKH.  YKAU. 

101.  R.  "Thcnil)lc."Gcii.vcr.  entire.  Rowrt/i  type.  Lea  tril.inii,Kii<i.  (Jc.    1).  of  Daikei  -lo.  \m^ 
The  Bible,  printed  by  R.  Field,  son-inlaw  and  successor  of  Vau- 
Iroullier,  in  Cotton's  List,  was  the  "  Biblia  Sacra." 
l!l.  T.  The  New  Testament.    Printed  by  .John  Windot,  tor  the  assignees  of 

Richard  Day.                              Sir  Jolni  IJairkliis.    Cottuii's  List.  Go?  J.  WinAct  24o.  I.Wil 

!(t  T.  The  Newe  Test.    Genevan  vei-sion.    <:ottnii's  List.    Geo.  Offor,  Ks'i.  Gc.    D.  of  Barker       4o. 

l(y.  B.  "  The  Holy  Bible."      JJarhiaii  Lit).  Xo.  184.     Coltoii's  List.  Bps.  I),  of  Barker      fol. 

loa  B.  "Tlie  Bible."  Genevan  vereion.   IlomanM.  Gco.Offor,Ks<i.  Ge.    D.  of  Barker      4o. 

104.  B.  "  The  Bible,"  with  Tomson's  revision  of  the  New  Test. 

rembrokc  College,  O.t^ford.      Lea  JVilson,  Esq.   (Jc.    D.  of  Barker       4o. 

10,-.  B.  "  The  Bible."    Genevan  version.  Geo.  Offor,Ksq.   Ge.    D.  of  Barker       Ilo. 

1(H).  B.  "  The  Bible."    Genevan  version. 

Bodleian.    Lamheth.     Lea  fJ'ilsoii,  Ks<i.   Ge.    D.  of  Barker       4o.  I.''.!)!) 

107.  B.  "  The  Bible,"  with  Tomson's  revision  of  New  Testament. 
This  edition  may  be  distinguished  by  a  black  line  round  the  page. 

Lea  JVilson,  Esq.    Chr.  Anderson.  Gc.    D.  of  Barker       4o.  ■ 

108.  B.  S/.r  other (Zi«<iHf< edit,  exist,  dated,  i.e.        Lea /Filson,  Esq.  Ge.    D.  of  Barker       4o. 

1(19.  B.  an^cdaffd,  1599,  though  printed  above        Lea  JVilson,  Esq.  Gc.    D.  of  Barker       4o. 

110.  B.  fft/r^.vyearslater!  TheColophonofone  Lea  JVilson,  Esq.  Ge.  D.  of  Barker  4o. 

111.  B.  — " Amsterdam,  for  TiiomasCrafoorfJi,  Lea  JVilson,  Esq.  Ge.  D.  of  Barker  4o. 

112.  B.  1633,"  with  our  History,  pp.  .380,  390,  Lea  JVilson,  Esq.  Ge.  D.  of  Barker  4o. 

113.  B.  and  53G,  note,  solve  the  mystery.  Lea  JVilson,  Esq.  Ge.  D.  of  Barker  4o. 

114.  B.  "The  Bible,"  as  before,  without  date,  place,  or  printer's 
name.    Figure  of  a  (joosc  on  the  title  of  the  psalms.    Supposed 

from  the  Uort  press.  Lea  JVilson,  Esq.  Ge.  Dort  4o.  IGOo? 

115.  B.  "  The  Bible."  Genevan  version.  C.  Barker,  now  dead,  after 
printing  by  deputies  for  twelve  years.  His  son's  name  first  a)i- 
pears.    See  the  History,  pp.  383,  384,  where  for  1601  r.  1600. 

King  of  JVirtcmberg.    Lea  JVilson,  Esq.  Ge.  "R.  Barker  4o. 

21.  T.  The  New  Testament.     The  Bishops  and  Rhemisb  versions,  by  W. 

Fulke.  Lincoln,  JVorcester,  Queen's  Coll.  Oxon.  Bristol Mxtseum.  Bps.  R.  Barker  fol.  I611I 

116.  B.  The  Genevan  version,  with  Tomson's  revision  of  New  Testa- 
ment. King  of  JVirfemberg.    Lea  JVilson,  Esq.  Ge.    R.  Barker  4o. 

1 17.  B.  The  Genevan  version,  entire,  black  letter.  Ge.    R.  Barker  4o. 

118.  B.  "  The  Bible,"  of  the  Genevan  version.         Lea  JVilson,  Esq.   Ge.    R.  Barker  80. 

119.  B.  "The  Bible,"  of  the  same  version,  "  Imprinted  by  Isaac 

Canin,  at  the  expenses  of  the  aires  of  Henrie  Charteris  and  An-  I.  Canin 

drew  Hart  in  Edinburgh."                                           Rev.  Dr.  Lee.  Ge.  at  Dort  80. 

22.  T.  The  Newe  Testament.     Genevan  version.                     Cotton's  List.  Ge.  R.  Barker  4o.  1602 

23.  T.  The  Newe  Testament,  of  Tomson's  revision.         Lea  JVilson,  Esq.   To.  R.  Barker  80. 

120.  B.  "  The  Bible,"  with  Tomson's  revision.    Roman  type. 

Bodleian.    Lea  JVilson,  Esq.   Ge.    R.  Barker  fol. 

121.  B.  "  The  Bible."    In  Roman  type.    Genevan  version. 

King  of  JVirtcmberg.    Lea  JVilson,  Esq.   Ge.    R.  Barker  4o. 

122.  B.  "  The  Bible,"  of  the  same  version.  King  of  JVirtcmberg.   Ge.    R.  Barker  80. 

123.  B.  "  The  Holy  Bible."  Christ's  Clmrch  Col.  Triniti/  Col. 
JVorcester  Col.  Queen's  Col.  Oxford.  Lea  JVilson,  Esq.  Bod- 
leian.   This  last  has  MS.  corrections  in  reference  to  the  intended 

revision  of  the  Sacred  text,  forming  our  present  Version.  Bps.  R.  Barker  fol. 


XX 


INDEX— LIST  OF  BIBLES  AXD  TESTAMENTS.     [  1003- 1  Gl  0. 


liing  SamfS^ 


THIBTT-TWO  KDITIO.NSjTIZ.  EIGHT  OF  THE  .NtW  TESTAMEXT,  A>D  IWKXTT-FOLR  OF  THE  BIBLF- 

PtvOed/rom  1603  to  fie  year  o^omr  present  rersiom  161 1. 

DESCRIFTIOX.  PRINTER.  VEAU. 

IM-  T.  *'  TheNerrTeatanieBtofoiir  Lord  Jesas  Christ."  Tomson'sreTisaon. 
"  At  Dort,  printed  by  Isaac  Canin,  1603.' 

Dtike  <if  trirUmbarg.    Lta  fTiUcn,  E*q.  To.    J.  Canin  13d.  lOTO 

X.B.— The  Xe»  Test,  by  Smoa  (Strafibrdi  Stafford,  in  the  Cot- 
ton Li«t.  seems  to  be  the  Briti»h  or  /t'eith  New  Testament, 
corrected  by  Morean,  Bishop  of  St.  Asaph. 
134.  B.  "  The  Bible."  GeneTSB.     CoUm't  List.   Tko.  Harris,  E*q. 

Lm  frilttm,  Esq.  Ge.    R.  Barker  4o. 

12S.  B.  The  same,  vith  Tomson's  Ttrnaaa  of  Xev  Testamoit. 

Lta  fVilstm,  Rsq. 
ise.  B.  "  The  Kble."    Geoeran  rersion,  entire.         Gto.  Offor,  K*q. 

127.  B.  "  The  Kble.~    The  same,  io  Roaum  letter. 

CanUrlmrf  L9>rarf.     L*a  Wilson,  Rsq. 

125.  T.  The  Ne-w  Test,  of  Tyndale,  as  by  Jngge,  •with  port,  of  Edvaid  VL 

printed  by  the  assignee  of  Robert  Barker.  St.  Paufs  Ltbrcwji. 

128.  B.  "  The  Bible.'    Genevan  rersion.  Kinp  of  ffirlemUTp. 

Lta  frUson,  Esq. 

129.  B.  "  The  Holy  Bible."    The  Bishops' version.    Lite  Sussex  Lib. 

130.  B.  "  The  Bible."  The  Generan  rersion.    Late  Sussex  Librarf. 

131.  B.  "  The  Bible."    Generan  rersion.  Kiitg(>fWtrtemi)erg. 

Lta  Wilscm,  Esq. 

132.  B.  "  Tlie  Kble,"  with  Tomson's  rerision.         Lea  fFUstm,  Esq. 
13X.  B.  "  Tbe  Bible."    Generan  rersion,  entire.     Lea  fFilson,  Esq. 

134.  B.  "  The  Bible."  Bomatt  type.   Tomson's  rerision  of  Xew  Test. 
Oriei  Cotltpe,  Oxford.    Skm  CoUtpe.    Lta  mlton,  Es-j. 
'  The  Bible."     The  Generan,  entire.  Coticn's  List. 

Lta  WiUcm,  Esq. 
'  The  Bible."  Generan.  Distinct  edit.  Geo.  Qfor,  Esq. 
'  The  Bible."    UcDeran  rersioo.       BalUd  Ccliepe,  Oxford. 

126.  T.  The  New  Testameat.    Bfahops'  reniOD.  Cctton's  List. 

127.  T.  The  New  Testament.    Geaeiaa  Ternmi.  Ber.  Dr.  Lee. 

13a.  a  The  KUe.    The  Geaeran.  BaUiol  CoOtpe,  Oxford. 

Bristol  MHSfum.    Lea  fTilson,  Esq. 

^XS.  B.  "  The  KUe,"  with  Tomson's  reriaon  of  the  New  Testament. 

Lta  mUom,  Esq. 
\¥i.  B.  "  The  Bible,"  of  the  Generan,  entire.    BowtoH. 

Lea  JFUson,  Ep]. 

ISS.  T.  The  New  Testament,  Generan.  this  year,  bnt  dated  also  at  the 

tnd  16ia  CoUom's  List.      Earl  of  Bridpewater. 

129.  T.  The  New  Testaasent.    ToaMOB**  lerinoB.         Kiitg  of  fTirtemberg. 

141.  B.  "  Tbe  Khfe."    Btman  letter,  with  Tomson's  revision  of  New 

TritiTPt  Lea  fTilsom,  Esq.  Ge.    R.  Barker 


13S.B.' 


13S.B. 
137.  B. 


Ge. 

R.  Barker 

40. 

— 

Ge. 

R.  Barker 

4o. 

Ge. 

R.  Barker 

80. 

Bps. 

D.  of  Barker 

I2n. 

I0r« 

Ge. 

R.  Barker 

4o. 



Bps.  R.  Barker 

fol. 

lt3i»: 

Ge. 

R.  Barker 

fol. 

Ge. 

R.  Barker 

4o. 



Ge. 

R.  Barker 

4o. 



Ge. 

B.  Barker 

80. 



Ge. 

R.  Barker 

fol. 

IftT 

Ge. 

R.  Barker 

4o. 



Ge. 

R.  Barker 

4o. 



Ge. 

B-  Barker 

80. 



Bps. 

R.  Barker 

80. 

ior« 

Ge. 

R.  Barker 

13o. 



Ge. 

R.  Barker 

4o. 

— 

Ge. 

R.Rarker 

4o. 

— 

Ge. 

R.  Barker 

80.  ■ 

— 

Ge. 

B.  Barker 

4o. 

ido 

To. 

R.  Barker 

80. 

— 

1610-161 1.]    INDEX— LIST  OF  BIBLES  AND  TESTAMENTS.  xxi 

DESCRIPTION.  PRIXTER.  YEAR. 

142.  B.  •'  The  Bible.  That  is,  the  Holy  Scriptvrcs.  At  Edinburgh, 
Printed  by  Andro  Hart,  and  are  to  be  sold  at  his  Baith,  on  the 
North  side  of  the  gate,  a  litle  beneath  the  Crosse."     Roman. 

See  before,  pp.  538,  539.    Queen's  Col.  Oiford.    Lea  IFiUon,  Btq.  Gc.    A.Hart  fol.  1610 

131.  T.  The  New  Test,  of  this  edit,  sold  separately?       Geo.  Cltalmert,  Eiri.  Ge.    A.Hart  fol. 

143.  B.  "  The  Bible,"  with  Tomson's reTision.    Earlo/BridgeireUer. 

Lea  IFilson,  Esfi.  Ge.    R.  Barker  fol. 

144.  B.  "  The  Bible,"    Rmian  type,  but  the  same  rersion. 

yill  S-wU  Col.  Oxford.     Lea  fTilton,  Esq.  Ge.    R  Barker  4o. 

145.  B.  "  The  Bible,"  of  the  Genevan,  entire.  Lta  JVilton,  Etq.   Ge.    R.  Barker  «o. 

146.  B.  "  The  Bible."     The  Generan,    with  Tomson's  revision  of 
the  New  Testament  Bodleian.     Lambeth.      SU>n  College. 

AU  SouVs  College,  Oiford.    Lea  H^Uon,  Etq.  Ge.    B.  Barker  fol.  IGll 

147.  B.  "  The  Bible."    The  Genevan  version,  entire. 

British  Museum.     Lambeth.     Lea  Wilson,  Esq.  Ge.    B.  Barker  4o. 


I.v  the  preceding  List,  it  may  have  been  observed,  there  are  no  questionable  books,  and  yet  in  the 
course  of  eishty-six  years,  or  np  to  the  period  in  which  our  present  Version  was  first  published,  there 
had  been  378  editions  of  Bibles  and  New  Testaments  separately.  This  gives  an  average  of  more  than 
three  editions  annually.  Could,  however,  all  the  editions,  particularly  of  Tyndale's  New  Testament,  be 
verified,  of  which,  to  a  certainty,  a  number  exist,  still  unascertained,  we  are  now  fnlly  persuaded  that 
the  average  would,  at  the  least,  amount  to  /'our  editions  every  year.  All  the  volumes  preceding  the 
year  156l1.  must  be  contemplated  as  one  would  so  many  ancient  Warriors,  after  a  long  and  severe  con- 
flict. Even  their  mutilated  remains  are  to  be  venerated,  after  having  in  their  own  day  and  generation. 
proved  so  many  witnesses  for  the  truth ;  but  having  sustained  the  loss  of  their  title  page,  or  colophon, 
they  could  not  be  called  up  to  the  present  muster.  Though,  therefore,  we  have,  with  some  research, 
brought  about  an  hundred  more  into  the  field  than  ever  were  before,  their  number  may  yet  be 
increased. 

An  average,  however,  is  not  the  only  view  which  shonld  be  taken  of  the  entire  period.  Each  reign  is 
considered  by  the  historian  as  having  a  character  of  its  own.  Thus,  in  the  reign  of  Henrij,  from  1525  to 
1541,  after  which  he  began  to  frown,  the  average  of  publication  was  fully  three  editions  annually.  Be- 
fore ever  he  listened,  or  before  he  was  over-ruled,  of  the  New  Testament  there  had  been  at  least  24  edi- 
tions '.  During  the  long  reign  of  Elizabeth,  the  average  was  about  the  same,  or  above  three  issues  annually. 
The  brightest  period  was  that  of  Eiiwtird  T1.,  when  there  were  about  eight  editions  for  every  year  he 
reigned.  For  the  striking  disparity  between  this  brief  reign,  and  that  of  his  sister  Elizabeth,  as  to  the 
New  Testament,  see  the  preceding  history,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  355,  :156. 

We  have  ascertained  a  larger  number  of  the  Bishops'  Version  than  has  ever  before  been  mentioned, 
or  32  distinct  issues.  But  it  may  now  be  observed,  that  instead  of  thirty  editions  in  folio,  quarto,  and 
octavo,  of  the  Genevan  Version,  printed  from  15fi<>  to  1616,  as  Lewis  reported,  and  Newcome,  with 
manv  others,  have  repeated  down  to  this  day,  we  may  now  very  safely  assert  that  by  that  year  there  had 
been  at  least  one  hundred  andfi/li/  editions  of  Bibles  and  New  Testaments,  of  which  the  reader  has  the 
proof  before  him  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-nine  editions,  even  by  the  year  16II. 

The  Bible  of  Parker,  or  the  Bishops'  Version,  was  never  again  printed  after  that  year,  though  of  the 
New  Testament  there  were  editions  by  Barker  in  1614,  1615,  1617.  and  16ia  But  the  Genevan  Bible  still 
continued  to  be  issued,  and  by  the  King's  printer,  as  well  as  at  Edinburgh  and  Amsterdam.  Thus,  be- 
sides four  editions  of  the  New  Testament,  we  have  the  Genevan  version  in  4to.  reprinted  in  1613  both  at 
London  and  Edinburgh.  Again  at  London  in  1614,  and  two  editions  in  1615.  Again  in  folio,  and  by  Bar- 
ker still,  in  1616.  In  quarto,  at  Amsterdam,  in  1633,  and  six  other  editions,  all  antedated,  as  if  in  Lon- 
don, and  in  1500.  Again  in  folio,  at  Amsterdam,  164t),  and  two  editions  in  1654.  In  1649  the  i>res<-nt 
Version  was  printed  with  the  Geiteran  notes  by  way  of  pushing  it  into  favour,  but  aluut  this  period  it 


INDKX— LIST  OF  lilBLES  AND  TESTAMKNTS.  I  1  (J 1  I 


The  first  edition  of  our  present  Version. 

It.  "TlicIIoly  I!il)Ic,  Coiitoyniiigtlic  Old  Testament,  and  the  New.  Newly  Translated  out  of  theOrigtnall 
Ioiiriu'h:  and  with  the  former  Tran»latii>ns  diliKently  compared  and  revised,  by  his  Maicslies  Rjieciall 
COniandement.  Apiiointcd  to  be  read  in  churches.  Imprinted  at  London  by  Robert  Harker,  I'rinter 
to  the  KiiiRs  most  Kxccllent  Maiestie.  Anno  Doni.  Kill."— N.U.  It  Iww  been  Raid  that  the  Hritisli 
Mnsenm  has  two  editions  of  this  year ;  but  this  is  a  mistake.  The  </Wt' of  Ifill  hag  been  aflixed  to 
the  editions  of  1(!I.%  l(!17,  ICH,  and  even  1640,  to  make  apparently  fine  copies  of  the  first,  but  there 
certainly  was  no  second  edition  in  101 1. 

T.  "  The  New  Testament  of  our  Lord  and  Sauiour  Jcsvs  Christ.  Newly  translated,"  fic.  Our  present 
version  in  the  same  year,  very  rare.     An.  IGll.    12mo. 

The  Translators  to  the  Reader. 

"  Wc  arc  so  far  off  from  condemning  any  of  their  labours  that  travelled  be- 
fore us  in  this  kind,  either  in  this  land,  or  beyond  sea,  either  in  King  Henry's 
time — or  Queen  Elizabeth's — that  we  acknowledge  them  to  have  been  raised 
up  of  God,  for  the  building  and  furnishing  of  Ilis  Church,  and  they  deserve  to 
be  had  of  us,  and  of  posterity  in  everlasting  remembrance." 

of  the  preceding  volumes,  the  Reader  may  now  trace  above  two  hundred  editions  as  having  been 
translations  of  men  who  had  fied  beyond  sea,  remaining  in  exile  from  their  country,  and  the  rest  to  those 
who  were  resident  in  this  land. 

"  Therefore,  blessed  be  they,  and  honoured  be  their  name,  that  brake  the  ice, 
and  gave  the  onset  upon  that  which  hclpeth  forward  to  the  saving  of  souls  ! 
Now,  what  can  be  more  available  thereto,  than  to  deliver  God's  book  unto 
God's  people  in  a  tongue  which  they  understand." 

"  Truly,  good  Christian  Reader,  we  never  thought  from  the  beginning,  that 
we  should  need  to  make  a  new  Translation,  nor  yet  to  make  of  a  bad  one  a 
good,  but  to  make  a  good  one  better  ;  or  out  of  many  good  ones,  one  principal 
good  one,  not  justly  to  be  accepted  against  ;  that  hath  been  our  endeavour, 
that  our  mark.  To  that  purpose  there  were  many  chosen,  that  were  greater 
in  other  men's  eyes  than  their  own,  and  that  sought  the  truth,  rather  than 
their  own  praise." 

It  is  well  that  these  translators  so  expressed  themselves,  as  they  could  not  consistently  have  spoken 
otherwise.  For  whatever  were  the  instructions  ^iven  to  them,  such  was  their  adherence  to  the  language 
of  the  former  Versions,  that  very  happily,  the  translation  is  not  in  thcirown  style.  It  is  not  the  language 
of  their  own  preface,  nor  of  the  reifin  of  James  I.  The  style  they  found  in  their  prototypes,  the  diction 
and  phraseology  they  adopted  from  their  predecessors  in  translation. 

For  the  origin  and  completion  of  this  Version,  the  progress  since,  and  the 
history  in  general  throughout  Scotland  and  America,  see  the  preceding  Volume 
from  page  .3G5. 


THE  K\l>. 


^ietortcal  3?ntiejc 


THE  ANNALS  OF  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE. 


"  It  is  a  very  striking  circumstance,  that  the  high-minded  inventors  of  this  great  art  tried  at  the  very 
outset  so  bold  a  flight  as  the  printing  an  entire  Bible,  and  executed  it  \rith  astonishing  success.  We  may 
see,  in  imagination,  this  venerable  and  splendid  Volume  (though  in  Latin)  leading  up  the  crowded  myriads 
of  its  followers,  and  imploiing,  as  it  were,  a  blessing  on  the  new  art,  by  dedicating  its  first-fruits  to  the  service 
of  Heaven."— /AaW«)«.     For  its  description,  see  our  Introduction,  liv,  Iv. 

"  Truth  is  the  daughter  of  time,  and  time  is  the  mother  of  truth.  And  whatsoever  is  besieged  of  truth, 
cannot  long  continue  ;  and  upon  whose  side  truth  doth  stand,  that  ought  not  to  be  thought  transitory,  or  that 
it  will  ever  fall.  All  things  consist  not  in  painted  eloquence,  and  strength  or  authority.  For  the  Truth  is 
of  so  great  power,  strength,  and  efficaciti/,  that  it  can  neither  be  defended  with  words,  nor  be  overcome  with 
any  strength  :  but  after  she  hath  hidden  herself  long,  at  length  she  putteth  up  her  head— and  appeareth  !  " 
—Edward  Fox,  tiic  Kind's  Almoner,  and  Bishop  of  Hereford,  anno  1536  ;  this  being  the  first  diocese  in 
England  in  which  the  daily  reading  of  the  Scriptures  in  English  was  enforced  on  the  vicars  and  curates, 
through  Dr.  Curwen,  the  Dean  of  that  day,  and  afterwards  Bishop  of  Oxford  under  Elizabeth.  See  vol.  i. 
pp.  502,  367  ;  vol.  ii  note,  p.  35. 


PRELIMINARY  NOTICE. 

Certain  statements  as  to  the  English  Scriptures  have  been  given  in  past  times  by 
.John  Bale,  in  his  Centm-ies  of  AVriters,  and  John  Foxe,  in  his  Acts  and  Monimients ;  by 
Father  Sijion,  in  his  Critical  History,  and  Le  Long,  in  his  Bibliotheca  Sacra ;  by  Strtpe, 
in  his  Memorials  of  Cranmer,  and  Anthony  Johnson,  in  his  Historical  Account  of  Trans- 
lations. To  these  may  be  added  the  accounts  given  by  Lewis  and  Newcome,  by  Macknight 
and  Herbert  IVLvrsh,  by  Cruttwell,  in  his  preface  to  Wilson's  Bible,  and  Gray,  in  the 
introduction  before  his  Key  to  the  Old  Testament.  Not  to  mention  others,  an  eye  has  been 
kept  on  them  all ;  but  then-  statements,  on  the  whole,  are  so  defective  and  contradictory, 
that  they,  and  those  who  refer  to  them  as  authority,  require  to  be  read  with  caution. 
The  confusion  and  inaccuracy  which  have  reigned  throughout  the  whole,  may  be  traced 
to  one  cause.  The  respective  authors  had  not  the  Books  before  them,  and  probably  not 
one  had  ever  seen,  much  less  inspected,  the  tenth  part  of  the  volumes  at  which  he  pointed. 
In  the  preceding  History  and  Index-List,  on  the  contrary,  all  the  books  have  been  seen 
and  examined.  No  reliance  has  been  placed  on  any  loose  previous  statement,  since 
there  occurred  such  frequent  reason  to  distrust  every  one  of  them ;  and  as  yet,  from  all 
that  the  Author  has  learned  or  read,  he  has  had  no  occasion  to  question  the  general 
accuracy  of  either  the  History  or  the  List  of  Bibles.  No  authentic  addition  has  been 
discovered  to  the  latter,  but  in  the  following  Index,  advantage  is  taken  to  msert  several 
items,  illustrative  or  confirmatory  of  both.  It  may  be  added,  that  in  the  last  edition  of 
"  The  Introduction  to  the  Study  and  Knowledge  of  the  Scriptures,"  by  Mr.  Hartwell 
Home,  he  has  corrected  his  notices  of  the  English  Scriptures  by  the  preceding  Annals. 

Another  subject,  by  way  of  addition  to  this  history,  has  been  suggested,  but  the  Au- 


xxiv  HISTORICAL  IXDKX. 

far  as  man  is  concerned,  imperfection  attends  liini  at  eveiy  step,  and  the  shamefully 
incon-ect  manner  in  wliich  the  Scriptures  were  too  often  printed,  especially  in  former 
days,  as  well  as  the  tardiness  to  correct  remaining  minor  imperfections  in  the  Sacred 
text  itselfi  greatly  illustrate  the  forbearance  of  Heaven :  but  in  these  volumes  we 
have  the  past  and  present  state  of  Britain,  and  British  Christians  with  the  Scriptures 
in  theii"  hands,  before  us,  such  as  they  have  been,  and  now  are ;  and  these,  for  the  pre- 
sent, demand  deliberate  and  exclusive  respect.  One  very  important  result,  indeed, 
as  far  as  the  general  Reader  is  concerned,  and  never  to  be  forgotten  by  him,  will  be 
glanced  at  below ;'  but  to  have  entered  on  the  verbal  differences,  whether  in  the  English 
Bible,  from  Tyndale's  down  to  our  present  version,  or  tliose  which  have  been  observed 
in  manuscripts  of  the  Sacred  text  since  examined,  would  have  been  only  diverting 
away  the  mind  to  a  subject  altogether  foreign  to  the  nature  and  design  of  this  work. 

Here,  the  past  will  be  allowed,  as  in  some  other  histories,  to  form  the  best  indication 
or  discoverer  of  the  future.  Now  in  tracing  out  a  series  of  authenticated  events, 
extending  over  more  than  three  Centuries,  the  writer  was  early  struck  with  a  tein 
in  the  histoiy  peculiar  to  itself,  and  the  more  so,  as  it  firmly  continued  to  exhibit 
this  characteristic  down  to  the  present  daj- — a  species  of  commanding  supremacy, 
amidst  various  attempts  to  control,  and  peculiar  to  this  Kingdom.  On  the  whole, 
therefore,  it  is  presumed,  the  mind  cannot  escape  from  ft-equently  observing  a  distinguish- 
ing feature,  wliich,  at  the  close,  among  other  reflections  or  inquiries,  leads  so  forcibly 
to  one  —What  does  this  history  portend  ?  So  secretly  imported  from  abroad,  as  the.se 
Scriptures  were,  into  England  and  Scotland,  at  the  beginning,  (vol.  ii.  pp.  229-231,)  and 
since  preserved  so  independent  of  control  from  every  section  of  the  British  community, 
(pp.  686,  637,)  multiplied  as  they  have  been,  (pp.  609-620,)  and  now  so  widely  dispersed, 
(pp.  657-662,)  the  entire  narrative  can-ies  every  appearance  of  steady  and  determined  ap- 
proach— but  it  is  to  some  one  point,  never  yet  gained.  Has  then  some  great  moral  lesson, 
not  yet  learned,  been  thus  patiently  held  up  to  riew,  from  age  to  age,  but  especially  to 
the  present  ?  Has  some  cardinal  piinciple,  not  yet  understood,  been  waiting  for  adoption  ? 
AVhatever  that  be,  as  it  is  not,  for  a  moment,  to  be  imagined  now,  that  such  a  cause  as 
tliis,  is  ever  to  wear  the  aspect  of  an  abortive  enterprise ;  it  remains  for  reflection, 
whether  the  History  itself  be  not  pressing  forward,  irresistibly,  towards  a  period,  when 
Sacred  Scripture  will  have  become  the  only  authoritative  source  of  Christian  know- 
ledge, faith,  and  practice  ? — a  period  when  the  old  principle,  hitherto  little  else  than  the 
boast  of  Chillingworth  and  of  Hurd,  as  well  as  of  many  others,  respecting  "  the  Bible 
and  the  Bible  alone,"  will  be  held  consistently  and  with  a  tenacious  grasp — or  in  other 
words,  when  the  Sacred  Volume  will  have  gained  that  throne  of  Supremacy,  to  which 
many  incidents  in  every  stage  of  its  providential  history  have  been  pointing  so  long  ? 

Meanwhile,  in  the  history  of  the  transuiission  of  ancient  Books  to  modem  times,  there 
is  absolutely  nothing,  in  our  language,  to  be  placed  in  comparison  with  the  introduction 
and  conveyance  of  the  English  Scriptures  to  our  times ;  thus  lending  not  only  deep 
interest  to  all  the  past,  but  such  ample  ground  for  anticipation  as  to  the  future.*  In  all 
ages,  according  to  the  magnitude  and  importance  of  its  ultimate  object,  has  been 
the  compass  fetched  by  the  all-wise  providence  of  God. 


HISTORICAL  INDEX. 


XXV 


ADDRESS  or  PROLOcrE — foviuiiig  the  frH 
langiiage  of  Tj-ndalc,  in  print,  to  the 
people  of  God  in  Eughiml — unknown  to 
history  for  above  three  hundred  years, 

and  but  i*ecently  discovered,  74 for  a 

fac-s^hiiile  of  the  first  page,  and  of  the  first 
New  Testaments,  sec  Appendix. 

(Address  and  admonition  or  warning  of  Tyn- 
dale  to  Henry  Till.,  to  his  Nobility,  and 
his  subjects,  246,  247. — to  Sii-  Thomas 
More  and  parliament,  284. — to  his  reader, 
or  the  people  at  large,  286,  287. — to  his 
country,  288,  289. — his  final  warning  to 
Sir  T.  More,  354, 3-55. — followed  by  More's 
Apology,  383.     See  Tyndale. 

Vlarm,  the  very  great  and  simultaneous,  in 
London,  Oxford,  and  Cambridge,  on  first 
receiving  fi"om  abroad  the  New  Testament 

in  the  English  language,  89-103 the  first 

alarm  in  Scotland  from  the  same  cause, 
ii.  413. — the  panic  among  the  bishops  in 
Edinbvu'gh,  and  all  their  chm-ches  dosed, 
■when  the  English  Bible  was  first  pro- 
claimed as  free  to  all  readers,  518-522. 

Vldus,  the  prince  of  Venetian  printers, 
Introd.  Ix,  n.  25.     See  Venice. 

iLES  or  Aless,  Alexander,  {Ales'ms,)  his 
history  and  exertions  hitherto  unknown ; 
born  April  anno  1500,  and  in  Ediubiu'gh, 
ii.  427 — from  fond  recollection  wrote  a  de- 
scription of  it  at  this  early  period,  id. — stu- 
dent at  St.  Andrews,  428. — cruelly  used  in 
the  dungeon  there,  still  in  existence,  430, 
431,449. — escapes  toDimdee,450. — shield- 
ed by  the  Provo.st  there,  451 embarks 

for  the  Continent,  429,  450,  452.. — the  au- 
thor of  i\\& first  printed  controversy  in  Bri- 
tain as  to  reading  the  Scriptures — his  me- 
morable letter  to  his  King,  James  V.,  430- 
437. — attacked  by  Cochlteus,  438. — was 
triumphantly  answered  by  Aless,  444. — 
who  explains  his  cruel  usage  in  Scotland, 
447. — his  curious  and  significant  interview 
with  Herman,  the  Archbishop  at  Cologne, 
453. — Aless,  the  first  man,  by  manj-  years, 
who  pleaded  for  the  Scriptures  to  be  read 
at  home  round  the  household  fire  in  Scot- 
land, 457-459,  485 where  the  New  Testa- 
ment, in  MSS.,  had  been  read  before  his 
day,  400. — he  became  intimate  with  Me- 
lancthon,  i.  451. — invited  to  England  by 
Crumwell  and  Cranmer,  was  coui'teously 
received,  and  stvlod  "  tlif>  Kinw's  Sflmlnv" 


him  into  the  Convocation,  498. — the  fir.st 
man,  therefore,  who,  on  British  ground, 
argued  for  Baptism  and  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per to  be  the  only  ordinances  under  the 
New  Testament,  502,  503. — Cranmer  and 
the  bishops  afraid  of  his  coimsel,  504. — 
by  the  King's  order  sent  to  Cambridge,  to 
expoimd  Scripture,  ii.  478. — prevented,  he 
studies  medicine  in  London,  479. — escapes 

again  to  Germany,  69 made  professor  of 

divinity  at  Frankfort  on  the  Oder,  480. — 
often  employed  in  discussion,  481. — the 
first  Scotsman  who  met  with  Calvin,  id. — 
published  various  expositions  of  Scripture, 
n.  483. — his  wife  and  children,  485 Pro- 
fessor for  twenty-three  years  at  Leipsic, 
and  where,  in  1565,  he  died  in  peace,  481. — 
taking  the  precedence  of  all  other  eminent 
Scotsmen,  and  pleading  for  his  Country 
long  before  any  other  voice  was  heai'd, 
some  suitable  Memorial  is  now  due  to  his 
character  and  exertions,  birt  more  espe- 
cially in  Edinburgh,  his  native  city,  485. 

America,  North,  the  Bible  first  seen  by  its 
natives,  an  English  one,  ii.  566. — after- 
wards carried  there  by  the  Pilgi-im  Fa- 
thers,  567 but  pruiting  it  there,   not 

permitted  by  Britain,  568,  570. — all  must 
use  an  imported  Bible,  for  more  than  160 
years!  568,  571. — the  first  open  imprint, 
in  defiance  of  Britain,  by  a  Scotsman 
there,  571. — the  first  in  folio  and  quarto, 
not  till  1791,  573. — conveyance /row  and 
then  to  a  distance,  a  very  notable  peculi- 
arity as  to  the  English  Scriptures,  for 
above  two  centui'ies  and  a  half!  574. 

Antwerp,  the  emporium  of  the  world,  w.l24. — 
first  English  New  Testaments  burnt  there, 
131 — persecution,  through  the  English 
Ambassador,  for  printing  an  edition  there, 

124,  125 or  importing  them  to  Bi'itain, 

196. — nobly  resisted  by  tlie  citizens,  125- 
130,  195-200.— Tunstal's  visit  to  buy  up 
Testaments,  213 a  new  English  Ambas- 
sador sent,  269. — his  bold  remonstrance 
with  Crumwell  against  persecution,  309. 
— various  editions  printed  there,  549. 

Arrival,  the  first,  of  the  English  New  Testa- 
nient  in  London,  Oxford,  and  Cambridge, 

88-103 the  first  in  Edinburgh  and  St. 

Andi-ews,  ii.  408,  409. 

Askew,  Anne,  her  heroic  behaviour  under 
i»vnmin.it.inn_     ii      190-19,5 lipr    faithful 


HISTOKICAL  INDKX. 


flicted,  196. — her  eminent  character,  and 
testimony   to   the   all-stifficiency   of   tlie  : 
Scripture  before  death ;  her  martyrdom,  I 
forming  the  cliinajr  of  cruelty  under  Henry 
VIII.,  lUT-litU.— the  mistakes  of  Lingard 
rectified,  n.  199. 
Authority  of  Scripture,  supreme  and  exclu- 
sive, migiit  have  been  the  pole-star   of 
Britain  for  three  centuries  past,  ii.  042. — 
but  afraid  to  follow  it,  G42.— whenever 
pleaded  as  yet,  one  baneful  eflfect  has  en- 
sued, G42-647 though  this  be  the  liighest 

of  all  sacred  social  questions,  G44 — and 
must  be  settled,  if  even  the  providential 
liistory  of  the  English  Bible  itself  be  any 
gxiide,  651,  652. 
Bainliam,  his  examination,  332. — confession 
before  tlie  Congi-egation  in  Bow  Lane,  333, 
(see  Congregation.) — his  martyrtlom,  334. 
Barbo,   Peter,   the   Venetian  pontiff, — See 

Paul  II. 
Barker,  family  of,  as  patentees,  ii.  339,  346- 

351. 
Barnes,  Robert,  101. — the  first  recantation, 
105,  106. — escapes  to  the  Continent,  n. 

108 a  Lutheran,  and  therefore  not  to  be 

classed  with  Tyndale  and  Fryth,  n.  348. — 
returns,  and  sent  as  envoy  to  Germany, 

424,   449 in  trouble,    ii.    97 recants 

again,  98. — cruelly  executed,  122,  123. 

Bayfield's  liistory,   302 zealous  importer 

of  books,  303-305. — his  cruel  usage  and 
martyrdom  by  Stokesly,  304. 
Beaton,  Archbishop,  in  disgrace  and  con- 
cealment at  the  moment  when  the  English 
New  Testament  frst  arrived  in  Scotland, 
ii.  406-412. — the  mover  of  Sir  Patrick 
Hamilton's  death,  the  proto-martyr,  417. 
Beaton,  Cardinal,  Henry  VIII.  enraged 
against  him,  ii.  182. — aims  after  unlimited 
authority  in  Scotland,51 4-516 — inprison, 
when  parliament  proclaimed  the  Sacred 
Scriptm-es  to  be  free  to  all  men,  517-522. 

his  cruelty,    530. — his  own   death  by 

violence,  531. 
Bible — the  frst  ever  printed  was  in  Latin ; 
long  unnoticed  and  imknown,  till  disco- 
vered by  Dc  Bure  in  the  Mazarine  Library 
at  Paris;  and  hence  it  has  been  some- 
times called  the  Mazaiine  Bible,  Introd. 
liv,  Iv. 
Bible  in  English,  without  note  or  comment, 


Fryth,  and  tliese  two  men,  thus  early, 
stood  alone,  the  purest  martyrs  for  tlio 
Word  of  God,  71,  345.  363,  519. 
Bible  alone,  witliout  note  or  comment,  the 
perfect  rule  of  faith  and  practice — the  only 
system  of  perfect  symmetry,  ii.  650 — 
though  never  yet  fairly  tested,  641,  642. 

Bible  without  note  or  connuent,  the  mere 
proposal  so  to  circulate  it  in  all  languages, 
at  once  conveyed  an  impulse,  the  most 
powerful  and  extensive  which  British 
Christians  have  erer  felt,  ii.  609,  610,  654. 

Bible  in  English  noic,  the  only  version  in 
existence  on  which  the  sun  never  sets, 
preface,  xi. — it  has  arrived  at  this  extent, 
not  by  any  united  effort  so  much  as  by 
regular  sale  and  di.spersion,  ii.  609,  619. 
— since  the  present  century  began,  at 
least  four  millions  sterling  have  been 
spent  upon  it,  620. — rapidity  of  its  issue 
fi'om  the  press,  preface,  viii ;  ii.  661. 

Bible  in  English,  the  only  version  in  exist- 
ence which  is  studied  one  day,  and  read 
or  used  the  next,  in  the  four  quarters  of 
the  globe,  that  is,  without  intermission, 
for  foi-ty-eight  hours  every  week,  ii.  657- 

661 no  other  event,  no  sign  of  the  times, 

is  so  eminent  or  so  germinant  as  this, 

preface,  xi;  ii.  661 a  Sabbatic /ioro/o^« 

of  the  English  Bible,  as  explanatory  of 
this,  is  desirable,  ii.  n.  659.  See  the  con- 
trast to  the  last  four  articles,  under  Rome. 

Bible  in  Latin  '-jujcta  Ileb.  et  Grcecam  veri- 
tatem,"  the  first  by  Rudelius,  and  prior  to 
Pagninus,  n.  167;  jippendii;  iv. 

Bible,  tlie  Loudon  Polyglot,  a  voluntary  un- 
dertaking, in  perfect  keeping  with  the 
leading  feature  of  tliese  Annals,  ii.  392, 
393.     See  Feature. 

Bible  Society,  the  first,  ii.  584 the  second, 

585 the  thia-d,  or  British  and  Foreign, 

604-617.     See  Sacred  Scriptures. 

Bilney,  his  conversion,  99-101 — first  en- 
snared, 121. — he  recants,  161. — preaches, 
299. — died  a  genuine  martj'r,  300. 

Bishops  of  England — they  denounce  as  poi- 
son, and  order  to  be  delivered  up,  the  first 
printed  New  Testaments  in  English,  118, 
119. — they  had  before  been  burning  them 

in  public,  after  a  sermon,  106, 107 they 

are  arraigned  by  Tyndale  as  the  very 
foimtain  and  spring,  or  well-head  of  all 


HISTORICAL  INDEX. 


XX\ll 


up  English  New  Testaments  for  destruc- 
tion, and  at  considerable  expense,  158, 
159 — Tunstal  of  London,  two  years  after 
this,  purchases  more  copies  at  Antwerp, 
213. — tlieir  second  grand  burning  at  Paul's 
Cross,  Tunstal  of  Durham  presiduig  for 

Stokesly  of  London,  2(52,  n.  263 Henry 

Vin.  prefers  an  indictment  agauist  the 
whole  body,  and  after  judgment,  he  ex- 
tends pardon,  on  condition  of  their  paying 
him  a  sum  equal  to  a  million  and  tlu-ee 
quai-ters  of  our  present  com,  292. — but 
they  must  now  also  bow  to  liis  assumed 
supremacy  over  them,  and  their  chui'ch, 
293 at  their  first  Convocation,  the  for- 
mer cement  of  tlie  Bishops  mutually 
cleaving  to  each  other  having  lost  its 
power,  they  di^•ide,  as  nine  to  nine,  494- 
499. — but  they  are  all  at  last  signally 
oveiTided  to  receive  that  Bible,  the  New 
Testament  of  which,  and  even  the  owners 
of  it,  they  had  so  often  denounced  and 

burnt,    583-586,    591,    592 four    years 

after,  certain  bishops,  led  on  by  Gai-dinei', 
were  longing  to  discuss  and  alter  the  Sa- 
cred text,  ii.  150,  151.- — once  assembled 
and  wrangling  over  it,  the  King  takes 
the  English  Bible  out  of  their  hands,  and 
wliile  they  ai'e  yet  sitting  in  Convocation, 
he  publishes  his  decided  sanction  in  ftivoiu' 
of  a  citizen  of  London,  who  had  nobly  ad- 
vanced the  great  cost  of  many  already  in 

print,  151-153 that  version  frequently 

styled  "the  Bishops'  Bible"  was  never 
ordered  by  Queen  Elizabeth,  333. — nor 
ever  mai-ked  by  any  public  or  formal 
sanction  of  the  Crown,  334. — the  authority 
it  can-ied  being  that  of  the  bishops  only, 
338. — the  bishops  under  King  James, 
though  applied  to  for  some  pecuniary  aid 
in  regard  to  oui-  present  version,  retui-ned 
no  answer,  373,  379 if  tliey  wei'e  un- 
willing,  the   King  himself  was   unable, 

379,  382,  385 thus  the  English  Bible  of 

our  own  day,  stands  as  independent  of 
all  such  aid  from  authority,  as  it  had 
done,  since  its  origin,  of  all  Royal  or  ec- 
clesiastical control,  386,  387. — and  thus  a 
version,  which  is  now  reading  in  every 
quarter  of  the  world,  came,  in  about  forty 
years  after  its  first  publication,  into  ge- 
neral usage  throughout  Britain,  but  at 


Bishops  of  Scotland— in  alarm,  ii.  413. — 
equally  hostile  to  the  Scriptures  as  in 
England,  475. — all  reading  of  them  pub- 
licly denounced,  491 but  in  vain,  512 — 

they  oppose  in  parliament,  521  — but  alike 
in  vaui,  522-525.     See  Sacred  Scriptures. 

Bishops'  Registers — a  peculiarity  to  be  ob- 
served in  them,  n.  ^  263. 

Blayney,  his  corrected  eilition  of  the  English 
Bible,  ii.  560. 

Bodley,  John,  father  of  Sir  Thomas,  great 
promoter  of  the  Genevan  version  of  the 
English  Bible,  ii.  322,  323.— a  patent 
granted   to   him,    personally,   by  Queen 

Elizabeth,  324-327 Parker's  proposal  to 

interfere  with  this  version  was  all  in  vain, 
329.     See  Genera. 

Boleyn,  Queen  Anne,  readTyndale's  writings, 

219 her  marriage,  359. — she  justifies  the 

importation  of  Tyndale's  New  Testaments, 

410 no  man  ever  dared  so  to  speak  out 

wliile  the  translator  lived,  411 — her  own 
coTpj,  now  in  existence,  413. — base  con- 
spiracy against  her,  460. — her  noble  letter 
to  the  King,  468. — her  cruel  death,  476. — 

the  next  event,  477 the  mystery  of  her 

inhuman  treatment  explained,  479-482. — 
her  life,  education,  and  character,  483-488. 

Bomberg,  Daniel,  of  Antwerp,  printer,  next 
to  Aldus,  the  ornament  of  Venice— an 
early  printer  of  Hebrew  Bibles,  having 
about  one  hundred  Jews  as  correctors  of 
the  press,  n.  25.  He  died  in  1549,  not 
1540,  as  there  misprinted. 

Bonner, Edmund,  the  pontiff  enraged,  threat- 
ens him,  378. — he  is  sent  to  Spain,  ii.  8. — 
Gardiner's  bitter  quarrel  with  him,  11  — 
Bonner  in  Paris,  and  now  a  bishop,  28- 
30. — he  throws  off  the  mask  on  Crumwell's 
arrestment,  107.— his  vile  hypocrisy,  144. 

— sent  abroad,  160 after  disgi-ace  imder 

Edward,  reinstated  by  Mary,  259 — he  and 
Gardiner  now  in  union,  282. — Bonner  the 
slaughter-man  of  England,  265-270, 297.— 
Ids  cruelty  singularly  arrested,  271. — a 
living  monument  of  general  execration, 
he  died  in  prison,  and  had  to  be  bui'ied 
under  the  cloud  of  night,  279. 

Bourbon  and  Wolsey,  leading  men  at  one 

jimcture,   40,  77 Boui-bon's  march   to 

Rome,  and  death  there,  143-145. 

Boyle,  Hon.  R.,  his  testimony  to  the  perfec- 


\ 


WVlll 


HISTOUICAL  INDEX. 


Britain — for  the  early  history,  sec  England 
and  lScotlan<l ;  the  most  extensive  move- 
ment as  to  the  Scriptures  began,  ii.  584, 

618,  019 immense  reduction  in  price, 

620-G25.— conse(iuent  peculiar  obligations, 

626-628 magnitude  of  the  object,  6o0 — 

leading  feature  in  their  iiistory,  631,  639. 
— friends  and  foes  down  to  the  present 
day,  630-654. 

Cambridge,  great  alann  there,  on  frd  re- 
ceiving the  English  New   Testament  in 

print,    from  abroad,   99-104 the  first 

Testament  known  to  have  been  printed 
there,  see  Index-List,  No.  105 ;  the  first 
Bible,  No.  89. 

Canne,  John,  his  editions  of  the  English 
Bible,  ii.  5r,9. 

Cardinal   College,  Oxford,    by  AVolsey,  his 

original  and  insidious  design,  42,  4.3 

rendered  abortive  by  the  perusal  of  Tyn- 
dale's  New  Testaments,  95-99. 

Cauey,  the  most  eminent  reader  of  the  Eng- 
lish Bible,  as  to  the  effects  resulting,  ii. 
586-588,  603. — proved  by  his  sub.sequent 
history  and  exertions  abroad,  588-604. 

Carondelet,   Archbishop   of   Palermo    and 

President  of  the  Brabant  Council,  429 

presided  as  such  at  the  time  of  Tyndale's 
imprisonment  and  mock  trial  before  liis 
martyrdom,  516,  517. 

Centenary,  the  tliird,  of  our  English  Bible, 
held  by  mistake,  590 had  it  been  ob- 
served in  Britjiin  on  the  sauie  day  that 
Thorwaldsen's  statue  of  Gutenberg  was 
opened  to  view  at  ilentz,  vi/.  14th  August 
1837,  this  would  have  been  strikingly 
correct ;  as  the  fourth  centui-y  of  the  in- 
vention of  printing,  and  the  third  of  the 
arrival  of  the  English  Bible  in  London 
were  coeval,  almost  to  a  day,  578,  579, 
590,  691. 

Challenge  of  Francis  to  the  Emperor  led  to 
the  cowardly  and  hoi'rid  practice  of  duel- 
ling in  Europe,  n.  149,  540. 

Charles  V.  Emperor,  defiance  of  him  by 
Henry  YIII.,  or  rather  the  presumptuous 
step  of  Wolsey,  which  led  to  his  fiill,  170, 

172 negotiations  Avitli  Charles,  in  vain. 

249,  250. — the  Emperor's  greatest  per- 
sonal hiuniliation,  539-541. — he  seemed 
disposed  to  union,  ii.  7 but  he  and  Fran- 
cis I.  overreach  Ilenrv.  7-12.  —  alliance 


Churcli.  our  own  Church,  of  whatever  form, 
not  the  highest  point  to  which,  for  three 
centuries,  proridence  has  been  inviting 
the  supreme  regard  of  British  Christians, 
ii.  638,  644. 

Clement  VII.  the  Roman  pontiff,  the  sack  of 
Rome,  143-147 his  misery  wliile  in  pri- 
son, 172. — tormented  by  Henry's  question 
of  divorce,  173. — Henry  and  Clement  iji 

collision,  330,  331 he  is  enraged  with 

Bonner,  378 vexed  with  England's  sepa- 
ration,   402,    403 sui-vived    only    six 

months,  406. — the  folly  and  misery  of  Ais 
supremacy  had  been  demonstrated  to  all, 
yet  was  it  now  declare<l  to  be  treason,  by 
Henry  VIII.  for  any  subject  to  deny  his, 

406 death   and   character  of  Clement, 

400,  407.     See  Paul  III. 

Cochlreus,  the  grand  continental  opponent 
of  Scripture,  53. — interrupts  Tyndale  at 
the  press  in  Cologne,  55,  02. — alarms  the 
English  Govemment,  58. — angry  with 
Henry  YUL.  for  not  rewarding  him,  527. 
— enraged  at  Alexander  A  less,  and  writes 
to  James  V.  of  Scotland,  ii.  438. — actually 
sent  his  servant  with  his  tract  to  Edin- 
burgh, who  was  richly  rewarded,  467,  n. 
467,  468 and  lumself  also,  477.— tri- 
umphantly answered  by  Aless,  444-468, 

477 in   trouble,  480.— his  death,  483. 

See  Aless. 

Congregation  in  Bow  Lane,  Cheapside — was 
it  the  earliest  resemblance,  even  \mder 
Henry  ^'UI.,  of  a  Christian  Church  found- 
ed on  the  Scriptures  ?  334,  344,  346.— see 
it  again,  under  Queen  Mary,  ii.  265-271. 

Constantinople,  its  capture  and  fall,  an  era 
in  Iiistory,  Introd.  lii,  liii. 

Constantjne,  George,  a  very  zealous  im- 
porter of  Tj'ndale's  New  Testament,  188, 
206 — caught  and  put  in  irons  by  Sir  T. 

More.  306 escapes  to  Antwerp,  308,  313. 

— in  England  again,  462,  n.  463 becomes 

a  vicar,  ii.69 in  great  alarm,  he  graphi- 
cally describes  the  state  of  England,  70- 
72.  —  his   father  then   alive,    at  the  age 

of  ninety-tWD,  n.  71 Constantyne  dies 

abroad,  but  his  son-in-law  became  even 
Archbishop  of  York,  and  President  of  the 
Council  of  the  North  !  «.  73. 

Covei'dale,  Myles,  his  first  appearance,  105. 
— preacliing  in  Essex.  185 shielded  by 


HISTORICAL  INDEX. 


XXIX 


238-240 his  version  of  the  English  Bible, 

450. — compared  with  Tyndale's,  552-5G7, 
687. — Coverilale  in  Paris,  editing  the  se- 
cond edition  of  the  latter,  ii.  35-39. — after 
Cruniwell's  death  he  escaped  abroad,  and 
was  absent  eight  years,  as  minister  of 
Bergzabern,  from  1540  to  1548;  returned, 
and  made  bishop  of  Exeter,  but  only  for 
two  years,  295. — liis  second  and  singular 
escape  to  tlie  Continent,  under  INIary,  287- 

294 he  again  returns  to  England,  but 

now  a  Nonconformist,  a  laborious  man, 
he  expired  in  peace  in  his  81st  year,  295. 

Cowper  the  poet,  Carey,  and  Clarkson,  un- 
known to  each  other,  all  under  similar 
impressions,  at  the  same  moment,  ii.  590. 

Cranmer  first  employed,  221 . — sent  to  Rome, 
249. — sent  to  the  Emperor,  with  Sir  T. 
Elyot,  then  in  pursuit  of  Tyndale,  323- 

326. — made  Ai'chbishop,  364 and  in  what 

manner,  365 his  mode  of  procedure  in 

divorcing  Queen  Katharine,  and  crown- 
ing Queen  Anne  Boleyn,  366-369 — Fryth 
stands  before  him  and  other  bishops,  369- 
874. — refers  to  the  death  of  Fryth  by  fire, 
375,  376. — fully  informed  of  Tyndale's 
imprisonment  at  Yilvorde,  but  does  no- 
thing, 422-426,  512. — sent  for,  to  sanction 
the  death  of  Anne  Boleyn,  465. — he  is 
overruled  to  receive  Tyndale's  version  of 
the  Bible,  570-578,  585 ;  his  first  edition 
of  it  was  in  1540,  ii.  86-89,  130 — in  his 
preface  he  refers,  though  covertly,  to  Tyn- 
dale, H.  87. — his  official  situation  proved 
his  safeguard  imder  Henry,  66,  67. — ac- 
cused by  the  Council  but  in  vain,  175- 
178. — had  no  share  in  the  death  of  Anne 
Askew,  as  Lingard  asserts,  n.  199. — one 
valuable  trait  in  his  procedure,  238,  242. 
—his  martyrdom,  297-299. 

Crumwell,  Thomas,  his  early  and  only  visit 
to  Rome,  7i.  293. — not  pi-esent  at  its  at- 
tack and  foil  under  Bourbon,  n.  144. — a 
steward  in  the  employ  of  Wolsey,  186. — 
his  bold  effort  to  rise  in  the  royal  favour, 

223,  224 — first  elevation  to  power,  225 

his  pursuit  after  Tyndale,  240,  269-278.— 
all  in  vain,  279 — sent  to  Convocation  to 
humble  the  bishops,  291. — fully  informed 
of  Tyndale's  imprisonment  atVilvorde,  but, 
like  Cranmer,  he  does  nothing  to  shield 
him  from  the  persecutors,  422,  512. — 
constrained  at  last  to    seem   interested. 


accedes  to  the  persecution  of  Anne  Boleyn 
unto  death,  460,  475. — presides  as  A'ice- 
gercnt  and  Vicar-General  in  the  first  con- 
vocation under  Henry,  495-510. — he  is 
overruled  to  accept  of  Tyndale's  version 
of  the  Bible,  577,  591.— his  treatment  of 
royal  blood,  ii.  6, 7. — his  base  subserviency, 
21,  53,  75. — his  first  injunctions  enforc- 
ing, not  Cranmer's,  but  Tyndale's  Bible, 
33,  34 — his  headlong  cruelty,  to  please 
his  avaricious  master,  60,  61,  75,  102. — 
his  zeal  and  energy  as  to  the  Scriptures, 
admits  of  but  one  interpretation,  79,  82, 

129.— at  the  height  of  his  power,  99, 100 

Henry's  use  of  him,  101. — his  being  made 

Earl  of  Essex  explained,  102 his  last 

effort  on  the  King's  behalf,   103 the 

King  offended,  104. — Crumwell  appre- 
hended through  the  Duke  of  Norfolk,  105, 
106. — who  had  tried  to  put  him  off  his 

guard  recently,  49,  50,  503 the  charges 

against  him  never  before  explained,  109- 

116 — he  implored  pity,  112 but  is  put 

to  death,  117. — his  character,  118 espe- 
cially as  "Mcegerent  and  Vicar-General, 
and  its  consequences,  118-122. 

Dedication  of  the  Genevan  English  version 
to  Elizabeth,  was  not  suppressed,  as  it  has 
often  been  asserted,  but  frequently  re- 
printed, ii.  356,  357.     See  Epistle. 

Dignitaries  of  the  English  Church,  so  late 
as  1571,  had  to  be  enjoined  to  provide 
copies  of  the  English  Bible  for  their  own 
dwelling  houses,  ii.  w.  337. 

Dispersion  of  Sacred  Scripture,  a  new 
method,  ready  at  hand,  never  yet  tried, 
though  quite  practicable  to  individuals, 
in  various  cities  and  sea-ports  through- 
out Great  Britain,  ii.  675-677. 

Distance,  conveyance  first  from,  and  then  to 
a  distance,  a  mai-ked  feature  in  the  history 
of  the  English  Bible,  for  above  250  years  ! 
ii.  574. 

Divine  Revelation,  or  the  voice  of  God  to 
man,  however  unheeded,  knows  no  pause 
by  night  or  day,  in  the  English  language, 
preface  xi ;  ii.  657-660. 

Division  of  the  people  in  Britain,  one  that 
is  infinitely  the  most  important,  and  for 
more  than  three  centuries  down  to  the 
present  hour,  ii.  640-642,  652. 

Dominion  of  Britain,  its  highest  import,  or 
what  it  involves   of  imnf>rn.tivp  diifv.   ii 


aw 


HISTORICAL  INDEX. 


Donne,  Gabriel,  the  Monk  of  Stratford 
Abbey,  and  the  basest  betrayer  of  Tyn- 
dak",  his  strange  and  hitherto  unknown 
history,  418, 426, 533-538 seated  in  con- 
vocation, and  as  Abbot  of  Buckfaster, 
even  before  Tyndale  had  breathed  his  last 
at  the  stake,  535,  536.— afterwards  raised 
to  be   a  jircbend  of  St.  Paul's,  536,  ii. 

281 nay,  acted  in  room  of  the  Bishop  of 

London,  by  Cranmer's  appointment,  i. 
536.— Ridley's  opinion  of  him,  53G-537 — 
his  death,  apparently  without  any  re- 
morse, twenty-two  years  after  Tyndale's 
martyrdom,  537,538;  ii.  278.— buried  in 
St.  Paul's,  i.  537. 

Edinburgh,  its  state,  when  the  reading  of 
the  Scrii)tures  was  first  freely  allowed,  ii. 

518-522 though  reading  them  in  secret 

had  been  the  habit  of  not  a  few  in  Scot- 
land, for  about  sixteen  years,  513,  525, 
«.  527. 

Edward  VI.,  the  contrast  to  his  ftither,  ii. 

233 Scriptures  printed  under  his  reign, 

236-243.— but  still  an  undertaking  sepa- 
rate from  the  reigning  authorities,  244- 
248,  252. — Edward's  personal  character 

and  death,  248,  249 his  noble  conduct 

towards  John  a-Lasco,  formed  a  contrast 
to  the  entire  surface  of  Europe  at  the 
moment,  n.  200.- the  painful  result  of 
creeds  and  confessions,  idem — the  disre- 
putable and  perverse  policy  of  Edward's 
Council  on  and  after  his  death,  250, 
255. 

Elizabeth,  Queen,  her  cautious  policy  at  first, 
extending  even  to  the  Scriptiu-es,  ii.  313- 

317 yet,  by  a  distinct  patent,  sanctioned 

the  Genevan  vei-sion  of  the  Englisli  Bible, 
321. — and  singularly  compliant  here,  326. 
— Parker's  proposal  to  interfere  with  it, 

in  vain,  329 the  English  Bible  printing 

at  Rouen  as  well  as  in  London,  331  — 
Parker's  version  not  ordered  by  the 
Queen,  333. — never  authorised,  nor  even 
specially  noticed  by  her,  n.  334,  337,  n. 
•)38. — printed  by  different  printers,  334, 

335 patents,  their  strange  origin  and 

history,  340-351. — Bibles  under  Eliza- 
beth's reign,  far  naore  numerous  than  ever 
before  imagined,  352,  353, 361 — the  cause 
of  this  explained,  354-360 — though  the 
press  was,  in  other  respects,  so  fearfully 


trospect  from  Henry  to  Elizabeth  inda- 
sive,  362-364. 

Elyot,  Sir  Thomas,  employed  in  pursuit  of 
Tyndale,  by  the  King's  order,  though  still 
in  vain,  322-327. 

England,  at  the  opening  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  5 state  of  literature,  9. — condi- 
tion of  the  west  of  England,  11-15. — hos- 
tile to  Tyndale's  design,  41-43. — and  to 
divine  tinitli,  43. — state  of  England  im- 
mediately before  receiving  the  Scriptures, 
77-86. — the  first  amvals  and  effects,  88- 

105 the  first  burning  of  books,  106 — 

political  state,  114 England  and  Spain, 

170. — and  Italy,  172 persecution,  178- 

192. — arrested  by  pestilence  at  home,  192, 
193. — WoLscy's  pursuit  after  Tyndale,  in 
vain,  194-208. — persecution  again,  211. — 
the  King,  parliament,  and  bishops,  alike 
Aostile  to  the  truth,  230-237,  257 — op- 
posed by  Latimer,  260-262.— warned  by 
Tyndale  from  abroad,  288-290.— fresh  pur- 
suit of  him,  322. — persecution  at  home, 

331-335 Fryth's   arrival  fi-om   abroad, 

339.— strange  state  of  England,  364.— Eng- 
land and  the  Continent,  377-379. — key  to 
the  commotion  at  home,  435. — parties  in 
Henry's  new  Convocation,  494. —  state  of 
England  at  Tyndale's  death,  541.— rebel- 
lion in  Yorkshire,  544 — sudden  change, 
Henry  and  his  counsellors  signally  over- 
ruled to  receive  the  Bible,583-5S6.— Crum- 
well's  policy  -with  the  King  while  a 
widower,  ii.  4,  5.— the  leaders  of  the  '  Old 
Learning'  party  met  after  long  separation, 
14. — character  of  the  King's  parliaments 
and  convocations,  53. — alliance  with  the 
Emperor  Charles,  96.— all  the  European 
powers  in  strange  array  or  alliance,  161, 
529.— war  with  Scotland,  164, 182 — peace 
with  France  and  Scotland,  185.— England 
now  exhausted  by  war  and  the  results, 

186-189 death  of  Henry,  221.— the  Khig 

and  his  courtiers,  223-225 — retrospect  of 
Henry's  reign,  227-232 — England  under 
Edward  the  Sixth,  233-253.— under  Mary, 
253-312 under  Elizabeth,  313-364 — un- 
der James  I.  to  the  Commonwealth,  365- 
394.     See  Scutland  and  Britain. 

Epistle  prefixed  to  the  Genevan  English 
version,  with  its  memorable  title,  "  To  our 
beloved   m   tlie   Lord— the  Brethren   of 


HISTORICAL  INDEX 


XXXI 


from  1561  to  1582,  ii.  350,  357 — nay,  and 
as  late  as  1597.  Compare  Index-List, 
B.  No.  100. 

Era,  at  the  present,  a  retrospect  is  due  to 
futiu'c  exertion,  ii.  (308-071. 

Erasmus,  born  1405,  )iot  1407  :  at  the  age 

of  32,  came  into  England,  23 his  Now 

Testament,  Greek  and  Latin,  in  1510,  24. 
— subsequent  editions  of  it  in  1519, 1522, 
1527,  1535,  «.  38.  [The  paraphrases  of 
Erasmus  did  not  appear  in  Eiijlish  till 
1548-9,  though  in  the  original  Latin  he 
publislied  them,  in  twelve  separate  books, 
from  1517  to  1524.  These  lie  dedicated 
in  distinct  addresses — the  gospels  to  four 
Sovei'eigns,  Charles,  Francis,  Henry,  and 
Ferdinand ;  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  to 
the  pontiiF,  Clement !  and  the  epistles  to 
five  cardinals  and  an  archbishop,  includ- 
ing Wolsey.  This  style  of  proceeding 
might  influence  Tyudale's  reference, 
though  Tunstal's  name  is  nowhere  men- 
tioned; but  in  the  preface  of  the  New 
Testament  in  1527,  Erasmus  expressly 
names  him,  and  as  bishop  of  London.]  The 
New  Testament  of  Erasmus,  the  instru- 
ment of  Bilney's  conversion,  100. — See  p. 
281,  penultimate  line, /or  latter,  readfov- 
mer. — Erasmus  describes  the  character  of 
the  Brabant  Privy  Council,  imder  whom 

Tyndale  suiiercd,  517 and  about  foiu- 

months  before  that  martyrdom,  Erasmus, 
nvt  in  liis  09th,  but  in  his  71st  year,  ex- 
pired at  Basil,  where  he  lies  interred  in 
the  Cathedral,  n.  517.     See  Uallam. 

European  sovereigns  without  exception,  in 
strange  and  imprincipled  alliance,  ii.  101, 
529. 

Ezra — the  Ezra  of  Britain — a  poetical  Latin 
tribute,  of  the  sixteenth  century,  in  me- 
mory of  Tyndale,  ii.  480. 

Feature  conspicuous  in  the  character  and 
conduct  of  Tyndale,  351-353 — one  other, 
in  the  whole  of  the  preceding  liistory  of 
the  English  Bible,  ii.  031-039. 

Fisher,  bishop  of  Rochester,  preaches  in 
1520,  before  the  first  burning  of  books 
seized,  100. — denounced  by  Tyndale  for 

then  burning  the  New  Testament,  107 

his  violence  in  pai-liament,  228. — deemed 

.  guilty  in  not  bowing  to  Henry's  suprem- 
acy,402.— attainted  along  with  Sir  Thomas 
More,  400 — cruelly  beheaded,  430,  437. 


as  to  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  ii.  577. — its 
state  for  two  centuries  past,  577-584. — 
the  French  Revolution,  and  its  effect  on 
Britain  and  her  colonies,  580-582. 

Francis  1.  deceives  the  King  of  England,  ii. 
7-11 — Henry  foolishly  invades  his  coun- 
try, 105 — war  with  it  still,  170. — peace 
at  last,  185 — death  of  Francis,  225. 

Frankfort  fair,  searching  for  Tyndale  there, 
in  vain,  202-205 — the  troubles  of  Frank- 
fort,   ii.    309. — mistaken    principle,    the 

cause    of   all  that  happened,    310 the 

troubles  overruled  for  good,  as  to  the 
English  Scriptures,  310,  311. 

Froschover,  Christopher,  printer  of  Zurich 
— was  certainly  not  the  printer  of  Cover- 
dale's  Bible  of  1535,  as  ascertained  by  the 
present  author  when  at  Zurich ;  and  that 
Grafton  was  the  printer  of  it,  a  gross 
mistake;  but  in  1550,  Froschover  printed 
both  a  Bible  and  a  small  New  Testament 
in  English,  unaccoimtably  reversing,  on 
the  titles,  the  names  of  the  authors.  See 
our  Index-List,  T.  07,  B.  23.  This  year 
a  nephew,  of  the  same  name,  came  to 
England,  to  perfect  liimself  in  learning 
for  his  calling.  The  uncle  or  nephew 
afterwards  boarded  twelve  of  the  exiles 
in  Clary's  reign.     See  the  Zurich  letters. 

Fryth,  John,  born  at  Westerham,  Kent, 
108 — scholar  at  Eton,  and  Khig's  College, 
Cambridge,  108 — chosen  a  canon  of  Car- 
dinal College,  Oxford,  95. — a  B.  A.  of  both 

Universities,  n.    108 escapes  from  the 

dungeon  below  Cardinal   College,  97 

reaches  Tyndale  abroad,  though  ambassa- 
dors could  never  find  him  out,  135, 107. — 
Fryth's  first  printed  tract,  imder  the  name 

of  Brhjhtii-ell,  210 comes  to   England, 

321 — he  is  in  peril,  339 in  the  Tower  of 

London,  343. — for  the  word  of  God,  344. — 
Tyndale's  letters  to  him,  347,  357. — who 
writes  and  publishes  in  his  defence,  350, 

353 — Fryth's  noble  heroism,  302,  371 

his  martyrdom,  the  first  in  England,  with- 
out one  syllable  of  recantation,  370,  377. 
—signal  effects,  380,  392 ;  ii.  05. 
Fysh,  Simon,  his  "  Supplication  of  Beggars," 
89. — its  very  powerful  effect,  91 he  es- 
capes abroad,  but  returns,  188 is  hunted 

after  by  Sir  T.  ISIorc,  but  sees  the  King, 
and  soon  after  died  of  the  plague  in  Lon- 
don, 205,  200. 


\ 


X  X  X 1 1 


IIISTOIIICAL  INDEX. 


firet  introduccil  Cranmer  to  tlio  King, 

221 lie  and  others  denounced  Scripture 

in  the  hinguajjc  of  the  people,  258,  250 

thirsted  after  the  death  of  Fryth,  his  for- 
mer pupil,  308 and  after  the  destruction 

of  Tyndale,  417. — the  bishop  is  out  of  the 
royal  favour,  445. — says  now  that  he  is 
translating  Luke  and  John  into  English  ! 
44(3,  447. — sent  out  of  the  way  to  France 
as  ambassador,  44'J. — recalled,  ii.  11. — 

when  persecution  is  advised,  1 7 and  soon 

resumed,  19. — Gardiner's  cm-ious  colloquy 
■with  the  King  and  Cranmer,  89 preach- 
ing at  Paul's  Cross,  97. — his  virulent  op- 
position to  Scripture,  151.— in  vain,  152. — 

he  marries  Henry  to  his  last  Queen,  102 

whom  he  was  (juite  ready  to  have  sacri- 
ficed, had  not  Henry  relented,  211 Gar- 
diner himself  in  trouble,  211 quite  out 

of  Henry's  favour,  212. — he  is  restored 
by  Queen  Mary,  256. — completely  foiled 
by  Tyndale's  fi-iend,  John  Rogers  the 
martyr,  when   under  examination,    284, 

289-293 Gardiner's     unhappy    death, 

297.— his  character,  «.  308:  ii.  «.  274. 

Geneva,  the  English  New  Testament  revised, 
and  first  printed  there,  different  from  the 
version  in  the  Bible  following,  ii.  oil,  312. 
— three  members  of  the  English  Church 
in  exile  at  Geneva,  revise  the  English 
Bible,  and  print  it  there;  one  other  mem- 
ber bearing  the  chief  cost ;  it  became  the 
household  Bible  of  Britain  for  about  eighty 

years,  318-327 patent   for  printing   it 

in  England,  324. — dedicated  to  Elizabeth, 
and  addressed  to  "  the  Brethren  of  Eng- 
land, Scotland,  Ireland,"  &c.,  322 but 

see  356,  357,  and  one  as  late  as  1597. 
See  Index-List,  B.  No.  100. 

Government,  spiritual  and  temporal,  distin- 
guished, 141,  142,  317-319.— ruflicd  and 
tangled  together,  316. 

Grafton,  Richard,  fii-st  printer  of  T_yndale's 

Bible,  568,  575,  682 and  of  the  second 

edition  in  Paris,  ii.  24. — of  others,  with 
his  usual  partner,  Whitchurch,  1 27-1 4(5. — 

he  printed  even  under  Elizabeth,  318 

his  last  Bible  was  the  first  in  8vo,  331. — 
some  account  of  him,  and  his  death,  n.  331. 

Greek  Church,  Introd.  xxxvi. — more  cor- 
rectly, it  had  not,  in  so  many  woi-ds,  in- 
terdicted the  Scriptures,  but  it  had  added 


barbarism,  and  greatly  fallen  under  the 
power  of  the  Latin  Cliurch. 

Grenville,  RigJit  Hon.  Thomas — the  rarities 
under  this  name,  in  our  Index-List  of 
Bibles  and  Testaments,  are  now  in  the 
British  Museum ;  his  valuable  Library 
being  there  deposited,  as  bojueathed  to 
the  nation. 

Grindnl's  fidelity,  cmelly  resented  by  Eliz- 
abeth, ii.  358,  359. 

Gutenberg  of  Mentz,  inventor  of  printing, 
Introd.  liv. 

Hamburgh,    where    Tyndalc    first    aiTived 

from  England,  45 remained  for  one  year, 

where  he  had  already  been  at  the  printing 
press,  48-51. — moved  to  Cologne,  52. 

Hamilton,  Sir  Patrick,  the  protomartyr  for 
the  word  of  God  in  Scotland — his  history, 
and  death  by  fire,  ii.  414-420 the  power- 
ful eflfects,  421. 

Harman,  Richard  {not  George,)  a  memorable 
importer  of  the  New  Testament  by  Tyn- 
dale,  89. — Wolsey  very  eager  to  seize  him, 
194. — he  and  his  lady  imprisoned  at  Ant- 
werp, 196 — released  at  last,  198. — the 
English  ambassador  in   trouble   for  his 

paiu.s,  199 and  he  must  remove  to  ilech- 

lin,  200. — five  ycai's  after.  Mi-.  Harman 
restored  to  favour  in  England  by  Queen 
Anne  Bolcyn,  409-411. 

Hebrew  and  Greek  original  Scriptm-es  have 
never  been  restrained  by  any  Government, 
however  absolute,  25. 

Henry  VIII.  the  richest  prince  in  Europe  at 
his  accession,  5 — position  of  his  kingdom, 
5-8. — first  visit  to  France  with  Wolsey  as 

almoner,  6 hostile  to  the  entrance  of 

divine  truth,  42,  43. — his  wrath,  and  de- 
nunciation of  the  first  English  New  Tes- 
tament, 111-113. — his  divorce,  217, 250. — 

liis  parliament  ho.stile  to  the  truth,  230 

the  bishops,  with  Henry,  cordially  agreed 
in  this,  234,  235. — the  King  and  prelates 
imite  in  persecution,  257,  207. — this  is  fol- 
lowed up  after  the  same  temper  by  Crum- 
well  and  his  royal  master,  208. — the  su- 
premacy question,  293-295. — tlic  King 
recovers  from  the  bishops,  through  Crimi- 
well,  more  than  Wolsey  had  carried  to 
France,  w.  292 — the  friars  of  Greenwich 
attack  Henry  from  the  pulpit,  307. — he 
then  exchanges  heresy  for  treason,  as  the 


HISTORICAL  INDEX. 


XXXIII 


liontifl"s  bull  against  Ilcnry  after  Fisher's 
death,  440. — his  dark  plot  against  Queen 
Anne  Boleyn,  400-470. — lier  memorable 
letter  to  him,  468. — marries  a  third  time, 
and  the  day  after  liis  second  Queen's  mur- 
der, 470 immediately  after,  Pole's  book 

is  shown  to  Mm,  477 — the  artfidly  altered 
tone  of  the  pontitf,  Paul  III.,  who  was 
aware,  and  before  her  death,  of  the  plot 
against  Queen  Anne,  481 — Henry  over- 
rules his  first  and  unprecedented  Convo- 
cation, 505. — but  he  liimself,  as  well  as 
all  aroimd  liim,  overruled  to  receive  tlie 
£ible  of  Tyndale,  as  soon  as  presented, 
583-586,  591,  592.— death  of  the  third 
Queen,  591 character  of  the  King's  par- 
liaments, ii.  53-57. — he  is  married,  the 
fourth  time,  to  Anne  of  Cleves,  73,  93. — 
his  address  for  the  free  use  of  the  English 

Eible,  83 liis  marriage  annulled,  114. — 

his  fifth  marriage,  to  Catharine  Howard, 
to  whom  he  was  first  attracted  when  at 

dinner  in  Gardiner's  palace,  123 gross 

historical  mistake  as  to  the  Crown,  in  con- 
nexion with  the  Bible,  124-127 the  fifth 

Queen  justly  in  disgrace,  to  Henry's  grief, 

138. — the  King's  avarice,  139 his  Queen 

executed,  148. — Cranmer  had  all  along 
married  the  Iving,  but  to  Gardmer,  who 
had  rejoiced  in  aiding  the  fifth,  was  now 
assigned  the  task  of  completing  the  sixth 
and  last  marriage,  162. — Henry  assumes 

the  title  "  Kmg  of  France ! "  163-1G5 

his  injunctions  as  to  religion,  so  called, 
now  owned  by  himself  to  have  been  dis- 
regarded, or  of  no  effect,  167,  203. — his 
war  with  France,  169. — he  exhausts  Eng- 
land, 172. — lecturing  first  his  privy-coun- 
cil, then  his  parliament,  178,  179. — war 
with  France  and  Scotland,  and  the  results, 

184-189 displeased  with  members  of  his 

coimcil,  or  AVriothesly  and  Gardiner, 
Norfolk  and  Surrey,  211-213 — liis  miser- 
able death,  221. — his  court  surveyed,  223. 
— liis  contemporaiies  as  sovereigns,  225- 
— retrospect  of  his  reign,  227-232. 

Holland,  states  of,  their  former  policy  a 
waniiiir/  to  Britain,  ii.  n.  536. 

Holland,  Roger,  a  memorable  martyr,  by 
Bonner,  ii.  269. — its  powerful  effect  in  re- 
straining that  cruel  per.secutor,  271. 

Horologe  of  the  English  Bible,  as  noAv  read- 
ino-   dosii'iililo.  ii    »    (in'l 


without  note  or  comment,  in  tlie  16th  ccn- 
tur}',  first  enlightened  and  saved  Britain, 
tliough  for  years  she  resisted  the  remedy, 
vol.  i.  passiiii. — the  savie  potent  cause 
might  have  produced  the  same  effects  in 
Ireland ;  but !  see  Ireland. 

Index-List  of  Bibles  and  Testaments ;  see 
B.  No.  4,  the  date  affixed  is,  of  course,  a 
mis-print  for  1537. — T.  No.  10,  of  this  rare 
book  the  author  has  since  seen  a  second, 
similar  to  Lord  Pembroke's,  in  the  library 
of  AVm.  F.  How  of  Aspley,  Beds.— T.  No. 
32,  of  tliis  exceedingly  rare  volume,  he 
has  examuied  one  copy  in  Trinity  College 
Library,  Dublin. — Of  the  present  version 
in  1611,  he  still  cannot  assent  to  there 
having  been  positively  more  than  one 
edition  ;  yet,  it  is  very  singular,  that  a 
distinct  text  of  the  same  size  type  exists, 
with  the  date  of  1 61 1  on  the  Neic  Testament 
title,  and  without  the  line,  "  Appointed  to 
be  read  in  Chm-ches  ; "  but  out  of  ten  such 
coi^ies,  one  of  which  the  writer  has  parti- 
cularly examined,  not  one  has  a  printed 
title  of  the  Old  Testament  dated  1611. 
The  copperplate  title  carries  no  proof; 
but  of  these  ten,  six  have  no  title,  and 
four  have  printed  titles,  dated  1613.  All 
this  only  confirms  the  correctness  of  the 
history  already  given,  that  the  English 
Bible  of  1611  was  a  book  in  the  hands  of 
the  patentee. 

Intermeddlmg  with  the  luiropeau  Continent, 
an  old,  expensive,  and  fruitless  policy  of 
England,  ii.  664-666. 

Ireland,  her  tvr«act(?((/- tongue,  barbarously 
proscribed  by  Henry  YIII.  in  the  vei-y 
same  year  ui  which  he  was  so  signally 
overruled  to  receive  and  sanction  the 
Bible  in  the  vernacular  tongue  of  Eng- 
land, ii.  n.  606 the  difference  between 

the  two  coimtries,  as  to  the  present  prices 
of  the  English  and  Irish  Bible  and  New 
Testament,  is  but  one  melancholy  result, 
n.  669. — yet  the  work  kowi  proceeding 
through  the  Irish  tongue  is  an  exact  paral- 
lel to  that  by  wliich  England  and  Scotland 
were /rs<  enlightened,  so  that  thi-ee  cen- 
tin-ies  have  been  lost! !  irf.  The  Irish  Scriji- 
tures  are  lately  rather  lower  in  price. 

James,  his  accession  to  the  throne  of  Eliza- 
beth, ii.  365. — his  expenditure,  366,  367. 

f-nrifi>rf>npf>  witli  liim  nf  I/ninntnn  (^nurt. 


HISTORICAL  INDEX. 


the  BibU-  iliil  nut  (irljimite  with  him,  372. 
— tlie  bishops  rcMjucsted  by  him  to  leml 
pccuniiirji'  aid  for  its  execution,  373-o70. — 
but  none  ever  came  from  any  one,  379. — 
nor  from  the  King  himself,  379-382,  384 — 
tlie  revisers  of  the  Bible,  374-377 — the 
expenses   of  the   revisers,    properly    so 
called,  were  defrayed   by   the   patentee, 
384. — whose  patent  had  been  purchased 
from  the  King,  385. — the  entire  procedure 
being  shn]>ly  a  business  transaction,  as  far 
as  the  Crown  Avas  concerned,  38G,  387. — 
there  was  no  proclamation,  no  royal  orders, 
388. — and  the  version,  though  finished  at 
press  in  1611,   did  not  come  into  general 
acceptance  and  usage  tln-oughout  Britain 
till  nhout  fort  1/  years  after,  389-394 — the 
very  singular  period  when  it  did  so,  by 
no  human  authority  whatever,  394,  547. 
Jews  emjiloyed  as  agents  in  forwawliug  the 
first  En<iHsh  New   Testaments  into  Eng- 
land and  Scotland,  203-205 ;  ii.  425. 
Joye,  George,  358. — some  account  of  him, 
393 his  imgracious  and  ignorant  inter- 
ference with  Tyndale's  version,  394-399. 
— Ills    attestation   to  Tyndale's  learning 
in  Hebrew,  Greek,  and  Latin,  397. 
Judges  of  England,  their  repeated  and  sin- 
gular Judgments,  with  regard  to  the  Eng- 
lish version  of  the  Bible,  founded  on  mis- 
take, ii.  71.  38(5,  387. 
"  King's  own  Book  " — a  phrase  wliich  has 
been   strangely   applied   to   the  English 
Bible  fiom  sheer  ignorance,  and  even  in 
coui-ts  of  law,  though  in  no  sense  correct 
or  true,  from  Henry  VIII.  down  to  King 
James,  inclusive,  ii.  126,  142,   143,  386, 
n.  38G,  387. 
Kingdom   of   Christ,  Tyndale's  sentiments 

in  regard  to  the,  316-319. 
Knox,  John,  the  mistake,  that  he  had  any 
concern  in  the  Genevan  version  of  the  Eng- 
lish Bible,  corrected,  ii.  n.  320. — when  he 

first  began  to  study  Hebrew,  n.  320 

he  bears  witness  to  the  importation  of  the 
English  Scriptures  into  Scotland  long  be- 
fore his  own  day,  526,  527 having  been 

read  for  an  entire  generation,  or  above 
thirty  years  before  he  settled  in  liis  na- 
tive land,  n.  527. — the  English  Scriptures 
in  use  during  all  the  lifetime  of  Knox, 
were  imported,  532. — the  first  Bible  print- 


I  Lanilnrt,  a  convert  of  Bilney's,  hisshamefid 
jK-rsecution,  mock  trial  before  Henry,  and 
martyrdom,  ii.  l!t-22. 
La.scaris,  Janus,  agent  of  Cosmo  de  .Medici, 
Introd.  n.  liii.  N.B. — His  Greek  grammar, 
i\\Q  first  book  printed  in  that  tongue,  and 
to  him  the  introduction  of  Greek  Capitals 
is  ascribed. 
Lasco,  John  a-,  the  uncle  of  the  King  of 
Poland,  a  minister  in  London,  liis  escape 
and  subsecjuent  troubles,  ii.  n.  260.  See 
under  Julirard  YI. 
Latimer,  Hugh,  called  before  Wolsey,  120. — 
licensed  by  him  to  preach,  121 — preach- 
ing before  Henry,  259. — fiilsely  spoken  of 
by  Henry  Wharton,  w.  259. — his  bold  and 
faithful  letter  to  the  King,  200 pleads  in- 
trepidly for  Scripture  in  Eixjltsh,  and  al- 
ludes to  Tyndale's  New  Testament  and  Pen- 
tateuch, 261 summoned  before  Stokesly, 

334. — he  faulters,  335. — preaching  again 
before  the  King,  441. — favoured  by  Queen 
Anne  Boleyn,  486 made  bishop  of  Wor- 
cester, 487 — liis  ever-memorable  sermon 

before  the  bishops  in  St.  Paul's,  490-493 

he  lays  aside  his  i-obes  as  a  bishop,  and 

among  all  his  fellows  stands  alone,  ii.  68 

imprisoned  and  most  shamefully  treated 
by  Henry,  68. — under  examination  again, 
200. — but  no  recantingnow,  201 . — released 
by  King  Edward,  202. — under  Mary  he 
died  in  triumph  at  the  stake,  297. 

Le  Fevre,  the  venerable  French  translator 
of  Scriptui'e,  his  great  age  and  atlecting 
death,  3,  n.  154. 

Literature,  Early  English,  23-26 — eariy 
Scotish,  ii.  395-402,  n.  541,  n.  542. 

London — great  alarm  there  on  first  receiving 
the  English  New  Testament,  in  print, 
from  abroad,  90-92 the  first  New  Testa- 
ment in  English  pruited  there,  after  full 
ten  years  of  bitter  and  burning  opposi- 
tion, 549-551 and  after  another  year  the 

English  Bible  received  there,  575-586. — 
state  of  London  at  the  moment  of  its  re- 
ception, 570-575. 

Longland,  Bishop,  his  notable  letter  as  to 
AVolsey's  insidious  designs,  41-43. 

Luther — Tyndale  did  nvt  repair  to  Mm  on 
leaving  England,  45,  46. — nor  went  to 
Wittenberg,  «.  Ill,  ii.  210.— but  he  entered 
Worms  four  years  after  Luther,  and  there 


HISTORICAL  INDEX. 


to  Tleniy  VIIT.,  111. — never  sent,  bj'  him 
to  the  King,  112. — and  not  replied  to  by 

Henry  for  some  time  aftei",  n.  113 the 

copy  caught  hold  of  by  Sir  T.  More,  was 

tlie  fir.st  that  met  the  King's  eye,  n.  113 

the  trials  of  Luther  in  comparison  with 
those  of  Tyndale,  3;  ii.  634. 

Magnitude  of  the  cause  involved  in  this 
history,  ii.  630. 

Marler,  Anthony,  the  ever-to-be-remcmbered 
citizen  and  haberdasher  of  London,  pre- 
sents Henry  ATII.  with  the  English  Bible, 

printed   on   rcUum,  ii.  131 a  generous,  \ 

though  unnoticedcharacterin  history,  131. 
— because  hitherto  overshadowed  by  the 

King  and  Cranmer,  142 yet  he  it  was 

who  bore  the  expense  of  these  large  folio 
Bibles,  in  six  distinct  editions  !  neither 
the  King,  Cranmer,  nor  Crumwell  being 
proprietors,  or  even  contributors,  142-145, 
1.52. 

Marshman,  Joshua,  visited  the  spot  where 
Tyndale  was  martyred,  526 reflex  in- 
fluence of  Marshman's  life  and  labours 
abroad,  ii.  594-603. 

Mary  Queen  of  England — bloodshed  pre- 
vented for  a  year  and  a  half,  ii.  254 thus 

there  was  time  for  escape,  257. — exiles 
to  the  Continent,  258-261.  —martyrs,  262- 
268 but  the  Scriptiu-es  wonderfully  pre- 
served, 254-269,  303-305. — and  never,  even 
under  this  reign,  denoiuiced  by  name,  as 
tliey  had  been  imder  Henry,   her  father, 

269,  300-303 martyrs  again,  269-271 

the  retribution  following,  274-279 — mar- 
tyrdom of  R(j<jcrs,  and  the  singular  escape 

of  Corerdale,    explained,    281-294 the 

martyrdoms  of  Latimer,  Ridley,  and  Cran- 
mer, 297,  298 hut  the  New  Testament 

had  been  again  revising  and  printing 
abroad,  306. — nay,  already  it  was  coming 

into    England,    under   Mary,    307 the 

revision  was  by  Whittingham,  then  in 
exile,  at  Geneva,  308-312. — a  triumph 
analogous  to  that  of  Tyndale,  over  Henry, 
306. 

Matthew's  Bible  is  not  a  new  translation, 
but  made  of  Tyndale's,  with  part  of  the 
Old  Testament  of  Covcrdale,  though 
with  various  amendments  of  the  latter,  by 
John  Rogers,  the  reviser  and  superin- 
tendent of  the   whole,   569,   570.     [See 


and  iho  first  in  which  we  have  any  certain 
accoimt  of  Grafton  being  engaged.  See 
Herbert's  Ames,  pp.  511,  539.] 
Maxwell,  Lord,  who  moved  in  the  Scotish 
parliament  that  the  Scriptures  in  English 
should  be  open  to  all,  ii.  520. 
Milton,  Ids  estimate  of  the  Fathers,  the  value 
of  their  authority,  and  that  of  the  writers 

of  tracts,  in  his  day,  ii.  643 he  recalls 

the  nation  to   the  tuition   of  Holy  Writ 
alone,  ident. 
Mistake,  a  gross  historical,  as  to  the  Eng- 
glish  Bible,  ii.  126,  142,  143,  386,  n.  386, 
387. 
Monks  or  Fi-iars,  that  Tyndale  ever  was  a 
member   of  such   a  fraternity,   a  gross 
modern   mistake,    n.  137,  n.  '^  263.— his 
writings  repeatedly  showing  how  much 
he  had  held  Monkery  in  abhorrence,  Ap- 
pendix, i. 
Monopoly,  to  make  one  of  a  universal  grant 
from  heaven,  the  extreme  of  presumption 
and  impiety,  ii.  341. 
More,  Sir  Thomas,  at  Cambridge,  23 cu- 
rious licence  granted  to  him,  183 cross- 
examining  Scriptm-e  readers,  187. —  sent 
to  France,  213. — appointed  Lord  Chan- 
cellor, 223, 226. — produces  articles  against 

AVolsey,  229 he  advises  persecution,  230, 

233-230. — he  has  been  ovei--eulogised,  245. 
— he  denounces  the  writings  of  Tj'udale, 

257 Tyndale    answers   his    calimmies, 

279-285 — More  writing  again,  336. — re- 
signs the  great  seal,  but  remains  Chan- 
cellor for  some  time,  360 he  is  assailed 

by  Saintgerman,  383-385 liis  prodigious 

efforts  in  writing  against  Tyndale,  387 — 
he  is  finally  overcome  in  argument,  and 

not  read,  389,  390 constructive  treason, 

not  heresy,  being  now  the  reputed  crime 
of  the  day,  he  falls  before  the  sui)remacy 
question,  405. — and  is  cruelly  beheaded, 
437-439. 
Napoleon,  the  Emperor,  and  his  prisoner, 
the  pontiff,  Pius  \\l.,  visiting  the  roj'al 
printing  office  at  Paris,  ii.  n.  130 — but 
see  the  latter,  once  at  large,  or  only  two 
years  after,  take  the  lead  in  denouncing 
the  Sacred  Volume  in  every  living  tongue, 
648. 
Navarre,  Margaret  of  Valois,  Queen  of, 
sister  of  Francis  I.,  n.  485. 

Mnnfiillr     rinVo  f\f    ovwe^Wv  iiqpq  Onof^n     Anno 


\ 


HISTORICAL  INDEX. 


to  deceive  Crumwell,  ii.  49,  503 his  party 

dominnnt,    135 — his   family   iinplicuted, 

139 he  and  his  son  tho  Karl  of  Surrey 

arrnigiifd,  213. — the  interior  of  his  family, 
Avhilc  the  leader  of  '  the  (Jld  Learning' 

party,   214-lil8 narrowly   escaped   the 

block  by  tlie  King's  deatii,  221. 

Norwicii,  bisiiop  of,  cheerfully  contributes  to 
buying  up  the  New  Testament  for  destruc- 
tion, 158. — he  thinks  the  English  Scrip- 
tures will  ruin  the  hicrarcliy  I  256,  257. 

Obligation  of  British  Christians,  now  to 
convey  Di\'ine  Revelation  to  other  nations, 
at  once  primary  and  momentous,  ii.  C62- 

6G8 has  their  zeal  declined?  070.  071 

a  new  mode  of  action,  i-eady  at  their  liand, 
075-077. 

Ockham,  William  of,  liis  noted  tract  re- 
printed, w.  271. 

Operations  of  British  Christians,  in  foreign 
parts,  their  powerful  reflex  moral  influ- 
ence, in  promoting  zeal  at  home,  exem- 
plified, ii.  592-004. 

Oxford,  the  great  alarm  there,  on  first  re- 
ceiving the  English  New  Testament,  in 

print,  from  abroad,  93-97 the  printing 

press  there  of  the  present  day,  a  lesson  to 
be  drawn  from  it,  not  of  encouragement 
only,  but  of  warning,  ii.  045-051.  Sec 
Tracts. 

Paris  and  London,  at  one  era,  in  contrast, 

ii.  23 the  second  English  Bible,  pruiting 

in  the  former,  and  finished  in  the  latter, 
25-32. 

Parker,  Archbishop,  his  version  of  the  Bible, 
ii.  332-335 ho<  luidei-takeu  by  royal  com- 
mand, nor  ever  peculiarly  sanctioned  by 
Elizabeth,  so  that  "  Queen  Elizabeth's 
translators,"  a  phrase  used  by  Horsley 
and  others,  is  incorrect,  333,  334,  338. — 
Parker's  editions  of  the  Bible  compared 
with  those  of  the  Genevan  Version,  335- 
339. 

Patents  or  Monopolies,  for  printing  the  Bible, 
peculiar  to  this  countrj',  their  origin  and 
history,  ii.  340-351 the  "Patent  of  pri- 
vilege,'" seems  to  vitiate  all  that  have  fol- 
lowed it,  343,  344,  n.  ^  350. 

Paul  and  James,  the  Apostles,  hanno- 
nized  by  Tyndale,  282,  283. 

Paul  II.,  or  Peter  Barbo,  the  Venetian,  and 
reigning  pontiff",  blindly  amusing  liimself, 


I  quence.sof  thoart, /h<<W.  Iviii,  lix.  Eleven 
pontiff"s  succeeded,  and  a  century  elapsed, 
before  the  first  "  Index  Expurgatorius" 
under  Paul  IV.     See  liouie. 

Paul  III.  Farnese,  made  Fislier  a  Cardinal, 

430 but  soon  professed  to  regi-et  thi.s, 

481. — liis  noted  bull  against  Henry  VIII., 
440. — his  servile  sycophancy,  and  anxiety 
to  conciliate  the  King,  after  this,  480, 481. 
— his  curious  and  unprhicipled  position, 
ii.  101,  529.— his  death,  225. 

Philips,  Henry,  tlie  hired  betrayer  of  Tjm- 
dule,  at  /Antwerp,  and  his  more  guilty 
associate  Gabriel  Donne,  418-428. — he  re- 
mains at  Brussels,  to  persecute  him,  ami 
raging  also  against  Ids  King,  was  evi- 
dently an  agent  of  "  the  Old  Learning" 

party,  511,  512 his  future  history  and 

death,  527-533.     See  Bonne. 

Pole,  Cardinal,  cousin  of  Henry  VIII.,  and 

educated  by  him,  ii.  421 his  famous  book 

against  the  King,  and  when  presented, 
477 — Henry  indignant,  takes  vengeance 

on  his  mother  and  brothers,  ii.  15,  10 

the   cruelty   of  Pole  in  England  under 

Mary,  n.  274 died  next  day  after  that 

Queen,  277,  278. 

Pontiff's  during  the  ^i-eatschhrn,  ii.  390,  397. 

Poyntz,  Thomas,  the  noble  and  disinterested 

friend  of  Tyndale  unto  death,  418-421 

his  earnest  letter  in  his  favour,  420-428. 
— his  personal  exertions  to  rescue  him, 
429. — obliged  to  escape  for  his  own  life, 
432,  511. — hLs  futui-e  history,  his  family, 
and  his  tomb  in  North  Okendon  Church 

in  Essex,  522-525 why  not  now  another 

memorial"?  525. 

Poyntz,  genealogy  of  the  family  of,  n.  525. 

Previous  question  of  our  day.  See  War  of 
Opinion. 

Printing,  invention  of,  Introd.  liii. — Bible, 
the  first  book  printed,  liv,  Iv no  one  ad- 
verted to  the  ultimate  results  of  the  art, 

Ivii not  even  the  pontiff"  or  cardinals, 

Iviii,  lix. — nay,  one  cardinal,  and  the 
Librarian   of    the   Vatican,  particularly 

zealous,  Ivii,  Iviii near  a  thousand  works 

printed  at  Rome,  including  Lyra's  Com- 
mentary on  the  Bible,  but  all  in  learned 
languages,  befoi-e  anno  1500,  lix,  (see 
Paul  II.  Rome.) — the  restrictions  of  the 
press  un<ler  Queen  EUzabeth,  ii.  325,  n. 


HISTORICAL  INDEX. 


by  Wolsey  through  Ilackett,  the  English 
envoy  at  Antwerp  and  others,  194-197, 

204-208 then  by  the  King  and  Crum well, 

through  Vaughan.  a  second  ambassador, 

2G8,  271-279 alludes  to  some  other  out 

in  pursuit,  270,  271. — tinally  by  a  third, 
if  not  fourth,  or  Sir  T.  Elyot,  and  by  the 
King's  order, 322-327. — all  these  attempts 
having  failed,  our  Translator  of  the  Bible 
is  at  last  ensnared,  and  basely  betrayed, 
through  two  agents  of  the  Bishops  in  Eng- 
land, 410-418.     See  Tyndah: 

iuentel,  Peter,  of  Cologne,  the  first  man 
emijloyed  by  Tyndale  to  print  the  New 
Testament,  55-63. 

ilamolds,  John,  who  first  siiggested  onr 
present  version  of  the  English  Bible,  to 
wliich  King  James,  at  Hampton  Court, 
agreed,  ii.  369,  370,  375 liis  noted  con- 
ference with  John  Ilart,  n.  643. 

headers  of  Scripture,  the  earliest,  176-177. 
— cross-examined  and  persecuted,  178- 
192. — the  English  Bible  now  reading, 
without  intermission,  night  and  day, 
throughout  the  woi'ld,  preface  xi ;  ii.  658, 
659 these  readers  addressed,  656-662. 

Elevolution,  the  French,  and  its  results,  ii. 
577-584. 

Ridley,  Robert,  the  imcle  of  Nicholas,  who 
educated  hun,  but  not  to  be  confounded 
with  his  nepliew,  h.  152.— his  violent  letter, 
the  first  mentioning  Tyndale  by  name  : 
he  is  very  hostile  to  the  English  New 
Testament,  and  urges  most  determined 
opposition,  152-156. 

Rincke,  Herman,  of  Cologne,  the  coadjutor 
of  Cochlteus  against  Tj^ndale,  56, 60 — em- 
ployed by  Wolsey  to  apprehend  Tyndale, 
Roye,Coustantj-ne,  &c.,  201. — he  is  search- 
ing for  them  at  Frankfort,  in  vain,  202. — 
buys  up  Roye's  Satire  from  Scott  of 
Strasburg  the  printer,  but  can  find  neither 
Tyndale  nor  Roye,  202-205. 

Roger?,  John,  the  convert,  the  disciple  and 

friend  of  Tyndale,  519 the  reviser  and 

superintendent  of  his  Bible,  568-570 — ap- 
prehended under  Queen  Jlarj'  and  cruelly 

treated,  ii.  258 his  wife  and  ten  children, 

282,  284-286 liis  memorable  examina- 
tion, when  Stei)hen  Gardiner  was  so  com- 
pletely foiled,  283,289-293.— the  martyr- 
dom of  Rogers,  286. — his  son,  n.  287. 


in  all  vernacular  tongues  prohibited  by 
her,  as  early  as  an7w  1229,  Introd.  xxxvi. 
— especially  from  the  first  list  issued  by 
PaulIV.  in  1559,enumerating 48  editions; 
but  still  more  pointedly  in  our  own  day, 
and  for  the  last  thirty  years,  by  four  pon- 
tifl's,  including  the  present  Pius  IX.,  ii. 
645, 648, 649. — while  tlie  unblushing  pro- 
fanity expressed  by  these  four  men,  has 
been  finding  its  sad,  if  not  loudest,  echo, 
even  in  this  land  of  the  Bible,  at  Oxford, 
645-647. 

Rough,  J.,  a  native  of  Scotland,  the  man 
who  called  Knox  to  the  ministry,  a  me- 
morable martyr  in  London,  and  shock- 
ingly treated  by  Bonner,  ii.  266,  267. 

Royal  injunctions  as  to  the  Scriptures,  their 
impotence  is  at  last  frankly  confessed  by 
Henry  YIH.  himself,  ii.  167,  203. 

Roye,  AVilliam,  the  amanuensis  of  Tyndale, 

49 dismissed  by  liim,  137. — Wolsey  bent 

on   seizing  Roye,  194 for  his  stinging 

Satire,  136,  204. — the  printer  of  it  not 
before  known,  n.  205 Roye  wrote  some- 
thing else,  n.  136. — and  revisited  England 
even  in  Wolsey's  lifetime,  but  escaped 
and  died  abroad,  207,  n.  136,  137. 

Rudelius,  John,  professor  at  ftLarburg  in 
Hesse,  author  of  the  first  edition  of  the 
Vulgate  corrected  by  the  Hebrew  and 
Greek,  and  published  at  Cologne,  early 
in  1527  before  Paynimis,  n.  167.  Rude- 
lius, who  died  at  Lubeck  in  1534,  dedi- 
cated his  Bible,  not  to  the  Pontifi",  as  Pag- 
niuus  did,  but  to  the  Senate  of  Frankfort. 

Sabbath  of  the  ilnglish  Bible — a  day  without 
night — by  far  the  most  auspicious  event 

or  sign   of  the  times,    ii.  657-660 the 

Sabbath  of  Britain  happily  distinguish- 
able from  that  of  the  Continent,  660,  661. 

Sacred  Scriptures,  the,  as  jjrintedin  EugUsh, 
not  the  production  of  any  Church,  as  such, 
in  Britain,  and  never  allowed  to  hinge  on 
the  authority  of  any,  either  in  England  or 
Scotland,  preface,  xviii,  vol.  i.  ^^assim — 
that  thus  printed,  and  viewed  historically, 
they  stand  conspicuously  above  the 
sphere  of  all  churches,  or  bodies  styled 
ecclesiastical,  in  Britain,  is  proved  by 
their  liistory  from  first  to  last,  preface, 
xviii,  xix;  vol.  ii.  636,  637. — in  this  histo- 
rical event,  though  never  before  explained, 
t.lipre  is  .1,  nriiicinle  involved,  which   dp- 


\ 


xxxvm 


HISTORICAL  INDEX. 


Christians,  036-039, 0  J2.— millions  having 
received  that  Sacred  Volume  without  once 
adverting  to  what,  or  how  much,  has 
been  all  along  involved  in  its  supreme 
and  exeluwive  authority,  041-044,  048, 
650. 

Sacred  Scriptures,  printed  in  EiK/lish,  the 
origin  by  Tyndalo  at  Hamburgh,  51.— 
progress  at  Cologne,  52-54 — thwarted  by 
Cochlteus,  who  alarms  the  English  Go- 
vernment, 54-02 — progress  at  Worms,  04- 

73 the  first  arrivals  in  England,  80,  90. 

—first  alarm  in  London,  92 — first  alarm 

in  Oxford,  93 first  in  Cambridge,  99 — 

first  burning  of  books,  100.— Warham  of 

Canterbury   in    fear,    109 the  King's 

wrath.  111.— Henry's  denunciation  of  Tyn- 
dale's  quarto  Testament,  112 — Tunstal's 
injunction  as  to  the  first  two  Testaments, 

lis Warham's   mandate,    119 — all  in 

vain,  the  Testaments  they  judge  must  be 

■    bought  up,  157 this  first  undertaken  by 

Warham  himself,  and  as  primate,  158 — 
still  in  vain,  as  more  copies  arrived  from 
abroad  and  in  the  most  singidar  way, 
103.— early  readers,  1 70.— cross-examined 
and  persecuted,  178-192.  —  importers 
caught  and  punished,  195-200 — Tunstal 
going  to  Antwerp,  must  now  buy  up  New 
Testaments,  213,  214 — this  only  helped 
forward  the  cause,  264,  307 — parliament 
and  the  bishops  arrayed  against  divine 
truth,  230.— the  King   cordially  imites, 

234 the  Pentateuch   by  Tyndale   now 

ready,  241 the  rage  of  the  King  and  his 

prelates,  257,  207 bishop  of  Norwich  in 

great  alarm,  250 Latimer's  bold  remon- 
strance, 200, 201 second  public  burning 

of  Scriptures,  202,  n.  203 — rich  importa- 
tion of  books,  305 — persecution  once 
more,  331-334 one  chief  importer  re- 
stored to  honour  by  Queen  Anne  Boleyn, 
409-411 her  own  English  New  Testa- 
ment, in  vellum,  unique,  413 — the  first 
New   Testament    printed     on     English 

ground,  549, 550 Coverdale's  version  of 

the  Bible,  552-500 remarkable  and  sud- 
den change  in  favour  of  Tyndale's  Bible, 

507,  568 the  state  of  England  at  the 

moment  of  its  introduction,  573-575 — its 
arrival,  570 cordially  received  by  Cran- 

mov    ■■^77        tlir.  Kino-    nnfl  liis    COUTISellors 


is  piinted  in  Paris  !  ii.  23-30 the  In.|ii 

sition  interferes,  29 but  is  foiled,  30.- 

nay,  their  interference  gi'eatly  contribul 
ed  to  the  jirinting  of  more  English  Bible 
in  London,  and  by  French  tyjies  and  ai 
tists,  31, 32. — ^joy  in  England  on  receivin 
the  Bible,  41  — retrospect  here,  42,  43.- 
particulars  as  to  various  editions,  79-89— 
but  after  the  Bible  had  been  thus  receive 
independently  of  the  bishops  as  a  bodj 
it  is  now  brought  before  the  Convocatior 
as  they  imai/ined,  to  be  discussed,  150.- 
Gardiner's  wild  and  wicked  attempt  t 

corrupt  the  version,  151 but  by  sue! 

men  it  was  not  to  be  judged,  152 th 

Convocation,  though  yet  sitting,  ver; 
signally  condemned  and  overruled  by  th 
King,  as  he  himself  had  been,  and  stil 

was,   152,    153 next   Convocation  stil 

wickedly  opposed  to  the  Scriptures,  15G 
159 — enmity  to  the  truth  once  more,  20S 
— but  in  vain,  and  Henry  at  last  con 
fesses  even  his  own  impotence  in  all  hi 
injunctions  or  denunciations,  107,  203. 
Edicard  VT.  under  his  brief  reign,  th 
numerous  editions  of  the  Sacred  Scrip 
tures,  ii.  230-243.  See  Edward. 
Mary,  Queen,  the  Scriptures  wonderfull; 

preserved,  ii.  254,  303-305 and  never 

even  under  this  reign,  denoimccd  by  name 
as  they  had  often  been  under  her  father 

269,   300-303 New   Testament  reviset 

abroad  once  more,  and  sent  into  Englant 
before  her  death,  306-312.  See  Mari/. 
Elizabeth,  very  cautious  at  first,  and  evei 
as  to  the  Scriptures  in  English,  315. — hei 
first  injmiction,  317 — yet  she  at  onc< 
sanctioned  the  Genevan  English  version 
and  by  special  patent,  321. — singular^ 

compliant  here,  326 Parker's  proposcc 

interference  with  it,  in  vain,  329 — Park 
er's  or  tlie  Bishops'  version,  was  not  or 
dcred  by  the  Queen,  333,  334 — nor  evei 
specially  noticed  by  her,  n.  338 — it  wa; 
printed  by  various  printers,  334,  335.— 
Elizabeth's  patents,  their  strange  origii 

and  hi.story,  340-351 Bibles  under  this 

reign,  especially  the  Genevan  version,  fai 
more  numerous  than   were  ever   befor< 

imagined,  352,  353,  301 rctro.spect  fron 

Henry  to  Elizabeth  inclusive,  362-364. 
James  I.  Conference   at  Hami)ton  CourJ 


HISTORICAL  INDEX. 


latos,  372 the  bishops  lent  no  pecuniary 

aid,  378,  379 nor  tlie  King  himself,  379- 

SS'2, 384 — the  revisers,  374-377 the  en- 
tire procedure  a  business  transaction,  386, 
387 no  proclamation,  no  royal  injunc- 
tions, 388 our  present  version  became 

the  general  one,  but  through  no  royal,, 
no  human  authority,  and  not  till  about 
forty  years  after  it  was  first  printed,  386- 
388,  394,  547. 

Sarrcd  Scrijttures  in  Eixj/M,  sent  from  the 
Continent  into  Scotland.  Tyndale's  New 
Testaments,  their  first  arrivals,  ii.  409- 
412 — the  authorities  in  alarm,  413. — they 
are  equally  hostile  with  those  in  Eng- 
land, 475 reading  the  Scriptures  de- 
nounced, 491 but  though  contrary  to 

theu-  law,  not  a  few  persist  in  reading 
secretly,  and  for  sixteen  years,  512, 525 — 
state  of  Eilinburgh  at  the  moment  of 
general  allowance,  518-521 — the  Scrip- 
tui-es  proclaimed  to  be  free  to  all,  a  step 
never  revoked,  at  least  as  it  was  in  Eng- 
land, 522-525 proof  of  this,  524,  527, 

compared  with  157 the  Scots,  to  their 

honour',  called  New  Testamenters,  535 

the  Bible  first  printed  in  Scotland,  536 — 
tlie  money  fui'nished  by  the  peojde  before 
the  Bibles  were  delivered,  or  even  finished 

at  press  !  537, 538 the  second  Bible,  538. 

— the  supply  fi'om  abroad  trixly  remark- 
able, 540-542 at  what  period  the  present 

version  became  universal,  394,  547. 

Satire,  the  severe  poetical,  on  Wolsey,  by 

Roye,  201, 204, 205 John  Scott  of  Stras- 

bui-g,  the  printer  of  it,  n.  205. 

Scotland,  brief  notice  of,  in  the  14th  and 
15th  centuries,  ii.  395-402 state,  imme- 
diately before  receiving  the  Scriptm-es  in 

her  own  tongue,  404-407 her  commerce 

with  Flanders  favom-able  to  their  intro- 
duction, n.  408. — the  first  arrivals,  409 

in  the  same  year  as  in  England,  410-412 

authorities   in  fear,  413 — first  martyr, 

414-420 the  consequences,  421 — Seton, 

Aless,  and  others  escape,  424,  450, 472 

other  martyrs,  469 — England  and  Scot- 
land then  equal  It/  opposed  to  the  Scrip- 
tures, 475 reading  them  in  Scotland  in 

1536   proliibited   by  open  proclamation, 

491 bitter  persecution,  497, 499, 502 

yet  the  Scriptures  had  been  read  in  se- 
cret and  for  sixteen  ycars,512, 513,  -525 — 


allowed  to  all,  518-521 the  general  pro- 
clamation, 522 — thus  Scotland,  at  the 
moment,  liad  advanced  before  England, 
524,525 — Sir  Ralph  Sadler  then  gives  the 
proof,  524 — and  in  process  of  time,  near- 
ly twenty  years  after — John  Knox  comes 

forward  with  evidence,  527 Bible  first 

pi'inted   in   Scotland,   536 the   second, 

538 — the  supply  of  Scriptures  imported 
from  time  to  time  very  memorable,  540- 

542 the  era  when  the  present  vei'sion 

came  into  general  usage,  394,  547,  548 — 
the  last  of  the  Stuarts,  552 — the  Revolu- 
tion  settlement,    553 hostility   to    the 

Scriptiu'es  by  James  II.  strikingly 
evinced  before  that  event,  554-557.  See 
Britain. 

Secret  search,  and  at  one  time,  for  booki<,  in 
London,  in  Oxford,  and  Cambridge,  43, 
89-103. 

Stokesly,  bishop  of  London,  hand  in  hand 

with  Sir-  Thomas  More,  296,  306,  331 he 

denounces  books,  305 opposed  to  Lati- 
mer, 334 — resists  Cranmer  officially,  443. 
— and  most  resolutely  as  to  the  Scriptures, 

454 in  the  Convocation  he  is  incensed 

with  Alexander  Aless,  502 though  when 

Tyndale's  Bible  arrived,  he  must  be  si- 
lent, 585 — yet  he  pei'secutes  again,  ii.  18. 
— his  death,  63. 

Style  of  Tyndale  and  that  of  Sir  T.  More 
compared,  245-248. 

"  Supplication  of  Beggars,"  89-91;  Suppli- 
cation of  the  poor  Commons  before  Henry's 
death,  u.  205-209. 

Symson,  Cuthbert,  a  memorable  martyr  in 
London,  u.  267,  268. 

Taverner,  Richard,  an  elere  of  Ci'umwell's, 
his  editions  of  tlie  English  Bible,  ii.  80- 
82. 

Testament,  the  English  New,  the  first,  53- 

65 — the  second,   66-69 the  third,  65, 

122-133 — part  of  the  first  two  bm'nt  in 
London,  106,  107 and  abroad  in  Ant- 
werp, 131 i)artly  also  bought  up,  156- 

158 the  fourth  edition,  165 the  fifth, 

240 singular  importations,  162, 163 

the  first  New  Testament  printed  on  Eng- 
lish ground,  549,  550 the  first  divided 

into  verses  was  printed  in  Geneva,  in  tlic 
reign  of  Mary,  ii.  307,  311.  Sec  the 
] ndex-List,  ptn^sim.    Scrij)tures.    Bible. 

Theobald,  the  confidential  agent  of  Cranmer 


xl 


HISTORICAL  INDKX. 


dale  being  in  prison,  422-425 but  no- 
thing was  done  by  cither  to  rescue  him, 
420,  515. — the  second  visit  of  Theobald  to 
the  Continent  after  Tyndalc's  martyrdom, 

527 he  describes  the  misery  of  Pliilips, 

one  of  the  betrayers,  530-533. 

Tracts,  by  men  deeply  conversant  in  books, 
in  the  time  of  Milton,  ii.  C43. — those  of 
our  own  day  in  striking  resemblance,  or 
nothing  new,  645-647.     See  Oxford. 

Translations  of  the  Sacred  Scriptures.  Why 
might  not  many  m  foreign  tongues  be  now 
more   economically  printed  m  England 

and  Scotland?  ii.  677 and  why  might 

not  the  expense  be  now  defrayed  directly 
by  two  or  three  individuals  resident  in 
the  principal  cities  and  sea-ports  of  Bri- 
tain ?  676 why  fall  behind  Richard  Har- 

man,  in  the  sixteenth  centui-y  ?  i.  410. 

Translators  and  Revisers — nearly  seventy 
ai'C  mentioned  in  the  preceding  pages  who 
had  less  or  more  to  do  with  our  English 
Bible ;  but  among  them  all  Tyndale  stands 
as  the  Patriarch,  the  facile  priiiceps  ;  his 
New  Testament,  in  fifteen  editions,  having 
been  in  circulation  full  ten  years,  beside 
parts  of  the  Old,  before  any  other  attempt 
appeared.  See  Index-List.  And  liis  ver- 
sion, though  so  often  branded  and  burnt, 
maintaining  an  extraordinary  ascend- 
ancy, even  after  a  five-fold  revision,  and 
terminating  in  o\ir  present  Bible,  27,285, 
397. 

Tunstal,  Cuthbert,  bishop  of  London ;  Tyn- 
dale's  significant  inter^^ew  with  him  before 

going  abroad,  38 Tunstal  was  not  in 

England  when  the  first  New  Testaments 
arrived,  87,  113 his  injunction  denoun- 
cing them,  and  calling  them  in,  as  poison, 
after  his  retiirn  from  Spain,  118. — he  en- 
tangles Bilney,  161  — cross-examining  and 
persecuting  the  readers  of  Scripture,  1 78- 
192 busy  at  Antwerp  in  buying  up  Eng- 
lish New  Testaments,  213 burning  them 

at  Paul's  Cross,  262,  263 professedly 

rejecting  the  Roman  pontiff's  supremacy, 
he  objects  to  that  of  Henry  YLII.,  294 — 
he,  Norfolk,  and  Gardiner,  tlie  leaders  of 
the  "  Old  Learning "  party,  now  meet, 
after  long  separation,  ii.  14 — Tunstal 
feignedly  sanctions  the  Bible,  133,  140, 
n.  145 this  conduct  exposed  in  print  in 


TvNDALB — Ids  proper  contemporaries,  2,  3, 
«.  28 — bom  in  Gloucestershire,  15. — his 

family  ancestors,  15-22 his  education  at 

Oxford  and  Cambridge,  20,  27 had  been 

exjjounding  Scripture  at  botli  Universities, 
26-28 — returns  to  his  nativejcounty,  29, — 

tutor  in  Little  Sod))ury  Manor,  29-31 

preachuig  there,  and  as  far  as  Bristol,  30. 
— discussions  at  the  dinner-table,  32. — 
Tyndale  now  translating  tlie  Christian  Sol- 
dier's Manual,  by  Erasmus,  but  resolves 
to  translate  the  Scriptures  into  English, 
33. — he  is  summoned  before  liis  Chancel- 
lor, 34 — his  defiance  of  the  pontifi",  and 

firm  resolve  as  to  translation,  36 leaves 

Sodbury  for  London,  37 his  abode  there 

in  Munmouth's  house,  and  after  his  signi- 
ficant interview  with  Tunstal,  the  future 

enemy,  38,  39 all  England  hostile  to  the 

fixed  design  of  Tyndale,  40-44 he  em- 
barks for  Hamburgh,  45 there,  he  is  al- 
ready at  the  press,  49-51 — proceeds  to 
Cologne,  52 — engages  Quentel  as  his 
printer,  52,  55,  56. — basely  interrupted 
by  Cochlaeus,  53-58 liis  actual  com- 
mencement at  the  press,  not  ascertained 

till  very  recently !  62,  63 proceeds  to 

Worms,  with  his  printed  sheets,  64 his 

fii-st  two  New  Testaments,  53-73 — his 
first  language  in  print  to  the  people  of  God 
in  England,  74 — the  first  ari'ivals  of  the 

New  Testament  in  England,  90-102 the 

first  in  Scotland,  ii.  409-412 Roye,  an 

amanuensis,  soon  dismissed,  i.  135 Tyn- 

dale's  "  Parable  of  the  Wicked  Mannuon," 
135-140 — his  "  Obedience  of  a  Christian 

man,"  141-143 it  is  read  in  the  King's 

palace,  219 — Tyndale  first  mentioned 
by  name  in  England  as  translator  of 
Scripture,  153 marked  out  for  per- 
secution,  195 Wolsey's    pui'suit    after 

liim,  194-197 in  vain,  208. — Cover- 
dale  sent  to  Hamburgh  to  sound  Tyn- 
dale, 238-240 their  first  and  last  in- 
terview, and  its  real  intent,  239,  240 

the   Pentateuch   by   Tyndale  published, 

241,   242 his   "Practice   of  Prelates," 

242-248 his  fine  description  of  the  rise 

of  the  Bishop  of  liome  to  the  pontificate, 
243 — his  address  and  warning  to  his  na- 
tive country,  246,  247 the   King  and 

CruiuwcU's  pursuit  after  him,  268-279 — 


OOA    OO^ 


HISTORICAL  INDEX. 


xli 


283 the  scholarship  of  Tyiulale,  27, 285, 

397 — his  adilrcss  to  Eugland  iu  the  pro- 
logue to   Jouas,   288,  289 his  brother 

John,  297 — specimen  of  Tj'udale's  Aaews 
of  the  Ivingdom  of  Chi-ist — of  Chui'ch  and 
State,  so  far  above  his  own  age,  and  even 

of  the  present,  316-319 liis  sentiments 

regarding  persecution  for  conscience,  320. 
— he  is  again  pursued,  at  the  King's  re- 
quest, by  Sir  T.  Elyot,  322-827 his  first 

letter  to  Fryth,  now  in  the  Tower  of  Lon- 
don, 847. — writing  in  his  aid,  and  against 
Su-  T.  ]\Iore,  850,  356. — the  Lord's  Supper 

as  in  Scriptui-e,  856 one  distlnguishimj 

feature  in  Tyndale's  character  and  con- 
duct, 851-353 his  second  letter  to  Fryth, 

357. — the  interference  of  George  Joye  ex- 
plained, 394-399.— corrected  edition  of  the 

New  Testament,  394 the  latest  printed 

words,  while  yet  the  translator  was  at 

liberty,  399,  400 the  apprehension   of 

Tyndale  at  last,  417 his  two  hired  be- 
trayers, 418-428,  526-538 Cranmer  and 

Crumwell  fully  apprised,  but  they  take 
not  one  step  for  his  relief,  422,  426,  515, 

516 Poyntz   is   Tyndale's  zealous   but 

solitary  friend,  426-482,  522-525 Tyn- 
dale in  prison  at  Vilvorde,  432,  433. — his 
martyi-dom  there,  519 his  New  Testa- 
ment, in  folio,  printing  in  London,  and 
by  the  Eling's  printer,  about  the  same 

moment !  549 being   the  first   printed 

upon  English  grovuid,  550 a  mystery 

which  can  be  solved  only  by  the  language 
ascribed  to  Queen Amie  Boleyn,  w."^550. — 
Tyndale's  character,  520,521. —his  reward, 

521 his  Bible  entii-e,  arrives  in  London 

next  year,  or  about  ten  mouths  after  his 

death  at  the  stake,  508-570,  576 it  is 

immediately  sanctioned,  the  King  and  his 
council  being  alike  overruled  to  accept  of 

it,  583-586 the  second  edition  printing 

in  Paris,  a  signal  second  triumph,  ii.  24-81. 
but  Ills  translation,  as  such,  again  de- 
nounced, 156, 202 though  it  was  actually 

now  in  wide  circulation,  under  the  names 
of  Matthew,  Cranmer,  Taverner,  and  even 

Tunstal,  156,1 57 of  course  this  frown  was 

all  in  vain,  as  it  ever  had  been,  208 — the 
New  Testament  of  Tyndale  then  printing 
with  the  portrait  of  Edward  W.  affixed, 

«.  240 tiibute  to  his  memory  by  an  early 

Scotish  Latin  Doet,  485,  486 — fftu-siv 


and  about  fourteen  issues  of  the  Bible 
entire.  See  the  Index-List.  Tyndale's 
trials  and  exertions  in  comparison  Avith 
the  tlien  existing  age,  633,  634. — the  Eng- 
lish Bible  is  his  Monument ;  but  should 
any  other  be  ever  erected  to  liis  memory, 
it  cannot  with  propi-iety  be  less  than  a 
national  one,  i.  519. 

Underbill,  a  gentleman-usher  of  Queen  Mary, 
who  built  up  his  books,  to  preserve  them 
till  better  days,  ii.  304. 

Unprincipled  position  of  Europe,  or  its  So- 
vereigns, at  the  moment,  in  their  true 
colours,  ii.  161,  529. 

Vaughan,  Stephen,  the  English  ambassador 

to  Brabant,  269 searching  for  Tyndale, 

270 — eager  at  the  first  to  please  his  royal 

master,  Henry  VIII.,  270 alludes  to  some 

other  person  out  in  pursuit,  270,  271. — 
singular  interview  between  Tyndale  and 
Vaughan,  but  not  until  it  was  offered 

by  the  former,  271 Crumwell  incensed, 

and  rates  the  ambassador  for  being  too 

favom-able  to   the  translator,  275 the 

second  interview  with  Tyndale,  278. — 
Vaughan's  bold  remonstrance,  as  to  the 
procedui-e  of  Crumwell,  the  King,  and 
Sir  Thomas  More,  or  the  extreme  folly  of 
persecution,  and  of  Tyndale  in  particular, 
309-314 — yet  on  his  recall  in  1586,  per- 
haps afi-aid  to  speak  out  once  more,  he 

leaves  our  Translator  in  prison,  515 

final  notice  of  Vaughan,  as  survivmg  till 
1550,  ».515. 

Venetian  ambassador  in  Mary's  reign,  his 
opinions  as  to  the  state  of  England  and 
the  English  people,  ii.  272,  273. 

Venice — distinguished  for  early  and  beauti- 
ful printing:  before  the  year  1480,  that 
city  contained  above  sixty  printers,  and 
before  the  year  1500,  they  had  increased 
to  198,  having  produced  nearly  three 
thousand  distinct  publications !  at  the 
head  of  his  profession  stood  Aldus,  who 
first  used  italic  types,  Introd.  be,  n.  25. 

Vicars-General  in  England — the  only  two, 
in  conjunction  with  Henry  VUI.,  form  a 
very  notable  point  in  English  history,  as 
some  of  the  effects  remain  to  this  houi', 
ii.  119-122. 

Vulgate  or  Latin  Bible,  translated  into  Eng- 
lish by  Wickliffe,  Introd.  xxxvi. — why  it 
had  the  precedence  of  the  original  Hebrew 


HISTOKICAL    INDKX 


the  Vulgato,  corrected  by  the  Hebrew  and 
Greek,  \>y  Ruihlius,  ii.  107. 

WiildfiLses,  their  s|)irited  exertions  were  the 
special  occasion  of  the  earliest  interdic- 
tion of  the  reading  of  Scriptm-e,  Introd. 
XXV,  xxxvii. 

Walsh,  Sir  Jolni ;  Tyndale  tutor  to  his  chil- 
dren, 29 under  his  roof  he  first  resolved 

to  translate  the  Scrijjturcs  into  English, 

29,  30 tlie  manor-house  and  family,  n. 

37 — Sir  John  sui'viving  to  seethe  tutor's 
translation  triumphant  and  in  use  long 
before  liis  own  death  in  1540,  idem — the 
manor-house  still  standing,  29,  31,  35. 

War  of  Opinion ;  the  firft  great  conflict  in 
England  and  Scotland  was  simply  for  tlio 
possession  and  perusal  of  the  vernacular 
English  Bible — see  vol.  i.  throughout ;  the 
lust,  and  far  more  important  contest,  for 
the  suj)reme  and  exclusive  authority  of 
Sacred  Writ,  has  yet  to  be  fought  and 

won,  ii.  G48 this  impregnable  gromid 

having  never  yet  been  clearly  understood, 
041. — though  all  other  pomts  have  been 
but  local  and  subordinate,  and  visibly 
now  wait  for  the  decision  of  tliis  one  prin- 
ciple, 030, 041, 042.— thus,  the  actual /^re- 
Tioits  question  of  our  day  must,  sooner  or 
later,  have  its  due  precedence,  before  con- 
fiiision  or  disunion  can  cease,  044. — mean- 
while Biitain,  by  multiplying  and  dis- 
per.sing  the  Sacred  Volume  to  such  extent, 
has  drawn  the  eyes  of  the  world,  and  the 
common  enemy,  upon  her,  055. — time,  the 
Oxford  BibU-  press  plies  incessantly,  Ool. 
— but  in  its  vicinity,  the  multiform  "  Ox- 
ford movement,"  so  called,  scatters  tlie 
tokens  of  inevitable  conflict,  645-049,  051. 
—  the  old  and  inveterate,  or  invariable, 
enemy  at  Rome,  still  impiously  frownmg 
on  the  Sacred  Volume  in  the  dialect  of 
Kiiy  nation,  n.  045,  048,  049,  055,  050. — 
has  given  repeated  challenge  to  the  com- 
bat, and  has  already  met  with  an  echo  of 
upi>robation  or  encoui-agement  even  from 
England,  640-649,  055.— though  there  be 
one  standing,  practical  rejoinder  from  the 
same  spot,  050, 651 . — during  the  last  forty 
years,  the  over-anxious  eye,  which,  for  the 
first  ten  years,  turned  to  France,  has,  for 
the  last  ten,  been  turned  to  Italy,  053. — 
but  after  such  singular  providential  su- 


specially  on  British  Cliri.stian.s,  not  only 
to  vinilicate  iXKpuifsenMoii,  and  assert  the 
mjjremari/,  of  tlie  Sacred  Volume  against 
all  antiquity,  but  if  possible  to  convey  it 
to  the  world  at  large,  or  in  every  tongue, 
witlumt  note  or  comment,  000-008. — if  all 
party  considerations  be  laid  aside,  they 
may,  a.s  in  duty  )>ound,  tike  the  lead, 
072. — this,  the  solitary  path,  left  open  to 
British  Christians,  on  the  jjursuit  of  which 
hangs,  at  once,  the  secret  of  their  union, 
and  their  surest  prugperUy,  008,  078. 

Warham  of  Canterbury,  Lord  Cliancellor  be- 
fore Wolsey,  7. — liis  anxious  letter  about 
Oxford  to  the  Cardinal,  109. — his  mandate 
to  deliver  up  the  New  Testament,  119. — 
ilrn  first  man  who  was  busily  engaged  in 
buying  up  TjTidale's  New  Testament  for 
destiniction,  158. — at  a  cost  of  nearly  a 
thoasand  pounds  of  our  present  money, 
n.  158. — but  the  other  bishops  aided 
him,  158,  159. — his  curious  protest  and 
death,  329. 

Wliitcliurch,  Edward,  the  piinter,  see  liis 
partner  Graftvn,  508;  ii.  130. — said  to 
have  married  Cranmer's  widow,  n.  331 . 

Whittingham,  William,  his  family,  ii.  308.— 
leaves  England,  309.— at  Frankfort,  310. 
— retired  to  Geneva,  and  the  hapj)y  conse- 
quences, 310 — he  there  revises  the  Eng- 
lish New  Testament,  and  publishes  it, 
with  a  preface  by  his  brother-in-law,  John 
Calvin,  311. — he,  withCilby  and  Sampson, 
revise  and  edit  the  English  Bible  entire, 
the  Esile  English  Churcli  at  Geneva  bear- 
ing the  whole  cost,  320. — his  future  life 
and  death,  n.  322. 

Wilson,  Lea,  Esq.  In  consequence  of  the 
lamented  death  of  this  indefatigable  col- 
lector, it  is  to  be  hoped  that  his  most  ex- 
traordinai-y  liln-ary  of  Bibles  and  Testa- 
ments will  be  foimd  at  last  in  its  appro- 
priate resting-place — the  British  Museum. 

Wolsey,  Thomas,  the  Cardinal,  Lord  Chan- 
cellor, &c.,  liis  elevation  and  first  risit  to 
France,  6,  7. — liis  artful  project  to  exclude 
the  knowledge  of  Divine  truth.  41-43. — he 
is  greatly  alarmed,  91. — liis  secret  seareh 
for  books,  and  at  one  time,  in  London, 

Oxford,  and  Cambridge,  92-1 03 in  gi-cat 

pomp  burning  them  at  St.  Paul's,  and 
Fisher  preaching,    100,    107. — Wolsey's 


HISTOltlCAL  INDEX. 


xlii 


—  at  the  height  of  his  glory,  150 first 

token  of  lus  decline,  151. — his  presumption 
ill  dcfymg  the  Emperor  sealed  liis  fnte,  1 70- 
17i  (see  Charlis  V.)— he  is  eager  to  seize 
Tyndale,  l'J4-204 — but  m  vain,  208.— the 
Cardinal's  career,  21 8-220._liis  fall,  222, 
229. — his  crooked  policy  exposed  by  Tyn- 
dale,  246. — descending  into  ruin,  251, 
252. — his  faiUng  health,  and  melancholy 
fiial  message  to  the  King,  253. — his  death, 
254. — his  gi-ave  unknown  !  in  the  ruins  of 
Leicester  Abbey,  255. 

Word  of  God  only,  or  exclusive  supremacy 
of  the  Sacred  text,  the  watchword  of  oiu' 
greatest  impending  contest.     See  Bible. 

Works  of  Tyndale  ;  his  New  Testament,  53- 
74,394.— Pentateuch,241,242.— exposition 
of  1  John,  285-287. — Jonah,  with  a  pro- 
logue, 288,  289.- — oui-  Lord's  sermon  on 
the  mount,  315-320. — liis  Bible  by  Eogers, 
\mder  the  name  of  Matthew,  568-570. — 
"  Parable  of  the  Wicked  INIammon,"  135- 
140. — "  Obedience  of  a  Chi'istian  Man," 


141-143,  (for  a  translation  of  this,  in  MS., 
even  into 7 ?« /jaw, by  S.  Roccatagliata, '^<?(ho 
1550,  see  Casley's  Cat.  14.  A.  vi.,  British 
Museum.)  — "  Practice  of  Prelates,"  242- 
248.— answcrtoSirThomasMorc,280-284. 

^Vornls,  where  Luther  appeared  before  the 
Emperor,  and  from  whence  he  retired  to 
translate  tlie  New  Testament — the  same 
place  where  Tyndale  stood — within  five 
years  after  him,  and  completed  at  press 
his  fii'st  two  editions  of  the  English  New 
Testament,  64-67,  69. 

Zeal  for  diffusing  the  Scriptm-es  in  forehjn 
tongues,  is  it  not  on  the  decline  m  Bri- 
taui  ?  ii.  671,  672. — though  her  Christians 
be  such  debtors  to  foreign  lands,  and  es- 
pecially to  those  imder  her  sway,  672, 
673. — though  their  country  has  been  rated 
as  "  the  Capital  of  a  new  moral  World," 

663 and  though  there  be  another  and 

most  productive  mode  of  action  for  iliffus- 
ing  Divine  truth,  never  yet  employed,  now 
i-eady  and  at  hand,  675,  677. 


Friends  of  "  the  Neic  Learning"  was  the  phrase  at  first  frequently  employed  to  describe 
the  ardent  readers,  or  even  possessors,  of  the  Scriptures  in  om*  Native  tongue.  Friends 
of  •'  the  Old  Learning"  were  theh'  determined  oj^ponents  ;  and  though  theii-  tactics  have 
been  changed  long  since,  the  enmity  seems  to  be  hereditary.  Throughout  this  History, 
therefore,  these  terms  have  been  preferred,  to  denote  the  Friends  or  the  Enemies  of  the 
English  Bible,  down  to  our  own  day.     See  vol.  ii.  640,  641. 

•■  Hah  !  'twas  a  priestly  fallacy,  to  think 
That  burning  flesh  could  bum  out  heresy, 
Whereas  in  truth  they  only  burnt  it  in  : 
And  like  esperienc'd  enatnellers, 
By  this  encaustic  process  so  contriv'd 
To  Tivify  the  colours  of  their  deeds 
As  to  perpetuate  their  own  disgrace." — Anon. 

The  FIRST  great  conflict  in  England  and  Scotland,  was  simply  for  the  possessiun  and 
perusal  of  the  Scriptui'es  in  our  Native  tongue,  see  vol.  i.  passim.  The  l.\st  and  fur  more 
important  contest  for  the  all-sufficieiicy  and  ixclusire  Supremacy  of  Sacred  Writ  has  yet  to 
be  fought  and  won.  Demanding  even  greater  mental  energy,  it  hastens  on  apace.  See 
before,  under  "  War  of  Oijinion." 


The  biographical,  historical,  and  bibliographical  memoranda,  amounting  to  more  than  1300  Notes,  at  tlio 
foot  of  the  pages  throughout  this  work,  contain  many  incidents  of  curious  additional  interest.  "  To  extract 
and  group  these,"  one  Reriewer,  at  the  distance  of  half  the  globe,  has  been  pleased  to  say,  "  would  be  as 
gratifying  as  instructive,  but  our  limits  will  not  admit  of  this  ;  while  so  minute  and  unbroken,  though  ap- 
parently fragmentary,  go  isolated  and  yet  dependent  are  the  features  of  this  singular  history,  so  striking  in 
its  details,  and  comprehensive  in  its  bearings,  that  it  is  utterly  beyond  our  reach  to  attempt  it.  ^^'e  remit 
our  readers  to  the  Work  itself." 

To  accommodate,  therefore,  an  inquisitive  Reader,  the  longest  notes  have  been  incorporated  with  tlie 
nrftrpHinc  1iii1*'t  •  nnrl  nnv  Athpr  IVicf  fir  inridpnt,    i^-nffi  nhserved    wh«r,hGr  in  the  text  or  maririn.   mav  <^fij;i)v 


gnDejc  of  principal  JEames* 


INTRODUCTION. 


Adolphus  of  Mentz,      Iv,  Ivi 

Eugenius  IV.    . 

1 

Lancaster,  D.  of,  xxxviii,  xlii 

Alfred  the  Great,      .       xxv 

Fabricius, 

xlvi 

Martin  IV.                .     xxix 

Andreas,  John,          .       Iviii 

Felix  V. 

1 

Martin  V.         .         .            1 

Ann  of  Luxembui-g,         xlii 

Fitzralph, 

xxxiv 

Mentz,              .           liv,  hn 

Arundel,  Archbp.   xliii,  xliv 

Fust,  John, 

liv,  Iv 

Nicholas  de  Cusa,    .        Ivii 

Aungervillc,      xxxiii,  xxxiv 

Gregory  XI.     . 

xxxviii 

Nicholas  dc  Lyra,     .         lix 

Barbo,  Peter,     .       Iviii,  lix 

Gregory  XII.    . 

xlix 

Nicolas  V.        .          xh-iii,  1 

BasU,     .         .         .         1,  li 

Grossteste, 

xxxiii 

Panzer,             .        .         Ix 

Benedict  Xm.         .        xlix 

Gutenberg, 

liv 

Paul  II.             .         Iviii,  lix 

Boccaccio,     xxxi,  xxxii,  xlv 

Henry  de  Knyghton, 

xli 

Petrarch,      xxxi,  xxxii,  xlv 

Bracciolini,     .         .     xxxiii 

Henry  HI. 

xxviii 

Pius  II.  Silvias,         .          li 

Bury,  Richard  de,    .     xxxiv 

Henry  VII.       . 

Ixii 

Richard  II.       .                xlii 

Caxton,  Wm.            .           Ix 

Henry  VIH.     . 

Ixii 

Richard  HI.      .         .Ixii 

Charlemagne,          .       xxv 

Honorius  IV. 

xxix 

Rivers,  Earl,    .         .          Ix 

Charles  VII.             .            li 

Humphrey  of  Glo'ster,       Ix 

Rotne,       .         .          Ivii,  lix 

Clement  VII.              xxxviii 

Huss,  John, 

1 

Schoeffer,         .        .          Iv 

Clement  VIIT.          .            1 

Jerome  of  Prague,    . 

1 

Urban  VI.        .  .        xxxviii 

Chrysoloras,             .           lii 

John  of  Gaunt,   xxxviii,  xlii 

Venice,  xxvii,  xxix,  xxxi,  Ix 

Constantinople,         .           lii 

John,  King,     . 

xx\-iii 

Waldenses,          xxv,  xxxvii 

Cossa,  Balthasar,     .       xlix 

John  XXIU.     . 

xlix 

WiCKLIFFE,          XXXvi,  xlvi,  1 

Dante,        .      xxviii,  xxxiii 

Koberger, 

Ix 

Worcester,  Earl,                Ix 

THE  ANNALS. 


Abbot,  Archbp.   ii 

338,  376 

Balkesky,           .        ii.  497 

Adrian  VI. 

8 

Barbo,  Peter,  Paul  H.  ii.  656 

Aglionby, 

ii.  376 

Barker,  Chr.   ii.    346,  350, 

Aitken,  Ro. 

ii.  572 

355,  383,  385 

Aless,  Alex.  Hist. 

Index. 

Barker,  Ro.         ii.  384,  386 

Allen,  Edm. 

ii.  n.  479 

Barklay,  Alex.    204,  n.  206 

Amos,  Joseph, 

67,68 

Barlow,  Jerome,       50,  195, 

Anderson,  Mrs. 

ii.  561 

204,  n.  205 

Andrews,  Dr.  L. 

ii.  374 

Barlow,  Bp.         ii.  370,  376 

Andrews,  Ur.  R. 

ii.  375 

Barlow,  Dr.  ii.  473,  490-493 

Angus,  Earl  of. 

ii.  413 

Barnes,  Ro.  Hist.  Index. 

Arbuthnot,  A.     . 

ii.  537 

Barton,  Eliz.             401,  402 

Arran,  Earl  of,   . 

ii.  405 

BaskerA-ille,         .         ii.  560 

Askew,  Anne,      ii 

190-199 

Bassandyne,                ii.  537 

Au.lley,    228,  3G0, 

462,  478 

Bayfield,              .      302-305 

Babington,  Gerv. 

ii.  338 

Beaton,  Archbp.          ii.  405 

Bacon,  Lord, 

ii.  315 

Beaton,  Card.  Hist.  Index. 

Tto.i;..o   r'^,,^n,i 

;;   Qi  •} 

T>„ i,„;„                ;:    ceo 

Bedwell,  Dr.  .  ii.  374 
Bellcnden,  .         ii.  505 

Benedict  XHI.  ii.  396-398 
Berthclet,  n.  550 ;  ii.  82 
Bilney,  99-101, 121, 160, 299 
Bodley,  John,  .  ii.  323 
Bodlcy,  Sir  T.  .  ii.  323 
Blayney,  Dr.  .  ii.  560 
Bois,  John,  .         ii.  380 

Boleyn,  Anne,  Hist.  Index. 
Bomberg,  .  w.  25 

Bonner,  Hist.  Index. 
Boot,  Arnold,  .  ii.  333 
Borthwick,  Sir  J.  ii.  511 
Boui-bon,  D.  of,40,77,l  43-145 
Boyle,  Hon.  R.  ii.  587,  649, 
650 

T> li- 1      T>.,1_1_1.  TIC 


INDEX  OF  NAMES. 


xlv 


Brandon,   Duke  of  Suffolk, 

462  ;  ii.  ii.  174 

Brett,  Dr.     .        .      ii.  376 

Bucer,        30-5 ;  ii.  302,  482 

Buchanan,  Geo.     ii.  «»  315, 

502,  506,  n.  542 

Buckingham,     Prior,     102, 

424,  482,  «.  535 ;  ii.  486 

Bugenhagius,      n.  239,  305 

Burghlcy,  Lord,  ii.  263,  346 

Burleigh,  Dr.     .  ii.  374 

Buschius,  Ilerm.  397 ;  ii.  n. 

415 

Byng,  Dr.  ;  ii.  375 

Calvin,       .         .  ii.  311,481 

Campeggio,  193,  217,   220, 

441,  n.  486,  487 

Canne,  John,     .  ii.  559 

Capito,  Wolf.     .      305, 529 

Carey,      .         .   ii.  588-604 

Carondelet,  429,  516,  «.  517 

Castro,  Alphonso  di,    ii.  291 

Catharine,  Queen,    360-369, 

459 

Cawood,  J.        .         ii.  346 

Chadei-ton,  Dr.  .  ii.  375 

Charles,  Tho.     .  ii.  607 

Charles  V.  Hist.  Index. 

Cliilds,  Tho.       .  ii.  625 

Christopher  of  Endhoven, 

122,  128,  «.  164 
Clarke,  Dr.         .  ii.  374 

Clarkson,     .         ii.  587-590 
Clement  YII.,  Hist.  Judex. 
Cochlseus,  Hist.  Index. 
Cologne,  Archbp.  of,  ii.  452 
Collet,       ...  9 

Constantyne,  Hist.  Index. 
Cousturier,  P.    .  n.  154 

Coverdale,  Hist.  Index. 
Cowper,    .        .         ii.  590 
Coxe,  Leonard,  n.  340 

Cracherode,       .         .      413 
Cranmer,  Hist.  Index. 
Croke,       ...        23 
Cromwell,  Oliver,        ii.  391 
Croydon,  Vicar  of,  573 

CvmnvfcWfT.  Hist.  Index.      | 
Cm-wen,  Dr.         367  ;  ii.  35 
Dakins,  W.         .  ii.  377 

Darcy,  Edw.      .  ii.  344 

D'Aubigne,    2,  3,  »,  49,  485 
Dclaber,  Ant.     .         .        94 


Dillingham,  F.  .  ii.  521 
Disney,  .  .  ii.  w.  191 
Donne,  Gab.  Hiiit.  Index. 
Dunbar,  Archbp.  ii.  521 
Edward  \i.  .  ii.  233-253 
Edwards,  Jon.  ii.  569,  570 
Eliot,  Jolm,  ii.  568-570 

Elyot,  Sir  Tho.  322-327 
Endhoven,  C.  122, 128,  n.  164 
Erasmus,  23, 24,  n.  206, 516, 
«.  517 
Fairclough,  Dr.  ii.  376 

Fisher,  Bp.    106,  107,  228, 
402,  406,  436,  437 
Fitzralph,  .         .174 

Fitzwalter,  .  .  462 
Flower,  Fr.  .  ii.  344 
Forrest,  H.        .  ii.  443 

Forret,  Dean,    .  ii.  499 

Fox,  Ed.  of  Hereford,  502 
Foxe,  John,  .  520, 521 
Froebairn,         .  ii.  561 

Fryth,  Hist.  Index. 
Fuller,  And.    ii.  594,  n.  597 
Fysh,  Sunon,     .        89,  265 
Gardiner,  Bp.  Hist.  Index. 
Garret,   92,120;  ii.  98,  122 
Gataker,  Dr.     ,  ii.  381 

George  III.         .  ii.  594 

Ghinucci,  n .  249, 441,486,487 
Gifford,  Dr.  .  .  n.  68 
Gilby,        .         .  ii.  320 

Glaston,  Ab.  of,  ii.  75 

Golde,  H.  .  .  153,  402 
Gorges,  Sir  T.  .  ii.  343 

Gostwick,  Sir  J.  ii.  115,106 
Grafton,  Hist.  Index. 
Graphoeus,  .  .516 
Grenville,  Hon.  T.  .  64 
Grey,  Lady  J.  ii.  251,  252 
Grindal,    .  ii.  358,  359 

Grocyn,  .  .  9,  10, 23 
Guiklibrd,  Sir  H.  .  38 
Guizot,      .  ii.  553, 576 

Guy,  Tho.  .  u.  559 

Hackett,  J.      124,  16-5,  200 


Harrison,  T.      .  ii.  375 

Hart,  Andro,     .  ii.  538 

Hastings,  Marq.  of,  ii.  003 
Hepbiu-n,  Prior,  ii.  447-451 
Herbert,  Lord,  43,  n.  249 
Herman  of  Cologne,   ii.  452 


Herris,  Sir  S. 

.      182 

Holbein,    . 

.  ii.  79 

Holland,  Rog. 

.  ii.  269-271 

Holland,  Dr. 

ii.  375 

Hollybushe, 

.  ii.  38 

Hooker,     . 

ii.  369 

Hoopei",     . 

ii.  243,  244 

Houbigant, 

ii.  581 

Hughes,  Jos. 

ii.  607 

Humble,  Wm. 

ii.  393 

Hutchinson,  Dr. 

ii.  376 

Hutten,  Dr. 

ii.  376 

Hyll,  Nich. 

ii.  242 

James  I.    . 

ii.  365 

James  U.  . 

ii.  555-557 

Jegon,  Bp. 

ii.  379 

Jerome,  friar,  50,  195,  204j 

205 

Jessey,  H. 

ii.  378 

Jewell,  Bp. 

ii.  369 

Johnston,  Jo.     . 

ii.  486 

Jones,  Griffith,  . 

ii.  607 

Joye,  Geo. 

393-399 

Jugge,  Jo. 

ii.  345 

Jugge,  Ri. 

ii.  346,  348 

Julius  II.  . 

6,  n.  293 

Kilby,  Dr. 

ii.375 

Kmg,  Dr.  G.      , 

ii.  374 

mngston,  187, 253, 464, 475 
Kingston,  Lady,  .  488 
Knox,  John,  ii.  320,  526,  527 
Laifield,  Dr.  .  ii.  374 
Lambert,  Fr.  w.  167 ;  ii.  305, 
«.418 
Lambert,  J.       .  ii.  19 

Lascelles,  .        .         ii.  197 
Lasco,  John  a,  .     ii.  n.  260 
Latimer,  H.,  Hist.  Index. 
Latimer,  Wm.    .  23,  36 

Laud,      ii.  389,.  390,  n.  536 


Hakewil,  .         .          u.  342 

Le  Fc\Te, 

3,  n.  154 

Hall,  Ro.  .         .          ii.  341 

Lekprevick, 

ii.  n.  462 

Hallam,  H.         .          ii.  557 

Le  Long,  . 

ii.  333 

Hamilton,  Pat.    ii.  414-418, 

Lewis,  Jo. 

ii.  563 

421 

Lightfoot,  Dr. 

ii.  554 

Harding,  Dr.     .          ii.  375 

Lilly, 

9 

Harman,  R.  Hist.  Index. 

Linacre, 

.  9,  10,  23 

V 


xlvi 


INDEX  OF  NAMES. 


Lingard,  (5, 7;  ii.  >i.  138,  n.lOO 
Li^'ing,  Wm.       .  ii.  80t» 

Livlio,  Ell.  .  ii.  375 

Lome.JcflF.  .  .  100 
Longland,  .         .  41-43 

Louis  XIV.,  ii.  552,  577, 578 
Loyola,  Ignat.    .         .        43 
Lurt,  ILans,         .         .106 
Luther,  Jlist.  Index. 
Macalpine,         .  ii.  472 

Maccabieus,  Jo.  ii.  472 

Mackintosh,  Sir  Ja.    «.  152, 

245 
Macknight,  Dr.  n.  285 

ManstieUl,  Lord,      ii.  n.  387 
Margaret  of  Valois,     h.  485 
Marler,  Ant.  Wis*-  Index. 
Marsh,  Bp.  285,  289 ;  ii.  645 
Marshman,  Dr.  526 ;  u.  594, 

604 
Mary  of  England,  ii.  253-312 
Mary  of  Scotland,   ii.  149, 
509,  515 
Mather,  Cot.      .  ii.  568 

Maxwell,  Lord,  ii.  520 

M'Cric,  Dr.    ii.  n.  418,  486, 
«.  527 
Melancthon,  451 ;  ii.  245,482 
Melville,  iVnd.    .  ii.  486 

Michele,  .  .  ii.  273 
Milne,  AVm.        .  ii.  597 

Minto,  Lord,      .  ii.  596 

More,  Sir  T.  Illst.  Index. 
Morrison,  Dr.    .  ii.  597 

Mountjoy,  Lord,  ii.  343 

Muniford,  Ja.     .  ii.  556 

Munmoutli,  Hum.  39,  «.  46, 
181,187;  ii.  n.  198 
Munster,  Seb.  528,  529 

NavaiTc,  Queen  of,  «.  485 
Necton,  Ro.  .  188-190 
Nix  of  Norwich,  158,256 
Norfolk,  D.  of,  Hist.  Index. 
Nun  of  Kent,  .  401,402 
Nycolson,  J.  564,  567;  ii  34 
Ockhani,  W.-      .  «.  271 

CEcolampadius,  305 

Overall,  Dr.       .  ii.  374 

Oxford,  Earl  of;  .      462 

Oxford,  Ilarley,  Lord,  07 
Packington,  .\.  214,  264 
Pagninus,  .  n.  167 


Patmore,  Tlio.    .      297,404 
Paul  IL  Hist.  Index. 
Paulett,  Wm.     .  «.  462 

Petrc,  Dr.  .  495 

Peyto,  Friar,      367,  n.  530, 
II.  531 ;  ii.  278 
Philip,  Tho.       .  403 

Philips,  Hy.  llixt.  Index. 
Pole,  Cardinal,  Hist.  Index. 
Pouieranus,  n.  239,  305 
Poyntz,  Anne,  .  .  31 
Poyntz,  John,  428,  n.  522 
Poyntz,  Tho.  Hist.  Index 
Poyntz,  family  of,  «.  525 
Pykas,  John,     .  182 

Quentcl,  Peter,  55,  03 

Raiuolds,  John,  ii.  369-375, 
n.  643 
Raleigh,  Sir  W.  ii.  344-308 
Ravis,  Dr. 
Reading,  Abb.  of, 
Rcgnault,  . 
Reuchlin,  . 
Richardson,  Dr. 
Ridley,  Dr.  R. 
Ridley,  Nich, 


ii.  376 

ii.  75 

ii.  27 

.   25 

ii.  375 

153,  208 

536,  ii.  297 


Rincke,  Hist.  Index. 
Robinson,  Friar,         .     307 
Rogers,  Dan.  ii.  n.  287 

Rogers,  Jo.  Hist.  Index. 
RoUock,  .        ii.  n.  542 

Rose,  Thomas,  ii.  «.  205 
Rough,  Jo.         .  ii.  206 

Roye,  Hist.  Index. 
Ruremimd,  Jo.         .        164 
Ryland,  Dr.        .  ii.  591 

Sadler,  Sir  R.  542 ;  ii.  524 
Saintgerman,  .  384-386 
Sanderson,  Dr.  .  ii.  377 

SaraA-ia,  Dr.       .  ii.  374 

Savillc,  Sir  II.    .  ii.  376 

Scott,  John,  .  202-205 
SchoefFer,  Peter,  .  69 
Scr^-mgcour,  Sir  Ja.  ii.  451 
Selling,  ...  23 
Seton,  Alex.       .  ii.  422 

Seymour,  Jane,  591 

Shaxton,  Bp.  441 ;  u.  197 
Smith,  Dr.  Miles,  ii.  376,  378 
Spalding,  Dr.    .  ii.  875 

Spencer,  Earl.   .  ii.  .594 

Spencer,  Dr.      .  ii.  376 


Strype,      .  .    ii.  41 

Suffolk,  D.  of;  402;  ii.  174 
Surrey,  Earl  of,  ii.  213,  219 
Sutcliffe,  Jo.      .  ii.  591 

Sutor,  Peter,     .  «.  154 

Sym.sou,  C.        .  ii.  207 

Taveruer,  95-97  ;  ii.  80-82 
Tcwksbury,  .  211,  300 
Theobald,  422-425,  511-527- 
533 
Thcophylact,      .  n.  5U0 

Thompson,  R.    .  ii.  374 

Thomson,  Dr.     .  ii.  625 

Thi-ogmorton,  ii.  109,  n.  110 
Todd,  H.  J.  n.  119,  «.  584 
Topley,  Tho.      .  185 

Tracy,  Sir  Will.  35,  433 
Treveris,  .  ii.  34 

Tuke,  Brian,      .      125,  207 
Tunstal,  Hist.  Index. 
Tybal,  Jolm,     .         .183 
Tyxdale,  Hist.  Index. 
Tyndale,  Jo.       .      297,  298 
Undcrhill,  .  ii.  304 

Vaughan,  St.  Hist.  Index. 
Voltaire,      .       ii.  579, 580 
V^ulgarius,  .  n.  590 

Walsh,  Sii-  Jo.   .  30,  37 

WaLsingham,  ii.  348,  351 
Walter,  Prof  285,  289,  564 
Walton,  Brian,  .  ii.  392 
Ward,  Wm.  ii.  594-604 

AVellesley,  Marq.  ii.  n.  597 
AVest,  Friar,  202,  206-208 
Wharton,  Geff.  .  .182 
AATiarton,  H.      .  n.  259 

Whitchurche,  568,  ii.  130 
Whitgift,  ii.  338,  351,  372 
AVhittakcr,  J.  W.  .  564 
AVluttingham,  Hist.  Index. 
Wickliffe,  Introd.  289, «.  433 
Wied,  C.  de,  ii.  452,  n.  454 
Wilks,  Sii-  T.  ii.  344-346, 350 
WilUam  III.       .  ii.  552 

Williams,  Roger,  ii.  568,  569 
Wiltshii-e,  Earl  of,  249,  462, 

482,  485 
Wishart,  Geo.    .         ii.  530 
AVoLsey,  Card.  Hbt.  Index. 
Wriothsley,  543-545 ;  ii.  163, 

211,251 
Yorke,  Solic.-Gen.      .      126 


INDEX  OF  PROGRESS.  xlvii 

testimonies  of  ^b^ercncc  in  Succession 

tu  the  power  and  <(ll-ftijficieiici/  of  the  Vernacular  Scriptures,  during)  the  precedimj  history, 
illustrative  of  the  gradual  progress  towards  a  brighter  day. 

"  i  do  mar\t.l  gukatly  that  ever  any  jian  should  repugn,  or  speak  against  the 
Scripture  to  de  hap  in  eatery  language,  and  that  of  every  man."    But  "  if  all  the 

WORLD  BE  AGAINST  US,  God's  WoRD  IS  GREATER  TII.VN  THE  WORLD."  TyNDALE. 

l\'stimony  of  Tyndalc  to  Fryth,  then  in  England. 
"  I  call  God  to  record,  against  the  day  we  shall  appear  before  om-  Lord  Jesus,  to  give 
a  reckoning  of  om*  doings,  that  I  never  altered  one  syllable  of  God's  Word  against  my 
conscience  ;  nor  would  I  this  day,  if  all  tliat  is  in  the  earth,  whether  it  be  pleasure, 
honoiu',  or  riches,  might  be  given  me."     See  vol.  i.  p.  349. 

Tyndale  on  the  ere  of  hii<  apprehensioii  and  imprinonment. 
"  As  concerning  all  I  have  translated,  or  otherwise  wi-itten,  I  beseech  all  men  to  read 
it,  for  that  purpose  I  wrote  it :  even  to  bring  them  to  the  knowledge  of  the  Scripture. 
And  as  far  as  the  Scripture  approvethit,  so  flirto  allow  it;  and  if  in  any  place  the  Word 
of  God  disallow  it,  then  to  refuse  it,  as  I  do  before  our  Saviour  Chiist,  and  his  Conirre- 
gation."    See  vol.  i.  p.  400. 

Anno  1530. — Latimer  to  Henry  VIII., 
in  the  fourth  year  of  the  New  Testament  circulation,  and  frst  of  the  Pentateuch. 
"  As  concerning  this  matter,  other  men  have  showed  your  Grace  their  minds,  how 
necessary  it  is  to  have  the  Scripture  in  English.  For  what  marvel  is  it  that  these 
worldly  men,  being  so  nigh  of  your  Coimcil,  and  so  familiar  with  your  Lords,  should 
provoke  both  youi'  Grace  and  them  to  prohibit  these  books,  which  before,  by  thcii-  own 
authority,  have  forbidden  the  New  Testament,  under  pain  of  everlasting  damnation  ? 
For  such  is  their  manner  ;  to  send  a  thousand  men  to  hell,  ere  they  send  one  to  God  : 
and  yet  the  New  Testament,  and  so  I  tliink  by  the  other  (the  Pentateuch,)  was  meekly 
offered  to  every  man  that  would  and  coidd,  to  amend  it,  if  there  were  any  fault — Where- 
fore I  pray  that  youi-  Grace  may  es^iy,  and  take  heed  of  their  worldly  wisdom,  which  is 
foolishness  before  God— that  your  Grace  may  be  foimd  a  faitliful  minister  of  liis  gifts, 
and  not  a  defender  of  His  faith;  for  He  will  not  have  it  defended  by  man,  or  man's  power, 
but  by  His  Word  only,  by  the  which  He  hath  evermore  defended  it ;  and  that  by  a  way 
far  above  man's  power  or  reason,  as  aU  the  stories  of  the  Bible  make  mention. 

"  Wherefore,  gracious  King,  remember  yom-self  Have  pity  upon  your  soul,  and  think 
that  the  day  is  even  at  hand  when  you  shall  give  account  of  your  oSice,  and  of  the  blood 
that  hath  been  shed  by  your  sword."    See  vol.  i.  pp.  261,  262. 

Anno  1533. — Fryth  from  the  Toaver  op  London, 
before  his  martyrdom  ;  and  after  the  New  2'estament  had  been  secretly  inqwrted  and  read 
in  England,  for  seven,  and  the  Pentateuch  for  three  years. 
"  This  hath  been  offered  you,  is  offered,  and  shall  be  offered.  Grant  that  the  Word 
of  God,  I  mean  the  te-rt  of  Scripticre,  may  go  abroad  in  our  English  tongue,  as  other 
nations  have  it  in  their  tongues,  and  my  brother  William  Tyndale  and  I  have  done,  and 
will  promise  you  to  write  no  more.  If  you  will  not  grant  th  t condition,  then  will  we 
be  doing  while  we  have  breath,  and  show  in  few  words,  that  the  Scriptui'c  doth  in  many ; 
and  so,  at  the  least,  save  some."     See  voL  i.  p.  363. 

Anno  1533. — Aless,  in  exile  from  his  Country, 
to  James  V. ;  after  the  New  Testament  translated  by  Tyndale,  had  been  imported,  and 
reading  in  Scotland,  secretly,  for  seven  years. 
"  They  say  that  Alcibiades  (Themistocles,)  in  I  know  not  what  contention,  a  certain 


xlviii  INDEX  OF  PROGRESS. 

might  itrike,  so  they  would  also  hear  mc." — "  I  have  heard  even  the  chief  among  our 
preachers  declare,  that  this  same  version  (of  Tyndale)  gave  them  much  more  light 
tliau  the  commentaries  of  many."    See  vol.  ii.  pp.  430,  4G1. 

Anno  1538. — Strype,  the  Historian, 

after  the  English  New  Tentament  had  been  importing  iiita  England  fully  tvelte  years, 
and  the  Bible  at  laM  came  to  be  read  openly. 

"  It  was  wonderful  to  see  with  what  joy  this  book  of  God  was  received,  not  only 
among  the  more  learned  sort,  but  generally,  all  England  over,  among  all  the  common 
people,  and  with  what  greediness  God's  Word  was  read,  and  what  resort  to  jjlaces 
where  the  reading  of  it  was  !  Every  body  that  could,  bought  the  book,  or  busily  read 
it,  or  got  others  to  read  it  to  them,  if  they  could  not  themselves."    See  vol.  ii.  p.  41. 

.liNNO  1543. — ICnox,  as  Historian. 

The  Scriptures  having  been  read  for  1 7  years  in  secret,  and  for  1 7  more,  openly  in  Scotland, 

btfore  his  settlement  thre ;  thus,  about  15G0,  he  records  the  great  event  o/'1543. 

"  Then  might  have  been  seen  the  Bible  lying  on  almost  every  gentleman's  table.  The 
New  Testament  was  borne  about  in  many  men's  hands.    Thereby  the  knowledge  of  God 
wonderfully  increased,  and  God  gave  liis  Holy  Spirit  to  simple  men  in  great  abimdance." 
So  remarkable  had  been  the  previous  secret  importation  !   See  vol.  ii.  p.  527. 
Anno  1597. — Hooker. 

"  We  do  not  think  that  in  Sacred  Scripture  God  hath  omitted  any  thing  needful  to 
his  purpose,  and  left  his  intent  to  be  accomplished  by  our  derisings." — "  1  would  know, 
by  some  special  instance,  what  one  article  of  Christian  faith,  or  what  duty  required 
necessarily  unto  all  men's  salvation,  there  is,  which  the  very  reading  of  the  Word  of  God 
is  not  apt  to  notify." 

Anno  1641. — Milton. 

"  We  shall  adhere  close  to  the  Scriptures  of  God,  which  He  hath  left  us,  as  the  just 
and  adequate  measure  of  truth,  fitted  and  proportioned  to  the  diligent  study,  memory, 
and  use,  of  every  foithful  man  ;  whose  every  part  consenting,  and  making  up  the  har- 
monious symmetry  of  complete  instruction,  is  able  to  set  out  to  us  a  perfect  man  of 
God.  And  with  this  weapon,  without  stepping  a  foot  farther,  we  shall  not  doubt  to 
batter  and  throw  down  Nebuchadnezzar's  image,  and  crumble  it  like  the  chaff  of  the 

summer  threshing-floors And  this  is  one  depth  of  God's  wisdom,  that  He  could  so 

plamly  reveal  so  great  a  measure  of  it  to  the  gi'oss  distorted  apprehension  of  decayed 
mankind.  Let  others,  therefore,  shun  the  Scriptures  for  their  darkness  ;  I  shall  wish  I 
may  desei-\-e  to  be  reckoned  among  those  who  admire  and  dwell  upon  them  for  their 
clearaess."    See  vol.  ii.  p.  643. 

Anno  1G62. — Stillingfleet. 

"  Men  might  still  have  bewildered  themselves  in  follo\ving  the  ignes  fatui  of  their  own 
imaginations,  and  in  lumting  up  and  down  the  world  for  a  path  which  leads  to  Heaven ; 
but  could  have  found  none,  imlcss  God  Iiimself,  taking  pity  of  the  wanderings  of  men, 
had  been  pleased  to  hang  out  a  light  from  Heaven,  to  dii-ect  them  in  their  way  thither ; 
and  by  this  Pharos  of  Divine  Revelation  to  direct  them  so  to  steer  their  course,  as  to 
escape  splitting  on  the  rocks  of  open  impiety,  or  being  swallowed  up  in  the  quicksands 
of  terrene  delights." — "  The  things  contained  in  Scriptiu-e  do  not  so  much  beg  accept- 
ance as  command  it — That  word  is  like  a  telescope  to  discover  the  gi'eat  luminaries  of 
the  world,  or  the  truths  of  highest  concernment  to  the  souls  of  men  ;  and  it  is  such  a 
microscope  as  discovers  to  us  the  smallest  atom  of  our  thoughts,  discerning  the  most 
secret  intent  of  the  heart.  And  as  far  as  this  light  reacheth,  it  comes  with  power  and 
authority,  as  it  comes  armed  with  the  majesty  of  that  God  who  reveals  it — whose  autho- 
rity extends  over  the  soul  and  conscience  of  man,  in  its  most  secret  and  hidden 
recesses." 

Axso  1698. — WmcncoTB. 


INDEX  OP  PROGRESS.  xlix 

that  any  wcll-mirnled  man,  that  takes  up  the  Bible  and  reads,  may  come  to  understand- 
ing and  satisfaction.  And  to  this  piu-pose,  there  is  the  Divine  Spirit  still,  to  wait  upon 
this  instrument  of  God." 

Anno  1758. — Lowtii. 

Referring  to  "  the  liidden  treasures  of  Divine  wisdom  contained  in  the  Holy  Scrip- 
tures " — '•  Much  hath  been  done  in  tliis  important  work ;  and  much  still  remains  to  be 
done.  Those  heavenly  stores  are  inexhaustible  :  every  new  acquisition  leads  on  to 
farther  discoveries ;  and  the  most  careful  search  will  still  leave  enough  to  invite,  and 
to  reward  the  repeated  searches  of  the  pious  and  industrious  to  the  latest  ages.  This 
is  a  work  that  demands  our  first  and  most  earnest  regard ;  the  studies  and  assistance, 
the  favour  and  encouragement  of  all.  This  is  the  most  worthy  object  that  can  engage 
our  attention  ;  the  most  important  end,  to  which  our  labours  in  the  search  of  truth  can 
be  dii'ected." 

i\joio  1758. — Edwards. 
Wlien  every  English  Bible  in  America  required  still  to  he  sent  from  Britain  ! 

"  It  seems  to  be  evident,  that  the  Church  is  not  as  yet  arrived  to  that  perfection  in 
mderstanding  the  Sci'iptures,  which  we  can  imagine  is  the  highest  that  God  ever  in- 
;endcd  tlie  Chiu'ch  should  come  to.  There  are  a  multitude  of  things  in  the  Old  Testa- 
nent,  which  the  Church  then  did  not  imderstand,  but  were  resei"ved  to  be  unfolded  in 
:he  Christian  Chiu'ch.  So  I  believe  there  are  now  many  subordinate  truths  that  remain 
;o  be  discovered  by  the  Chm^ch,  in  the  glorious  times  that  are  approaching.  A  Divine 
ivisdom  appears  in  ordering  it  thus.  How  much  better  is  it  to  have  Divine  truth  and 
ight  break  forth  in  this  way,  than  it  would  have  been  to  have  had  it  shine  at  once  to 
!very  one,  without  any  labour  and  industry  of  the  understanding  ?  It  would  have  been 
ess  delightful,  less  prized  and  admired,  and  would  have  had  vastly  less  influence  on 
nen's  hearts,  and  would  have  been  less  to  the  glory  of  God. — It  is  the  manner  of  God 
0  keep  his  Church  on  earth  in  hope  of  a  still  more  glorious  state."  See  vol.  ii.  568-570. 
Anno  1762. — Taylor. 

"  You  may  rest  fully  satisfied  that  om*  English  translation  is  a  pure  and  plentiful 
ovmtain  of  Divine  Knowledge,  giving  a  clear  and  full  accoimt  of  the  Divine  Dispensa- 
ions,  and  of  the  Gospel  of  our  Salvation  :  insomuch  that  whoever  studies  the  Bible, 
he  English  Bible,  is  sure  of  gaining  that  knowledge  and  faith,  which,  if  duly  applied 
0  the  heart  and  conversation,  will  infallibly  guide  him  to  eternal  life." 
Anno  1800. — Fuller. 

"  It  might  be  proved,  that  every  system  of  Philosophy  is  little  in  comparison  of 
Christianity.  Philosophy  may  expand  our  ideas  of  creation ;  but  it  neither  inspires  a 
ove  to  the  moral  character  of  the  Creator,  nor  a  well-gi'ounded  hope  of  Eternal  Life, 
'hilosophy,  at  most,  can  only  place  us  at  the  top  of  Pisgah  :  there,  like  Moses,  we 
oust  die  :  it  gives  us  no  possession  of  the  good  land.  It  is  the  province  of  Christianity 
0  add — ALL  IS  YOURS  !  When  you  have  ascended  to  the  height  of  human  discovery, 
here  are  things,  and  things  of  infinite  moment,  too,  that  are  utterly  beyond  its  reach, 
levelation  is  the  mediimi,  and  the  only  medium,  by  which,  standing,  as  it  were,  '  on 
latm'e's  Alps,'  we  discover  things  which  eye  hath  not  seen,  nor  ear  heard,  and  of  which 
t  never  hath  entered  into  the  heart  of  man  to  conceive." 
Anno  1815. — Cil\lmers. 

"  It  is  the  office  of  a  translator  to  give  a  faithful  representation  of  the  Original.  Now 
bat  this  faitlifiil  translation  has  been  given,  it  is  our  part  to  peruse  it  with  care,  and 
0  take  a  fair  and  faitliful  impression  of  it.  We  must  bring  a  free  and  unfettered  mind 
0  the  exercise.  It  must  not  be  the  pride  or  the  obstinacy  of  self-formed  opinions,  or 
be  haughty  independence  of  him  who  thinks  he  has  reached  the  manhood  of  his  imder- 
tanding.  We  must  bi-iug  with  us  the  docility  of  a  child.  There  must  be  no  garbling 
f  that  which  is  enth-c,  no  darkening  of  that  which  is  lummous,  no  softening  down  of 
iiat  which  is  authoritative.     The  Bible  will  allow  of  no  conipromisc.     It  professes  to  be 


\ 


0 


lii  VAKIOUS  READINGS  IN 

acquainted,  ami  almost  literally  with  every  word  in  the  Hebrew,  Chaldee,  and  Syriac 
Scriptures,  thougli  he  did  not  succeed  in  publishing  his  intended  e<lition  of  the  Greek 
New  Testament,  he  again  and  again  gave  to  the  world  the  fruit  of  all  his  own  experience 
as  far  as  he  had  gone.     On  one  occasion,  it  was  in  these  expressive  terms  : — 

"  The  30,000  various  lections,  then,  are  allowed  and  confessed ;  and  if  more  copies 
yet  are  collected,  the  sum  will  still  mount  higher.  It  is  good,  therefore,  to  have  more 
anchors  than  one ;  and  another  Manuscript  would  give  more  authority,  as  well  as 
security.  It  is  a  good  providence,  and  a  great  blessing,  that  so  many  Manuscripts  of 
the  New  Testament  are  still  among  us ;  some  procured  from  Egypt,  others  from  Asia, 
others  foiuid  in  the  Western  Churches.  For  the  very  distance  of  tlie  places,  as  well  as 
numbers  of  the  books,  demonstrate,  that  there  could  be  no  collusion,  no  altering,  or 
interpolating  one  copy  by  another,  nor  all  by  any  of  them.  Not  frighted,  therefore, 
with  the  30,000,  I,  for  my  part,  and,  as  I  believe,  many  others,  would  not  lament,  if 
out  of  the  old  Manuscripts  yet  untouched,  10,000  more  were  faithfully  collected  ;  some 
oi"  which,  without  question,  would  render  the  text  more  beautiful,  just,  and  exact ;  thowjh 
of  no  consequence  to  the  main  of  Religion  ;  nay,  perhaj)s  wholly  synonymovg  in  the  view 
of  common  readers,  and  quite  insensible  in  any  modern  rersion." 

Since  the  days  of  Bentley,  however,  far  greater  progi-ess  has  been  made,  and  still 
ampler  opportunities  for  examination  have  been  enjoj'cd ;  and  what,  then,  is  the  deli- 
berate judgment  at  wluch  our  most  distinguished  Scholars  have  now  arrived  ?  The 
conclusion  of  the  whole  matter,  we  prefer,  on  several  accounts,  to  give  in  the  language 
of  an  Author  recently  presented  to  the  public. 

"  We  may  well  enquire,"  says  he,  "  what  has  been  the  result  of  this  laborious  and 
acute  research, — of  this  toilsome  collation  of  Manuscripts  of  every  age,  of  the  many 
theories  for  classifjing  critical  documents ;  in  fine,  of  all  the  years  which  able  and 
learned  men  have  dedicated  to  the  zealous  task  of  amending  and  perfecting  the  Sacred 
Book  ?  Why,  truly,  if  we  exclude  the  great  and  important  conclusions  which  we  have 
at  present  in  view,  the  result  is  so  trifling,  that  we  should  say  there  had  been  much 
unthi'ifty  squandering  of  time  and  talents  thereupon.  Not,  indeed,  that  there  has  been 
lack  of  abundant  differences  of  readings ;  on  the  contrary,  the  number  is  overpowering. 
Mill's  first  efiFort  produced  30,000,  and  the  number  may  be  said  daily  to  increase. 
But  in  all  this  mass,  although  every  attainable  source  has  been  exhausted  ;  although 
the  Fathers  of  every  age  have  been  gleaned  for  their  readings  ;  although  the  versions  of 
every  nation,  Arabic,  Syrian,  Coptic,  Armenian,  and  Ethiopian,  have  been  ransacked  for 
their  renderings  ;  although  ^Manuscripts  of  every  age,  from  the  sixteenth  upwards  to  the 
third,  and  of  every  Country,  have  been  again  and  again  visited  to  rifle  them  of  their  trea- 
sures ;  although,  liaving  exliaustcd  the  stores  of  the  West,  critics  have  travelled,  like 
naturalists,  into  distant  lands,  to  discover  new  specimens, — have  visited,  like  Scuolz, 
or  Sebastiani,  the  recesses  of  Mount  Athos,  or  the  unexplored  libraries  of  the  Egj^ptian 
and  Syrian  deserts — yet  has  nothing  been  discovered — no,  not  one  simjle  tarious  reading 
which  can  throw  doubt  upon  any  passage  before  considered  certain  or  decisive  in  favour 
of  any  important  doctrine.  These  various  readings,  almost  without  an  exception,  leave 
untouched  the  essential  parts  of  any  sentence,  and  only  interfere  with  points  of  second- 
ary importance,  the  insertion  or  omission  of  an  article,  or  conjunction,  or  the  forms 
rather  than  the  substance  of  words. 

"  This  result  is  precisely  the  same  as  has  been  obtained  from  the  critical  study  of 

the  Old  Testament But  once  more  returning  to  the  New,  and  the  critical  attention 

paid  to  its  text,  the  advantages  which  this  has  procured  to  us  are  far  from  stopping  at 
the  assurance,  that  nothing  has  been  yet  discovered  which  should  shake  our  belief  in 
the  purity  of  owe  Sacred  books.  This  advantage  was  but  the  first  step  gained  by  it,  in 
the  earliest  labours  of  Mill  and  Wetstein.  Gklesbacii,  with  whose  name  I  closed  my 
list,  went  much  forther :  he  gave  us,  in  addition,  a  security  for  the  future — and  this  im- 


THEIR  FINAL  RESULT.  Hu 

drawn  from  documents  already  in  our  possession,  but  has  given  us  full  security  against 
any  t/iat  mai/  be  yet  discovered  ;  and  has,  at  the  same  time,  placed  in  our  hands  simple 
and  easy  rules  for  deciding  complicated  points  of  diiference.  And  these  results  will  bo 
still  more  within  our  reach,  when  a  new  edition  {tke  Codex  Vaticanus,)  now  preparing, 
shall  have  appeared,  in  which  only  select  readings,  examined  with  great  care,  and 
given  with  great  accuracy,  shall  have  been  completed." 

How  memorable  and  contirmatory  is  this  beautiful  summing  up  of  evidence  from  the 
lips  of  such  a  man !  And  yet  why  should  we,  by  the  same  pen,  be  so  painfully  reminded 
of  the  ancient  Bishop  of  Durham,  Ricuakd  de  Bury,  as  far  back  as  the  fom-teenth  cen- 
tury, of  whom  an  old  Annalist  has  said,  that  "  he  is  somewhat  to  bee  remembred  for 
example  to  other;"  but  who,  while  lamenting  the  total  ignorance  of  the  Greek  language 
among  his  bretlu-en,  yet  scrupled  not  to  affirm — "  Laici  omnium  librorum  communioiie 
indigni  sunt" — regarding  the  laity  as  unworthy  to  be  admitted  to  any  commerce  with 
books.  To  his  select  audience  in  London,  it  is  true,  and  we  are  to  presume  in  Rome 
also,  our  Lectui-er  concludes  by  presenting  the  following  testimony  : — 

"  The  study  of  God's  Word,  and  the  meditation  upon  its  truths,  surely  forms  our  noblest  occupation. 
But  when  that  study  is  conducted  upon  severe  jirinciples,  and  ^vith  the  aid  of  deep  research,  it  will  be  found 
to  combine  the  intellectual  enjojuient  of  the  mathematician,  ^vith  the  rapture  of  the  poetj  and  ever  to  open 
new  sources  of  edification  and  delight." 

This  witness  is  time ;  nor  is  there  one  word  of  limitation  here.  Yet,  alas  !  it  appears 
elsewhere,  that  this  noble  satisfaction  he  would  not,  even  in  a  humble  degi-ee,  extend  to 
all.  But  thus  it  is,  and  ever  has  been,  that  God  rules  and  overrules  all  things  and  all 
men,  even  men  of  research,  for  his  own  glory.  We  have  used  the  tenn  overrule,  as  the 
Reader,  if  he  be  not  already  aware  of  the  fact,  will  scarcely  credit  us  when  we  tell  him, 
that  the  testimonies  last  given  are  in  the  words  of  an  Author,  in  a  delightful  work  on 
"  The  Connexion  between  Science  and  Religion,"  who  is  opposed  to  the  general  cu'cula- 
tion  of  the  Bible  in  any  tongue  intelligible  to  the  people  !  Recently,  under  the  mistaken 
notion,  that  the  present  wide  dispersion  of  the  Scriptures  has  been  the  effect  merely 
of  men  combined  for  that  end ;  yes,  and  of  men  under  the  strange  impression  that  the 
mere  distribution  of  the  Bible  is  God's  appointed  way  of  conversion ;  he  regards  the  entire 
procedure  as  altogether  in  vain,  if  not  unwarrantable ! !  Of  course  no  such  impression 
exists,  as  our  readers  have  been  perfectly  aware,  nor  has  any  combination,  any  united 
body  of  men,  effected  the  dispersion  of  the  Sacred  Voliune,  at  least  in  English,  to  its 
present  extent.  To  this  mistaken  idea  we  must  again  allude  presently ;  but  who  can 
suppress  the  sincere  and  earnest  wish,  that  this  AViiter  may  be  induced  to  reconsider 
the  entire  movement  of  our  age,  as  a  moxement,  in  all  its  bearings,  and  be  led  at  last  to 
adopt  the  motto  inserted  at  the  close  of  some  of  our  ancient  folio  Bibles — "  A  Domino  fac- 
tum est  istud."  Few  such  able  men  existed  in  the  days  of  our  first  Translator,  though 
if  there  had,  this  would  have  only  increased  liis  astonishment  over  those  who  spoke 
against  the  Bible  "  to  be  had  in  E^'ERY  tongue,  and  that  0/ evert  man." 

In  regard  to  the  Hebrew  and  Greek  original  Scriptures,  we  formerly  glanced  at  the 
memorable  fact — that  no  Government  on  earth,  however  absolute,  has  ever  been  permitted 
to  restrain  them  !  But  when  to  this  we  now  join  the  result  of  all  the  deep  research 
into  both  texts,  and  remember,  as  Bemley  has  insisted,  that  the  same  thing  cannot  be 
asserted  of  any  other  species  of  ancient  Manuscript,  may  we  not  exclaim — "  Who  is  so 
great  a  God  as  our  God!"  When  the  quantity  of  writing  contained  in  every  single 
manuscript  is  considered,  this  conclusion  becomes  not  only  wonderful  in  itself,  and 
greatly  welcome  to  the  general  Reader,  but  it  may  lead  him  to  look  with  still  greater 
veneration  on  the  Divine  Word  so  prov-identially  watched  over,  and  of  which  so  many 
myi-iads  now  possess  such  an  excellent  translation  in  their  hands — beyond  conception 
the  most  weighty  and  valuable  of  all  deposits. 

VERBUM:  DOMINI  MANET  IN  STERNUM. 


Hv  CONCLUSION. 

TDispcrsion  of  tibc  ^crtpturrs  in  (Snglisf) 

Up  to  JaaiMrij  1848. 

Tiioroii  no  reliance  can  ))c  placed  on  the  twre  dispersion  even  of  the  Divine  Word,  ex- 
cept as  the  mean  to  an  eml,  nearly  tliree  years  ago  tlic  Author  of  this  work  presumed 
that  a  more  accurate  rc\'iew  of  the  past  and  present  state  of  our  vernacular  Scriptures 
was  duo  to  the  Sacred  Volume  itself,  and  to  all  wlio  were  interested  in  it.  As  it  then  ap- 
peared that  the  more  recent  and  unprecedented  dispersion  in  our  native  tongue  was  not 
the  fruit  of  any  human  purpose  or  device,  nor  even  of  anticipation,  and  that  as  no  indivi- 
dual liad  ever  contemplated,  so  no  united  body  of  men  had  effected  it,  the  obligation  to 
consider  the  subject  seemed  to  be  imperative.  Tluit  dispersion  liad  l)ecome  an  event — an 
event  by  itself — if  not  tlie  leading  one  of  the  present  age,  and  no  longer  to  be  disre- 
garded. In  all  otlicr  cases,  the  sale  of  a  book  forms  an  imlex  to  iha  desire  after  it,  and 
though  this  vast  movement  has  by  no  means  yet  produced  the  benefits  to  be  expected, 
still,  the  leading  feature  of  the  dispersion  has  been  that  oi  male.  Widely  different  views, 
indeed,  have  been  taken  of  this  "  sign  of  the  times."  The  enemy  of  all  circulation  has 
been  labouiing  hard,  and  in  this  country,  to  prove  that  as  to  any  moral  or  beneficial 
effect  to  be  anticipated,  the  dispersion  itself  is  already  mocking  expectation.  Others 
there  are  who  look  no  higher  than  to  what  are  called  Bible  Societies,  and  the  competi- 
tion of  trade,  but  to  all  who  have  duly  considered  tlic  subject,  an  unseen  hand  is  ap- 
parent, an  influence  superior  to  man  may  be  contemplated. 

The  last  gi'eat  movement,  wluch  properly  belongs  to  the  present  century,  has  been 
going  on  with  accelerated  speed.  As  already  reported  up  to  1845,  (vol.  ii.  GOO,  617-G20,) 
it  was  i^erhaps  imagined  to  have  reached  its  meriilian,  and  must  decline.  But  so  far  from 
tliis,  the  culminating  point  seems  to  be  more  distant  than  ever.  The  last  three  years 
have  been,  above  all,  remarkable.  The  dispersion  of  Bibles  and  New  Testaments  in 
English,  wliich  had  then  amoimtcd  to  fully  Twenty-two,  is  now  to  be  regarded  as  ap- 
proacliing  with  increased  rajndity,  to  Tirenty-seren  miUioiis  of  Volumes!  Such  is  the 
provision  made  for  Britain,  as  well  as  all  her  wide-spread  Dependencies ;  and  by  this, 
the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century  will  remain  distinguished  in  history.  If  the 
enemy  is  actually  smiling  upon  all  this  as  an  empty  Tision,  let  every  believer  in  his 
Bible  both  watch  the  progress,  and  look  for  the  effect.  The  dispersion  itself  may  be 
freely  conceded  at  pi-esent  as  being  but  little  more  than  "  seed  sown,"  or  as  "  the  pre- 
paration of  the  ground  for  the  shower ;"  but  every  intelligent  Christian,  knowing  that 
the  instrument  of  regeneration  is  "  the  word  of  truth,"  and  that  the  Volume  cannot  be 
sent  where  its  Sacred  and  only  infallible  Intei-preter  is  twt  present,  to  attend  upon  its 
devout  pemsal — he  will  not#ail  to  mark  this  wide  and  gi'owing  dispersion,  not  only  as 
the  most  important,  but,  in  the  proper  sense  of  the  terms,  infn'itelij  the  greatest  move- 
ment of  our  day.  He  will  never,  indeed,  confound  tlie  word  wliich  is  to  be  read  with 
that  which  is  to  be  spoken,  or  ever  imagine  that  any  thing  can  relieve  from  the  imperative 
obligations  involved  in  the  Redeemer's  last  Commission  to  his  Servants  :  but  still  it  is 
not  in  him,  with  a  vacant  or  indifferent  eye,  to  bcliold  such  a  dispersion  of  the 
Word  of  God.  It  is  spoken  of,  too  generally,  only  as  a  Book,  but  to  him  it  is  the  Voice 
of  the  living  God.  lie  regards  it  as  a  Rule,  in  the  sense  both  of  a  Law  and  a  Standard 
— perfectly  sufiicient  for  its  purpose — touching  every  principle  of  human  action — and 
admitting  of  no  appeal.  "  This  dispersion,  too,"  he  says,  "  is  altogether  unprecedented 
— and  therefore,  certainly  never  before,  suice  theh-  English  Bible  was  in  existence,  nenr 
were  the  Christian  peojjle  of  this  language  so  loudly  called  upon,  and  individually,  to 
mark  the  words  of  their  conunon  Mediator,  and,  on  behalf  of  their  Country  and  the 
world,  to  act  accordingly."     Luke  xi.  13;  Matthew  vii.  7,  8,  12. 


BS455  .A54  v.2 

The  annals  of  the  English  Bible. 

Princeton  TiiFological  Seminary-Speer  Library 


1    1012  00081    1887 


*  lie.         1.  K/«